Chapter 33

Tomas POV

"I sure hope this is the right place." I said to myself. I looked up the address on the card Ares gave me and it led me to a rather scary part of Brooklyn, New York.

The door creaked slightly as I opened it revealing a well lit gym that I assumed was for mixed martial arts by the type of equipment in the room A.K.A. training dummy's, heavy bags, etc. "Kid I think you're in the wrong place." A rather tall, well built, and very intimidating dark skinned man said dropping a dumbbell that said 100 on the side.

"I… well you see I was given this card and this was the address on it." I said pulling it out. "If I'm wrong maybe you could point me in the right direction."

The man went to take the card when a voice rung out "I sent him here Shio."

Shio and I looked farther in to see Ares standing there covered in sweat. "You know this kid Alex?" Shio said.

"His name's Tomas, he's my half brother. He's been having trouble with some kids at school so I said I teach him some stuff ."

"He's your brother is this kid? Dude looks like a breeze could knock him over." Shio said.

"I'm sorry not all of us grossly over use steroids." I shot back and immediately regretted it but I held my ground or at least tried not to look scared.

Shio snorted and started walking away "Kids got guts guess we be seein' if he's got skills in his trial."

"Trial?" I asked as I walked over to Ares.

"Gym has a rather Spartan like set of rules, you get three weeks to train and if you can't prove your strength at the end of the third week you get kicked out. It's also the amount of time you've got to prove to me you're worth training." Ares stated with a look that sent chills down my spine.

"But for now I'll train you in hand to hand combat." He grinned.

"Hand to hand! How the Hades is that going to help me?" I complained.

Quick as a flash Ares turned around and smacked me on the head. "Weapons and Powers are just tools, if you can't handle yourself without them you'll never make it past 20. Unarmed combat is all about learning what your body can and can't do then improving on it. Master that first and skills with a weapon will come more easily. In olden times a Spartan youth went through intense physical training for years before they was even allowed near a sword. Now get in the ring." He said point to a square painted on the ground.

Doing as he asked I walked to the center of the square and turned around to see Ares slip on a pair of boxing gloves "Do I get a set of gloves?" I asked.

Ares just chuckled "Oh no you'll be using your bare hands I'm wearing these so you'll have a bit of cushion."

Cushion my butt I've seen those boxing matches on tv those glove are little more that thin rags over his fists. Ares stepped into the square and shouted "Begin!". I barely had time to duck the first blow when he caught me with a reverse elbow strike to my right cheek. I grunted in pain as I slammed into the ground clutching my face. "Get up kid." Ares said.

Growling I stood up trying to ignore the pain in my cheek "What the heck man I wasn't even ready."

At that Ares started laughing "What do you think your enemy is just going to wait while you do your stretches and warm ups. If you want to live you always need to be ready always be on guard."

"Now get up and we'll start again."

Annabeth POV

"Bye Mom." I said giving her one last hug. Percy simply stood by the door with a slight grin on his face. Even if he didn't fully understand what was happening he seemed completely willing to put up with my excessive amount of hugs and one on one time with mom. I'd make sure to cut back to try and balance it out later but for now I'd get as much time with her as I could.

"Have fun at school you two." She said walking us to the elevator "And don't go spending your lunch money on fast food you need to eat right so you can do well in class".

"Yes mom." Percy and I replied. The walk to school wasn't that bad as it was just two blocks down but it seemed to take for ever. This was my first time going to a real school since I was 7 after that I mainly got taught at camp by my older siblings and was driven into town once or twice a year for exams they wouldn't let me take at camp. So needless to say I was excited.

Bursting through the doors I was a little underwhelmed. I guess I was expecting something from the few movies I've seen. Clean halls, nicely dressed kids, people grouped in little social clics. The halls looked like they've never been cleaned, I couldn't even bring myself to wonder just what that smell was, and the building looked like it was falling apart. It was perfect! So what if it had problems this was the real world and I was in it with a family and friends and everything.

Percy and I went down to the office to pick up my new school books, locker number, and combination. Afterwards he showed me to my, and coincidentally his, first class. We were a bit early but I was fine with that, it gave me some time to catch up with Malcolm. And I finally got to meet the somewhat legendary Emily. Blond hair, brown eyes, kind, and not afraid to say what she thought. Yea she was exactly Percy's type.

We didn't start of on a bad note as she caught me and Percy laughing as I was laying on his shoulder which was fine as we're siblings but to anyone else it probably looked like we were dating. Percy waved hesitantly when he saw Emily who took one look at me and huffed before slamming her books down on the desk in front of me, refusing to even acknowledge me or Percy. "I guess she's still mad about that kiss." Percy said rubbing the back of his head.

'Well you're not totally wrong I'm sure the kiss is a big part of why she's angry but not the way you're thinking.' I thought to myself before I could reply the teacher walked in and announced we'd have a pop quiz.