Time and Earth: A Doctor Who and PJO Crossover (Bk 1)

Chapter 6: Throwing Knives

Chapter 6: Throwing Knives

The combat arena was alive with the echoes of metal, skin and bone. Strolling into the place, I ran my fingers over my trio of throwing knives, the same three Will had chosen for me when I'd first arrived here three years ago. The dark leather of their pommels were smooth under my palm, roughened from Camp Half Blood's training regime.

To my left, in the main sparring pit, Daniel Kane and Jason Grace sparred, the gold of the son of Jupiter's sword blurring with the bronze of Daniel's blade. In the shadows surrounding the pair, cliques of Aphrodite, Apollo and Ares kids, both male, and female, ogled over the two demigods, power rippling from both of them.

I scowled at the sight and continued on my path.

I'd tried to get Annabeth to come along, anything to get her outdoors and with people, but she'd insisted that her current calculations were vital for the Argo II. And once Annabeth had her mind set on something, it was impossible to change it. So begrudgingly, I'd turned to an old friend for company.

"Watching Daniel in action?" Will Solace smirked, taller than me now. The son of Apollo practically glowed, despite being half swallowed in shadow. Looking back now, I cringed to think I'd first thought him to be a son of Zeus.

"Please, I have better things to do," I scowled again as the throwing range came into view.

Hidden in the back of the combat arena, demigods rarely even noticed it was here. More would have, if they'd chosen archery or throwing knives as their weapon, as I had, instead of the mainstream sword, as Daniel had.

I cringed again.

"Ten dollars says I hit the bullseye three times in a row," I challenged as we reached the range.

Will swung his quiver onto his shoulders, broad and taut from his superior years of training. "Ten dollars if I hit the bullseye three times in a row."

Yanking the first of my knives out, I twirled the blade in my palm, relishing in the soft kiss of leather against my skin. "Sounds like a challenge. What about twenty?"

"Thirty, and you've got yourself a deal."

"Well then, may the odds be ever in your favor, Will Solace, son of Apollo."

He rubbed his hand against the cartilage of his nose, groaning at both my horrible reference and accent. "Sure thing, Lucy Evergreen, undetermined."

I tried not to let the title sting. In the aftermath of the Battle for Manhattan, I'd firmly believed that the answer to my heritage would be soothed.

Daniel must've thought that too, though I tried to repress the thought, not since he'd left me for the wolves.

But here we were, months afterward, in the wake of a newer, scarier war, and still no answer from the Olympians.

Daniel and I were the only undetermined demigods in the entire camp.

Annabeth, of course, had demanded that we ask Olympus about it, and then they went silent, so the whole thing was put on hold. And now, with the whole Camp Jupiter-Gaia-Argo II thing, I was beginning to doubt if I'd ever know just who had given me this life.

Smiling, I twirled my blade again as Will nocked an arrow.

Behind us, Daniel cried out in pain. It hung between Will and I like fairy lights, twinkling like a dying star. I hoped Jason had landed a good hit, though not enough to knock Daniel out of action for an extended period of time.

For all that he had done to me, he was good in battle, and we'd need someone like him in the approaching fight with Gaia.

We both stood, staring at our respective targets, and I realized none of us knew who was to go first. I looked over at my friend, and he nodded in my direction. Fine then.