Shades of Glory- Book one of Walk of Glory.

Stabbed in the back. (it hurt!)

A few days later, she finally got out of the Infirmary. The first one to come to see her was Ethan. He decided, since he spent a lot of time in the Infirmary too, that someone needed to watch over her.

Today was the day of Capture the flag. Thursday afternoon, three days after I got blinded by the Minotaur. I finally got out. Percy said he had his first sword fighting lesson. Everybody from Cabin 11 gathered in the big circular arena where Luke would be our instructor.

I used to be an instructor, but then after the minotaur. I wasn't allowed to for obvious reasons of being blinded in one eye. Aqua and Mr. D tried to fix it but.It didn't do any good. All it did was make it a little hazy. They said once your true, godly parent claimed you, you should have full eyesight.

I still wasn't allowed to wield my swords.

They started playing with basic stabbing and slashing using some straw stuffed dummies and Greek armor. I guess Percy did ok. At least he understood what he was supposed to do, and his reflexes were good.

The problem was, he couldn't find a blade that felt right in his hands. If they were too heavy or too light or too long, Luke and I tried Our best to come up.But he agreed that none of the practice blades seemed to work on him.

We moved to dueling in pairs. Luke announced he would be Percy 's partner.Since it was his first time.

"Good luck." One of the campers told him. "Cassie is the best swordsman, or is it swordswoman in the last 300 years, though Lukes definitely next."

"Maybe he'll go easy on me." He said.

The camper snorted.

Luke showed him. Thrust and perries and Shield blocks the hard way. With every swipe he got a little more battered and bruised. It was hilarious to watch.

"Keep your guard up. Percy", he'd say. Then he'd wrap him in the ribs with a flat of his blade. "No, not like that far up."

Whap! "Lunge." whap! "Now back." Whap!

By the time he called the break, he was stoked and sweaty. Everyone swarmed the drink cooler. Luke poured ice water on his head, which looked like a good idea and he did the same.

"OK, everyone's circle up." Luke ordered. "If Percy doesn't mind, I want to give you a little demo."

Basically know what Percy was thinking.Great. Let's watch Percy get pounded.

The hermes guys gathered round. They were suppressing smiles. I figured they'd been in my shoes before and couldn't wait to see Luke use him as a punching bag.He told everybody that he was gonna demonstrate A disarming technique on how to twist the enemy's blade and flatten your own sword. He so you had no choice but to drop your weapon.

"This is difficult." He stressed. "I've had it used against me. No laughing at Percy. Now most swordsmen have years to master this technique."

One kid.Yelled out. "Yeah, I remember Cassie using it against you and you fell face first in the sand!"

"See. Exactly. And that's why we're not going to laugh if that happens to Percy." though after the comment his cheeks flushed red.

He demonstrated the move on Percy in slow motion. Sure enough, the sword clattered out of his hand.

"Now in real time." Said after Percy retrieved his weapon. "We keep sparing until one of them pulls it off. Ready, Percy?"

And Luke came after him. Somehow he kept him from.a shot at getting the hilt of his sword. Percy stepped forward and tried to flush to his own. Luke deflected it easily, but I saw a change in his face. His eyes narrowed and he started to press against him with more force.