Hey guys! I'm back. I know I've not updated in a while. But I am going through a really tough year at school. And the only reason I am able to update right now because I am ill and at home. Anyways, I hope this chapter will make up for the last chapter-less days. So I'll stop with it now. Enjoy the chapter!~
Chapter 8:
Annabeth's POV
As I lay on my bunk, I thought of all the things that happened today. The park, the empousa, meeting Arika, finding out that she was Percy's sister, everything. I remembered the sad look on Percy's face when he looked at the sky and thought of Bob the Titan. Today had been quite a day. But there was something bothering me since a long time.
The way Arika had been claimed. First of all, I felt stupid, not realizing who she was beforehand. I mean the sea green eyes, the powerful aura- I should have noticed it the very first time I saw her. Her name, Arika- was an Australian name that literally meant "Water lily". All these signs, they were screaming 'Daughter of Poseidon', but I was just too ignorant to see them. And then the claiming- it was different, yes, but there was something about those colors, the bright glow, something that I had noticed but was not able to grasp. I somehow knew that it was something important, but couldn't figure out what. I closed my eyes in frustration. I hated not knowing things.
I tried to re-imagine the whole scene, hoping it would help. I imagined the hologram, the bright glow, and the changing colors. Colors! That's it. Colors. There were twelve different colors. Like the twelve Olympians. I sat up, realizing that how correct it sounded. I tried to remember all the colors. Blue for Poseidon, Grey for Athena- that was obvious. The bright lightning Yellow would be for Zeus and the White after that for Hera. The light Green for Demeter, Pink for Aphrodite. The blood Red was of course Ares, the fiery Orange being Apollo and the Dark Purple being Dionysus. The pitch Black was Hades, the Silvery one Artemis. Then the light Brown must be Hermes but the Greek fire-ah- Hecate, the goddess of magic.
All the colors that represent the Olympians. In one symbol. That too, a Daughter of Poseidon. Why? I slowly drifted off to sleep, still pondering over the same question.
Arika's POV
I woke up to the sound of gurgling water. Surprisingly, i had a dreamless night yesterday. The horrors of the past few days had been haunting me not only in the day, but also at night, when those horrible thoughts took shape of dreams. Sitting up, I looked around me. Percy was fast asleep on the bunk beside me. I suppressed a smile when I saw that he was drooling. The sun had just begun to rise outside.
Beside my bunk were all my belongings. My backpack, some toiletries and my books. I also found a fresh pair of jeans, an orange Camp Half Blood T-shirt and a pair of blue converse with neat white socks. I grabbed the clothes and the toothbrush and went into the bathroom. I brushed, showered and changed into camp clothes. As I got back into the cabin, I noticed something lying on my bed. I walked to my bed, scrutinizing the foreign object on my pillow.
It was a packet. It was similar to those the orphanage used to get, just smaller. I carefully opened it, curiosity getting the best out of me. Inside the packet was a beautiful necklace. It had a silver chain, plain and cool against my hand. But what was really beautiful about it was its pendant. It was sea green, like my eyes. Carved out of the sea green oceanic porous rock, its delicate and expert carving was extraordinary. I also found a note inside the packet. The paper had a wave print on it. At a closer glance, I realized that the waves were moving. It smelled like the Long Island shore. The salty water, humid air and the sand, it smelled like the sea. I opened it. Inside, only one sentence was written. Beautiful, bold cursive handwriting. I read the letter thrice, to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. It was written: 'I am proud of you, my daughter.'
A letter from Poseidon, the lord of the seas. He had taken time to write me a letter. Wow. And he was proud of me. I smiled down at the letter. My father had written me a letter. For the first time since arriving at Camp Half Blood, I felt like I really belonged here. I wasn't an unimportant orphan anymore. I was Arika Jones, the Daughter of Poseidon, and Sister of the Legendary Percy Jackson.
I fastened the necklace around my neck, looking at my legendary brother, who was currently drooling like a kid. Now, with the slight light of the sun's rays, I could see the cabin properly. I hadn't even given the cabin a glance last night. Its walls glowed like abalone and the ground beneath my feet was smooth marble. In one corner, there was a saltwater fountain. Made out of gray sea rock, it had a fish in the center that spouted water out of its mouth. It had striking coral decoration. The bottom of the fountain was filled with gold discs, or what the campers called gold drachmas. They were a sort of Greek dollars or something. Moreover, there were underwater plants and corals on the window sill along with bronze horse-fish decorations. The cabin as a whole looked stunning. There were six bunks, all neat except two. Soft silk sheets were spread on each. All the windows faced the sea, and gentle breeze was blowing. After taking another look at my seeping brother, I sneaked out of the cabin.
Fresh, warm air and the scent of strawberries greeted me. There was still a lot of time for breakfast, so I decided to roam around the camp for some time. I ended up walking towards the arena. Not a soul, not even the nature spirits were around. Most campers were still asleep. As I reached the arena, I noticed that someone was practicing. It was a girl. She was tall and muscular. Really muscular. She looked about 18 or 19, with brown hair. She was using a spear and destroying dummy after dummy. She wore an oversized camouflage jacket and her hair was tied back with a red bandanna. Her eyes looked murderous and had a gleam in them. I realized that this was Clarisse LaRue, Daughter of Ares.
She swung at the dummy one more time, reducing it to a pile of straw. "Wow. That was awesome." I thought. Only after thinking again I realized that I'd said it aloud. Clarisse turned towards me. Her eyes narrowed when she saw me. Uh-oh. I thought. No one, almost no one disturbed Clarisse during practice. The Stoll brothers had told me about the 'accidents' that had taken place when people had disturbed Clarisse. "Newbie?" she asked me. I nodded, thinking about how I loved my limbs a lot and didn't want to lose any. Just when I had decided that I was dead, she gave me a cracked smile. Something told me that she didn't smile a lot.
"Come here." She said. She took a look at me, and then asked me, "Ever used one of these?" She gestured towards her spear. I shook my head. Just the thought of using a weapon sent chills through my spine. She handed me the spear and asked me if I wanted to learn how to use it. I nodded, trying to play it safe. So she began teaching me. At the beginning, I admit that sucked. I almost immediately knew that spear was not my choice of weapon. But Clarisse pushed me a little, trying to make me comfortable with the spear. Surprisingly, I didn't end up hurting her or myself. I even managed to thwack a dummy in the head. Yeah, I almost killed Clarisse a lot of times, but she didn't think I was that bad. She gave me an appreciative look as our lesson ended.
As we were sitting down, I asked her, "How can you control your spear so easily?" she chuckled. "It's just practice, kid. When did you come? I don't remember seeing you." "I came yesterday." I told her. "But I don't remember seeing you with other Ares kids yesterday. They all were in the arena in the afternoon." "Yeah. I was at my mom's place. Arrived late last night. I couldn't sleep, so I came to the arena." She told me. I knew about the Demigod dreams, so nodded sympathetically. "It's my first day today. I'm really nervous." I told her truthfully. "First day, I see. What's your name, newbie? Who's your godly parent?" she asked me. "I'm Arika, daughter of Poseidon." I said. "Prissy's sister?" she asked, half-laughing. "Yeah. What's wrong?" I asked, puzzled. "Nothing. You're just a lot more mannered and smarter than him." She said, still smiling. Then she got back into a serious mood. "If anyone tries to hurt you or bully you, just come to me, okay? I will pulverize them." I smiled at her.
We got up; she put her arm around my shoulder and took me for breakfast. I found Percy sitting on the Poseidon table. His eyebrows shot up as he saw me. I grinned at him. Clarisse joined her cabin table and walked up to me.