Just as Luke promised, he sacrificed his free time in order to train me in how to use the sword. He had me working with dummies first, moving my arm in order to teach me which block was which and how to strike in form until I'd got it into my head. It was fairly simple really, I just had to remember the pattern. I hacked and slashed at the dummy until he was satisfied, then he had me stand against him. He promised that he'd continue in the same pattern he'd taught me so that I could get used to the feeling of catching someone else's blade and learn how to properly block. It was a messy business because I was so unsure of myself, vibrations rippling up my entire arm until I felt like it was just going to pop out of its socket, but I kept going. Gradually I started to get the hang of it, repeating the movements so that I blocked, parried and thrust in rhythm as Luke called out each move, getting faster and faster until I was grinning and we were creating a syncopated song of sword clashing against sword. It was a pretty epic feeling. "Duck!" Luke suddenly yelled and I squeaked, throwing down my weight and bending my knees in order to duck as I'd been ordered and heard the slice of Luke's sword over my head.

"No fair! I call foul! You promised you wouldn't deviate!" Despite my protest, I was still grinning.

"But you did great, and you're not dead so good job. Now block!" I had no idea where Luke's sword was coming from at first, but at the last moment I heard the whistle of sound in my left ear and moved towards it, turning my sword so that the blade tip pointed downwards and gripped the hilt with both hands in order to strengthen my stance as I held firm. When I felt the clash and reverberations from his sword meeting mine, I froze in place and dropped the sword. Luke laughed as I just stood there in utter shock, clearly amused by my expression. "You know, you're not meant to drop the sword after blocking your enemy. You'll make it too easy for them." To make his point, he poked me in the stomach with his sword, jolting me from my stupor.

"Right, understood boss. But hey I did it! I blocked you!"

"Exactly, I told you you'd get the hang of it, you just need time to focus. Come on, we'll do it again, same pattern as before, but then I'll start to mix things up. All you have to do is move fast enough to respond. Nothing too fancy, though, we want all our fingers still intact at the end of this." Listening to him joke I felt giddy and rather excited, proud that I was starting to actually get the hang of this. Luke handed me back my sword, made a quite note for me to correct my grip before we then started again. As he said we started the same as before, but after a while he started to change things. Instead of blocking right, he'd call to block left instead and this time, I didn't drop the sword. It was surprising how easy it was to fall into the motions and I had very little chance to think before I was required to react. We worked on standstill, not moving much but by the end of the lesson, Luke had me walking in circles with him in order to start on footwork, and considering that this was way more progress I'd succeeded in compared to an entire week of working in a large group, I felt rightly proud of myself and I beamed from ear to ear.

"Did you see that? Did you see? I didn't get struck once! That was amazing, I feel so cool, I can't believe I just did all that!" Gushing like an idiot, Luke laughed lightly and ruffled my hair as he told me how great I was doing, and that he was impressed. The dinner conch had sounded which meant it was time to go, but I went gladly and feeling lighter than air, practically skipping as I went to find Percy and Grover in order to tell them all about my swordfight with Luke and how much I'd improved. To his credit, Percy listened and was just as excited and glad for me as I was, telling me that next time he wanted to watch to see for himself, though I could also hear him smirking as he spoke.

"Or at the very least, I can watch Luke kick your butt."

"Watch it little brother, or I'll kick your butt!" Still on a high from such a great day, I managed to collar him and started to wrestle at the table whereby all of Hermes started to chant for a fight, but of course it was only in play and Percy soon slipped free out of my headlock, Chiron warning us to keep it down and not to strangle one another. I don't think I stopped smiling for the rest of the day, getting into conversation with a couple of the other campers at the table and getting more involved than I had done since arriving at the camp. After dinner it was capture the flag, but of course I had been told that I couldn't participate on account of being a liability at present, though Luke had said it more kindly. I understood, I mean I'd already gathered that this game was extremely important for the campers and if it were me, I wouldn't want someone on their team holding them back. Besides I didn't much fancy going up against the Ares cabin in my current state because I would most likely get captured and barbequed into an offering for their father. Hence I was glad to step aside, and gladder still that Chiron had offered for me to remain with him so at the very least, he could tell me what was happening. I accepted his offer, though I think he was a little nervous around me considering it was only yesterday that I had almost summoned the wrath of the gods down upon myself, as he tentatively held my shoulder and asked me how I was doing. I looked towards him then, and although I couldn't see the details of his face, I could almost swear I could imagine his general outline and being part horse, he really was tall. "I'm still angry, but I'm not going to let it hold me back. Luke reckons he can make a decent warrior out of me, and I'm going to let him try."

"Good, I am glad to hear it. Just be wary, my dear. The gods have sharp ears, so you shouldn't cuss them too loudly and too often…much as we may sometimes wish to." This part he added quietly, and I couldn't help but smirk cheerfully. So it wasn't just me who had a bone to pick with the gods. It kind of made me feel better to know that Chiron also thought of them as deplorable beings from time to time, so I happily went with him as the games begun, Percy having stopped by to make sure I would be okay. Even though I wasn't on any team, I was wearing some armour just in case a stray arrow or sword happened to come near me. The breastplate felt awkward and looked like it had already seen hundreds of battles, but it was better than nothing. According to Chiron, the game was comprised of two teams. One in blue helmets and the other in red. Athena led the blue team with Hermes and Apollo as their allies, whilst Ares led the red team with all the other cabins on their side. I was slightly apprehensive of how this kind of game could rightly be safe, and wasn't exactly encouraged when Chiron reminded everyone of the no maiming or killing rule. Was Percy going to be alright?

I thought I'd have to race and stumble after Chiron wherever he went, however I was shocked when he allowed me to actually ride on his back. At first I refused because I instinctively knew that it was extremely rude to ride on your teacher's back, but Chiron insisted, telling me that unless I wanted to wait back at the amphitheatre, I would have to stay very close to him and he tended to move quickly in order to keep up with the games, and so I had no other choice really. I blushed deeply, stuttering a thank you and an apology as he knelt down and offered me his hand, helping me to climb onto his back and swing my leg over, settling though I felt extremely awkward. I could hear some of the other kids muttering, but I shot them a scowl in the direction of their voices and they quickly fell silent. Chiron instructed me on how to sit properly, how to balance my weight and keep a grip on him, though I didn't exactly feel comfortable putting my arms around his waist so I placed my hand against the back of his armour at the neck and gripped on there, letting my fingers slide into the gap and hold on that way.

It was super weird, and to be honest it almost put me off riding altogether though after I got used to the feeling of him cantering and worked out how to maintain my balance with his warnings whenever he was about to turn, I actually enjoyed myself. "You have an excellent seat, Lily, you're a natural at this. Perhaps pegasus riding might be in the books for you after all. I shall find a highly intelligent one that can understand human speech so you can work together." Wait, some pegasi understood humans? To be honest, that shouldn't really have come as a surprise by this point. According to Chiron, the fighting was pretty intense though I didn't need him to tell me to know it, because I could hear it well enough. The blue team had taken the southern part of the woods as their territory and the north belonged to the reds, though as I listened, it became clear that the blues were winning. Apparently their strongest fighters were absent both from the red flag as well as the main battle, a group of the blues breaking off and flanking them in order to head deeper into enemy territory led by Luke.

I listened with baited breath, trying to imagine the awesome figure of Luke singlehandedly battling his way through the enemy with extreme skill and precision before capturing the flag himself, whereby I couldn't help but shout with a cheer. "Woo! Go Luke!" I heard him laugh and Chiron chuckled as he told me that Luke had saluted the flag in my direction. Grinning as Chiron turned around, I held on tightly as he galloped after everyone, following Luke as he brought the enemy flag to their own territory and won the game, Chiron blasting his conch horn to signal that the game was over and to draw everybody in so that they could see for themselves. I heard everyone chanting Luke's name and I couldn't be happier that he'd won, because he deserved it after putting in so much hard work and taking time out of his day in order to help me. "Chiron? Where are we? Can you see Percy?"

"He is by the creek with Annabeth. Well…in the creek, but he looks well." Chiron assured me so I dismounted and started to move towards him, following the bank of the creek in order to go to him as I strained my ears to try and listen for his voice, but instead I heard this horribly guttural growl that immediately made me freeze in place. Oh god. Not again. Around me I heard everything plummet into silence as a deep tension overcame everyone who had heard the snarl and Chiron shouted in Greek for everyone to stand ready. Blinking, I now was all the more desperate to find Percy. I cried out his name and heard his reply, bringing me racing towards him just as Annabeth yelled for him to run. Somewhere ahead and above, I heard the monster snarl again, and although I had no idea what it was, it sounded like some kind of giant canine, but I figured it probably had claws and plenty of fangs to eat us whole.

"Percy!" My desperate cry penetrated the air as I reached him, my fingers managing to snatch at him just as I heard the monster grunt and little stones clattered to the ground from where I could only assume it jumped because I could feel a terrifying sense of fear coming straight at us. My bracelet burned around my wrist, white hot and I dimly wondered in the back of my mind if it was maybe something magic, because it had done that a lot recently. Reacting upon instinct I shoved Percy out of the way to the ground and flung myself with him, throwing myself over him to act as his shield as I felt something huge and heavy strike the ground behind us, so close that it stepped on my hair and I felt the follicles burn from where they were stretched and almost ripped clean out of my head as a horrific smell of wet breath surrounded me. There was a multitude of twanging sounds like bows and the whistle of arrows, sounds that I had grown used to hearing around the archery range, and as the monster shifted I felt the pressure on my hair lift so I instinctively rolled away from it, pulling Percy with me as he remained frozen in place. The monster crashed to the ground and did not move again, so I exhaled deeply and released Percy who immediately sat up and looked around with his sword drawn, but relaxed once he'd made sure the thing was dead.

"It's okay Lils, it's dead." Well that was a relief, though I'm pretty sure monsters weren't supposed to be able to get through the barrier. Percy grabbed my hands in order to help me up, steadying me where I was shaking all over. We were fine, I think, at least we weren't hurt, though it had been a close one and my scalp still ached from where the monster had stepped on my hair and almost pulled out an entire section of it.

"Di immortals…that's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment," I heard Annabeth say, and I gave a shudder to think we'd just faced a real hellhound. "They don't…they're not supposed to…"

"Someone summoned it. Someone inside the camp." Wait, people could do that? Don't you think that little detail should perhaps have been shared with the newbies? Why would anyone want to summon monsters to a camp full of demigod children? That's just like asking to get eaten. Faintly aware that Luke had now made his way over to us, I felt his hand grasp my shoulder as he stood beside us, feeling grim and for once, neither joking nor laughing as Clarisse tried to blame Percy for summoning the hellhound.

"Oh bite down on your own tongue and swallow it, Clarisse. Percy wouldn't know the first thing about how to summon a monster." I snapped at her as my shock wore off and I naturally rose to Percy's defence. Chiron ordered us both to settle as I felt Clarisse take a step towards me, that burst of looming threat telling me all but she stopped when Chiron told her to pack it in. Probably for my own good, because there was no way I'd be able to face Clarisse in a real fight and now wasn't exactly the time. Before I could ask Chiron what we were going to do, a collective gasp of shock and astonishment arose from everyone around us, and even Luke jerked away his hand in surprise of something that was going on, though I was completely oblivious to it. "Perce? Want to clue me in?"

"Um…there's something over our heads." Well that cleared it up. I later found out from Chiron that when a child was claimed by their godly parent, it often manifested in a sign over that child's head. Clearly dear old dad had wanted to wait until some kind of epic moment to breeze in and claim us without even bothering to show his face. Above our heads had been the symbol that heralded our bloodline, revealed to everyone who we truly were and the name of our father, though I couldn't see it. It had been described to me as a bright greenish blue light that had looked like sunlight shining through water, with a three pronged spear that could only be one thing. A trident. This in turn could also only mean one thing, and as I heard the rustle of everyone making some kind of movement, Percy whispered rather blankly that everyone was bowing to us as Chiron cried out and hailed us as the children of our father.

Poseidon. Earth-shaker, Storm-bringer, Father of Horses. God of the Sea.