IT WAS THURSDAY afternoon when cabin eleven gathered around for a sword-fighting lesson. For Percy, it would be his first. Naturally, their instructor was Luke, the best swordsman at camp. Sword-fighting wasn't Loralai's most well-performed activity, but she still enjoyed the technicalities behind it.
A majority of the campers started off with the basics like stabbing and slashing using some straw-stuffed dummies in Greek armor. The kids that had been there for longer fought the same dummies, but instead perfected the techniques they already knew, adding some wrestling in as well.
Loralai carefully looked up the straw dummy up and down, her ruby-adorned sword in hand. Technically, she wasn't supposed to use her actual sword on the dummies. However, she wasn't going to actually hit it, her control too managed for her to make the mannequin bleed straw, as much as she wanted to. She learnt to hate the things. Its buttoned eyes mocked her every move. Squinting, she murmured, "It's on."
Twisting, stabbing, weaving and slashing, Loralai managed to strip the mannequin of its armor pieces one by one. When the last one clattered on the ground, she walked over to a pillar and watched the campers doing the basics.
Luke went through the movements in slow motion with a kid that was struggling. When he saw her looking, he gave her a cheesy thumbs-up. Loralai leaned on the pillar, giving him a warm smile back. Luke was like the brother she never had.
Eventually, the campers moved into pairs. Loralai paired up with Chris Rodriguez, who was determined to fight her. She knew why: Chris was growing protective of Clarisse La Rue. It was payback from what she said at dinner a few days ago.
Loralai grabbed a practice sword. Sure, she could be cruel sometimes, but not cruel enough to back-stab up a fellow camper. She swirled it around in her hands, getting in position. Chris did the same, squinting his eyes fiercely like he did at the dinner.
The two swords clashed together. Loralai pushed his sword down, attempting to disarm him, but he was two strong, pushing Loralai's sword upwards. She folded, pulling her sword back. They stayed there for a moment, waiting for the other to make a move. Quickly, Loralai weaved her sword down towards his hip.
Chris managed to block it just in time before she did the same on the opposite side, repeating the pattern again and again. It was so fast that he could do nothing but defend as she pressured him backwards.
Dramatically, she changed her pattern, flinching so it looked like she was going to his hip and then going for his shoulder. The hit took Chris by surprise, letting his guard down. Gladly taking the opportunity, Loralai swiped his sword away, it clanged on the crowd.
Beads of sweat trailed down both of their foreheads. Chris blinked and looked down at his sword. Loralai offered out her hand to shake. "Are we good?" She asked. Chris looked up to her and smiled, shaking her hand firmly. "Yeah, we're good, man."
Loralai slowly walked past him, patting his back twice. "Good luck with Clarisse, you seem to really like her," she said sweetly. Chris smirked. "Yeah, I do," he said under his heavy breath, blushing. Loralai grinned at him, he was down bad.
The head counselor called a break just in time, everybody swarmed to the drinks cooler. People all around soaked themselves in ice water, Loralai saw Percy do the same and raised a brow curiously. Would that give him an unfair advantage? According to her theory, yes.
Loralai took a sip of the remaining water, letting the cool liquid soothe her burning throat. She hissed and grabbed her head, shakily taking a seat near where Percy and Luke were practicing before.
To her luck, Luke announced that he would be doing a demo in the exact place. A few of the campers around her asked if she was okay, she just told them she had a migraine and they left her alone. Everyone gathered around, smiling on their fast.
"Now, I'm going to demonstrate a disarming technique," Luke declared loudly. Loralai's head throbbed harder at the noise and she winced quietly.
The counselor explained that he would show them how to twist the enemy's blade with the flat of your own sword, so that they had no choice but to drop their weapon.
"This is difficult," Luke stressed. "I've had it used against me. No laughing at Percy, now. Most swordsmen have to work years to master this technique."
Whistling filled Loralai's ears, she managed to look around to see if anyone else had heard it, no one did. Slowly, her hands trailed to her crucifix.
Luke demonstrated the move on Percy in slow motion. Sure enough, the sword clattered out of his hand. "Now, in real time," the older boy said, after Percy had retrieved his weapon. "We keep sparring until one of us pulls it off. Ready, Percy?"
Percy nodded, and Luke came after him. With each clang of the swords, the whistling in Loralai's grew louder, yet slower.
Somehow, Percy saw Luke's attacks coming, even managing to counter. Percy stepped forward and tried a thrust of his own. Luke deflected it easily, but Percy saw a change in his face. The blonde's eyes narrowed, beginning to press the younger boy with more force.
The surge of power Percy had once felt began to fade; he knew it was just a matter of seconds before Luke took him down. So he figured, what the heck?
Percy tried the disarming maneuver, his blade hitting the base of Luke's. He twisted, putting his whole weight onto the downward thrust.
Clang.
As the sword dropped to the ground, the whistling stopped. Loralai let out a loud sigh of relief. Suddenly, her vision went blurry, like she was about to faint, but she didn't. Loralai shuddered. Why was it so cold all of a sudden?
Everyone was silent from shock, which didn't help the feeling that she was being watched. She scanned around, no one was paying any mind to her, they were all staring at Percy. Loralai had too much of a foggy brain to figure out why.
Hot breath breathed on her neck, she shivered again. "Loralai," the voice whispered, it sounded like a male, so deep she could feel it in her chest. Loralai tried to turn around. She couldn't, an unidentifiable force pushing her back. The voice tutted. "Patience," it said, letting out one final breath.
And then it was gone. Loralai could feel the heat of the sun again, everything was back to normal. Shakily, she stood up. "What happened?" She whispered, to no one in particular.
Someone replied, "You didn't see? Percy just disarmed Luke." Loralai blinked. The brunette zoned into the conversation. Luke's scarred face was grinning as he exclaimed, "By the gods, Percy, why are you sorry? Show me that again!"
Percy looked hesitant. They began to fight again. This time, there was no contest. As soon as they started, Luke hit Percy's hilt and sent his weapon skidding across the floor.
There was a long pause. Someone in the audience commented, "Beginner's luck?" Luke wiped the sweat off his brow, scanning the boy's frame with interest. "Maybe," he answered. "But I wonder what Percy could do with a balanced sword..."
Loralai held her sword tight in her hand, scared that the breath would come back again. She turned around nervously, everyone too busy whispering about Percy to see how pale her face was, how heavily she was sweating.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a shadow. Hastily flicking around Loralai just missed it. The hot breath was there again, it sounded more angry as it demanded, "Patience!"
The force pushed her over and her sword went clattering across the room. All eyes were now on her. Embarrassed, she got up and brushed herself off, then went to collect her sword. "Uh, it was..." She began, but stuttered trying to explain herself.
Luke approached her and put a hand on her shoulder. "It's ok, I understand," he said, although Loralai wasn't sure why he had said that, her eyebrows furrowed and she tried to open her mouth to speak, no words came out. "You should take a break, you'll be needing it."
-
FRIDAY NIGHT CAME rolling in like a tidal wave. That night at dinner, there was a feeling of anticipation, as if a bomb was about to drop.
At last, all the empty plates were cleared away. It was finally time for capture the flag. The conch horn sounded and everyone stood up at their tables. Suddenly, Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. Everyone cheered, Loralai whooped for her best friend. The banner was about three meters long, glistening gray, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree.
From the opposite side of the dining pavilion, Clarisse and her buddies ran in with another banner, the same size. This banner was blood red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head.
Percy turned to Luke and asked some questions, Loralai couldn't hear them over the noise but the way the torchlight was shining made Luke look scary. His words still echoed in Loralai's mind: "You should take a break, you'll be needing it."
The older boy probably meant that she'd be needing energy to capture the flag, but the way he said it... Loralai shook her head, trying to focus on the task at hand.
Ares teamed up with Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite and Hephaestus. Loralai's stomach sank when Clarisse announced the last one, she glanced over at Caliz Chung, who looked just as disappointed as her.
The Athena cabin had made an alliance with the two biggest cabins, Apollo and Hermes. Privileges had been traded– showtimes, chore schedules, the best slots for activities– in order to win support.
The Hephaestus cabins were bulky from work, and the Ares campers were, well, Ares campers. Loralai wasn't too worried about the other cabins. There was a reason they could avoid being year-rounders: a large majority of them weren't all that powerful.
Chiron hammered his hoof on the marble. "Heroes!" He announced, settling the campers down. "You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be disarmed or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as a referee and battlefield medic," He finished.
With each rule, Loralai watched in amusement as Percy's eyes widened. She supposed it must be daunting for him to hear that these had to be rules in the first place, but that was Camp Half-blood for him.
"Arm yourselves!" Chiron spread his hands, the tables were then covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, ox-hide shields coated in metal. Loralai scanned the table, grabbing a helmet and taking her sword off of the table.
She silently thanked Chiron for placing it near her. Last time, someone else had taken it and she spent the whole game with an unbalanced sword. "Woah," Percy said, standing annoyingly still as everyone quickly prepared themselves. "Are we really supposed to use these?"
Putting on a bronze breastplate, Loralai looked at him as if he were crazy. "Obviously! Hurry up!" She urged him loudly. Luke assisted Percy, helping him collect a helmet, a large shield with a big caduceus in the middle, and a sword. "Here," Luke offered, "Chiron thought these would fit."
Loralai tried her hardest not to laugh at the sizing, focusing on Annabeth instead as Luke instructed Percy. The two girls met eyes, there was a sense of piercing force that they both understood. After a moment, they both nodded determinedly. "Blue team," Annabeth yelled, "forward!"
The blue team cheered and shook their swords, following the path to the south woods. The red team sneered taunts as they headed north. Loralai jogged to catch up to Annabeth and Oliver.
"Pissed about Cal?" Loralai guessed. Nodding, Oliver said, "It's annoying, that's two years in a row. Her siblings are the worst, me and Cal never get to be on the same team."
He sounded hurt, like there was a deeper meaning behind it. The girl decided not to pry. Next to Annabeth, Percy managed to catch up to them without tripping over his armor. "Hey," he greeted.
They all kept marching eyes ahead. "So, what's the plan?" Percy asked them. Oliver looked over the boy's frame. "Luke put you on border control," he guessed. Percy didn't know why he had assumed that, but he felt embarrassed, quietly replying that he was, in fact, on border patrol.
"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Percy asked.
"I'm Oliver Caesar, son of Apollo, do I know you? Yes, I do. Because everyone does, now that you've pissed off the Ares kids, you're gonna make our whole team suffer," Oliver declared angrily. Percy's face fell, he tried not to look hurt, clearing his throat.
Oliver looked like he could be Annabeth's sibling, a few strands of his curly blond hair sticking out from under his helmet. The one defining difference was that his nose was large and Greek. He had a beauty mark like Marilyn Monroe and thick eyebrows. Percy assumed his mom must be Italian.
His face was covered with freckles and his dark blue eyes glared at Percy. Oliver didn't look like the strongest boy, but the way he was holding his golden guitar and the lightning made him look intimidating.
"Don't mind him, Percy," Loralai said warily, glancing between the two worriedly like Oliver was about to hit Percy over the head with his guitar. "He's just angry that Caliz isn't in our team, her skills could've really helped us out."
Nodding slowly, Percy didn't even know who Caliz was. He glimpsed at Annabeth. "Got any magic items you can loan me?" He asked her. Annabeth looked at Loralai with an expression Percy couldn't quite decipher, touching her pockets like she was afraid he'd stolen from her. "Just watch Clarisse's spear," Annabeth advised. "You don't want that thing touching you. Otherwise, don't worry. We'll take the banner from Ares."
Cautiously, Loralai asked, "You know what border patrol means?" Percy looked hesitant to say that he didn't. Once again, his brain urged him to refuse help from the girl, like how fire runs from water. Eventually, he forced himself to say that he didn't.
"It's easy, just stand by the creek and keep the reds away. Leave the rest up to the Athena kids, they always have a plan," she told him.
The three pushed ahead to where the wiser and tougher campers were, leaving Percy in the dust. "Okay," Percy mumbled. "Glad you wanted me on your team."
-
EVENTUALLY, THE FOUR, Luke, Annabeth, Oliver and Loralai, reached their positions. The plan was clear, but risky. Clarisse and her buddies, the best fighters of the Ares cabin, would go after Percy by the creek, tricking them into leaving their flag unprotected. The conch horn blew and everyone from the red team went to their predicted place.
Clarisse and other Ares kids darted past them, assumingly heading towards Percy.
Loralai and Oliver crouched behind a bush, observing where the red team's flag was placed. The five Hephaestus kids protected it, strategically positioned so that if they wanted to get through, they had to fight at least one of them.
But only if they saw them.
The area near the flag wasn't peaceful. Dozens of distractions, Apollo, Hermes and even Athena kids attempted to get the flag. If they did manage to get it, great! They wouldn't be disappointed if it didn't work, though.
Annabeth knocked twice on the wood, gaining Loralai's attention. Loralai scanned the area, almost all the Hephaestus kids were clashing swords with campers from the blue team. Loralai knocked twice back and Annabeth put on her Yankee cap, turning invisible.
Unbeknownst to the kids guarding the flag, behind them, the flag got lifted up. Luke waited for Annabeth as she heaved it over. Annabeth passed the flag to Luke. Surprised, Luke whispered, "Are you sure?"
There was no time for the girl to reply, Caliz Chung screaming out, "They have the flag!" Alarm bells rung in their heads. The blue team began to retreat, yelling encouragement to Luke as he bolted through the forest.
Loralai ran next to him supportively, trying to fight off a rogue Demeter as they grabbed onto her camp shirt, ripping it. Luckily, the shirt was the only thing the kid was holding onto, so they were left behind, orange cloth in hand.
The girl chuckled breathlessly, her lungs burning as the blue flag came into sight. They began to slow down, Hephaestus kids curling around so that they were in front of Luke. The blue team that were protecting the border moved in, clashing swords in an attempt to make a clear path for Luke.
Oliver twirled his sword in his hand, grinning as he began to duel Caliz.
"Me and Loralai will go help Percy!" Annabeth announced, still invisible. "Keep fighting back the Hephaestus kids!" Loralai shouted, gasping for air. She ducked so that someone could take over the fight she was in and ran after Annabeth, leaving the metal clanking behind.
What they didn't know was that Percy didn't need any help.
The water had jolted him alive like caffeine. By the time Loralai caught up with Annabeth, Clarisse was stumbling backwards out of the creek. Percy had snapped Clarisse's electric spear. Loralai was so quiet that Percy didn't even notice her.
Yelling arose from the woods as Luke raced towards the boundary line, the red team's banner lifted high. He was flanked by a couple of Hermes guys covering his retreat and a few Apollos behind him, fighting off the Hephaestus kids. The Ares folks got up, and Clarisse muttered a dazed curse.
"A trick!" she shouted. "It was a trick." They staggered after Luke, but it was too late. Everybody converged on the creek as Luke ran across into friendly territory. Our side exploded into cheers. "Yes, Luke!" Loralai cheered with a wide smile planted smugly on her face.
The red banned shimmered and turned to silver. The board and spear were replaced with a huge caduceus, the symbol of cabin eleven. Everyone on the blue team picked up Luke and started carrying him around on their shoulders.
Chiron cantered out from the woods and blew the conch horn. The game was over. They'd won.
Percy was about to join the celebration when Annabeth's voice, right next to him in the creek, said, "Not bad, hero." Percy looked, thinking it was Loralai who talked. The air shimmered and she materialized, taking off her Yankees baseball cap.
"Where'd you learn to fight like that, Percy?" Loralai said, her face hardening that he was accusing him of being in a secret fight club. Truly, she was just jealous that she'd missed the look on Clarisse's face after Percy broke her precious spear.
Anger rose in Percy's chest. "You set me up," he accused, pointing at Annabeth. "You put me here because you knew Clarisse would come after me, while you sent Luke around the flank. You had it all figured out." The blonde shrugged and replied calmly, "I told you. Athena always, always has a plan."
"A plan to get pulverized," Percy shot back. "And you just went along with it, Loralai!" Loralai rolled her eyes. "They weren't actually going to kill you, Percy. Stop being dramatic, we came as fast as we could. But... you didn't exactly need our help." She said the last part in disbelief, Percy felt offended that she had underestimated him.
The two glanced at where Percy once had a sword cut. Annabeth gulped. "How did you do that?" She asked. Sharply, Percy answered, "Sword cut. What do you think?"
"It was a sword cut, Percy. Look at it," Loralai insisted, her eyes wide.
The blood was gone. Where the huge cut had been, there was a long white scratch, and even that was fading. Percy watched as it turned into a small scar, then disappeared. "I– I don't get it," Percy stammered.
Gears turned in Annabeth's head as she was enveloped in thought. Loralai just stood there dumbfounded, waiting for Annabeth to tell her what was happening.
The blonde looked down at Percy's feet, then at Clarisse's broken spear, then commanded, "Step out of the water, Percy."
"What–"
"Just do it," Loralai joined in, catching on to Annabeth's experiment. Percy slowly came out of the creek and almost collapsed, his bones caving in and his arms going numb. The two girls rushed to steady him. "Oh, Styx," Annabeth cursed.
Agreeing, Loralai whispered, "I didn't think it would be– that his dad would be–"
A low and canine growl could be heard behind them. Percy had heard it before, but it was much closer now. A howl ripped through the forest. Cheering died down, Chiron shouted something in Ancient Greek. "Stand ready! My bow!"
The girls drew their swords, Percy observed that the ruby necklace he had seen on Loralai earlier looked as though it was matching to her weapon. He wondered if she had picked the sword because of that, or vice versa.
He had no time to ponder this theory any further. Because, there on the rocks just above them was a black hound the size of a rhino, with lava-red eyes and fangs like daggers.
Loralai shuddered, the eyes looked like her own, which she also shared with her (possibly dead) mother. It was looking straight at Percy. The boy looked at Loralai like he had recognized the similarity, too.
Nobody moved except Annabeth, who warned, "Percy, run!" The girls tried to step in front of him, but the hound was too fast. It leaped over them– an enormous shadow with teeth– and just as it hit Percy, he felt the monster's razor-sharp claws ripping through his armor. There was a cascade of thwacking sounds, like forty pieces of paper being ripped one after the over.
A cluster of arrows sprouted from the hound's neck. Suddenly, it fell dead at Percy's feet with a big thump. Percy's chest felt warm and wet, he knew he'd been badly sliced. Too afraid to look under his armor, Percy just stood there, his mouth again.
Chiron trotted up next to him, Annabeth and Loralai in tow. They were all sweating. Percy wanted to thank them for helping, however he was in too much shock to say something, his words drying up.
"Di immortales," Annabeth said, looking down at the monster. "That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't... they're not supposed to..."
"Someone summoned it?" Loralai guessed breathlessly. Nodding, Chiron added, "Someone inside the camp."
The counselor of the Hermes cabin came over, his blue eyes filled with anger. His moment of glory was gone, the banner in his hand forgotten. Clarisse whined, "It's all Percy's fault! Percy summoned it!" Loralai scoffed and spat, "Shut up, Clarisse." The one thing that irritated her more than Percy was sore-losers.
"Be quiet, child," Chiron told her. Loralai smirked and Clarisse glared at her.
They watched the body of the hellhound melt into shadow, soaking into the ground until it disappeared. Loralai glanced at Percy's chest. "Percy, you're injured," she informed him. If he didn't know any better, she sounded almost worried. "Get in the water, quick."
"I'm ok," Percy groaned. "No, you're not," Annabeth said, looking alongside her friend, "Chiron, watch this." The boy was too tired to argue, he stepped back into the creek as the whole camp gathered around him.
Instantly, a weight was lifted off his shoulders. Percy could feel the cuts on his chest closing.
Taking in a sharp breath, Loralai tried not to scream at the Trident now glowing above his head. Campers gasped. He had been claimed.
The brunette's fists went white, the hole in her chest opening up. The feeling squeezed her insides, cruelly contorting them into a ball of fire and loneliness. Loralai sighed shakily.
Being back at camp, the hole had closed completely. Now, here Percy was being claimed, ripping the wound open again. The wound was a feeling; what it felt like being reminded that she was forgotten. Abandoned.
"Look, I– don't know why," Percy apologized, obviously not realizing what was happening. "I'm sorry..." He then grasped that they weren't looking at his wounds, they were staring above his head.
Annabeth pointed. "Percy, um..." By the time he looked up, the sign was already fading. He could still make out the hologram of green light, spinning and gleaming. A three-tipped spear: a trident.
Examining the campers faces, he didn't need anyone to tell him that he was in a tricky situation.
Annabeth was tongue-tied, and Loralai's eyes were watering. He found that last part weird. Assuring himself that it was probably just the lightning he glanced at Annabeth, who had her mouth open like she was about to speak.
"Your father," Annabeth finally murmured. "This is really not good." Stepping forward, Chiron announced, "It is determined."
The campers began to kneel, including the Ares cabin, who didn't look too happy about it. Completely bewildered, Percy repeated, "My father?"
"Poseidon," declared Chiron dramatically. "Earth shaker, Storm bringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God."
-
(a/n)
-i used artbreeder to make like a visual for me what caliz and oliver looked like so here:
caliz is strong (obviously she's a Hephaestus kid) she also has a lot of scars on her body from metal work. she looks more masculine than this, but this is the best i could get
here's oliver:
he has more of a greek nose than this, but again this was the best i could get. he looks a little younger, too. but this is like a good representation on what he'll look like when he's 16/17.
- i hope you enjoyed this chapter! it was soo long. speaking of them, how u guys feel about caliz + oliver... OOOO I'LL MAKE ONE OF LORALAI NEXT CHAPTER IDK WHY I IMMEDIATLEY WENT TO THEM
- this was barely edited!!!! lmk if u spot mistakes
- lolll i would love to tell u my plans for this book (like my extra plotlines)but i genuinely can't you'll yell at me and not in a good way
-THE FACT THAT I HAVE TO WRITE 90K+ WORDS IN 2-4 WEEKSSS!!! i mean i want to do this no one's forcing me but still shoot me like
PLEASE REMEMBER TO VOTE!! LOVE U sorry for the long a/n
-eustelia
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