CHAPTER 5

AN: Nobody has commented yet, I'm offended! No ShoutOuts today.

Disclaimer: I'm not a guy. I'm most definitely not Rick Riordan.

Percy POV

I followed Anya through the maze of corridors and staircases until we reached a long hallway full of rooms. The first one on my right read Carter K. The adjoining room read Sadie K. Then the rooms read Julian C., Anya W. On my left the rooms were Zia R., Walt S., Felix P., Shelby S., Sean R., and so on.The room beside Anya's was unnamed. She led me to it and opened the door. "So, this is your room," she said. "The door to the right is the adjoining doorway to my room. The closet has your usual clothes, as well as some linen ones. You should wear clothes made of plant material, as animal auras may interfere with your ability to do magic. There's also a mini fridge in the corner."

I looked around. The room had a queen-sized bed, pillows, a weird headrest with designs, a white nightstand on the side with a lamp on it, a staff on display above the bed, two khopesh on display above the displayed staff, and a white bench at the foot of the bed. In front of the bed was a wooden desk with a gold cross (an ankh, I think it's called?), a weird backbone-type thingy, and some parchment (papyrus?) on it, a brazier, a wall portrait of the same weird backbone-thingy, and a balcony with a large bowl on it. To my left was a kitchen and a doorway which led to the bathroom. "I could get used to this."

"Please do," she said, smiling. "This is your home for now. I've already arranged your stuff on the desk, you should look over it later. For now, come on to Whatever Works. I'm teaching the class today, Carter's going to the First Nome to talk to Amos about those sphinxes."

"Wait- Whatever Works?"

"Magic Problem-Solving 101- but we call it Whatever Works."

I followed her out of the room, and she led the way to a large room on the second floor (we had been on the third), where Felix, Alyssa, Julian and a very disgruntled Cleo were standing. "I don't need to learn to fight!" Cleo told Anya. "I am perfectly fine in the library! I'm following the Path of Thoth, for gods' sakes!"

"Now, now, Cleo," Anya tried to calm her down. "I know you can hold your own in a battle, but training helps, you know. "

Cleo just huffed angrily. Anya smiled. "Now, today, we will be doing combat simulations, again, since Percy and Cleo are new. Also, Julian, you're horrible in combat."

She pulled five clay figurines from a box in the corner of the room and placed then along two parallel sides of the room, three on one side and two on the other. Me and Cleo (sorry, Cleo and I) stood beside each other while Felix, Alyssa and Julian stood on the other side of the room.

Anya spoke a command word. The figurines grew and became life-sized. The one in front of me was carrying a khopesh.

"Since we have two new people, I think it'd be better to do this one-by-one. Alyssa, don't use 'Sa-per' again! Julian, no combat magic!" She turned to Felix. "Felix, begin!"

Felix's figurine came to life and charged. Felix smiled, and shouted, "Se-kebeb!" A hieroglyph glowed near the figurine's feet. Suddenly, it was encased in ice.

Felix then threw his wand like a boomerang. It bounced off against the figurine's forehead, cracking it.

"Good!" Anya shouted. "Julian, begin!"

Julian's figurine came to life. Julian took his khopesh, ducked a couple of the figurine's swings, got close, and beheaded it.

"Good! Alyssa, begin!"

The figurine ran towards Alyssa. She shouted, "Heh-sieh!" The figurine immediately turned around and ran towards the wall. It crashed against it and crumbled to pieces.

"Good! Cleo, begin"

Cleo got her staff and wand ready. Before I could see what happened, someone tapped me on the shoulder. It was Anya. She handed me a khopesh. "This is used to hook an enemy's weapon. Use it to disarm and kill the shabti, okay?"

I nodded and turned back around. Cleo's shabti was now a pile of ashes.

"You used A'max, I see. Good," Anya smiled at Cleo, then turned to look at me.

"Okay then, Percy. Let's see how good you are. Begin!"

That's it!

Sorry for the shorter chapter. Unfortunately, I will be on hiatus for some time. Everyone in my fam except for me is sick, so, extra responsibilities. Yay!

Bye for now!

13052007

-nephthys13