A/N: Hey guys! I just wanted to send a quick message to my readers: Thank you! It means a lot to me just that you enjoy reading this enough to keep up with it. I know it's been a lil slow, but bear with me. I don't have much of an upload schedule, and I apologize for that. It isn't plausible because of the fact that I'm in school in a rigorous program. I don't make time in my schedule for uploading/writing, but when I do have the time, I use it.
Another quick thing I wanted to address is that I would really appreciate some reviews! I know that I have readers, but it's kind of like you're all little ghosts, since I have no idea who you are or what you think about my writing. I'd love to hear your opinions!
You'll notice that I've mentioned a few characters that are in Rick Riordan's book. I apologize now and in advance for any out of character portrayal.
Okay, for those of you who are still reading this, wow. Good job. I know it was lengthy, I just haven't said anything in a while. Well, like a chapter, but still. Alright, I swear I'm done. Enjoy!
Kate stood in front of the now-swaying giant. Holly had explained that because only two campers were currently controlling the dummy, she'd have to wait a second before she started. Kate watched the dummy intently, but her mind wandered to the small crowd standing around her. The entire Hermes cabin was there, a few of the Hephaestus cabin—including Shane—and the Hecate cabin, who Kate had learned were the people controlling the dummies. In total, about twelve people were going to watch. Kate didn't know how she drew such a crowd, but it was definitely making her feel self-conscious, for many reasons. She was the only one there wearing armor, first of all, and then there was the fact that every camper, even down to little Carly and Chris, were better equipped than her to take down anything, giant or any monster. Plus, Shane was watching, and she felt like she owed it to him to defeat this monster after doing so well in the sword fight.
Suddenly, the dummy stood up completely straight and began to lightly swing its ball thing, which Kate was just going to call a spike ball since no one would tell her the real name. She wasn't sure how to go about it, but she knew she wanted to do a lot of damage to the legs first. It would be good to go for the arm holding the spike ball, but Kate felt that that was a little too ambitious for her first attack. The adrenaline in her veins had turned into fierce determination to kill this thing as quickly as possible. Besides, it was almost time for lunch, and Kate was getting hungry.
After a moment of walking in a circle around the giant, Kate finally saw her opportunity. The giant swung the spike ball into the ground only two feet from Kate, and seemed to lodge it in pretty deep. In the second of hesitation it took for the giant to dislodge his weapon, Kate had slashed his thigh to where bone would have been if the dummy had been alive. The thing was limping now, and Kate smiled. She felt power coarse through her veins and she knew she could win this fight. The thrill of battle made Kate hasty to win, so the very next chance she got she chopped at the dummy's other leg. It didn't come off, but the giant was pretty much crippled now. His range of motion was severely depleted in his legs, but his arms were still good with the spike ball.
After a few more minutes of dodging the spike ball and performing attacks that were successful but did little to stop the giant, Kate finally settled on a plan. Holly had cut the chain on the spike ball and rid the giant of his weapon. Kate would have to act fast after she chopped the chain, though, because the remaining piece of the chain would be much harder to avoid without the heavy ball on it. Getting as close as she dared, she stopped in front of the giant. Without pause, the thing heaved the ball forward, apparently sure that she couldn't dodge. She did at the last second, and the ball buried itself just like the last time. Wasting no time, Kate sliced the chain as far up as she could, then chopped off the giant's arm at the elbow. It's other arm came crashing towards her and she decided to scamper out of the way. Not quite Plan A, but the giant would be a lot easier to kill with one arm and two immovable legs. Instead of stalling, Kate decided to just get it over with. She rushed the giant from his armless side and jumped as high as she could, then stuck her sword deep into its side, using the weapon as a handhold. The giant started to thrash, and Kate tried not to let it affect her. Instead, she hauled herself up, trying to avoid the stub of an arm as best she could, then brought out the long dagger that Shane had given her and slashed the base of the giant's throat from the side, shoving her knife away from her through its thick canvas skin in a jerky motion. A little unorthodox, but it worked. Kate jumped down as the dummy fell backwards, and everyone began to clap, except for Connor, who looked kind of pissed and kind of impressed.
Kate smiled and retrieved all of her weapons, cleaning the fake monster guts from them as best as she could. Most of the people who had watched simply called out congratulations and left, continuing on with their own training. That humbled Kate a little bit, reminding her that people here defeated monsters every day. Still, she was proud of herself, especially when Julia high-fived her and told her how it had taken Connor months to be able to defeat one of those alone.
Kate was so busy wondering how to best rub this new knowledge in Connor's face that she yelped as someone tapped her shoulder behind her, and whipped around with her dagger in her hand.
"Hey, don't kill me! It's Dylan. Remember me?"
Kate smiled, dropping the weapon, and hugged her friend. "I had no idea when I was going to see you again. I'm so glad you were able to come to this!"
Dylan looked around and shuddered a little bit. "I'm not the biggest fan of giants, but I thought I'd see how our newest camper was doing. That was awesome! Even better than the basilisk. I have to go, but I'm glad you're all settled in."
Kate waved as Dylan left the arena, giving the larger dummies a wide berth.
Next, Shane came up to her, pride shining in his dark eyes. "You did good, crazy. Nice work with the dagger."
Kate grinned. "Thanks. I almost forgot I had it until the last second, but I think it turned out okay."
Shane laughed. "Yeah, I think so" he said, rolling his eyes, and walked back to the armory.
Kate headed over to Holly and Connor, who were now arguing pretty fiercely.
"The only reason she beat that thing is because Lou Ellen was going easy on her!" Connor was shouting.
Holly rolled her eyes. "You're just mad because you know you'll be cleaning Pegasi poop!"
Connor huffed and was about to say something else before Kate interrupted him. "If you think Lou Ellen was going easy on me, why don't you ask her yourself?" She asked.
Lou Ellen was visiting the camp on her fall break, like Connor, and was one of the campers who had controlled the giant. Holly eyed Connor, then called Lou Ellen over. The girl trotted over to them, obviously tired but still bright eyed and cheery. Kate immediately liked her.
"What's up?" She asked, looking between the three of them.
Kate spoke first. "Connor here was wondering if you were going easy on me because I'm new," She said, crossing her arms and glaring at him.
Lou Ellen frowned. "Well, I was at first, but as soon as you got his leg the first time, me and Beth got kinda mad and started making it as hard as we normally would. Sorry," she added, nudging Kate.
"It's fine. It was fun!" Kate assured her. It surprised her a little how true that was.
Lou Ellen nodded and smiled. "Yeah, it is. If that's all you needed, I'm heading to the pavilion. Controlling giants really gives me an appetite." She turned on her heel and led the rest of her cabin to lunch.
"See Connor," said Holly, "Kate won fair and square. Now, go tell your cabin that they'll be mucking our the stables next week."
Connor rolled his eyes and stalked away, knowing he wouldn't be winning this argument. Holly threw her arm around Kate. "I think I like you," she said thoughtfully. Kate laughed, and they walked together to the pavilion, looking like the cousins and friends that they were.
No one noticed the centaur standing at the top of the arena, partially hidden by a wall of white plaster. He smiled to himself as he saw all the campers leaving the arena. He tried watched the fighters in the arena when he could, not only to measure their progress but also to be close enough to help if anyone needed it. Chiron decided he'd have to have a talk with Kate. If she was going to be their next top fighter, he wanted to make sure he knew her first.
Kate sat with Holly and the children of Tyche, of whom there were currently two at camp. The boy had bought out a game of monopoly for them to play while they ate. The game was quite competitive, because the campers from each cabin had a tendency to win. The girl, named Moira, was losing so far, but only barely. Holly was winning, but Kate wasn't quite sure who out of herself and Felix, the boy, was in second. Kate was in the middle of arguing with him over why he should trade one of his cards with her when Chiron, in wheelchair form, came up beside them.
"Kate, may I speak with you for a moment?"
Kate bit her lip and gazed at the game, then stood to walk with Chiron. She knew that they would probably play on without her, but she tried not to let it bother her. She'd always been pretty serious about board games, but whatever Chiron need was probably more important. Probably.
As soon as they were out of the eating area, Chiron rose out of his seat, taller and taller until he was completely half-horse, half-man. Kate did her best not to stare, simply continued walking next to him.
"I wanted to talk to you about your fighting skills." Chiron began, getting right to the point.
Kate blushed. "I know they're pretty bad right now, but give me a few weeks and I'll be one of your best."
Chiron chuckled. "You are well on your way to being one of our best fighters, Kate. The talent and skill you showed in the arena today proved that. I just wanted to let you know what comes with being a good fighter." He said, leading her toward the canoe lake. "Holly and Laurel are very good fighters, and the twins get better every time they come here. The raw talent you posses, though, surpasses the skills that they have accumulated. This means that some other campers may start pressuring you to be head counselor of your cabin. It will be entirely your decision, when the time comes, but I wanted to let you know that a rift with two children of victory would not be the best thing for you. Of course, if you complete a quest successfully, your right to head counselor would be undeniable. Also, as a fighter with such skill, you will become part of the on-call crew. There is no official list, but Dionysus and I, as well as some senior campers like Annabeth Chase and Clarisse LaRue, like to have a few campers that we can count on to defend camp when we need it. We have had quite a few monster uprisings and scuffles and things that require experienced and adept campers to handle. Every camper here, of course, is skilled with one weapon or another and very capable at defending themselves, but it takes a special amount of creativity, skill, and determination to be a top warrior. Most campers do reach this point eventually, but I believe that you will get there very soon. Lastly, there is the slight issue of quests. You see, the better at fighting you are, the more likely you are to be sent on a quest. It's nothing you can control, it is simply fate. I wanted to prepare you for the possibility that you could be sent on a quest. Do you know how they work?"
Kate nodded slowly; Carly had explained them pretty well already. Chiron, too, nodded. He must have understood that Kate needed a second to process. She looked around at camp. Was she really that good? None of the other campers had pointed out that she had any extreme level of skill. She'd only fought a couple of times; she hadn't received any official training with the older campers, unless her mini-fight with Shane counted.
"Who else is in this group?" She asked, trying to understand what she was part of.
"Well, of course those in the prophecy of the seven are always dependable, as well as Malcolm, son of Athena, Katie, daughter of Demeter, Paolo, son of Hebe, Clarisse, daughter of Ares, Will, son of Apollo, Connor and Travis Stoll, sons of Hermes, though apart they are not as efficient as they are together, and Julia, also daughter of Hermes. Those are the people that you most likely know of, but there are a few others on that list as well. Harley, another son of Hephaestus, reminds me of Leo Valdez so much so that you would think he is only a younger version, except that they look nothing alike. Harley is another candidate for this group, like you. So is Shane, his brother. I am not saying that your new job would be to put your life on the line every time we are threatened, but you will definitely be one of the ones that will be consulted in battle strategy and such. You would also be taking strategy lessons with the Athena cabin, which is optional for other campers."
Kate nodded again. "I'm honored, Chiron," She said. Truly, she was. With every new experience at Camp Half-Blood, she found herself feeling more at home. It was like she'd unlocked a part of herself that had been dormant for years. She felt whole now, like she'd found her calling.
Chiron smiled and began to give her a little history on battles in the camp, walking around the lake towards the Pegasi stables.
Suddenly, the hair around Kate's face began to blow widely, and a flying chariot zoomed over their heads, along with a camper yelling in delight. There were two pegasi leading the chariot, flying side by side and taking up a huge amount of space in order to keep their wings from touching.
Kate smiled, the thrill of flying flashing through her and making her want to join them in the sky. She looked to Chiron. "Do all campers get to ride Pegasi?" The thought excited her so much that she was a bit breathless.
Chiron smiled at her enthusiasm. "Well, if the pegasi take to a camper, then yes. There are some people from the Aphrodite cabin that don't prefer it, and some campers just like the chariots, not actually riding the animals that pull them. Pegasi are intelligent and proud, so if they don't like you riding them, then you don't get to."
Kate had never ridden a horse before, and somehow she wasn't sure that they would like her. Her confidence wavered slightly.
"You know," said Chiron, seeing her apprehension, "Horses were symbols of power in ancient Greece. Your father is the god of power and strength, so something tells me they'll take to you just fine."
Kate smiled. Something about that felt true. She looked up into the sky, where another chariot was flying towards them. She and Chiron were content to just watch it, until it became apparent that something was wrong with the chariot, and it was coming in to land right where they were standing. No, not land. Crash.
Chiron and Kate both jumped out of the way as fast as they could. The camper driving it was shrieking, yanking on the reins and trying to force the horses up. The thing was, the chariot was dangling from whatever held it to the horses by a few pieces of splintered wood. The camper was trying to scramble onto the back of one of the pegasi, but he was tied into the chariot by a harness, and the horses were too busy straining to keep the dragging chariot in the air. Kate could see that the chariot wasn't going to last long.
As it came closer, Chiron cocked his head towards the chariot, after yelling for the Hecate kids.
"Is he trying to say something?" Asked Chiron. Kate, too, listened, and could make out the faintest words between the screeching of metal from the chariot and from the horses.
"What's greek fire?" Asked Kate, slightly nervous now.
Chiron's eyes widened. "Greek fire is bad. Very bad. The impact could cause half of camp to explode in flames that we can't put out."
Kate looked in disbelief at the chariot. "Wh-why…?"
Chiron looked briefly to Kate, but mostly kept his gaze on the struggling charioteer. "I believe Harley helped build it. He tends to like to have weapons on hand at all times."
Kate nodded, wondering what kind of kid this Harley was. Suddenly, Chiron's head whipped to the chariot and then to camp. He sighed deeply. "The Hecate cabin will not get here in time. I'm afraid that it is in the hands of the gods now."
Kate gave Chiron a flabbergasted look before remembering that the gods were real and could plausibly do something about it. Still, Kate hated knowing that there was nothing she could do. Chiron's resignation seemed…weak, almost. His stance was no longer tense; he was truly not going to do anything. Kate could not find it in herself to hand her fate and the fate of others over to the powers of the gods. She'd been at camp for less than two days, yet even that time was long enough for her to understand that the gods were fickle and out of touch with mortal struggles. They probably wouldn't even notice the possible massacre. But I'm here. I can do something, Kate thought.
All of these thoughts rushed through her mind in less than a second, and without thinking, she leapt in the path of the chariot. It was barely a second away, but it passed like an eternity; everything was in slow motion. Kate put her hands out in front of her, planted her feet, and watched the chariot closely. When the front end of it finally, finally, touched the ground, the dirt around it sprayed up painstakingly slowly. Kate could see the camper's terrified and confused face, probably wondering what in the gods' name she was doing. She even saw the moment the green flames began to overtake the chariot. It was odd, they seemed to be moving pretty quickly in this slow motion altered reality. Taking a deep breath, Kate brought her outstretched arms down to the ground as quickly as she could, focusing all of her energy on the impact and the fire. Immediately, everything returned back to normal, speed-wise. Other than that, nothing was normal. The chariot had stopped moving all together, and the tremors that had shaken the earth calmed completely. Even the trees around them, which had been blowing in the wind, were motionless. The Greek fire was no longer blazing, instead confined to a small jar, flickering and leaping at the air above the rim, though something was keeping it contained. The camper in the chariot slowly rose, looking around as if not sure if anything were real. He screwed the lids on, then turned his attention to Kate.
Kate wasn't paying much attention to him, though. Instead, she was focused on the incredible buzzing feeling that had filled her. She felt like her every cell was vibrating with unrestrained energy. She felt like she could move a mountain just by tapping it. She looked over at the camper, who was trying to speak, though no noise was coming out of his mouth. He extricated himself from the chariot, and even though the broken boards fell against each other, they made no noise. It looked odd, too. Rather than shaking from the impact of falling, or tumbling like a normal object would, there was no movement. They didn't bounce even a little bit when they fell to the ground. Suddenly, Kate realized that she was the one doing that. Concentrating intently yet again, she closed herself off from the energy, hoping she was doing the right thing.
Chiron trotted over to them tentatively. "Christopher, Kate, are you alright?"
Christopher looked up at the centaur and slowly tried to speak, speeding up when he realized he could hear himself again. "Yeah, I think so. I guess we should've spent more time on the prototype, huh?" He said, smiling sheepishly.
Kate turned to Chiron and looked down at herself. She couldn't see the vibration, but she could feel it inside her. She almost felt like she would explode.
Chiron examined her with a searching and concerned look. "Are you alright, Kate? Do you know what you did?" He asked carefully.
Kate shook her head, too afraid of what might happen if she spoke. She felt like it would come out like a yell, not stopping until this odd feeling had bled out of her.
"I have a theory that you might have absorbed the energy from the crash and the explosion. It seemed to almost shrink after you did whatever it is that you did. How do you feel?" He spoke in the warm, concerned voice of someone who wanted to help, but he was conspicuously not touching her or approaching her.
Kate took a deep breath and decided to try to speak. "I feel really weird, actually. I think you're right about the energy thing." Her voice sounded normal, though it was the tiniest bit louder than it needed to be.
Chiron nodded. "I will be honest and say that I am entirely unsure what to do."
Kate let out a nervous laugh, completely unsure herself.
"Maybe you just need to walk it off?" Asked Christopher, apparently trying to help.
Chiron pondered the suggestion for a moment. "Let's try it. Kate, why don't you go to the arena and do some work over there. I will do some research and get someone over here to clean this up. Christopher, perhaps it should be cabin number nine?" He suggested.
Christopher nodded and rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry about that Chiron, really. We kind of rushed the design a little bit." Chiron raised an eyebrow. "Okay, so we rushed it a lot." Muttered Christopher.
Chiron nodded and gazed over at the destroyed chariot. "It's rare that children of Hephaestus have a faulty chariot." He noted.
Christopher thought for a moment, then snapped his fingers and exclaimed, "Oh, I know what happened! Nyssa tried to bet against Felix the other day. When she lost, he didn't make her do anything, even though the bet called for some sort of debt."
Chiron looked over to the ring of cabins. "This could have been detrimental to camp. I know he's young and can't necessarily control his abilities, but one of you will have to go talk with him about this. He may not want to listen to me. Until then, clean this up," Chiron said, waving a hand at the wreckage. "Thanks to Kate, I think that a lot of the parts are salvageable.
While Christopher ran off to get his cabin mates, Kate followed Chiron to the arena. Walking didn't seem to be helping, but she didn't know if she'd be able to stop if she ran. Her ears had started to ring and she was getting twitchy, but Chiron didn't seem to notice. When they finally reached the arena, Chiron instructed her to find Sherman Yang, a son of Ares who should have been training in the arena. He explained that Sherman was a fighter who liked to incorporate a lot of brute force into his attacks. Hopefully, it would allow Kate to get rid of the pent up energy that seemed to be filling her. The thought of getting rid of the odd vibrating feeling excited Kate, and she had to keep herself from jumping. She thought she might get lost in orbit if she tried that.
The arena was less crowded than it had been earlier, with only a few older campers who didn't need much supervision. Kate looked around at the five or so campers, all slashing and stabbing at dummies, though she noticed that none of the dummies were animated or over six feet tall. Watching them all fight, Kate was able to pinpoint a burly, dark-haired kid slashing at a dummy in a way that honestly made Kate slightly nervous. She went over and stood so that he could see her, waiting until she was sure he knew she was there before speaking. She really didn't want to risk a sword to the gut.
"Uh, Sherman?" She asked, making an effort to keep her voice at a normal volume. He glanced up from his dummy, though the bloodthirsty look didn't leave his eyes. "Chiron sent me here to fight you. I'm Kate, I got here last night. I was claimed this morning, at breakfast."His gaze remained blank. "I'm the daughter of Kratos? I fought one of the giant dummy earlier today."
That seemed to stir his memory, and he nodded stiffly. "The new kid. I heard you won a fight with a giant." He said.
Kate got the impression that he didn't talk much. He kicked the dummy to the side, creating a good sized clearing. "Why did Chiron send you?" He asked, cleaning his blade of residual fluff and pieces of foam from the dummy.
"I kind of stopped an explosion from a chariot. He thinks that I ended up absorbing the energy from the crash and the greek fire into myself, and now I need to work it out. He's doing research now, but we think fighting will help."
Sherman eyed Kate up and down, with a calculating look that told Kate he wouldn't be going easy on her. She could feel his natural confidence, and it made her own double. If he thought that this would be easy, he was dead wrong, Kate thought. She didn't know much about the energy that was pent up inside her, but she did know that, at the moment, she was a lot more powerful than she looked.
"Alright. Let's get started," Sherman called. Kate would have been surprised at his eagerness to start after fighting the targets, but the glint in his eyes told her that Sherman had been waiting too long to beat up something that wasn't a dummy.