Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief - Silena Beauregard's POV -

The Days of Silence {Chapter 20}

"Wait. No. Clarisse, it was an accident. We were just sparring. You of all people should understand that people get hurt when they spar," I said, trying to reason with her.

"No," Clarisse said as she started storming off toward the combat arena.

"Clarisse, no. Stop. Stop. Stop!" I said over and over again. She refused to listen.

I caught up to her at the entrance of the arena.

"Clarisse, please don't. Please," I begged her.

She stormed over to where Luke was practising with a dummy.

"Hey! Luke!" Clarisse yelled. "How dare you!"

Luke turned around, his eyes wide in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"You have the audacity to ask that?! You hurt Silena!"

"It was an accident, Clarisse. Calm down."

Clarisse growled and grabbed a spear from the weapon rack.

"Clarisse," I said, running up to her. "Don't."

I grabbed her hand and tried to send positive thoughts toward her. I told her over and over again to calm down, putting charmspeak into my voice.

The sneer on her face slowly disappeared and her body untensed.

"Now," I began, still using charmspeak. "You really want to go check on your siblings."

"Yeah...." Clarisse said, dazed as she stumbled out of the arena.

I turned to follow her but Luke grabbed my arm.

"I'm really sorry," he said.

"I know," I replied. "Bye."

I walked off without looking back but I could sense that he was surprised about how I answered him.

I went back to my cabin intending to just sit around and do nothing but as I walked in, Lacy and Mitchell came up to me, very excited that I was out of the infirmary.

"How is your arm?" Lacy asked.

"Still sore but it's fine," I replied. I looked around the cabin. Most everyone was sitting at mirrors, doing makeup and things like that. "Who has been standing in as counselour?"

"Drew was the oldest so she did," Mitchell answered.

At that statement, Drew spun around in her chair and smiled at me. I rolled my eyes and the conch horn sounded, signalling dinner. I was suddenly aware of how hungry I was and urged everyone to line up quickly.

We joined the crowd of campers and headed to dinner.

After dinner we had free time until curfew, so I went over to the beach. I breathed in the salty air blowing in from the Sound. The grey storm clouds were rolling across the sky, destroying the peace I was feeling by reminding me of the oncoming war.

"Hey," Jade said as she came up beside me.

"Hi," I replied.

"How's your shoulder?" She asked.

"Fine, I guess."

"What made him do that to you?" Jade asked. "I thought you guys were friends."

"We are friends. We just got too intense while practising. Luke is a good fighter. He just sometimes forgets that others aren't as good as him."

"So it wasn't on purpose?"