Chapter 10 I want to see how you lot train.

As if sensing she's being watched, the girl looked right at him and his electric blue eyes locked with flames- her eyes were literally filled with flames. But these flames weren't violent; they seemed cosy, like a small, warm campfire.

Also, her face was shockingly beautiful for a nine-year-old girl, which creeped Jakob out for a second because he didn't want the FBI tackling him. Jakob knew right away that this had to be Hestia, the Goddess of the Hearth.

Hestia seemed shocked, like she wasn't used to people seeing her. Then she smiled and waved at him. Jakob just gave a small smile and waved back.

"Guess you saw Hestia." Annabeth said, causing Jakob to look at her. When he looked back, Hestia was gone.

"Yeah..." He said. He shook his head before looking at his guides. "So, you've shown me most of the camp, but what about the training area? I want to see how you lot train."

Annabeth nodded before she brought him over to the archery range, where they obviously do archery though nobody was as good as Apollo's kids or the Hunters.

She showed him a sword fighting area and the climbing wall with lava. They told him that the climbing wall, or lava wall, is said to pour lava out for an "extra challenge". If the camper does not get to the top quickly the walls clash together and the camper's clothes are soaked with lava (actually torn to only threads).

The sword training arena is where campers go to duel and practice with different weapons of their choice. It is between the cabins and the Armory. There are straw dummies in Greek armor scattered around the room and training swords.

Jakob frowned as he watched several campers in the training area, hacking away at the straw dummies. There was no strategy, no sense of discipline in their attacks, nothing that shows proper training and development of a warrior. They were just hacking and slashing like it's a video game and the bad guy won't get up. But in a real fight, the enemy will hit back and kill them.

And compared to what kind of training he was put through, seeing this display was just an insult to the word 'training'.

'They're training to be heroes and fight monsters yet this is barely different from a human summer camp…they'd be nothing but fresh meat for a few Wulvers.' Thought Jakob, unimpressed with the training he was seeing being done.

"Do you lot take this world, this life seriously?" Jakob asked coldly as he stared.

"Of course, we do! What-" Annabeth started but Jakob just pointed at the training arena, to which Annabeth and Thalia looked and watched the campers attacking the dummies. "What's the problem?"

"They are just hacking at the dummies, there's no plan of attack. No strategy, no discipline. They seem to think that because the dummies aren't hitting back, the enemies will do the same." Jakob said. "They don't understand the dangers of being a demigod, or the world we live in. I bet most of them haven't been out and faced a monster in a life-or-death situation."

Annabeth was silent as she thought about his words. But thinking about where he was from, what the Norse pantheon was all about, she could see where he was coming from. He had been trained and raised as a warrior, to take that kind of life seriously, and seeing something that disrespects that doesn't sit too well with him.

'I wonder how Thor trained him.' Annabeth thought as she took glances at Jakob, wondering what kind of training Thor put his son through to make him the way he is.

"So, Annabeth, anywhere else to go?" Mimir asked curiously, breaking the daughter of Athena from her thoughts.

"Just the Pegasus stables." Annabeth said and then paused as something occurred to her. "Speaking of, do the Valkyries actually ride Pegasi themselves? Or do you just call them winged horses?"

"The Valkyrie don't have winged horses, that's another misinterpretation. They only ride regular horses through the sky over battlefields, collecting the souls of the dead. However, the strongest Valkyries do possess their own wings to fly around with." Mimir replied, making the daughter of Athena nod.

"How exactly are Valkyries chosen? Are they handpicked by someone or can anyone become a Valkyrie?" Annabeth asked.

"Anyone can train to become a Valkyrie. First they have to train to be the best they can be, then hope they get Odin's attention and earn the chance to join the Valkyries' ranks." Mimir explained. "In fact, Jakob's sister, Thrúd-"

"Enough." Jakob cut in before Mimir could go any further. "Speak no more of this."

"Oh come on, Jakob! Will it kill you to try and trust others?" Mimir asked, frustrated that Jakob is continuing to be cold and distant with everyone when they are trying to be nice and trusting themselves.

"No, it's okay, I understand where he's coming from." Annabeth said, seeing that Jakob didn't trust people he didn't know. Plus he was among Greek demigods, children of the Olympians, in the territory of another pantheon. She knew, from experience, that he must've been hiding from his family for a while and lived on the streets.

You don't survive on the streets by being trusting and kind, you have to trust only yourself and care about no one but yourself.

Although she had Thalia, Luke and Grover when she was on the streets, she was young at the time. At an age where she'd prefer to have company rather than be alone, with a relief being that Thalia and Luke were just like her and told her that demigods stick together.

"I just hope you'll learn to trust us and open up." Annabeth said, knowing that Jakob was closed off for a reason. The son of Thor looked at her, a little surprised at her words, at her guess. He just grunted in response.

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