The Son of Time

Chapter 32

Luke's point of view

As the day went by it was clear that we were all nervous and we were all doing everything that we could think of to prepare.  The Hermes campers thought up traps, the Hephaestus campers stashed Greek fire.  I overheard some Athena campers discussing something called plan 23 whatever that was.  And we all trained. At the meeting this morning Annabeth had said that Tartarus had been able to create two new giants even though we had rescued Piper and Persephone.  This news didn't help our mood but it did give us a pretty good guess about who the titans in my dream had been talking about.

I think everyone was hoping the gods would help us but most of us didn't believe that they would except for maybe with the giants. All I knew was that we couldn't let Tartarus win, there was more than just the fate of the camps at stake. If we lost it could mean the downfall of the entire world. And that's a lot of pressure to put on a bunch of teenagers.

The day went by far too quickly and before I knew it the campfire was over and it was time to go to bed. For once I didn't dream, but my sleep was still uneasy knowing what we would be facing in the upcoming battle.  The next morning after breakfast   we continued preparing, but unlike the day before it dragged on, so much that you might think time was going slower, but it wasn't. It just felt like it was.

After I finished practicing archery I went to the sword arena. I find that I end up going there a lot, swordplay just seems to come naturally to me so I am pretty good at it. I have beaten most of the newer campers and even some of the more experienced ones.  I find that practicing gives me time to think and clear my head. 

With everything that has been going on I find that I am needing that quite often.  The reason for why I am so good with a sword is rather obvious since my dad is the god of swordsmanship, and I have heard that even before he accepted godhood he was the best swordsman in the last three hundred years. 

While I was slashing and hacking at the training dummies I was interrupted when I heard Mrs. O'Leary bark.  She had already licked me when I first walked in to the Arena. At first I just assumed that it was Nico the one other person who she really liked, but then a familiar voice said "easy girl", and he said "That's enough, yes I know it's been a while."  As I turned to see what was going on a laugh escaped my mouth before I could stop it.   The reason for that was because as I turned I could tell that Mrs. O'Leary had licked my dad after he had arrived in the arena. Only seconds after I noticed though he used his powers to dry himself. After I laughed he glared at me for a moment, but unlike the last time his glare was turned on me I could tell that it was half-hearted tinged with amusement.  He continued to pet Mrs. O'Leary   and I walked over to them since I assumed that my dad hadn't just come to see Mrs. O'Leary.

My dad asked me "How are you doing?" I just said "I'm fine." That wasn't the truth but I didn't really want to admit how nervous I was.  My dad obviously knew that I hadn't told the truth, so he said "If you were fine I would be concerned. It is only natural to be nervous, even the best fighters are worried before a battle.

I wish you didn't have to go through this, because the life of a demigod is never easy it is always difficult. Any time you are outside of camp monsters can find you, and as long as the barriers are down monsters will attack here too. I wish things could be different but they can't. You can be certain that I will help whenever I can, but I can still only do so much."

He continued to speak and said "I know that you feel pressured to live up to what I did as a demigod, but know that I would be content if you never did half the things that I did. My life as a demigod was harder than most. I won't go into details but I want you to know that even though I wish you didn't have to go through what you have in this war, I am proud of you, and since this war isn't over yet I'm sure my pride for you will only increase as we face the battles that are to come."