WARRIOR!
( chapter one )
"RACE YOU TO the top! First one up gets first showers tonight." Clarisse La Rue announced to her fellow Ares siblings. Ingrid Reid gave her a cocky grin, before charging at the towering climbing wall before them. She grabbed hold of one of the stones, pausing to correct her grip before continuing on her climb.
At her side was her twin brother, Casey Reid, who tried to push her off. Ingrid almost laughed at his attempt, and instead climbed above him to knock his hands off of the wall. It worked, and Casey fell to the ground with a thud. "I hate you Ing!" He yelled.
"Love you too Case!" Ingrid yelled back as she continued her climb. Soon enough, the lava began spewing out, just barely missing her. Ingrid paused to catch her breath after the near miss. To her left, she caught sight of Clarisse, and Sherman Yang on her right. The two were above her, meaning she had to attack them from underneath.
She went for Sherman first, and slowly crept below him, and yanked his foot from the stone it was on. He looked down with a yelp, and before he knew it, his other foot lost it's hold, and Ingrid had pulled him off. Ingrid smiled to herself, and pulled her way up again. Her muscles were starting to tire, but that never stopped her.
Suddenly, the wall began to shake, meaning it was going into earthquake mode. Ingrid tightened her grip, before taking a risk to continue. Luckily, Clarisse struggled to continue, meaning it gave Ingrid time to trek to the top before she did. Despite the wall's violent shaking, and the insanely hot lava, Ingrid scaled the wall with ease, finally making it to the top. She pulled herself up to the platform with ease, raising her fist in the air as celebration.
Casey and Sherman cheered from below, as did Clarisse once she dropped from her spot. Ingrid smiled victoriously, despite having won this challenge dozens of times. "Have fun sweating tonight while I enjoy the showers!" She called out, and at that, they stopped cheering and instead, they all flipped her off. Ingrid laughed, her smile growing bigger.
She started to climb down, but stopped as she saw the flying chariot crash land into the canoe lake.
"What was that? Ing, can you see?" Casey called out, looking over to the lake. Ingrid nodded, and began her trek back down, talking as she went.
"You remember how Annabeth and Butch went to the Grand Canyon this morning in the chariot? Well they just crash landed it in the lake," She said. "Looks like they brought three new campers back. No Percy though."
Knowing her siblings were impatient, Ingrid jumped down from her spot, falling onto the ground. She grumbled a few curses, before pushing herself off of the ground. Without having to say a word, the campers took off, anxious to see what was going on.
As they approached, they could already hear Will Solace's complaints. "Annabeth! I said you could borrow the chariot, not destroy it!"
Annabeth sighed. "Will, I'm sorry. I'll get it fixed, I promise." At that, Ingrid chuckled. She knew the chariot was the least of the girl's problems.
"These are the ones? Way older than thirteen. Why haven't they been claimed already?" Will said as he sized up the new demigods.
Ingrid's gaze traveled to them as well. There were three, a tall blonde guy about 16, wearing a tattered purple shirt. The one standing next to him seemed about the same age, but much shorter. He had on a large grin, despite the utter confusion on his face. The last was a girl with choppy brain hair, and a fleece ski jacket. Sure, they weren't the most impressive lot, but that's how mostly everyone came to camp anyway.
Casey leaned closer to her to whisper into her ear. "Alright, who do you think their parents are? The short one is giving me Hermes vibes."
"Same. Blondie looks like a Hebe kid. Maybe even Apollo." Ingrid said.
"Psh, no way! He's Big Three, no doubt. Now the girl on the other hand, that's definitely Nike." Casey said.
"Nah, my bet is Demeter. Whoever is right gets to go first in the dinner line. Deal?" Ingrid said, holding out her hand.
Casey shook it with a smile. "Deal."
As if on cue, the girl, whose name was apparently Piper, spoke up. "Would somebody tell me what claimed means?"
Suddenly, Ingrid gasped, as did everyone else. Floating over the short kid, whose name was Leo, was a blazing holographic image of a hammer. Ingrid and Casey cursed, upset that they got it wrong.
"Damn, I really thought it was Hermes!" Ingrid said, shaking her head.
"I did too. This one doesn't count I guess, but the others do. You know I don't mess around with the dinner line." Casey said, making Ingrid snicker. From behind them, Clarisse swatted at them, their laughter stopping.
"Dude. The kid just got claimed, so quit laughing it up. Also, the guy is Zeus, and the girl is Aphrodite. Calling it right now." Clarisse said, before stomping away. The twins looked at each other with tight lipped smiles, before bursting into laughs as they walked away as well.
The two made their way to the sword fighting arena. They sat in there, squabbling about what they should duel with.
"It's called a sword fighting arena for a reason, Ing. Obviously we should just duel with swords." Casey said.
"Okay, sure, but we're already decent at using swords, so why not try something new. Like a spear, or a machete." Ingrid argued.
"Ohhh okay. You just wanted to use your new machete, huh?" Casey said accusingly.
"Okay, and? It's new, and it's awesome. What further explanation do you need?" Ingrid said. Casey rolled his eyes, throwing his arms up in defeat.
"Fine. Let's go get them. I'll have to grab one from the weapon shed then."
Together, the pair made their way to the Ares cabin, where Ingrid dashed inside to grab her new weapon. Nyssa Barrera had recently made her a new one, since her old one was getting a little rusty. Ingrid had been restless to use it, and was glad that Casey had finally obliged to let her do so. When she walked back out of the cabin, she made sure to put on a show of showing off the weapon, caressing the side and twirling it around a few times. Casey merely rolled his eyes, motioning for her to keep walking towards the weapon shed.
The shed was located on the side of the Athena cabin, and was lined with an array of weapons. Swords rested in a bin towards the front, spears on a rack along a wall, and even machine guns were lined up. Casey walked in and began rummaging around in search of a machete, having no luck with it being among everything else.
"Jeez Ingrid, where the hell do you find these things?" Casey grumbled.
Ingrid poked her head into the shed. "Check between the knives and the clubs. I think that's where mine was." She said, swinging her machete around a few times. Ingrid acted as if a person was in front of her and jabbed, then swung it another few times.
Then, there was a person in front of her. Two, actually. Annabeth and the new girl, Piper stood before her, amused looks on their faces. Ingrid stopped in her tracks, her face going red before tucking her arm and weapon behind her.
"Nice moves. Do you happen to swing a blade at every person you meet, or is it just me?" Piper said, making Ingrid blush even more.
Before she could say anything, Casey stumbled out of the shed, a machete now in his hand. "Found it! I'm so ready to beat your – oh, people."
"Piper, this is Ingrid and Casey Reid. Ares twins, and the the best duel partners ever," Annabeth said. "We were just going to try and find Piper here a weapon. You guys wanna help?"
"It would be our pleasure. Now enter the shed, if you dare." Casey beamed, motioning towards the shed. Piper and Annabeth ventured in, followed by Casey and Ingrid.
"Every demigod needs a weapon," Annabeth said. "Hephaestus makes the best, but we have a pretty good selection too. Athena's all about strategy – matching the right weapon to the right person."
"For example, Ingrid here uses a lovely machete. It's small, just like her." Casey said, earning a punch in the arm from Ingrid. Piper laughed, before turning her attention to the bin of swords. She tried to pull one out, before dropping it back into the bin.
"Well that's a no," Piper said. "Casey, what do you use?"
"I prefer the bow and arrow, but I'm also pretty good with a sword. Or anything else. Thank the gods for the Gift of Ares, because it helps me pick up any weapon quickly. Helps a lot on the battlefield, and when Ingrid makes me use a machete." He said. Ingrid rolled her eyes, tempted to punch him again.
Piper turned to the wall holding the bow and arrows, picking one up as if she were about to shoot it. Seeing as her ski jacket didn't let her pull the string back far enough, she set it back down in defeat. Then, something seemed to have caught her eye, because she drifted to the far corner of the shed.
"What is this, a knife?" She asked. Annabeth dug it out and blew dust off of the scabbard.
"I don't know, Piper," Annabeth said. "I don't think you want this one. Swords are usually better."
"But you use a knife." Piper said, pointing to the one on her belt.
"The girl's got a point. Unsheathe it, Piper." Casey said, and Piper did so.
Ingrid watched as she took off the scabbard. The knife had a wooden handle, and an eighteen inch triangular blade. It shined as if it were polished just yesterday, something that rarely happens to some of these weapons.
"Looks like a perfect fit," Ingrid said. Piper's head snapped towards her, as if she forgot she were there. Which wouldn't be surprising, considering she hadn't said a word since they entered.
"I agree. It suits you," Annabeth said. "That kind of blade is called a parazonium. It was mostly ceremonial, carried by high- ranking officers in the Greek armies. It showed you were a person of power and wealth, but in a fight, it could protect you just fine."
"I like it." Piper said. "Why didn't you think it was right?"
Annabeth exhaled. "That blade has a long story. Most people would be afraid to claim it. It's first owner, well, things didn't turn out too well for her. Her name was Helen."
"Wait, you mean the Helen? Helen of Troy?" Piper asked.
"Pause. We got the Helen of Troy's blade in here and I didn't know about it? To be honest, if it weren't for you, Piper, I'd take it for myself." Casey said.
"We're surrounded by Ancient Greek stuff," Annabeth said. "This isn't a museum. Weapons like that—they're meant to be used. They're our heritage as demigods. That was a wedding present from Menelaus, Helen's first husband. She named the dagger Katoptris."
"Meaning?" Piper asked.
"Mirror," Annabeth said. "Looking glass. Probably because that's the only thing Helen used it for. I don't think it's ever seen battle."
Piper studied the blade intently, before dropping the it abruptly.
"Piper?" Ingrid asked, resting a hand on her shoulder.
"Medic! I need some help over here!" Annabeth called out to a few Apollo kids.
"No, it's—it's okay," Piper managed.
"You sure? You didn't look okay for second there." Ingrid said, taking her hand off of her shoulder and stuffing it into her pocket. She hadn't even realized she had reached out to the girl, but the thought of it made her blush.
"Yeah. I just ... I just got overwhelmed. So much happening today. But ... I want to keep the dagger, if that's okay." Piper said as she reached down and picked up the dagger.
Annabeth exchanged an uneasy look with the twins. Casey shrugged, and Ingrid nodded. "Okay, if you're sure," She said, waving off the Apollo kids. "You turned really pale, there. I thought you were having a seizure or something."
"I'm fine," Piper promised. "Is there ... um, a phone at camp? Can I call my dad?"
"We aren't allowed phones," Annabeth said. "Most demigods, if they use a cell phone, it's like sending up a signal, letting monsters know where you are. But ... I've got one." She slipped it out of her pocket. "Kind of against the rules, but if it can be our secret." Piper gave her a quick smile before taking the phone and going to the far side of the shed.
When she was far enough away, Casey gasped dramatically, fanning a hand over his mouth. "What? Goody two shoes Annabeth has a phone? How scandalous." At that, Annabeth punched the boy in his arm. Ingrid let out a laugh, fist bumping her in return.
"Why am I always getting punched?" He muttered, rubbing his arm in the spot that got punched.
Luckily, Piper returned to their side before Ingrid got to answer that. She had an uneasy look on her face, meaning the call home must not have went well, something that Ingrid could relate to.
"You feeling okay? Want to keep going?" Annabeth asked.
Piper fastened her new dagger to her belt nodded. "Sure," she said. "I want to see everything."
"Ok. Well, it was nice seeing you two. Good luck with your machete duel." Annabeth said with a wink as she exited the shed.
"It was nice meeting you, Casey and Ingrid. Maybe we'll see each other around sometime." Piper said, her eyes lingering on Ingrid for a moment longer than necessary. Ingrid's face went red as she lifted a hand in goodbye.
When she was gone, Casey looked to Ingrid with knowing smile. "Ing. You cannot deny that total connection you two had. I mean there were so many sparks it was practically the 4th of July fireworks show!"
Ingrid rolled her eyes, shoving past him. "Sure, Piper is very pretty, but I have a feeling she doesn't swing my way, if you know what I mean. Even if she did, I just met her! And we don't even know who her godly parent is. What if it's Ares? That'd be kinda gross, don't you think?"
"Yeah, it would be, but what if it isn't? You gotta at least try, Ing," Casey said, pulling her into an embrace. "You never try with anyone, so maybe this time you should."
"Hey, I try! Remember when I kissed Kayla Knowles?" Ingrid protested.
"You ran into her during Capture the Flag, that does not count as a kiss." Casey deadpanned.
That was true. During a game of Capture the Flag, Ingrid wasn't looking where she was going and accidentally ran into Kayla. Their heads bumped together, as did their lips. Well, more like crushed against each other and left a bruise for a few days, but still.
"Okay so maybe I don't try, so what? What if I don't want a girlfriend? I have you, and that's basically the same thing." Ingrid said.
Casey made a face. "First of all, ew. Second of all, aw. Third of all, you're lying when you say you don't want a girlfriend. You go nuts whenever you see two girls just holding hands."
Ingrid sighed, admitting defeat. "Fine, I want a girlfriend, happy? But that doesn't mean it's going to be Piper," She said, walking out of the shed. "And that doesn't mean you can try to set us up either!"
"Darn. My plan has been fooled," Casey said as he followed, stepping back into the open area. "I'm just saying – Piper?"
Ingrid gave him an exasperated look. "If you're going to talk about setting us up, at least talk about it in private."
"No, look!" He pointed.
Looking in the direction Casey pointed, Ingrid saw Annabeth and Rachel Elizabeth Dare carrying a weightless Piper out of the Hera cabin.
"Well shit."
AUTHOR'S NOTE
yay first chapter! i hope you all
enjoyed :) anyways, i updated
ingrid and casey's aesthetics so
go check them out if you'd like.
i think these ones really show their
personalities a lot more, which
you got to see of a bit in this, and
in many more chapters haha