Disclaimer:

I do not own the PJO characters.

I was still really tired from Nico's "training", but I managed to walk to the middle of the arena and sit down. I began to meditate. This time, instead of imagining me at the beach, I imagined that I was back home. My home before the incident.

It was a small house, but I loved it. It had a great big oak tree standing outside and there was a tire swing on one of the branches. The dark blue paint of the house was chipped from all the years the house had stood.

I imagined myself walking inside the heavy wooden door. I walked into the living room and looked around. There was a medium-sized tv on the far wall and next to it was a doorway to the kitchen.

I walked around the house for what seemed like hours. I missed this place.

I felt a light tap on my shoulder, I turned around but then realized that this was only my imagination. I opened my eyes to be staring at Percy.

"Are you okay?" Percy asked.

"Uh, yeah, why?" I said, confused.

"Y-your crying."

I felt my cheek and sure enough, it was wet from tears. I hadn't even noticed I was crying.

"Oh," I muttered.

"Well anyway, Chiron said you could use some more sword training. I couldn't find you but then I ran into Nico and he said you would be here. So what are you doing here?" Percy asked.

"Chiron taught me how to meditate, so I came here to calm down," I explained.

"And the crying?"

"Oh, uh, Chiron said to imagine someplace relaxing. I stupidly imagined my home." I said quietly.

"You imagined the old alleyway?"

"No dummy, my home before the alleyway. The one that my family and I lived in."

"Oh. Well, let's get training!" Percy exclaimed excitedly.

I got up and brushed the dirt off of me. "So, powers or no powers?" I asked.

"No powers. You know very well I would never be able to beat you with powers." Percy said. I smiled at him.

I drew my sword, καλοσύνη, and readied it. Percy did the same with Riptide. He charged at me and swung but I blocked. He tried a different angle but I blocked again. This went on and on until he finally hit me. Since I'm a mortal, it didn't do anything but tingle a bit.

He backed away, letting me attempt to attack him. He jumped out of the way at the last second. I tried again but he just kept jumping around. The third time he went to jump, I was ready for it. I went to swing as he went to jump, but at just the last second, I switched the course of my blade. I was so close to hitting him, but unfortunately, Percy was a lot faster than me so he blocked my attack with Riptide.

After a while of doing this, I started getting tired. "Augh, I wish I could take this thing off," I said, pushing my cloak to my side.

"You wanna take a break?" Percy asked.

"Sure." We both walked over to the benches and sat down.

"So," Percy said, "how has it been going, I mean with everyone, how are they acting?"

"You're oblivious aren't you?"

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"Have you not seen the way people look at me when I walk past them? Do you not hear the insults they throw at me?" I exclaimed.

"Well, no."

"I wish I had stayed at your mom's house," I said putting my head in my hands.

"I'm sure my mom would have loved for you to stay with her, but you belong at camp."

"You don't know that. Camp is supposed to be for half-bloods, and I'm no half-blood, I'm just a mortal."

"Rachel's a mortal, isn't she?"

"That's not the same, she's the oracle, she can't go around and kill people by accident."

"I'm sure you'll get better at controlling your curse, you just need to train. And if you think about it, this is a place where not-so-normal people go to train, so that we can live in the normal world and live normal lives. So if you think about it, yes, you do belong here."

"You know, you can be smart sometimes," I laughed.

"Hey," He pouted.

Just then, I heard the lunch bell ring. "Thank the gods, I'm starving," Percy said standing up.

"You're always starving," I laughed. And with that, we headed to the pavilion.

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Sorry, it's a bit short but I'm tired lol. ALSO SYDNEY THE EDITOR SAYS HI!

Daily Fun Fact: Venus resembles Earth in size, mass, density, composition, and gravity.

Stay safe and ship Brason.

-Lou Ellen and her trust sidekick Sydney the AMAZING editor