Chapter 11

Sweat dripped down Jarred's face as he thrust and slashed at the straw dummies. He was in training with his siblings and the Athena cabin.

It has already been two months since his and Alice's almost encounter with a hellhound. Pascal had managed to calm her down and soon everything was back to normal.

Training went on for the next two months and the camp added a few new demigods to its numbers and him, a couple of new siblings.

Jarred sighed sticking his spear into the ground to lean on slightly.

"Jarred." Twin voices sounded behind him. Jarred looked around and saw his two new siblings.

Aiden and Hunter Davis were five year old twins who arrived at camp a few weeks ago. They both have messy dark brown hair and, for some reason, amber-brown eyes like Jarred but just a bit darker. They were completely identical except for how they wore their head accessories. They both wore a red and a purple cloth. Aiden, the older twin, wears the red cloth over the purple while Hunter wears the purple over the red.

Jarred was assigned to be responsible for the twins and soon, he grew fond of them and them of him. Alice adored the twins and they adored her. Some campers even joked that the twins were Jarred and Alice's kids.

He smiled at the twins. "Hey guys, what's up?"

"When is training over? We want to see Alice." they said at the same time. Jarred noticed at the beginning that the twins tend to speak at the same time or finish each other's sentences.

Just a twin thing... That was always his answer for the odd behavior they had. "Oh, we got another good twenty minutes. But," He got a mischievous glint in his eye. "I do know how we can go see her right now."

The twin's faces lit up. "What? What? Tell us!" they said, crowding over to Jarred.

"Shh, we don't want to get caught." He glanced around to make sure no one was watching them. "Alright come on." He gave Efialtis a twirl watching it turn back into a wooden staff. Slipping it into its sheath he led the twins away from the others. Jarred felt proud of himself as they cut through the woods, ever since that day with his and Alice's almost encounter, he had gone through those woods dozens of times searching for it, yet came up with nothing. Although he came up empty handed, he gained knowledge of the forest, knowing every twist and turn.

The twins easily ran beside Jarred, laughing all the way. "We're gonna see Alice. We're gonna see Alice." The twins chanted quietly, and then laughed.

Jarred chuckled, he had always loved the boys' enthusiasm. Sometimes it was hard for him to believe that they were also sons of Ares.

"Are we-" Aiden started.

"-there yet? Hunter finished.

"Almost." He looked around, and spotted the Apollo kids. "Alright guys, remember that bird call I taught you?"

"Yeah!" The two said, their amber eyes, much like Jarred's, shone with excitement.

"Alright, I need you guys to do that right now okay? Alice and I decided that when we do this sort of thing, that that's going to be our signal."

"Okay!" The twins simultaneously cupped their hands to their mouths and did the bird call Jarred taught them.

Jarred listened to the call silently, it sounded like the call of a hawk.

From the Apollo Cabin, Jarred could see Alice carefully slip out of the cabin and head towards the direction of the sound the twins made. Once she entered the forest, she looked around.

"Jarred? Where are you?" she called out.

"Over here." He called back.

Alice turned towards Jarred's voice. She only walked a couple of steps before she was tackled down to the ground.

"Alice!" the twins shouted from atop the daughter of Apollo. Alice laughed and ruffled their hair.

"Hey easy guys." Jarred walked over and picked up Aiden in his arms.

Aiden laughed then squirmed out of Jarred's arms. Together, he and Hunter help Alice up and hugged her legs. "Hi Alice!" they said together.

Jarred gave Alice a gentle smile, but it soon turned mischievous. "Come here Alice give me a hug!"

Alice squealed when Jarred wrapped his arms around her. "Jarred! You're all sweaty!" she screamed as she laughed.

"That's the point of this!" He laughed.

Alice laughed and managed to squirm away. "I just showered Jarred!" she said, as she laughed. The twins were leaning against each other for support as they laughed.

"Like I would know that."

Alice stuck her tongue out then laughed. "Don't you three have training now with the Athena cabin?" she asked as she eyed the three boys in front of her.

"No..." Jarred kicked a stone glancing away from her.

Alice raised an eyebrow as she tried to with a smile. "Aiden? Hunter?" she turned to the twins.

He looked at the boys silently pleading they wouldn't say.

The twins squirmed under Alice's gaze. Suddenly they threw themselves at Alice. "Yes we do! Please don't be mad at us!" they said, hugging her legs and pleadingly looking up at her. "Please don't be mad at us!"

"She won't be mad, and if she is, I know how to make up for it." He smirked at Alice.

Alice blushed at Jarred then ruffled the twin's hair. "Well they're most likely finished anyway. Come on, let's go have lunch." She said before picking Aiden up. Hunter ran to Jarred and lifted his arms expectantly.

Jarred picked up Hunter and put him on his shoulders.

The four made their way towards the Mess Hall. Once there, Alice put Aiden down and the young boy ran towards Jarred as Alice went to the Apollo table.

He watched Alice walk off, his eyes full of adoration.

Aiden laughed and pulled on Jarred's hoodie. "Come one Jarred!"

"We're hungry!" Hunter added, laughing with his twin.

He snapped out of his daze. "Oh, right, I'm coming I'm coming." He led them to their cabin's tablet and put Hunter down. Aiden joined his brother and together they went to the pyre for their offering.

"Are you sure they're not your kids?" Jake asked as he sat beside Jarred.

"I'm very sure..." he rolled his eyes as he took his plate to give his offering.

"We'll they sure act like it." Jake snickered as he followed Jarred. "Where were you three at training?"

"We were there." Jarred said calmly.

"You were in the beginning but during the last twenty minutes you weren't."

"Yes we were."

"No you weren't."

"Yes we were." He rolled his eyes. "You must be going blind."

Jake smirked then turned to the twins. "Boys, where were you three during the last twenty minutes of training?"

The twins looked up from their plates, their faces full of chocolate cake. "Huh?" They said, tilting their head to the side at the same time. A trait they picked up from Alice.

"Jake we were there!" Jarred shook his head as he headed back to their seat.

"Fine. I'll let it slide this time but Jarred?" Jake called out. "Why are the twins eating chocolate cake for lunch?"

"I don't control what they eat, sorry." He shrugged sitting down.

"Alice is not going to be happy." Jake muttered as he sat down.

"I know, I know."

"JARRED!"

"And that's my cue." Jake said as he moved away from Jarred.

Jarred sighed as he turned around. "Yes Alice?"

"Why are the twins eating chocolate cake for lunch?" she said calmly. The twins on the other hand were looking at each other with wide eyes and frantically wiping cake off their faces.

"I wasn't watching them, Jake was distracting me with a question and they went on ahead." He seemed relaxed unafraid of how mad she could really be.

At that, Alice turned her glare at Jake who seemed to shrink back. "Is this true?" she asked. The rest of Ares table were snickering.

He opened his mouth to explain but no sound would come out so he just nodded, fear in his eyes.

Alice sighed before turning back to Jarred. "Clean the boys up and keep an eye on them. I'll see you three at Arts and Crafts." She told Jarred before walking out of the mess hall. "Sugar and ADHD so do not mix." he heard her muttering.

Jarred chuckled and helped the boys get the chocolate off of their faces. "She won't be mad long, you guys are such sissies"

"Jarred." the twins whined as they came out of their last class for the day. Now they had free period.

Jarred's eye twitched.

After lunch, Aiden and Hunter were twitchy, hyped up with sugar, ADHD twins. They kept pestering Jarred about trivial things and bothering the other campers. Jarred's patience was ready to snap when the twins finally came down from their sugar high.

Jarred heaved a sigh. Thank the gods...

"Jarred." the twins whined again. "Where's Alice?"

"I don't know guys." He said calmly, he actually did but he wanted some alone time with Alice. They hadn't had some real alone time with one another since the twins arrived.

The twins looked at each other then back at Jarred. "Can we go bug Jake? We're bored!" they said at the same time.

"Sure, just don't get him too irritated." He chuckled.

"Okay!" The twins shouted before running off towards the Ares cabin.

Jarred headed to the Apollo cabin once the twins were gone, and knocked on the door.

Jarred head a muffled thump and someone curse in Greek. After a few moments the door opened and Arcus looked out of the door, eyes sleepy. He blinked when he saw it was Jarred. "What can I do for you Jarred?"

Jarred smiled at the older boy. His and Arcus' rocky friendship had gotten better over time because of Alice.

"You know where Alice is?"

Arcus yawned. "Yeah. She's here. Want me to get her?"

"Yeah."

"Sure. Hold on." Arcus replied before going back in the cabin. Jarred heard another thump and a muttered curse. There was a lot of shuffling before Alice walked out the door.

"Hi Jarred." she said, smiling up at him with a sleepy look in her eyes.

"Hey sleepyhead." He teased.

Alice stuck out her tongue at him in response. "How was the rest of the day with the twins?" she asked, taking his hand and leading him to a secluded part of the lake.

"Exhausting."

"Well you did let them eat chocolate cake for lunch." she said, sitting down under the shade of a tree.

He sat down next to her, putting his arm around her. "Yeah I know. Right now they're bugging Jake. I told them I didn't know where you were."

Alice just nodded and yawned. She moved to sit between Jarred's legs and leaned back against his chest. Jarred wrapped his arms around her waist and sighed quietly. "This is our first time alone since the twins arrived at camp."

"Yeah, I know." he heard Alice murmur. "Those two can be a handful."

"You think we could make a time in the week to just be alone with one another?" He asked, looking out across the lake.

"I'd like that." Alice murmured before reaching up and kissing Jarred just under his ear.

He smiled slightly and tilted her face up so he could kiss her. He felt Alice smile against his lips as she cupped his face in her hand. Jarred pulled away after a few moments, smiling gently. Alice smiled at him, her eyes soft as she stroked his cheek.

He laid his head back against the tree. "Oh right I almost forgot." He sat up and pulled something from his pocket. It was a silver chain necklace with a violin charm on the end.

Alice's eyes widened. "It's beautiful..." she murmured, staring at the necklace.

He gently placed it in her hand. "I got my mom to custom make it from the jewellery store. A satyr helped her get it into camp."

"Wow..." Alice murmured as she looked at the charm.

"I know violin's your favorite instrument so that's the one I decided to put as the charm."

Alice's face split into a bright smile as she looked at Jarred. "Thank you!" she said, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him on the lips.

He kissed her back before pulling back. "It's nothing really."

"It's beautiful. Thank you." she said smiling at him. "Help me put this on." she gave him the necklace as she turned around.

He unclipped it and put it around her neck, adjusting the chain so it wasn't too loose or too tight. Alice held up the necklace and stared at the charm. It glinted bright in the sunlight. Turning to Jarred, she smiled brightly and kissed his cheek.

Jarred smiled. "Glad you like it." He told her quietly.

Alice smiled softly at him, her eyes twinkling. She leaned back against Jarred's chest. "I love it..." she murmured.

He held her close to him. "And I love you."

"I love you too..."

AN: Hey guys, Nazz here. I hope you've been liking our story so far. It's our first one so it's a bit rough.

'Til next time ^^