At first, I was happy that I was leaving behind the museum, but with each step I took towards our next location, the more I wanted to go back there.

I had never fought with a sword before. Who normally does that anyway?

That's right, no one...

Well, maybe fencers could be an exception.

And these people.

Leaving behind the trees, the sight of dozens of demigods participating in a plethora of activities caught my eye.

Some were playing basketball on a paved court, shooting hoops like pros, while others were practising archery with varying skill levels put on showcase. There was an entire outdoor workout yard, and a track field, both of which were also in use.

All of these things were being done on one half of the training area, the other being a large square area surrounded by sparsely-placed greek columns. Inside said square, I could see demigods sparring with each other, or in a smaller area, against dummies. The ground wasn't made from something stable like packed dirt or concrete, rather sand. The fucking thing reminded me of the colosseum, minus the actual blood, the cheering crowd, and the odd lion.

Nor were they doing it with real swords, at least, I hoped they weren't.

Their equipment glinted in the sun in response to my unspoken question... All of these weapons were one-hundred percent capable of killing me.

A shudder ran down my spine.

As if to make some sick point come across, one of the campers chopped through the neck of a straw dummy, sending the head flying through the sky. Helmet and everything.

"Tony isn't this a little..."

"Dangerous?" He finished my sentence.

I nodded.

"Don't worry, it definitely is."

Breathing out some air, happy to hear his answer, it took me a while to realise what he had actually said.

"Thanks," I grunted once the ball had dropped.

Tony chuckled, before continuing, "Chiron is probably teaching archery right now. I'll leave you with him."

In a few minutes, I was standing behind a row of half-bloods, some of whom were familiar from before. John was one of those people, drawing a smiley face with arrows as easily as I'd comb my hair in the morning...

If anything, he looked bored.

As he shot eyebrows for the face, I could see just how much better he was compared to everyone else. Every move flowed naturally into the next as if archery was something he was specifically made for. As for the centaur, he was walking up and down the line, helping anyone that needed it. His back was turned, so he didn't spot me join the practising demigods.

"Bye," Tony muttered, and he was gone before I could protest.

Chiron turned around at the sound of hooves, and upon doing so, he finally noticed my presence.

"Daniel! It's good to finally see you up and about."

"Yeah, I'm happy to be here too," I replied halfheartedly.

"John!" Chiron called, and the son of Apollo looked over to him.

"Yeah?"

"Help out Daniel please, I've got to aid... others."

Now that I looked closely, the son of Poseidon was also amongst the archers, struggling with pulling back the bowstring without it getting in the way of his arm.

"Daniel?" He focused on me, as if only just realising I was there, and a smile erupted on his face, "You look much better compared to yesterday."

A moment before he stepped away from the range, he let the nocked arrow fly, landing a bullseye without even looking. The smiley face now had a nose.

It was the most show-offy thing I had ever seen, but it had been absolutely brilliant.

"How did-"

"I'm the son of Apollo, the god of archery. You could say this sort of stuff is in my blood."

"Still... How?"

"Practice, and as I said, a bit of fatherly help..." His eyes suddenly revealed barely repressed anger, before he took a deep breath, "But you're not here to talk about me," Walking up to me, he slapped his bow into my arms, "Here, take this."

"I'm not really sure about my abilities, and I'd rather not break your bow while figuring stuff out."

"You're in luck then, cause it isn't mine. Part of the camp armoury. Believe me, mine is a thousand times better than this, and no way am I going to use it during some lousy archery training."

"In that case-" I gripped the handle, "Let me try it out."

"That's the spirit! There's a spot next to Lizzy."

Hearing that name, I whipped my head around trying to spot the girl who had broken my nose and nearly drowned me. My heart kicked around in my chest like a crazed horse, yet there was no sign of the girl. Someone else turned around at the sound of that name, wearing thin-framed glasses, a scarf around her neck, and with frizzy brown hair neatly falling down either side of her face, most of it tied back into a bun.

She smiled, and I waved back, pleasantly surprised.

"Get a move on then, Casanova," John said, prodding me. I shuffled up to stand in the free spot beside Lizzy and looked at the target. Lifting my arm, I was poked in the bicep by a firm finger almost immediately, "Wrong."

"How else can I lift this thing?"

"Not that, your feet."

I looked down at them, they were pointing forward, like how I'd normally stand.

"What about them?"

"Watch me." He mimed having a bow in his hand, placing his feet so that his body was facing ninety degrees away from the target.

"But that's not where I need to shoot," I said.

"You need to turn your body. In this position, you'll be able to hold it stable enough to fire it without problem. Once you can fire like this, then we can go onto more complicated stuff."

"Like?"

"That's a secret for the time being. Now, stand the way I showed you, lift the bow, and nock an arrow." I looked around for the arrows, "They're on your left... There's a tiny indentation in the wood, place the arrow there, rest it on your hand." I followed his instructions, "Now, grab the string. Index finger above the arrow, middle and ring finger under it."

"Done."

"Good. Pull the string back to your chin, aim for the target, and let go. Take a deep breath if you need it, helps calm you down and steady your hand. Just remember to time letting go of the arrow with you breathing out."

I barely realised what I was doing before the arrow was sailing through the air, flying over the target by a meter or two and landing somewhere out of sight in the grass.

"Shit!"

"It was a good first shot," John said and I looked at him, expecting to see a condescending smile, yet there was nothing of the sort to talk about.

"You serious? I clearly missed!"

"In archery, it's not about if you hit or miss... Rather it isn't about that when you're not using it in a fight. Both the strength and arc of it was good, which you could see because it flew straight and true, the wind didn't blow it astray. However, you were aiming upwards. It isn't wrong necessarily, since you do need to do that when firing at something that's further away, but as of right now, you're close enough to not need to compensate for that... Well, not in a major way."

I nodded.

"Also, if you need to, use the thumb on your left hand for more accuracy. You ever seen a gun or played with a video game or anything of the sort?"

"Saw a few films, but nothing much else."

"Good enough. Use your thumb as if it was the sights of the bow."

I repeated the steps I had previously taken, lining up the tip of the arrow with the bullseye.

Letting it fly, it hit the outer ring of the target.

"Why the fuck-" I started.

"Much better!" John interrupted me, "When the bow fires, try to keep your hand stable after letting go, or that'll happen. I must say, you'd make a decent archer given enough training."

"I've shot the bow twice! That's not exactly enough to be sure of that."

"Believe me when I say it is. Have you ever used a bow before?"

"Not that I can remember."

"Then this might mean you could be a child of Hermes, maybe Iris. Those two cabins are normally decent with a bow..." He trailed off as his eyes focused on something behind me, "Crap."

"What is it?"

"Try to ignore them."

"Ignore who?"

I followed John's gaze and saw a group of three dudes walking over. Not Liz's group then, but they didn't look like the most welcoming bunch of people either.

"John! I see you're giving the new kid some lessons."

"Good skills of deduction Toby, you could be the next Sherlock Holmes... Except if you already knew that, why are you interrupting?"

"Come on now, we're just here to make it more fun for him!"

"Thanks, but I'm happy the way I am," I told them.

I looked at the target and wiggled into the position I needed to be in.

As I lifted the bow, it was ripped from my hand.

My head snapped towards Toby, drinking in his features. He looked fairly similar to John, except for the large, upturned nose, which gave him an almost comical look. If we wouldn't have been outnumbered by his two sidekicks, I might have even laughed.

"Hey!"

"Let me show you how it's done," Toby replied, as I was pushed aside.

"Toby, can you fuck off?" John asked, annoyance creeping into his voice.

"I'm not doing anything special, just showing the new kid how to be an amazing archer."

"Go back to basketball, it's the only thing you're good at."

Toby frowned at that, grabbed half a dozen arrows, and fired them in the span of a few seconds.

The red dot that had been the bullseye was impossible to see now, arrows covering it completely.

"Good luck beating that one, John." One of the kids scoffed.

"Close your mouth already, Phil, it stinks worse than the harpies a day before their yearly bath from all that ass-kissing you've been doing," John told him. Phil frowned, but he simply crossed his arms and looked at Toby. His face was much thinner and quite elongated, making him look like a human shrew. His high-pitched voice didn't help matters much.

My friend shoved Toby to the side and grabbed a knife that had been strapped to his ankle.

"There a stake?" He asked, looking at the target.

"Cabin counsellor."

He bowed his head like he was expecting that answer, "Ah, but that's only good for you. If I win, what do I get?"

Toby snorted, "If you win, though I don't see you doing such a thing with knives, me, Joe and Phil will do cleaning duty for the next half a year."

"You sure?"

Phil and the other dude, who I guessed was Joe, looked at each other, worry passing over their face. Had they discussed this before coming here?

John unsheathed a further six knives, revealing just how well-armed he actually was.

"Watch." He smirked, looking at me.

I raised an eyebrow. However much I liked him, I was sceptical that John could beat Toby with knives in this dick-measuring contest.

He threw the first knife into the air, not even remotely coming close to the target.

Then he threw the second one and my eyes widened in awe.

As the first knife fell downwards, the second struck it. Hilts clashed together, sending the first flying towards the target, while the second replaced the place of the first.

The knife hit one of the arrows, splitting it in half right down to the red-painted straw of the bullseye.

With each throw, he sent the previous knife hurtling through one of Toby's arrows.

He was down to one last knife, and he changed the technique he was throwing within the blink of an eye. As the knife before was similarly sent on its way, the final knife bounced back towards him. Catching it mid-air, he spun around and threw it so fast that it was nothing but a blur.

It passed between two of the knives, through the straw, and finally, a crack and a thump ended the whistling noise of the last blade cutting through the air. The weapon had passed through the wooden backboard, continuing straight into the ground behind it.

Complete silence. Everyone who had been even remotely close to us was looking at John in wide-eyed wonder, mouths open, myself included. Only Chiron wore a different expression, that of a content smile.

"Good luck cleaning." He said, walking away towards the target to pick up his knives.

As the cheering started, the Apollo clique started arguing between one another, much to my amusement.

They walked away angrily while I laughed, Toby giving me a look that could kill, but I couldn't care less.

John walked back over to me while sheathing his last knife.

"We'll continue these lessons later." He said nonchalantly.

"That was fucking amazing," I exclaimed.

"Thanks." He couldn't keep the grin off of his face, "I've been practising throwing knives for quite some time now... Toby had no idea." John chuckled looking at his feet.

"By God, it was definitely worth all the time you spent learning it... Fucking hell, I'm not going to sleep today, just out of pure excitement."

I was stopped from continuing my torrent of praise by Chiron arriving.

"Daniel's correct, that was a brilliant show of talent." He said, walking over to stand beside us, "Did I hear correctly that you'll continue archery lessons later?"

"Yeah... If it isn't a problem, that is."

"Oh, no! Of course not, John. However, I'd like to steal you then, Daniel. Can you help those who require attention until I'm back?"

"Sure."

John strode over to Nico, while Chiron focused on me.

"Follow me please."

I nodded and walked after the centaur.

"Can I ask something?" I said, looking at Chiron.

"Of course."

"John said he's the son of the god of archery, and he's an amazing shot with the bow. Is there any correlation?"

He nodded, "Whoever your parent is, you've got a chance of getting proficient in whatever they are the god or goddess of. Some of the stronger Olympians also give special abilities to their children, like controlling water for Poseidon, summoning lightning for Zeus... The list goes on."

"That does sound like the logical way of things." I agreed, watching the sandpit get closer, "Where on earth are we going now?"

"The sword pit."

I almost tripped over my own foot, "You- You mean to fight? With a sword?"

"That's the preferred weapon for most, yes."

"Umm..."

"It's best not to worry about using one, we haven't had a death in decades. Apart from being good archers, the children of Apollo are fantastic doctors."

"But there is a chance, no?"

"Technically speaking, there's a chance for everything... But as I said, there hasn't been an incident in a long time. I doubt you'd be the one to break that tradition."

"Very soothing." I sighed, pocketing my hands to stop them from shaking, "A different topic then. Who were those three kids that competed with John? Toby, Joe and... And Phil, I think his name was."

"Toby Hitchkinson, Philip Carson and Joseph Borderman. They're children of Apollo too, and ever since John became counsellor, with the last counsellor moving to Camp Jupiter, Toby has been vying for the position. These competitions are quite uncommon, but the stake is always the same. Counsellorship."

I nodded, not quite understanding what was so special about being a counsellor.

We reached a table, so densely packed with weapons and armour that I was surprised it hadn't collapsed under that weight.

Close by, a dummy was getting eviscerated by Bruce. Straw was flying everywhere, along with bits of orange shirt, and sometimes even a shard of celestial bronze. As I watched, his fairly large and quite deadly-looking sword connected with the beat-up armour once more, sending yet another small chunk of godly bronze through the air to land in the sand. I was hoping there wasn't a punishment where they'd stuff you inside one of those, and let people like Bruce or Robert go to town on it.

As he cleaved it into three parts, Chiron looked over to him.

"Bruce, are you done mutilating training dummies?"

"Oh..." He seemed to only just realise that others were watching him, "Sure... Hey Dan."

"Hi." I gulped.

"Come over here and help us select the perfect equipment," Chiron told the son of Ares.

"Isn't Sam nearby?"

"He's overseeing sword training."

"Crap... Alright then, let's get started." He clapped his hand together, throwing his sword blade-first into the sand.

"Let's start with the swords." Chiron began, "As a Greek demigod, you'll be fighting in a phalanx when grouped together with others, meaning your main weapon will be a spear, otherwise known as a doru. The sword is for when the formation is broken, or when your spear is. Your choices for a sword are between a xiphos and a kopis. For the vast majority, it's the former that works out best... Both sides are sharp, and when there's no space to swing, it's perfect for stabbing, further supported by the fact that it's quite short. The Kopis is bigger, more specialised for strong swings than for stabbing. It's much harder to learn how to use a kopis, due to it being a heavier blade. Children of the gods of war fare far better with it than anyone else and please correct me if I'm wrong Bruce, but I think all Ares cabin members use one."

"More or less," Bruce said after thinking about it briefly.

"So the choice is yours. I advise using a xiphos for your first time, but don't let my opinion change yours."

There was nothing to think about there.

"The xiphos."

"Here you go," Bruce said, showing me a sword.

Placing my palm around the hilt, Bruce let go of it almost instantly, the weight of it coming as a surprise and causing it to slip from my fingers.

"Tightly grasp it," He tutted, "This isn't a foam sword you'd buy at the toy shop."

"I've realised." With a grunt, I grasped the hilt and lifted it up.

"Good, that's the first part done. Try it out a bit on those dummies, get a feel for it."

I did as told, striding over to the nearest dummy, and lifting the blade high above my head. Upon swinging it at my target's neck, it tugged at my hand with such force that it flew straight from my grip, over the dummy's shoulder.

"Huh, maybe it's too heavy for you to start off with... Try this one instead." Chiron mused, handing me a different one.

It didn't look much different in size and shape, yet it felt quite a bit lighter than the previous one. With a short yell, that I felt stupid for even doing, I stabbed forward, only for the straw to completely turn my blade, causing a jolt of pain to race through my wrist as it was violently jerked to the side.

The second did a little bit of damage, but it was hardly noticeable. Taking a few swings at it next, deeper cuts did appear across its body, but nothing even approaching Bruce's feat. If anything, I had even more respect for the man, and even less of a will to piss him off.

"It'll make do for now. With a bit of an improvement in your technique, and with a lot of training to strengthen you up, as well as getting a custom-made blade from the camp forges, you'll do much better on these dummies, if that's any assurance."

"Not much, but thanks, I guess."

"Here's a spear," The camp director muttered, shoving it into Bruce's hand, who switched my blade for the doru. It was easily twice my size, and as I moved it, it felt unwieldy and didn't quite give back the same feeling the movies gave off, "Only the two ends are made from celestial bronze, therefore there is little room for customization. Size can't be trimmed down, otherwise, it'll lose most of its usefulness in a fight. It's something you have to learn to use, rather than us tailoring it to you."

"And how many times is this even used?"

"Well, it's quite rare, I'm not going to lie. Questers don't have adequate numbers to form a phalanx properly, so they don't carry spears..." He scratched his head, while his tail flicked to and fro, "The only times it has ever been really used is when we were marching for war, or defending the camp, but those times are far behind us, thankfully. What's next Bruce?"

"Hoplon." He said.

"Ah, yes, the shield, or the Hoplon. The Hephaestus cabin doesn't make custom shields, but we've got many in storage that have been barely used thus far. You'll get the chance to decorate it as you wish in the arts and crafts cabin, but that can come later."

Bruce strapped a shield to my arm without asking, taking it from a stack on the table. It was quite heavy, and my arm was tiring from just holding it next to my body.

"Hold the metal handle tightly... There you go. Now, lift it as if you were currently in a fight, and try and brace yourself as best as you can."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to test it."

I shrugged and did as told. The moment I had positioned myself, something clanged against the shield, sending a jarring pain up my arm, which in turn forced me to let go of the metal grip. Subsequently, the leather strap undid itself and the entire thing fell to the floor, the thin edge just short of falling on my foot. Judging by the weight of the round object, if it had hit my foot, it would've broken my toes, if not cutting them off outright.

"What the fuck?!" I hissed, grabbing my arm.

"The strap is too loose," Chiron muttered to himself, as Bruce threw the shield to the side.

"What did you do?!" I asked, shaking my arm to get the tingling sensation out of it.

"I kicked it," Chiron told me calmly.

"Sorry?"

"You heard it right the first time... Here, try this one."

This time, after strapping on the new shield and getting into position, I was ready for the kick. Bracing myself, I counted to ten, yet nothing happened.

I was about to shift my weight, when the force of Chiron's kick passed through the shield once more, accompanied by the unbearable feeling in my arm, and the metallic clang of hoof meeting bronze. As hard as I tried not to, the strike had still been sudden enough that I couldn't help myself, my fingers slipping from the grip once again. However this time, my toes were safe, the strap held without problem.

"Perfect! After your sword, your shield is the second most important bit of gear you can carry."

"I don't know enough to judge its importance, but it sure as hell isn't easy to carry."

Bruce chuckled, while Chiron gave an understanding smile.

"Questers normally won't take shields with themselves, because, like spears, they are quite hard to carry around, but in any other scenario? Using a shield is the best way to stay alive." Turning back to face the table, he searched through the pile of armour next, "This breastplate should be good for you, here's a helmet, some armguards and greaves."

He handed them one by one to Bruce, who threw them down beside me.

"Put them on." He told me.

"Will there be any more tests?"

"Nah." There was something in his tone that didn't really reassure me, but there was nothing I could do.

First, I put on the helmet, which moved around way too much for it to be good.

"Oh gods, it seems that I got that one wrong. Here, this one should be better." The camp director gave me a new helmet, with a blue and white plume, as opposed to the previous one's red and white.

It was a much better fit, Chiron agreeing too with a satisfied nod. Looking over me one last time, his eyes wandered back towards the archery range. Once the armguards and greaves were strapped onto me as well, the camp director gave me one final look over, then said his goodbyes as he returned to archery practice.

As I was trying my best to strap on the breastplate, Bruce took a closer look at the dummy I had taken swings at. Appearing from nowhere, a blonde girl walked past us dressed in a complete set of armour. Both a baseball cap and a sword hung at her hip, her helmet clutched under one armpit.

It was Sophia.

She chose one of the nearest dummies, completely ignoring me in the process, and with her first punch forward, she gutted the straw figure, pulling her blade upwards to basically slice its torso in half. It was then and there that I knew that getting onto her bad side wouldn't end well for me... Had I already managed that with the eavesdropping stuff?

Straw flew in all directions, most of it getting stuck in her flowing, blonde hair, her helmet laying discarded in the sand beside her, but that didn't seem to slow her down in the slightest. If anything it made her attack the dummy even more vigorously.

"Stop staring, and hurry up with getting ready," Bruce shouted over to me, loud enough for the daughter of Athena to hear as well, though she showed no sign of hearing it. Nevertheless, I blushed and stared into thin air instead as I pulled the strap for the final time.

The son of Ares walked up to check me, and in the process pulled the straps tight enough to make me wonder whether I had broken a rib.

"That's a bit too tight..." I grunted, "Or is this supposed to feel like a corset?"

"The very last thing you want during a fight is for it to move around, be that due to your movement, or your opponent hitting you." I felt one last tug, and more air was expelled from my lungs. Finally, a slap landed on my back, "All done, man. I won't be fussing over you like some wetnurse, not really my style, but Sam has much more patience for that sort of thing."

"Where should I go then?"

"I'm getting there," He muttered, "He's on the far side of the arena, already training the first group of the day. He'll start teaching you the basics that are possible for even you to do while you're still recovering. A few weeks under him, and you'll be able to stand a chance against more experienced fighters in single combat." I smiled, thanking him, but as I started walking away, he stopped me, "Almost forgot... I'm sorry about what Liz did to you."

"I'll survive." I replied, "I never understood bullies and their fascination with teaching the new guy who's boss."

"Most of my cabin is like that... Gotta show everyone who our dad is, I guess."

"Yet you aren't like that. Am I delving too deep if I ask why?"

"You are." He said, his voice suddenly going completely neutral, and an awkward silence fell between us, broken by him half a minute later, "You should meet up with Sam, the sooner the better."

I nodded, and we quickly parted ways, my eyes soon settling on the smaller figures fighting on the far side of the pit. They weren't that far away...

Oh, how wrong I was.

The combined effect of walking on the sand and wearing the heavy armour was draining energy as few other things could, and it felt like with every step I took, I was only getting further away. Soon enough sweat was pouring out of every pore of my body, and I started to fantasize about cold water with ice cubes.

That was a new experience.

A minute or two passed of me trudging through the sand when suddenly, a shout came from behind.

"Hey!"

The angry voice was familiar, and I turned around to check where it had come from. A group of blond-haired boys were approaching, power-walking faster than I could run.

This was going to be a problem.

"Yeah?"

"What do you mean, yeah?" Toby yelled, pushing me over the moment he got close enough to me. Tumbling through the sand, my spear bounced away, as did my shield.

"What's your fucking problem?" I asked, spitting sand out of my mouth, but to no avail. Minute particles crunched under my teeth.

"It was your fault we lost that bloody competition."

"How was-"

"I still don't quite understand how it was his fault? Your explanation-" The guy called Joe started, my eyes crawling to the sword strapped to his hip. Those hadn't been there at the range.

"Shut the fuck up Joe!" Toby roared, not taking his eyes off of me, "Fight me. Let's see what you're made of... Fucker."

I tried standing up, but Toby kicked me in the side. If the bronze breastplate hadn't been on me, it would've broken at least two ribs.

As he kicked a second time, I grabbed his leg, and pulled him off his feet, punching him in the chest once he was on the ground.

"Help me, you dipshits," The son of Apollo sputtered, and two pairs of arms lifted me off the ground, holding me tight.

Once Toby had stood up, he punched me in the face, my healing nose snapping back once more, sharp pain racing through my head.

Goldilocks pulled his fist back, knuckles stained with blood.

My blood.

I stepped hard on Phil's foot, which surprised him enough to loosen his grip on my arm, letting me rip free and punch Joe, who fell like a sack of flour as his nose gave way under my fist.

"Now you're done for, bitch. I'm gonna leave you a scar to remind you of today." Tony said, unsheathing a knife.

He lunged at me, but I put my arm up just in time for the blade to bounce off of my armguard.

I drew my sword, feeling comfort in having at least some weapon against this knife-wielding nutjob. This was like the drakon all over again, with my heart once again beating in my throat.

Two hisses came from behind me as Toby's two goons drew their swords as well, Joe now on his feet once more.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked.

Toby said nothing, and together with Phil, he struck at me. The goon seemed unsure about his strike, and I caught it on my blade by what felt like pure chance. I was so caught up in mentally celebrating that the pain flaring up in my hand surprised me, Toby's sword cutting across the top of it.

Out of pure panic, I swung towards him, but slick with blood, the hilt flew from my palm and the sword struck the leader of the group sideways. He fell backwards out of surprise, which gave me time to breathe a bit, Joe not looking like he really wanted to join the fight.

"Fucking Mortal," Toby muttered, in what didn't sound like English, and I saw his two friends look at him quizzically.

"What are you going on about?"

He rolled towards me faster than I could've anticipated and I watched helplessly as his knife passed right through my foot.

Even helped along by the rush of adrenaline, I felt the pain cut through my body, and a scream of pain erupted from my mouth, my wounded foot buckling underneath me.

Holding a sword... My sword, I watched in horror as he stood over me, looking down at me with a smile that didn't seem quite sane.

"And now, how about a bit of a tattoo?"

I tried punching towards him, but a new wave of pain rushed from my leg into the rest of my body, and with a grunt, I lay back down. As if that wasn't enough, both of my arms suddenly came under the pressure of getting sat on by teenage boys, Toby doing the same with my legs.

The sword was getting closer and closer to my face, and no matter how I twisted and turned my head, there was no escape.

What the fuck was all this shit about? How many of these types of people were there at camp?

"Toby..." Joe started, his face showing just how uncomfortable he was about this situation, his buddy no different. Still, they were holding me down...

"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU TO SHUT THE FUCK UP."

The cold metal touched my face, pricked it even, and I waited for the pain to come, my struggling useless.

All of a sudden, the weight of the three kids was gone, as were their faces from in front of me. Similarly, the knife was whipped away from my face, leaving a trail of burning pain on my cheek.

"You alright?" Asked Bruce, his face appearing above me.

"No..."

He grinned, "You're still talking, so I guess that's a good sign... You just don't want to start camp activities yet, do you?"

I couldn't share in his chuckle, as a new wave of pain raced through me, yet I gathered all my strength and sat up.

If Bruce was here...

Then where was the clatter of metal against metal coming from?

I turned my head to spot a blonde figure darting between people, slapping them with the flat bit of her sword and parrying sword strikes as easily as others knew how to swim. While she was trying not to kill them, each slap that rang out on flesh told me enough. She wasn't exactly holding back.

All three of my assaulters were on the floor a few minutes later. Clutching areas that were already starting to turn black and blue.

"Now stand up and fuck off, or I'll show you what happens to those who are stupid enough to do this shit," Sophia growled, kicking Joe in the ass as he scooted away as fast as he could on all fours. Only Toby stayed, standing up and staring furiously at the daughter of Athena.

Bruce saw that and stepped closer, cracking his knuckles as he did so.

That seemed to get to Goldilocks, and he jogged away.

I let out a sigh of relief that this was all over, when I noticed that Sophia was now looking at me.

Storming over, she hauled me to my feet by my breastplate straps, surprising me with just how strong she was, "What the fuck happened here?"

"How the hell should I know? I'm walking over to Sam when suddenly they appear and attack me! How is that normal in this camp?!"

"It isn't, which is why I'm going to ask again. What. Did. You. Do?" She gritted her teeth.

"There was a competition between John and this Toby guy. I was just there, John teaching me, and-"

She slapped me, enough to sting, though I knew that she had held back. Her hand came back red, stained by the cut on my cheek.

"That was for eavesdropping. I don't care who you are, or where you came from, if I find out this is your fault, I will make your life a living hell here." I nodded as fast as I could, and she let me go, letting me fall back on my ass. Stomping off, she clenched her hand which had been painted red into a fist.

"Where are you going?" Bruce called after her.

"John. I need to talk with him, get to the bottom of this all." And with those final words, she was gone.

Rubbing my face, I looked at the son of Ares.

"I'm coming to not like Sophia... What the fuck is her deal with me? Everyone's deal with me for that matter?"

"You'll come to like her sooner or later, and she will too. What was that about eavesdropping?" I told him the gist of it and he smirked, "All I can say is you deserved it then. Give her a few days, then she'll start interacting with you properly again."

"Great," I muttered.

He lifted one of my arms over his shoulder, "Come on now, Sam's got some medical shit with him. He'll get you back up and running, don't you worry."

"Foot hurts like hell."

"No shit..." He shoved his hand into his pocket, pulling out a small, wrapped cube a moment later, "Here, take this. Should get you to feel better until we reach him."

Putting it in my mouth, warmth spread from my mouth to the entirety of my body and just like that, the pain faded. It tasted like homemade cookies, after which it wasn't hard to realise what I had been given.

Ambrosia.

"You have any idea why this happened?" I asked as we hobbled towards Sam and the other demigods. They weren't sparring anymore, and all of them were staring towards us.

"Haven't the slightest clue, and I hope Sophia gets to the bottom of this. Most Apollo kids are chill, not like there are too many of them nowadays. They do have a knack for showing off however, Toby, Phil and Joe being the top three on that list. On their own, the two lapdogs wouldn't be a problem, but Toby's a weird guy, and it's he who makes up the problematic part of their clique. He's a child of Apollo when it comes to looks and skills, yet I can't help but feel slightly off-put by the guy whenever I see him."

"Off-put?"

"I can't really describe it, it's just like this tingling in my stomach that something's wrong with him, I just can't put my finger on what that is."

"Great, so who else am I going to piss off in the near future?"

"Hopefully nobody else, but that depends on you," Bruce smirked.

"Yeah, right. So far, only one has been my fault, out of the three so far... The odds aren't with me on this one, Bruce."

We walked on in silence, and I wondered what I'd gotten myself into. Why had that drakon decided to attack me?

I could've lived a nice and quiet life for the rest of my days.

But that wasn't going to be possible anymore.