𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐍𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐞 || PJO Fanfic

TEN

Atalanta POV

I had these classes that Chiron assigned to us Camp Jupiter campers. I was looking forward to participating in them— maybe I would get to know some new friends! But then I found out that all of us were going to the same classes, which meant my classes were the same as Leila, Janice and Zack. Yes, I absolutely cannot wait for class.

There was music, archery, sword-fighting classes and more. I didn't sing at all in music and made a huge fun of myself in archery. The rest weren't good at archery either: it was more of an Apollo thing, it was kind of by default that only the children of the sun god was good at archery. Frank was an exception, of course. He was a child of Mars, the war god.

Anyway, at least the rest of the campers could shoot their arrows at the board, whereas mine always landed far away from the board. Yep, I was hopeless at archery.

I sat out sword-fighting. The camper who was supposed to teach us looked worried when I sat out. He came here to ask if I was fine, which I really appreciated. Nobody had bothered when I was at Camp Jupiter. I just made up some lame excuse that I had a stomachache. Leila gave me such a snobby look that my brain screamed at my body to throw my knifes at her.

I could still feel the whispers of the Campers as I went over to the Big House. "Sat out the whole session..." "Didn't even sing..." "Archery class..." After all, we did have class with the Camp Half Blood campers. It was slightly annoying, but I was used to people talking about me when they thought I couldn't hear them.

I pushed open the doors to the Big House. Eh. Let's just get this over with. I had seen a lake on my way here, and I wanted so badly to go for a swim. I hadn't realized, but I hadn't swam for days.

I waited in the room with Chiron and a few others while demigods from both camps filed in. I recognized the Seven from the prophecy. Jason, Piper, Leo, Annabeth, I guessed. There was a girl beside Leo, his girlfriend, probably. And the oracle, Rachel Elizabeth Dare. I'd never seen the Seven, or the oracle before, but I could guess how they looked like. I overheard some Campers gossip about them a few times. From what I remembered, Percy probably wasn't any of them.

I froze when a boy stepped in. He had sea-green eyes, short, jet black hair, and a Mediterranean complexion. The first thought that struck me was that he looked familiar. Very familiar. Then I realized that he looked exactly like me. Except he was a boy version of me. Wait-- Oh. The truth struct me: this must be Percy Jackson, my half-brother. He looked every inch like me, as if we were twins. I felt the urge to cover my face, so I instinctively pulled my hood down. Then I realized that I was still blonde. Bah. whatever.

I looked away when Percy's eyes scanned my part of the room. When he looked away, I studied him. Sure, he was pretty handsome. He was acting all cool and relaxed, but then he casually slipped his hands into his jeans pocket. I remembered his weapon, Riptide, the sword that could turn into a pen. When I looked more closely, I realized that he looked really tired, and his other hand kept fiddling with his shirt, like he couldn't wait to get out of here. I understood how he felt, I was dying to get to the lake.

Percy and the other demigods were dismissed, and we Camp Jupiter Campers were about to leave too, when Chiron made us stay and made a few more announcements. I pinched my skin to distract myself: I did that sometimes. I dashed out when Chiron dismissed us, fast enough that Leila, Janice and Zack couldn't catch me. I sighed as I ran to the lake, I would surely get more beating as punishment for running away. Whatever, right now swimming was my priority.

When I got there, I dove right in. The water was cool and healing. I dove to the bottom. As a daughter of Neptune, I could breathe underwater just fine, so I could stay underwater as long as I liked. I closed my eyes and swam downward blindly, trusting the currents to lead me to the bottom. Suddenly I bumped into something. There was a small, "mmph!"

My eyes shot open.

And I came face to face with none other than Percy Jackson himself.

"Shit!" I yelled. Underwater, it likely sounded something like "glurg!" but I was pretty sure Percy could hear me just fine. Percy was frozen at his spot on the floor of the lake, his eyes wide, his mouth opening and closing like he was trying to say something but couldn't form the words to.

"I-I'm sorry" I apologized, and swam away. Percy was after me in a flash. He grabbed my wrist, "who are you?" was his first question. I instinctively reached up to pull down my hoodie, then I realized that we were underwater, so there was no point to. My hand stopped mid-air, or mid-water. Whatever. Percy studied me with his sea green eyes, "you're from Camp Jupiter. 'The nobody'."

I was used to being called "a nobody", but it kind of hurt a bit, hearing this from Percy, my half-brother, and someone I just met. "Y-Yeah." I answered, lowering my head. I didn't like not having my hood on when I met a stranger.

"What's your name? Who's your godly parent? Are you some monster in disguise? How are you breathing underwater? Are you stalking me?" Welp, that last comment was a bit hurtful, why would I stalk him? And one simply does not assume a person you just met to be a monster without prove. "Um, I'm Atalanta. I'm obviously not a monster." "You should know well enough most monsters don't have brains and I obviously do." I couldn't help but add. I'd fought a few monsters that managed to sneak into Camp during my time at Camp Jupiter, keeping out the trespassers. Frankly, if it weren't for me, the Camp would have been overrun with monsters. I was pretty sure Percy had fought enough monsters to know that they could be really stupid.

Percy blinked, "O-Oh, then how are you-"

Percy's grip on my wrist loosened, and I swam away, "UM, BYE!"

That was one hell of a first impression, good job, Atalanta. VERY GOOD JOB. I thought as I raced out of the water and dashed back to the Hermes cabin.