Annabeth walked up to where Percy was leaning on a sword jabbed into the ground. At his feet was another sword and a duffel bag.

"You seem excited."

"Oh, I am." Annabeth leaned down to pick up the sword. She grasped the hilt and looked it over. The blade was glimmering bronze and the grip was wrapped in leather that looked ancient, faded and cracked in places. "This is a real sword."

"Yeah."

"What if I hurt you?" she asked.

"You can't."

"Cocky much?"

"Here." Percy adjusted her grip, letting his fingers linger for longer than was necessary.

"This is heavier than I was expecting."

"It's not properly balanced for you. I just took a random guess. Try to swing from your body, not just with your arms." He nudged Annabeth's feet further apart with his own. "Don't be so tense." He took a big step back so he was just beyond the reach of the blade. "Hit me."

Annabeth lowered the sword in shock and the tension ran back through her body. "What?"

"Hit me. Try to cut off my arm. Give it your best shot."

"What!"

Percy nodded encouragingly. "Just don't stab me in the back."

"Don't you need your sword to defend?"

"Just do it Annabeth!"

She was glad the weight of the weapon slowed down her swing, giving Percy ample time to get out of the way. He didn't move. The sword hit him in the shoulder. Annabeth winced and squeezed her eyes shut. The sword slipped to the side instead of cutting into his arm.

Percy laughed. "That's not bad."

Annabeth peeked out of the corner of her eye. Percy was examining a slice in his t-shirt with great interest. But there was no blood anywhere.

"I punch you in the nose and you bleed everywhere but I slice you with a sword and you don't bleed even a little bit." Annabeth desperately wanted to ask why she could not pierce his skin, but she knew that he would not give her a direct answer.

Percy shrugged helplessly. "I don't know how you managed to do it. You sound disappointed though."

"I kind of am. That was anti-climactic." Not that she wanted to see Percy bleed all over the ground - Annabeth just wanted to see something happen as a result of her swing.

"My turn." Percy pulled his sword out of the ground. He took a swing and Annabeth managed to block it. She wasn't able to feel good for long. Her sword was already falling to the ground.

"Are you trying to kill me?" she asked.

"If this hurts you, even a little bit, I'm going to be surprised." He picked up the sword and handed it to her.

He demonstrated a basic disarming technique, twisting the flat of his blade against hers.

"You try." And she did, but Percy kept stepping back out of reach, the grin on his face growing every time he did so.

"Stop!" she complained, chasing him in slow motion circles.

"You're trying to slice me!" he protested.

"I can't slice you!"

He stopped moving backwards. The sword was growing heavy in Annabeth's hand. She switched to her left and gave a thrust. Percy blocked it easily but left his guard open. Annabeth stepped in and disarmed him.

When he reached down to pick up his sword Annabeth tried to cut off his other arm.

"Seriously?" he asked.

"Just checking," she said sweetly.

"Hmph. Try again."

Annabeth switched back to her right hand. They exchanged thrusts and parries until she managed to disarm him again.

"You tired?" he asked.

"Yes! This sword is massive. It's longer than yours!"

"Yeah."

"We should switch."

"No. This is my baby. If you want something smaller…"

"Yes, please."

Percy walked over to the duffel. Annabeth tried to gently chop off his head.

"Please stop trying to kill me." He stood back up and handed her a bronze knife.

"Seriously?"

Percy shrugged. "I don't like knives but if you don't want the sword…"

The two of them exchanged thrusts, and Annabeth started to get the hang of Percy's fighting style. Percy whapped her in the side with the flat of his blade whenever she let her guard down. Annabeth began to see opportunities where she could step inside and try to stab Percy. Not that stabbing him did anything but hurt her arm when the blade recoiled. She was learning though and she could tell. Annabeth knew Percy was taking it easy on her. While her shirt was wet with sweat and she was panting with the effort, Percy seemed exactly the same.

At the end of an hour storm clouds started to creep in over the city, dimming the light and reflecting the colors of the sunset across the sky. They decided to call it quits to avoid getting caught in the rain that was sure to come. Annabeth tried to give him the knife back.

"Do you like it? he asked.

"Yeah…"

"Keep it for all I care." He looked at the knife with distaste. "I hate that thing."

"Oh. Okay." Annabeth looked at her blade. Using the edge of her shirt, she polished the fingerprints off it. When she looked up, Percy was watching her. "Where's your sword?"

Percy's eyes widened briefly, and his hand drifted to the pocket that he kept his pen in. He shot her a nervous smile, cleared his throat, and walked over to put the other sword away. "Let's go."

"Go where?"

"You owe me a favor."

Annabeth had half been hoping that he had forgotten about that. In the past, she had had bad experiences with people taking advantage of her favors but she had promised. "Okay, what's the favor."

"I told you that my mom's a novelist, right?"

"Yeah," Annabeth said, unsure of where this was going.

"Well she has some architecture questions. And you're the expert."

"You're spending your favor on your mom?"

"Yep."

"And no ulterior motives?"

"She's going to want you to stay for dinner."

"That's fine. I didn't eat lunch." She frowned. "Or breakfast."

"Not eating breakfast!" Percy sounded horrified, like if she had suggested jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge. "That's the most important pancake-based meal of the day!"

Percy used his shirt to wipe the nonexistent sweat off his face.

"C'mon, it's only a few blocks away."

Annabeth realized that she had been staring at his abs. She coughed. "Right."

This is a shorter chapter. I promise the next one will be much, much longer, but I really had no idea how to split this up in a different way.

Thanks for the reviews!