TWO

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CHAPTER TWO
—dumb wrestling

🗡🗡🗡

  —WHEN Judith had demanded he leave the sword arena without so much as an excuse, Percy had been tempted to storm right back in there and get one. But then he thought better of it, knowing she must have been in some kind of funk — probably put in place by Mark or Ellis, her brothers. They were a main talking point in most of her scribbled letters, and mostly the names were red and underlined.

  From the look of things over the last few months in those letters, Percy assumed he had grown from being a 'pain' to at least a 'frenemy' in her eyes. There was no way someone sent letters and pictures back and forth with someone and didn't see them as a sort-of friend! Even if she did sign off on all the letters with:

Hate You,
Judith

  Other than that little quip, she actually seemed civil when writing to him. However, she had admitted that it was easier to talk with him over paper because she didn't have to 'look at his dumb face.' That had hurt his pride, but he got over it after finding the small sketch she'd made of her fighting some weird looking giant. He was fairly certain she only sent him pictures when she was in a good mood.

  So, yeah, Percy was confident that it wasn't him who set her on a warpath that afternoon.

  But little did he know, he was a part of the reason.

  "Doesn't Jackson look so lonely over at his table?" Ellis snickered, not even trying to hide his volume for nearby tables to hear.

  Judith knew she shouldn't even react, shouldn't even give him the time of day. It would only egg him on until they had their fists in each other's faces again. But she had to defend herself. "He's got Tyson, stop talking."

  "I doubt the Cyclops is going to hold his hand and give him a sweet goodnight kiss," Mark snickered like he was the king of jokes. And then he made a disgustingly thoughtful face. "At least, I hope not."

  "You guys are actually insufferable," she growled, choosing to leave before her Odikinesis got her in serious trouble, and stood up. Grabbing her half filled tray, she decided to walk over to the fire pit to scrape the rest into the flames. Judith couldn't recall anyone ever having done this before — maybe it was disrespectful to give the gods your leftovers. But Judith could care less in that moment.

  Dumping her fried potatoes and shredded turkey into the brunt of the fire, she only asked for one name.

  Zeus — if there's any pity in your heart for a friend of Thalia's ... smite my brothers down with the highest voltage lightning bolt you got.

  The roll of thunder in the distance was totally comical, and she couldn't help but let a bubble of laughter emerge as she stalked out of the pavilion. She couldn't tell if the thunder was made to tease her demand or to warn her never to send him leftovers again, she didn't care which it was, both were hilarious.

  Judith knew the whole camp was watching her insane actions, probably whispering about the implications. As long as they knew that it wasn't because of some weird teasing about her and Percy, she was fine with it. Let them whisper and gossip, any rumor was better than the truth.

  She headed to the sword arena, fully knowing it was locked up after hours. Chiron used a simple keypad, however, and the password hadn't been changed since she learned it last summer ( technically, it was more of a lucky guess after many failed attempts ).

  4567

  Really secure.

  Judith worked by moonlight, the big windows near the top of the building provided her with just enough. She knew there would be a time where she had to battle in the pitch black, this was just practice. It was every and silent all around her. She was in a bubble of grunting and sweat and violence.

𝑨𝑺𝑯𝑬𝑺 • 𝑃𝐸𝑅𝐶𝑌 𝐽𝐴𝐶𝐾𝑆𝑂𝑁 ²Where stories live. Discover now