Celestial Flames (Percy Jackson Universe)

The Training

I stared at the recorder in my hands. My thumb grazed over the record button, that circle right beside the stop button, multiple times. I couldn't make myself press it. What would I say? How could I tell him what I've been doing? What I had learned? What Angelica did to me? How could I say all that without breaking apart?

I put the recorder in the backpack beside me and looked out over the green. I had to focus. Before Beckendorf could make the bronze casing, he needed measurements from the bow. And before that happened, I had to make one. According to Michael, the best place to get a slab of wood for carving was at the arts and crafts center. It wouldn't be open until after breakfast and it was still early morning.

I had a lot of time to kill.

The reason I was up so early was because of that nightmare again. The smell of wine, the sting of the cuts, the burn of my scalp, it all replayed so precisely it was like I was back there again. I was able to get out of the cabin without waking anyone and then pretty much collapsed on the porch.

I took a deep breath. It's a new day Lizard. Anything can happen.

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I looked between the different slabs of wood, the different kinds in a pile at the arts and crafts center.

"This is oak," the girl beside me said. She laid her hand on a slab the size of a tire. She looked like the girl that brought me my food in the dining pavilion. She was short, with pointed ears, elfish features and a glistening white dress. "What are you looking for?"

"What's the best kind of wood for bows?" I asked.

She inspected the others. "Depends what kind of bow you're making."

"A recurve," I told her. "What's the best for that?"

Her eyes searched the different kinds. "Well maple would be good, but I would honestly go with hickory." She laid her hand on a five and a half long slab of wood that was a light beige colour. "I would go with this one."

I nodded and licked my lips. "Hickory. Can you help me get it to a table? I need to do some sketching."

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"Okay, so these are fart arrows," Michael said, showing me an arrow. The fletching had stripes of yellow. "They release clouds of sulphur gas. It's not fatal but it'll distract your opponent."

"Fart arrows," I repeated.

"These are rocket arrows," he said, showing me another one. This one had red in the fletching. "They explode on impact. Very dangerous. And these ones..." He grabbed an arrow with orange fletching. "They catch on fire the second you notch them. Watch your hands with these ones."

"Fire arrows," I declared.

Michael nodded. He set it down and grabbed another with green fletching. "These are hydra arrows. When you fire them, they let out half a dozen wires."

"You call them hydra arrows because you think there's one head, but it splits into multiple," I guessed.

Michael nodded with a little smirk on his face. "You're catching on quick." He set down the hydra arrow and picked up one with silver fletching. "These are silver arrows. We don't use silver much since Celestial bronze works for most monsters, but the only material that harms werewolves is silver."

Werewolves. "Is Jacob Black gonna come attack us?"

Michael chuckled. "Maybe. You never know. The rest are just regular Celestial bronze."