Murmurs of disbelief erupted around the tables, and Chiron had to stamp a hoof to bring quiet back. One voice carried above the rest. "I thought that Kratos was forgotten, like Pan?" Chiron waited for quiet again, as murmurs had resurfaced, then nodded to the burly girl who had asked the question. "I believe that he almost was, but apparently Jason and Percy's efforts have proven successful. I'm sure that just giving him a cabin here has helped him to resurface. Of course, Kate is older than that, but power has been running rampant in the West lately, giving Kratos himself more power. Kate, you will be staying in the cabin of the sibling gods, Bia, Nike, Kratos, and Zelos." Kate nodded and sat down firmly in her seat. Apparently the explanation he had given was satisfactory, because the rest of the campers stopped clamoring and shut up, again facing Chiron.
"Who is Kratos, again?" Asked Chris, looking at Julia. She shrugged.
Connor answered for her, having arrived just before Chiron entered. "Kratos is the god of power and strength. He and his siblings were sort of servants of Zeus. They were an extension of his will. Zelos has two kids, though neither are here right now. Nike has two also, and one of them is here. I'm sure she'll be glad to have some company," Connor smirked and pointed to an older girl sitting with the burly girl and some other kids, bent over a piece of paper and studying it closely. "Watch out. She's a little...much."
Normally Kate might have considered that comment a tip for herself, but the way Connor said it seemed as if he were mocking Kate, not Holly.
"Nike is the goddess of victory, so Holly is extremely competitive, but she's nice once you get past all that," Said Julia. She shot Connor a glare. "She's not actually that bad," She assured Kate.
Kate nodded, excited to meet her cabinmate…or was it cousin? She didn't care, but she ate her breakfast quickly, waved goodbye to the Hermes cabin, and moved to introduce herself to Holly. The girl looked to be the same age as Kate, with the same color hair, though Kate's was wavy and always down, while Holly's was more curly and in a tight bun on her head.
"Hey! I'm Kate, the new camper." Kate said, hoping to start off with a good impression.
Holly glanced up at her and smiled briefly, then went back to staring at the paper. Kate sat down next to the girl, hoping to get some more information. "I'm the daughter of Kratos. We're in the same cabin, I guess. Are you the head counselor?" Kate was wasn't a fan of being ignored, and almost poked the girl in the head to make her look up.
"Uh, yeah, one of them." Holly said, still distracted.
Kate huffed, though the girl still wasn't paying much attention. "I was told you would tell me more about camp or something, but I guess that's for one of the other counselors to do."
Kate started to stand, but Holly stopped her with a snarl. "You think that another counselor is going to be better than me? Laurel isn't even here!"
Kate hid a grin. She had been hoping that Connor and Julia hadn't been exaggerating when they said Holly was competitive. Kate shrugged, and Holly grabbed Kate's arm in one hand and the paper in the other. Leading her out of the pavilion, she began to tell Kate about camp, almost racing to tell her everything she could. When they finally reached their cabin, Kate had a pretty good idea of how camp worked, quests, prophecies, involvement of their godly parents, and the gist of the several wars that they had been involved in. She also knew about the Roman camp, but Holly had only spoken about them for a moment or two before moving on.
"This is cabin number seventeen, of Nike, Kratos, Zelos and Bria." The cabin was pretty average in size, but the walls were a bright gold color, and the roof seemed to be made of solar panels. The roof was lined with green laurals that seemed to be made of metal, almost like barbed wire. The windows were seamless and black, as was the door. When Holly stepped inside, the door said, "You win!" In a peppy computerized voice. Kate gaped, looking at the door until she saw the tiny speaker embedded in the corner.
"Oh, the door does that to whoever gets there first." Holly explained, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Kate's eyebrows drew together, but she didn't say anything, distracted already by the interior of the cabin. There seemed to be four main areas, each pretty large. So large, in fact, that Kate wasn't quite sure how they all fit, as from the outside the cabin hadn't looked very big. The area in the far left corner seemed to be a bedroom, with two queen beds. It was a very open concept cabin, noted Kate, as she was able to see all four rooms and the loft from the front door. The area to her right was the kitchen, and to her left seemed to be a sort of game room. The area in the far right corner was a sort of mini gym, with weights, mirrors, and an odd contraption that Kate guessed was for an amalgamation of workouts. On one wall were pieces of armor and weaponry, enough for at least six people. Kate stood at the door, amazed. This cabin was much more advanced than the Hermes cabin, which had still been pretty nice.
Holly smirked at her obvious awe. "Laurel and I didn't like how advanced some of the other cabins were compared to ours. Annabeth, one of the Prophecy of the Seven, helped to design it, but we made some minor improvements." Kate didn't know what to say. It was even nicer than her step-father's cabin, and that was saying a lot.
Holly gestured for Kate to come over to the staircase leading to the loft. There was a door under it, which Kate thought led to a storage closet or a bathroom. Instead of using the knob, though, Holly put her hand on the center of the door. After a small buzzing sound, the door opened on its own. Holly looked at Kate, who was now gaping at the door. "Not even a Hermes kid could get in here. We'll have to add your fingerprints in tonight when we have time." Kate closed her gaping mouth, nodded, and followed Holly into the space.
The short passage led to a room that had no business fitting underneath the tiny staircase. It had shelves and glass cabinets and other forms of storage, but the things lining the shelves were anything but normal. Kate felt a shiver go down her spine. The power and magic emanating off the items in this room were enough to make her crazy. It took several deep breaths before she stopped wanting to march to Washington D.C. and take over as dictator. When she finally calmed down, Holly was ready to explain.
"Some of these are trophies and prizes that me, Laurel, Maximum and Marvel have been gifted with, won or found. Any little treasures that we want to keep, we put here. Most of it is from our siblings, the few who got here. Because there didn't used to be a cabin for them, they were stuck with the Hermes kids." Holly made a face. "For a long time, the Hermes kids had a huge stash of stuff, most of which did not belong to them. Luckily, that made the gods mad, and one morning we all woke up to see their stash mostly empty, and every cabin had boxes in front of it, full of their own stuff." She smirked. "Our cabin had the most boxes. Nike is a big believer in trophies, so a lot of her kids get cool stuff." Holly picked a shield off of a nearby table. "Laurel and I got this from a fight with some empusa. Any sword that hits it will immediately feel as heavy as a block of cement to whoever carries it." She pointed to some laurels on a high shelf. "Those are victory laurels. Depending on the competition, the person who wins them can wear them for a day and feel increased strength and more likeliness to win any other competition."
Kate scanned at the rows and rows of artifacts and trophies. Some seemed normal, like a miniature statue of a swimmer that said "Maximum Steele—First Place State Swimming Champion". There was another one for Marvel Steele, a year later. She felt the Basilisk tooth that was still in her pocket; her first trophy as a demigod. She thought about all of the track and volleyball trophies she had at home. "When do I get a shelf?" She asked Holly.
The other girl shrugged. "We all decided against having designated areas. We wanted to, but the fighting for best position became too intense, and Chiron called a ceasefire." Kate raised and eyebrow. She didn't know why, but it seemed unlikely that Chiron knew about this place. She saw some weapons that other people would kill for, like a dagger with what appeared to emeralds and sapphires embedded in the hilt. Holly rolled her eyes, understanding Kate's glances. "Well, Chiron knew we were fighting at the arena, but he didn't know why. We never told him," Explained Holly, a sort of prideful glint in her eye.
Kate pointed at a wall with several bows hanging on it. "Do you guys ever use these?" She asked.
Holly thought for a moment. "We don't really like the other campers knowing about this. They would all freak out. Children of Nike have a little bit of a reputation for being competitive and wanting everyone to know when we win, but this stuff doesn't need to be spread around. Some things we use every once in a while, like when the Hunters of Artemis come through and challenge us, but other things, like that shield, won't be used until another war comes up. Then, there are the trophies. We don't really have room to display them anywhere in the cabin, and it's not like anyone else really comes in anyway. This room is seen by all the kids of the four, so at least they see what they're up against." Holly said, moving over to dust off what must have one of her trophies. Kate nodded, impressed. She almost took the tooth out of her pocket and tucked it onto a shelf, but she wasn't ready to let go of it yet.
"Alright, let's go see your bunk." Holly suggested, marching out of the room. Kate noticed that Holly now made a point of exiting or entering any room first.
Kate followed Holly out of the room, then watched as she locked the door with her hand. Holly led Kate over to the area with the two queen beds, and Holly frowned. "I could put you in a different area, but the bedroom part of quadrant two already belongs to the twins, and we can't change the kitchen around every day." Kate raised an eyebrow at her, confused. Holly huffed and went over to a panel on the wall that Kate hadn't noticed before. Typing in a password, Holly brought up a sort of floor plan. All the areas of the room were outlined in glowing gold. Next to each one were three smaller floorpans, outlined in black. Holly swiped on the room labeled Quadrant 2, which seemed to be the game room.
Kate jumped and looked behind her as that area of the cabin transformed into a room with same floorplan as the girls', though it was decorated a little differently. Pictures decorated the dark blue walls, and a dark, wooden room divider was leaning against one wall. The beds were dark blue, the same size as Holly and Laurel's.
"Whoa," Breathed Kate. It had to be magical; no architect could build a house like that.
"Yep," nodded Holly. Holly turned back to the screen. "I could turn our room into a three bed, but that would mean they'd all be twins. I could give you your own room, but you're too new for that. Hmm," She tapped on her chin and stared at the screen, pressing a button so that she could look at the possible combinations.
Kate took the time to look around at the cabin. She cocked her head when she noticed the loft. "Why don't I just stay up there?" She asked, pointing. Kate liked the idea of living above, and she didn't mind being a little away from everyone.
Holly looked up thoughtfully. "When the twins first came here, we all fought about who had to get the loft because no one wanted it. Since it's kind of like the loser's prize, I guess it would be okay if you got it as your own room instead of having to share, like us."
Kate frowned. "How come no one wanted it?" She asked. It seemed to her like the best room in the whole place.
Holly cringed slightly, as if embarrassed, but told Kate anyway. "Well, the rooms down here have twelve options for interior design. The room up there has three. You can have two twin beds or one queen, which we didn't like since down here we could all have queens. You're an only child, so I guess that doesn't really matter. For Laurel and I, we didn't think it would be good for the head counselors to sleep in the worst room. Marvel and Max are kind of scared of heights, so they didn't want the loft."
Kate frowned again. It wasn't like it was that high up. She glanced at Holly, who had her eyes on the upper room. She seemed a little nervous, tugging on her bead necklace. Ah, thought Kate, They're all scared of heights.
Holly smirked. "Don't tell the twins I told you that, but we're cousins, so I though you should know." Kate laughed a little. She was coming to realize that Holly wasn't as bad as Julia made her seem.
Holly beckoned for Kate, leading her up to the loft. The stairs were so steep that they were almost like a ladder, but Kate didn't mind. She liked the idea of being up high, of being in a private place.
The two girls stepped into the loft, and Kate froze in place. "Um, wow." She murmured. She could see why someone afraid of heights wouldn't want to sleep there. Almost the entire wall on the far side was glass. Because the cabin was on the edge of the Half-Blood Hill, Kate could see the whole forest, and it made her feel like she was floating. The bed was in the middle of the left wall, currently in queen-size form.
Kate looked over at Holly, who was standing near the wall near the stairs and warily watching the window. Kate raised an eyebrow at her, and Holly shrugged self-consciously. "Ok, so maybe the twins aren't the only ones who don't like heights. Plus, I feel too exposed up here."
Kate looked around, not able to understand that at all. Holly had already explained that the window was made of one way glass and could control how much light and heat entered the room. Kate loved it. The room made her feel like she was on top of the world. Plus, it wasn't like a monster was going to come creeping over at night to spy on the second story window. Hopefully.
"Well, show me how to change the design. I'm not a huge fan of the woodsy cabin theme." Kate said, waving a hand at the decorations. Holly laughed. The walls and floor were made of real logs, and the bed frame looked like sticks meshed together. The bedspread was a pattern of ducks flying over a lake. There was even a stuffed bear head and antlers over the bed, and the lamp was a carving of a fish with the lightbulb in its mouth.
Holly waved Kate over to another panel on the wall and showed her the password. "Really? Los3rs?" Asked Kate, "Doesn't seem very Nike-like."
Holly huffed. "Well, it used to be VictorsWin, which we thought was just weird enough, until Harley from the Hephaestus cabin figured it out on his second try. He programmed the door to tell us every time we lost at anything. It was terrible." Holly shuddered. "But this code isn't something they'd guess. In a way, it's predictable after our last one, but no one would think that Holly and I would be able to swallow our pride enough to make the code 'losers'. But it's just a password; it doesn't matter." Holly shrugged, but Kate could tell that it bothered her just a little bit.
Holly went down the stairs as soon as Kate was done decorating. The walls, ceiling and floor were completely white, with a lavender area rug to give some color. The dresser was also painted white, but the dark knobs and small house plants gave it just enough personality. It was pretty minimalist, but Kate loved it. She didn't even need the light on, as the sun illuminated the room perfectly. It was almost nine o'clock, and Holly had warned Kate that they'd already missed archery. Weaponry and sword fighting were next up, so Kate exchanged her jeans for a pair of leggings. She found a long sleeve, dry-fit camp t-shirt in her bag and threw it on, thankful for the clothing but wishing for her own. At least there was something good for exercising. Kate had seen a few other people with the same shirt on, so she hoped it was appropriate for sword-fighting, but honestly she had no idea.
Kate was down the ladder in no time, but Holly was already waiting impatiently by the door. As they walked over to the arena, the sound of clashing swords and yelling filled the air. "Alright," said Holly when they arrived, "I can't take you to the armory; I've already missed enough training. Shane and Ellis are in the armory today and will help you pick out some weapons that'll work for you. After that, come into the arena and we can see what you've got. Oh, and the big burly one in the armory, Ellis, can be a bit much sometimes. I can't even be near Ares kids. You'll do better. Probably. Just try not to mention anything that would make him feel mad or competitive." Holly pointed to a side entrance, then waved and headed into the arena. Kate sighed and continued down the hallway alone.
She came to a huge door that was propped open with a wedge of metal. Without looking, Kate knew that it led to a room full of weapons. Shivering with the same excitement she'd felt at the cabin, she walked up to the door. Shoving it aside without preamble, she walked into the room and gasped. Rows and rows of arrows, swords, knives, shields, spears, and all sorts of other pointy things were on waist high racks throughout the room. The walls were adorned with an assortment of weapons too, though they seemed more flashy and unique than the ones on the ground.
Kate looked for one of the two guys that Holly had mentioned, wishing she'd given a better description. There were several demigods among the racks. One little girl couldn't have been older than eight, but she was holding a dagger longer than her hand and eyeing it expertly. Kate pursed her lips, eyes still roving the room. It couldn't be that hard to find the ones in charge. She saw two guys arguing in one corner by a rack of six foot long spears. They were both very strong-looking; one of them may have been Ellis. Kate watched them a while longer. They both seemed pretty upset, and both were definitely alpha-male types. Still, Kate could see that the dark-haired one held himself with more… authority. She took a step towards them, then realized that she didn't want to get in the middle of that fight. Holly had warned her not to get Ellis upset, but it seemed too late for that. Kate looked around some more. Finally, her eyes landed on a guy who looked to be about her age, polishing some throwing knives. Kate wasn't sure how she knew, but he seemed to be in charge as well. She walked over to him carefully, not wanting to startle the guy holding the sharp objects.
"Um, hey, are you Shane? I'm Kate." The boy looked up, his dirty blonde hair falling into his almost-black eyes. "Yeah, that's me. You the new girl? Daughter of Kratos?" Kate smiled and nodded, suddenly quite eager to get her hands on her own blade.
Shane stood, gingerly setting his blades now. "Let's get you set up, then."
Before coming to camp, even the idea of picking up a sword scared her, but now she wanted to have them all. "Ok! I'm here for a sword. Or a dagger. Or an axe!" Kate was getting a little too excited now, reaching out to touch a double-bladed axe hanging on the wall.
"Calm down, crazy. You sound like an Ares kid." Shane grumbled, smacking her wrist before she could reach the weapon. Kate rolled her eyes, but stopped bouncing on the balls of her feet.
The grin crept back up onto her face as she looked around the room again. "So, what do I get?"
Shane couldn't keep from laughing at her enthusiasm. "It's not Christmas, crazy." He stood and placed the knives back in their places. "You ever fought before?" He asked.
Kate shook her head. "Nope. Well, I did kill a basilisk with a sword on my way to camp, but that's the only weapon I've ever used. I'm sure anything you give me will work, though."
Shane shook his head. "Nope. I hate doing this the easy way, giving you a new sword every time you say the old one doesn't feel right. I'm going to give you a training sword and watch you fight with it, and then I'll give you a blunted one to train with for a few weeks until you're ready for the next size up." Kate shrugged, happy as long as she was getting her very own weapon.
Shane led her over to a rack of dulled swords of varying shapes and sizes. Selecting a very simply one, he tossed it to Kate. Her eyes widened as the weapon came flying towards her, but she caught it with surprising grace. Kate was expecting it, but it still surprised her when the rush of information that usually flooded her came. The weapon had never had an owner for longer than a week, but it was very dependable. She sensed that it was pretty powerful, but wasn't strong enough to really hurt someone unless its wielder was quite strong and not afraid of cracking the blade.
Kate shook the information out of her head and held the sword so that the blade crossed her chest, protecting her entire torso. Shane had been picking up his own sword, so he hadn't noticed Kate's lapse in concentration. He did notice her professional stance, though.
"Where'd you learn to do that?" He asked, leading her over to an open area near the middle of the armory.
Kate shrugged. "It just felt like the right thing to do."
Shane nodded. "Fair enough." He turned to face her on the mat, adopting the same pose as her. "Let's go." He said, his face devoid of emotion, though Kate was sure she looked like a kid in a candy shop among all the weapons.
She was expecting Shane to circle her, or hesitate, or something, but she definitely wasn't expecting him to come at her with a battle-cry that seemed uncharacteristic, though she'd only just met him. He started raining blows down on her, not holding back, and she could barely hold her own. Kate quickly decided to fight only on the defensive, since Shane wasn't really giving her room for anything else. She was concentrating intently, simultaneously trying to block her opponent and learn from his technique. He was clearly holding back, but she tried not to let that bother her.
After less than a minute of fighting, Kate felt the flat of Shane's blade whack her leg. Something in her mind shifted at that painful contact. She stopped processing all of the extra things, like the small crowd they were drawing, the sound of ringing blades, and the tiredness that was slowing her limbs. She focused only on one movement to the next, trying her best to stay on the mat and somehow best Shane. She registered the look of surprise on Shane's face as her moves inexplicably improved, but didn't let it effect her. After a while of fighting which brought beads of sweat to both fighter's heads, Shane bested her with a feint to her legs, which she was overeager to defend after the first tap, allowing him to press the point of his sword right against her throat.
They were both breathing heavily, and it took Kate a moment to register the light applause around them. "Good job, newbie," Said Julia, who must have come into the armory after they started fighting. Kate gave her a tight smile, but she was keenly aware that she'd lost in under two minutes.
Shane dropped his sword and cocked his head at her. "You realize that most first time fighters are beaten in way less time than that, right? You held your own without a single fancy move or unfair tactic." His compliment made Kate smile a little wider, and she followed Shane off the mat to a rack of slightly less dull swords.
Shane examined the rack for a moment, then measured her arm against his own. Finally, he decided. "This one," He announced, pulling an odd looking sword from the rack. It looked pretty normal on the top; the blade a bit shorter than Kate's arm; but the hilt was pretty odd. It was quite long; about seven inches. The hilt was wrapped in red leather, and the simple cross guard was the same deep bronze color as the blade.
"It's only a training sword, not sharp enough to do too much damage, but it'll do for now." Shane said, eyeing the sword.
Kate held the sword up in the light. It was a nice sword, but it had only ever killed one monster. Shane then handed her a simple sheath to go with it, and she fastened it around her waist while Shane told her the basics of taking care of the sword. Then, he led her to a rack of daggers of varying length.
"The sword is good for arena fighting, but I doubt it'll do much good in close quarters." He explained. Kate frowned, wondering what 'close quarters' meant, but she let Shane hand her two daggers. "Ok, now these are real, not dulled like the sword. Fighting with two daggers is different than fighting with a sword, and it's harder, too. You've got to be fast and clever, but I think you can handle it. If any monster comes after you before you get your real sword, these will hold you over." Kate took them from him with a polite "thanks", smiling as she felt the power in them. "Oh, the shorter one should go in your dominant hand."
Kate raised her eyebrows at him in surprise. "How did you know I'm left handed?" She asked.
Shane shrugged. "Just from watching you fight." He said sheepishly, though Kate was thoroughly impressed that he could tell so much about her just from her fighting style.
Kate tucked the blades into the sword belt. Shane frowned. "I don't know why, but I feel like I need to tell you that some people choose to carry another, smaller blade, like, in their shoe or something. In fact, I think you should start carrying one around with you, and practicing with it, too. I don't know why you'd need it, but I feel like I should tell you," he shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck.
Kate thought for a moment and asked, "You're a child of Hephaestus, right? Good with forges and machines and stuff?" She asked.
Shane eyed her. "Yeah, why?"
Kate pursed her lips. "Well, I killed a basilisk the night I got here, and I got a tooth from it. I was wondering if maybe you could turn that into a knife? Do you know how to do that?"
Shane drew himself up, "Of course I know how to do that. This isn't my first day here." He scoffed.
Kate smiled. "Great. You make it into a knife, and I'll get you...whatever soda you want." Carly had explained to her how sodas were contraband, but her loft, as well as the mini fridge in the kitchen of her cabin, were stocked with Dr. Peppers, Cokes, and Pepsis. Holly hadn't explained to her how she'd managed to sneak them in, but she had mentioned that Laurel "couldn't stand having less than the Hermes cabin".
Shane widened his eyes at her. "Really? I'm a full time camper, so I haven't had a Dr. Pepper in, like, years."
Kate held back a laugh at his wistful expression. "Well, I can get you one."
Shane gave her a look and said, "You know, it's gonna take some time to get this done. I've got a lot going on."
Kate could tell that he wanted another soda, but their supply was limited, so she went with a different tactic. "Oh, it's okay," she said, "I don't care about the extra time. I'll still give you the full soda." Shane scowled and Kate smirked right back at him, dropping the tooth into his hand. "Thanks for the weapons!" She called, and walked out to the arena without looking back.
The arena, while not huge, was still big enough to intimidate Kate. There were practice dummies everywhere, some with arrows sticking out of them, others with throats and guts slashed, and still others that were burned, crushed, or warped unnaturally. It took Kate a second to notice, but she realized that all of the dummies resembled some monster; none looked human. There were three huge ones about twelve feet tall which grabbed Kate's attention. Two of them were moving around, as if alive. She looked to the edge of the arena and saw a small group of kids standing completely still, watching the animated dummy. They seemed to be the ones controlling it, actually, eyes trailing it and hands twitching every time it swung its arm. Kate looked away and shook her head. She guessed she would have to get used to some odd things around here.
Kate took out the sword Shane had given her and walked toward the giant dummy. There were other forms of training going on, like sword fighting and knife throwing, but Kate wanted in on the main action. As she got closer, she could make out Holly as well as two other campers trying to take out the dummy. It was missing an arm and its legs looked pretty slashed up, but it was still moving around, wielding a chain with a giant, spiked ball on one end. The dummy was using its weapon to smash the ground around it when anyone got too close. Kate finally stopped walking toward it, stopping at what she hoped was a safe distance, waiting until one of the fighters noticed her, not wanting to join in uninvited. Just then, one of the campers, a small girl with long blond hair, darted through the creature's legs, slashing the inside of both thighs with her sword. As the girl ran out of the giant's range, she saw Kate watching the fight.
"Hey Kate!" said the girl, waving before rolling out of the way of the giant. Kate had to actually put effort into not letting her jaw drop. It was Carly! Kate stared at the young girl as she, Holly, and the other camper expertly maneuvered around the giant. A few moments later, the other camper dodged the giant's foot by diving and rolling out of the way, landing a few feet from Kate. As he stood up to brush himself off, Kate saw that it was Connor Stoll from the Hermes cabin.
Kate smirked. "Getting rough out there, Connor?" He glared at Kate and stalked back over to the giant. Kate knew that she probably shouldn't be egging on one of the most experienced and mischievous campers, but she couldn't help it. From the look in his eyes, he was determined to take down the dummy for himself. Though she wanted to go and help, Kate felt that she would just ruin the dynamic of the trio. Instead, she decided to wait until the thing was down, then ask if she could help with the next one.
Finally, Holly slashed her bronze sword through the chain holding the ball. The spike thing went flying, and the giant was left without a weapon. Carly took her chance and stabbed the giant in the back of one leg. The giant fell to his knees, and Connor immediately jumped up to stab it in the chest, sword plunging in hilt-deep. The kids controlling the giant all groaned and lost their look of deep concentration, causing the faceless dummy to slump over, almost on top of Connor. Kate laughed as he pulled at his sword and jumped out of the way before he was crushed but the six-foot tall torso. The three campers waved at the other group, then headed over to their water bottles. Kate, too, went over to congratulate them.
"Carly, that was so cool! You did a great job!" Carly smiled proudly, but said "Well, the other day I took out two dummies by myself, so this wasn't that cool. Besides, everyone knows that Percy Jackson once took out a giant all by himself."
Holly huffed. "Percy has never taken out a giant alone. He isn't that amazing."
Holly looked to Connor for support, but he just shook his head. "Hey, I'm not gonna diss my man. He's the one that introduced me to hair dye, remember?"
Holly's eyes narrowed. "How could I forget?" she growled.
Connor grinned. Carly and Kate gave him a questioning look, so he explained. "You know how third place people always get bronze trophies and white ribbons? Well, I dyed Holly's hair bronze and white with semi-permanent hair dye a few years ago."
Holly was seething, but Kate and Carly both were trying hard not to laugh. "Anyway," growled Holly, "Who's ready for a rematch?"
Carly shook her head a skipped over to the throwing knives area, but Connor stayed. "You know, Kate here hasn't been fully initiated yet, has she? Since the Ares kids aren't allowed to do their version of a ceremony anymore, why don't we take over?" The look in Connor's eyes was starting to scare Kate a little bit, so she looked at Holly for reassurance.
"Well, I just fought with Shane in the armory. Everyone thought I did pretty good."
Connor grinned and Kate realized her mistake. "Perfect! That means that you should be prepared for this!" He was looking at Holly, almost as if for permission.
Holly looked between Kate and Connor, then shook her head like a wet dog. "Of course Kate will win! She's Nike's niece, after all. One condition, though."
Connor raised his eyes. "Sure."
Holly smiled devilishly. "If Holly wins, you have to announce that Cabin 17 is exempt from mucking out the Pegasi stables this week."
Connor's face turned pale. "Who would take your place?" He asked, wary.
Holly shrugged. "I'm sure you could find someone to do it. Or, we could just, you know, not have an 'initiation'?"
Connor bit his lip. "Fine. Deal." he stuck out his hand for Holly to shake. Then they both turned to Kate.
"Ready to fight a giant?" Asked Holly, as if it was the most normal question in the world. Kate's face paled, but neither camper payed any attention.
"I would just like to point out that this is literally my first day here, Holly!" Kate whisper yelled as Holly strapped her with some armor.
"Oh, you'll be fine. I heard that you were able to avoid two of Connor's pranks. That probably didn't settle very well with him, and this is his way of payback. Besides, as soon as this idea came into his head, he wasn't about to back down."
Kate huffed in annoyance, though it mostly served to mask her nervousness.
"You know," Holly said, "Some of the campers, like Ares and Athena, enjoy proving themselves like this."
Kate shook her head. "What, by single handedly taking down a twelve foot tall animated dummy? With less than twenty four hours of experience?" Kate asked, sarcasm dripping from her voice.
Holly just shrugged.
"I don't even have a real sword yet!" Kate cried.
"Don't worry about that. These dummies are made for the practice swords."
Kate sighed. "Still," She started, but Holly cut her off by tightening a strap on her arm brace with a violent tug.
"Ok, all done. You don't get a shield, because you've never fought with one before and it would just get in the way."
Kate got the message; it was too late to turn back. Worrying would do her no good now. Instead of any more arguing, she simply nodded and bobbed on the balls of her feet, apprehension racing through her veins.
"And don't worry about a crowd. This is kind of a daily thing here." Holly said, almost like an afterthought.
Kate hadn't even been thinking about spectators before, but she was now. Somehow, though, the thought of a crowd excited her. The nervousness was slowly being replaced by an enthusiasm that she had come to associate with fighting. It wasn't the infamous bloodlust of the Ares cabin, or the neurotic need for victory of the children of Nike, but more like a need to prove her worth and feel the power that came with overcoming something. Kate cracked her neck, shook herself, and smiled.
Holly glanced at her and murmured "That dummy better watch out."
Kate shrugged. "Is there anything more I need to know before going out there? Any tips?"
Holly pursed her lips. "I can't give you that many tips, because then the fight would be too skewed. There are a few things you need to know, though…"