"Rule #1 of swordplay – never, ever, EVER let down your guard."

Reese looked around the arena at the other demigods. Yeah, right. He'd be able to beat these kids any day, on guard or not. Most of them were probably under twelve. Now, Percy... that was another story. He'd never be able to take this guy. After seeing

what Percy Jackson did to those monsters yesterday, Reese wouldn't want to face him sword-to-sword.

The demigod in question stood right in front of him, actually, teaching the newbies sword-fighting class. He leaned on his three-foot bronze sword's hilt, surveying the class of new demigods. Reese recognized a few kids from the Hermes cabin, and some

others he'd seen around camp. One looked a bit like that girl, Annabeth, with blonde hair and gray eyes.

"Now, I take it most of you don't have weapons yet," Percy said. "For how many of you is this your first week at camp?"

Reese raised his hand, along with five or six other half-bloods. It was his first full day, actually. He'd started out the morning with shaving cream in his sleeping bag (a "welcome gift" from the head Hermes counselors), and then ate breakfast with his cabin. He

was getting used to the strange traditions at Camp Half-Blood. Everyone believed in the gods and donated some of their meals to their patron. He'd sent a silent thank-you to Hermes for granting him shelter in the cabin, and because he didn't know who to

pray to yet. Percy had promised to take Reese up to Olympus this afternoon to see what was going on, and maybe at the end of the night he'd know who his godly parent was. He hoped it wasn't one of the sissy gods or goddesses, like Aphrodite or

Dionysus (a few campers had described the wine god to him, and, well, Mr. D didn't seem like a very cool guy). Hephaestus might be cool, or Ares, or maybe Athena. But somehow he couldn't imagine himself as Annabeth's brother, nor as that girl Nyssa's. He

didn't really know where he fit.

"All right," continued Percy, "I've taught you a bit about sword-fighting, but first, you all need swords." In the corner of the arena stood a small weapons shack, which Percy led his students over to. "Who's the tallest here?" he asked, digging around in the

shack.

"Probably me," Reese said quietly, then cleared his through and repeated it louder.

"Here, take this sword. Having a long reach is always the advantage in a sword match." Percy offered Reese the handle of a long, heavy bronze sword. It felt okay in his hands, pretty well-balanced, but he didn't know what to expect – he'd never held a

sword before.

"Of course, a small weapon helps you stay light on your feet," Percy reassured the shorter kids. "Here's a shortsword. These are pretty handy. They're a little different than knives, but they work in similar ways. Who would like to try one of these?"

Percy continued to pass out weapons. "This is my sword, Anaklusmos," he said at the end, turning his sword in hand to reflect the sunlight. "Better known as Riptide. Celestial bronze is the best material for demigod weapons. Of course, I've also seen other

weapons partially made of mortal steel, like Kronos's scythe."

Reese shivered. He'd heard a few things about the titan lord, and it still amazed him that Percy Jackson had defeated him.

"Now, I want to show a few things about the different weapons. Does anyone want to try dueling?"

A brave ten-year-old stepped forward, thin bronze sword in hand.

"Okay, cool. Sabers are fast and nimble weapons, but they require a lot of force to much damage. For example, if I do this..." Percy pressed the flat of his blade against the girl's saber, applying a bit of pressure, and the saber immediately bent back. "They

don't hold up under pressure from real blades. Instead of messing around with parrying blows, you need to learn how to dodge blades. If I do this..." Percy lifted his sword above his head with two hands and started to bring it down on the girl. Reese would

have immediately lifted his sword to block, but the girl ducked out of the way instead.

"Nice job," Percy congratulated. "And if I take a swing from this point..."

Again, the girl jumped back out of the way, landing lightly on the balls of her feet.

"You're light on your feet. Daughter of Hermes?"

She nodded, and Reese realized that he recognized her – she had a top bunk in his cabin.

"Okay, next?" Percy asked. A tall boy stood, maybe thirteen years old. This one had a longer sword, similar to Riptide. "Try blocking me." They swung back and forth at each other for a few minutes, blocking and attacking. Percy juked out of the way of a

particularly fast jab, but the boy overextended his sword and lost balance.

"Right, this is a good example of a teaching moment," Percy said once the boy had righted himself. "When you have a heavy sword, like Reese on the end, for example," Percy pointed to Reese, "you have to be careful. You've got a large reach, for sure, but if

you reach too far your body's counterweight won't help anymore and you'll lose balance. Keep your weight under you at all times." He placed his feet firmly on the ground as an example, digging his heels into the sandy floor. "Next?"

This time Reese stepped up, hefting his sword from one hand to another.

"Now, in this fight I've got the disadvantage of a shorter sword, so I've got to get in close." Percy ducked and jabbed at Reese's midsection, and Reese barely managed to get up his guard in time. Man, this guy was fast. Reese pushed Riptide back and

returned with a swipe of his own, which Percy easily dodged.

"Try again, you've got to keep being original if you want to get a hit in," Percy said with a slash at Reese's shoulder. Reese leaped to the side and lifted his heavy sword over his head, preparing to bring it down on Percy. Percy lifted his sword just in time to

block it. They stood there, swords locked just over Percy's shoulder. Percy placed his free hand on the flat of his blade to add more pressure and finally managed to push Reese's sword away.

"You're strong, I'll give you that. Brute force is important, but technique is too."

"You're going easy on me, aren't you?" grunted Reese, swinging at Percy.

"Of course; it's only your first lesson. Here, let's pause and give someone else a chance to spar."

Reese dropped his strike and stepped back into the line with the younger students.

"But Reese did great," said Percy. "He put up a very good offensive. This is important; you can't win a battle by just blocking blows. You've got to attack, which Reese did very well."

Percy's eyes lingered on Reese a moment longer, as if trying to puzzle something out, and then shifted his gaze to the other students. "Right, you guys have learned a lot for today. We'll just-" Percy stopped, seeing something behind the kids, and Reese

turned to look. There was Annabeth, jogging into the arena with a few rolled-up scrolls in hand.

"Hey, what's going on?" he asked.

Annabeth jogged over to her boyfriend and leaned closer to him, gripping the front of his shirt and whispering something in his ear. He nodded, taking a glance at the scrolls in her hands.

"Okay, okay," he murmured. "We can take care of that later, but I'm sort of in the middle of-"

"Right," Annabeth said with a sheepish smile, stepping back and letting go of Percy's shirt.

"Everybody, this is Annabeth, daughter of Athena, architect of Olympus. I'm sure you've seen her around camp-"

"Are you guys dating?" one of the youngest girls asked. A few of the older kids shushed her.

Both Percy and Annabeth turned beetred. "Well, yes, but that's not the po-"

"Can you demonstrate what a fight looks like?" Reese suggested. Anything to get away from the awkward subject.

Percy shot him a grateful look. "Yeah! Annabeth's a great fighter."

"Better than you," she said with a light punch to his upper arm.

"She fights with a knife," Percy explained, pointing to Annabeth's weapon. "It's very different than fighting with a sword, and not exactly what we're studying, but it works. The difference is similar to a shortsword – because of the shorter range, you have to

get in closer to attack, and you have to be faster."

They stood, sword-to-knife, before Percy lunged at her left side. She spun out of the way and ducked in to aim for his throat, but he knocked her knife away easily. They were clearly evenly matched. Annabeth twisted around behind her boyfriend and went

for his upper spine, but he turned at the last second to block. Then he swiped at her shoulder, which she sidestepped, leaving his sword biting the dust. The duel continued like this for several minutes, both moving so fast they sometimes blurred. Reese

couldn't quite tell who was winning, but he was definitely seeing some good techniques on both sides that he'd have to remember.

Annabeth slashed at Percy's right shoulder and he was too slow to dodge. The knife met with flesh and Reese winced, sure Percy's arm would be cut clean off, but no blood flowed. A murmur rushed through the crowd of students as the duel continued

unabated. It was as if neither had noticed the contact. As the fight continued, Reese saw Annabeth's knife strike Percy again and again, but nothing changed. Was the blade dull? It seemed almost normal for them, as if this was just another part of dueling.

Then Reese remembered back in his cafeteria, when the Minotaur's axe had simply rebounded off Percy's chest, as if he had been wearing armor. What was that?

Another swing almost landed on Percy's chest, but he managed to block. The pressure from his sword was enough to finally twist the knife out of Annabeth's hand, and the sparring match was over.

"Nice match," Percy sighed, wiping the sweat from his forehead. Annabeth bent down to pick up her knife, shook her boyfriend's outstretched hand, and then grabbed her scrolls again.

"Yeah, it was fun to get a little exercise, but I should probably head out. Good luck, guys!" She saluted the class and jogged back out of the arena again. Reese watched her leave, as did all the other students.

"She's really something, isn't she?" Percy said, grinning stupidly. He blinked twice, shook his head, and turned back to his class. "Right. Anyway, you guys can learn to fight like that, if you keep at it."

One of the boys cleared his throat. "She kept hitting you with her knife, but you're not injured."

Percy laughed. "I guess you guys saw that."

"How do you do that?" "Are you wearing armor?" "Can we be invincible too?" "Is her blade dull?" Everyone started talking at once.

"Hey," Reese said loudly. Then, louder. "Hey! HEY! Guys, be quiet!"

"Thanks, Reese," Percy said. "And yeah, it's pretty cool. I guess you guys are too new to know much about the Titan War, but last summer I took a dip in the River Styx."

"The River Styx? In the Underworld?" one kid asked.

Percy nodded. "Yeah, the same one Achilles was dipped in. My friend Nico took me down there. Maybe some of you guys know him, son of Hades? He only shows up at camp occasionally. Anyway, if you swim in the Styx, you become impervious to injury,

except in one weak spot. I did it so I could battle Kronos without him being able to hurt me easily. The curse of Achilles saved my life many, many times, but now I'm stuck with it."

"Where's your weak spot?" one girl asked.

Percy grinned crookedly. "Like I'd tell you that."

"So that's why Annabeth didn't go easy on you at all."

"Yeah, she knew I wouldn't get hurt. It makes for a different sparring style, when you're sparring someone who can't get hurt. Especially if you're actually trying to kill them, like in battle, you have to try to aim for as many different spots as possible to find

their weak spot." Then Percy stopped. "Maybe I shouldn't have told you all that."

Reese grinned, raising his sword. "Attack!"

All of the students lifted their weapons and charged the instructor, ready to find his weak spot.

"No! I didn't mean to try and find it by guess and check right now!" Percy shouted, but the kids, Reese included, still chased him all the way out of the arena and around camp.

He had to jump into the lake to get rid of them.