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I wake up and find myself in a cold sweat; right after I fell on the floor.
I pick myself up and glance at the clock. 7am. Thankfully, Nyssa wrote down the regular camp schedule, so I'm not late for breakfast. I grab a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and a pair of jean shorts and take a shower. From the amount of dirt that fell off my skin I couldn't believe I walked into camp like that. Normally I'm not one to care about impressions, but for some reason I felt like I had to prove myself here. I brushed my teeth, snagged my shoes, and raced out the door to the amphitheater for the day's activities.

"As scheduled," Chiron announces, "The Capture-the-Flag championships are tonight. The winners will have no clean-up duty for the rest of the summer. The losers will have latrine duty, dish washing, et cetera. The archery contest is on Friday, followed by the chariot races Saturday. The rest of the week is as scheduled. Dismissed!" He turns and trots away towards the Big House, and everybody gets up and races to the campfire for breakfast.

I sit alone, again, at the Hera table.
Even the Percy guy had another person at his table. (Apparently he has a Cyclops brother named Tyson.) I didn't see anybody get up and put food into the flames, so I guess we only sacrifice at supper. I was starving, so I was done eating in about 5 minutes. I refilled my enchanted cup with my favorite soda mix, root beer and Dr. Pepper. I sipped at it for a few minutes, just people watching. I see Nyssa stand up and walks towards me. "Wanna find your weapon?" "Sure thing, but uhh, what do I do with my plate?" She laughs and says "Oh just leave it. It's Hypnos' cabin turn for the dishes today, and don't be surprised if they're not done by lunch." It was my turn to smile. "Okay, so where are we going?" "Most of the weapons are in the Ares cabin, but there's no way we're going in there. They have mines and traps everywhere. We'll go to the weapons shack, more like a shed really, but it has plenty of stuff."
We walks a ways from the campfire, and head down a small trail between it and the cabins. "Here we are!" She motions to a run down shed with a rusty roof in the forest. We jog up to it and open the door. "Have anything you've always wanted to learn?" I have to think for a minute. "Dagger or throwing knives, and staffs." "Hmm..." she crosses her arms and taps her chin. "Ah! Right, there.... maybe?" She digs and shoves past some boxes of swords and axes, until she gets to the back wall. "Here we are!" She brings out a super dusty box and plops it on the ground. All the dust poofs up in her face and starts coughing. "Occupational hazard." I crouch down and gently grab and set aside the weapons. "How about this?" I lift up a 6 inch bronze knife above my head, continuing to dig. "As a throwing knife, sure." I find a few more and set them next to me. "How about staffs?" "Well, staffs aren't really a Greek weapon. But a few demigods have used them before..." I stand and go into the old shed. I peek into box after box, mainly the bigger ones, but they're all filled with spears, swords and bows. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a staff stuck in the rafters above me. "Hey Nyssa," I call. "Help me out." "Find something?" I point above my head to the staff. "Oohhh, looks pretty sweet." Nyssa's lighter than I am, so she stands on my shoulders as I try to keep balanced. "Got it!" She exclaims. I slowly start to kneel towards the floor, and she hops off and lands with a somersault. "Here you go!" I take the staff, and go outside. I grab the rag I was using earlier to clean my knives and start to rub the dust off.

I start to love it the more dirt I rub off. White wood accented with silver hand holds, Celestial Bronze spikes on either end. As I scrub the grit off of the middle, it suddenly snaps in two. We both gasp. I look at the break, and notice something. "Hey Nyssa, you make weapons, right?" "Yeah, I made my own." She whips out a 2 pronged dagger and a curved bow. "Then what's this?" I hand her the one half of the staff, she then peeks inside and slips in a nimble finger. She slowly drags out a rolled up piece of paper; faded and brittle. "Here. It's your weapon. You read it." I sit on the ground and slowly unfurl it. Thankfully it's in ancient Greek.

"Dear Demigod:

I see you've found my staff. I hope you like it.
It was made in Hephaestus' forge in Mt. Helens.
Made of Birch wood and silver,
the mix of it and bronze should protect you
against any foe. Be it mortal or immortal.
I believe that the user will hold great power,
just as the staff itself shows strength and leadership.
But as the staff holds tragedy, so do you;
otherwise you would've never found it.

Be strong, young demigod."

Notes