Natasha was annoyed. She had been one of the hardest to choose a cabin for, because seeing as the Nemesis and Artemis cabins were next to empty, and she had to stay in one with previous inhabitants, she was stuck between Ares and Athena. Violence and smarts. In the end, she decided that the majority of the Ares cabin would be easier to defeat than most of the Athenian campers. And so here she was, standing in front of a scruffily painted blood red cabin, barbed wire dangling from the roof and a stuffed boar's head mounted above the doorway. It's glazed eyes seemed to follow whomever was walking by.
Loud, angry rock music blared from the inside, and Natasha had been warned about live landmines surrounding the cabin. Someone seemed to have covered the walls in flag grenades and brightly decorated claymores. Palisades surrounded the perimeter, and when Natasha stepped into the cabin, she saw many messy bunks with piles of sharp, deadly weapons dumped on top and around the beds. Chest plates and helmets adorned the armor stands lined up along the wall. Many of the objects had death threats and curses scrawled on notes attached to them.
Grenades and spike traps were rigged up on the ceiling and floor, ready to attack anyone and everyone who entered the room. The kids who were in the cabin looked over at Natasha when she walked in and sneered. They glared and continued sharpening their various weapons. She thoroughly scoped out the children and teenagers in front of her, then spun on her heels and stomped out to grab her things.
She'd show them who was in charge, and then would be out of here by the end of the month, once all this was over. She was nearing a cluster of shadows where no one would be able to see her unless they were in the yard as well. As an expert spy and assassin, it was habit for her. However, when someone shifted to stand in front of Natasha, blocking her way out. This action managed to successfully make Natasha growl inwardly, and scowl externally. A muscular, lofty girl with small, dark eyes and stringy, pale brown hair stood in front of the gateway of the territory. A vicious sneer was planted in place, and a rather nasty(and fresh) scar plagued her chin. Her hair was cut short and ragged, looking as if someone had attacked it with a pair of safety scissors.
"I hope you've got what it takes to survive here girly," she said. "Ares isn't as nice as the other cabins, and your wimpy friends wouldn't survive a day here. If you're the toughest they got, then we'll have to see just how good you are. Clarisse La Rue," she adjusted the strap of her scabbard menacingly, "drakon-slayer, and two time survivor."
Natasha stuck out her chin. "Is that supposed to mean something? To intimidate me? So what if you have survived? This is a summer camp. I have been through war, and unlike you, I fought my battles with honor and skill, instead of brute strength." She was trying to rile the girl up and she knew it. Natasha swiftly swept past Clarisse, but the demigod stepped in front of her. "Get out of my way," Natasha commanded. "You don't know a thing about what war really is," she stated, voice raw with barely contained emotion. "You are the child of a war god. Your barbaric, savage mind couldn't begin to understand the complexities of the battles I have been through- you just revel in the fact that you can fight. Even Perseus is simply the child of a sea god, yet you think him the most powerful of your kind." Natasha sneered down at the tall girl, unable to hide that bit of emotion.
"Look, lady. I don't know what you've been through, but frankly, right now, I don't care. You can't go around acting all superior to us. We've fought for this planet, and to stay alive; we have enhanced abilities, making us stronger and faster than any mortal out there, including you. Me and my boyfriend have come back here from the University of Arizona to help in this war. We've been through heartbreak after heartbreak, Percy above all others. Don't test me. I may not have the best relationship with Prissy, but he is, without a doubt in my 'barbaric, savage mind', a hero." Natasha glared at her, but the girl continued on. "You wanna hear a funny story? My best friend was a daughter of Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty of all things. Silena Beauregard. Yet, in the Second Titan War, she fought like a daughter of Ares; like me, or rather, like I should have been. I'm the child the god of war, and I refused to fight over a petty grudge. And because of my mistake, she had to sneak into my cabin and take my armour, pretend to be me, in order to bring hope back to the others. Did you know that drakons can only be killed by children of Ares?"
YOU ARE READING
Beating Hearts
ActionPerseus Jackson. The name that sent chills down monsters spines, and that sparked hope in demigods everywhere. But beyond that, this name belongs to a boy. A man. A man who has seen so much, too much. Who has watched as his friends were killed, murd...
