Penny Ranger and the Lightning Thief

Chapter IV: Apparently, I'm Robin Hood

Sword fighting is tiring. I bet you're all wondering why. Well that's simple: in the movies nobody tells you how heavy a sword really is, or how sore your arms get after banging two pieces of metal together for fifteen minutes straight!

"You're leaving yourself exposed. Don't overextend." said my sword fighting instructor.

His name was Luke Castellan. He was the counselor of the Hermes cabin. His most striking feature about him was the long scar that ran across his face. It was a bit unsettling to look at and frankly, I shuddered just thinking about what had caused it.

But despite what his appearance made it seem, he was actually pretty nice. He was a patient teacher and while he expected good results, he didn't push too far.

Unfortunately, his instruction wasn't enough to make any noticeable improvement. The sword felt too heavy and unbalanced. My strikes were sloppy and uncoordinated.

I was sparring against one of Luke's siblings, a boy named Max Whitfield. He had chestnut brown hair and pale blue eyes, and he had the trademark elfish grin of the Hermes cabin. He was nice though, and also very patient. Even though he was a million times better than me.

Meanwhile, I was a disaster, which made me very happy that Annabeth had arranged for a sparring session with no audience. Luke kept saying I had potential, but he was probably just trying to make me feel better.

"I think that's enough for today."

Luke said after Max kicked my ass for the twentieth time.

I nodded, too tired to form a proper sentence and eager to get as far away from the sword fighting arena as possible. Before I walked away, he placed a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"Don't worry too much. This was just your first lesson. As long as you keep trying, you'll get much better." he said reassuringly.

I nodded again before putting the sword back in the weapon wrack and walking away.

"Well, that went well. Anything else you want me to try?" I asked Annabeth.

The whole time she had been watching, Annabeth seemed distracted, like she was trying to remember something.

Suddenly, her eyes widened and she snapped her fingers, causing Max and I to jump. I swear, if she was a cartoon, a lightbulb would have just appeared over her head.

"I have to talk to Chiron! You take her to archery!" she told Max before speeding away towards the Big House.

"Wait, what?!" Max shouted after her in confusion.

Unfortunately, she was already too far away to hear. Max sighed and turned back to me.

"I guess we're going to the archery range, then."

*

The archery range was surprisingly unpopulated. Judging by the amount of kids I had seen in my cabin, I would have expected to see loads of people practicing their archery.

Yet, there were only about three people there. Max walked up to Lee, who was standing off to the side, occasionally giving some of the others advice.

"Hey, Lee! Got a sec?" Max asked him.

Lee nodded and walked over to us.

"So, what're you doing here, Max? I thought you'd given up on archery." he said.

"I have. I'm here so you can test Penny's skills." Max explained.