Dear readers, please note: there will be POV changes in this chapter. thank you.

Chapter 8: I duel an Amazon

I sat there as I stared down the blade that Reyna held in my face, I was honestly too preoccupied with the splitting migraine that has pounding through my head like a gong to really grasp just what this situation was leading to, but at this point? I honestly didn't give a rat's ass.

I just rubbed my head with one hand and clutched my aching ribs with the other as I groaned. Taking some pain pills I got up and got to her eye level, oddly enough we were the same height.

I was still sore as hell but thanks to the Advil and some sleep I was finally able to at least walk. I looked Reyna right in the eye and said the first thing that popped into my head in response.

"Bring it on Wonder Woman." I said, which made her give me a weird look. "What?"

"Did you just call me Wonder Woman?" She said, lowering her sword.

"Yeah." I nodded.

"Why?" She questioned further.

"Because you look like an amazon." I said bluntly.

She seemed to be amused by this for some reason. "How very perceptive of you. Yes, I am actually an amazon."

I probably should've been surprised, but I wasn't, honestly nothing really surprised me much anymore.

Reyna smirked. "I Don't know why, but I think I'm going to end up liking you, Nigel Jager. Tell you what. We'll continue this little duel challenge tomorrow when you're rested, seeing as that you are already beaten rather badly, and if you win, we'll call this even."

Most people would probably be relieved out of their minds by this news, but not me, I honestly just saw this as an inconvenience being pushed back a few hours. But if this meant it could be over as soon as possible? I'm all for it.

I looked at her and nodded. "Yeah. I can do that."

"Good." Reyna smirked.

After this fiasco everything settled down and I finally was able to get some food into my stomach. Which really helped my body start to heal. I also got to know the Jupiter kids a little more, which really helped defuse any awkwardness that was lingering because of the whole duel challenge thing. Which was pretty good.

But that was all pretty much chased out of my head pretty quickly, mainly because my mind kept on coming back to how cool Reyna seemed to be, well cool as in cool headed that is. And yes I would be lying if another reason I kept looking at her was because of how drop dead gorgeous she looked.

Ya know how I said she looked like Wonder Woman? Well I was half right, she's about twice as hot. As she looked about sixteen, with piercing black eyes and glossy black hair worn in a single braid. She also had a regal and beautiful face of what seemed to be Hispanic descent, and had a gaze as if she could take on any challenge.

Again, hot as hell. And her personality definitely added to her overall appeal. However, like all of those too good to be true girls there was a catch…

"Wait, So you're a what now?" I asked.

"I'm a huntress of Artemis, which makes me Immortal, unless I die in battle or break my vow and fall in love." She said.

That certainly got my attention, mainly because that's one hell of a loophole. "Wait, can't Artemis just remove those emotions from you guys so that doesn't happen? I mean she is a goddess after all." I said.

This caused the amazon to roll her eyes. "If she did that it would go against free will, something that even she won't abide by. Besides, she tried that at least once and it was met with quick retaliation from Aphrodite and Zeus."

I winced, that does not sound pretty. "In what case?" I asked.

"Hippolitus." Reyna told me.

I nodded, then laid my head down on my arms as I kept eye contact. "Okay...but still you gotta admit it's a pretty flimsy rule, I mean if it allows for that big of a loophole."

Reyna chuckled. "Yes, I suppose you're right."

(Piper POV)

I watched Nigel and Reyna continue to talk and I couldn't help but chuckle, which was noticed by Jason who leaned over towards me.

"What's so funny Pipes?" He asked.

I sighed, shaking my head, of course he didn't notice. "Just how Nigel and Reyna are getting along with each other after ya know…"

"Nearly killing each other?" He finished.

"Yeah." I nodded.

Jason looked at the two, then back to me. "I'll admit, it is surprising, I mean you know how Reyna is."

"Yeah, and it nearly pales in comparison to how Nigel is. When he got here he always seemed to hold most of us at arms distance, keeping to himself mostly, at least until Percy started warming up to him." I said.

"Who'd blame him? He's the first Demi primordial in existence and is the Son of the same primordial that tried to kill us, with all that and the initial hostility that came after, I'd get why he'd want to distance himself." Jason agreed with a nod.

I sighed as I laid my head on his shoulder. "So, you think Nigel has a crush on Reyna?"

Jason was quiet for a second before responding. "Hard to say, I mean I'm not a daughter of Aphrodite like you so I can't really tell. But I'd say there's probably a couple seeds of one in there somewhere."

I smiled as I watched everyone laugh and have fun, Reyna and Nigel among them. "And if I know my mom, those seeds will probably sprout."

(Nigel POV, later that night.)

I decide to go to bed later after getting some food in me, funnily enough having all those conversations with everyone took my mind off of how much I felt like total crap, which made me feel way better.

I hobbled on back to the Poseidon cabin when I saw someone or rather three someones were waiting for me there, it was two guys. One was Chiron, the other I recognized was Mr. D, and the other...I had no idea.

The reason why I even recognized Mr. D was because he's kinda hard to miss in a crowd. Mr. D has a chubby face, a red nose and curly hair so black, it looks purple. He had watery, blue, bloodshot eyes (probably from drinking). He usually wears tiger-striped (or leopard-spot) Hawaiian shirts and purple running shoes. Or as Percy puts it: he looked like cherub who had grown up in a trailer park.

I personally hated the guy, he always got my name wrong and always pissed me off. So seeing him in my way to a good night's sleep was not a welcome sight.

The other guy I didn't recognize. He had black hair, a neatly trimmed black beard, a deep tan, and sea-green eyes (kinda like Percy), that were surrounded by sun-crinkles that told one he was prone to smiling. His hands are also scarred like an old-time fisherman's. The guy had on Birkenstocks (leather sandals), khaki Bermuda shorts, a Tommy Bahama shirt with coconuts and parrots all over it (or any other Hawaiian shirt), and a cap decorated with fishing lures which says "Neptune's Lucky Fishing Hat."

It took me a minute to realize who it might be as I arrived to where they were. "Hey Chiron, What's up Mr. D-bag? Who's the new guy?"

Mr. D went a shade of puce, he hated it when I called him that. "Watch your tongue Jagger." He said.

That pissed me off, I can't stand when people mispronounce my name. "I keep telling you: it's Jager, YAY-ger! As in the German word for hunter. Not Jagger, I'm not a dancer!" I snapped.

The man beside Mr. D chuckled at our argument as he fiddled with a fishing hook he had between his fingers. "You certainly don't let anyone push you around don't ya?"

I looked at him and then slowly nodded. "Pretty much, yeah." I then looked at Chiron who cleared his throat.

"Nigel, this is Poseidon, god of the sea, and Percy's father." The centaur told me.

I slapped myself in the head, how did I not realize that sooner? I then decided to try and make a good impression and held my hand out.

"Hi, I'm Nigel, I'm uh..sorta Percy's new roommate." I said, trying to be cordial.

Poseidon smiled as he shook my hand. "Yes, I've heard. Percy's told me about you, like how you recently fought a manticore with just a staff and managed to win."

I looked at my injuries. "Yeah, but I'm pretty sure I took more of a beating than it did."

The man looked me over and nodded. "You enjoying yourself here?"

"Mostly." I nodded.

"You and Percy are getting along I presume?" The god asked.

"Yeah, I'd say so." I replied, moving past them so I could get into the cabin.

Poseidon then sat down in a chair as I got myself into my bunk. "So why exactly are you guys here?" I asked.

The god of the sea seemed a little nervous, but then sighed. "I'll admit I'd be lying if I didn't say I came here because I was worried about Percy rooming with a Demi primordial, especially a son of Tartarus."

"I wouldn't have believed you if you said you weren't." I replied, fiddling with Suppressor in its bracelet form.

Poseidon nodded. "Right. But, Chiron has told me nothing but good things about you, as has Percy. And after meeting you in person I can see that you don't seem at all malevolent."

"Gee, thanks." I said, it kinda seemed like he was patronizing me but at least it was a complement.

"What I'm trying to say is, my son is usually never wrong when it comes to the character of others so, I just wanted to see if you were like he said you were."

I looked at him, he seemed sincere enough to me. "Well...I'm not sure what he's told you, but I can tell you one thing, I'm gonna make sure that just because my dad may have tried to destroy Olympus, doesn't mean that I will."

"That's good to hear." Poseidon smiled as he got up. He, Chiron and Mr. D then left to go find the other campers.

I laid there in bed and sighed. I was definitely going to prove I was on their side, no matter what.

The next morning I woke up and my injuries had finally healed. That ambrosia really does work. So I went to the camp stadium where Reyna was waiting, just like she said. She was tapping her foot on the ground the whole time.

"You're late." She said, obviously annoyed.

I just sighed, the others weren't kidding, she was strict. "Overslept. Now let's get this over with already."

She unsheathed her sword while I got out Suppressor, it had been feeling really heavy after that fight with the Manticore so I figured I better use it to see what was up.

And without hesitation the amazon girl struck first, causing me to have to block and parry with the middle of my staff, causing her to stagger to the side, which gave me an opening to deliver a clean blow to her cranium.

The others in the stand cringed will a collective 'ooh' as Reyna regained her footing, a small trickle of blood going down her face from where I struck.

"Ow." She said curtly.

I smirked as I twirled my staff. "Give up, Ramírez?" I taunted.

This caused her to glare at me as she yelled and started swinging her blade around, I was barely able to block or deflect most of them, and I even got a slash right across the chest.

I staggered back as I used my staff to help keep myself up, blood dripping from my wound and my shirt ruined.

"Aw come on this was my favorite shirt!" I yelled. I was really mad now, and the pain of the cut and the blood loss clouded my mind as I started swinging my staff in continuously more complex maneuvers and kept bashing Reyna with the blocky ends, causing some serious bruising.

This was met by an even more ferocious flurry of attacks from her and she got me in the sides, arms and even slashed me in the back.

I stood there hunched over as I gripped Suppressor in my hands, breathing heavily, blood running down both my arms and dripping onto the ground from my hands. I glared at the girl as she panted, clearly becoming exhausted, who just pointed her sword at me and said.

"Give up?" She taunted with a smirk.

I didn't even get a chance to respond because I then adjusted my grip on my staff and all the weight I had felt from Suppressor had gone from it, into me and everything went black.

(Everyone POV)

As Nigel stood there he adjusted his grip on his staff by twisting his hands in different directions and then, there was suddenly a loud and deep clicking sound from the staff as it started to glow red, and a plume of black air went from it, and into Nigel's lungs, causing him to inhale and his eyes became pitch black, his wounds all healing rapidly as he stood up straight.

The dark mist then swirled around the staff as it suddenly started to change shape. It now resembled a large double sided spear, one end resembled a harpoon, while the opposite end was shaped like an axe blade.

Nigel twirled the newly formed weapon as his power now surged even higher. Gripping it with both hand he reeled back and grinned.

"Sorry Amazon! But I can't hold back!" He yelled as he swung the back end with the ax blade clear around causing a large amount of force to gather which cleaved through the other side of the stadium and some of the trees outside.

The force of the air blast sent Reyna flying back and into a wall. Nigel was about to swing the spearhead around but hit only air and ended up taking a chunk of the stadium instead.

This last move seemed to take a lot out of the boy, because he then dropped his weapon and fell on his face in exhaustion. Leaving everyone in the area to become shocked and surprised about what just happened.