Astrid Strider Daughter of Apollo

Gifts from our parents

Percy had agreed to come in his Spring Break to bring us some pegasi, which gave me some relief. Tobias would gather the three winged horses the night before we leave, which is tomorrow. So... We gotta get them today.

   "Come in, Astrid..." Tobias said into a walker-talkie. I rolled my eyes and clicked speak button, "Yes, Tobias? Over." I replied. It was the afternoon and I was At the Archery Range with Asha. Tobias was getting the pegasi from Percy by the front gate of Camp Half Blood, and all of us had to keep low. "Hey, uh, this is Hot Stuff! I kinda set the Ares flag on fire and they're chasing me on Zeus' Fist!" Leo's voice interrupted panting and static. I groaned.

"Asha, Leo is being chased by those Jerks, I gotta go." I said hanging my bow up. "Make sure he doesn't get smashed to a pulp!" She said worriedly. I nodded, "I won't! They'll be the ones being smashed!" I laughed grabbing Shadow.

"AAAAAAAAAASTRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDDD!!!!!!" Leo yelled running behind me

He was running down the hill of Zeus' Fist. I could see about either two or three Ares kids. They were dressed in full armor, had their swords which gleamed in the setting sun, and they looked pretty mad. ""What did you do?!l" I demanded, taking a stance and gripping Shadow. "Uh... I kinda burned their flag..." Leo yelped. I sighed. As I was about to charge, my sword disappeared. I looked around frantically. The Ares kids were getting closer by the second.

"Astrid, when did you get the shiny bow?!?" Leo gasped. "What?" I asked looking over my shoulder. Sure enough, there was definitely a bow. Golden, light, and strong looking. I also took notice that there was a quiver of arrows, golden with deadly sharp points. Sunlight, was inscribed the bow, I had taken note when I took it off. I only had a moment to admire it before I had strung an arrow in the bow in the blink of an eye and took aim at the first Ares kid who had approached. It was that idiot; Claude.

He wrinkled his nose in disgust, which I was surprised still work. "How's your sniffer?" I smirked standing taller. Holding the bow seemed to radiate power into me. "How's your dark heart?" He retorted. I rolled my eyes. There was a girl with him. Seeing her reminded me of that Hephaestus girl I had fought that day of Capture the Flag. I would have to ask Leo about his half sister later. "My heart is just fine, but I don't think yours will be," I said. Pulling the arrow tighter. "Pshh, your little arrow can't get through my armor." He said.

"Wanna bet?" I asked. I quickly shot the arrow at a tree and it went straight through. "Woah..." Leo breathed. I turned to Claude. He looked kinda startled. "Don't think we're done." He growled and stalked off shoving me. I turned to Leo who looked like he was about to just pass out. "Where did that come from....?" He asked shakily. He followed me as I went and gotten the arrow that had struck another tree. "My father, perhaps." I answered smiling and tracing the words again. Sunlight...

I made my way back to the stables where Asha and Tobias had told us to go. "What's up?" I said smiling. I saw the three pegasi and gasped. They were absolutely beautiful. Tobias was sitting on his, which was black and white spotted. Nico was petting his, which was a mixture of dark and light grey. And Dakota sat upon his, which was white and grey. Asha looked a bit shaken up, and everyone else looked surprise. Except for Dakota. He seemed to be smiling with pride.

"What'd we miss.....?" I asked slowly. Tobias answered, "Dakota as claimed, I got a new wicked shield, Asha got some awesome shoes, and Nico got a 'special' bottle." I blinked. "Okay.... I'm going to ask each one of you slowly.

"Dakota, who's your parent?" I asked turning to him. "Demeter." He said proudly. I smiled, "Good for you!" Nico rolled his eyes, "She's always telling me to eat cereal..." Apparently Dakota didn't hear him.

I turned to Tobias, "Let me see this shield." He pulled out this shield from his back with at was definitely wicked, it was probably made out of steel, and it had these awesome spikes and in the center, a symbol I didn't recognize. "My father gave it to me." Tobias said pointing to the symbol. I admired it for a moment longer. It seemed to have this sort of trance thing... Shaking my head, I turned to Asha.

"Boots?" I asked. She sheepishly showed me. They were so cute. They were shin length and on the outside were little pockets. "For medicine." She said smiling. I smiled knowing it was from our father.

I looked at Nico, "You?" He shrugged. "I don't know. There was a little note with it saying not to open unless necessary. We'd need it to get home, I guess." He said showing me the bottle, it was like a silver container that was an inch and on the cover was CHB. "Camp Half Blood," I said. He nodded.

   Leo complained, "Why didn't I get anything?" I rolled my eyes, "You have a new belt!" I said pointing to his waist, which was covered with shiny new tools. He whooped and begun to look at each one. "What about you, Astrid. Where'd you get the new bow and arrows?" Asha asked. I glanced back at it. "Apollo." I answered simply. 

   "So... Do you guys know what this means?" Dakota asked smiling. We all looked at him and I finished, "Our parents want us to go..."