The Obstacle Tower was in the middle of the Pavillion, which was nice since I had some place to sit while I watched and cheered on for Roy. Roy and Clarisse had to go get ready, and they left me alone sitting at the seats, observing the Tower.
It was about thirty-five feet tall, and it was.. an Obstacle Tower! You had to climb, you had to dodge, and you had to be fast. There was a huge wood at the top, and I suspected that it was supposed to swing and demigods had to avoid it if they wanted to grab the flag at the middle. I heard the clopping of hooves, and I turned to find myself looking up at Chiron, the centaur.
"May I join you?" he asked, as he stood next to me.
"Yeah... I would offer you a seat, but it looks like you can't sit... no offense."
"None taken." He was facing the Obstacle Tower. "I hope you have settled in, Dante. Now, I'd like to ask whether you would like to join in on the Obstacle Tower game or not."
I stared at him. "Me? Obstacle Tower? With the other demigods?"
"Yes," he answered. "You can take your time thinking. I'll gear you up, so to speak anytime during the game. Except, the ending."
"Thanks," I said simply, and he walked away.
I was bored, but it was my first day in Camp Half-Blood. I didn't know anything, and I guess you could say that my demigod skills haven't kicked in yet. I was still waiting to be claimed. I'm a freshie. But it would be fun.
The demigods poured out, and were standing all around the Tower, looking up at it. They had elbow pads and gloves on as well. A mixture of girls and boys. I spotted Roy among them, and gave him a thumbs-up. He grinned at me. "Go get 'em," i mouthed, and he nodded.
"Ready to lose, Jackson?" I heard a familiar voice, Clarisse's jeer out loud.
"Get ready to bite the dust," I heard another voice said, probably whoever this Jackson guy was.
Finally there was the sound of a gun, and the demigods charged towards the Tower, climbing it. Roy had a headstart, already on the second stage of the four-stage Tower. He was climbing the rock-climbing wall, when a camper on the other side pulled the foot steppers, nearly causing Roy to fall.
"Get back at it Roy!" i shouted my support, and Roy managed to climb again. He pulled the foot steppers as well, and the camper lost his balance and fell face-first onto the ground. He bites the dust!
Roy was already at the third stage, hanging on the chains when suddenly a camper swung out at him. He evaded the kick, and he banged into the camper, making him smash his face into the Tower walls. Another camper, a girl this time lunged at Roy, and he fell, managing to grab onto the second stage, the foot steppers. Clarisse was on the other side this time, and she pulled the foot stepper. Roy was groggy, and now he fell and hit the ground with a thud.
I stared at my friend on the ground, gaping. When I looked up, I felt my blood rise up a hundred degrees. I was angry. My heart beat increased, and I decided to join the game.
i ran towards Chiron, and before I could say anything he handed me elbow pads and gloves. He smiled at me. "Go get them."
I quickly put on the equipment and ran straight into the middle of the Pavillion, right at the base of the Tower. My fedora stayed on my head. On the first stage, there were spinning tree trunks and I jumped on one, launching myself up and onto the third stage, grabbing a chain. I climbed up quickly, and Clarisse was already at the fourth station. I couldn't lose to her. I wanted to beat her, for Roy.
And so I climbed up with such speed that I managed to get to the fourth stage. The fourth stage were long, thinner than tree trunks that jutted out of the tower, and they were horizontal. What's worse, the trunks were spinning.
I grabbed onto one, and used all my muscle and strength to pull myself up onto the trunks. I heard the crowd gasp, and realized that Clarisse was just two trunks away from me. My eyes burned with anger.
"What are you doing here?" she shouted, trying to get up on the trunk.
"Making sure you don't win," I snarled, and jumped up onto the fifth stage with a monkey's agillity. "See you!" I shouted behind me as I had to climb footholes in the wall, which were a little difficult considering the footholes were small and they were quite a distance from each other. I felt like a spider, my limbs all stretched as I climbed.
"Not so fast!" Clarisse was suddenly at the bottom of the fifth stage, and she was gaining on me. I swung onto the top of the Tower, and stood up from a crouch. The huge wood trunk, probably a trunk of a very old tree was swinging, and it had just swung by the center. I dashed towards the middle, my hand outstretched when suddenly the trunk hit me and swept me off my feet. I fell thirty-five feet, but I landed on earth, which cushioned my fall.
"Another one bites the dust!" Clarisse laughed, looking down at me from thirty-five feet above.
But I had the last laugh.
Everybody was cheering Clarisse on, but when she froze at the middle, her face shocked, they were silent. They stared at me, and eventually fixed their eyes on my clenched fist. My fedora was beside me. Clarisse looked down at me, and I unclenched my fist. I raised my hand, together with the orange flag.
"I made sure you didn't win," I smiled. "You didn't."
Pandemonium breaks loose.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was sitting cross-legged on my bed, talking to Roy. It had been two days since my victory at the Obstacle Tower, and Roy couldn't get over how amazing I was. How agile, how fast, how reactive and how strongly-willed I was. All I said was, "I beat Clarisse."
"You did," Roy chuckled. "Everybody is talking about you, Dante. The Hermes Cabin says that you must be one of them, since you are that sneaky to actually snatch the flag before the log hit you. The Athena Cabin says that you must be one of them, since you were that smart and strategic on your victory. The Ares Cabin says that you must be one of them, you are strong, you are fast and you are gutsy. However, Clarisse has been quiet lately. I think she's not getting over your victory."
"You fueled my determination, Roy," I grinned. Roy had a cut on his cheek, and there was a plaster on it. He had several bruises over his arms, and there were a few cuts which I cleaned out and bandaged for him. He commented that I was "very Apollo kid-like", and that I could have been in the Red Cross. I just chuckled and said, "I never liked the Red Cross."
"Good to know," Roy grinned back.
I was suddenly serious. "Just curious, is there any children of the Big Three?"
Roy wasn't surprised. "There are," he explained. "There are two children of Zeus; Thalia and Jason Grace. There's a son of Poseidon, Percy Jackson. There are also two children of Hades, Nico Di Angelo and Hazel. Does that answer your question?"
"Jackson?" I mused. "That name sounds familiar. I heard Clarisse taunting him the other day."
"Yeah, let's just say Clarisse likes to beat him up."
"Does she even succeed?"
"50/50 chance. But Percy is always with his girlfriend, Annabeth so she doesn't get a chance."
"Annabeth?"
"Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, head of the Athena Cabin and also Percy's girlfriend," Roy explained.
"Oh. Anyways, when am I going to get claimed? Seriously. Hello! If any of you are listening and happens to me by dad, please give me a sign so I can go to my rightful cabin!" i yelled at the ceiling.
Roy laughed. "Oh hey," he grinned. "Can I hear you play your electric guitar?"
I grinned. "Sure."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After a week, I was finally claimed. It went like this.
I had just finished my training with Percy, (My fedora was actually a sword. When you pressed the middle of the top, it would turn into a three foot sword that was the combination of black Stygian iron, Celestial bronze, Roman Imperial gold and human steel. The blade was mainly black, but it had fiery patterns on the edges which were gold, bronze and steel. The handle was Stygian iron as well, and engraved on the bottom of the blade was a skeleton head, and also the Greek words for 'Blazefire'.) Percy was a good swordsman, but I was a fast learner, and we were each other's match. It was as if swordplay was in my blood.
When I crashed on my bunk, I was bored and I decided to play some guitar. My hand reached down to grab my guitar case, but there was nothing to touch. I swung down onto the floor on my knees and peered underneath.
"What the Hades!" I growled and I stormed out of the cabin in anger. I was walking towards the training area when I suddenly heard the words "Electric guitar for sale!"
I backtracked and saw that the Stoll brothers were selling something, and it was my electric guitar, in its case! I walked towards the brothers, and I said with anger in my voice, "Where did you get that from?"
"Somewhere," one of the Stoll brothers grinned. "You want it? It's only for two hundred bucks."
I stared at him, and eventually he got uncomfortable. I then gave him a death glare. "I'll give you five seconds to hand me the case, close up shop, tell me where you got it from and get lost," I growled like a wolf. Worse than a wolf.
I counted Five, Four, Three and suddenly my blood increased to a hundred degrees. I clenched my right fist, and I felt as though I was radiating fear and... Death. With my clenched fist, a dead, black skeleton warrior rose from the ground. The Stoll brothers screamed in fright, and the other campers were crowding around.
"Dante!" I heard a familiar voice, Percy call. i was focused on the Stoll brothers, and I felt as though I was a demigod Grim Reaper. The skeleton warrior advanced slowly towards the Stoll brothers, who scrambled for a weapon. They had none, and before the skeleton warrior could raise its sword, a hand clamped on my shoulder.
I felt an aura same as mine, but less fearsome. I guessed it was either Nico or Hazel, the Hades' kids.
"Calm down," the voice said, and I knew it was Nico. I saw Roy among the crowds, his face shocked and his mouth hanging open. I immediately calmed down. I turned behind. Nico was gazing at me, and I saw everybody was gaping at me, their mouths open. I didn't know what to do. I just ran past the crowds, and headed towards a spot that I found, that no one could disturb me. Now I was claimed.
I was a son of the Lord of the Dead,
Hades.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~AUTHOR'S NOTE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hey guys, so this part was a little on the intense side, but humor is coming in the next part! I hope you guys are enjoying this so...
Dante: I'm emo. I'm the son of Hades.
Me: Oh come on Dante. Give it a rest. You just found out your godly parent in this part.
Dante: Nico told me that children of Hades are all emo.
Hazel: Well, we had a very... bad childhood so I guess we are a little emo??
Nico: We are emo, sis. We don't know about Dan.
Me: What is this, Emo World? C'mon guys, lighten up!
Nico: Eh hem... We are the children of the dark and shadows, okay? we can't LIGHTEN UP.
Me: You didn't even try *frowns*
Dante: I accept your challenge! We will not be emo peeps anymore! Thalia would like it, Nico.
Nico: How did you know?!!?!
Hazel: It's obvious Nico. There's Percabeth, Thalico, Jasiper and Frazel... WHAT IN HADES' NAME?! AUTHOR! What is this?! Frazel!?
Me: I thought it would be nice. By the way, I'm a kid of Hades too.
Nico: There's four of us now? *facepalms*
Dante: Go date Thalia!
Nico: You go date Cl-
Dante: Shut up! *gets Blazefire out and starts chasing Nico and attempting to jab the blade into his back*
Hazel: *sighs* I guess I have to stop my brothers from killing each other. So dear readers, I'm helping my sibling the author to tell you to Vote and Add this to your reading List and we hope you enjoy! See you in the next part!