Signs of a Storm

Chapter Nine

Chapter 9: New Experiences, And New Explosions

"Ready to do this?" Percy was kicking my butt at this fighting thing. I absolutely hated it. If you were to ask me, I think I'd say that my best skill that I was the strongest in was probably mental training. Ask me a puzzle, it'd be done within five minutes. Got a super hard equation to ask about? Yup, I'm the girl. But put me in a training ring? Nope.

"No, I'm so tired! You whooped my butt like fifteen times, in a row." I complained. He rolled his eyes like I was the laziest person here. But let's not forget that he was the one who stayed in the infirmary for two days over. "You're being pathetic, no demigod has it easy. You just need to try extra hard. Push your limits." He seemed to be scolding me.

I huffed out a big breath. Then I went back into the ring. "There you go, Tara. Keep going even when you don't want to." He came towards me, swinging his sword all fancy-like.

"No need to be all proper, you show-off." I grinned and waited for him to take a few more steps. And then I'd take action. My plan was simple. And no, it wasn't to retreat, I was going to fake him out and get him from behind. He got within my range, so I pretended to stab at his arm. Percy obviously tried to block it, and so I rolled and popped back up. "What the-" He mumbled as I cut a gash in his right shoulder. He groaned and said some unkind things.

But I didn't stop there.

I took this to my advantage and spun around, cutting his ankle. But Percy stood up and kicked me backwards. I flew back a few feet, with no air in my lungs. Of course he wouldn't lose that easy. Especially since he was so much more advanced than I was. Percy was determined on not letting me win any of the battles we had.

He charged me, which wasn't a good thing. I was still lying on the hard ground, waiting for my lungs to work again. No such luck.

Now I think I knew how some people with asthma felt. It was awful, and I was about to get pummeled by him, yet again. Percy raised his sword up, and paused a second, as if mocking me and waiting for me to rise up, which he knew I couldn't do. "Stop, I can't breathe." I croaked. How in the world did that kick do that much damage?

"Well, then I guess you'd die in a real fight." His sword came down, I winced, but it landed right next to my face. If I turned my cheek, I could feel the radiation coming off of it, because it was so close. Percy did that on purpose. To show me how easy I was to kill. If that weird person in my dream came along, guess who'd be the victim, yours truly.

"Get up." Percy had no sympathy whatsoever in his voice. He even turned away when I asked for help getting up. "You are a very skilled fighter, don't doubt that, you just plan and think more than you act." He said. "And I respect that. Annabeth does the same thing, but her skills are far more advanced. She's had her hands on a dagger since she was a little kid. And you're sixteen at the moment, which is a bit of a disadvantage." He looked me in the eye, thinking about this. We walked out of the arena, both very silent.

"How about we take you to Annabeth, she might be able to give you some great tips." He led me to the Athena cabin. Lucky number 6. All though my "lucky" number was 13. I honestly can't remember whose cabin that one belonged to.

Percy knocked on the door, and almost immediately someone opened. He wasn't that tall, but looked very intelligent, as I suspected most of the Athena kids seem to be described as. "Hey there, Malcom. Is Annabeth there somewhere?" He peeked over his shoulder into the space behind the boy. I just kinda stood there, twiddling my thumbs, not much else to do...

Malcom turned around and asked a girl that passed by quickly. "No, sorry Percy, she's at Bunker 9 doing some research. But it's nice to talk to you, haven't seen you in a while." He smiled, and he looked like a cute dork.