Chapter 3

–Sword fights-

After Clarisse had said that, Kayla simply huffed and decided to carry on with her wandering around the medical wing. Nothing much, just seeing what she could find. Turns out the guy that Clarisse was in here for, had already been in. The reason Kayla never realised was because he was asleep, and not willingly asleep. Like… knocked out asleep. She didn’t recognise him. And his black, swollen, bloody eye made it even harder to identify him.

It made her feel a little bit better that she had only verbally butchered Kayla.

She did happily get a good nights sleep. Clarisse had seemed to have walked out in the middle of the night. The bed was unmade and anyone could be sure she wouldn’t be coming back at nine in the morning now to fix it up.

Kayla walked out of the medical wing, going straight to the Hermes cabin to get fresh clothes and freshen up all together. Today was Malcolm’s sword practice, so she made her way down to the fighting grounds to find him already there. He noticed her straight away, and immediately took in her new look of broken knuckles.

She looked around while making her way towards him, today was pretty quiet, the only other people here were two others all the way down at the end.

“Wow. I love the new fashion statement. Where’d you get it from?” Malcolm looked down at Kaylas bandaged knuckle with a grin.

“Yeah, me too. Why don’t I just show you how I got it?”

He chuckled and came towards Kayla, sheathing his sword.

“Are you sure you want to be here? It’s not like you can exactly fight me.”

“Nah, I’ll be fine, you’re always cheering me on, I’ll do the same.”

“Well, I am honoured.”

“Your gonna need a new fighting companion for the next few days though. Well, the ambrosia will speed up the process. It’ll be healed in two days or so.”

He disregarded Kayla, and walked back to his puncture-props with a smile on his face, putting a hand on one of the props shoulders.

“Nah, I’ll be good. Got these buddies and a good friend to cheer me on. Right?”

“You bet.”

She smiled at him softly and walked to the other side of the fighting ground.

“Ready?” Kayla asked. Malcolm took his stance and unsheathed his sword. Ready to make his way quickly through the puncture props- that’s what he liked to call them, Kayla soon adapted to the name, too.

“You’re the only one doing sword practice?”

This voice didn’t come from Malcolm nor her. It came from behind us both. A very familiar, rough voice that could only belong to the head of Ares cabin: Clarisse.

Kayla quickly turned with a confused look on my face, and so did Malcolm.

“Sherman told me he’d meet for a final. You’ve got to be joking me.”

Kay gave her look of questioning, and Malcom did the same.

“Shermans still knocked out cold all the way up there-” She started, coming quieter towards the end. Sarcasm always seeped through her voice, it got her in bad places often. This is one of those often moments, for example.

“Athenas’ kids are on training grounds today unless your practicing in a small group.” Malcolm enquired. While Clarisse just scoffed and came closer.

“Well, I’m practicing, aren’t I?”

The girl took her spear off her back and walked slowly over to Malcom, trying to intimidate him. She took a stern look at him, focused completely.

He wasn’t intimidated. Not in the slightest. Ever since Kayla came here, she had noticed he was always one to stand up for himself. The names he was called and the treatment he got yet it seemed like he never cared what they said. It stopped eaely on when Kayla arrived at camp- since this was when she first befriended malcolm and politely told them all to back off.

It was a little less than polite, as the group ended up painfully fainting when they decided to add snarky comments onto everything she was telling them. Still not sure how she did that; or never got the blame, either.

Needless to say, they never tried him ever again.

“Come on, scared? I think Ares and Athena should have a battle off. What do you say?” She suggested.

Clarisse pushed him on verbally, taunting him on how Ares is superior, and Athena is minor. Malcolm was not one to fall for it, he was smart.

“I don’t think anyone should have battle offs, there is no need.” He replied.

“Such a prissy. What about you? Is that your best hand?”

Clarisse turned to Kayla, and spun her spear in the air competitively. She motioned to Kayla’s bandaged up hand.

“Why don’t you just wait for Sherman, Clarisse.” She replied qith a sigh.

“Can you punch with your left hand? Or is that one of no use? You don’t want both hands broken, do you?”

“Knuckles.”

“How about we sword fight, huh? If Malcomb over here won’t, will you?”
She mocked, a sly smirk on her face, her posture confident and upright.

“Malcolm.” Kayla corrected.

Her eyes squinted into a thin line for a second, but returned to normal as soon as it came, unreasonably.

This girl was getting on Kayla’s nerves.

Clarisse snatched the sword out of Malcolm’s hand, and he stood there, letting it happen. Trying to control his breathing.

“Let’s hope you’re a lefty.”

Kayla was not letting her win.

Something only Malcolm knew from being sword and boxing partners was that Kay was ambidextrous. Especially with swords, for some reason. Boxing helped alot, considering she had to use hand and eye coordination in both hands.

It was Clarisse’s unlucky day.

“Give it me then.”

She huffed and happily lent her Malcolm’s sword. And there they were. Arms length from each other. Clarisse picked up a practise sword from a little barrel on the side, placing her spear on her back. She spent no time wasting. As soon as Malcolm said a very unenthusiastic on guard.

The two girls glared Daggers at each other for a good few minutes, circling and waiting for someone to make a move; Kay wanted her to make the first one.

Firstly, she slashed, Kayla dodged, barely, it would have sliced her hip if not.
Kayla jabbed back and she parried. She was good. She had yet another confident look on her face. In Kayla’s eyes, it looked more snarky.

Kayla took her chances with her sword and lunged towards Clarisse, while she dodged and made it look like she had a few minutes to spair in the meantime.
See, Kayla was good at sword fighting, it seemed to be a natural talent, but Clarisse had the height advantage, and the muscle. She was beefy and naturally muscly. Kayla was simply a work in progress sleepers build.

Kayla’s breathing was getting heavier, hers was slighly better. She seemed to have more control over her breath.

“So you are a lefty.”

“I’m both.”

She didn’t seem shocked by this, instead it inspired her to go harsher on Kayla.

She slashed once again and Kayla managed to stop her sword from going straight to her lower torso with redirection.

This gave Kay an idea- since they were both so close to slicing each other.

“First to draw blood?” She asked.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn ya.”

So, after Kayla said this, she really, really wish she never did. She almost got embarrassed. As Clarisse sidestepped as Kayla lunged to jab, Kayla’s focus on her own sword left her to forget abut Clarisse’s. A simple slash was all it took, down the front of Kayla’s thigh, and Clarisse had won.

Clarisse let the best of it get to her, as she did a mini victory and went to place the sword back in the barrel, pushing the tip into the bottom of the wood with force.

“Good, not good enough.” She told me.

Kayla had never done first to draw blood before, but it was something that definitely got your adrenaline pumping. As she looked down, Clarisse hadn’t gone easy on her, the cut was deep and would certainly leave a scar. But the pain wasn’t that bad. Sort of like a thorn prick, but it didn’t last.

“One to Clarisse.” Malcolm stated, in a very robotic-like voice.

Kayla handed the sword back to Malcolm quickly. And clenched her fists, jaw clenched. She was over there, acting like the world had just been conquered, she didn’t regard Kayla.
She was a big, egotistical, blood thirsty bit-

“Ow! What- stop- what are doing!?”

What could she possibly be groaning at now?

The girl was clenching her head, doubled over and focusing to stay balanced on her own two feet. Slowly crumpling to the ground.

“You sychopath! what the hell did you just do to me!”

Now Kayla had to be honest, she had no clue what she did. But it obviously wasn’t good. Kayla instantly stopped squeezing my fists together, and ran over to her with a questionable look on my face. Malcolm did the same.

“What are you talking about?”

“Get away from me!” Clarisse slashed her hand in an attempt to hit one of the two, though failed miserably.

The other two Athena kids at the other side of the fighting grounds had stopped to stare at the scene, and Kayla was pretty sure her and Malcolm were all unhappy for once that Wednesdays’ were never busy down here.

Malcolm had disregarded his sword earlier on, and was crouching next to Clarisse to see what was going on.
For once, the Ares daughter didn’t look brave and fierce. And Kayla wasn’t sure if she should have been happy or scared.

Malcolm, despite hating Clarisse’s guts , was faster than Kayla to attempt to help Clarisse up. As she rejected the help, not long after she passed out. With no one around, that left a very unhappy Malcolm and a confused Kayla.

“I don’t wanna be interrogated by Chiron on why Clarisse is passed out on a concrete floor.” He mumbled, putting his hands up in surrender.
He suggested trying not to let anyone like Chiron know. Which Kayla thought was stupid. But-

Poor Malcolm and her had to drag Clarisse all the way up to the medical wing.

She was heavier than she looked, which Kayla didn’t know was possible for someone with so much muscle. and when they got to the medical wing and the kid on duty asked what happened, They both gave a nod, a smile, waved, turned around and made plans elsewhere.

***

“So, Kay, you gonna tell me what that was about?”

“It’s becoming more frequent.”
Kayla told him, becoming deep in thought while they had decided to go for a walk after dropping Clarisse of at the medical wing.

“What?”

“Remember when that bunch of kids passed out when I got angry at them?”

“Yeah,” He answered, starting to understand what I was getting at.

“Well, earlier when she took your sword, that’s when I started to get mad, and her eyes sort of squinted, she hissed in pain, didn’t you hear her?”

“And then after the fight was over and you were still angry at her, and she collapsed.” He continued.

“Yeah, but, what does that mean?”

He shrugged his shoulders and said he had no clue.

“But your parent better pucker up and claim you, because that was wild.”

Kayla chuckled and continued walking towards the Mess Hall. Her leg and been bandaged up in there too, and she wasn’t doing good this week for visits to the medical wing, tomorrow it would be five times this week, considering getting the bandages off her knuckles tomorrow.

Meanwhile, a meeting at the mess hall had been issued today, everyone was making their way up the steps to sit at their table, it was chaotic, and the was a great possibility on why.

The Stoll brothers’ were chanting a bunch of nonsense on their way up the steps, ruffling everyone’s hair on the way past, chanting There’s no use trying, we’ve already won.

It was that time that came around every few months. Capture the flag. The bane of all Kayla’s problems. See, in this stupid game, Kayla was the one who never stuck to the rules. Annabeth told her to defend? She’s attacking! Annabeth tells her to lay low? You bet Ares team gets hit full force. Ofcourse, it doesn’t always work. She’d costed a Athena’s team a few wins before, which… well, it never resulted in Kayla’s envisioned crowd cheering her on and carrying her all over. No, that’s never happened.

“Come on, Luke! Yes, Malcolm! kayla! Mickey!” They pointed to everyone the same time they said their names, Makayla- a girl from the Apollo cabin, and Mikayla’s nickname Mickey originated on her first Capture The Flag tournament, so they wouldn’t get the two of them confused on the same team. It stuck.

The Stoll brothers chanted in harmony, getting everyone from the Apollo, Hermes, and Athena cabins’ involved.

The Ares kids were scattered about, mainly punching their siblings in the ribs out of excitement a bit too hard. Getting one another riled up to go to battle. That’s what they were saying.
They seemed to be bouncing about everywhere as if they had no one to put them in their place. Then it clicked: they didn’t?

Charles Beckendorf, the Head of Hephaestus cabin was involved in getting his cabin giddied up, along with getting the Demeter, Aphrodite and Dionysus children involved- or he tried, atleast.

“Quiet Down!” The familiar, old voice of Chiron bellowed once everyone was in the Mess Hall.

“As you can all already see, the teams have been chosen- Athena team, cabin six, led by Annabeth Chase, is leading Hermes and Apollo, meanwhile Ares is leading the remaining few Cabins, led by Clarisse, of cabin five,” Chiron announced, motioning his hands in all different directions, before finishing, Dionysus gave a speech with a reminder.

“And, as we should all know, Ares, mainly, and much to my regret, there shall be no miaming or killing, yet magic items are permitted. Ares is currently winning from last, and may the game commence- later.”

***

Clarisse is really digging herself a hole without knowing here-

I’ve got such a good plot for Capture The Flag, so it won’t just be a boring old game which doesn’t tie in with the plot!!

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