This Dark Night ― Percy Jackson & Annabeth Chase¹

―i. naomi gets hit on

NAOMI'S LIP WAS BLEEDING. Her arm, too. And maybe her side, though she couldn't decide if that was actually blood or just sweat. Either way, she paid it little mind.

She had other matters to focus on.

Anticipating the strike a second before it came, Naomi raised Hemlock to block the blade, shoving Asphodel into the body of the training automaton and yanking it out just as quickly, kicking the machine away and raising Asphodel over her head to block another strike from the second automaton. A third came from behind, forcing her to raise Hemlock to block that sword as well.

After a moment of careful consideration, she withdrew her swords and spun on her heel out of the way, slicing through the body of one automaton as its initial strike hit the other, both of them deactivating at the fatal hits.

A fourth came, but Naomi made quick work of that one, too, slashing its chest with Asphodel. The fifth didn't stand a chance, taking a slice from Hemlock to the face.

"Oh, c'mon, not the face!"

Breathing heavily, Naomi lowered her swords. "Sorry, Beckendorf."

The son of Hephaestus fussed over the scarred automaton. "Are you done now?"

Naomi shook her head, wiping her sweaty face with her t-shirt. "One more round."

Beckendorf looked back at her, his expression torn between worry and annoyance. "You said that five rounds ago. Maybe it's time to take a breather."

"I'm breathing now," Naomi said. She touched her side and looked down—yep, definitely not sweat. She wiped the blood on her already dirty shorts. "I have to keep training. I'm still having trouble guarding my left side properly."

"You're gonna kill yourself training this hard, Nay," Beckendorf said. "Take the rest of the day off. I heard someone made sweet tea at the Big House."

"One more round," she insisted. "Then I'll take a break."

"Silena would tell you to take a break now," Beckendorf said.

"Well, Silena's not here right now, is she?"

Beckendorf sighed. "Wish she was," he mumbled. "At least you listen to her."

Naomi rolled her eyes. "Reactivate the automatons—please."

Beckendorf didn't look happy about it, but he did as she requested.

"Last round," he told her as the automatons whirred to life. "Seriously."

Naomi nodded, already shifting her focus back to the fight.

Three of the five automatons were down by the time Silena walked into the training arena.

She huffed in frustration. "How many rounds is this?" she asked Beckendorf.

He hesitated. "Twenty," he mumbled.

Naomi saw Silena narrow her eyes at him in the corner of her vision. Naomi disarmed the fourth automaton and slashed its neck as Silena said, "You let her get to twenty rounds? She's gonna pass out from exhaustion."

"I'm fine!" Naomi protested as the final automaton grabbed her in a chokehold, all three of their swords on the ground. She gripped the machine's metal arm and dropped to one knee, leaning forward and flipping it over her shoulder. She grabbed Asphodel and slashed its chest in a killing blow. "Let's go again."

"Oh, absolutely not!" Silena said. "You skipped lunch."

"I was training," Naomi argued, grabbing Hemlock off of the ground.