CHAPTER EIGHT - MY SKILLS ARE SHOWN

Over the course of the week, I had managed to integrate myself into the camp's routine perfectly, which only managed to make me more upset. I was thinking about my family a lot, and tried to talk to Chiron about it one day.

It was during an archery lesson. My arm had finally completely healed, but I was still having trouble with the bow. In my world, I had used a compound bow. It was easier to draw back, easier to aim, and easier to keep level, even though it was heavy. At Camp-Half-Blood, they used recurve bows. I had been meaning to learn how to shoot one, but I hadn't gotten around to it before I was sent here. Recurves are a lot harder to shoot than compounds, because they don't have gears to lock the bowstring into place. It took a lot more of my strength to pull back the bowstring. However, once I got that down, the shooting came just as naturally to me as it had in my world.

Chiron was admiring my technique when I interrupted him. "Sir, I was wondering about my family."

He looked down at me, confused, but I busied myself by nocking another arrow. "What do you mean, Miss Green?" He asked.

"Well, I'm not entirely sure who they are," I said, cautiously. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lee walking up to me. In the past few days, he had shown me around the entire camp, and had kind of assumed the role of my big brother. Well, he technically was my big brother, but he actually acted like it. Most of my cabin-mates acted just like that, my cabin-mates. Only a few treated me as their sibling. Carla and Naomi, of course, and then there was Will, and Lee.

"What do you mean, you don't know who they are?" I heard Lee ask.

"It's complicated." I let my arrow fly. A perfect bullseye. Lee looked at me with surprise, but I waved it off. "I've been shooting for years. This is nothing new to me."

Chiron spoke up again. "Who were your parents in the world you come from?"

Lee looked at me confused, but I said "I'll fill you in later."

I turned my attention to my teacher. "Their names were Charles and Victoria Green. And both of them were my biological parents, which is why I don't know if I have the same parents here. When I was this age, we were living in Southern California, another tip off. Why would I be going to a boarding school in New York if I lived all the way across the country?"

Chiron nodded thoughtfully. "I can see why that would be upsetting. Unfortunately, I can't authorize you to leave camp to search for them, but...I will see what I can find," he said.

I sighed in relief. For months, this had been eating away at me, ever since I woke up on that bus. In my entire time at Yancy, I hadn't gotten contacted by my mother, or any other member of my family. And as far as I knew, I wasn't being looked for now, even though the last day of term was four days ago, and I was technically missing.

"Sir, I also had a sister. An older sister. Her name is...was Sierra. She was my best friend, and I don't even know if she exists here or not. She could, but that would mean that here, my parents had gotten a divorce or something. Or my mom had an affair. I can't even think about that," I said. I dropped my bow and sat down hard on a tree stump, my head falling into my hands. My brown hair fell around my face like a curtain.

Why did the Fates send me here? Why make me a demigod? They couldn't have just made me mortal or something along those lines? Having me be who I was, it tore my entire image of my family apart.

I felt Lee sit next to me on the tree stump. He rubbed my shoulder, trying to soothe me. I took a deep breath and brought my head out of my hands, and looked at Chiron. "Please," I pleaded, "if you can do anything to track down my family. I would be sincerely grateful."

He regarded me with his old, old eyes. "I will do what I can, Miss Green. But for now, I want you focused on training. Capture the flag is tomorrow, and I'm sure that your team would like to add your skills to their advantage."

I took another deep breath, and then got up. Without speaking, I picked up my bow and nocked another arrow. After a second of aiming, I let it go, and watched as it broke the shaft of the arrow still inside the target. I turned to Lee, a sheepish grin on my face. "Sorry," I said. "That actually happens to me a lot. You don't want to know how many arrows I had to throw away before coming here."

*

I stayed at the archery range as much as I could. I wasn't very skilled at any other activity, especially sword-fighting. Luke offered to help, but I declined, as nicely as possible. I didn't want anything to do with him.

Clarisse taught me some basic skills in hand-to-hand combat, but she would still beat me every time. I was tiny, I didn't have the proper muscles for wrestling. Clarisse tolerated me, which made me feel a little better. I guess that she thought I deserved her respect after managing to break her nose with just one blow.

Sometimes, I would go help Will out in the infirmary. I wasn't much of a healer, but my mom was a nurse in my world, and she taught me how to apply bandages and things like that. Will liked my company, and we would talk about the gods and the stories that surrounded them while we worked. That was where I was mostly, if I wasn't at archery practice.

There was another reason I liked the archery range so much: It was the one place in camp I knew Percy would never go to.

Every time I passed him, I tried to talk to him, but he would just speed up his walking and ignore me, a scowl on his face. After the fifth time, I decided that it would just be easier on me to avoid him at all costs. If he didn't want to talk, fine.

It proved harder than I thought it would be. Take Friday afternoon, for example.

I was walking along the edge of the woods. I knew that it was dangerous, but I was feeling especially miserable then. Lee had just informed the cabin that we would be making an alliance with Athena for capture the flag tonight. I already knew that, but hearing it being said just dampened my spirits. Being on the same team as Athena meant being on the same team as Hermes, which, in turn, meant being on the same team as Percy. Naomi tried to reassure me that it was going to be fine, but I was out the door before she could finish her sentence.

I was just passing the lake when I heard his voice.

"Grover," Percy said, "have heroes really gone on quests to the Underworld?"

I stopped in my tracks. Percy and Grover were sitting on the pier. They hadn't noticed me yet. Before they could, I jumped behind a tree, peeking out so I could just see their faces.

"Sometimes," Grover replied. "Orpheus. Hercules. Houdini."

"And have they ever returned somebody from the dead?"

I caught my breath. A dryad melted out of the tree next to me and giggled. I shushed her, waving my hand, trying to get the tree nymph to go away.

"No," I heard Grover say. "Never. Orpheus came close...Percy, you're not seriously thinking–"

"No. I was just wondering. So...a satyr is always assigned to guard a demigod?"

I rolled my eyes. Percy was never a good liar, and I had grown to notice when he wasn't telling the truth. I could hear it in his voice. I wanted to jump out right then and there and tell him what happened with his mother, but my feet were glued to the ground. Stupid rules. If I was sent here with the knowledge of what happens, why couldn't I do anything about it?

Grover sounded hesitant in his next answer, like Percy hadn't fooled him, either. "Not always. We go undercover to a lot of schools. We try to sniff out the half-bloods who have the makings of great heroes. If we find one with a very strong aura, like a child of the Big Three, or if we find more than one, we alert Chiron. He tries to keep an eye on them, since they could cause really huge problems."

"And you found me," Percy said. "Chiron said that you thought I might be something special."

I watched as Grover looked at Percy. His eyes wandered to the tree line, and he saw me. He opened his mouth to say something, probably hey look the friend you hate is over there, why don't we go say hi! but I shook my head frantically.

Grover sighed and continued his conversation with Percy. "I didn't...Oh, listen, don't think like that. If you were – you know – you'd never ever be allowed a quest, and I'd never get my license. You're probably a child of Hermes. Or maybe even one of the minor gods, like Nemesis, the god of revenge. Don't worry, okay? Besides, Avalon has a strong aura too, and she's not a child of the Big Three," he said, sparing a fleeting glance towards me.

I heard Percy grumble to himself. "I don't want to talk about Avalon. She lied to me. She let my mother die." His voice caught at the end.

"Percy, she didn't let–"

"I have to go find Annabeth, we have another lesson," Percy said, cutting Grover off. He stood up, brushed his jeans off, and walked back to the cabins.

Once he was out of sight, I walked down to the pier and sat next to Grover. "I told you he hated me."

Grover sighed. "He'll get over it. He's just clouded by his grief. You risked your life to try and save his mother. She wouldn't blame you for her death, and neither should you." He stood up and offered me his hand. "Come on, it's almost time for dinner."

*

After dinner, Lee and the rest of Apollo cabin were practically bouncing in their seats. It was time for capture the flag.

Before the conch horn sounded, I pulled Lee to the side. "About the other day, when I was talking to Chiron–"

"Don't worry, Chiron filled me in. I was wondering about you, anyways. Like how you knew what my name was when we met, or why you talked like you were much older than you really are. I wasn't expecting that you were actually a twenty-year-old from another dimension or something, but I wasn't completely surprised when Chiron told me," he said.

"Chiron and I think that it's more like a parallel universe," I mused. Lee raised an eyebrow. "But, I'm glad he told you. It saves me from having to try and explain it myself. But, I would appreciate it if you don't mention this to anyone else, even the rest of the cabin." He opened his mouth to protest, but I held up my hand. "Please, this is something that I don't want to broadcast. I know the outcome of this story. If everyone else knew that, they would ask me what happens. And it's too...hard, to talk about."

Lee didn't look happy about it, but he agreed to my terms. I could only nod in thanks, because just then, the conch was blown, the sound echoing throughout the dining pavilion.

Annabeth and Clarisse ran into the pavilion, each holding their respective banners. I cheered along with my siblings.

Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble.

"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!"

He spread his hands, and the Apollo table, along with all of the others, was suddenly laden with weapons: mostly bows, though there were some swords and spears thrown in the lot, too.

Lee handed me a helmet and some armor. "You can't hold a shield and a bow at the same time, so you'll need armor to keep your body defended," he explained.

The armor was a little big on me, but it was the smallest size we had on the table. I reached for a bow and quiver of arrows. Standard issue, but still beautiful. The arrowheads were bronze, the fletching a brilliant gold and white. The bow was carved with Ancient Greek lettering.

"You're going to stick with me, tonight," Lee said. He, too, had a bow and arrow. A sword was sheathed at his side. He checked over my armor to make sure I had put it on right. "We're going to be roving near the boundary."

I froze. "Wait, like border patrol?"

Lee nodded. I glanced towards Percy, but he was talking to Luke. He looked a little silly, with his huge shield and sword, the blue horsehair plume on his helmet sticking up, but I realized that I probably didn't look any better. "We won't run into Percy will we? We're...still not talking."

"Don't worry about it. It's a big forest." Lee clapped a hand on my shoulder, but his reassurances didn't make me feel any better.

"Blue team, forward!" Annabeth yelled, and led us down the trail to the south woods. Ares' team headed north, jeering at us as we passed them.

As we marched, Lee leaned down to whisper "I hate to ask this, but do you have any advice for this game?"

I was taken aback for a second. I didn't know if I could say anything, but I tried to test my luck. "I can't say much, but...I think I can tell you that it's going to be a quick game. And, we should stay close to...to Luke."

He nodded, and then focused his attention to the front of the line again, like we had never spoken. In a way, that made me feel better. It was as if he understood by dilemma, and knew that he couldn't push his luck with me. If he had kept pressing me for more detail, my tongue would have twisted up and I wouldn't have been able to speak.

Lee and I stopped along the creek, a few hundred yards from where Percy was stationed. I wanted to go to him, help with his fight, but he wouldn't want me there. Most likely he'd end up fighting me.

The conch horn sounded. Immediately, the sounds of yelling and metal clanging filled the air. I had an arrow nocked in my bow, but my guard was down, as was Lee's. Then, Luke raced past us, a few of his brothers in tow. I looked at Lee, silently questioning whether or not we go after him. He gave me a wicked grin, and bounded across the creek. I followed him immediately.

I loved the running. It was exhilarating, racing through the woods. We followed Luke and the other Hermes campers to the enemies guard. I watched in fascination as they took down the Hephaestus campers that were guarding the flag, Luke ripping it from its post and turning to run back to the creek.

The Hephaestus kids didn't stay down long. They started to chase us, and Lee and I were forced to engage in battle, fending them off so Luke could get across the creek. Lee shouldered his bow and drew his sword, and he met one of the enemy camper's swords, parrying his attacks away from the rest of us. I fired an arrow connected to a trip wire across the other camper's feet, and he went sprawling.

I turned back to Luke and the other Hermes kids. They were almost across the boundary. I saw Percy and Clarisse in the water, Clarisse's cabin-mates on the ground, moaning and groaning. When they heard our shouting, they all looked up at us.

"A trick!" Clarisse shouted. "It was a trick."

Her and her siblings tried to get up to stop us, but Luke leapt across the creek into friendly territory. We cheered as the banner changed from red to silver, and the boar and spear shimmered into a caduceus. Lee ran to help the others as they picked up Luke and carried him around on their shoulders. Chiron came out of the woods and blew the conch horn.

Will found me amongst the chaos. He was grinning from ear to ear. "So, how'd you do?" He asked.

I laughed, and pointed to the Hephaestus kid that I tripped up. His nose was squashed and he had a busted lip. "Courtesy of yours truly," I said.

Will looked at me, incredulous. "You did that? With just a bow and arrow."

I shrugged. "Trip wire."

He made to reply, but then a howl ripped through the forest. My smile was wiped away. I drew an arrow and nocked it, swiveling my head to try and find the monster.

Chiron shouted in Ancient Greek. "Stand ready! My bow!"

I looked to my right and saw Percy and Annabeth, just out of the creek. Above them on the rocks, a massive black hound was staring at them, its red eyes full of hatred.

Annabeth yelled, "Percy, run!"

The hound pounced, its mouth wide open as it snarled.

A scream ripped through my mouth. "No!" I won't let this beast hurt my friend. I won't.

My body acted without my thinking about it. I drew back my bowstring. It hadn't felt that easy in the entire time I had been at camp. I fired my arrow.

Before the hound even touched Percy, my arrow whistled through the air and lodged between the monster's massive fangs, ripping through the roof of its mouth. The bronze arrowhead stuck out of the top of its head, right where its brain would be.

The beast managed to claw Percy's chest lightly as it went down. It fell, dead, at his feet.

All of the campers, plus Chiron, stared at me. The archers all had arrows nocked, ready to fire.

Will looked at me, like he was afraid of me. "How did you...with one arrow, you just..." He couldn't finish his sentence.

I didn't care about any of that. I looked at Percy, and for the first time in days, he met my eyes. His armor and shirt were shredded. Blood was oozing out of the claw marks on his chest, but they didn't look deep. I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. I managed to save him.

I couldn't find my voice, but I asked him a silent question with my eyes: are you alright?

His head barely moved due to the shock, but he clearly nodded.

Chiron and I made our way over to Percy and Annabeth.

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

"Someone summoned it," Chiron replied. "Someone inside the camp." He turned to me. "That was an incredible shot, Avalon. How did you do that?"

Annabeth looked at me expectantly, but I couldn't speak. I was wondering how I had managed to kill it myself. I just shook my head, not taking my eyes off of the still monster.

Clarisse took the attention off of me. "It's all Percy's fault! Percy summoned it!"

"Be quiet, child," Chiron scolded.

The hellhound melted into shadow at Percy's feet. Soon, all that was left was my single arrow.

I picked it up and turned to Percy. "Get in the water, now. You're hurt."

"I'm okay," Percy replied, but he sounded dazed.

Annabeth shook her head. "No, you're not," she said. "Chiron, watch this."

Percy sighed, but he stepped back into the creek. The color in his cheeks returned. The claw marks on his chest closed. I smiled at him. I had been waiting for this since the Yancy field trip.

A glowing hologram of a trident appeared over his head, bathing his face in green light, causing all of the campers to gasp.

"Look, I – I don't know why," Percy stammered. "I'm sorry..."

"Percy," I said, nodding my head to the symbol. "Look."

He glanced upward, but the trident was already fading.

"Your father," Annabeth said. She was looking between me and Percy, just like when we had first arrived at camp. "This is really not good."

"It is determined," Chiron announced.

I was the first to kneel. Annabeth followed my example, and soon the entire camp was on their knees, their heads bowed.

"My father?" Percy asked.

"Poseidon," I whispered, not meaning for anyone to hear, but Percy whipped his head towards me.