I would like to give my best friend, David credit for me getting this chapter done. He's been a great critic (though he doesn't critique much) and an even better friend. He's posting a story soon, so I'll tell all of you about it when he's got it up. Thank you. Be sure to leave a review and follow the story if you want more. Hope you like it. I tried to make it longer.
"Partner up!" I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. That was obvious, but it never stopped me before. Most of the time, the cabins were asked to stay together when going into certain training courses, but of course you'd be sick of my siblings to if all you heard was "When are we going to kill something?" or "Why don't they bleed?" or the cabin favorite of "Fight! Fight! Fight!" when two of the dull-headed siblings of mine decided to duke it out in the archery range. It gets hard to learn anything.
I looked around as if any of the Hermes boys would consider pairing up with the master of war's son in a sword fight before shrugging and dug the tip of Atrohmtos into the ground, a tool I'd bought from the Hephaestus cabin during my first year in return for the promise of hard work when they needed it. I used it to lean on while I watched the Hermes brothers pick their favorite siblings, leaving the few kids who aren't Hermes' to partner together. But the boy who'd become my newest interest got the honor of being with my favorite sparring partner.
I watched the new camper get battered by the blade of Luke Castellian, another old friend of mine. The poor kid had no chance, with every lesson taught he'd be whipped by Luke's sword and occasionally small cuts accompanied them. He was sweating by the end when Luke called for a water break.
I didn't join in the joy filled ceremony that was only the halfway point of the entire training session, instead I waited until Luke, who didn't seem tired in the first place looked well rested and walked up to him.
"Wanna give them a real show?" I mumbled to him, knowing he could never turn down my challenges, even when we were younger. My voice unnerved me when it came out of my mouth, never hearing it enough to get used to the unnatural gruffness that it had for a thirteen year old. He jumped when he saw me.
"I didn't see you." I looked down. Disappearing was always something i was good at. A smile spread across his face, making his scar shine brighter. I can remember when that wasn't there, was my last thought before our battle broke out.
Luke had the advantage in age and experience, not to mention his natural ability that came from who knows where (not Hermes that's who), but I had the upper hand on him in size and speed, a few of the gifts from Ares I'm forced to thank him for. He immediately took the offensive, his secret to always winning, forcing me to take to defense. With every blow, I met him full force, causing both of us to clash. He would swing and I block him, then he'd jab, to throw me off. I believe i broke my record of the longest session I'd had with him before he sent my sword clattering to the ground as expected. His cabin cheered for him and i found myself scanning for the boy. Even though I'd lost, I knew that I'd done enough to make him regret messing with my sister.
Speaking of that incident, every time I brought it up to Clare (never in front of anyone of course) she'd always find a way to change the subject or avoid telling me what happened. The others of Cabin 5 had curiosities as well, but for different reasons. There was a camp-wide bet going around as to which god the new boy would be of. Most of my siblings had money on Zeus, firmly believing he was the only option considering he'd beaten a child of Ares, the rest chose Ares himself for the same reason. "No god could compete with father," Brent, one of them had said.
The arrival of the boy hadn't changed my daily routine. I'd gone through my days like any others including the hour or two I'd spent by Thalia's tree. It was my thinking place, where I'd go to relieve my stupid and philosophical thoughts alike. It was easy, especially with the memory of Thalia fresh in my mind. I could predict her every response, both in action and word. Without my time there, I wouldn't feel right and I'd begin to miss her and my old life and my mom. I just wouldn't be working properly. I'd be unbalanced sword. I'd feel like a broken shield.
I'd had to squeeze my time at the hill in at the last minute, which meant skipping dinner, but I didn't mind too much, having already eaten a huge lunch. I'd told the tree because of course Thalia couldn't hear me, all about the boy and Clare and everything else that was exciting me and bugging me all at the same time. In that list, Capture the Flag came up, and I regretted my decision to miss dinner. I mentally said goodbye to my safe haven and raced down to the Pavilion
I'd made it just in time for the bringing in of the flags. I took my seat at the table, my absence unnoted because of my usual . tardiness and watched Annabeth lug in the beautiful banner of Athena, then the gory and almost ugly banner of Ares was brought in by my sister and Toni. I found myself looking away, not being able to stand the sight of Ares symbol after it'd been burned into my mind when I'd run away.
Chiron gave his usual speech and I stood up, knowing that the equipment would soon take over the table and didn't feel the need to be surrounded by my cabin mates and at the groin level. I blinked and it was there. While my siblings rushed for weapons, mine was already covered, safely in the leather sheath it came in. I only needed a vest and a helmet, which I was able to grab easily. I threw in a couple daggers, just to keep it interesting. I was annoyed by the red that decorated everything, but ignored it for the simple sake of not wanting to be that much of a pain.
My cabin mates took a special interest in our Capture the Flag games, being the children of war himself, they couldn't help it at the chance to practice their favorite skills. One good outcome of this, however, is that our game plan is prepared from the day the last one ends. Clarisse and I take guard duty. Toni, Jasper, and Evan take positions of guard on all sides of us while the rest take cruise duty and each take a cabin in a different direction, patrolling for the Athena flag. It was an amazing plan that hadn't failed us in forever.
Our plan came crashing down on us, when I forgot a crucial detail: Clarisse was after the Jackson boy. Everything was fine, until Evan came running out of the bushes, smiling like a madman and instead of coming up to me to tell me what was happening he walked over to my sister.
"We found him. Annabeth has the weakling doing guard duty. Whatever everyone sees in him, she must see right through." Just the mention of Annabeth's name was enough to send Clare into a spiral, but the mention of the boy made her a swirling cloud of anger.
"Come on." Clare's voice suddenly became the booming voice a drill commander. The same one my mother would've used when chastising us.
Evan didn't hesitate to follow her and suddenly my heart began pounding as I looked at the flag behind us then to where my only other guards had disappeared. I thought about what she'd do to the boy if there was nobody to stop her and tried to stop my feet from moving, but suddenly I was running through the trees after my siblings.
I found them crowded around the small black-haired Jackson boy, who couldn't compete with one of my cabin mates not to mention seven of them. Suddenly, Clarisse stabbed him with her electric spear, a beloved gift from our father, who'd given it to me originally but when I denied decided it wasn't worth it and pretended he'd intended it for his favorite daughter the whole time. I felt myself attempt to rush to the boy's aid (that's what heroes do right?) but instead laughed when he was cut by Jasper. I couldn't help it. It was contagious.
Suddenly though, he seemed to stand taller as he knocked Jasper's helmet off. Two of my other brothers rushed forward like pawns in chess, ready to go down fighting for honor and the boy took them out with so much ease it was intimidating. Clarisse moved in, but I quickly knew he'd cut her down without a fight and I wasn't going to have that. I charged into him and suddenly our blades clashed. He was strong and sung with so much accuracy that he must've been using a cursed sword considering how he fought before. We swung back and forth each taking a turn and having the other block with perfect accuracy. I decided to switch things up, swinging then rotating back into a second swing, but just as I went in for the move the blade was knocked out of my hands and into the creek. The boy beamed before Clarisse tried to run him through with her spear. Suddenly, he turned and broke it with ease.
Clarisse cussed when the sound of cheering surrounded us. I felt my hand throw my sword down, realizing that I'd just lost Ares our flag, well, with the help of Clare. The LaRue siblings were now the game killers. I picked my sword up before jogging off to Thalia's hill, thinking that was the reason behind our failure.
The hill looked exactly the same as it had when I'd left earlier that day. The trees were all silent and no wind touched the small hill. The small pile of blue flowers from the strawberry garden, a part of my daily tradition, were untouched. Nothing was moved. It never was.
"I want him dead." I began cursing in Ancient Greek as I would often do when I got stressed and threw my sword down, for effect it stuck in the ground by the point, like a spear. "No, I want worse than that." I corrected myself when I thought of how much pain I could put the Jackson boy through. "I wanted him hunted by monsters. I want him to feel pain worse than anything I've felt. I want to see the boy's blood run so smoothly across his face that blinds him. I want-"
I was cut off by a gut wrenching growl from the woods behind me. I turned around just in time to see the beast run straight for me. Normally, I'd laugh as it hit the barrier, monsters often did that, but instead it crashed through the silk-like barrier bestowed upon us by Zeus himself and I barely got out of the way. The hound ran full speed past me and into the woods, seeming to know exactly where he was going.