CHAPTER II: CLARISSE GIVES ME A BAD HAIRCUT

12:35 p.m., the sword-fighting arena

I have to admit, Percy may have a head full of kelp, but he's darn good at sword-fighting.

I think that's partly because he's invincible. But he disagrees.

"Hi-yah!" he said as he totally beat a guy from the Hephaestus cabin in sword-fighting, skillfully disarming him and sweeping Riptide up to his chin. "Dead."

I decided to challenge him. "En garde!" I pronounced and drew my knife as the other boy left.

"Touché," he replied and we began dueling.

Sparks flew from both of our swords as we fought. "You're pretty fast," he said, parrying my blow, "But your guard is too high."

He feinted to the left and jabbed at my stomach. I swiftly sidestepped and slashed at his leg. He blocked it and twisted my knife around. It dropped with a clatter and he swept his sword to my neck. "Dead."

I knew just the way to get to him. I smiled my most dazzling and alluring smile and flipped my hair to the side. He stared at me, open-mouthed. I twitched my fingers at him, signaling come on over, honey.

He did so, practically drooling. I tilted my head to the right and leaned in as though about to kiss him. He followed and when our mouths were an inch apart, I grabbed my knife from the ground and attempted to catch him off guard. Instantly alert, he grabbed the hilt of my knife and yanked it away. "Don't try that again, you naughty little girl," he laughed.

"Who's naughty?" I said, smiling. And I kissed him, sweaty and all.

"Lovebirds!" the gruff voice of Clarisse came behind me. We broke apart, breathing heavily. I turned around.

"Hey, Clarisse," I answered.

"Listen, punks," she said, jabbing her finger at us. "My dad Ares is mad at you guys because you vaporized his special war-trained, war-bred hellhounds. Which means I'm mad, too." Usually Clarisse was in a good mood lately because of Chris, her boyfriend, who was nice and tried to encourage her to be nicer to us. But apparently, he wasn't there to hold her leash, so she had free rein.

"I was right about the whole Aphrodite/Ares thing!" Percy breathed into my ear.

"Shut up," Clarisse snapped. "Now you guys have to pay."

She drew her sword and yelled a battle-cry. "CHAAAARGE!"

Instantly, five to ten Ares kids jumped out and began attacking us. It was a well-executed plan. To Chiron, or anyone that happened to walk by, it would look like some training thing, led by Clarisse and Percy.

"Stay behind me," Percy said. "I'm invincible."

"I'm not a weakling!" I protested, but he was stronger and forced me behind him.

Looking back on it, it was very smart of him. Because all the sword or javelins that got thrown at him got bounced off his skin, and all the spears that hit him caused no harm. "Stupid River Styx," I heard a guy curse. Suddenly, they seemed to get the general idea that Percy was protecting me and swarmed to where I was. I suddenly found myself dodging blows for my life. I didn't receive any major cuts or bruises, although a girl (which I was quite certain was Clarisse) swung wildly at me with a sword she'd picked up from the ground and it chopped my hair off at my shoulder-line in a jagged, uneven cut. As soon as she'd done that, I attempted to retaliate, but she disappeared.

Everything abruptly stopped. Percy had Riptide at Clarisse's throat. "Well?" She hoarsely croaked.

"Drop your weapons," he ordered.

Slowly but surely, I heard the unmistakable sound of weapons being dropped.

"Et tu, Clarisse," he raised his eyebrows at her.

"What is that supposed to—" she spat, but before she finished, I answered.

"And you, Clarisse," I explained.

She glared at me and released her hold on her spear. It dropped to the ground.

"Now, Clarisse," Percy said conversationally. "You will not mention this to anyone. And you will not attack us again. Understand?"

Clarisse muttered something.

"Swear on the River Styx," I commanded.

"Fine. I swear on the River Styx that I won't tell anyone and I won't attack you again. Happy?" she angrily answered.

"Not particularly," Percy shrugged nonchalantly. "Let's go," he told me and we left the arena.

"A lot of people—and things are attacking us today," I mused.

"They're attracted to us. Like magnets," he answered.

"Like I'm attracted to you?" I teased.

He kissed me. "Yup."

I wondered if I could still go to the Aphrodite cabin for advice, but then Rosie appeared, waving her arm at me. "See you," I told Percy and he left for the stables.

"Hey, Rosie, listen—I'm really sorry about the hellhounds of love." I apologized.

"Don't worry," she said, smiling. She was known for her good nature. "Ares didn't really like them anyways. He just thought they were fierce and we needed a little workout. Anyways, Allie said you wanted me to help you with your outfit and your—oh, my gods! Your hair!"

I nodded. "Clarisse's present of the day."

Rosie sighed in disgust. "That girl...anyhow, how about meeting me at around four o' clock—the fireworks are at seven, and we need to allow time for dinner. But you have to eat in my cabin. We can't allow Percy to see anything."

"Uh, yeah, sure. What should I bring?" I asked.

"Nothing, my dear friend. I'll provide. And my dear mother will, as well," Rosie said.

"What about my sizes?"

"Nah, don't worry. I can shrink anything," she winked mischievously at me. "I gotta go—Belle wants to interrogate me about stealing her lipstick. See ya!" She dashed off.