Cecilia Holmes, Daughter of Minerva (Sherlock/Percy Jackson crossover)

Chapter 56

    After I dumped half of my banana into the firepit, I looked for Claude. I was unable to find him in the mass of enthusiastic demigods that surrounded the pavilion, but I easily found a group of Ares’ children that were heading toward the Arena. Armin was one of them. In fact, he seemed to be leading the way.
    I zigzagged through the crowd and caught up to the group, trailing along behind them until they walked into the Arena, where they broke up into different groups. I watched as some grabbed swords and others started pulling out mats. In a matter of seconds, there were different types of combat going on around me. Fencing in one corner, wrestling and boxing in another, and training for both in the middle. An older boy, the tall, dark, and cocky type, was leading the training. His voice was loud and demanding, and I assumed he was a leader of the Ares cabin. I only assumed.
    I found Armin near the wrestling mats. A few of his siblings stood around him, talking and laughing while two other demigods wrestled it out violently on the mat before them. But Armin didn’t join in the conversation, instead, he studied the two wrestlers seriously, with critical eyes, sometimes smiling briefly at his siblings next to him, but his eyes hardly ever leaving the match.
    “Hey! Hey! Enough!!”
    I turned my head and looked to see Will running toward one of the boxing matches, pushing away a boy (who was at least a head taller than the son of Apollo) who had been ruthlessly kicking his downed opponent.
    “Don’t you guys know when enough is enough?” Will snapped, handing the moaning boy what looked like a piece of taffy. Ambrosia, I realized a second later.
    The taller boy just smirked and walked off the mat. His siblings pounded him on the back, hardly caring about his cruel actions, it seemed.
    I wrinkled my nose. I never had liked the children of Ares or Mars. They didn’t care about anyone but themselves. They were violent. They were cruel.
    “Hey man, c’mon, stop it!”
    I looked over my shoulder.
    Armin pulled one of the wrestlers off of the other, and the downed wrestler gasped for air, rubbing his throat. Armin scowled slightly, releasing the other wrestler.
    “Sherlock!”
    I looked up as Will jogged over to me, his cheeks flushed, with anger or exhaustion, I wasn’t sure. But he smiled his perfect smile, though his eyes scrutinized me.
    “What are you doing here?” he asked, brushing his curly blond hair from his eyes.
    I shrugged.
    “What are you doing here?” I countered.
    “I have to stay and watch all this violence and help them when they get hurt. Or try to help them,” he sighed, irritatedly. “Most of the time the Ares kids won’t even let me help them because they like to try and get scars! Isn’t that ridiculous?” He wrinkled his nose up. “Hopefully an accident happens somewhere else so I can leave.”
    “I could go break someone’s arm for you,” I deadpanned.
    “Ha ha. Ha. Ha ha. I hope you’re joking,” Will said, staring at me in an unsure way. I grinned slightly.
    “I’ll let you decide for yourself.”
    And then I turned and headed toward Armin.
    “You’re not going to join the madness too, are you?!” Will called after me. I just rolled my eyes.
    Armin was watching two more of his siblings fight, watching them carefully like he had the last two. I walked up beside him, but he didn’t notice.
    “So are you going to join in on the wrestling or do you just observe?” I asked, hoping to start up a conversation.
    Most of my plans required one thing— Armin needed to trust me. Even if he didn’t, though, I wanted us to at least be on friendly terms so it didn’t seem weird when I hung around him a lot.
    Because I would be hanging around him a lot for the next few days.
    Armin looked at me, surprise flickering across his countenance for a moment before he smiled cheerfully at me.
    “Good morning, Sherlock,” he said in his chipper British accent. “Yes, I will probably join in on the fun. What about you? I mean, I assume that’s why you’re here, but wrestling? Really?” He sized me up and smirked a little.
    I smirked right back.
    “No, but I will gladly watch someone pummel you for a few minutes, so I’ll stick around.”
    He chuckled and shook his head.
    “You don’t know who I am,” he stated, his eyes going back to the mat.
    “You’re Armin Noble,” I replied, my usual cold apathy creeping into my tone. “Son of Ares. There’s not much else to know, is there?” I mumbled the last part. “You’re all the same.”
    Armin obviously heard anyway. He looked back at me, frowning.
    “Hold on, that’s not fair,” he said.
    “It’s true, though,” I interrupted, anger building in my chest. “You’re all loud, rude, and mean. Don’t talk to me about fairness when Will is over there saving one of your siblings from the pits of the Underworld.”
    He looked over to see Will breaking up another fight that had turned brutal.
    “That’s an exaggeration,” Armin said after a moment of silence. “We would never hurt each other beyond what we could recover from. And just because we’re fonder of more extraneous activities than others doesn’t make us inherently violent. Though, I’ll admit, we’ll be the first to resort to violence… Okay, so maybe you’re right. But you’re not being fair to me, Sherlock.” He looked at me, his light brown eyes staring straight into me. “I try to be a gentleman whenever I can. Don’t judge a book by its movie.”
    I pursed my lips.
    “Isn’t it ‘don’t just a book by its cover’?”
    “I think my version works better. Do you get my point?”
    I shrugged.
    “Sure.”
    “Those kind of stereotypes can be applied to every type of demigod,” Armin pursued, his eyes on the wrestling match again. “But you really can’t put everyone in a box. We’re individuals, despite being siblings and having a lot in common. I know you’ve probably met Patricia. She doesn’t exactly fit the stereotype of her cabin, does she? And you’re friends with Claude, I know that.”
    I stiffened.
    “Claude… well, Claude used to be different,” Armin shifted weight. “You shouldn’t try to categorize us. It’s not nice. How would you like it if people just started assuming things about you?”
    I wrinkled my nose.
    They already do.
    “Okay, okay, I get your point,” I interrupted. “No need to lecture. I get it, you’re special. You’re… different.” I did jazz hands for effect.
    “That’s not what I—“
    “Yes you did. And of course you are, doofus, you’re from England,” I chuckled. He glanced at me and raised his eyebrows. “That makes you stand out like a sore thumb.”
    “A sore thumb, or a rose among thorns?” he said in mock contemplation.
    “Where in England are you from?” I said, changing the topic with a roll of my eyes.
    “London. I live with my mother, Donna Noble. You may get to meet her at the end of the summer when she comes to pick me up,” he said, his face growing soft.
    He was a handsome boy. His rugged features gave him a sharp appearance with an adorable edge that really showed in moments like this.
    “Your mom comes to pick you up?” I said curiously.
    “Yeah, she likes to get out of the country whenever she can. She loves traveling,” he said, in a voice that almost sounded… fond.
    “You like your mom?” I whispered.
    “I love her,” he replied with a nod.
    I stayed silent.
    How can I do this to a mother’s son?
    “Where are you from? Did you grow up with your earthly parent?” he asked, still not looking at me.
    “Oregon, and yes, I did. I grew up with my dad,” I lied with ease.
    “Darn it,” he chuckled, shaking his head.
    “What?” I said, crossing my arms.
    “Nothing, nothing, that just means you can’t be a daughter of Ares. I was hoping you might be my sister,” he looked at me as he elbowed my arm and grinned.
    I forced myself to smile back.
    Thank the gods I’m not.
    And then Armin suddenly jumped away. I watched the other two demigods walk off the mat. I hadn’t noticed that they had finished their round, but Armin obviously had. He looked at his opponent— another tall son of Ares— and then looked back at me. He grinned, winked, and then faced him head on, his eyes immediately turning hard as he stared him down.
    “Hi Sherlock!”
    I looked over as Harle bounded over to me. She hugged my shoulders and then was quickly watching the wrestling match that had just started. Her eyes followed Armin, it was easy to tell.
    I rolled my eyes and looked away from her.
    I wasn’t exactly surprised that she was here. Her crush on the son of Ares was as obvious as the nose on her face.
    What if he likes her back? If I kill him, he will never experience what it’s like to fall in love. There is so much he will never experience…
    My stomach twisted and I wanted to walk away, but I forced myself to remain.
    There was no where for me to go, anyway.