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0o0o

Over the next few weeks, I settled back into my camper routine, usually tending to stick with the Hermes cabin. By now, Noah had left camp, and Kyle was the head counselor now. Much to my dismay, he ruled over cabin eleven with an iron fist, threatening all the other kids with permanent cleaning duty and punishing them in training to maintain his place within the cabin's social hierarchy.

Thankfully, the Stoll brothers managed to keep the levity amongst all the campers, pulling an endless amount of pranks on their older brother and always evading capture. Of the two I'd witnessed since my return, the best prank was the one that ended up with Kyle covered from head to toe in pink glitter and in a red cocktail dress. The Stoll brothers had even managed to put makeup on Kyle's face, although it was done rather messily as seen by the lipstick smear that had been across Kyle's forehead. Even better, Kyle had been cursed to wear the dress, glitter, and makeup for three days as apparently the get up belonged to a daughter of Aphrodite after being claimed.

Of course, the Stoll brothers ended up with dish duty for the rest of that week, but I knew it had been totally worth it by Kyle's constant mortification while others stared at him. Had it been anyone else, I would've felt guilty for not helping him out, but he had sided with Holly and tied me to a tree branch by the ankles. That isn't exactly the best way to make friends.

I'd also detested Kyle's dictatorship in the cabin, especially after I'd watched this one son of Iris flinch away from Kyle when his hand had gone to his belt around his waist. I remember feeling anger course through my veins as the kid curled up into a ball, begging for Kyle to stop.

The other kids either ignored the situation entirely or watched with frightful glances, unwilling to do anything to incur the wrath of the head counselor. Needless to say, I quickly put an end to that form of punishment, not even flinching when I felt Kyle's belt wrap around my wrist when I stood over the young boy.

"Get out of the way," Kyle had demanded in a low voice, his eyes glowing with unbridled rage. "This boy must be taught a lesson."

"Not like this," I had said, jerking my hand down, pulling the belt free from Kyle's grip. "You have no right to punish anyone like this, head counselor or not."

"You don't know what he did."

"Enlighten me, then." I then tossed the belt over to the Stoll brothers, giving them a silent order to keep it out of Kyle's hands. They gave me an almost imperceptible nod, Connor quickly shoving it into his pillowcase.

"He called me a heartless psychopath. Me, the boy who saved him," – Kyle jabbed a finger at the boy's direction – "from being dog chow. Where's the gratefulness?"

"It disappeared the first time you hurt me," the boy whimpered, curling into a tighter ball, his hands over his head in an attempt to protect himself. The poor kid thought that Kyle was going to pummel him with his fists instead of his belt now.

"Unbelievable," I muttered under my breath, glaring daggers at Kyle. "What's your problem? Why do you think it's a good idea to hurt these kids?"

"They earned it." Kyle shrugged, not a hint of remorse in his words or on his face. "I don't hurt anyone who follows orders. Isn't that right, guys?"

There were a few mutters of assent, but they were most likely out of fear from becoming Kyle's next target rather than actually agreeing with his statement. It must've sucked living in the Hermes cabin these past few years if Kyle was always like this.

"No, I refuse to let you keep doing this," I said with contempt, struggling to keep myself from punching Kyle's lights out. He had some serious anger issues that needed to be worked through, preferably with a therapist that specialized in demigods. "I challenge you to a duel to be head of the Hermes cabin."

Now everyone was paying attention to us, gasping at my sudden declaration. Even the kids that had been feigning disinterest looked up, shock written on everyone's faces. They'd been living in constant fear of Kyle for the past few years, learning to accept his demands instead of fighting back.

Kyle chuckled darkly, shaking his head like he knew something I didn't. "You're not even a child of Hermes, you witch. You can't challenge me to a duel for head counselor!"

"Which rule says that? As far as I'm concerned, the only requirements to change head counselor is go on more quests than the current one – which I have, by the way – or challenge them to a duel." I smirked as Kyle's cool façade started to crumble. "I'm giving you a choice, Kyle. Take it or leave it."

"Tomorrow, noon," Kyle spat, his face a bright red as he tried to maintain his composure. "Be prepared to face my wrath."

"Whatever you want," I replied sweetly, my smirk growing when Kyle stormed out of the cabin, the door slamming shut behind him.

The cabin erupted in cheers when Kyle left. The young son of Iris that had been curled up in fetal position stood up and launched himself at my legs, my pants becoming a sponge for his tears as he thanked me over and over again.

The other kids that Kyle had hit over the past three years came up to me as well, showing me their scars and asking if I could help them. It broke my heart to see so many children covered in scars, scars they had gotten in a place that was supposed to be a safe haven for them. Many of the scars were ugly, unnatural colors, indicating an infection.

Anger bubbled in my chest again, but I forced the emotion down, preferring to channel it into my attacks during tomorrow's duel. I gave what little antibiotics I had left to the kids whose infections were in the incipient stages, while taking the rest to the infirmary to be properly taken care of.

Cleo had been just as upset as I had been, a permanent scowl on her face as she and her younger brother, Will Solace, treated the eight kids I'd brought in. The two children of Apollo set up the kids with IV antibiotics and stitched up some of the deeper wounds Kyle had left behind.

"I knew he was a jerk," Cleo had whispered to me as she set the rate of delivery of the antibiotics for a daughter of Nemesis, "but never in a million years would I expect him to do this."

"Me neither," I said with a sigh, raking a hand through my unkempt curls. "I'm going to destroy him tomorrow."

Cleo rolled her eyes, the corner of her lips quirking upwards. "Take it easy on him, Andy. We both know that you'll win."

"But maybe a broken arm...?"

"No, Andromeda Collins, you will not stoop to his level."

"Fine," I conceded, earning a couple giggles from Will. "But no promises."

"I wouldn't expect it any other way," Cleo said with a devious smirk, setting the last clipboard down onto the countertop. Will took a seat behind the desk, his nose deep into a book about human anatomy, choosing to block out the rest of the world. "So, how's life been?"

I arched my eyebrows up at her. "Chaotic, like always. You'd be surprised about the amount of messes the gods get into and expect for me to clean up."

"Oh, so nothing new," Cleo said sarcastically, taking a seat on an empty bed and patting the spot next to her, an invitation to join her. "Any new stories about Dad?"

"Always do, especially ones that involve Hermes. Seriously, how pranking isn't a minor domain for Apollo is beyond my comprehension."

"Tell me about it." I knew Cleo wasn't only referring to her father that time, talking about Olympus and the gods as a whole.

As far as I know, Cleo's only been to Olympus twice on the camp's annual trip during the winter solstice, but both times the gods had been busy, confining the demigods to the throne room. Before that, she'd been too young to go on the field trip, as Chiron usually left those younger than ten behind under the care of Argus.

So I told her everything she wanted to know, down to the number of pictures Apollo had of his children. Of course, I kept the more personal stuff I'd witnessed to myself, like the way Apollo sang haunting melodies at night to keep himself sane, or how Aphrodite refused to settle on a single appearance out of fear of rejection. I didn't tell her that Hades was still grieving over the loss of his last three children, that the real reason Dionysus was rude to campers was to distance himself and prevent heartbreak, or how Hera would cry herself to sleep whenever someone would mention Thalia or Jason.

Although the gods tended to act like petty children most of the time, after spending five years with them, I understood a little bit about what made them act the way they did. Athena invested herself in knowledge to block out her anger towards the Romans for stealing the Athena Parthenos. Hephaestus stayed in his forges to avoid ridicule from his family as well as Aphrodite, because watching his wife sneak around Ares really hurt him, even if he'd never admit it.

As much as they wanted to play high and mighty immortals, at their very cores, the gods were just as human as the rest of us on Earth. They cared for their children very dearly – well, most of them did at any rate – and hated the Ancient Laws for keeping them away. They loved and lost like the rest of us did, except theirs was on a much greater scale, what with being immortal and all.

I wished that one day all demigods would be able to see the Olympians in the same way I did – as flawed individuals who usually did their best to keep the natural order of things. I say usually, because right now Zeus is threatening to start World War III based on his own paranoia instead of looking at the facts.

I left the infirmary a little while later, choosing to go practice on the lava wall with some of the other older campers. Chiron had opened up a time slot at most activities for the older campers only – by that, I mean over fifteen – so that we didn't have to worry about the younger ones.

James, who was currently in charge of running the lava wall, had the dial set all the way up to Poseidon's Fury, which was the hardest setting the Hephaestus cabin had yet to invent. Basically, the wall shook like you were in a massive earthquake, and the lava rose as if it was pure water.

Needless to say, not many campers enjoyed that setting. And for the few adrenaline junkies who enjoyed Poseidon's Fury, most of the time, someone would have to hit the kill switch after a camper would nearly fall to their fiery death. Last I checked, only the satyrs had successfully made it to the top with that setting.

Only at Camp Half-Blood would this be considered normal.

And I guess Camp Jupiter, too, but I don't think they have an enchanted lava wall.

Oh, well.

"Who's up next?" James asked from behind the control panel, resetting the wall for the next run. Three of us raised our hands: Holly, Kyle, and me.

"Oh, joy," I muttered to myself, sticking my hands into the bucket of chalk we had on the floor. We didn't have ropes or harnesses, which may have been a liability issue anywhere else, but this would prepare us if this type of situation arose in the real world, where our fingers holding us up meant the difference between life and death.

"I'm guessing you all want the hardest level?" We all nodded, and James smiled, glad that his contribution to the lava wall was being used. "Don't say I didn't warn you. Take your places!" James waited until Kyle, Holly, and I were all positioned at the starting footholds before pulling the lever that would activate the wall.

I began scrambling up the footholds, wanting to get as high up as possible before the wall was vibrating at full capacity. Already I could feel the heat of the rising lava, and the wall itself felt like I was standing at the epicenter of a 3.5 magnitude earthquake.

A good thing about Poseidon's Fury was that you were so concentrated on not dying that you really didn't have time to sabotage others, meaning that while I was racing against arguably my two biggest enemies at camp, they couldn't hurt me without hurting themselves as a result.

Despite being fireproof, the hairs on my arms were beginning to singe off from the heat alone, and I knew I had to hurry up. The muscles in both my arms and legs were quickly getting tired, more from the unusual vibrations versus actual fatigue. Sweat was pouring down the back of my neck, but I didn't have any time to wipe it away, bringing myself up onto a little ledge that signified that halfway point.

I spared a glance down, only to find out that I was the last one on the wall. My eyes widened at the realization, and I took to the wall again, my fingers finding places to latch onto the wall as lava started coming down in streams from the top as well, cutting off certain routes.

I figured I must've looked like a spider to those who were watching me from down below as I started jumping around, the lava no longer allowing for me to merely climb straight upwards. On one of my jumps, I landed awkwardly, forcing the air out of my lungs as I felt my left hand let go of my hold on the rock, my feet desperately trying to find a foothold.

Using my right hand, I pulled myself up a little bit, just enough for me to find somewhere to push off of. Once I was no longer in danger of plummeting into the lava, which was now only a mere three feet away from me, I forced myself to climb faster, avoiding the growing streams of lava from the top, which was still a good twenty feet higher than where I was.

I groaned inwardly but kept pushing through, refusing to give up when I still had a fighting chance of completing the wall. My body felt as if it were made of Jell-O from how hard the wall was shaking now, my vision starting to blur together as I kept climbing. I couldn't even breathe through my mouth, because I feared I'd bite off my tongue if I did that.

I got a couple feet higher before my hands were starting to slip every time I grabbed onto the rock, giving me little time to plant my feet before continuing upwards. Now, I could make this easier on myself and climb directly through the lava, but where's the fun in that?

After a few more close calls, I was finally dragging myself over the top of the wall, my entire body shaking in exhaustion as I flopped onto my back, breathing heavily. Wendy had been at the top of the wall, waiting with towels and water bottles for the campers that managed to make it to the top. Since it was only me, I drained two of the water bottles while dumping the third one over my head, feeling a little bit of strength rush back into my limbs. I declined the towels, telling Wendy that I'd much rather hit the showers instead.

When I got back to the bottom of the wall, I was met with some enthusiastic cheers from the other campers. Kyle and Holly were standing off to the side, glaring at me before skulking off somewhere else.

I ignored the other campers, watching Kyle and Holly disappear. All I wanted to know was why those two hated me so much. I understood Holly's anger about the whole toilet water incident, but I didn't know why Kyle had it out for me. Maybe he was afraid of me or something, but I know I definitely gave him another reason to antagonize me after challenging him to a duel.

I guess we were just fated to never get along.

0o0o

Noon approached extraordinarily fast, in my opinion, as I walked to the arena in my normal, everyday clothes. Some campers decided to show up as well, but it was clear that this was an issue within the Hermes cabin only.

I stood in the middle of the arena, waiting for Kyle to arrive to get this over with. A couple minutes later, Kyle strolled in, decked out in his full armor, down to the plumed helmet. Chiron had been brought down to proctor the fight (it was a weekend, so he could leave Yancy), more as an insurance to make sure we didn't actually kill each other.

"Heroes," Chiron began, drawing attention of the kids that were sitting in the stands. "Today we shall witness a duel between Andy Collins and Kyle Martin for the position of the head counselor for the Hermes cabin. No maiming or killing is allowed. The use of powers will also be prohibited during this duel to keep it as fair as possible. Now, shake hands, arm yourselves, and we shall begin."

"You're dead," Kyle hissed lowly as he shook my hand, quickly recoiling afterwards, as if I'd bitten him. He went and picked up his axe and a shield, standing outside the circle that Chiron had drawn in the sand for us to duel in. This way, we minimized the likelihood of someone else getting hurt.

I stood opposite Kyle, my arms across my chest as I waited for the signal to walk into the circle.

"Andy," Chiron said, staring at me in confusion. "What is your weapon?"

"I don't need a weapon to defeat a child abuser," I growled, feeling that pent up anger I'd felt yesterday bubble up in my chest. It was only a matter of time before it burst.

"Very well. Duelers, please take a step within the circle." We did as instructed, and I immediately got into my fighting stance, making sure that I didn't have any visible weak points for Kyle to exploit. "Begin!"

We began to circle each other – Kyle searched for an opening, while I was waiting for him to make the first move. If I wanted to, I could've ended this fight in a heartbeat, but there was no way I was going to let him get off so easily for hurting innocent children.

Kyle finally rushed forward, trying to blind me with the sun's reflection off his shield while his axe swung around. I jumped back to avoid his axe before sprinting forward, inside the space where he couldn't merely swing his axe around if he was going to hit me.

My fist connected with Kyle's nose as he tried to scramble back for some room, making me thankful that Greek armor didn't protect that part of our face. Kyle dropped his shield to clutch at his broken nose that was gushing blood, giving me time to scoop it up and block another swing. I noticed that Kyle's style was all about power, brute strength. With a few tactical attacks, I could end this before he knew what was going on.

I feigned an attack to the left, Kyle's favored side, before getting down into a crouch and sweeping his feet out from underneath him, sending him to the ground. With Kyle's shield in hand, I brought it down on his stomach, knocking the air out of him. I then tossed the shield outside of the circle, making it so that it was no longer a viable weapon in this duel.

"I could go all day," I told Kyle, easily sidestepping his next attack, returning it with a kick to the kidneys that even though he was covered in armor, it would leave a nasty bruise. He then brought down his axe vertically in a double handed swing, the kind that someone would use if they wanted to chop firewood.

I moved out of the way and kicked the back of his knee, giving him a dead leg. He crumpled to the ground again, his axe embedding itself into the dirt floor. Before he could pick up his axe again, I lunged forward, wrapping my arms in a tight chokehold around his neck. Kyle elbowed me in the chest in the hopes that I'd let go, but all he got out of me was a stronger exhale than normal. After training with gods, this elbow to the ribs honestly just tickled.

I squeezed tighter, feeling Kyle struggle in my grasp. Now, if he had tapped out or tried to pull my arms away,