❝ Getting Along ❞

      I visited Astrelaia and then returned to camp. Annabeth Chase was so mad at me for leaving without a proper goodbye. Yeah, I could understand how she felt knowing her friend disappeared just like that. Chiron insisted on keeping my identity private, the demigods didn't have to know I was a witch. And he told me not to reveal to the wizards that I'm a demi-titan.

Too late, I trusted Alan, Harry, Hermione, and Ron. They wouldn't tell anyone else. I was sure. But Chiron didn't have to know that.

On the other side, I told Luke about this, he was like an older brother to me, and I thought I could trust him. Dan, Annabeth, and Will knew about the wizarding world too. They were some of the closest friends I had. I hoped I hadn't made a mistake.

"Where did you go? Why did you leave without saying goodbye? Why didn't you Iris message me? Why did you come back?!" Annabeth screeched, hitting me with her book.

"Oh Annabeth, Let me say goodbye to Aquila before you kill her." A voice behind Annabeth said. It was Dan.

"So, you want me dead?" I asked him.

"Of course...Not" he replied silkily. I rolled my eyes but smiled and hugged him followed by Michael and Will.

"I'm sorry girlie, I didn't have time to inform you before I left."

"It's okay, come on, you really need to tell me about that witch school." That dinner was eventful. I told them only about the nice parts of the wizarding world. They didn't need to worry about me.

Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion, and everybody fell silent. He raised a glass. "To the gods!"

I raised my glass. "To the gods!"

I took no pleasure in worshiping the Olympians, but I had to, unfortunately. I offered the big portion of my chocolate cake and started eating after a few minutes.

Mr. D got up with a huge sigh. "Yes, I suppose I'd better say hello to all you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five presently holds the laurels."

A cheering rose from the Ares table.

"Personally," Mr. D continued, "I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have a new camper today. Peter Johnson."

Chiron murmured something.

"Er, Percy Jackson," Mr. D corrected. "That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on."

Everybody cheered. We all headed down toward the amphitheater, where Apollo's cabin led a sing-along. Everyone sang camp songs about the gods and ate s'mores and joked around, and the funny thing was, I didn't do either of the activities. I didn't sing or joke.

Later in the evening, when the sparks from the campfire were curling into the starry sky, the conch horn blew again, and we all filed back to our cabins. I sat down at my bunk. I couldn't sleep. Again. However, very soon the night dragged and it finally dawned. Nothing was interesting or dangerous, everything was unusually normal which drew my suspicion.

Thursday afternoon, the new camper Percy Jackson had his first sword-fighting lesson. Everybody from cabin eleven gathered in the big circular arena, where Luke would be our instructor. He was the best swordsman in camp.

Percy started with basic stabbing and slashing, using some straw-stuffed dummies in Greek armor. He did okay for a new camper. At least, he understood what he was supposed to do and his reflexes were good.

He couldn't find a blade that felt right in his hands. They were too heavy, or too light, or too long. Luke tried his best to fix him up, but he agreed that none of the practice blades seemed to work for Percy.

We moved on to dueling in pairs. My partner was Haley, a daughter of Hermes.

I pinned her down with my sword right after she charged at me. Deimos had trained me, I was one of the best for my age.

"Can't you go easy on me? I'm still learning," Haley pouted. She was almost two years older than me. I just chuckled and decided to watch this new camper, he was struggling a little too much, poor boy.

Luke showed him thrusts and parries and shield blocks the hard way. With every swipe, he got a little more battered and bruised. "Keep your guard up, Percy," he'd say, then whap him in the ribs with the flat of his blade. "No, not that far up!" Whap! "Lunge!" Whap! "Now, back!" Whap!

I remembered my first sword lesson in Astrelaia, Deimos never went easy on me, but I was glad. You don't learn quality lessons without shedding blood, sweat, and tears. I was a fast learner.

By the time Luke called a break, he was soaked in sweat. Everybody swarmed the drinks cooler. Luke poured ice water on his head, Percy did the same, he looked better suddenly.

"Okay, everybody circle up!" Luke ordered. "If Percy doesn't mind, I want to give you a little demo."

The Hermes cabin gathered around. The demo is going to be fun, I've seen campers fail ultimately.

"This difficult," he stressed. "I've had it used against me. No laughing at Percy, now. Most swordsmen have to work years to master this technique." well that was true, I only twice managed to pull off this, but don't expect me not to laugh.

He demonstrated the move on him in slow motion. Sure enough, the sword clattered out of his hand.

"Now in real-time," he said after he'd retrieved his weapon. "We keep sparring until one of us pulls it off. Ready, Percy?"

Percy nodded, and Luke came after him. Somehow, he kept him from getting a shot at the hilt of Percy's sword. Percy tried the disarming maneuver.

The blade hit the base of Luke's and he twisted, putting his whole weight into a downward thrust. Clang. Luke's sword rattled against the stones. The tip of Percy's blade was an inch from his undefended chest.

The other campers were silent.

Percy lowered his sword. "Um, sorry."

What in the underworld just happened?! He just touched the sword an hour ago— and he— strange...

For a moment, Luke was too stunned to speak.

"Sorry?" His scarred face broke into a grin. "By the gods, Percy, why are you sorry? Show me that again!"

This time, there was no contest. The moment their swords connected, Luke hit his hilt and sent Percy's weapon skidding across the floor.

After a long pause, somebody in the audience said, "Beginner's luck?"

Luke wiped the sweat off his brow. He appraised Percy with an entirely new interest. "Maybe," he said. "But I wonder what Percy could do with a balanced sword...."

A few days later after dinner, there was a lot more excitement than usual. At last, it was time for capture the flag.

When the plates were cleared away, the conch horn sounded and we all stood at our tables.

Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glistening gray, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree. From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her buddies ran in with another banner, of identical size, but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head.

I turned to Luke and yelled over the noise, "Those are the flags?"

"Yeah!"

The teams were announced. Athena had allied with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins. Apparently, privileges had been traded—shower times, chore schedules, the best slots for activities—in order to win support.

Ares had allied themselves with everybody else: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus. From what I'd seen, Dionysus's kids were actually good athletes, but there were only two of them.

Demeter's kids had the edge with nature skills and outdoor stuff, but they weren't very aggressive. Aphrodite's sons and daughters I wasn't too worried about. They mostly sat out every activity and checked their reflections in the lake, did their hair, and gossiped.

I got the 'flag protect position' and of course, it was the hardest and the easiest job. I wouldn't complain though. It was way easier to protect than attack, cause the last time I checked I was nearly killed for throwing a powerful spell at Quirrell.

Dan came over to me.

"Hey Aquila, I'm gonna snatch that flag from you," he said, grinning mischievously.

I scoffed "Try what you want," he gave a thumbs up and strode towards his teammates.

"Heroes!" he announced. "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 bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!" I was already in my own Armor made of Astrean silver.

The game started and I did my job, an Ares kid came towards me I beat him to a pulp and he ran away like a kicked puppy. And then another camper in the opponent team. He was older and taller so I struggled. He punched my nose, and I retreated, feeling something ooze out of my nose. I charged this time, kicked his leg so he lost balance then hit his head with the hilt of my sword. He was knocked out.

I grunted, wiping my nose. Blood. Ouch.

Did I mention that protecting the flag was the most boring job? I had to stand there for the next half an hour without doing anything.

​​​​​​But screams came from my left, I turned to see Luke running with the opposite team's flag. We Won!

Before I could celebrate our victory, A howl ripped through the forest. The campers' cheering died instantly. Chiron shouted something in Ancient Greek, which is

"Stand ready! My bow!"

I drew my sword and ran from where it came Annabeth and the Percy kid was there. The monster was faster and it charged at Percy he fell to the ground his Armor ripped by the razor-sharp claws. I charged at it and stabbed it.

It fell down. Dead.

"Di immortals!" Annabeth said. "That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't...they're not supposed to..."

"Someone summoned it," Chiron said. "Someone inside the camp."

Luke came over, the banner in his hand forgotten, his moment of glory gone.

Clarisse yelled, "It's all Percy's fault! Percy summoned it!"

"Be quiet, child," Chiron told her.

We watched the body of the hellhound melt into shadow, soaking into the ground until it disappeared.

"You're wounded," Annabeth told Percy. "Quick, Percy, get in the water." he was injured badly.

"I'm okay," he said.

"No, you're not," she said. "Chiron, watch this."

Some of the campers gasped. I looked at— his head there was a trident.

"Look, I—I don't know why," He said, trying to apologize. "I'm sorry...."

"Percy," Annabeth said, pointing. "Um..."

He looked up confused at the symbol on his head.

"Your father," Annabeth murmured. "This is really not good."

"It is determined," Chiron announced.

All around me, campers started kneeling, even the Ares cabin, though they didn't look happy about it. I knelt too.

"My father?" he asked, completely bewildered.

"Poseidon," said Chiron. "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God."

It had been a day and campers still couldn't believe that the prophecy of the Big Three was happening. Percy was left out and no one talked to him it was sad to see that so, I decided to take things into my hands.

Once I reached the tree where Percy was sitting in the shadow I said.

"Hello! You're Percy Jackson, right?" I asked.

He looked up. "Do you need confirmation on that?"

Of course, I didn't. The whole camp knew him, silly me. But that didn't mean I wasn't annoyed, I was trying to be nice okay? And I wasn't the best at communication. I just stared at him.

"Hi," he said finally.

"So what's up?" I had no idea how to keep a conversation going. "Look, I noticed that people are avoiding you and you are being left out. I know how it feels, but don't worry. These people will warm up soon."

"Looks like you're speaking from experience," he guessed.

"What if I am?"

He looked confused. "Why would you be left out?" he asked. "Hermes is your father, right?"

I half scoffed half laughed. "I think, I didn't properly introduce myself," I said. "I'm Aquila Scott, Daughter of Astraeus,"

"Astraeus?" He asked why he didn't know about the Titans then.

"The Titan god of dusk. Father of stars and constellations," I explained.

The expression on Percy's face was priceless, he looked surprised and confused.

"Titans can do that?"

"Uh, I mean, nobody forbids them from having children with mortals but they don't like mortals for starters."

"Oh," He scratched his head. "Your father's an exception?"

"Sort of, I'm the only Demititan," I said.

"Annabeth told me you're her friend and the Stoll brothers said everybody around here calls you Aqua."

My face fell. I swear one day I'm going to end those little annoying morons for good.

"No, Nobody calls me that."

"Okay Aqua," he chirped.

"Don't call me that," I growled.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Because I don't like it — and my name has nothing to do with water at all," I said. "Nice to meet you, Percy, I have work, we'll see later,"

I turned on my heels and strode towards the Hermes cabin. I had no work, but I can't just stand him— so ignorant, Styx! Another imbecile. This is why I don't play nice.