Collision (PJO/HP Crossover)

Chapter 17

Percy

The sword clattered to the floor. Harry sighed. I picked up his sword and handed it to him. "Don't worry, you'll get it. It takes time. Swordplay is difficult to master. I've been training for almost six years. You're doing great."

"Whatever you say," Harry said, raising his sword.

I lifted my own. "All right, show me the disarming maneuver again."

It was our fourth time working with weapons, not counting the first day when Annabeth and I demonstrated. Since Annabeth and I were so skilled, Hecate had put us in charge of teaching students who took an interest in the weapon we specialized in, while she taught everyone else. That meant that I was teaching Harry and others with the sword and Annabeth taught Hermione and people pursuing the knife. She was doing much better than I was.

Harry shuffled forward and struck. I couldn't help but notice everything he was doing wrong. His feet weren't right, he held the sword more like a wand, and he was stabbing instead of slashing. That was the Roman way, but I hadn't spent enough time in Camp Jupiter to be comfortable with their style, so I stuck with teaching Greek slashing.

I blocked Harry's strike and set my sword on his, using the same disarming technique that Luke had taught me when I was twelve. Harry picked up his sword and backed up into the line of students watching, accepting defeat.

I glanced over and saw Annabeth working with Hermione, who was learning very quickly. I had heard that that was how she usually worked. On the other side of the room, Hecate had enchanted the other types of weapons in order to help all of them at once. Ron was doing all right with his bow and arrow, slowly getting better with his aim. Ginny had quickly risen to the top of her group with the spear, and I was amazed at how well she was fighting.

"Swordplay is mainly about balance," I said, swinging my sword around and showing a few moves while I talked. "If you strike too hard you'll lose your balance and your opponent will have a good opening to attack. If you don't have enough power your opponent will easily defend themselves and attack. You have to find something in the middle. It's different for everyone, and it especially depends on your strength. You have to find what works for you, what's right for you. You have to find the sweet spot."

The bell rang. "Okay, class is over, return your weapons and head to your next class," Hecate said.

I collected the swords and hung them up, Annabeth doing the same with the daggers. Hecate waved her wand and the rest of the weapons were put away. I envied her magical skills. But, then again, she was technically the first witch, so no one could match her skill.

It was a Friday, and since Defense Against the Dark Arts was the last class of the day, we were free to do whatever we pleased for the rest of the day. Annabeth and I chose to walk around the grounds, particularly near the woods. We were always on the lookout.

Whenever we walked by the woods, every once in a while Annabeth and I heard some weird noise. Sometimes it was the growl of a hellhound, or the slithering of dracaenae, and other times the scraping of metal as monsters sharpened their weapons. Sometimes the other students noticed and we had to take care of them quickly before anyone else saw them.

Unfortunately, this was one of those times.

We were near Hagrid's hut when we heard howling hellhounds and whispering telekhines. Annabeth quickly dragged me into the woods where we could pull out our weapons without suspicion. We followed the sound of the not-so-stealthy monsters, on the lookout for any traps.

We found a clearing full of about a dozen monsters, half of them telekhines and the rest a mix of hellhounds and dracaenae. We stayed in the tree line, planning our attack. Riptide gleamed in my hand.

"I'll take point and you take down any runners?" Annabeth suggested. "There aren't many of them."

"Sounds good to me," I whispered.

"On my mark."

We waited for a moment or so, watching to see if there were any others and estimating how many weapons there were. When Annabeth was satisfied that there were no others, she said, "Now!"

Annabeth rushed in, stabbing a hellhound in the foot. I followed quickly behind, taking down any she missed. Annabeth made her way into the middle of the mob, but I noticed something on the ground and before I could warn her, she stepped on it.

The reaction was immediate. A net lifted up, carrying Annabeth with it. She cursed and struggled to cut herself down, while the monsters jeered and laughed at her. They seemed to have forgotten about me, but quickly remembered when I slashed my way through them, making swift work of them. Soon, all that was left were a few piles of golden dust.

I glanced up at Annabeth, seeing her glaring down at me. Her sword had fallen and her knife wasn't big enough to cut the ropes. "You know," I wandered around the clearing, looking for a rope to cut and release her, "they did have telekhines. They're inventors, we should have known they would know we were here. It's—"

"Just shut up and cut me down," she bit out. I did as I was told.

The net dropped and Annabeth landed nimbly on her feet. She brushed off the dust and sheathed her knife. I gave her back her sword.

"Not a word of this to anyone," she said, and I was grateful she had already put away her blades.

"The thought never even crossed my mind," I said, but I was still smiling. It was kind of funny.

"It better not have," she muttered. She brushed monster dust off of my clothes and out of my hair. "Come on, it's getting close to dinner time."

"If those monsters made us late for food, I'll be mad."

"Of course you will, Percy. Always thinking about food."

"At least I'm not hanging around doing nothing," I said, laughing, and then dodged as Annabeth tried to punch me.

"You sure you want to do that, Seaweed Brain?"

I frowned. "No."

"That's what I thought."

A/N: Yeah, not much. A bit of a filler chapter, but I needed this one in here for some things to work out a bit later.

Anyway, read, comment, vote!

music+literature