Well I finally finished this chapter. Sorry it took so long. I had to go to a funeral so I was away from home for a while. I made it longer than I usually do, so I hope this makes up for my absence! ~enjoy~

When I got back to my cabin, I fell asleep quickly. Thankfully I didn't have any dreams to interrupt my peaceful sleep.

I woke up the next morning feeling better than I had in a while, and after breakfast I was looking forward to sword fighting. It was my favorite class, and one of the only classes at camp that I was good at. Unfortunately though, I think Mr. D made the schedules for this year, because this year I got scheduled with the Hermes, Hecate and Ares cabins. The Hermes kids I didn't mind too much, unless they tried to steal my shield, or armor. It was the Ares cabin I had a problem with. Since they were in the class, they made sure that Clarisse taught the class instead of me. When I walked into the sword-arena I saw that not only did I have Clarisse in my class, but Artemis was in my class, and had obviously formed some sort of alliance with Clarisse.

Great, I muttered under my breath.

"Ok, today we're going to be pairing up." Clarisse bellowed to the class, "So everyone find a partner." She said.

As usual, the Ares kids paired up with each other, the Hecate kids paired up with each other, the Hermes kids paired up, and I was left with my choice of partner of either Artemis or some new undetermined camper who was placed in the Hermes cabin until she was claimed. The girl looked about ten or eleven, with short brown hair, and emerald green eyes.

I decided I'd partner up with the undetermined girl. Maybe I'd be able to give her some advice, and I wouldn't have to risk getting flayed by Artemis. After I saw her fight the Titan, Atlas, I had a feeling that fighting me would be all too easy.

I walked up to the undetermined camper.

"Hi." I greeted her, "I'm Percy."

Her green eyes sparkled, "Oh my gods! You're Percy! You like defeated Kronos!" she squealed, "I'm Katrina, but my friends call me Kat." She said excitedly.

I wasn't really sure how to react, "Uh, ok then. Well I'll help you with your-"

I was interrupted by Clarisse who had walked over and tapped me on the shoulder. "Percy Jackson, what do you think you're doing?" she asked me coldly.

"Oh, well I was going to-"

Clarisse made a face at me, "Aw, is baby Percy afraid of fighting someone his own size? How cute." Clarisse mocked.

I could feel my face turning red, "Well why don't you fight me then?" I asked furiously.

"I can't. I'm working with Marcus on his-"

I cut Clarisse off before she could finish her excuse, "Aw, is Clarisse afraid of fighting someone shorter than her? How cute." I imitated.

Clarisse's face turned beet red, but before she could start yelling at me, Artemis walked forward, "Well, Clarisse since your busy with Marcus, and you think Percy should go against someone who is more of a challenge, why don't I go against him?" she suggested coyly.

Crap! I thought.

Clarisse's face twisted into a grin, and she looked over at Artemis as if she had just suggested that we celebrate Christmas early, "That's a great idea." She smiled.

Great, I thought, Not only do I get pummeled, but Clarisse gets to watch my humiliation too.

"So half-blood," Artemis said, looking at me with her silver eyes, "Do you challenge me?" she asked. In that moment, I realized that, even though she was a camper, she was still constrained by the ancient laws. If I wanted to, I could just say 'no' and she would walk away without giving it a second thought. I looked into her eyes. They gleamed with excitement, not malice.

Maybe I'll actually live to see lunch, I thought rather relieved, "I guess I'll do it." I said, trying to sound brave.

Clarisse grinned, "Great! Get ready for a fight!" she said giddily.

I tried to look braver than I felt but I must not have been doing a very good job, because Artemis walked up to me and muttered, "Relax, I'm not going to kill you."

"Ok hero and goddess, grab your swords and let's see a clean fight." Clarisse said.

Artemis pulled out her sword. It was a lot shorter than Riptide, which meant that she'd have to move in a lot closer to hit me, but that also meant that she'd be able to move around a lot easier and with more grace, since she didn't have to worry about balancing the weight of a larger sword.

By now, a group of campers had come to watch the fight. They were all circled around the arena, giving Artemis and me enough space to fight.

"OKAY! GET READY! FIGHT!!!" Clarisse bellowed.

Artemis began circling me like a cat would circle its prey. That thought didn't really reassure me.

I noticed that her left side wasn't as guarded as her right, so I lunged. Unfortunately she was a lot quicker than I thought. She blocked my attack, and lunged for my stomach. (By the way, don't try this at home! Us kids at camp are trained demi-gods wearing armor. So once again, don't try this at home!) I blocked her attack, and feinted to her left, but did a 360 at the last minute, and lunged for her right shoulder. I almost got her, but like I said, she was fast.

Artemis seemed to realize how close that had been also, because suddenly, her attacks came a lot quicker, and with more precision. Before I knew it, my sword had been knocked out of my hand, and she had her blade aimed at my throat.

Artemis was breathing heavily, but she had a satisfied smile on her face. She had won. She backed up after a few seconds, and tossed me Riptide (in pen form). She pressed down on a small silver crescent on her sword, and it shrank into a small hairclip. I realized that the whole arena was silent. Wow, that must have been one heck of a fight, based on the way they're staring. I thought to myself. Clarisse broke the silence, "HA! DID YOU SEE THAT! JACKSON GOT HIS BUTT WHIPPED BY A GIRL!" she and most of the arena laughed.

I felt my face turn red. Leave it to stupid Clarisse to make a fool out of me. Fortunately, the bell rang, telling us that we had to go to our next class.

I gathered my stuff together. I turned around, and was surprised to see that, besides me, Artemis was the only one left in the arena. She studied me, like she had the first time I had met her, before looking me in the eye.

I decided to try to break the semi-awkward silence, "Uh, nice job." I told her.

She nodded, "You fight pretty well. For a hero." She smirked semi-playfully.

Hmm, two can play at that game, "And you fight well for a girl." I smirked.

"Watch it Perseus," she warned, "I may be sentenced to this gods forsaken camp, but I am still a goddess, and can still curse you." She joked.

I smiled, "Yea, well, I have to get to my next class."

"Oh yes." She said rolling her eyes, "I have to go teach archery to the Iris and Hermes cabins, so I probably shouldn't be late. Chiron would have my head. So see ya around." She said, and she walked off towards her next class.

It took me a few minutes to process what had just happened. Somehow, I had just formed some sort of alliance with the goddess of the hunt. I sighed, being a half-blood, stranger things had happened.

My next few classes were uneventful. But at dinner, I found out I had something to look forward to. Chiron had announced that capture-the-flag was tomorrow. It was the Apollo cabin versus the Athena cabin. Normally since Annabeth is in the Athena cabin, I side with them, but Matt, the newest cabin leader for the Apollo cabin, had asked me if I wanted to be on his team, so I agreed. I was pretty excited it, but I remembered I had archery tomorrow. I wasn't super worried about Artemis teaching the class, I'm just not good at archery at all, and I'd end up looking even worse compared to the Apollo cabin, who (thanks Mr. D.) were in my class.

After dinner we all went to the campfire and the Apollo cabin led the sing-along singing modern songs like Poker Face by Lady Gaga. It was very bizarre, but we also got to make s'mores so that was good. Artemis was chatting with a girl from the Apollo cabin about archery, Clarisse was threatening a little son of Iris for spilling his coke on her lap, and Tyson was telling Chiron about the shield he made in the forgery, basically every thing was pretty normal, but for some reason I felt nervous about something. I couldn't stop thinking about the dream I had last night. I was so distracted that I didn't notice the undetermined camper, Katrina, sit next to me.

"Hi Percy!" she beamed.

I was brought out of my trance, "Oh, hi Kat." I said. She squealed as if she was just given a puppy.

"What?" I asked her, slightly startled by the loud squeal. Apparently she startled some of the other campers as well, because a few of the campers glared at us.

"Only my friends call me Kat! That means we must be friends!" she smiled.

"Oh, ok then." I said. I heard some snickers from some of the Hermes campers.

Katrina decided to not notice, and continued talking, "That was a really amazing fight Percy. I honestly thought you were going to beat Artemis." She said, "I wish you would've won. That would have shown that Artemis that she isn't perfect like she thinks she is." Katrina said grumpily. Before I could respond, Katrina kept talking, "She was so rude to me during my archery lesson today. She yelled at me because I missed the target." She huffed.

Travis Stoll decided to join in on our conversation, "Katrina, she yelled at you because you almost shot an arrow through her head." Travis grinned.

"So… she didn't have to be so rude about it." Katrina pouted.

Travis ignored her, "So Percy, I heard you have archery tomorrow." He grinned.

"Yea, how was it?" I asked him.

"It was pretty cool. Artemis made this one shot that probably could have made Apollo himself jealous. She showed us this awesome technique and everyone was able to hit the target. But the best part of the class was probably when Connor got busted for trying to steal one of her arrows. She probably would have strangled him if the dinner bell hadn't of rang. I've never seen Connor so ashamed of attempted-theft in his life." Travis grinned.

"Oh, so it wasn't bad?" I asked.

"Nope, in fact, I bet that she could even teach you how to hit the target." Travis said.

"Gee, thanks." I said sarcastically.

Travis shrugged, "Hey it's not my fault you really suck at archery."

We continued talking for a while until Chiron announced that it was time for bed. I was exhausted, and actually fell asleep without a strange dream that night.

After breakfast the next day, I headed down to the archery range. The morning was colder than usual, and snow had dusted the grounds during the night. When I got to the archery range, a few of the Apollo kids were practicing (or showing off) their archery skills, and Artemis was talking to Matt and Sonny (I know ironic considering her dad is the god of the sun). They were talking about the teams for capture-the-flag tonight.

Matt noticed me, "Oh hey Percy. Lady Artemis is going to be on our team for capture-the-flag! With her on our team, we'll crush those Athena kids." Artemis smiled, "You do realize that I can only be on your team if Chiron says it's alright. He may say it would be unfair." Artemis pointed out.

Sonny looked slightly annoyed, "Yea, and besides, we'd beat the Athena kids with or without Lady Artemis on our team. Remember we came up with that plan that would-"

Artemis decided to interrupt before Sonny and Matt began fighting, "Well I should probably start the class." She said.

I nodded my head in agreement. The Apollo kids were usually pretty laid-back, but when they began arguing, it wouldn't take long before one of them pulled out a bow, and then they began seriously fighting each other.

"Okay, well, I'd like to see each of you shoot so I'll be able to see where or if you need any improvement." Artemis told the class.

The Apollo cabin began firing arrows flawlessly at the targets. Artemis would occasionally give them a few pointers, but otherwise I could tell that she was genuinely impressed with her brother's children. With me though, it was a totally different story. I could tell that she was trying pretty hard not to laugh as I tried to notch my arrow.

"Having a little trouble?" she asked, trying to keep her voice steady, even though I heard a slight giggle in it.

I tried not to act embarrassed, "Um, just a little." I said, trying to ignore the snickers from some of the Apollo kids.

"Here, watch me." She said. She notched her arrow smoothly, and I realized what I did wrong. "Now you try." She told me.

I notched my arrow. Not nearly as smoothly as she had, but it felt a lot more natural than it had when I had tried notching it before.

"Okay, good-ish, now pull it back as far as you can." Artemis instructed.

I wrapped my fingers around the arrow and pulled it back as far as I could. My knuckles began to turn white from gripping the arrow so hard.

"Okay, loosen your fingers a bit, and make sure you're only holding the arrow from the tips of your fingers." She said.

I loosened up, and slid my fingers back so I was holding onto the arrow from my fingertips.

I became conscious of the fact that the whole Apollo cabin was watching me also. I closed one eye, and began to aim at the target.

I was about to release the arrow when I heard Artemis say, "Open both of your eyes. It will improve your aim ten-fold." She instructed.

I did, and noticed how off my aim would have been if I had kept one eye closed. I repositioned my aim, and released the arrow. It whizzed through the air and hit the outer ring of the target. Everyone was shell-shocked. I had managed to hit the target. The Apollo cabin suddenly began applauding.

"Way to go Percy!" Matt congratulated, "We may make an archer out of you yet!"

As I walked down towards the creek for capture-the-flag, I still couldn't wrap my mind around the fact that I had actually enjoyed archery more than sword fighting this week. I still used Riptide as my weapon-of-choice for capture-the-flag though. I still didn't feel super comfortable using a bow, and I was playing offense. If I were to run into an Ares kid (who had sided with the Athena cabin) I figured a sword would work better to my advantage than a bow would.

I walked towards the middle of the creek where Chiron was reminding everyone of the rules. Artemis had been allowed to play, but she had to use a sword instead of a bow and arrows. I figured it probably wouldn't make much of a difference though after seeing her precision with a sword during our fight at the arena.

Matt ran forward to greet me, "Hey Percy, you ready to show those Athena kids whose boss?" he asked me eagerly.

I grinned, "Duh!"

We all took our positions. On our team we had the Apollo cabin, the Hermes cabin, the Hades cabin (basically just Nico), the Iris cabin, the Demeter cabin, and Artemis. We placed our flag on top of Zeus's fist.

"Why is it called Zeus's fist?" Artemis asked jogging to catch up to me.

"Because if you look at it at a certain angle, it looks like a giant fist coming out of the ground." I told her.

She tilted her head to the side and scrunched her eyes, obviously trying to see the 'fist'.

"That's a really odd name for it. From this angle it just looks like giant deer droppings." She said.

I had to bite my lip to stop from laughing. I had a feeling that Zeus wouldn't mind too much if Artemis said it looked like deer poop, but I had a feeling that if I laughed, he probably wouldn't hesitate to electrify me then and there.

"CAMPERS TAKE YOUR POSITIONS!" Chiron shouted, "GET READY, GO!!!" he shouted.

Artemis and I sprinted over the creek into enemy territory. She headed left and I headed right. I could hear some campers fighting in the distance.

I continued running until I was about 30 feet away from the Athena flag. It was too easy. There were no guards, no nothing. I had known Annabeth long enough to know that the Athena cabin must have had something planned. I waited until I saw Artemis, Travis, and Katrina walk cautiously into the clearing. Our plan was simple; Artemis, Travis, and Katrina would try to act like a bigger threat and distract the other team, and I would sneak around and grab the flag.

Artemis snuck up closer to the flag, and a huge Ares kid followed by three Athena kids jumped out of the overhanging trees. The Ares kid pulled out his big spear and began charging at Artemis, who had pulled out her sword and had begun to retreat into the forest. Travis and Katrina began sprinting away from the Athena kids who followed them.

Hmm, they aren't as smart as Annabeth. She would have realized what we were doing. I thought to myself. I ran forward and snatched the flag out from the ground. I sprinted as fast as I could towards the creek. I was almost there when I was lifted up off the ground and thrown into a tree. A daughter of Hecate was smirking at me as she walked forward casually and picked up the Athena flag that I had dropped during my little 'flight'. I tried to act dazed, and was apparently doing a pretty good job too, because before the Hecate girl could say 'magic' I had tackled her to the ground and stolen the flag from her. I crossed the creek and heard an explosion of cheers from my teammates. Matt came forwards and clapped me on the back (which kind of hurt after being flung into a tree), Katrina was dancing like she had to go to the bathroom, and even Artemis was cheering. Nothing could have ruined that moment… except Chiron coming into the clearing with a grim look on his face.

He glanced at Artemis and then his gaze shifted towards me, "Cabin leaders are needed at the Big House ASAP for an emergency meeting."

Uh Oh…

Well I hope you enjoyed this. As always I luv pleasant reviews... Tell me what'cha think! 8~D