Titan's Curse - My way

Training

I looked at Blackjack and Percy fly away.

"That idiot better take care of himself," I muttered.

"So Clair. What do we do now?" Nico asked. I looked down at him and smiled. "We have breakfast. Eight o'clock should be right around the corner. Although we do have to tell Chiron a story. Have one in your brain?" He nodded.

"Yup! To every detail!"

"Fill me in," and the story seemed pretty good. Apparently Percy did go home for the holidays. When I asked Nico about me he said that I could say I wanted to stay and train. Which Chiron could believe. I've always demonstrated that I wanted to always find different ways to use my powers when I train. So after breakfast we told Chiron. And thank the gods he believed it. When we walked away and were out of sight I pat Nico on the head. "Good job Nico. Now come on let's go train,"

"Train with what?" He asked. I turned to him and knelt.

"Pick any weapon to start with. Swords. A bow with some arrows. Your own body. Anything," he looked around.

"You decide! I can trust you to pick," he smiled. I smiled and stood.

"Let's start off with archery. Haven't used my bow in a while," I snapped my fingers to get my backpack. When it appeared Nico's eyed widened with awe.

"Whoa! How did you do that?" He looked at me a huge grin on his face.

"Magic," I held up my bow and slung my quiver over my shoulder. I zipped up my backpack and willed it to appear in the cabin. It disappeared from in front of us. "Alright Nico. Let's test your archery skills," we walked off to the target area. I got him a good mahogany bow and some normal arrows. All the while he was just smiling.

"What are you smiling at?" I asked as I got the arrows for him.

"All of this! It's amazing," he explained. "Are you cold?" He suddenly asked.

"No. Are you?" I looked down at him as we walked in front of the targets. He shook his head. But I could see a shiver. "Don't lie to me Nico. You can't shoot correctly if you're cold like that. Here," I directed the palms of my hands towards him. I used a little bit of my fire. I didn't heat up my hands all the way. Just a little for his skin to handle. "Cold now?" He looked up at me and shook his head. "Good. Now. To shoot an arrow first you have to get one. Then position it between your index and middle finger..." I directed him on how to hold the arrow first. Then to notch it on the string. I had to kneel and go behind him for the shooting part. I guided his hands and showed him the right posture. And he let his first arrow fly. It hit way off the center: 15 inches southeast of the bulls-eye. "Wow not bad. Compared to Percy's first arrow you're not bad,"

"Where did his arrow land?" Nico asked. I laughed just thinking about it. "Where?"

"He almost hit his face with the back end of the arrow," I said between laughs.

"How?" Nico looked confused.

"I have no idea. Just trust me when I say he is the worst archer in the world," I paused to catch my breath. "Anyway. Ready for your next arrow?" He shot about five more arrows and he was a few more closer to hitting the center.

"This is frustrating," Nico mumbled after his fifth shot.

"Don't worry. Takes practice. Trust me. I've been shooting for three years now. And I hit my first center only at the end of the second year. So don't worry. Just practice,"

"Can you show me?"

"Show you what?"

"You shooting your arrows. You can go to each target and shoot!" Nico gasped at his idea. I adjusted my quiver's strap.