"So, um, this is the Apollo cabin. They're holding some shooting competition today, and it's gonna start soon. You guys can participate, but I'll just watch..." Percy inched away from the targets. Annabeth laughed, recalling his history with arrows.
John has never touched an arrow before, so he shrugged and decided to try anyways. "You trying?" He asked Seraphina.
"Sure, whatever," Seraphina agreed nonchalantly.
"Hey, Arlo!" yelled one of the Apollo kids. "You're gonna join right? We haven't had the chance to see your skills with a bow and arrow yet!"
John was sure Arlo's eyes glowed slightly at the casual addressing. Everyone but the Royals addressed him as the King, after all.
"I rather not," Arlo said stiffly. The group of Apollo kids chuckled heartily.
"You're a son of Apollo, you won't embarrass yourself," shouted one.
"Yeah! Don't be a wimp!" hollered another.
Arlo's gritted his teeth. How dare they call him a wimp? All they did was shoot arrows, play music and learn about medicine. He, unlike them, was the King of Wellston High, the top school at Turf Wars and everything else.
John waited expectantly for Arlo to flare up. However, Arlo merely smiled and agreed to participate.
John was a little surprised. But, did he really expect Arlo to go against Headmaster Vaughn words?
A couple of Apollo kids went first, and they all hit bullseye. Then Isen, with his hunter precise eyesight shot bullseye too. Blyke, with all his laser aiming skills, managed to hit the inner circle. Seraphina managed a bullseye effortlessly, and no one was really surprised. She was not the Ace of Wellston Private High School for nothing, so being multi-talented was a given.
Elaine didn't do really well, but at least managed to hit the target.
Remi sent a bolt of lightning, an almost invisible one that crackled around the arrow, directing it towards the bullseye.
I could do that, John considered. But then, that would bring some attention to him. He was a cripple after all.
John tried. He really did. However, the arrow just wouldn't go where John aimed, and instead somehow flew towards the Hephaestus kid beside him, and countless vulgarities poured out of his mouth as he waved an angry fist at John.
Oops.
Arlo picked up the bow and arrow. John once again expected him to ace it, getting a bullseye. Arlo surprised him, pulling the bow and releasing it, sending the bow flying towards the target and crashing to the floor.
I guess when you're perfect all the time, it becomes an expectation, John mused.
"What the hell, man?!!" shouted an Apollo kid. "Didn't you watch those people before you? You're supposed to shoot the arrow at the target, not the bow!"
Arlo glanced at him then looked away, as though he wasn't worth his time.
Another Apollo kid glared at Arlo, then cleared his throat. "Every year, we have a punishment for those who didn't even hit the target."
John froze. He didn't hit the target, so did the punishment apply to him? He had a feeling the Apollo kids were going to make the punishment worse than usual because of Arlo.
"You and you," An Apollo kid pointed at both Arlo and John. "Go stand by the targets. We're gonna use you guys for shooting practice."
"Max, what are you doing?" Another Apollo kid hissed. John couldn't really tell them apart, they all had blond hair and blue eyes. That's probably why Arlo got into Apollo's cabin.
"Relax, Will. This is all part of the fun," consoled the Max guy.
"Fun? What if you hit them?" Will asked incredulously.
"Then give them ambrosia!" Max said, dismissing the matter with a wave of his hand.
John stood beside one target, and Arlo at another. John didn't know about Arlo, but his insides were turning to jelly.
"What are you..." Blyke started furiously, rising from his seat. Arlo stared at him, communicating with his eyes, then did Blyke slump back down reluctantly.
"It's only one arrow, right?" Will questioned. Max answered absentmindedly, "Yeah, yeah."
"One, two, three, DODGE!" boomed Max through the speaker. Instead of one arrow, three zipped towards them. John was rooted to the ground, mouth dry.
"You said one arrow!" yelled Will.
Arlo's blue eyes flared. John sensed an invisible barrier pop up, sending the arrows hurling back to its shooters. The arrows pierced into their legs, arms, one even hitting just below the heart. They fell to the floor, writhing in pain as blood gushed out from their wounds like a fountain of red wine.
"Oh my goodness!" A demigod, previously a spectator, found her voice and squeaked. Everybody started panicking, and everything went chaotic.
"Oh no! What should we do?" An Aphrodite kid squealed worriedly.
"How about give them ambrosia?" Annabeth took charge. Upon hearing that, John smirked. Those were almost the exact words Max used earlier.
Percy carried the wounded on his back, a few other demigods helping.
Shooting Arlo a dirty look, Percy said, "That was not cool, dude."
"What was not cool?" Arlo asked, pretending to be clueless.
Percy waved his hands dramatically and said, "Well, whatever you did to make the arrows change direction!"
"I had nothing to do with that," Arlo lied through his teeth. "Right, John?"
John blinked. "Yeah, he totally didn't do anything."
"Don't lie," Percy accused.
"I'm not lying!" John defended, thinking fast. "Do you know how powerless and weak Arlo is? Besides, he's an Apollo kid. What power can he have?"
Percy eyed Arlo and him suspiciously. Sighing, John said, "You know what, maybe it's because Apollo was watching from the Empire State building, and decided that three against two was unfair."
"It was unfair," Percy hesitantly admitted. "But there's something fishy going on. And I didn't survive two wars by ignoring my instincts. I'll be keeping an eye on you."
"Whatever you want, Percy," Arlo pushed past Percy, a steel-like grip on John's arm.
After successfully dragging John to a secluded corner and surrounding them with a sound proof barrier, Arlo glared at John, blue eyes blazing.
"What was that?" He asked dangerously.
Burnt gold eyes stared defiantly back. "I was helping you get him off your back, Arlo."
"You made him more suspicious, god damn it!" Arlo cursed at John. John bared his teeth and held his gaze.
Two Kings, each a legend, the most powerful Kings to have ever cross the halls of Wellston High.
Burnt gold irises stared into Arlo's sky blue ones. They had a battle with their eyes, each trying to dominate each other.
What happens when two Kings meet? War. But one King wasn't attacking, knew not to attack, so the other didn't either.
"Do not say more of this issue, we don't want Percy to be more suspicious than he already is," Arlo stated.
"Very well," John said formally, burnt gold eyes glinting slightly.
Arlo left towards the Apollo cabin, and John's eyes dimmed.
Slowly, he made his way back to the Hades cabin. His head was spinning and he collapsed into his bed.
Will Solace is here! :)Arlo is the only one who can piss John off so much he shows his inner King. And we're all dying to see that aren't we? I hope you enjoyed this chapter! It's the longest one yet!