Chapter 3, Camp Life
As we pulled up on Half-Blood Hill, I felt something strange, really strange. I could sense something up the hill and as I looked, I saw what looked like a blue barrier of wind starting from a huge pine tree and spreading from both sides of the tree creating a large dome.
"Chiron, what's that?" I asked the centaur that somehow fits in a wheelchair. He looked puzzled at what I was referring to, then almost as if a lightbulb went off above his head, he realized what I was talking about.
"You can see the barrier?" He asked me, which was more of a statement. I just nodded at him, he then went on to explain that there is a barrier protecting the camp from monsters. He then led me and Grover up the hill and into Camp Half-Blood. I immediately fell in love with the place, the 12 cabins looked amazing in the afternoon sunlight, and my eyes were drawn instantly to the arena and climbing wall that looked to be covered in lava. I knew I was gonna spend a lot of time in the arena honing my skill with my spear, holding that spear just felt right and I knew with practice I would be a force to be reckoned with. Chiron led me towards a huge two story farmhouse and told Grover to go fetch someone named Clarisse to give me a tour as Grover had to report to the Council of Cloven Elders.
"Who's Clarisse?" I asked curiously. Chiron smiled at me as he responded.
"She's someone who appreciates fighting in the same manner you do, I have a feeling you two will get along greatly.' He told me as a beautiful girl with a red bandana walked in. She has dark brown eyes and pale brown stringy hair pulled back into a ponytail supported by her red bandana. She is wearing black jeans tucked into combat boots and an orange shirt with the sleeves ripped off that read CAMP HALF-BLOOD in big print on it.
"Who's the new guy?" She asked the centaur as she eyed me up and down, clearly assessing me.
"My name is Thomas Ibn-La'Ahad, son of an unknown god. Nice to meet you." I say as I thrust my hand in her direction for a handshake. As she grabs my hand to shake it, she introduces herself.
"My name is Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Ares, God of War." She said proudly.
"God of War? That's awesome! You must be a great fighter then, could you teach me how to fight?" I asked curiously, hoping to have someone to spar with. She smiled and nodded.
"Only if you show promise in the arena, follow me." Clarisse said as she walked out of the Big House and led the way to the arena, explaining the layout of the camp as we walked. Once we got to the arena Clarisse walked to them idle and pulled a hair pin out of her hair that elongated into a spear that cracked with electricity. I stood opposite of her and grabbed my bracelet charm, watching as it elongated into my spear, Al Sahra' Al Hamra', which is Arabic for The Red Desert and is what I decided to name my beautiful red ornate Ox Tongue spear.
"Good choice of weaponry, I like your style kid." Clarisse said as she approached me slowly, her spear at the ready. I smirked at her as I approached with my spear at a level place, letting my instincts guide me. She swiped at me vertically, which I parried and used the momentum from the parry to strike horizontally at her. She blocked this easily, then threw out two quick stabs, I dodged one and reposted the other one then responded with my own stab, using the spiked guard I pulled her spear towards me, trying to rip it from her grasp, instead it just pulled her forward as she held her grip, seeing this I swing the blunt end of my spear at her gut. She doesn't react fast enough and takes the hit, backing up a few steps, Clarisse stares at me fiercely and rushes towards me.
Clarisse swipes at my chest with the tip of my spear, which I dodge by leaning back and using the blunt end of my spear to catch myself and launch myself back into a stand position as she feints the swipe and swing at my legs, causing me to fall on my ass. She then kicks my spear out of my hand and points her electric spear at my throat.
"Yield Tommy Boy?" Clarisse says with a smirk, already knowing the answer.
"Yeah, I yield, That was a good fight!" I exclaim happily, feeling fatigued yet energized with the thrill of a fight no matter win or lose. Clarisse smiled at me as she shrunk her spear and helped me up. I shrunk my spear then followed Clarisse as she led me to the Hermes cabin so I can meet the campers that I will be staying with. Clarisse explained to me about camp schedules and rules and how the camp works as a whole, she then agreed to train me as the Hermes cabin is at the arena at the same time as the Ares cabin. As we walked up to the Hermes cabin, a blond kid stepped out. He has blue eyes and a scar from the top of his right eyebrow going down through his eye and ending at the top of his cheek bone.
"Thomas Ibn-La'Ahad, son of an unknown god, meet Luke Castellan, son of Hermes, God of Speed and Thieves." Clarisse introduced us. I smiled at him as I outstretch my hand for a handshake, which he accepted.
"Hello Thomas, nice to meet you and welcome to Camp Half-Blood!' He grinned widely at me as he led me into his cabin. He went on to explain the cabin schedule as two identical boys walked up to us.
"Determined or undetermined?" The twins asked at the same time.
"Undetermined Stoll's, these are my brothers, Connor and Travis Stoll." Luke explained to me.
Clarisse POV
As I left the new guy, Thomas, with the Hermes cabin, I thought back to our duel in the arena. He definitely surprised me with that attempted disarm and it seemed like he knew his way around a spear. That spear he summoned was interesting, I haven't seen an Ox Tongue spear before. I wonder who his godly parent will end up being, maybe he's a sibling of mine? As I thought about it I hoped I was wrong, he's pretty cute and seems like he likes fighting which is definitely my type of guy. As this thought came to my mind I was disgusted with it, love is not something I need. Love is just a distraction.
The way he fought was almost scary though, the look in his eyes as he laid hands on his spear was as if he was suppressing the intent to kill. I'm glad I decided to train Thomas, there's something about him that screams powerful warrior. I have a feeling he will become one of the best spear fighters in camp if he keeps up his training.
I was gonna head to my cabin, but then the dinner bell rang and I had to join up with my cabin mates as we made our way to the mess hall. As I went up to the sacrificial brazier to sacrifice some food to my father, I saw Annabeth glaring at me out of the corner of my eye. I will never understand why she hates me so much, ever since she first came to camp she has hated me for some reason. Maybe because I'm a better fighter then her? Or maybe because I proved that Ares kids are not dumb and that hurt her pride? Doesn't matter what reason to me, just that she takes any opportunity to insult and one up me. This has caused me to have a rivalry with the blond daughter of Athena.
I also noticed Luke smiling deviously at both Thomas and Ethan as I walked back to my table, no doubt he just told them some joke as they were laughing pretty hard. I've always felt bad for the unclaimed demigods, having no idea who their godly parent is and if they even care about them. That's gotta be tough to go through.
Thomas' Pov
As I was eating with my new cabin mates I took a look around the mess hall, noting interactions between people until I noticed some blonde chick glaring at Clarisse. I sat there wondering why when Luke started talking to me and my new friend Ethan Nakamura, a fellow unclaimed.
" Are you guys ready for capture the flag tomorrow?" Luke asked. I looked at him with a smile on my face as me and Ethan nodded towards him.
"Shall we join the Ares cabin's team? We will probably lose if we go against the Athena cabin, so maybe we should join them?" Luke asked. I smirked as I asked him a question.
"You sure you don't want to join the Athena cabin just to be with your crush Annabeth?" I asked him, Conner and Travis having told me of her crazy huge crush on him. He just smiled at me deviously as me and Ethan cracked up with laughter at his slightly shocked expression.
"Who told you about that?" He asked me. I just smiled and pointed at Connor and Travis as they looked away innocently.
"Why I oughta club you two knuckleheads!" Luke jokingly threatened them, fist in the air threateningly. I laughed even harder as the Stoll's got a sly look on their faces as they almost booked it. As I rolled my eyes, they landed on the same blonde who was glaring at Clarisse who was now staring at Luke dreamily. I pointed this out to Ethan and we laughed even harder as Luke caught on to what we were laughing at.
"Attention campers, I would like to introduce our newest member Thomas Ibn-La'Ahad!' Chiron exclaimed with a small smile on his face. He gestured at me to stand up and as I did the Hermes cabin started clapping followed by everyone else. I rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly at the attention as I sat back down.
"Moving on, tomorrow is capture the flag so make sure you are all ready for that." Chiron announced before he sat back down to finish eating. As my cabin mates and I finished eating we started to head back to our cabin. Ethan showed me to our shared bunk as Luke called for lights out.
The Next Day
Luke woke us up pretty early to get some practice in the arena before capture the flag started around noon. We spent the next few hours before breakfast practicing against each other. After breakfast the Hermes cabin had free time so I headed down to the beach to sit and watch the tide. The sand was relaxing to sit in as I stared off into the lake. I heard footsteps come up behind me as two legs clad in black jeans and combat boots appeared in the corner of my vision as Clarisse sat down next to me.
" Hey Clarisse." I said to her as I continue to stare at the tides.
" What are you doing out here Thomas? Don't feel like practicing for the game today?" She asked me curiously.
"Nah, Luke made us get up early and practice. I would rather save my strength for the game anyway." I responded with a lazy grin on my face.
"That's smart, do you know what team your cabin is joining yet?" Clarisse asked me.
"Hopefully yours, but probably Athena's knowing Luke." I responded, still grinning lazily.
She smiled and nodded as she stood up and offered her hand to me. I took it as I stood up. We headed off to the arena to grab some armor before capture the flag starts. I decided to just put on greaves and bracers, the chest plate was too heavy and restricting for me to wear, something Clarisse agreed with me on. Luke ran up to me and stated what team we are on for today.
" Yo Tom, we are with the Ares team today, Demeter and Apollo cabins are with us as well. Athena, Hephaestus, and Dionysus cabins are against us with half of our cabin joining them. The unclaimed and I are with Ares and the rest are with Athena's team. Aphrodite cabin is sitting this one out for some reason." Luke explained to me as I fist bumped Clarisse.
20 Minutes Later
" Thomas, Luke, and Ethan are with me. We are the strike force. Lou Ellen join up with the Demeter to make some distractions, Apollo cabin give them hell. Let's win this guys!" Clarisse laid out the plan to us as we shouted in agreement. We ran to our positions to set up for the game. I summoned my spear as Luke and Ethan drew their swords and Clarisse's spear cracked with electricity. The next 30 minutes was pretty hectic as the 4 of us destroyed any competition in our way towards our goal of the enemy teams flag.
We made it to the flag with no problems, until we ran into Annabeth, Malcolm, Bekondorf and Jake the four best fighters the other team had. We squared off Clarisse vs Annabeth, Me vs Malcolm, Ethan vs Jake, and Luke vs Bekondorf.
I rushed Malcolm Red Desert clashing with his sword with a resounding clang. He pushed me back and swung at my knee trying to incapacitate me, I parried his strike and used the momentum to swing a downward strike that was blocked albeit unsteadily. Malcolm slashed at me from the left which I leaned back to avoid and swung the blunt end of Red Desert at him sweeping him off his feet and pointing my spear at his neck.
"Yield Malcolm?" I asked barely out of breath. He nodded at me and sighed, not used to fighting spear users. I checked on my teammates only to see Clarisse and Annabeth are the only ones still fighting as Luke an dI locked eyes and ran for the flag. Luke grabbed the flag and bolted for the border, with me hot on his trail watching his back for potential ambushers. There were none as we crossed the border winning the game for Ares team.
"Ares team wins!" Chiron shouted out as celebratory cries filled the forest from our side. As our strike team came together for a group hug and we were complimenting each other for our team work, there was a bright gold flash from the middle of the mess hall...
-TheCrowFeather