Mortal Power: A Percy Jackson Fanfiction

Chapter 7

For a moment I have the urge to scrunch my eyes closed, but I keep them open, wanting to face my fate head on. This could be the decider between being accepted or... Well, you get the idea.

Thud.

I take a deep breath, and my thumping heart takes a leap. It can't be. I've never even dreamt of shooting a bow, let alone this...

The arrow, still quivering, sits in the middle of the target. The middle. Bullseye. You couldn't get any more in the middle. Archie blows a long, drawn out whistle. "That is crazy. Totally crazy."

Someone starts clapping. Then another. Soon, the whole cabin is clapping, and I nearly blush when I notice that a couple of Apollo kids nearby are too, and those who aren't are still eyeing me enthusiastically.

"Wow," breaths Aiden. "I must say, not a lot of Apollo kids can do that on their first shot. It makes sense; Apollo does claim a little late."

For some reason, poeple begin to look at the top of my head as if they expect a flower to have grown there, but they look disappointed and get back to whatever they're supposed to be doing. Aiden seems to wake up from a dream. "Okay, back to the activity guys. C'mon, get shooting."

I smile and reach for another arrow, and no one seems to notice my amulet going from bright yellow back to its white swirl.

* * *

"And we're done! Great job guys, free time now." The group breaks apart and Aiden makes sure they all have a place to go. When he spots me, lost and confused, his face lights up and he comes over to me. "Right, Audin. During free time, we pick from one of three activities: canoe racing, art and crafts with the Hephaestus cabin or rock climbing. What do you want to do?"

I furrow my brow in thought. I've seen the 'rock climbing' wall, and it looks a little lethal for me with its lava and clashing rocks. I don't feel very easy around those naiads, so... "Why not arts and crafts?" I say, maybe with a little boredom. Aiden shakes his head.

"Don't worry, it's not glue and scissors. It's... You'll see, it's pretty cool."

I shrug and follow him, wondering what sort of arts and crafts the Hephaestus cabin get up to. "Hephaestus is the god of mechanics and stuff, right?"

Aiden nods. "Basically. Here we are, the forge."

The first thing I notice is the intense heat. It's quite nice compared to the cold Autumn weather, but I can tell that I''ll get sweaty, and fast. From the sea of rushing campers, a girl strides toward us. "Hey Aiden. And I presume this is Audin?"

She gazes steadily at me with her blue eyes, the squelch and snap of her gum filling the short silence. "Yeah. What do you guys do around here?"

She smiles, just about smirking, and leads us off. "You'll see. I can take it from here, Aiden."

Aiden nods. "I'm going to the canoes. Yell if you need any help."

We part ways, him leaving the forge and heading toward the lake while I delve deeper into it, fires and working people everywhere. The girl speaks from ahead. "I'm Hana, by the way. Now, this forge is where stuff happens for cabin 9. We build most of our best creations here, and it's our second home."

She stops at an empty station with a fire, anvil and some tools and faces me. "We're making our own bronze weapons. What do you fancy? Sword, mace, spear, whatever. Make it. Be creative."

I think. Mace? No way, those are way too weird. Spear? They're okay, but too stabby. A sword... "A sword sounds cool. How do I do it?"

Hana nods and begins to sift through a box behind her. "Rule number one: this takes time and care. Imagine you were creating your own arm, your own heart, the only friend you are ever aloud to have. Make it with care and patience. Rule two: this takes practice, so don't expect to make a great sword in one go. For us, it's easy to pick up, but others could take a few years to be able to make a good weapon. Rule three: have fun. How often does the opportunity come for you to forge your own sword? I mean, for us it's a lot I guess, but... Whatever. Let's get started."

She finally pulls herself out of the large box holding a small, thin piece of metal. I raise an eyebrow at it. "That doesn't look bronze to me." She laughs. "Me neither. This is just normal steel. You still have to learn to forge, no matter who's kid you are."

She walks over to me and picks up a large pair of tongs. "Now first, you have to soften it..."

Hana shows me the techniques of forging, from the simple process of it to how to angle the hammer when shaping your piece. I'm awed to see how much passion she puts into her work, and I'm quite inspired. she takes me through measuring, filing, hardening, tempering, and a lot of other cool elements to making a weapon.

About an hour later, she deems me ready to try and shape my own piece of metal. I follow her instructions, not really aiming to make anything but just practicing.

I'm disappointed when I hear the horn blow to change activities. Hana begins packing up the station and I help her. "We didn't get to finish! How do you finish anything around here?"

Hana just laughs, her gum still squelching and snapping. "Just come back tomorrow. You did good today, you're a natural. I reckon we can start on your sword tomorrow."

I'm a little happier with leaving after that. I shiver as I step into the cold air, which feels cruel after being in the forge for so long. I wipe some sweat off my forhead and head to the arena for sword practice.

I feel a little clumsy at the practice, not only because I've never used a sword before, but because all of the camp swords just don't fit me.  As I practice, making sure to pay attention to all of the manuvers and techniques, I dream of my sword. How should I make it? Long, short, thick? I know nothing about swords...

"You doing okay there, Audin?"

I look up to see Archie grinning at me. I sigh. "Yeah, I'm just making a sword in the forge, but I don't know how I like my swords."

He stops his weapon in mid-air, his face scrunched up in thought. "How about we go over to the weapons rack? Don't worry, Aiden will just think I'm teaching you one-on-one or something."

I laugh and follow him to the rack, where he picks up a random sword and holds it out to me. "Here, duel with this one first."

I take it, then his words sink in. "Wait, what? I can't-"

I yelp as his sword comes swinging toward me. I throw the sword up to defend myself, but it's too heavy and I miss. Thankfully, Archie stops his blade right before it hits my heavy armour. He smiles. "Cool, so not that one. Too heavy, right?"

I nod and he hands me another one, which is very long. "Okay, but first, at least give me some warning-"

I withhold another yelp as his sword swings toward me again. Fine. I bring my sword up, but it's too long to manuver properly and I only just succeed in deflecting his blade away from my body. He frowns in thought. "Sheesh, you're a picky swordsman. Sorry, wo-man."

He picks yet another one and hands it to me. One after the other, he hands me every sword and forces me to fight with it. I'm drenched in sweat by the end of the exercise, and Archie nods. "Okay, I think I've got it. You need a medium length sword, thin but strong, not too heavy but weighty enough to inflict damage. Wow, have fun making that."

I punch him in the shoulder. "Thanks. So basically I'm a really difficult swordswoman?"

He laughs and nods. "Very."

We return to the group to practice fighting, and I can't wait to get back into the forge.

______

Sup people!

You guys still liking this fic? Thanks to @millz-sama for reading this as soon as it's updated, that makes me feel happy ^-^ and thanks to @Secret_is_Relaxing for her feedback and guesses. This stuff means a lot to me.

Over 300 reads!!!?? You spoil me. 

Any idea as to who her parent might be? Well, for those of you who didn't read the first version... Or have I changed it? Or is ther an unforseen twist? You will never know.... Mwahahaha.

Wait, yes you will. BUT YOU ARE AT MY MERCY.

Thanks for reading. Vote, comment and follow if you will,

Rainbow_Ink