Walk With the Shadows [ Percy Jackson OC ]

SEVENTEEN | Kitty

EVERYONE THOUGHT FOUR LEAF CLOVERS held incredible amounts of good luck. Kitty had never believed it. A little mutant weed, lucky? But as she lay on a carved bench four rows up in the sword-fighting arena, sweat dripping down her pale skin onto the stone amphitheater bench, she considered scouring Half Blood Hill for one to take with them on their quest.

The sun beat down on her. Where were Zeus's storm clouds now? He'd thrown a fit yesterday when Hermes had tried to help. Drenched the entire camp for hours. Kitty had been forced to listen to Drew Tanaka in the Aphrodite cabin moaning the way the rain soaked her clothes and frizzed up her hair. 

Sounds of clashing metal rang through the air yet again. Kitty kept her eyes closed and arm across her face. She'd done her time. She'd swung a sword at Clarisse—repeatedly. Her aching muscles proved that had been a mistake.

They were leaving on a potentially world-altering quest in like three days and she still had to take melee training from Clarisse and later, archery training from Chiron or Kayla. Hopefully Chiron. She could only handle the Apollo kids in small doses. Other than Will. He was cool. The rest were… intense.

A familiar groan from her left made Kitty open her eyes. She blinked back against the light. On the bench just above her, Kitty watched Ophelia ease herself down, cringing at every movement. Another victim of the Clarisse La Rue Bootcamp.

"Everything hurts," she moaned.

Kitty wanted to laugh. Not because it was funny, but because it was true. Taking combat notes from the god of war's favorite child ranked low on her list of things she wanted to do before she died. 

And yet, with her date of death potentially rapidly approaching, she was doing that instead of something higher up in the list. She didn't want to hang with Ares's favorite child. An image of a tan skinned girl, cheeks red from hard work in the arena, almost dancing as she practiced with her bamboo sticks. Sienna Dimaano. Not Ares's golden girl. Clarisse exploded like a minefield. Sienna burned like a lava field. Though when she trained Kali, she moved like the wind. Everything became a target as she weaved. Why block to protect herself when she could just break your leg? Sienna never hesitated. 

"Why are we doing this?" Ophelia said. 

Kitty opened her eyes again. She looked over at Ophelia and noticed how sick she looked. Her usual pale complexion looked even worse.

"Hey, you good?" Kitty forced herself up, her cotton tee-shirt sticking to her back. "You look awful."

"Just really hot." Ophelia ran a hand through her sweaty hair. "Do you have any water?"

Kitty didn't have much left in her bottle but what she had, she handed over. Training in the open amphitheater under the bright sun probably hurt Ophelia more than anyone else. During the day, she seemed more like a human than a demigod. The bruise forming on her left arm proved Kitty's point.