Demigods Meet Mortals

Morgan

Author's Note: Random spur of the moment idea and I was thinking... hey! Let's right it!

Morgan's POV

I skipped happily into the classroom, savoring the beautiful day. The sun was bright and I couldn't be more excited to go on a field trip. In my US history class, we were learning about the Civil War. Of course, everyone in the room had been studying US history since kindergarten, but the teacher, Mrs. Moore, had promised a surprise if everyone got an A on this past test. Everyone did. And as promised, she was taking us to one of the dog training  military camps a few minutes from our small town in Texas.

Everyone was chatting animatedly, absolutely thrilled to get a break of actual school work. Well, everyone except for Clarisse La Rue. She had always been hard to talk to, but I made it my personal goal to get everyone smiling. Except, I had never seen Clarisse smile. She had smirked before, but because she found some gruesome video on war funny. That one put me off a bit, but I still tried to make her happy.

Currently, she was sitting in the back corner of the classroom, carefully balancing on the back to legs of the chair, her feet propped up on the desk. She was cleaning beneath her fingernails out with a pencil. I made a split decision and walked over, sitting beside her. She didn't even glance my way. I uncomfortably brushed my red hair from my face and bit my lip. Maybe this wasn't a good idea. I pulled out my phone right as she sighed and glanced my way, her dark eyes boring holes into my light ones.

"What, do you want?" She deadpanned. She was frightening.

"Um, well," I got cut off.

"Speak up," Clarisse growled. I nodded quickly, finding it hard to obey her orders.

"I was just, um, coming over here to t-talk to you," I finally mustered. Clarisse didn't respond. I ducked my head.

"Okay," she shrugged and resumed her previous position. Okay, so I wouldn't get to talk to her, but she was being a lot nicer today.

"Okay, class!" Mrs. Moore announced. "Let's head out. It's about a twenty minute bus ride, so no complaining." I loved Mrs. Moore. She was stern, but really good at her job. Clarisse sighed, and grumbled something under her breath before following the rest of the class from the room. I was right in front of her, and her practically breathing down my neck made my skin crawl. Finally, we were all seated, I, squished in the front. Clarisse, spread out in the back.  I listened to my friend Rebecca go on and on about the newest make up product that had come out in her favorite color. I, wasn't one for makeup personally, but I listened anyway.

Finally, we arrived. I couldn't wait to get off the bus. I was pretty sure I had sweat stains on my new shirt. It wasn't even ten o'clock. The door opened and I jumped off the bus, expecting a refreshing breeze, but only getting the dead heat of Texas. Finally, we were all off, red faced and panting. Except for Clarisse. She stood comfortably in her jeans and t-shirt. Mrs. Moore began to speak.

"This is Mr. Ferox," she introduced. I snorted quietly, knowing nobody heard. Ferox was Latin for aggressive. We had someone teaching us about warfare, whose last name meant aggressive. Clarisse's stance shifted.

The man was extremely tall. He wore the classic military uniform, except it looked incredibly too tight. His muscles rippled under the material like a current in a stream. He had ugly scars marring his face. He wore a pair of sunglasses over his eyes and he stood in a similar stance to Clarisse. Leg's slightly apart, arms crossed, face calm, cool, and collected.

"Hello," his voice rumbled the ground we were standing on. "I will be leading you through many places and training elements. It would do you well to pay attention." The way he spoke made you want to obey him under any circumstance. Beside Mr. Ferox was a large German Shepard. His front teeth were bared slightly, his posture was clearly prepared and frightening. The dog growled slightly as if upset he hadn't been introduced. The class edged backwards, except Clarisse, who's eyes were boring into the dogs. The dog stared right back. "Ah," Mr. Ferox finally chuckled. "This is Arrow." Of course. "Now, follow me."

We began walking through the kennels. Mr. Ferrox lead us down the long hallways, all lined with crates. There were mostly German Shepards mixed in with a few other dogs I didn't know the name of. Some of them were sleeping, others were laying down, staring expectantly out the crate bars, as if the thought someone would come in less than a second to get them out and go into action. Mr. Ferrox continued talking about the dogs. He lead us to the vet's office. A doctor with a surgical mask was bent over an unconscious dog, blood coating her latex gloves as she poked around the dog's leg. A few girls gagged. The boys all ran to the window to watch. Clarisse stood still, with no intention of going anywhere.

"Let's go," Mr. Ferrox growled. Everyone was immediately in line. Finally, the tour was over. We watched as we ate lunch. Soldiers ran beside dogs as they ran through tunnels and over bridges at break neck speed. It was truly amazing. Mr. Ferox was carefully studying Clarisse, as if she was his own soldier. When we finished eating, Mr. Ferrox lead us to a small pen. A few small obstacles were set up.

"Now, you all will be going through the obstacles with Arrow here," Mr. Ferox instructed. We all nodded. "Clarisse, you will go first." She nodded. I swear she said a quiet "Yes, Sir" under her breath, bowing her head in respect. Then I realized something, we hadn't told him our names.

"Go ahead, Clarisse. Do the course," he demanded. He hadn't shown us the course. Mr. Ferox's eyebrows were raised in a challenging manner. Clarisse finally smirked a little.

"Yes, Sir," she responded. Clarisse glanced down at Arrow who was sitting obediently at her side. She spoke to the dog quietly before she took off, sprinting extremely fast, Arrow racing beside her, doing the required acrobatics. Clarisse finished the course without so much as a hair out of place. Everyone was shocked, about to ask questions, when Clarisse fixed us all with her signature glare, making everyone step back. Mr. Ferox chuckled quietly.

Clarisse resumed her spot and watched as the rest of us went through teh course. I personally was a mess. I could hardly run a ten minute mile, let alone keep up with a dog. Even if it was doing harder things than just running. When I finished, I was so out of breath I could hardly walk to rejoin the group. When everyone had finished, it was time to leave.

"Thank you, Mr. Ferox," Mrs. Morre approached him.

"Hm," he said unimpressed. "Of course." We were about to leave when Scotty yelled at us to stop.

"Clarisse is still out there!" He shouted. Mrs. Moore stopped the bus and turned to look out teh window. Clarisse stood face to face with Mr. Ferox. We all watched anxiously. I cracked open teh window to try to hear their conversation.

"You will be going back to New York this summer?" Mr. Ferox asked. Clarisse nodded, then stopped sharply before responding.

"Yes, Sir."

"Good," Mr. Ferox nodded. "I will see you then. Now, you must leave." Clarisse looked at the bus and glared at us all. She turned after shaking Mr. Ferox's hand. "Oh!" He called. "You made me proud back there." Clarisse bit her lip, before her blank face displayed a smile. Not a challenging smirk, but a real, glowing smile.