warrior ( RACHEL ELIZABETH DARE. )

vii. MAKEOVER

WARRIOR!
( chapter seven )

  THE NEXT DAY, Ingrid woke up with a small pep in her step. She and Piper had set up a training session for that morning, and afterwards, a meeting with the rest of the Aphrodite cabin. Normally, she would be overly nervous about this situation, but for some reason, this wasn't as nerve-racking.

   Noticing her out of place cheerfulness, Casey gave her a weird look as he stumbled out of his bed. "What's up with you today?"

   Ingrid shrugged as she bent down to tie her shoes. "Nothing. I just think today's going to be a good day."

   "Okay, who are you and what have you done with Ingrid?" He said, and Ingrid laughed.

   "Oh dear twin, you amuse me. Now get dressed before Clarisse makes you clean the cabin." She said, standing up and walking out of the cabin, leaving Casey alone to wonder what the hell happened to his sister.

Ingrid made her way over to the training center, where Piper was already waiting for her. "Hey there newbie!" Ingrid said, making Piper drop the sword she was holding.

   "Oh my gods, you scared me!" Piper exclaimed, and Ingrid let out a laugh.

"Sorry about that. You ready to start?" She asked, unsheathing her machete.

Piper nodded. "Ready as I'll ever be. What uh, weapon should I use today?"

"Maybe just your knife, since that's your main weapon and all. We'll get you skilled on that and then try something else." Ingrid said.

Piper unsheathed her knife, it glimmering in the sunlight that was streaming in. She went into her beginning stance, remember the posture that Ingrid had corrected on her from yesterday.

"Right, okay, so you make a move and we'll go from there, yeah?" Ingrid said, and Piper nodded.

Slowly, the two began to circle each other, until Piper made a jab at Ingrid. She easily deflected it, but Piper didn't stop there. The two began to clash their weapons back and forth, the sound ricocheting through the empty arena.

At one point, Ingrid swiped her machete down at Piper's feet, in which she promptly jumped over it, leaving Ingrid to swipe her feet out from underneath her. Piper fell to the ground, letting out a laugh.

   "Why do I always end up on the ground?" She said as Ingrid helped her up.

   "You're good at protecting everything but your feet. You need to be in control of your whole body, not just your upper region. But otherwise, I'd say that was pretty good." Ingrid said, and Piper grinned.

   "Good to know. Ready to go again?" She asked, and Ingrid nodded as the two went back to work.

   With their minds preoccupied, neither of them noticed Casey peer into the arena. When his eyes settled on the two girls, he let out a small gasp. He knew there had to be a reason Ingrid was so excited today. He smiled at the thought of his sister being so happy, especially because she was with Piper.

   After seeing what he needed to, Casey bounded back to the main part of camp, ready to tell someone what he saw. Before he could, a thought occurred to him. Ingrid would be more than pissed at him if we did. So at that moment, he decided to not tell anyone, but only for the sake of his sister's happiness.

   Meanwhile, Piper and Ingrid were finishing up their training session. "Good work today. You're making a lot of improvement already, I can tell." Ingrid said.