After the three demigods and dragon leave, Sera throws her arm around my neck and drags me toward the crowd of demigods slowly trickling away. "We need to get you into training." She orders.

"What kind of training?" I ask, knowing full well I should dread the answer.

"Stabby-killy-and-some-defendy-training!" Sera crows. "What other kind would I be talking about?"

"If she's a child of Apollo, it'd be Healing training." Will suggests, jogging to keep pace with us. "And remember, she's on a limit today. She can do small exercises---but stay away from the Ares cabin!"

"Psh. Fine." Sera sighs. "We'll just sic you on some other cabins." she mutters conspiratorially to me as she breaks into a sprint toward a large area where kids are fighting with swords and spears.

"And the Hermes cabin! AND ATHENA!" Will calls after us, but Sera ignores him.

"Why Athena?" I ask, thinking back to petite Brit.

"If you're thinking of that baby girl Brit, you'd be surprised. I once charged into Capture the Flag with her on the other team and wound up flat on my back, that little girl darting across the border with our flag. Athena is unpredictable." Sera pauses for a second. "And there's Annabeth, too. She's a beast. Her cabin rarely loses."

"Fun." I say dully as Sera drags me to a stop in the training arena. Kids slowly stop to watch as she strides in with purpose, grabbing a wicked-sharp sword and tossing it at me. I barely manage to wrap my fingers around the hilt before the weight catches up to me, and it slips through my fingers, falling onto the dirt ground.

Sera taps her chin. "Too big. Here!" She grabs a different one, and tosses it again. Even I can tell this one's way too heavy, so I lunge out of the way instead of trying to catch it. Everyone laughs as it stabs into the ground where my foot was a minute ago.

"Reflexes. Nice." The blonde girl from yesterday, Endora, hits my shoulder with her own in a teasing way as she crosses the arena and easily wraps her fingers around the grip of an elegant silver sword with a curved blade, edged in bronze.

She twirls it with her fingers, resting it easily on her shoulder. Despite being the only Aphrodite camper here, she seems perfectly at ease around the Ares, Athena, and Hermes groups gathered here, in a ripped pair of jean shorts and an orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt that she's cut the sleeves off of.

"Well?" She demands, but with a glint of satisfaction in her eye. "Aren't you all going to practice?"

She winks at me and turns to a straw dummy. Her sword moves faster than I can see, slicing its arms and neck off in quick succession.

I whistle. "Nice sword." I can see everywhere else that people are having to hack at straw figures before they even get a dent. Endora's slips through like the dummy is made of butter.

Sera nods. "She earned it."

"Earned it? How?"

"Last year, during the big Titan battle, our resources were spread real thin, and this was when Clarisse wasn't letting the Ares cabin help." Her face darkens. "The Aphrodite cabin was defending the Queens-Midtown bridge, but they fell back fast. It was all Silena could do to get injured campers out of the way. Pretty soon it was just Endora, with a broken arm, and a standard sword against an army of hellhounds, demigods, and a lotta other baddies."

"Wow." I look at the golden-haired girl with a new respect.

"'Wow' is right." Sera says. "Anyway, Endora just charged in, according to Silena, with this look on her face. She screamed "BE VERY AFRAID!", and eighty percent of the monsters dropped their weapons and ran. Because, girl, she can look scary. Her charmspeak probably helped, too. But the second she cut through the first hellhound, her sword turned into that, and she had this freakish pink aura around her."

"Like Piper's claiming?"

"Kinda. This one was Aphrodite, but it wasn't claiming. She blessed Endora, gave her the cool sword, and her charmspeak is crazy powerful now."

"Wow."

Sera grunts. "No kidding. She's a very bad person to be on the opposing team of Capture the Flag with."

"Is everything Capture the Flag with you?" I wonder.

"Yes."

Someone touches my shoulder. "Get used to it. For Sera, life is Capture the Flag." I turn and meet eyes with a flurry of red-haired snark. Maira.

"Oh, come on, I wanna train the newbie!" Sera whines. "You guys go away!"

"Relax, we're all just here to train." Maira says. "You can massacre as many newbies as you want."

"I'm not going to massacre this one." Sera insists. "Arson won't let me." she adds in a surly voice.

I laugh, and she grins at me. "Okay, in all seriousness now, come over here." Following her instructions, we eventually find a short sword that doesn't feel too strange. Everything feels really blocky compared to that knife I found in the weapon shack, though, and I know Sera can tell.

"It'll be fine." She whispers. "You'll be claimed any time now. Then...well." She kind of winces, and mutters something about Death Breath.

The slightest twinge of suspicion alerts me, but I ignore it as I take the stance she'd shown me. "Am I allowed to try now?"

"Sure." Sera grabs a sword, but hesitates and grins at me. "Yo, Dori! Wanna come spar the newbie?"

A small explosion of green smoke obscures my vision, and Endora appears a foot away from Sera. "Sure."

"Gods, Dori." Sera gasps, her hand on her chest. "Stop givin' me heart attacks! I nearly stabbed you!" she waves her sword for emphasis.

Endora scoffs. "Please. Like you'd be able to hit me." She glances over at me, narrowing her eyes. "You seem like a worthy opponent currently. Care to test it?"

A small spasm of fear curls my stomach, but it's quickly blocked out by excitement. "I'd love to."

Endora gives a small smirk. "Okay, I like her."

"What's not to like?" I smile.

Endora's smirk stretches. "Okay, I really like her."

"SHE'S MY FRIEND!" Sera hollers. "I CALLED DIBS!"

"You can't call dibs on a person." Endora argues, easily blocking me as I lunge for her supposedly undefended side. She doesn't even glance my way as I try for her leg, and her sword meets me halfway.

"You're a decent swordsman." I huff out.

Endora yawns, inspecting her nails on her free hand as she defends herself one-handed. "So I've been told."

I narrow my eyes, backing away to give myself the slightest time to breathe. She doesn't attack, so I hang back a little more, focusing solely on Endora, and not the crowd of kids cheering around us. The arena fades around me, and I become aware of the tiniest tingle in the back of my mind.

She's defensive. I note to myself, gauging more about her the longer I hesitate. To me it feels like hours, but only a few seconds have passed when I realize---she has a weak spot. Lower back. Not well defended by her current stance.

I crouch slightly, my sword tip brushing the ground. Endora finally looks at me, confused, and I lunge. Just like I expected her to do, her sword jumps up to block mine. At the last second, I dive under her legs, tagging her back lightly as I roll to my feet.

The arena goes dead silent.

"You... you just beat Dori." Sera whispers, not believing her eyes.

I smile nervously. "Um... I guess so?"

I lock eyes with Endora, expecting her to be furious, but she looks... curious. Her eyes are narrowed my way, not really looking at me so much as through me.

After a few endless seconds of silence, her eyes clear and she smiles at me, holding her hand out. "Nice job, newbie."

"Thanks." I take her hand to shake. The second our skin makes contact, a jolt runs through my arm, making both of us flinch. Endora ignores it, to my surprise, turning away and smirking at the crowd.

"Now, since you're all so silent, who else wants to try me?" She challenges.

The campers around us instantly start training again, all trying to look busier than the person next to them.

"That's what I thought." Endora says smugly, stalking from the arena with her sword balanced on her shoulder. "See ya later, newbie!"

___________________________________

I just love Endora. Seriously. I feel like she's not appreciated a lot when I write her in scenes. 

Also----High School Musical The Musical The Series---LOVE IT. I totally thought it'd be a knockoff of the amazing originals, but it's actual it's own thing! My favorite songs are "Out of the Old", "Wondering", and "I think I Kinda, You Know."  What's yours?