Another Chance

Holy shit, Athena approves!

HOLY SHIT, ATHENA APPROVES!

Here it is... the ninth chapter of this woefully slow book. I've added the gods' reactions to the progress of the quest at the end, which I probably wouldn't in the next chapters.

Hopefully, you all enjoy it.

Apparently, Annabeth was just as desperate for a quest as the last time if not more. So, when I approached her for the quest, she stared at me for a full minute (making me really uncomfortable), then drove a fist in my face. It turned out, Annabeth thought I was teasing her by waving her 'deepest desire' in her face.

It took a full half-hour of explanations to convince the legitimacy of the quest to Annabeth. Thankfully, she believed me in the end and agreed to meet up at the hill in the morning for the departure.

Thinking to myself, I then went to Grover. Poor guy almost fainted before I could complete the details of the quest. But, Grover, the stupidly brave satyr that he was, agreed when he heard I wanted him to come on the quest. I almost teared up when I heard the words, 'This quest is bound to fail, but if you believe in me, I suppose I should start too.' I felt like a proud mama hen.

After the whole ordeal with Annabeth and Grover, I just wanted to relax, but Luke had other ideas. He dragged me to the arena lecturing how I shouldn't sulk around before a quest and practice my fighting skills.

I audibly growled and almost, almost, yelled that I had to go on this fucking quest because of him in the first place. Him acting all innocent and carefree nearly pushed me to the edge. I had to think about blue chocolate-chip cookies and Artemis for a while to keep my temper in check, lest I deck him in the face. But I wasn't going to let him leave unscathed from the fight.

Once our audience had arrived, our spar commenced. Any ideas of holding back went out the window when I remembered how many of my friends had died because of him. I uncapped Riptide, the three-foot bronze gleaming in the sun, reflecting off the manic smile on my face, and charged towards him.

Our blades clashed in a shower of sparks. Every lunge of his was met with a parry of mine. After a minute of him analyzing me, he decided to go all out and his attacks became precise, quick, and deadly. I could see why he was the best swordsman in three hundred years. He moved with grace and glided in and out of attacks like it was a second nature to him.

As good as he was, he wasn't nearly as quick as me in terms of speed and agility. Training with the best and quickest fighter on Olympus, Artemis, for three years was enough to heighten my agility to her level. Although I could seldom beat her, our spars continued for hours at length, with no one coming out on top. She would often win due to her godly stamina, while I had to rely on my puny demi-god body. Hmmph.

I was parrying all his attacks and slashes without breaking a sweat, as he advanced mercilessly. I decided to end the spar before it would get too late to pack for my quest. With quick successive slashes and thrusts, Luke's sword clattered out of his hands as I held him at sword-point.

The silence in the arena was deafening as everyone gaped at me wide-eyed for defeating the supposed best swordsman with maneuvers that were too fast to even follow. Soon, hushed whispers pierced the stillness as I picked up Luke's sword and tossed it to him with a smile, subsequently walking out of the arena, but not before wishing him a good game.

I found myself under Thalia's pine in the cool, tranquil morning of the following day, with my backpack shouldered. Leaning on the pine, I gazed down on the valley. The sun had just risen, coloring the skies in a magnificent palette of blue, orange, red, and pink. Hardly a few campers were awake at the hour, most of which still in their cabins or wandering around the camp. I could make out some in the arena; probably the Ares bunch.