Signs of a Storm

Chapter Eleven

Chapter 11: I Find Myself A Useful Weapon (finally)

"Hey Tara, are you going to eat that?" Percy asked, but stole it off my plate anyways.

"I was going to eat that. Never touch my pancakes again, or I'll stab you using the Mayan technique that Annabeth taught me." I warned him.

He put up his hands, "Sorry, I didn't know you were so protective over breakfast. Is Leo rubbing off on you?" He smirked at me.

"No, I just really like fattening breakfast foods." I shrugged, telling the half-truth. Our fight was still fresh in my mind. I didn't wish to discuss it.

"Makes sense." Percy said.

"Hey!" I laughed and punched his shoulder.

"Ow, dang Tara. You got some muscle there." He squeezed my muscle. It was solid.

"Yup, I've been working on it." I smiled proudly.

"Let's take a trip down to the creek, something tells me that you have a gift waiting for you." Percy looked around. "Oops, that was a surprise." He shrugged and bolted out of the pavilion. Of course, I had to follow him to see what he was talking about. He led me down to the creek where I had been the first day of training.

And when I reached the shoreline, a small package was waiting wrapped in seaweed. "Dad said to say that he loves you and that he hasn't been able to talk to you because he and Aphrodite have been in serious battle lately." Percy smiled.

"Can I open that now?" I asked giddily. He smiled again and nodded. I rushed to pick it up.

Then I peeled back the seaweed. The gift glistened in the sunlight. I reveled more of it until the seaweed was completely off. Underneath the layer was a pearly white dagger. Its handle was carefully embedded with seashells and had a sea-green glow off of it. The blade itself was extra sharp; it had a wave design carved into it which made it the most beautiful blade I'd ever seen.

"That's amazing." Percy was just as breathless as I was.

"Yeah, thanks dad." I muttered under my breath. It was absolutely amazing, and looked like it was extremely accurate. "Want to go practice with it?" Percy asked exactly what I was thinking. I nodded, beyond happy. I literally ran back to the training grounds.

This was going to be epic.

"Let's go, hurry up." I beckoned Percy forwards.

"But you already won the last fight. You've got some skill, I'll give you that. Just let me be!" Percy was still clutching his side from where I kicked him in our last battle.

"Aww, you're no fun." I rolled my eyes. The dagger was specially designed for me, the grip fit perfectly in my hand. And the blade seemed to bend with my movements. It was the perfect thing for me.

Absolutely perfect.

"Just go get Jason or Annabeth or someone besides me!" He wasn't going to move. I sighed and looked outside the arena for the first person that passed by.

And just my luck, it was none other than Nico. "Hey! Nico! Can you please come here?" I waved him over. He just gave me a look.

"Um, Tara that's not a good idea." Percy warned me.

"And why is that?" I asked him. He shrugged.

"You'll find out." Percy chuckled. Nico reluctantly walked over to me, "What do you want?" I just smiled. This was going to be fun.

"Let's fight." I said. Nico gave me a devious smile,

"Alright."

I positioned and drew my dagger. He brought out his sword. It was pitch black and seemed deadly. Now I knew why Percy wanted me to avoid a battle with him. Nico didn't even seem like he moved, and I felt a stinging on my arm. As I looked down, it was bleeding. Oh, it's on, Death Boy.