Revenge

Chapter 20

"How did you sleep?" Percy asked politely at breakfast. He was trying, Beck had to give him that much.

She shrugged. "I've had better nights."

He nodded and they sat in silence for a few minutes.

"You've got a new schedule." Percy told her. "I won't be able to help you with figuring it out though, I've got sword lessons and things to teach."

"I can figure it out on my own." Beck waved him off. She could feel him watching her as she picked at her muffin. Someone a few tables away had a plate of eggs and it was making her nauseous, but she didn't say anything because she'd dealt with it before. Percy was eating blue pancakes, which she'd decided not to ask him about.

"Here's your new schedule, child." Chiron handed her a piece of paper as he passed their table.

Beck scanned it. First she had weapons training with Michael and his cabin, then swimming. Scribbled in the margin was a note that she could spend time in her cabin rather than go to the lake, since she wouldn't be in the water.

Beck stood up and tossed the rest of her muffin into the fire, not bothering to send a prayer with it to her father. She was going to make it as clear as possible that she wasn't happy with him. Heading to the cabin, she got changed for her weapons practice and pulled her hair into a ponytail. She strapped her belt around her waist and walked to the archery range.

No one was there yet. She wasn't surprised, breakfast had only been partway over when she left.

Instead of waiting for everyone else to get there, she took her stance in front of one of the targets. Slowly, she took one of the daggers from her belt and lined up the shot.

Remembering what Michael had told her, Beck whipped the dagger forward, flicking her wrist just right to slam it into the target at maximum velocity.

She grinned at the satisfying 'thump' that emanated as the dagger hit home a few inches from the center circle.

Imagining the center circle was the father she'd never met, she pulled and threw another blade.

It hit smack dab in the center. Beck smirked and continued to throw until she ran out of blades.

"What did that poor target ever do to you?" Someone asked behind her while she was retrieving her weapons.

Beck turned to see Michael standing where she'd been throwing from, flashing her that trademark smirk that never seemed to disappear.

"I was imagining it as....someone." Beck said, sheathing the knives one by one.

"Someone who wronged you, I assume."

"Of course." She responded with a shrug.

"Your aim is getting pretty good." Michael told her when she reached him. "But you take too long to line up a shot. No monster in a fight is going to stop so you can find your mark. We'll practice with moving targets once the rest of the cabin gets here, alright?"

Beck nodded. "Fine by me."

•That Afternoon•

Beck sat down, feeling the fresh burn on her arm begin to sting.

She had been put with the Hermes cabin for the Lava Wall, and she was not enjoying it. She wasn't a strong enough climber to avoid the molten and solid rocks the stupid thing hurled at her, and was already covered in bruises and burns that hurt like Hades.

Above her, Travis nimbly followed Aaron up the rocks, dodging miniature avalanches and lava flows as he went. The two were part of the most proficient in the group, Connor and a little girl named Bailey being be only others who could keep up.

Beck felt a drop of water hit her arm. She looked around, expecting to see someone with a water gun or something, as the Apollo campers had been squirting each other during their free time.

No one was there.

Another drop landed on her skin, then another. Soon it was raining.

The Hermes campers started towards their cabin, Aaron and Travis climbing down to follow them, but Beck stayed where she was. It wasn't raining hard enough for her to get that familiar feeling of nervousness in her chest, so instead of heading for cover, she stepped up to the rock wall.

The rain was hard enough to cool the lava, which was a good thing. Beck slowly scaled the wall, only having to avoid the occasional rock fall. She reached the top and sat cross legged on the ground, feeling the rain soak into her skin. To her surprise, her bruises and burns slowly healed themselves.

She made a mental note of that.

After about twenty minutes, the rain let up. Beck climbed back down the wall, feeling a burst of energy that hadn't been there before, and started back to the cabin to change.

Someone fell in step with her and a familiarly deep voice spoke. "I thought you were afraid of water."

"I am." Beck said flatly.

"Then what makes rain different?" Percy asked curiously. "Is it the fact that you can't drown?"

Beck scowled and turned to glare at her half-brother. "What I am and am not afraid of is none of your business, Jackson."

Without waiting for him to say something else, she pivoted on her heel and walked away.