Note: Not all of you are going to like what's coming up in this chapter, or where I'm going with this.

The glade behind the creek, on the edge of the woods, was marked out in a circular manner and surrounded by tall pine trees. It was roughly the size of half a football field, more than enough space to accommodate the twenty or so teens standing in a circle along the border, weapons held up, watching the girl in the center of the ring, Hazel Dalton. Instead of the golden gladius that Percy had seen Hazel wield previously in battle, she held carved bow and arrow she'd held that first time he'd seen her, the quiver full of blunt sticks. Hazel's caramel hair was plaited as usual in her fishtail braid.

Percy stood on the edge of the creek, in between Alex, son of Mercury, and another blond dude he'd identified as one of the demigod consuls from the giveaway tattoo on his arm. Scanning the people in the circle briefly, Percy identified twelve boys including himself, and ten girls including Hazel. Across the circle from him was Reyna, who refused to meet his eyes.

Hazel held the bow and arrow towards the sky and fired a shot towards the heavens. Instantly, all campers moved in the same direction like a mob swarming a victim. Only Percy was left standing behind, clueless. One guy, Kenneth, caught the blunt stick and he held it high above his head. Everyone else resumed their original positions, and watched as Kenneth strapped the blunt stick to the inside of his forearm.

Hazel fired another, then another, until she had fired five sticks. Five different campers managed to get a stick, including Dakota. The moment the last person to get a stick, the blond dude originally beside Percy, finished strapping the stick to his forearm, the fighting began. Everyone swarmed the people with the sticks, attacking ruthlessly. Percy figured that the aim of this exercise was to win a fight with one of the baton holders. Hazel was battling Dakota herself, and Percy couldn't resist the urge to move in and triumph Dakota and her overlarge ego. He moved in.

Dakota was stabbing furiously with her iron sword, dodging Hazel's fired blunt arrows. She closed in with her blade, and Hazel knocked her in the solar plexus with the corner of her bow. Dakota stumbled, but kept her sword up to guard the stick. She saw Percy approaching. "Stay out of this, Percy," she said angrily before straightening up to fight Hazel's vicious onslaught of attacks. It seemed like too many had told him that over the past days at this camp, which he would thankfully be leaving the next day.

Percy turned away from the fights, since it seemed like no one was free enough to combat him anyways.

'Watch out, Percy," Percy heard someone warning him – Dakota? What? He spun around to see Alex, son of Mercury, take a shot at him with the golden gladius. He had a stick strapped to his forearm, but Percy wasn't interested in the stick. Alarmed at the abruptness of the unprecented attack, he lunged back with Riptide, narrowly avoiding what would have been a shot to knock him unconscious.

Why would Alex attack? He had more than enough on him. Percy already knew the answer to that question. Indeed, nobody else was intervening to try to snatch the baton, instead most people had crowded around to watch the fun. His battlefield hyperactivity activated, Percy could suddenly notice every single detail. He could see each individual face of the onlookers and their expressions, without losing focus on the fight. It was probably a combination of his unusual … condition, so to speak, along with the demigod reflexes. Percy saw that Hazel had won her fight with Dakota – what? How? – and that everyone was watching. He could see Reyna holding a plain golden spear now that he'd broken her own. Recalling that, Percy felt a brief surge of remorse – after all, it was a gift from her mom, and Percy would be pretty mad at anyone who broke Riptide.

Alex retaliated, and Percy redirected his train of thought to the fight. He saw Alex feint to the left, and instantly blocked his sword on the right. Alex tried a recovery spin, but Percy avoided that by taking a step to the left and jabbing, forcing Alex to lose valuable momentum and redirect his sword. Then, catching the hilt of Alex's sword on his, he did the disarming maneuver again – the one he'd used to defeat Dakota. As Alex's sword dropped feebly to the grass, Percy grabbed the stake.

Nobody applauded. "You keep using that move," Dakota remarked. The other campers turned away, showing no emotion. Alex stood before Percy, panting.

Since all the wooden stakes had been taken from their original owners, Hazel collected them all back. "Get a partner."

Everyone quickly paired up; Reyna with Dakota, Alex with the blond dude. Soon, Percy was the only one partnerless, of course, so Hazel walked over to join him. All eyes were on her as she shouted out the command. "Now."

The fighting began instantly. Metal clanged, feet thudded against the soft green grass as people leapt to the side, dodging, whirling, thrusting. Hazel wasn't much of a challenge, Percy had her down in three moves. It wasn't that he was incredibly fit or agile, but somehow he knew what to do and the adrenaline just pumped him forwards. When Hazel was done, she stepped back immediately. "Nice."

"Thanks," said Percy awkwardly, feeling it was the first compliment he'd ever gotten. At least, it was the first he'd gotten since he woke up. "So, uh, can you warn me about the next activity before I get trampled underfoot?"

Hazel grinned half-heartedly. "Sorry 'bout that. No more activities, we're just fighting to win this one; extremely straightforward. That's what our Legion Training is all about, basically – competition."

"Then where do campers get the knowledge or means to fight well?" Percy inquired, feeling out of his depth.

"By the time we hit First Legion we're expected to know everything for ourselves, or practice and research ourselves," Hazel told him. "Some of us are instructors for the other legions, like I'm the Archery instructor, and Alex is the Latin instructor."

"So who's the swordfighting instructor?"

"Jason Grace," Hazel answered. "But now he's been replaced by Dakota and Alex, who take different legions. At first, they were both voted to be the instructor, and had to share classes, but unfortunately they fought more with each other than with the trainees."

Percy grinned. He could picture that. "That's – "

Hazel turned to the other campers, who had done. The defeated fighters had all taken a step back, out of the marked circle. The winners paired themselves up, and fought on. As a loser, Hazel had to step back, and Percy found himself facing Dakota. He smirked. "I thought you'd lost your edge – didn't you just lose to Hazel?"

"A slip," Dakota brushed off, her tone sarcastic. "I'm not going to argue with you."

"Why not?"

"Cause I can't beat you anyways," she said in a low tone.

"Glad you know it." Percy grabbed her sword in a lock and pointed it at her throat.

There were six campers left – Alex, Kenneth, and three girls Percy didn't know the names of. Alex and Kenneth swiftly paired up, and the girls quarreled over who'd have to end up with Percy. Eventually, one of them with blonde hair turned around, annoyed, and walked over to Percy.

She was aggressive, but no contest for Percy's Curse of Achilles.

The final three campers were Alex, Percy and one of the two girls. The remaining girl was extremely pretty, with brightest red hair like fire, and wide blue eyes like gemstones.

"Alex and Irise," shouted Hazel.

Percy moved to a side while the other two sparred in the center of the ring. Alex was fast, and the Irise was faster. Her red hair reflected copper and gold in the sun, sparkling like diamonds. She was tall for a girl.

"Irise and Percy," called Hazel. The girl with the knife looked at him, appraising him and giving him a friendly winning smile. "Hey."

"Hey." Percy stepped into the ring.

"Go easy on me?" Irise asked. "I'm not that great of a fighter."

"You made it here," Percy pointed out. "So you can't be that bad."

"I had terrible partners." Irise grinned at two girls outside the circle. "Sorry!"

"Enough with the small talk," Hazel instructed. "Begin."

Irise began circling quickly, and not knowing how else to respond, Percy circled. He kept trying to draw his sword, but it was impossible to do so while watching her footsteps in this manner. She was moving in a very unpredictable pattern, her hand at her waist beside the sapphire handle of her knife. Percy's hand gripped Riptide tightly, sweating. He needed to quickly uncap this pen and end the fight.

So on Irise's next pace, Percy took a step diagonally backwards and uncapped Riptide. The moment his foot moved, Irise whipped out her dagger and tried to move in. A bit of knowledge from goodness-knows-where resounded in his mind: When you've got the shorter blade, get in close.

Well, in this case, he didn't have the shorter blade, so it only made sense for him to keep a distance. Percy matched her footsteps, distancing them evenly while trying to get in jabs. Irise was faster than Alex, but she didn't have the power of his lunges. She also didn't have Dakota's instincts. Percy saw Irise's aqua eyes narrow in concentration as she tried in vain to employ the tactics she knew. Of course, her tactics wouldn't work against Percy, who had been trained at a different camp altogether. As Percy made another cross, Irise did the last thing she should have – she threw the knife at Percy. It was just too bad for her that Percy had better reflexes than she had, and that the creek happened to be right behind where he was standing. Her beautiful knife with its sapphire-plated handle sailed over Percy's head and landed in the creek, sinking to the bottom. Irise stood there, defenceless and weaponless. Percy angled his sword at Irise's throat saw not only the defeat but also a staggeringly evident sense of loss and frustration.

This time, the applause echoed through the forest and around the camp. Percy went straight to the water and bent down, reaching a hand into the water. His fingers reunited with the water, and it gave him that overwhelming sense of belonging. Percy flexed his hand, and the water moved in circular and star patterns, and the knife zoomed into his hand. He lifted his hand from the water, the colour of the sapphire hilt matching the clear blue water perfectly. Standing up, Percy walked back over to the ring and handed the dagger to a stunned-looking Irise, who smiled hesitantly, the smile lighting up her entire face.

"I'm guessing … Apollo? Ath-Minerva?" Percy tried, and Irise shook her head with a laugh. "Wrong."

"So … you're a child of Hephaestus, I mean Vulcan. Doesn't seem likely, though. Ares – Mars? Venus?"

"I'm flattered," Irise said to his last guess, and Percy half-smiled awkwardly. "But no, I'm not a child of any of them."

Percy pondered, then his expression morphed. "Don't tell me you're a child of one of those gods that don't get their own living accommodation for their children."

"Thankfully, I'm not," Irise said. "Though I think that's seriously messed up – I mean, what if a child of a minor god is good enough for First Legion, but doesn't make it just because there aren't any rooms for them? The whole corridor idea is pretty, but it isn't fair."

Percy agreed whole-heartedly. "Someone needs to fix that. You guys have been living with this system for – how long? A century?"

"Nobody knows how old this camp is, exactly," Irise said. "And you still haven't guessed my godly parent."

Percy looked wildly around for inspiration. The two of them were walking along the wooden bridge over the river, and the sun was setting on the horizon. This was the time for them to do their own activities of "self-improvement and skill honing" quoth Reyna, but Percy had no idea what skills he possessed – canoeing? Jet-skiing? Nothing seemed likely. Irise wasn't doing anything, but she hadn't mentioned whether she was skipping her own activities or she just didn't have any.

At the far end of the bridge, Alex was walking into the Main Building, its roof turning orange in the light. "Mercury?" suggested Percy. Irise shook her head, a smile tugging playfully on the corners of her lips, and Percy sighed. "I give up."

"I'm a daughter of Ceres," Irise told him. "Goddess of the harvest."

"That's nice, it was going to be my next guess."

"Sure," Irise said, smirking. "You weren't about to guess a maiden goddess like Diana or Vesta?"

"Who's Vesta?"

"Goddess of the home and hearth. She tends to the hearth of the Olympus throne room, and occupies the twelfth throne."

Percy's brow furrowed. "Vesta … Hestia. She has a throne on Olympus?"

"Of course, silly. She's the last Olympian, but she still is an Olympian!" Irise told him. "Otherwise, would she have an honorary space in Building I?"

Percy thought hard. "So … the twelve thrones of Olympus are occupied by Zeus, Poseidon, Hades – "

"Pluto doesn't have a throne on Olympus," Irise cut in. "It's Jupiter, Juno, Neptune, Ceres, Mars, Minerva, Apollo, Diana, Vulcan, Venus, Mercury and Vesta."

Percy ticked them off on his fingers. "Oh … kay … wait, what about Dionysus?"

"Dionysus?" Irise asked confusedly. "Never heard of him." She glanced at Percy, who wore that troubled expression he had earlier when he'd first come out of his meeting with Minerva. "Never mind about them. You've got to enjoy your last day at camp, since you're leaving tomorrow, I heard?"

"Enjoy myself? Here?" Percy asked sarcastically. "Anyways, news sure travels fast."

"Camp isn't so bad, Percy," Irise said seriously. "You've just got to give it a chance."

"In the few days that I've been here, I've been scolded or shouted at more times than I can count for no reason at all, treated in a hostile manner, been the victim of mob psychology, and been completely ostracized. How can I give it any more of a chance? Everyone I've met here – Dakota, Reyna, Hazel, and the rest – treat me like either a lower life-form, or a moron, or an alien. This camp is filled with arrogant, narrow-minded people."

"C'mon, you can't say that," Irise said. "I'm not so bad, am I?"

Percy glanced over at her, and grudgingly said, "No, you're not."

"You can enjoy camp, if you just learn to appreciate our customs the way they are. Maybe you're the one being narrow-minded?" Irise suggested, but it didn't sound offensive the way she said it – at least not to Percy. "I understand that we aren't in the best shape right now, thanks to Jason's disappearance, but camp life is still great. We have independence, and lots of freedom in choice of what we want to do with our time."

"I guess," Percy said. "Now we're supposed to be – what, 'honing our given skills'? I don't think I have any."

"I skipped my own session," Irise confided, and Percy couldn't help but feel approval. "The last time I did it was because I was upset that someone, well, how shall I put it – dumped me. I went into the forest, and I met Vesta there."

"What, no huge ceremonial procession to welcome her to camp?"

"Vesta does her visits discreetly," Irise said. "Only those who notice her can speak to her, and many people think Vesta is useless, because she isn't the most powerful goddess. Personally, I think she's just as important as any of the others."

"Because hope survives best at the hearth," Percy interjected, not quite sure where that came from. Irise nodded in agreement. "I agree. Not many people can see that."

They'd arrived at the end of the bridge, near to the amphitheater and dining cave. Irise sat down on the banks of the lake and stared at the open water. "So, I guess Reyna and Hazel will be going on your quest? What's it for, anyways?"

"I've got to find my past, where I come from," Percy said, sitting next to her. "Reyna's coming, yeah, but just because she wants to find Jason." Why was he even explaining himself? He didn't owe Irise any explanations, even if she was nice. "Hazel's got to stay back and run the camp."

Irise was quiet, staring at the lake surface. Percy remembered what he'd mentioned earlier – he still had to pick the third quest member. He'd earlier thought of Dakota, with her shadow-travelling and deadly daughter-of-Hades powers, but now the idea of traveling with two arrogant consuls who looked down on him didn't seem appealing at all.

"I haven't actually picked the third quest member yet," Percy said, hesitantly. Was he sure? Would Irise be of any use on their quest? "Why don't you come?"

"Seriously?" Irise glanced at him. "I'm not particularly skilled at anything besides gardening, or nature."

"Anyone who can see what Vesta is about is far from useless," Percy said. "And I need someone to make traveling with Reyna bearable."

Irise grinned. "Then I'm definitely in."

"Nice." Percy meant it.

A loud horn blared thrice in the distance, in the direction of the dining cave. "That'll be the dinner call," Irise said, getting up. "Let's go."

"Percy!" Someone called from behind. Percy glanced around to see Reyna, Hazel and Dakota approaching quickly, running. "Hold up."

AN: So, if you want to know what happens next, if you've got CC, if you have compliments, review. In any case, I hope you'll keep reading even with my crappy last few chapters D: People who have stuff they want to say in private, just PM me. I always reply to messages within a day. Anyway, thanks so much for reading this chapter! :) As of now I'm gunning for 200 reviews within the next chapter, so please help me out!

~ Eliza

P. S. On another subject, I've recently been browsing the HoO archive for other SoN stories, and I've been severely pissed off. There are so many great stories out there with less than a hundred reviews, yet there are crappy ones that have 300-400 reviews. Not that I'm hating on any stories, but I wish that people would give the less-reviewed stories a chance!