(Ajax's Point Of View)

I groan as I open my eyes, the light blinding me more. I rub my palms into my eyes as they adjust to the light levels. I open my eyes and I am in a room surrounded by gold and shades of white cloth.

'Did someone dump by body in the temple of Apollo?' I think as I sit up.

"Hey brother how are you feeling?" I hear a familiar voice say that brings a smile to my face.

"Hey Percy, where in the name of Olympus am I?" I ask my younger brother.

"Ah, well you are at the Apollo cabin in their medical wing. Wait right here I will get the head of the cabin." Percy says as he rushes off and comes back with a 16 year old guy with sandy blonde hair, a golden yellow tank top and light olive cargo shorts with ancient greek style sandals.

"Ah so the patient is awake well can you tell me your name?" The guy asks.

"My name is Ajax J. Strider."

"Okay. Now follow my finger." The son of Apollo says as he does a bunch of tests trying to see if I am fit for camp duties.

"Well it seems you are fit for duty Ajax son of Ares, Oh if you get injured and need me my name is Karl Solaris.

"I'll do that Doc." I say as I swing my legs over the edge and I look at my nightstand and see the two horns of the Minotaur.

"Hey Karl where would a person go if they wanted something custom made?" I ask him as I pocket the horns.

"Well that would be the Hephaestus cabin but they usually don't care for the children of Ares." He says as he walks away with a wave.

I grab my bag and head out to the main camp and take stock of the place. Suddenly I am thinking of how the camp could be fortified and what strategies would work where. I shake my head and breathe deeply a dozen & a half time to calm my demigod abilities. It seems my powers as a son of war are strong. I explore the camp with Percy and I ask him how long I was out for.

I don't know why but I hadn't had a good spare in a while excluding the Minotaur. Who knows maybe my other siblings will give me a good fight. Percy shows me the cabins and I take note of the Ares cabin and the Hermes cabin where Percy is staying until his godly parent decides to claim him. I have met a bunch of campers who are the children of minor gods and so far they seem cool there is even a kid named Drake Stevenson who is a son of Hetkete the goddess of magic and illusion.

I head to the arena to practice my fighting and I see my cabin has almost free reign over the place. I start off with doing 10 laps around the perimeter followed by 150 jumping jacks, 200 crunched, 150 push ups. Once I have my morning warm up done I head to the leader of the Ares cabin to ask where I can get some weapons. I jog over to the main group of my brothers and sisters and I see a girl that looks about 5 foot 8 inches tall with chestnut brown hair that reaches the small of her back, an athletic build and a spear sparking with electricity in her hands.

"Uhm are you the leader of the cabin?" I ask her.

"Yah, my name is Clarisse. What do ya need Ajax?" She asks me.

"Well all I have is this broken sword to fight with. I was wondering if you had an armory at camp?" I ask, showing her Ashton.

"Wow the fact you defeated the Minotaur with that is a testament to your untapped skill as a sibling. The armory is over there behind those double doors, so how long did you train outside of camp anyway?" Clarisse asks me before I head over.

"Well I am turning 14 in October so almost 7 years. I was going to join the Marines until I met my adopted brother." I say with a grin as I run off.

I get to the armory and I see Percy standing there trying to pick out a weapon. I sneak up behind him and jab my fingers into his sides

"Gah Ajax you know I hate that!" He yells as he punches me in the bicep.

"Come on in a world where monsters exist you can never be too vigilant. So find anything good?" I ask him as I scan over the weapons.

"Not really most of everything I try feels unbalanced or wrong. Do you think I should have a custom weapon made?" Percy asks while looking over the weapons shed.

"Well to be honest, probably but that costs money which we are lacking. So that might have to wait for now go with the spear and a shield they are easy to learn." I tell him as I find an old looking arming sword that looks like it was made in the late medieval ages.

I have Percy join me in the arena for some practice, I bring out my shield and new sword and Percy brings his shield up in a ready position. After several minutes of waiting to see who will make the first move Percy rushes me and tries to skewer me with his spear but I am able to block it with my shield and I chop at the shaft of his spear but he pulls it away and I catch my breath. I see Percy is not used to using a shield and is favoring that side due to the weight. I give an experimental slash to that side and he brings his shield up leaving the lower part of his legs exposed.

As we fight I feel my senses sharpen and I am starting to pick out details that I can use to my advantage and to my surprise I am not getting tired yet from using my weapons and dodging his attacks. It is starting to approach noon as the sun beats down on us. In a moment of distraction I scan our surroundings and I see that our spar has amassed quite an audience. Most of what looks like Hermes, Aphrodite, Hephaestus and the Ares cabin are watching us battle. I decide to finish this because I can hear Percy's stomach along with mine growl. I slam the shield of Ajax the Greater into the ground and I see Percy stumble briefly and I take my chance. I rushed him and kicked the shield, making him take a knee. He tries to impale me with his spear but with one swift fluid moment I knock the spear from his hand and have the tip of my blade resting at his throat.

"Yield?" I ask him with an eyebrow raised.

*SIGH*

"Yes, I Yield." Percy says with a sigh.

"Well brother let's go get some food. Maybe you can sit with my cabin?" I say to him as I sling my arm over his shoulder.

We walk along the dirt trail that runs threw the camp and I see Percy grin when the dining pavilion comes into view. As we get closer I hear Percy's stomach get louder. We enter and all eyes are on us and at a distant table I see the Ares cabin sitting at their table and I see Calrisse laughing while eating Bar-B-q ribs.

*SIGH*

Taking a deep breath to steady my nerves I walk up to Clarisse to ask her an important question.

"Clarisse can I ask a favor?" I ask her as she is eating.

"What is it Ajax?" Clarisse asks me as she wipes her face with a napkin.

"I was wondering if my adopted brother could sit with us for lunch. I was adopted by his mom and since then the only thing that is not shared is our blood." I say with a bow.

"Well I don't know, I don't think dad would let him sit with us?" Clarisse says while scratching the back of her head.

"Okay, I will ask him then." I say as I walk to the brazier that I see other campers dumping some of their food into and I pull out Ashton.

"Oh Ares god of war, blood shed, valor, and battlefield ability I your son Ajax of Antwerp NewYork hereby request your decision on a matter close to me. If there is a way for you to show me it is okay for Percy Jackson, my adopted brother to sit with your other other children not as one of us but as an equal." I say as I run my blade across my palm and let blood drip into the sacred flames.

As the flames consume my blood and turn it into golden vapors the fire there is a tingling sensation where I cut myself. Upon looking at my hand I notice some of the flames are healing my hand.

"Thank you Lady Hestia." I whisper.

What feels like an eternity passes before I hear something.

*REEEET*

At the entrance of the dining pavilion a boar that came up to my chest at its back is standing looking around. It snorts a little and walks in and looks around until it sees us. Those that are not paralyzed by fear move the hell out of the way. The boar approaches our table and I see Percy tremble a little.

"Be brave little brother, even in death we must not show fear." I say to him as I place my hand on his shoulder and give him a grin.

When I say that to him he straightens his back and gives me a nod. We stare at the boar as it approaches us and it stops about a foot and a half from Percy.

*SNIFF… SNIFF*

*REET*

It gives a reet after smelling Percy and nods at him then wanders off back to where it came from. I turn back towards my table and sling my arm over Percy's shoulder and with a grin I sit down and Percy sits next to me. Percy orders a roasted turkey sandwich, some fries and a dill pickle and a blue coke to drink while I order a turkey leg mashed potatoes and gravy with Cherry Vanilla Pepsi to drink.

"Hey Ajax what are you eating?" Liam Sherman, another son of Ares, asks me as I comp down on the turkey leg.

*GULP*

"Oh this, its a roasted turkey leg. I got addicted to these things when I worked at a Renaissance fair and as a Knight I got one for free with a glass of root beer.

"Whoa you were in a Renaissance fair what was it like?" Liam asks

"Well, it was pretty fun to be honest. We set up the last week in Spring and take down camp in the last week of Fall. We all had jobs to do and evey one did them with little complaint, when I wasn't training with the other knights I was helping out in the smithy repairing armor, making nails, and other fittings." I say as I finish my meal and stretch cracking and popping my joints.

"So you say you worked in a smithy right, maybe you could stop by the forge and we can see what you know?" A tall black guy says from the Hephaestus table.

"Sure, what time?" I ask as I walk over to talk to him.

"How does 9am sound? Oh, the name is Charles Beckendorf but you can call me Beckendorf if you want." He says while holding his catcher's mitt like hand out and I shake it.

"See ya then man, oh can my brother Percy come" I ask him.

"Sure I don't see why not." Beckendorf says with a smile.

Percy and I go for a jog around camp and try to figure out what Percy's godly parent is. I know from Percy's affinity for hydrokinesis I know he is the son of some water based god but the specific one I am unsure of. We try to check some of the other water gods off and after 30 minutes we have narrowed it down to Poseidon, Triton, Glaucus, Thaumas.

We stop at the beach and I have Percy gather some dry driftwood while I dig a small pit for the fire. I make a fire plough while waiting for Percy to get back and I see him come with a big armfull of driftwood. We stack it like a teepee and with a few minutes of using the fire plough we get a fire going. The crackling of the fire brings back memories of my uncle and me camping in the Adirondack mountains fishing and kayaking down river. I have Percy guard the fire as I head into the woods to find a monster to sacrifice to get the gods attention. Heading into the woods I scan my surroundings and I spot what looks like a wolf paw print but it is massive. Focusing on the direction the tracks lead I make sure to make as little noise as possible.

*CRUNCH, CRUNCH, CHOMP, GULP*

Hearing the telltale signs of predators, peeking around a tree there is a hellhound eating what looks like was once a deer. I scale the tree while trying to be as silent as possible. Finding a sturdy branch looming above the feasting hellhound creeping along the branch I pull out Ashton and give a mental prayer to Tyce for luck. Pulling my feet up into a crouch I grip my broken sword tighter and leap from my position.

*SHICK*

I landed on the hellhound and plunged my sword into its neck and ripped the blade to the side, cutting its neck wide open, killing it quickly as it dissolved, it left a few things behind. I pick up the hellhound's pelt its claws and a few of its fangs. Making my way back to Percy I see that he has been stoking the fire and I see a few of the other Hermes cabin mates sitting around the fire and sharing a six pack of Dr. Pepper.

"Hey Percy I got the sacrifice to the gods, who are they?" I ask as I sit on a log that was placed on the fire.

"Well this is Miles O'Connor he is unclaimed, this is Molly Loamis she is a daughter of Demerter, and this is Corey and Cassandra Riley they are also unclaimed and this is Hector son of Hermes. He got us the sodas." Percy says with a grin.

"Hey dude and dudettes my name is Ajax Strider and I am a son of Ares nice to meet ya. Anyone here got a knife?" I ask as I get the pelt ready.

"Ya, here ya go. So what is that stuff for anyway?" Hecktor asks while scratching his head.

"Well you see I was digging threw any book or journal I could find about the gods and I found that in ancient times the gods had certain prayers that could get their attention better and a general one. I have collected as many as I could because as the Athena kids say knowledge is power." I say as Hecktor hands me a small celestial bronze knife with a engraving of a winged snake with its tongue sticking out.

I make a cut on my right palm and let my blood drip into the fire, I write Thalaumas's name in greek using my blood on the back of the hellhound pelt and toss it into the fire.

"Oh great Thaumas god of the hidden wonders of the sea, come forth and heed my call. I Ajax Strider of the house of Ares seek your council!" I say before throwing the hellhound pelt into the fire.

The pelt burns in the fire and turns into golden vapor that drifts off to the sea and for what seems like eternity nothing happens.

"Come on man you got our hopes up for nothing." Corey says with a groan.

In an instant a strong breeze comes from the sea that smells like salt and tropical fruit.

"You called son of Ares?" Thaumas says as he walks towards us from the waters edge.

"Thank you for heeding my call lord Thaumas. I was wondering if my message would reach you? Yes I called because I have a question to ask you if you are willing to answer it?" I ask the immortal.

"Do you mind if I sit with you?" Thaumas asks gesturing to an empty spot next to me on the log.

"Not at all my lord." I say with a slight bow.

The god sits next to me and spots a can of Dr. Pepper sitting next to me that hasn't been opened yet.

"What is that?" Thaumas asks, having never seen one of the cans full before only finding them empty when I traveled along the coast.

"It is a can of soda a drink mortals love but it tends to be highly sweet, would you like one?" I ask him.

"Oh I wouldn't impose but if you are offering." He says as he eyes the can of soda.

"Here you are sir. So Thaumas the question I want to ask is about my adopted brother here his name is Percy but his full name is Perseus Jackson." I say to him as he takes a sip of his drink.

"This is some good shit." Thaumas says with a grin and with a wave of his hand another two sixpacks appear nearby.

"So what about his do you want to know more about?" Thaumas says as he opens another can after draining his first.

"You see he has an ability to control water and that narrows down who his godly parent could be and given that his mother is mortal that narrows it down even further. I was wondering if by chance Percy could be your son?" I ask him.

"Well I do know that I haven't set foot on shore in over 150 years so he is not a son of mine. But I can tell he is the son of a strong sea god and as thanks for introducing me to this Dr. pepper and the hellhound pelt I will give you my blessing." He says as he stands up while putting his hands together like he is praying and a light sea-green like surrounds.

"Now I know my blessing does not mean much in the modern world but I hope I can help you in any way I can, like Lord Poseidon says the seas always repays it debts." Thaumas says with a look of concentration.

"I would be honored to receive your blessing Lord Thaumas but am I worthy enough to have it? I haven't gone on any quests and there is nothing to distinguish me from any other demigod." I ask him as he is beginning to cast his blessing.

"Nonsense young man. I Thaumas god of the mysteries of the seas, give Ajax Strider my blessing and make him my champion because I have no mortal child, this I swear on the Styx!" He yells and a ray of sea-green energy rushes from his palms into my chest and I try to stay awake but the rush of energy is too much and as my vision starts to fade I notice the air smells like tropical fruits and salty sea air.

{I would like to thank all of the people that have read my sotry. I would like to thank my beta reader Kimberly W. and if it is not a pain I would a apreciate a review.}