"Hello everyone, my name is Artemis and I will be your head trainer for the next few days," said the woman standing on the pedestal. She looked athletic, but her auburn hair and silver eyes marked her as from the capitol. "My advice? Don't ignore the survival skills." Her gaze seemed to linger on the careers. "You can't spear someone if you starved to death. Visit whatever stations you want whenever you want, just try not to impale each other. Remember, the gamemakers are watching."

Annabeth gazed up at the group of them in their secluded balcony. The head gamemaker, Athena, stared cooly back down at her as she sipped her drink. She turned to Percy.

"Where do you want to start?" He glanced around the arena, the careers were already swinging weapons, everyone else looked like scared rabbits. He smiled crookedly.

"Let's go build a fire."

They were soon joined by a curly-haired guy. Grover, Annabeth remembered.

"Let me help," he said, "I learned all about this stuff in school. When you work long days in the field it's important to know what to do if you don't make back!"

Annabeth poked her fire with a stick. "You're from district 11, right? The harvest one?"

"Yeah, that's us," he said smiling a little sadly. Annabeth realized he was homesick.

"Well cool!" Percy chimed in. "Tell me about it."

As they left the station, Percy leaned in and whispered, "if we have allies, I want him."

Annabeth turned and looked at him. "We?"

"Oh sorry! I just thought- I mean I assumed that- we would be allies in the arena. You know, strength in numbers? But if you don't like me, or don't trust me we don't- I mean you don't have to." he looked down sheepishly.

"Percy, it's not that it's just, in the arena everything will change and I don't- I don't want there to be any expectations. But if everything works out, I want Grover too."

Percy held her gaze for a moment, then nodded. "Ok. Where to next?"

Annabeth smiled. "Let's build some shelters."

The rest of the day passed in a blur. They painted camouflage with Rachel, shot arrows with Zoë (which Percy was pretty terrible at), threw tridents with Michael Kahale (which Percy was pretty good at), watched Leo and Bekendorf create a massively complex trap, and learned first aid with Will.

Finally they found themselves at the sword fighting arena. Annabeth picked up a blade. It was heavier than her knife, but didn't feel too different. She turned to Percy.

"Want to try it?"

The instructor led them through some basic strokes, taught them what a good stance was, and showed them some footwork.

Percy grinned at her. "Hey you're pretty good!"

"Thanks living on the streets for ten years will do that to you."

She paused and watched Percy for a moment. He was balanced, the sword seemed like a natural extension of his arm. And she couldn't help noticing how his shoulder muscles stood out against the teal shirt he was wearing.

"You're pretty good too. And I think you have a shadow."

Percy glanced behind him. One of the younger tributes, the one with dark hair and eyes, Nico, maybe, was watching them. Percy smiled.

"Hey Nico! Want to try it out?"

Nico smiled shyly and nodded. Annabeth left them went back to practicing her sword fighting. Overhand, side cut, parry, stab, she went over the steps a few times. She glanced over at Percy and Nico. Nico was watching him with awe as he demonstrated a stroke. Annabeth smiled in spite of her self. She turned back and found herself face to face with Reyna Avila Ramirez Arellano.

Reyna was a few inches taller, and with her dark hair pulled back and piercing eyes, Annabeth felt more than a little intimidated. She remembered watching Reyna impale a dummy with her knife a hundred yards away.

"Hello Annabeth Chase," Reyna said cooly, "care to go a round?"

What was Reyna's plan? To intimidate her? To beat her in front of the gamemakers? Annabeth squared her shoulders. "Let's do it".

The pair circled each other. Reyna moved fluidly, like a cat as she appraised Annabeth's form. Their swords were blunt, but Annabeth had seen what Reyna could do with one. Annabeth attacked first, a solid overhand strike which Reyna parried easily. The two traded blows until Reyna parried another strike and grabbed Annabeth's wrist, locking the two of them together.

"Interesting, Chase. Have you done this before?"

"Once or twice" Annabeth muttered as she struggled to break free.

"What you lack in finesse you make up for in speed."

Reyna let go of her wrist. They circled each other again. Then Reyna attacked. Each strike was precise, quick, and calculated, Annabeth blocked as many as she could but Reyna slammed her blade against Annabeth's and twisted it downwards. Her sword clattered to the ground and Reyna held hers to Annabeth's chest.

"Not bad. Practice a little more and you might stand a chance."

Reyna glanced back at her fellow careers; Clarisse ripped the head off a dummy with her bare hands while Jason and Thalia threw javelins.

"See you around, Annabeth Chase."

Annabeth watched her walk back. Percy stood beside her, his hair damp with sweat.

"What was that all about?" he asked as he ran his fingers through his hair making it spiky. Annabeth recalled the way Reyna looked at her, as if assessing her threat level.

"I have no idea. But it couldn't have been good."