The Mighty Ones' Fall

Chapter 4: The Minotaur Strikes Again

The next few days went along relatively smoothly. First of all, Jason decided to give Layna personal tutoring sessions, which benefitted both her and the rest of the Knowing teens. Secondly, I hadn't even needed to start battle training with Layna yet, because Jason wanted her to have a better foundation of knowledge of the monsters first. Meanwhile, in their secret meetings, Jason continued to question Layna about her past, but as far as I could tell, he hadn't made any real progress.

Three days before Alec was supposed to arrive, Brady and I were given the official order to start teaching Layna basic defensive skills. Immediately after lunch, the three of us headed over to the training arena, where a larger group of swordfighters were practicing. Quickly realizing we would need our own place to train away from the rest of the camp, we made a short stop at the armory shed to throw on mismatched pieces of armor and then headed to an open area on the edge of the camp, near where the horses were kept.

For about an hour, Brady eagerly helped her to learn the proper way of holding a sword, which consisted of him putting his arms around hers multiple times. Of course, Layna didn't seem to mind, but the sight of them coddling together made me sick. I wasn't quite sure how much longer I could have tolerated their flirting, but thankfully Brady temporarily left us to go use the bathroom. So, I picked myself up off the grass and retrieved my sword, thinking that it was my turn to impress Layna with some moves. But just as I retrieved my weapon, Layna dropped hers, obviously wanting to take a break.

"Come on, Layna. Get up," I told her bluntly. "There aren't any breaks in a real battle."

Layna rolled her eyes and ignored my command. Instead, she laid on her back with her hands behind her head and said brightly, "Relax, Jace. I'll be ready to impress Alec when he gets here. He'll be totally blown away."

Crossing my arms, I frowned and informed her, "Nobody blows Alec's mind. Absolutely nobody." I paused. "Trust me. You're going to need an awful lot more practice."

Layna, however, seemed to completely disregard my advice as she simply stared up at the fluffy white clouds with a confident smile on her face.

"Is it true that Alec went down to Underworld and came out alive two times? That's what Hannah told me," she asked in a somewhat far away voice, the look in her green eyes seeming equally distant. I had seen this look before; I knew it was more than curiosity - infatuation.

Suddenly furious, I let out a hollow laugh and threw my hands up into the air in defeat, tired of the way all of the girls acted towards the hero. This immediately captured Layna's attention, and so I said with a sigh, "Wow, I can't believe it. All this time, I thought you would be different. But no. You're just like every other girl here. You've never even seen Alec, but you're practically in love with him already!" I paused, thinking back to the few days I had spent during the war in the army camp hidden in the deepest part of the gods' forest. I added, shaking my head in wonder, "You know, this is just how it was with the gods, until they died. And at least the gods would actually flirt back! Alec just...Well, you'll see."

"Calm down!" she shouted at me in annoyance, but I just rolled my eyes and turned to face away from her. "What's your problem? Are you jealous of Alec or something?"

"Who wouldn't be?" I muttered darkly, crossing my arms. "But that's not the point. The point is that none of the girls around here will even consider dating anyone but Alec, and Alec can only end up with one of you. If he even lives long enough to get married, of course."

"Well, maybe girls don't like you because you all act like jerks. Have you ever thought of that? Besides, Alec hasn't died yet, and he hasn't met me yet either," Layna said defiantly, and she stood up as Brady returned from the restroom, preparing to start practice again. I, on the other hand, started to walk away.