JADES POV
It had been a strange day. Well, it had been a strange and terrible eight years. It had taken me four months, but I finally made it to the camp of the stories, and now I was afe. Hopefully. But I knew Ms. Graceou would stop at nothing to get me back. The thought of being back in that house, back in that ring, made my stomach turn into a knot so tight I thought I was going to throw up.
The warm shower water loosened my taught muscles, and beat the dirt and grime out of my hair and nails. It had been ages since I’ve dared to go near water. It made me stronger, and Ms. Graceou knew that, she would be guarding every river from California to hear, waiting for me to show up. Now, I relished the fact that the water was fixing me, treating me as if it had missed me.
Once I got out and changed into a fresh pair of clothes, I felt almost as good as new. But I knew no amount of water could fix me. I had been through too much, and I was afraid no one was going to be able to save me.
“Sorry to keep you waiting” I mumbled as I stepped out, Percy was sitting in a chair, tapping a pen against his knee, weird.
“Don’t worry about it” he says, smiling at me. His smile reassured me, as if he was going to take care of me. Which I could believe, Percy was the perfect hero; kind, honest, strong, handsome and courageous.
He guided me to the mess hall. As soon as he stepped into the open aired Greek style, everyone stopped talking, and stared. I was used enough to it. That’s what happened every time I stepped into the ring. Except after that, they started screaming encouragement or insults, and betting their money. Now they just started whispering to each other. This was in a way worse. I kept my head high, staring at everyone, but no one made eye contact with me, as I slowly made her way to the lunch line. I had dealt with things much worse than this.
I did catch one person eyes while I was walking. Nico Di Angelo’s, the son of hades. On his plate was a half-finished serving of caramel cheesecake, a weird choice. I didn’t get what his problem was, he was handsome enough sure, but too pale to be my type. And he was just plain rude, and smirked too much. And it didn’t seem as if he laughed much, which was a serious fault. But it was obvious he knew how attractive he was,which wasn’t that surprising. They liked the whole bad boy thing. I didn’t. I felt as if I would have a very terrible time around the prince of the dead.
I grabbed my meal and sat at the Hermes table, where Percy told me the unclaimed kids went. They were nice enough, but wary, as if they could sense that I was rough, and would sucker punch them if needed be.
At the end of the meal, they all stood and started throwing their leftovers into the fire, an offering for the gods. I watched a few unclaimed kids get claimed, and rush happily over to their camps. I watched darkly as nico threw in a single pomegranate in the alter, and it spalker up in green falmes, before retuning to normal. Nico muttered something, which I could barely make out as “thanks dad” before turning and sitting at the hades table alone.
Then it was my turn. I cautiuosly stood up, feeling everyone’s eyes on me as I made my towards the fire. I threw in my leftover ribs and French fires, but nothing happened. I waited for a few moments but nothing. I felt deflated, and moved, head hung low towards my seat. The Hermes kids tried to encourage me, say that it was ok, that I’ll get claimed soon enough, but I didn’t want to listen.
Adjusting to the camp life was difficult. Especially feeling out of place in the cramped and crowded Hermes cabin. I felt constantly judged, and stared at. Whenever I passed by someone, people began to whisper. About what, I wasn’t sure. I hadn’t made much of an impression yet, how could they possibly be making up rumors.
If I shot an arrow, everybody would stop and watch me, and then instantly turn to criticize my stance. If I tried riding my horse, everyone would watch until I did something wrong and then begin to laugh with each other. I felt unwanted and ridiculed, like I didn’t belong in the camp. In the Hermes cabin no one would talk to me, since I refused to discuss my past, there was not really much left to talk about.
Some guys who thought a lot of themselves would try to start to try conversations with me, but I glared at them once and they backed off.
“They can almost see the power radiating off of you” Nico di Angelo says, scaring the shit out of me. I hadn’t seen him standing there before, the kid came and went like a shadow, and he was so quiet you almost forgot he was there. Add that with his shadow travel powers, and the kid could be anywhere at any time. That sort of creeped me out, the thought of not having privacy.
“How did you even know I was thinking that?” I ask, narrowing my eyes.
He shrugs dismissively, “why else would you be so tense. Anyways, when your claimed, probably by some major god, it’s just going to be worse, so you better get used to it” he says.
“Wow, very uplifting” she mutters sarcastically. He shoots me a look that could kill. If there was one thing that the son of hades was good at, besides blending into the shadows, it’s glaring at people.
“watch what you say around me, you may think your all that right now, but you have no idea what some of these kids can do, and they’ve have been training their whole lives” he threatens.
“And you don’t think I have?” I snap back, I could glare and fight just as well as he could. He looks me up and down, inspecting every inch of my body, not in a seductive or enamored way, but as if trying to figure out my past. I resist the urge to punch him, and bite the inside of my cheek to keep from blushing.
“It doesn’t matter. Whatever rough and tumble practice you’ve had won’t be anything against real actual people with real actual swords. You're going to have to learn how to sword fight if you want to get anywhere in this camp”
“What makes you think I can’t swordfight?” I snap, the truth was, I hadn’t had much practice, but in the pits, I had been against some ghost warriors who urged me to sword fight, so I had to learn, quick to if I didn’t want to die. Just like I learned everything else in my life.
“Trust me; compared to some kids here, like Percy, you can’t swordfight at all”
“Have you ever seen me swordfight?”
“No” he said, I hadn’t had the lesson yet, if I had, I’m sure Nico would’ve somehow known, he seems to know everything that happens in camp, even if he barely ever comes.
“great, then ill challenge you” I spit out, I dint mean to, it’s just whenever someone doubted me, I had to prove them wrong, it’s always been a fault, always a weak point. If enemies found that out, they could make her life miserable. Nico merely raised an eyebrow, an amused gleam in his eyes.
“Why not?” he shrugs dismissively, just like he does for everything else. I resist the urge to smack him, and instead lead the way towards the ring. I felt her hands start to sweat, and my heart beat quicken. I was going to make a fool of myself, I knew it. I had seen Nico fight. He was good, really good. And his sword always made me gulp when I saw it. If I made a fool of myself now, I would never be able to just a normal camper.
A few kids noticed them walking, and followed behind, so by the time they got to the ring, and picked out their swords, they had a small crowd, muttering and whispering. The two outcasts, oddballs, were now fighting. I could just imagine how weird that looked.
I picked up a smaller sword, it felt heavy and unbalanced in my hand, unlike my knife which had become like a second part to me. I would just have to find a sword that fit me as well as my knife did. But that might take a while, since my knife had appeared to me under my pillow. I always thought it was a gift from my godly parent, but that would mean my godly parent knew I existed, and that was evidentially wrong.
Nico, who hadn’t been carrying his sword before, just held out his palm, and slowly, a shadowy figure began to gain composure until it was a solid wicked black sword. This place would take some getting used to.
The small group that had come to watch them, now circled around them, and started to chant, uneasy about who to root for, since neither one of us was necessarily popular. “First to get pinned loses” Nico proposes. I just nod, I didn’t know the regulations. Somebody called set, like they sort of did in fencing, and we both raise their swords.
I couldn’t figure out how to hold my sword, or whether to do it with one hand or two, before Nico rushed towards me, and raised his sword, about to strike down. I, panicking, and forgetting I had a weapon, simply sidestepped. Then, I suddenly remembered, and turned quickly, hoping to hit Nico by surprise, but he was fast, as if he knew my next move before I did, and easily deflected it.
The spar continued like that, neither one of us getting the better of the other. The crowd around them grew. And I knew if I didn’t win soon, I would get tired and slip up. Nico was trained for this, to outlast and outwit his enemy, I wasn’t, I simply knew how to cheat, kill, and move on. I wasn’t used to formal sword fights, and they were tiring.
And then it happened, a sudden trip while I took a step back. I lost my balance, but quickly regained it. Yet, I still had lost a second, and Nico quickly took that second, to talentedly shoot my sword out of my hand. I hardened myself, ready for the humiliation, before a loud voice boomed between us.
“What the hades is going on here!” Mr. D, the camp director, yelled. The kids split off, and the god of wine and partying made his toward them. Nico, so surprised, didn’t notice as I quickly pick up my sword, which I was about to thrust at his chest, before Mr. D snapped, and my sword turned into a can of diet Pepsi. The only thing he could do now on earth.
There were a couple of snickers, but everyone stayed quiet. “You two are the stupidest little nothings I’ve ever met. You trying to prove yourself to your parent, jace!” he yells at me. I blink, surprised by his comment.
“It’s jade” I manage to say between gritted teeth.
“Whatever Jane, and you, Nicki! Just because your dad is the god of the dead does not mean you can just kill whoever you want.”
“He wasn’t going to kill me! I was totally winning” I whine, then realizing I sound like a little kid, shut myself up. Nico smirks at me, but says nothing.
“Shut up Janet, both of you, on dish duty, for a week, starting at dinner tonight. Trust me, this is not a good way to start camp, juniper” he says, pointing a finger at my face, “you do not want to get on my bad side” the god says, so close to my face I could smell the sickly sweet scent of diet Pepsi of his breath. He then suddenly turns, and rubs his temples while he walks away, muttering about how much he hates the gods, especially Zeus.
“Does he even have a good side” I mutters to herself. The group that had been watching them quickly disperses after that, which just leaves Nico and jade standing awkwardly next to each other.
“Don’t tell me washing the dishes here is something ridiculous like dunking them in lava or something” Nico doesn’t say anything, just turns and walks away.

Notes