So because one of the readers dedicated a story to me on Wattpad, I’m returning the compliment :)  So this is for ilovejakeabel99.  Enjoy!

Chapter Quote:

“I don't know. But I just know that I'll be fighting next to you.”

~Annabeth Chase in The Lightning Thief

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Chapter 5: I Challenge A Race

Luke 

I woke up to Connor and Travis poking me.

“Time to get up lazy; big day ahead of you,” one of them said.

“Thanks for reminding me,” I groaned, rolling off my bed and landing on both feet on the floor.  The Stoll brothers grinned at me.

“Still not a morning person, are you?” Travis laughed.  Simply glaring at him, I grabbed my Camp Half-Blood tee and some khaki shorts.  I walked to the bathroom where I changed into my outfit.  When I walked out, I stared at myself in the mirror.  Thankfully no campers were around to see this.  My reflection stared at back at me, criticizing my being, belittling any hopeful thoughts flying in my head, patronizing my looks, and revealing every idea I possessed since being back at camp.  I saw my hand trail down the ugly scar on my face.  Girls thought I was handsome with this- this…. mutilation on my face?  How?  The more I studied every contour, ridge, and valley of the scar, the more prominent it became, and the worse I felt.

It’s a battle scar. My conscience consoled, attempting to make me feel better.

It shows failure. I countered bitterly.

A battle is only a failure if you die unwillingly for the wrong side. It argued calmly. You died a hero’s death in the last war because you chose to.  Now you’re alive again facing a new battle, one different than anyone has experienced.  You’ve always been… wayward, so show that in this new battle.  Show the Dead they will not get their hands on you for a long time.  I’ll help you as much as I can along the way.

Something about my conscience’s way of talking sounded different, as if it had a conscience of its own.

This isn’t your conscience Luke. My… whatever spoke again, which left me more confused than before. I am sorry I am not the father you wanted or needed.  You will not believe me when I say I wanted to do so much more.  I hope one day you can forgive me.  I have faith that you’ll win this new battle, Luke.  I have always had faith in you.  I love you.

“Dad…” I trailed off.  For the first time since I brought Annabeth and Thalia to my house all those years ago, I was speaking to my dad.  And unlike last time, I craved for him to speak to me more. “Dad, I’m so sorry.  I-you don’t need forgiveness.  I already did that.  I’m the one that needs to be asking for forgiveness.”

You do not need my forgiveness because I was never mad at you.  I know why you did what you did.  I know you’re sorry, but you don’t need to be.  I was never a great dad.  I have to go now son, but this will not be the last time I talk to you.  I love you.

“I love you too,” I murmured.  I felt my dad’s presence leave my mind.  All that was left of our meeting was a feeling of relief and sadness.  I wanted to talk to my dad further.  I wanted to know why he didn’t talk to me a lot when I was younger.

“Luke?” Shiloh’s voice called out.  I jumped away from the mirror.

“Yeah?” I called back.

“Breakfast is almost ready, and Connor and Travis sent me to get you because you’ve apparently been here for twenty minutes.”

“I’m coming!” I told her.  I grabbed my pajamas, hastily brushed my teeth, and walked outside.  I found Shiloh waiting for me outside; she wore shorts, a button down shirt I’m pretty sure she slept in, and had her hair fixed in a loose braid.

“Morning Shi,” I greeted, stretching my arms.

“Did you just call me Shi?” she looked at me curiously.

“I… I, uh, sorry, just sort of slipped,” I confessed sheepishly.

“No, it’s okay.  I’m just… people have never given me nicknames before.  They always call me ‘Shiloh’ or ‘Carter.’  I don’t like when people call me by my last name unless they use the proper title before it.  But you can call me Shi.  I like it.” She gave me a smile that made my heart damn near melt.

“Then Shi it is,” I told her.

“Come on.  Breakfast is ready.”

“Race?”

“You want to race me?” she smirked.

“Unless you’re scared.”

“Bring it on, Luke.  First person to reach the pavilion wins.”

“Oh it’s on!” I laughed.  I counted down to three, shouted go, and we were off.  We were neck-to-neck from start to finish.  Once in a while Shiloh would get the upper hand by leaping off of a rock or log, but I always managed to catch up to her.  When we reached the pavilion, we skidded to a halt, nearly knocking Connor and Travis over.

“I thought you weren’t a morning person Luke?” Connor winked at me.

“I’m not.  Shiloh forced me to a race,” I said as seriously as I could.

“I- hey!  I did not force you to race!  You asked me!” she protested violently yet playfully.

“Tsk tsk, Shi, it’s very bad to lie,” I chastised lightly.

“I’m not lying, it’s the truth you’re denying,” she bantered.

“Are we having rhyming war?  If so, I have a lot more.”

“Could you two be more cheesy?  You’re making me wheezy,” Travis joined in before walking away.  Shiloh laughed; I joined in.

“I’ll see you at archery,” Shi told me, bumping her elbow lightly into mine.  I grinned, returning the bump, before going to my seat at the breakfast table.

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The day passed by quickly.  Archery was great, even if Shiloh did kick my butt at it.  In fact, Shiloh kicked everyone’s butt at it, nailing the center every time.  After that I had Pegasus riding with her, Percy, and Annabeth.  We had races with our pegasi.  Mine didn’t like me, so for thirty minutes, Percy and Shiloh had to convince the Pegasus I wasn’t going to hurt it.  The next thirty minutes consisted of the racing.  Annabeth and I had no chance against the two horse whisperers.  Percy usually won over Shiloh but she was still really good.  The forge came next.  Annabeth stayed with me in this activity.  I had never been that good at it and not much changed since the last time I was in here.  I nearly cut off my finger with some type of equipment I didn’t know the name of.  Annabeth had pulled me away just before it happened.

Lunch came next along with thirty minutes of free time.  I took the free time as an opportunity to disappear for the next hour in a half to avoid my next class: sword fighting.  It scared me, thinking of possibly fighting against one of the campers.  I wouldn’t want to hurt them.  So I walked around the deep part of the woods, admiring the natural beauty of the world for once.  The tree tops towered over me with sunlight filtering through them, creating yellow spots on the earth below.  I stepped over a fallen tree, leapt onto a boulder, and surveyed the scene around me.  No animal or monster could be seen.  I couldn’t hear anything from camp, only the running water of the stream in front of me, meaning I must be deeper in the woods than I thought.

“Luke?  What are you doing here?” Shiloh’s voice floated down from below me.  I looked down.  She sat on the ground staring up at me.

“I got bored and went exploring.  What about you?” I asked, jumping down to land in front of her.

“Reading.  It’s hard to find a quiet spot away from camp so I can read,” she admitted, holding up an ancient looking book.  The letters were in Greek, instantly telling me Shiloh was dyslexic and that she read better in Greek than in English.

“What book?” I queried, sitting down next to her.

“Monsters of Greek Mythology.  It’s really good.  I’m reading about Eidolons right now.” Shiloh got a spark in her eyes as she started talking about the books she’s reading nowand books she’s read in the past.  I listen intently, savoring the cheerfulness of her voice.

“Warm Bodies is probably one of my favorite books.  Everyone on Julie’s side wants to kill R because he’s a zombie, but she sees him differently and is helping him become more human and is trying to have her side realize he’s not dangerous.”

“Sounds like you trying to help me,” I joked,

“It does, doesn’t it?” Shiloh mused. “I think the difference is you and I are just really good friends, whereas Julie and R get together.”

“And I’m not a zombie,” I added.

“Thank god,” she chuckled. “Listen, I was thinking, you’re going to need to get by on more clothes than what you have so I wanted to know if you wanted to go into the city tomorrow, have a day off from everything here.  I can see if Percy and Annabeth want to go too.”

“That sounds great, I’d love to!  Maybe we should let Percy and Annabeth stay here.  I don’t know if they’d want to go in the city just to go shopping, you know?  I think they’d want to go to the city for a date or something.  Did that make any sense at all?”

“Yeah, it made sense,” she smiled. “All right.  I’ll go talk to Chiron and get permission although I think he’ll be fine with it.  Hey, don’t you have a class right now?”

I faltered.  Should I tell her why I skipped it or should I lie? “Oh crap, I forgot I had sword fighting.”

The words came out of my mouth before I could stop them.

Well, lying it is. I thought.

“I guess should I head back, but by the time I get there, it’ll be time to go to the next activity,” I remarked.

“Well you and I have the next activity together so I’ll head back with you,” Shiloh decided.

“What’s the next activity?” I inquired.

She grinned. “Track.  Let’s see if we can break that tie of ours.”

“Oh it’s on!” I declared. “In fact, we should race there now.”

“Uh, no.  I’m too tired at the moment,” she retorted.  Shiloh stood up.  The two of us started walking back to camp silently, both lost in our own thoughts.  Mine wandered over to the fact Shiloh didn’t have a boyfriend.  How could she not have a boyfriend?  She was amazing.  If my fate wasn’t as grim as it was, I would ask her out myself.  Thing is, Shi acted like she didn’t even want a boyfriend.  I couldn’t understand the situation.  I mean, maybe the guys that had almost dated her left because she was an overly attached girlfriend or something.  However, I couldn’t see her being like that.  I saw Shiloh being the type of girlfriend you loved to hang out with because she could instantly pick up on what you liked to talk about and just delve deep into that conversation for hours.  I saw Shiloh as the type of girlfriend who would rather spend the day curled up in bed watching movie or TV show marathons with a bowl of popcorn or a carton of ice cream (two cartons, one for her and one for the date because she strikes me as the type who gets possessive over sweets).  I saw Shiloh as the type of girlfriend who would choose a football game over a fancy dinner or a nice boat ride on the water over riding in a limo.  I saw Shiloh as the type of girlfriend who knew when something was bothering you but knew when and when not to ask and prod about it.  I saw Shiloh as the type of girlfriend who would be a loyal to a fault, faithful to the core.

A hand on my shoulder stopped me.  I looked down to see Shiloh staring at the ground, rendering me unable to see her face.  I bent down to see if she’s okay but her grip on my shoulder tightens with an almost unbearable force.

“Shiloh!” I exclaimed, trying to break through her thoughts.  She collapsed to the ground onto her knees.  I went down willingly with her.  I cupped her face with my hands. “Shi, hey, come on, look at me.  Please, just look at me.  You’re scaring me,” I pleaded.  When her eyes reached mine, I say, “Hey, see, whatever’s going on, I’m here.  I got you.”

Shiloh shook her head in the manner people do when they’re clearing their thoughts. “Sorry about that,” she said weakly.

“Don’t be sorry, but what the heck was that?”

She shifted positions so that she sat cross-legged on the ground. “With my grandfather being Apollo, I inherited his gift of prophetic visions.  That one wasn’t too bad.  I’ve had some where I’m screaming and then some where I can focus on life and just keep walking or doing whatever it is I’m doing at the moment.  This was… mediocre.”

“Still scary.  You’re okay though?” I questioned.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Let me just rest for a moment.  The vision was weird… I was hugging someone and then me and the person got teleported somehow to a really dark place.  I don’t know where.”

We sat there for about five minutes, casually conversing, when Shi announced she was ready to continue.

“So tomorrow, what time would we leave?” I inquired.

“I was thinking after breakfast.  We’ll pick up lunch in the city and be back at Camp Half-Blood in time for dinner.  Just spend the whole day there,” she answered.

“That sounds great.  I’m really looking forward to it,” I said with a smile.

“I am too.  Okay Luke, time to get your butt beat.” I glanced at the scene before me.  We had arrived at the track.

“It is on Shiloh Carter.”

Our competition began.

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