Chapter 3: I give myself a name

I dreamt only of the sea that night and I knew he was to blame. I woke up on Friday morning, sleeping for days. I went to breakfast and sat at my table and ate in silence, not looking at anyone or saying anything. I glanced up and saw Percy standing near my table, waiting for me to say something. "What?" I asked in a scratchy voice and he continued to stare at me.

I finished eating and got up, and walked over to Chiron. "I want to talk with you, if you don't mind." I said and he nodded, then we walked toward the Big House. "What is it?" "Poseidon came to see me last night." "Ah that explains the mini coma. He always did that to you whenever he came and felt you were too stressed. Is this it?"

"No, he said I could go home…" "Home? Really?" "…when I apologize to him." "Him?" "Yeah." "I thought you told me it was him who had to apologize to you." "I did, he does and I told Poseidon to tell him that." "Oh he isn't going to like that." I looked up at the window where the Oracle was resting and got an idea.

"Give me a quest." "Excuse me?" "I want a quest." "I can't just give you a quest." "Why not?" "You know the reason you are here, so I can't." "It isn't fair that I should have to be punished for his stupid choice." He laughed and I looked at him. "I'm not so sure he thought it was stupid at the time." "I bet he didn't." I mumbled and stopped walking. "Well since you can't allow me a quest, then I'll be going to my lessons."

"Lessons? You never go to them." "Yeah, well I promised Poseidon I would try for now." He nodded and I started toward the archery range when he called, "Maybe this is will be good for everyone."

I made my way over to the range and the lesson had already begun, with kids already shooting at targets. I saw Percy was in this class and he missed his target by a long shot. I walked over and pulled my ring off my finger. "What's that?" he asked and I held it out to him. "Take it and see for yourself." He hesitated, but took it, holding it up to see. "It's just a ring." I smiled and held out my hand.

The ring flew from his grip and landed in my palm. "It's enchanted, it will always return to me when I want or need it to." I explained and he narrowed his eyes at me. "Why are you talking to me? I mean you made it clear to me that dinner that you didn't want me near you." I shrugged and gazed at the sapphire princess cut ring in my hand.

"I promised someone I would try to get along with everyone here, what better way to start than with the one I seemed to hate the most." He looked away and notched an arrow. "You better get a bow and take aim." He said and I smirked, sliding the ring on my finger and gently pressing it to my chest. It grew and grew until it was the silver and blue bow I had that night.

I took out one of my silver arrows with blue feathers on the end and notched it. "Ready when you are." I said and he was staring at my bow, which had a glow to it. "That's the bow you had that night?" "Of course, I use no other bow than Artemus." "Artemis?" "U, not I. I'm not talking about the Goddess. My bow's name is Artemus, meaning 'Of the Moon.'"

He looked at it and then at me. "Archers ready!" Chiron called, having shown up and the lesson actually beginning. "Release!" he ordered and we fired our arrows. Percy was off again, a few others were closer, actually hitting the target. My silver arrow stuck out of the dead center of the target. "As always." Chiron said and I smiled. "Of course." We continued to shoot targets, the others were still on straw dummies, I had moved on to shooting moving dummies and a few other campers when I got bored, making sure I only grazed them.

"Class dismissed." Chiron said and shook his head at me as I sat down on a log and cleaned my bow. "You must have shot all of your arrows." I looked up and saw Percy sitting beside me. "My quiver will always have arrows in it, they are endless." I explained and stood up, stretching.

"Are you going to be able to play capture the flag tonight?" I shrugged and pulled out three arrows. "What are you doing?" "I wish to see something. Come with me and bring your bow and arrows." I said and started walking. He seemed to get that I wasn't going to wait for him and hurried after, grabbing his arrows and a bow on the way. We walked into the forest and I led us into one of the deepest parts, sun barely shone through.

"What's going on?" he asked and I held out my hand. "Give me an arrow of yours." I ordered and he did, I notched it and took aim at a tree that was just seeable in the dim light. It hit exactly where I wanted it to and I nodded. "Now come here." He stood beside me and I moved a step away. "Take one of my arrows and aim at the exact place as that arrow." I explained and handed him one of the three arrows I was still holding.

He notched it and took aim, shot, but then at the last moment, the arrow fell to the ground and disappeared as it flew through the light. "Never the same. Never reaching the target." I mumbled and notched my two remaining arrows and shot them, they didn't melt, but both flew straight into the tree, exactly where my first one landed.

"What are you trying to see?" he asked and I blinked, almost forgetting he was there. "Nothing, Percy. We should head back, you'll be late for your next lesson." I said and started back, but his hand caught mine. "I don't care. I just realized that I don't know your name." I realized that I never told any of the campers my name, I always stayed far away from them.

"My name…" "Yeah, you do have one don't you?" I looked at the arrows in the tree and then at him. "Just call me Erika." I decided and he nodded, smiling a bit. "Erika, nice to meet you." I laughed and nodded as well. "Nice to meet you too Percy." He looked back at the arrows and then at my bow. "What were you trying to do?" "I'll tell you later, now we should really be heading back. People will wonder where you have disappeared to." "They won't be looking for you too?"

I sighed and shook my head. "This camp isn't my home as it is for the other campers." "It's not our home, it's just summer camp." "Percy, you haven't been here for as long as I have. I've seen kids come and go every summer and it's always the same, this is their home, where they believe it is or not." I looked at his face; we were in close to darkness, so his face looked dark and older than a twelve year old.

"To answer your question about the people looking for me, then they won't." "Do they just not like you that much?" I chuckled. "I believe it is mostly my own fault. I mean, I've been here for longer than most of the kids here. It's their home, not mine." "Why not?" he asked and I could feel his emotions coming off him in rays.

"I'm more along the lines of a camper that comes to visit everyday, not a part of the camp. They won't come looking for me because I'm so used to being here; I know the place better than them." "What do you mean?" "This place, for example. If you were to try to come back and find this place, monsters would come after you, you would never make it."

"So why did we?" "Because this is my place, my space and no monster is allow here." I explained and looked around, he did too. "Now let's just head back." I went to turn around, but his lips brushed mine and I was surprised by it that I tripped and we fell to the ground.