𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐋 𝐃𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐑, percy jackson

CHAPTER 4! he despised her, with every single bone in his body

her and a couple other campers would sit and discuss their hair. the last thing they wanted was to practice hurting other people, and accidentally break a nail.

percy was fine at using a sword.

fine seemed to be all he was.

he wasn't anything, he was barely in existence, but he was the subject of every conversation.

every blade in percy's hand was too heavy, too light, too thin, too long.

percy looked up, as he tried to balance the blade.

for a moment, his heart fluttered.

he wanted the only thing to fit in his hands right, to be her.

ew.

what was wrong with him?

luke announced he would be percy's dueling partner, which drew cherry's attention away from the boy she was speaking too.

after a little bit of charm, everybody seemed to get over the paranoia they had because of cherry.

of course, it was only temporary.

whenever they spoke to her, all they wanted was for her to like. for her to love them the way they loved her.

but as soon as they stopped, and realized what they'd done, it was too late to question what she'd done to them. what kind of spell they were under.

percy wasn't any different.

occasionally, he was stronger.

when he walked past her and didn't look at her, he still didn't like her.

but that meant he'd never be able to look in her eyes.

"keep your guard up, percy." luke suggested, when he caught percy's wandering eyes.

he called a break.

all the campers swarmed the drinks cooler, and cherry stood up, holding a cup of water in his hand.

"can i help you?" percy asked, catching his breath and tossing the sword.

"be nice." cherry reprimanded.

if she was any other god, she would've struck him down and decided to go about solving her prophecy herself.

percy was lucky.

the only thing she did, was toss her cup of water at his face.

percy didn't freeze at the cold liquid that ran down his face and wet his shirt. his arms didn't feel tired anymore.

cherry stared at him, slightly confused.

he looked refreshed, not cold.

"okay, everybody circle up!" luke ordered. "if percy doesn't mind, i want to give you a little demo."

cherry grinned.

turns out, her favorite form of entertainment was watching percy get knocked over.

the rest of the hermes cabin gathered around, suppressing smiles.

luke was planning to demonstrate a disarming technique.

how to twist the enemy's blade with the flat of your own sword, so they drop their own weapon.

"this is difficult." luke reminded. "i've had it used against me. no laughing at percy, now. most swordsmen
have to work years to master this technique."

luke demonstrated the move in slow motion, clattering the sword out of percy's hand.

they tried a second time, and somehow, percy actually stopped like from hitting the sword.