Jessica

Usually, the children of Apollo head to the basketball court when they wanna show up. I don't visit there for that reason. Well, maybe sometimes... But that's not the point. This morning, I just needed something to do. I couldn't be still without all the memories from the Titan war coming to my mind. Well, one particular memory. The memory of my sister's death. Of course, many other demigods died there, too. Most of them were my siblings or friends, but Angelica was the only one I had left from my childhood home. She was my big sister. When she died, she was 17 years old, two years older than I am now. The images had hounded me since then: the collapsing bridge. My sister's dark green eyes full of despair and determination when she pushed me aside and tried to save Michael - our half brother from the Apollo cabin - from falling along the bridge to East River. My sister overbalancing over the edge when her grip slipped Michael's wrist, and both of them falling to the river far below them - falling to their dooms.

The memories had at last stopped tormenting me very often, and I'd learnt to block them out from my mind. Until I saw a dream last night. A dream, where I had to experience the most horrible moment of my life again. In the dream, I felt the same paralyzing horror as when I helplessly stood by and watched my sister plunge to her death. She was a hero. She hadn't just saved me. She had tried to save Michael, too. And now the both of them were gone. I can only hope, that they made it to Elysium. And sure they did, 'cause anything else wouldn't make any sense.

I shook my head. I'm thinking too much again. I thought. I should really try to learn how to shut up... Can you even say that about thinking? I shook my head harder. Clarisse looked at me weirdly. Oh yeah... Clarisse. I was actually relieved, that I could spar with her. The first and probably the last time in my life. Or well, no one had probably ever looked forward to a beat up from Clarisse... Well, it would at least give me something else to think about.

Clarisse swung her sword. "Well, you gonna escape?"

I pulled my sword from it's sheath and raised my eyebrows. "Me?" I stepped closer to Clarisse. The camp's arena was a wide, round area, the grandstand - like big stone steps - circling the edges. There was enough space for all the campers. Now, there asn't anyone watching. Well, of course there wasn't anyone - it was just an early morning, and to be exact, it wasn't even allowed to be out-of-doors before breakfast. And who even wanted to wake up this early?

We started to circle around each other. We both waited for the other one to strike first. Finally I got tired to it and attacked. I bluffed to the left, did a feint hit at her right side, directed her sword aside with my sword's flat and tried to hit her left thigh. She rejected. I backed up a few feet. She rushed at me, trying to hit my chest, but I stepped aside and lashed towards her left side. She rolled under my strike and tackled me to the ground.

Of course, I had to land on my face straigh into the arena's only mud puddle. And it was a big mud puddle. I spat out a mouthful of mud as I managed to stand up without slipping. Great. I wiped most of the mud from my face and took a firmer grip of my sword. About ten feet away, Clarisse was smirking at me. I grimaced, but took my ready position. Clarisse didn't give me any mercy. But so won't I... I started to use my advantages. Which maybe wasn't much, but I didn't care. I decided to show her, that even she was about twice my size, (and I'm not overstating) it didn't make me an easy opponent. And as a matter of fact, that was my advantage: I was smaller and quicker.

I retreated, making Clarisse think, I was trapped. In that point of the arena, quite close to the edge, were the dummies. When Clarisse attacked next, I backed out toward the outermost dummy. When she tried to hit me with the back of her sword, I darted behind the dummy. Clarisse had been so excited to beat me up, that she inadvertently smashed the back of her sword into the dummies chest. The strike was so hard, it made a hole and some straws came out. Wow. I really didn't feel like getting hit like that. It took a second too much from Clarisse to swallow the fact that she'd screwed up, and I had the time to hit her to the side with my elbow. She reeled back and gave me a mean glare, but recovered quickly, and made sure I didn't have time to enjoy my victory.

We fought on the arena for a while, and when we got back to our cabins, we both had lots of bruises and scrapes. And it's probably needless to say, that I was also covered in mud. I took a shower, and when I was ready, all my roommates were already awake. Few of them asked were I had been. They didn't really get my point about sparring with Clarisse voluntarily. I used half an hour to finish my battle map for our battle strategy class. Then I tied my dagger on my left upper arm - I always have my dagger with me, but I only use it for want of better. My sword I left on the bed. Finally, we followed our camp director, Will Solace, to the dining pavilion for breakfast.

I took a few freshly baked rolls, a bowl of cereals and a glass of orange juice on my tray. When it was my turn to offer to the gods, I throwed one of the rolls to the fire and mumbled softly: Dad, please don't let it happen again. Help me to become a better warrior, so that I can protect my friends. And rather quick... Before the war. I brushed a tress of hair aside from my face, walked to the Apollo table and sat down on the bench next to Kayla.

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