Audentis Fortuna Iuvat

Catie led me around the streets, being so helpful and perky and telling me everything I would ever need to know about Camp Jupiter... if only I had been paying attention.

Not that I didn't try, of course, its just that I had the Attention Deficit part of ADHD down to an art. Catie would say "And over here are the Unicorn stables." And I would end up down memory lane recalling the time Dad had saved me from being impaled upon the golden horn of a wild unicorn, then we had gone for hot chocolates at our nearest vendor and rented a movie. I think it was a rom-com of some sort, maybe Music and Lyrics...?

"Kerri!" Catie called me back to reality. "You with me?"

I was snapped out of my thoughts with a jolt, and then I realised we were back down the main street and I was crashing into people haphazardly like I was on some kind of destructive rampage. Catie pulled me off the road where tables were set outside a small café. "Yeah, sorry. I just- got lost in my thoughts I guess."

She smiled, "Happens to the best of us. Now, as I was saying. The busy road is the Via Principalis and it leads throughout the whole town, all the way to New Rome..."

Her voice faded into the background and I got lost in my thoughts again, somewhere in the land of old principals and headmasters. Catie tried several times to regain my attention but eventually gave up and took me to the sword arena. "Maybe exercise will help you focus." She decided.

And boy, did it ever! She set me up with a large boy who couldn't have been much older than me, but he was all muscles and stocky chest, unlike that lanky Octavian I had met earlier.

"I'm Dakota, son of Brachus." He introduced himself gruffly.

"Kerri, daughter of some goddess who has yet to show her face." I laughed.

He made no acknowledgment towards my joke other than a small smile. "So we going to do this or what?" He asked.

"Let's." I grinned and lunged towards him, weilding the sword Catie had issued me with a finesse that I had no idea existed within my bones. My heavy gold breastplate seemed not even to weigh me down as I pivoted and dodged Dakota's heavy blows.

I swiped at his legs, but he caught my blade on his and twisted it in an attempt to disarm me, I jumped away from his reach. He lunged at me, but his stroke glanced of my blade. We began to get faster and faster with our strokes and parries, seeming to dance as the light glanced of our blades, reflecting the sun. We became fluid, moving in rhthym to a beat only we could hear.

Finally, I saw my opportunity and I took it, dive rolling under his blade and coming up behind him. I kicked in his tendons and he fell to his knees, dropping his sword. I placed my blade to his throat and an applause came up from a crowd I had no idea had gathered to watch our match.

I let Dakota up off the ground and offered him a hand up. When he was back on his feet though, his hand went limp in my grasp and a 'Woah!' escaped from his lips.

"What?" I asked, then I noticed I was glowing purple. I looked up to see a glowing hologram of two spears crossed through a military helmet. I couldn't help wondering what on Gaia was going on.

A dark haired girl who looked to be a little younger than me pushed through the ring of spectators. "A daughter of Bellona," She said in an awed voice, a small smile playing on her lips. "My sister." She came forward and embraced me and the crowd clapped weakly before disbanding. They seemed a lot less eager about my parentage than this girl, my... sister.

She released me from the hug and I could see she was about thirteen, her hair braided down her back.

"I'm sorry," I said, "But what's your name?"

"Reyna." She smiled.

Notes