It was a slow morning. It was cold, and Percy emerged with his armor fastened to his body, eyes closing, but frowned when there was no wind. Instead, the air was dry and desiccated. However, he was pleased when he reached down to feel the fresh dew that swathed the grass.
It would have been a year since he discovered that he was a badass demigod. A year since he discovered that his best friend was a weird goat thing.
A satyr, man. A satyr, Grover would say and he grinned absently.
A year since his mother left that ass of a man who smelled like sweat, donuts, beer, and cheep cologne. And a year since he met Annabeth, who was one hell of a fighter. He was assured that she emasculated half the boys in Camp Half-Blood, and he laughed.
"What's so funny?"
He turned his head to the voice, and grinned. Speaking of the devil.
"Nothing," he simply answered. "Just thinking about you."
Percy rose, the dew being imbibed into his fingertips. He flashed her a cheeky grin, and Annabeth lifted an eyebrow with an amused laugh.
"Of course," she said and gestured her head. "Come on, let's practice."
With a silent nod of his head, Percy followed her, extracting his sword from its holster and indolently began to twirl it around, until with an abrupt motion from Annabeth, a sword was directed towards his chest. Nearly dropping his sword, he lifted his gaze to meet Annabeth's indomitable eyes. Shaking his head, he laughed, took his stance, and waiting for her to attack.
Grover sauntered next to a girl, a flirtatious grin curling to his lips while he spoke in a charismatic matter. The satyr loved all things pretty. Especially pretty girls. His lewd, blatant flirting caused the young woman to giggle uncontrollably, the pink extremely apparent in her cheeks. His grin widened, and draped his arm around the girl and drew her closer in a slipshod fashion.
"Has anyone told you that you have the most stunning eyes ever? And that hair!" His fingers coiled around her blond tresses pressing it to his nose for a brief moment. "Oh my, it smells like nectarine and pink coral flower!"
Again, a feminine giggle escaped her lips, bashfully looking away before back at him. Before Grover could even think of a corny pick up line, he heard his name, which was the most horrible sound because he realized that he would be forced to leave this heavenly girl beside him. He acted as if he hadn't heard his name, and opened his mouth to speak only to have his name being called out once more.
An exasperated expression crossed his face, sighed sharply and with all his valor, smiled politely. "One moment, please," he said kindly and walked away frowning.
"Yes, Chiron," he said with a displeased timbre hinting in his voice, no matter how much he had tried to secrete it.
Though to his surprise, a very cute, though unfamiliar girl was next to him, and he thought that perhaps it would not be so bad. Her hair was mid-length, black, and streamed down her back. Her skin was a russet color, dark – but not too dark, and her eyes an odd tinge of grey.
"Well, who might this be?"
Chiron placed his large hand on her small shoulder, gently prodding her forward towards Grover. Coyly, she looked back at him, making an ambiguous face. He laughed softly, and again he gently nudged her forward.
"It's alright." Chiron looked up at Grover. "This is Isabella Leon, daughter of Apollo." He paused. "She has just been attacked. So bring her to the infirmary for a check up and then perhaps show her around?"
"I would love to," he replied, and grinned a friendly grin towards Isabella who looked timid about going with him. Though, she summoned up the courage and intrepidly stepped forward, briefly looking back at Chiron before giving her attention to the satyr.
Being a travel guide was not alien to Grover, and he felt at ease in spite of the fact that this girl did not talk too much. She replied with mere nods and one word answers after the medical health check, ostensibly fine, minus possibly the lingering shock.
Though, she ultimately talked a little, and asked, "What are you?" The question was asked in a very candid matter, but Grover was not bothered too much about it.
"I am, my good lady, a satyr."
They stumbled upon two people in combat, and Isabella halted with her face expressing sheer awe. What amazed her were their intricate and sharp movements. Isabella watched in admiration and jealously, and she heard a deep laugh from Grover.
"Those are my friends, Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase."
She tilted her head, observing them.
Annabeth swung her sword at the boy, who quickly veered the sharp blade. One step back, he dug his heel into the ground, and inclined backwards rapidly and it reminded Isabella of the Matrix. His sword attempted to access her ankles with one motion, but she leaped, thrusting her arm forward, both their swords making brutal contact with each other. They continued to attack each other in X motions, Percy nearly harassed in his face, though was able to escape a slash on his cheek once he coiled his neck causing serious whiplash.
A sharp pain shot up his neck, and he abraded his palm on the area. While he was briefly distracted, Annabeth took this moment to assail his stomach, but her wrist was quickly seized by Percy's hand, and he lugged her forward, the tip of his sword leveled to her chest with a cocky grin.
Both their breathing was labored, and Annabeth yanked her arm back, frustrated by the loss. But Isabella didn't care who the winner was – they were both remarkably skillful in the arts of swords-play.
"Ha-ha!" Grover laughed, and walked towards the two. "And Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena goddess of wisdom, is defeated by the infamous Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon!" He lifted up the victor's hand making childish sounds of a crowd.
Annabeth's eyes rolled. "Whatever," she muttered and Percy laughed while he affectionately patted her arm.
"Oh, don't be a sore loser."
Grover smiled, and then suddenly realized he had left Isabella alone and quickly turned to her, gesturing for her to come down. She shook her head and smiled a little, trying to tell him that she was perfectly fine.
He rolled his eyes, gently taking her wrist and towing her towards Percy and Annabeth.
"Percy, Annabeth, this is Isabella, a newcomer."
"Hi, welcome," Annabeth greeted nearly breathlessly. Percy merely smiled an awkward smile. His hand lifted in all intentions to give her a friendly wave, but dropped his sword smoothly in the process. He dashed to pick it up, laughing a little and waved again.
"Such a good first impression of me, huh," he chuckled. "Nice to meet you."
Before she could reply, a sudden shriek was audible. The scream was grisly, and sickening to the stomach. It penetrated their ears, and Isabella winced.
"…what the," Percy drawled out and all at the same time, they darted towards the sound.
Panic struck her face, and she grudgingly followed them. It was not difficult for her to keep up, but her heart was thrashing in her chest. They led her into a cabin, which was already delimited by other demigods. Grover drove his body through the multitude of people, cursing his way through as Annabeth and Percy followed, Isabella just behind their trail. What they discovered was a girl, facing the wall with her concerned friend adjacent.
"What's going on," Grover demanded and approached the girl who was joined with the corner of the room.
He took her shoulder, tugging a few times before one final tow to vehemently turn her around. The sight was…frightening. The poor child was in tears, sheer horror evident, and blood trickling down her face coming from the symbol of death carved on her forehead.
Annabeth covered her mouth, and Percy stood. "…holy shit."
Isabella bit her lip and muttered, "Well, this is one hell of a first day…"