The new chappie!

Dec. 31

Dear Diary,

It's been a few days since I last wrote, but I've been busy. That first night with Lupa's pack, I talked to her, told our story, since I got captured by Lityerses. When she heard I was Greek, she said that I wasn't supposed to go through her training, though Percy was an exception. (He always is.) She sent me off in the morning, but Audrey had to stay with the pack as they started toward the Wolf House. By noon, I made it to Camp Jupiter, and had quite a time explaining to Reyna and Frank what I was doing in California. I was given a room with Bombilo, the two-headed barista. (BTW, he has really good chai lattes.)

Anyways, this morning, Frank and I were talking in one of the back rooms of the principia, being pretty much the only two Chinese in Camp Jupiter. We were discussing Chinese myths and how that might affect our world, since Annabeth and Percy had encountered a psycho Egyptian dude that was going to combine Greek and Egyptian magic only a month or two ago.

"Well, in Chinese mythology, you could learn to shapeshift, even if you were a regular mortal. Anyone who had the will could perform magic," I said.

"True. That makes me feel so much more special," Frank replied. He seemed to have grown into his ruggedness a bit better. Looked a bit more approachable then when I saw him off the Argo II. I pushed the onslaught of memories back. Half of my group of friends had died during that battle. My boyfriend had died of blood loss soon after. When that happened, I promised myself never to fall in love with anyone again, to honor his memory. I know it sounds really cheesy, but I intended to keep it.

"Are you okay?" Frank nudged me. I nodded, though I definitely did not feel okay. I felt like curling up into a ball and hiding under a rock forever. Maybe with a side of screaming and crying.

"Yeah. Just… remembering." I muttered. Frank's expression turned wistful and sad.

"You know, as a leader, I can't show weakness. But just so you know, I think about them all the time. Especially Leo. I spent half out time together disliking him. When I got over that, he still bothered me. But, you know, if he shows up, if he managed to take the potion, I'll forgive him for that. But I'll still punch him in the face first."

"Hey, who broke Frank?" someone said behind me. I whirled and automatically tried to judo-flip whoever it was. But before I could do anything, my wrist was caught and my arm wrenched behind my back.

"Someone's touchy today," Reyna commented. I wrenched my arm out of her grasp. "I don't like being surprised, Arellano."

"Nuh uh. You are not using my last name," she said warningly. "I don't know who told you it, but they're not going to like it when I find out." her posture resembled one of power and royalty. I could tell why she had been elected praetor. She radiated leadership. But me being me, I refused to be wowed. Living under the shadow of the famous Percy Jackson had taught me that much. I mean, I loved him and all that, but it was quite frustrating sometimes.

I crossed my arms. "Fine. Whatever." she scowled at me. I didn't say anything.

She sighed. "Frank, we need you at war games tonight. I think the third cohort is planning on playing dirty. And Abby? Feel free to join." she gave us the tiniest of smiles and walked off, her purple praetor's cape billowing out behind her.

"You don't really care about authority, do you?" Frank mused as he pinned his praetor's cape back on. He had taken it off after he had tripped on it twice, then gotten tangled in it and almost fell on his face.

I gave him the tiniest of smirks. "Nope, unless they can vaporize me in an instant. In fact, the first day I got to Camp Half-Blood, I punched this guy in the face for calling me an Aphrodite weakling. And that was when I was seven."

"Well, around here, you can't really get away with that around here. So try not to punch anyone in the face outside of war games, okay?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Okay," I said flippantly.

Frank didn't say anything more. I guess he gave on me. Most people had given up on me with rules after the first forty-eight hours.

After roll call, which was quite intimidating, even after almost a week of it, and dinner (Dakota got high on Kool Aid and tried to kiss me. I slapped him across his face. It seemed to wake him up a bit), war games were about to begin. I was given a set of Roman armor, which I didn't bother with, seeing that I worked better without. I did accept the sword, though. It was a bit short, but after a few swings I figured it out.

I was assigned to the fourth cohort, which currently had the least amount of people.

"First, second, and third cohorts attacking, fourth and fifth defending. Reyna and I will be acting as referees. First to breach the defenses gets the Mural crown. You know the drill," Frank hollered. "Ave Romae!"

The legionnaires repeated the cheer and the fourth and fifth cohort entered the fort which we had built earlier this day. Yes, I actually did help build it. Still, I was amazed at the work we'd done in just one day. The fort was built on a pre-existing fort, wrecked by previous war games. Two kids, one from the fourth and one from the fifth cohort were assigned to the innermost, highest room of the fort, with the standards. The rest of us were spread out to cover all sides and all the defenses. I was assigned to the water cannons for obvious reasons. Close by was Hazel Levesque, a centurion in the fifth cohort, and one of the seven demigods who were on the Argo II. What surprised me was that she was my age, thirteen or fourteen.

"Hello," she said, seeing me.

"Hey," I returned the greeting. Awkward pause. "How's it like, being in charge of so many people older than you?" I asked.

She laughed softly. "Honestly, it's kinda awkward sometimes. But you know that you're stronger than them, that's why you're on top. They won't challenge that."

"It's also nice having your boyfriend be a praetor," I teased, smiling to show that I didn't mean it seriously.

"Yeah. Frank's really sweet. I heard you guys were talking earlier today?"

I nodded. "Just discussing Chinese mythology. Frank knows a lot about that stuff. Me, not so much. When my mom realized that I didn't have dyslexia, she got really into my studies. And just a lot of fighting."

We studied the 1st and 2nd cohorts advancing in turtle formation. The third cohort had split in two. Frank had turned into a bald eagle, Reyna sat astride Guido, who had adopted her as his human last summer. The giant eagles hovered overhead, ready to catch any wounded demigods.

Apparently, the centurions had decided to send two of the cohorts straight at the gates, while the remaining cohort split into two to try and scale the walls.

"That's smart," Hazel muttered to herself, readying her spatha. "They have the main force at the front, where the fort is weakest. They hope that we will send more people there and leave the rest undefended. They probably have several even smaller groups in areas in the back," she explained.

"Wow," I muttered. "You Romans are so complicated."

"It works," she replied.

"Touché."

By this time the main force was swaying under the onslaught of scorpion ballista and other nasty surprises we had installed earlier that day. The two half-cohorts though, were practically ignored. Hazel barked an order in Latin and the other demigods readied the water cannons. We'd gone over the plan earlier. Hazel had this idea of shooting the water cannon, but having me add an extra oomph to it, hopefully without exploding anything, like a certain son of Poseidon I could mention ;). The first time, it didn't work. I forced the water out too soon, and shards of the cannon rained everywhere. Thankfully, it didn't damage anything thanks to Hazel's trick of the Mist.

A few demigods glared at me. I gave them my best death glare. Gathering all my concentration and energy, I thrust out my hands just as the next cannon fired, plowing into the two cohort's testudo formation. They broke apart, like a house of cards.

"Centurion!" a pink-haired girl raced up to us. "There's some people halfway up the west wall. More advancing on the east. What should we do?"

Hazel cursed. "Stick to the plan. Keep sentries patrolling the south side. There are probably smaller groups looking to get in from the back."

Pink-hair saluted crookedly. "Yes, centurion!" she raced off.

"That was Lavinia," Hazel said. "You go help them there. I'll be with the east. And don't kill anyone."

"Why does everyone think I'm going to kill someone?" I grumbled to the air, as I ran towards the east side of the fort.

"You're very snappy sometimes," a voice commented next to me. Kudos to me for not jumping two feet high and screaming like a little kid. Instead I said, "Hello."

A Lare appeared next to me. I recognized him as the one from the fifth cohort; Gaius Vitellius Reticulus. I'd met him a few days ago. "Hey," he said. "You're that Jackson kid's little sister, right?"

I scowled at him. "My name is Abby. Not 'Percy Jackson's little sister'." Yes, I know I wasn't supposed to offend Lares, but I hate being called Percy's little sister. Worst first impression ever. I loved Percy, really. But sometimes he was a lot to handle, what with him trashing his part of the cabin and being totally clueless and just the awe and respect he received from the other campers without him even realizing it.

"Sorry," I muttered after a moment of silence. Vitellius had disappeared, but I knew he was still there. "Just kinda sensitive about that."

I urged my legs into a faster run. The attackers had almost gotten halfway up the wall. The scorpion ballista and water cannons didn't work at close range. I opened my hand, palm up. Drawing moisture from the air, I formed a huge ball of water. The guy nearest to the top didn't even have time to curse before I knocked him and several other legionnaires off the ladder. His buddy below him screamed a few unflattering words at me. I swore right back at him.

The other legionnaires from the fourth and fifth cohorts had made a line of shields right at the edge of the battlements. I sighed. Of course the Romans wouldn't use bows and arrows. I unslung my bow and reached for an arrow, one of those blunt ones that wouldn't kill anyone, but would leave a nasty bruise.

"'Scuse me," I muttered to a random guy. I pushed past him and started shooting down some 3rd cohort legionnaires.

"Heads up!" someone yelled from below us.

"Bit late," I hollered back at him. Several of the people near me snickered.

My quiver emptied surprisingly fast. In a minute, it was empty. On the bright side, most of the guys climbing up had fallen off the ladders, which were being severed.

"Ha ha, suckers!" the guy next to me yelled. He turned to me. "Hey, babe, I'm free tomorrow afternoon. Meet me at the coffee shop? And by the way, I'm Noah."

I blinked. "Excuse me?" I thought I must have heard him wrong.

"You wanna go out?" he asked.

Someone whistled. I scowled at him. Another person muttered, "Dude, she's waaaay out of your league."

Noah refused to back down. "I'll give you one chance," I muttered to him. "Tell everyone it was on a dare. Then I'll let it slide. If you don't…" I let my glare tell him the rest of the sentence. I hoped to get him out of my hair as soon as possible. There were already too many people watching.

He had the nerve to look hurt. "Of course it wasn't on a dare…" he didn't get to finish his sentence. I punched him in the face. "Don't ever ask a Hunter out, you hear me?"

He cocked an eyebrow, despite the blood leaking from his nose. "Come on, babe…"

I decided he hadn't gotten the point. I kicked him in the crotch, propelling him off the side of battlements. A giant eagle snatched him out of the air.

"Okay," I muttered. "Show's over, night night, go away, yada yada yada." I glared at the small crowd. "No one's asking me out, unless you want an arrow up your cloaca maxima."

A girl came up to me. "Thanks for that," she said. "Noah, he's a pain in the ass. His family is really powerful, so he can get away with a lot." she explained. "Son of a bitch." she kept on muttering, calling him some rather unflattering names.

I looked over the battlements. A centurion I remembered as Larry shouted orders to his half of the third cohort. They wouldn't be getting in this way.

Half an hour later, Reyna signaled the end of the war games. The main force had made it into the fort, but hadn't gotten past the second line of defence we'd set up. After the debrief from Frank, who'd turned back into a human, we dispersed. I went up to Bomblio's spare room and got ready for bed. Tiredness washed over me, and the realm of Hypnos engulfed my mind in dreams.

Aaaaand, that's the chappie! I don't even know how I got it on, with all the crazy stuff going on... but the usual; comment, follow review, et cetera.

Good hunting!

~ Hunter of Artemis 01