About five days have passed since Carina came to camp and she was getting used to the whole idea of it. She even found her small corner floor to be homey and was joking and trading a couple of things with her cabinmates in Cabin 11 for a couple of things that were not allowed in camp. In those days, she has joined Cabin 11 in their activities – sword training, archery, spar, climbing the volcano, riding pegasi, all the activities. And while doing so, she and as well as Luke and her new found friend, Roman, noticed a few things about her that could give a hint on who her godly parent was.
Carina was a fast runner, faster than the children of Hermes, which says something because no one can beat the children of Hermes in a sprint. And she just did during their morning runs, outrunning them by two laps!
"What do you drink, triple-douse of caffeine?!" Dean Thomas, a son of Hermes, said while trying to catch his breath. "She's not even sweating that much!"
"I was part of my old school's track and field team... that was until I got kicked out," Carina told them.
Luke took a gulp from his water-bottle. "Don't worry, we've all been there – but, I have to agree with Dean, you're fast, Carina."
The next thing Carina was good at was javelin throwing and fighting with spears. Though she was good with swords and knives, she felt more comfortable with spears and was able to disarm even a child of Ares during a spar. When she did so, the only thing she said was, "I got lucky?"
"Your reflexes are more enhanced," Luke commented. "Let's see your throwing."
Carina took the javelin, tossed it in the air and caught it to make the proper position, and then threw the javelin at the mark. It hit a few inches from the intended aim. Someone whistled in amazement from the group.
Roman, who was hanging around the area with Theodore – which Carina did not appreciate – clapped his hands and cheered. "I know who I want for Capture the Flag this Friday!"
"It's not your call, you idiot, and besides, you can't just take someone from a Cabin, you always get the whole package – besides, Cabin 9 already signed an agreement with ours!" Theodore told him.
And lastly, Carina was a good charioteer. Though camp no longer holds chariot racing – due to how dangerous it is – they still have activities that teaches them how to handle chariots, especially when it is pegasi that are pulling these very safe chariots that did not have seatbelts or anything to prevent the rider from falling off the back. Note the sarcasm.
Carina easily found a connection with horses when on a chariot and could lead them easily. She remembered when Silena Beauregard taught her how to ride a pegasi and to care for them, and managed to control them while riding a chariot. And the fact that she could ride a chariot that well made Roman excited. He literally tacked Carina to the ground with his blueprints for chariot designs and wanted her to try them all and see which one would be best.
But of course, like any other camp, though there are many she liked, had a lot of friends, there were those who were not so nice. The Children of Ares were not too fond with a new girl, who was unclaimed, and just nine years of age, with little to experience, beat them in a spar. And Clarisse was not letting Ares' reputation be tarnished by a girl with good luck. So, there were days when Carina would find herself running away and hiding from the children of Ares, or, if she was in the mood, she would try to fight them head on, but would be stopped by Annabeth, Roman, and Luke. Theodore on the other hand would much prefer to use reverse psychology to stop it by saying.
"You better watch your back during capture the flag, Black," Clarisse sneered.
"Yeah, will do," Carina rolled her eyes. But once Clarisse was gone, she turned to Luke. "Uh, when's Capture the Flag again?"
"Tonight, after dinner – we made an alliance with the Athena Cabin, Annabeth said that she and Theodore have a strategy ready."
Carina frowned. She had a bit of mixed emotion with the idea of their alliance. The good thing about having an alliance with the Athena Cabin was: one, they're good strategists, so it's a sure win; and two, she gets to kick Clarisse's butt, even when the said girl was a lot bigger and a year older than her. The cons? She was teamed up with Theodore, and she was sure he would give her the most boring job of all.
Since befriending Roman – who she calls, "the twin she never thought she had" – she did not only spend most of her time with him, but as well with Theodore, who was also Roman's close friend. Most of the conversations she and Theodore would have were sarcastic ones or debates on what the best weapons is used during a chariot race. They were spar, and though she would not admit it, Theodore was good with a sword and – once – beat her in a duel. Okay, he beat her four times. And he liked to gloat about it.
"Guess I'll have you be the distraction for tonight's capture the flag," Theodore smirked.
"Distraction?!" Carina exclaimed.
"Well, considering Clarisse is after your blood, you'll do good as bait – Roman, you finished with her armor? Don't want to find Black beaten to a pulp after her first capture the flag."
"Yeah, it's right here!" Roman pulled the large sack he was carrying and gave it to Carina.
She fell as soon as he threw it at her chest. Opening the sack, Carina saw an Ancient Greek armor. It had a bronze breast plate, arm cuffs, leg-protectors, and a large shield.
"Thanks," Carina said.
"No problem! But, this isn't for free," Roman said.
"Oh, how much?"
"You know that kid from the Ares Cabin? The one you beat during a spar?"
"You mean that huge one named Crabbe, how could I forget?" Carina muttered.
"Yeah, he ruined my latest mechanical bull project, so... kick his ass for me, would ya?"
"On it, Alston."
Roman grinned and then bumped fists with Carina.
~*~
Dinner was held at the mess hall pavilion. Carina was surprised and at the same time not when Luke said that they all sit according to their tables just like the arrangement with their cabins, and with Cabin 11 being a bit too overcrowded, she had to squeeze herself between Luke and one of the Stroll twins.
She looked around the pavilion and saw the group of Athena kids gathered, Annabeth sitting with her brothers and sisters, and the odd one in the bunch – the only black-haired child of Athena, Theodore – sitting across Annabeth with a frown and was not talking to any of the other kids. Meanwhile all the way at Cabin 9's table, Carina could see Roman laughing with his own brothers and sisters, he sat beside one of the few children of Hephaestus who were his age, Seamus Finnigan – an Irish boy who liked making bombs and other exploding weapons for the camp.
The sound of Chiron pounding his hoof against the marble floor caught everyone's attention and brought silence to crowd. He raised his glass. "To the gods!"
Everyone followed. "To the gods!"
Wood nymphs came and placed plates of food on the table. Carina's mouth was watering at the sight of the food before her, and just seeing the food made her realized how hungry she was. But before she could take a bite, she knew it had to wait. After getting her fill for her plate, she followed the other members of Cabin 11 to the fire where they dropped portions of their food as an offering to the gods.
That part kind of pissed Carina off. How come the gods get to have the good parts, it wasn't like they needed it, right? But, nonetheless, when it was her turn, she dropped a portion of her food into the fire,
"Mother," Carina muttered.
When she caught a whiff of the smoke, she suddenly felt upset. The smell of the smoke was of her mom's cooking – chocolate chip cookies, cakes, and chicken soup, for whenever she was sick – and for the first time since she came to camp, she felt homesick. How were her parents? Have they called?
After learning so much from Roman and his family, and also the norms of being a demigod, Carina realized how lucky she was to not go through the whole problematic family arrangements. Annabeth told her that she ran away from home when she was seven because her step-mom hated her and her dad wasn't always at home, and since then she has been staying in Camp Half-Blood. Roman too ran away from home when he was seven, because his mom had a mental breakdown after he and his sister were attacked by a couple of monsters while in the park, and has not come back since, he was living in the streets for almost a year, and when he was eight, he was found by a satyr and was brought to Camp Half-Blood. Then there was Theodore. He did not say much about his past, but from what Carina heard from Annabeth, Theodore was suddenly dropped off at camp by his father and has not picked him up since, and when he came to camp, Annabeth noted that he had scars on his hand, like it was inflicted by some belt or other things, but Theodore refused to talk about it, and would get defensive or snap at them when they asked. So, they left him alone.
Once dinner was finished, they gathered at the amphitheater and sang with the children of Apollo leading with their beautiful voices and musical instruments. It was probably the only normal thing that Carina has experienced in Camp. And after a few announcements, the most awaited part of the night came. Capture the Flag.
Just as Luke said, the Athena Cabin made alliances with Hermes, Demeter, and Hephaestus, while Ares got the rest. Though the numbers were odd, with Ares being the god of war, it was a pretty even ground. Carina, wearing the armor that Roman made her, and a helmet with blue horse hair at the top, marched up the hill. The Athena Cabin were leading them in this battle, meaning Annabeth would be the captain.
The plan was simple, and Theodore called it "Baiting" since that was exactly what they were going to do. The Athena Cabin would be placing the flag in a discreet location in the forest being protected by the children of Hephaestus – with all their traps and such – and the others will be grouped into fives, while the other one would only be three. Each of the five groups would stand on guard, baiting the opposing team that the flag was with them, then have them chasing in circles. The whole point was to have the opposing group running around in circles, scattered, while the main group – the three-man team – will be sneaking up to look for the flag. But there was one problem.
"What about the Apollo Cabin – those guys are a menace! They're stealthy and could shoot us at our blindside! And, worse of all, they could curse us to do couplets!" Roman cried out.
"He has a point," Seamus agreed.
"The children of Apollo might be skilled with a bow and arrow, but they're not as fast. That's where the wild card comes it," Theodore said.
"Wild card?" Luke asked.
"Yeah – the three-man team will be made up of three people with perfect skills for the infiltration: Annabeth because dear Mummy gave her the invisible hat – ouch!" Theodore rubbed his shoulder where his sister punched him. "The other one is me, considering I am the least expected person to go for the flag."
"Why?" Carina asked.
"Because he's lazy and doesn't really give much effort in anything," Roman piped.
"Exactly."
"But, then, why you?" Carina raised a brow. "Why not Luke?"
"Luke will draw too much attention; Ares will expect him to go for the flag, and would basically just blow off the whole idea of stealth – no offence."
"None taken," Luke said.
"We need him to have the Ares, Apollo, and Dionysus Cabins on a wild goose chase – and who better than the children of Hermes, who are the fastest demigods in camp."
Dean, the Stroll twins, and the other children of Hermes smiled proudly.
"Stop gloating," Theodore rolled his eyes.
"And the third one? Your wildcard?" Carina asked.
"You."
Carina slightly jumped. "Me?"
"No, the wood nymph behind you – yes, you."
"Why?"
"You're fast, good with a spear, and a stamina of all twenty demigods combined – you're still undetermined, so who knows what kind of surprises you might pull. And besides, Clarisse is after your ass, she'll be looking for you."
"Then why not have me on as a distraction – let Clarisse chase me around?" Carina crossed her arms over her chest.
"Like I said, I need a wildcard – someone who could do the heavy lifting if we're against at least three children of Ares."
"So, I'm like you're personal body guard."
"More likely – and, also because you're the only one who I could think of that could match Apollo's killer instincts with a bow and arrow."
Everyone was in shock.
"Did you just give Carina a compliment, Theodore?" Malcom, one of Annabeth and Theodore's brothers, said.
"I simply stated a fact," Theodore glared at him, and then at the Stroll twins who were making kissy faces. "Enough!"
"Alright, sheesh!" Someone called out.
"Let's go, we still have traps to set up – got that large bear trap, Beckendorf?" Annabeth asked.
Charles Beckendorf smiled and then patted on the large metal dome. "Right here – Ares won't know what hit them when they come close to us."
"I thought maiming wasn't allowed," Carina whispered to Luke.
"Don't worry, it's just a trap to capture anyone who triggers it."
"Oh."
"But I doubt the children of Ares would be playing fair on this."
"You don't say," Carina muttered. She wasn't a huge fan of Cabin 5 after their goals of tormenting her.
As soon as Chiron sent the signal for them to begin, Annabeth turned invisible, and Carina and Theodore ran in the shadows with Annabeth on their tail. Theodore led them to the edges of the playing field, avoiding the loud clashing battles in the center, and the chase being made by the Hermes Cabin with the opposing team. And for the first few hours, they haven't come close to any opponents. Theodore managed to find the opponents flag with his glasses that acted as a telescope – a gift from Athena – and saw the flag through the trees and darkness, placed on the fists of Zeus. Not the most discreet places to hide it.
They were getting close without having to clash with much opponents – they got a run in with a couple of children of Apollo, but nothing they couldn't handle. That was until Clarisse showed up, just as they were at the foot of the hill leading o Zeus' fist.
"I've been waiting for this chance for a while now," Clarisse smirked under her helmet.
"Can't say the same." Just as Carina said that, she ducked to void a javelin heading her way. "HEY! NO MAIMING!"
"Oops," Crabbe shrugged.
Carina found herself in battle with Clarisse and Crabbe, both huge and bulky, and with their giant-like grasps and swings of their sword, she was only able to actually come out without getting her head squeezed like a grape because of her speed and small stature, and had then running after her up the hill, which she noticed took a toll in them, just a little, while she was still energized.
I guess they were right, I do have a stamina of ten demigods, she thought.
On plain grounds, Carina stood before Clarisse and Crabbe, with nothing but her spear, shield, knife, and helmet to protect herself.
Hold on, where were Theodore and Annabeth?! She looked around.
"Looks like your companions left you," Clarisse smirked.
Carina glared at her. "I don't need them in this fight. I can take you down on my own."
"Big words for such a small kid," Crabbe snickered. "And for an undetermined."
Pissed with his statement, Carina held her spear in an angle and then ran up to Crabbe, she jumped and clashed her spear's head at his shield. To her surprise, it did not break with the loud sound of metals clashing. And just before Clarisse could attack her, Carina used her shield to block her own spear, but as soon as she did, a wave of shock was felt throughout her body, sending her to the ground. Looking up, she saw Clarisse holding her spear, it was glowing blue.
"I didn't know tasers were allowed," Carina muttered.
"A gift from my Dad – Ares," Clarisse was about to hit her again with the spear, but Carina rolled to the side, grabbed her spear and shield and clashed spears with Clarisse.
It was a lot for a nine-year-old to battle two hulking kids with more experience and are the children of the god of war himself, but Carina was not one to lose. She hated losing, she always fought to win. And she was planning on doing so with this battle. Even if it meant using all of her strength to do it. She whipped her spear, clashing with Clarisse or Crabbe's, using her shield for either defense or offense, if needed. If her spear missed, she would use her shield as a weapon and try to hit them. When she would attack, and they block, giving her an opening, she would use her shield to attack.
But, like mentioned, two hulking kids were too much for one skinny nine-year-old with little experience in battle. And not long, Carina was outsmarted by Clarisse and her spear was snapped into two, and she was kicked to the ground, almost rolling down the hill.
"Giving up?" Crabbe asked.
Carina glared at him, she wiped away the sweat dripping down her brows, leaving on her face. And just hearing his taunt, Carina felt a fire inside her, as if telling her that this was not over. She will win. Grabbing her shield once more, Carina unsheathed her golden dagger, the pugio, twirled it around her hand – something she didn't know she could do – and then charged at Crabbe. Her dagger clashed with his shield, but her force made a dent on it, she retracted the dagger and then blocked his attack. She went on charging on Crabbe, clashing her shield with his over and over, and with power she did not know she had.
She remembered Luke's advice on battle with a spear, always try to get closer, and she did just that. She charged in on Crabbe, getting closer to him, using her small figure to tuck and roll when he tried to get her, used her shield to block and attack, until she finally found an opening and tripped him off his feet and disarmed him. She dropped her shield and grabbed his spear, and then faced Clarisse.
With a running start, Carina jumped and clashed Crabbe's spear with Clarisse's own, and with her free hand, thrusted the dagger towards her, but Clarisse managed to block it with her shield. It went on, Carina clashing spears with Clarisse over and over, dodging her attacks, which was easier now since she got rid of the heavy shield. She looked like she was dancing with Clarisse, but the dance included trying to disarm each other.
But just as she thought she got Clarisse pinned down to surrender, the daughter of Ares tripped her with her spear and pinned her down to the ground.
"Nice try, pipsqueak," Clarisse panted.
Carina felt a burning hatred inside her. She was supposed to win! She tried to push Clarisse off of her, but was too heavy. An invisible force appeared and kicked Clarisse off of Carina, and before she could even think about what happened, Theodore appeared, and in his hand was Annabeth's Invisibility hat, and in another was a sword.
"Good job districting them," Theodore told her.
"So, I was a distraction," Carina muttered.
"Figured Clarisse would have most of Ares kids on defense this time, try to lure you in – you are a wildcard, and after what I saw, you do hate to lose."
"So," Carina got up and took her dagger from the ground. "All this time, while I was busting my ass, you were just watching?!"
"Not really, had to help Annabeth with getting the flag and ensuring the win, then I borrowed her hat to see how you're doing."
"Good to know that you care."
"I like to observe people – especially wildcards."
"A creepy hobby."
"More like second-sense. I am the son of Athena; I always plan even when sleeping."
"Ever heard of relaxing?"
Theodore turned to her with a raised brow. "That is relaxing."
Carina had a deadpan look. "Ever heard of movie nights?"
"You two done talking?" Clarisse spoke.
"Oh, you're still here, I thought I kicked you off the hill," Theodore muttered.
"Were you planning on killing her?!" Carina exclaimed.
"She and Crabbe were planning on killing you!"
Clarisse attacked Carina and Theodore, the two jumped to the side and dodged Clarisse's attacks. Unfortunately for them, the place they got themselves to was the edge of the hill that leads to a very steep slope down.
The sound of the conch-horn was heard. The game was over. Someone has won.
From up the hill, Carina saw Annabeth holding the flag that turned silver. The girl was grinning in triumph as she waved the flag. Clarisse and the other children of Ares cursed under their breaths, and hit their fists on the ground. A loud cheer was heard from around them, and to Carina's surprise, almost all of their teammates were there – Luke, Dean, Seamus, Roman, Beckendorf – all cheering for their victory.
Roman ran up to Carina and tackled her to a hug. "You were amazing! You were so fast, and when you used your spear – your feet! You were so fast with your feet! It was like – like – like –"
"Like what, Rome?" Theodore dropped to the ground and stretched his legs.
"Like Achilles!"
Carina blushed deep red. "You're just saying that."
"No, he's right," Luke came to her side. "Achilles was said to be swift-footed, a very essential trait in battle, and you just showed that in your battle."
Carina could feel the blood rush up to her face even more. To be compared with the great Achilles, was too much.
"Thanks," she muttered. "Sorry about the spear and the shield, Rome."
"Nah, it's alright, besides, after seeing you fight, I'll have to make a new one – Theodore, could you help with the design, you saw the whole thing, right?"
"Sure," Theodore said but his voice sounded slurry. Carina looked down and saw him laying on the grass with his arm over his eyes, like he was sleeping.
"Don't worry about him, Theodore gets really tired after battles."
"Who doesn't?" Carina smirked.
After awarding the winner, a small celebration was made, and everyone was celebrating, but for the Ares Cabin. Many praised Carina with her fight against Clarisse and Crabbe, which just made the mentioned kids even more annoyed with her; Theodore was also praised by his siblings for thinking of the plan, but he simply shrugged and kept quiet; Roman on the other hand was happily drinking rootbeer with Seamus, Dean, and the Stroll twins, all drowning themselves to see who could finish theirs first. As soon as celebrations were over, everyone got their showers and went to their cabins, but Carina, Roman, Theodore, Annabeth, and Luke sat outside the Hermes Cabin, just on the porch.
"You know," Annabeth began. "Maybe your fighting ability is a hint on who your godly parent is."
"Athena?" Carina suggested.
"No," Theodore said a bit too fast.
"Why not?"
"First of all, children of Athena are claimed the moment they are born. We know who our Mum is before we even go to camp."
"So, not Athena," Carina said.
"After seeing you fight, the closest that I could think of is Ares," Roman said.
"But my Dad is a dem –" Carina swallowed before she could slip. "A mortal, can't we have a DNA test or something."
"Yeah, and have the people go insane because of the god-genes you have," Roman snickered.
"Gods don't have DNA, idiot," Theodore flicked him on the forehead.
"Well, the only female goddesses that have kids are: Aphrodite and Demeter," Luke said.
"Doubt I'm the daughter of Demeter – last year, we had a class project to make our garden... when they left me with it, I kind of killed every budding flower there was... even the birds stopped coming there... and the bees."
Silence came to the group, and they all turned to Carina.
"Hades?" Theodore said.
Annabeth gave him a disapproving look.
"Joking!"
"We should head inside, get some sleep," Luke spoke.
"Yeah, goodnight," Annabeth said to them.
"Night!" Roman yawned and started to walk back to Cabin 9.
"Good night," Theodore muttered and walked after Annabeth.
"Hey, Theodore," Carina called out. He turned to her. "Thanks for earlier."
"Ah, the thank you that I was waiting for, took you a while to say it, Black."
Carina frowned. "You know what, why don't you –"
"Okay, time for bed," Luke picked up Carina on his shoulder and brought her inside the cabin, before the harpies would come and tear them to shreds.
~*~
A week after Capture the flag, Carina dedicated her time in training, practicing even more complicated battle movements with Luke – the best swordsman in camp –javelin throwing with Chiron, and riding pegasi with Silena. On her down time, she would venture to Roman's personal space in the forge and help him and Theodore with the design for her armor. They were trying to make it specialize for speed, so less in weight, but still hard enough to protect her, which was a bit tricky to do, he was able to make her a shield in those days, and was fitting for future quests since the shield look form of a wristwatch when not needed, but when tapped three times, it turns to this round light weight shield that had a small dip up the top for her spear.
"I have to admit, I kind of copied Brad Pitt's spear from Troy, so, can't really take credit on the design," Roman shrugged.
"Thanks," Carina smiled as she tested the shape by incorporating the spear attack movements with the shield.
"You know, for a new comer and for someone whose only been here for two weeks, you're really good in battle – what, you take martial arts classes?" Theodore spoke.
"More like dance classes," Carina chuckled. "I was also in the track and field team before."
"You mentioned that," Roman was busy with his design.
"But, when I was in battle, I don't know, it's like it's there – I just know what to do. Don't you get that feeling?"
Theodore and Roman glanced at each other.
"Demigods have ADHD and Dyslexia, so we always have that feeling of not being able to sit still," Roman returned to his designing.
"No, it's different – it's not that, it's like..." Carina tried to remember the feeling she felt when battling Clarisse. "Something inside me woke up and just to –"
"Win," Theodore spoke.
"Yeah, and that drove me to do it – I can't explain what or how, but that's the feeling."
Theodore was silent. Carina could see that he had that face he makes when he was in deep thought.
After Roman finished the design, the three friends went to buy some food from the store inside camp, but just as they were heading to the seaside and dip their feet, they saw Luke with his bag off for his Quest, and Annabeth beside him, probably walking him to the arch. Just last night, Luke was given a quest by his father, and after visiting the Oracle, Chiron had Luke pack and head for his quest the next morning.
"Goodluck on your quest, Luke!" Carina waved at him.
Luke smiled. "Thanks – hey, don't cause too much trouble while I'm gone, and make sure that Travis and Conner don't wreck the cabin when I get back."
Carina saluted. "You got it, Chief."
Chuckling, Luke said his goodbye to her, Roman, and Theodore, and then walked up the hill with Annabeth.
The three friends then settled by the seaside, their shoes and socks taken off, and their feet in the water. Roman was already knee-deep in the water, playing with some nymphs, while Carina and Theodore settled with sitting on the edge with their feet touching the waves.
"I wish we get a quest someday," Carina sighed.
"We?" Theodore raised a brow.
"Yeah, why not? It's perfect! We got it all – Roman's this swiss-army knife with weapons and mechanical bulls, you're the strategist, and I'm the muscle." Carina showed off her still wimpy-looking arms.
"Then that would be the most chaotic Quest there is." Theodore smirked. "But why not, could be fun."
Carina grinned.
"It's Nott by the way."
She turned to Theodore, confused.
Theodore held his hand to her. "Theodore Nott."
Carina smiled and took his shook his hand. "Nice to meet you, Theodore Nott."
"Look guys, I think it's a giant squid!" Roman called out.
"ROMAN, GET OUT OF THE WATER!"