Rick Riordan owns all of the characters and Percy Jackson books. Some(most) of this chapter is copied straight from the book.

Over the next few days, I settled into a routine. I still liked life with the hunters better, but I have to stay at Camp Half Blood, I'd be able to manage it.

Chiron taught me archery, which I was already pretty good at from living with the huntresses.

Then, foot racing. I was able to run slightly slower than all of the wood-nymphs. (Slower than a tree. Kind of sad, right?) It helps to have lots of practice when hunting or running to the hunters' new camp. It took me a few months to get to the other hunters' speed. And they run really fast.

Wrestling? I was pretty good. Clarisse was the hardest person, but I would still beat her within seconds. She's been getting better because of that. She gets better every time. Of course, I managed to win without either of us getting any injury more than a few bruises.

I was really good at canoeing. Of course, I was good at it. I mean, I'm a son of Poseidon. I also had some practice whenever we needed to cross a river in the hunt. I mean, I could just walk through it, but the others would need a boat if the current is too strong.

Thursday afternoon, three days after I'd arrived at Camp Half Blood, I had my first sword-fighting lesson since I had arrived. Everyone from the Hermes cabin and me, from the Poseidon cabin, gathered in the big circular arena, where Luke from the Hermes cabin would be our instructor.

We started with the basic stabbing and slashing, using some straw-stuffed dummies in Greek armor. I did pretty good. Okay, I did kind of good.

I still couldn't find a blade that felt right in my hands. Either it was too heavy, or too light, or too long. Luke tried his best to fix me up, but he agreed that none of the blades seemed to work for me.

Good thing I had lots of practice with unbalanced swords. That's what I told Luke.

"Lots of practice?" He asked.

"Well, a demigod in the wild would need to fight," I had replied. "Especially a child of the big three. I could never find one that worked, so I had to learn how to fight with unbalanced swords. But I can also use these knives." I pulled out two of my knives.

"Let's get you ready with the best sword for you that we can find," Luke said.

"Okay," I said, putting away my knives.

We moved on to dueling in pairs. Luke announced he would be my partner.

"Good luck," one of the campers told me. "Luke's the best swordsman in the last three hundred years."

I shrugged. "I've had lots of practice in the wild," I said. "I might not be able to beat him, but I might be able to keep him from beating me."

The camper snorted.

It turned out that I was right. I wasn't able to beat Luke, but I was able to keep him from beating me. He was the first real challenge I have faced in a long time.

I loved it.

I smiled the whole time, and Luke did too. He was really good. But so was I.

Neither of our defences had a fault. Both of us knew a trick when we saw one.

Luke eventually called for a break. Neither of us had won, and both of us were sweating.

Everybody swarmed the drinks cooler. Luke poured ice water on his head. I was about to do it too, but I hesitated.

"Luke," I said.

"Yes, Percy?" He said.

"Would it be cheating if I poured water on my head?" I asked. "Water gives me more energy and stuff."

"No, it wouldn't," Luke said after thinking. "Its okay if you get more energy. You just can't use water to fight right now."

"Okay," I said, then poured the water on my head.

I was still completely dry, but I was completely energized again.

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

I nodded and smiled. "Sure."

The Hermes guys gathered around. He told everybody he was going to demonstrate a disarming technique: twisting an enemy's blade with the flat of your own so that he had no choice but to drop their weapon.

"This is difficult," he stressed. "I've had it used against me. Percy might get it soon though, but for right now, no laughing at him."

He demonstrated the move on me in slow motion. Sure enough, the sword flattered out of my hand.

I'm still wondering why Artemis never taught me this move. Maybe she didn't want my knowledge of sword-fighting to be too suspicious. Of course, I was never veery good because of the whole dilemma with the unbalanced swords.

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

I nodded, and Luke came after me. I kept him from getting a shot at the hilt of my sword. We both fought for a while, until I decided, what the heck?

I tried the disarming maneuver.

My blade hit the base of Luke's and I twisted, putting my whole weight into a downward thrust.

Clang.

Luke's sword rattled against the stones. The tip of my sword was an inch from his underfunded chest.

The other campers were silent.

I lowered my sword.

Luke's scarred face broke into a grin. "Percy, show me that again!"

I tried, but he was wary of me now. And my energy from the water was gone. He kept the hilt of his sword away from mine. I kept my sword away from his too.

We sparred for what seemed like ages until I tried again. This time, Luke managed to disarm me.

He turned to the campers who were watching. "You guys, split up into pairs and try the move."

We went over to the drink cooler. We both poured ice water over our heads.

"You are very good, Percy," he said. "I wonder what you could do with a balanced sword. I'm glad that you're on our team for capture the flag."

I nodded.

Friday afternoon, I was sitting with Grover by the lake.

We sat on the pier, watching the naiads do underwater basket-weaving.

"So, Grover," I said, "is your career still on track?"

Grover seemed surprised. "Chiron told you I wanted a searchers license?"

"No, Chiron didn't tell me anything," I said. "I kind of guessed. . ."

"Oh," Grover replied.

"I lived in the wild all my life," I said. "I care about what happens to it."

Grover nodded. "I failed my duties because I was unconscious when I was brought into Camp."

"You'll get a second chance, right?" I asked.

"That kind of was my second chance," he replied.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Well I was supposed to bring a daughter of Zeus named Thalia to Camp," he said. "We also found Annabeth. Thalia stayed back to fight the army of monsters chasing us. As she was dying, her dad turned her into that pine tree." He pointed to the tree that asked the border of camp. "Her soul protects the border."

I nodded.

"So Mr. D---"

"Isn't he Dionysus?" I asked.

"Yes, but we call him Mr. D. Anyway, he suspended judgement. He said I hadn't failed or succeeded with you yet, so our fates are still tied together. If you were to get a quest, and I went along with you, and we both came back alive, then maybe he'd consider the job complete."

"Well, that's not so bad," I said.

"He might as well transferred me to stable-cleaning duty! Why would you want me along?" He said.

"Of course I'll want you along!"

Grover stated glumly into the water. "Basket-weaving... Must be nice to have a useful skill."

I tried to reassure him that he had lots of useful skills, but that just made him look more miserable. We talked about swordsplay and canoeing for a while, then debated the pros and cons of the different gods.

That night after dinner, there was a lot more excitement than usual.

At last it was time for capture the flag.

When the plates were all 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 board's head.

The teams were announced. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins. And me, of course, from the Poseidon cabin. 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 had 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 sat out of mostly every activity and checked their reflections and gossiped. Hephaestus's kids weren't pretty, and there were only four of them, but they were big and burly from working in the metal shop all day. They might be a problem. That left, of course, the Ares cabin: a dozen of the biggest, ugliest, meanest kids on Long Island, or anywhere else on the planet.

Chiron hammered his hoof on 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 aloud. 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 tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, oxhide shields coated with metal.

I just pulled out two of my knives. I didn't put on any armor because it would just weigh me down. I just put on a helmet so that they would know that I'm on their team. It had a blue plume while the other team had a red one.

Annabeth yelled, "Blue team, forward!"

I caught up to Annabeth quickly.

"What do I do?" I asked.

"Border patrol," she replied. "Stand by the lake. Don't let the red team in."

"Okay," I said, then ran off to the lake.

Far away, the conch horn blew. I heard whoops and yells in the woods, the clanking of metal, kids fighting. A blue plumbed ally from Apollo raced past me like a deer, leaped through the creek, and disappeared into enemy territory.

I heard a growl and got ready to fight it from any direction, but then the growling stopped and I felt the presence retreating.

On the other side of the creek, the underbrush exploded. Five Ares warriors came yelling and screaming out of the dark.

"Cream the punk!" Clarisse screamed.

Her ugly pig eyes glared through the slits of her helmet. She brandished a five-foot-long spear, it's barbed metal tip flickering with red light. I could tell it was electric.

Her siblings all had the standard bronze swords.

As they started to charge, I realized Annabeth's plan. She wanted them to come fight me so that they wouldn't be defending their flag. I decided to play along, to distract them.

I let them cross the creek so that they would fight me.

I fought them for a while. I could've defeated them at any time, I guess, but I needed to make sure that they were distracted. So, I just stayed on the defense.

And, of course, I was smiling just to annoy them--- and so that they would know I'm not trying my best even though they were.

I eventually got tired of dodging Clarisse's electric spear. So I disarmed her easily, grabbed it and broke it over my knee.

All of them stared at me, then charged with more anger than before, Clarisse drawing a bronze sword.

She got mad.

"You---" Clarisse started, but she was cut off by yelling. We all looked over to see Luke racing towards the boundary line with the red team's banner lifted high. He was flanked by a couple of Hermes guys covering his retreat, and a few Apollo guys behind them, fighting off the Hephaestus kids. The Ares folks got up, and Clarisse muttered a dazed curse.

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

"Well duh," I said. They staggered after Luke, but I was standing in front of them, blocking them from getting there. I made the water give Luke a push across to help him get across faster. Everybody converged on the creek as Luke ran across into friendly territory. Our side exploded into cheers. The red banner simmered and turned to silver, which I took as very offensive, as that's Artemis's color. The boat and spear were replaced with a huge caduceus, the symbol of cabin eleven. Everybody on the blue team picked up Luke and started carrying him around on their shoulders. Chiron cantered put from the woods and blew the conch horn.

The game was over. We'd won.

"Hello Annabeth," I said, reaching next to me and plucking something from thin air. Annabeth appeared. I handed her her hat. "Nice hat."

Annabeth stared at me in shock. "How'd you know I was there?" She demanded.

"I could hear you sneaking around," I replied. "Plus, it was obviously the hat. I mean, who keeps a hat in their pocket? Most people would either wear their hat, or leave it in their cabin."

"Has anyone told you that you're smarter than you look?" She asked.

"Yup," just replied. "Good plan, by the way. I stayed on defense to keep them distracted."

"I know," Annabeth said. "I could tell. And then you broke Clarisse's spear? Awesome."

"Cool," I said.

Then I heard the hellhound again and looked around.

Apparently no one else had heard it, because they were all looking at me, confused.

I looked around, ready to fight from any direction.

I saw the black hellhound as it leapt towards me. I froze.

You see, sometimes if something attacks me really fast I just freeze. It's a habit that I still hadn't gotten over, even after all this time.

The Harry Potter thing keeps popping up.

The hellhound slammed into me and was about to rip me to shreds when I heard a bunch of thuds.

I looked up to notice a bunch of arrows sprouting from the hellhound. I looked behind me and saw Chiron with a bow.

I ran over to Luke when mostly everyone was gone.

"Good job out there, Luke," I said.

"You did a good job too," Luke replied. "Not anyone could hold off half the Ares cabin without even trying their best."

I nodded. "Thanks. It wouldn't have worked if I wasn't allowed to use my knives instead of a sword."