𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝑰𝒏 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑫𝒂𝒓𝒌 ꨄ

f o u r

"Alright, deep breath in, hands outstretched, and...go!"

Luna let her fingers loose and the arrow she'd been holding whizzed past her ear. It flew straight for its target, and burrowed itself right in the middle red point- meaning she'd gotten a full score.

"Very good," Praised Chiron as he walked by, his own bow slung over his chest.

Luna probably enjoyed archery classes most out of all other camp activities. At first, she'd thought sword fighting was what she liked best, but in hindsight, that had only been an internal instinct just because of her mother's gift.

Ten other arrows were released at the same time as hers, and she could hear the chatter of the Apollo kids lecturing the other campers on stuff that made her yawn: hand placement, breathing synchronization blah blah.

The sun was peeking from behind the clouds, and in the late March weather, Luna could finally feel a tinge of warmness. Winter was passing, and with it, the Camp seemed to change as well. The Christmas decorations had been taken down from the cabins, snow no longer covered every surface, and lastly, the strawberry fields had finally started to bloom.

Luna had gotten used to seeing everything in a shade of white, but she had to recognize that it looked better like this. Everyone and everything looked brighter. The only thing that could of possibly bothered her, was that the thunder and sea storms were so bad, she doubted anyone (including her) could sleep at night. Chiron told them that nothing could get in due to the magical boarders, but those unfortunately didn't conceal sound -meaning they'd be walking down the beach for example, and randomly get startled out of their minds when thunder boomed.

Luna couldn't be sure, but rumors spread that Zeus and Poseidon were fighting. No one really seemed surprised, and neither did she, after reading the old myths. Apparently the two brothers weren't always on the same page.

"Again!"

She took a deep breath and grabbed another arrow, placing her feet and hands accordingly to shoot. After archery class, she headed to the arena, where -surprise surprise- Luke was teaching. Luna had always thought he looked kind of creepy, especially with that scar of his, but when he was focused and fought with a sword, he looked downright scary. She had to remind herself how nice Luke actually was every time she looked at him and caught his natural resting face.

In the arena, Luke clapped his hands together and addressed the class. "Today I want you to spar in pairs. I'll be choosing them based on your level of capabilities. Use the techniques I taught you last time. Let's so who holds out the longest will be the winner."

He started calling out the pairs, and just when Luna was starting to get excited, he said, "Clarisse La Rue and Luna Diaz."

She groaned. Clarisse smiled wickedly, and she knew she had no chance against her.

"Based on your level my ass," Luna muttered as she clasped on her armor.

Clarisse spun her electric spear. "Ready to get annihilated, Smurf?"

They walked over to an empty spot and hefted their weapons.

"I wouldn't be with you if this was even remotely fair," Luna grumbled.

"Oh stop whining. I'll beat you quick, I promise." She winked. "Save you the extra embarrassment."

Luna scowled and charged angrily. Clarisse was ready though, expecting her to attack so brashly. She stepped to one side and smacked the butt of her sword on her back, almost making Luna stumble forward. She turned around even angrier then before, but forced herself to take a deep breath. She hefted her sword and blocked Clarisse's strike, pushing the taller girl backwards. Clarisse re-gained her footing and swung in an arc, almost grazing her armor if Luna hadn't side stepped.