Chapter 5 - Part I: Where Annabeth low-key stalks the enigma that is Amirah Collins

When Chiron approached Annabeth Chase and asked her to orient the new camper on the camp system and affairs, she was just eavesdropping on a nearby Appollo kid - Mike, if she remembers his name right - as he details the dramatic going-ons just this morning.

It's ridiculous how the centaur can sneak up on her like that - with his hooves and all - but the blond-haired girl admits it's partly because she's preoccupied with Mike's news. Apparently, the new camper managed to take down a huge cyclops on her own near the border earlier and, Mike's exaggerated raving aside, the feat was impressive.

Even experienced campers would have difficulties facing monsters of that caliber on their own, and, from the way Mike tells it, the new camper's skill isn't anything to sniff at.

In fact, the Apollo camper even went as far as to say, that the girl's fighting style beats other veteran campers, like Luke, by a mile. Unrelenting, ruthless and impressive in its execution, Mike exclaims that the fight has been decided from the start.

It's definitely not on the hulking monster's favor.

(Annabeth wonders if it would be too much to hope for the new camper to be the one.)

"Annabeth." A familiar voice asks her in surprise - interrupting her musings. Annabeth looks up and nods as Connor, a Hermes camper she is on good terms with, falls into step beside her casually. "What are you doing here?"

"Connor." She smiles. "I wanted to talk to Luke. There's a new kid Chiron wanted me to orient and I wanted to get his view first before I met the new camper."

Connor frowns. "She's taking part in our sword-training today though."

"What?" Annabeth stops walking, cocking her head to the side curiously. She was sure the no injuries thing was hyperbolic. Apollo campers were prone to exaggerating, after all and, even if the claim was true, the camper should have been tired out at least.

"I heard she fought a Cyclops earlier near the border, though." Annabeth says slowly. "Took care of it pretty thoroughly too if what I heard from the Apollo kids were right."

Connor furrows his brows in confusion and slows his pace. "Maybe they're exaggerating." He adjusts his hold in his sword. "The girl - Amirah was her name - looked fine to me. She participated in Luke's brutal exercises well enough. She even had the energy to lug around the heavy-ass sword no one really liked."

Annabeth hums, intrigued. "Maybe, you're right." She murmurs. "Thanks for the heads up, Connor."

"No problem." Connor nods and Annabeth watches him walk over to another camper before moving on to a better spot.

It seems observation would be the best option for now.

Shifting to a more comfortable position, Annabeth's sharp gray eyes roves over the people in the clearing intently. Her eyes pauses briefly on to a tall, sandy-haired teen, Luke - head of the Hermes cabin and Annabeth's long-time friend - before she forced herself to find the new camper.

Unfortunately, (or fortunately who was she kidding), the camper is surprisingly elusive and her eyes snaps back to Luke as they were wont to do lately.

She can feel her cheeks take up a faint blush when the light hits Luke just so and made his visage more...pleasant to the eyes than usual.

(Stupid hormones.)

"Everyone, huddle up." Luke announces loudly. "It's sparring day today."

Immediately, the clearing quieted. The older camper quirks his lips in amusement at the reaction, but refrains from commenting on it. "As I have offered in the previous times we've done this, anyone could partner with me to test their mettle. No one actually does lately, but let's see. Does anyone want to?"

Not a sound is heard and, even Annabeth stiffens as the sandy-haired camper's eyebrows starts to droop down into a disturbingly familiar expression.

"Come on, guys." The sandy-haired camper cajoles, once he realized that no one in their right mind actually would. His lower lip start to jut out and no-

"Don't leave me hanging." Luke pouts in dismay, looking, for all intents and purposes, like someone just kicked his puppy. "It'll be a learning experience, at least. Come on. Won't anyone do it for me?"

That...shouldn't have looked as good as it did.

(If she could, Annabeth would, once again, blame her pesky hormones, but, really, it was all Luke. That particular weapon in his admittedly impressive arsenal is scarily potent and never failed to induce guilt on everyone it was flashed on.)

As everyone studiously avoid the older camper's downcast expression, Annabeth can only follow their example. She already fell for that one the other month and she can already feel herself weakening from the brief glimpse she have had of the older camper's comical sulking. Annabeth isn't an Athena's camper for nothing though, and, puberty hijinks aside, she still lauds reason above all.

Weighing the pros and cons - it just isn't worth it.

To give Luke some credit, their spar the other month was an enlightening experience. Truly, it was a good...character building exercise, since it certainly shed light on her deficiencies and weaknesses when it comes to the art. It wasn't- it wasn't very fun and her pride was admittedly still smarting from the beating.

Even with Annabeth's prowess with the sword, she ached for weeks from the hard, quick hits the sword prodigy dished out. Gender doesn't matter much to Luke, apparently, and, even if he was fond of Annabeth, the Hermes camper operates on a tough love basis.

So nope.

Luke would just have to live with another day being the smug adorable bastard that he was (because Annabeth knows him long enough to ascertain that he enjoyed being superior, that butt) since by the looks of it, no one probably wou-

"Can I?" A bland voice breaks the silence abruptly.

What? Narrowing her brows, Annabeth straightens up as a petite girl with startling amber eyes walks in front nonchalantly. She looks to be about Annabeth's age - her black hair held up in a simple tie.

This must be the new camper then.

How odd. Why didn't Annabeth notice her earlier?

The girl is very striking and now that she brought the attention to herself, it's almost difficult to turn Annabeth's eyes away.

Maybe it's the height.

...Annabeth admits she expected the new camper to be taller.

"I mean, I'm just new and I wanted to see how much I could fare with the training I've had before." The girl grins hopefully, batting her eyelashes at Luke. Annabeth's left eye twitches involuntarily. "It wouldn't be a problem, right?"

Luke falters a bit, surveying the new camper's state critically, before nodding decisively. "See. This is what I'm talking about, yeah?" He claps his hand in the petite girl's shoulders. "Give space everyone."

As everyone follows Luke's orders, Annabeth can see the looks of pity shot on the girl's way. Some even jeered or rolled their eyes, believing that the girl was doing it only to catch the older camper's attention.

And honestly, Annabeth would have thought the same thing - her left eye was still twitching - if the way the new camper walks, the way she holds herself catches Annabeth's attention.

Amirah is very graceful. All smooth prowls and sleek steps.

She looks like she really knows what she's doing and that's enough to pull Annabeth from the clutches of hormone-induced jealousy.

When the fight starts, Annabeth made sure to pay attention.

Luke immediately goes on the offensive, and the fight begins with a clumsy deflection from the new camper.

Annabeth purses her lips. How disappointing. She hoped the girl would at least last a minute, but it looks like-

Annabeth's train of thought stops as a particularly well-timed lunge from the new camper pushes Luke back successfully.

Well-

It looks like the new camper is doing good.

Annabeth's gray eyes sharpens as she witnessed how, as the fight drags on longer, Amirah's movements becomes cleaner and more efficient. The strikes harder. The lunges quicker. The new camper's fast and she's good at thinking on her feet. Utilizing fancy jumps and feats that require great flexibility, Amirah's sword style is unique and unpredictable.

She's also not above using every advantage that she can take. Amirah drives Luke into rough parts of the field - the ones that are uneven or riddled with rocks or potholes. If the new camper can't find an opening, she'll try to trip or punch him just so she could rip a hole in Luke's defense.

The new camper's relentless.

And judging by the utterly focused look on Luke's face, he isn't holding back. Not that he did at first, but there was hesitance when the fight started.

Now, he doesn't even have the luxury to do so, lest he gets swept away from Amirah's barrage of attacks.

Completely mesmerized by the dance between the two, Annabeth ignores the sound of hooves near her and winces as she saw how Luke's sword cuts off a bit of Amirah's hair when the new camper drops down to the ground in order to avoid the Hermes camper's attack. The swords were blunted, but from the force of Luke's swing, it's to be expected. The girl fluidly moves to kick Luke's legs, yet he dodges it with a jump and lifts his arms up to strike overhead. Unfortunately for him however, Amirah turns and nimbly performs the kick again. Luke falls down to the ground with a thud. Standing up agilely, the tip of Amirah's sword points to Luke's neck.

The clearing is silent. All of them stunned by the display.

Breathing hard, the new camper smiles. Even from here, Annabeth can see how the girl's eyes glints amber in the light. "That was a good fight."

And the top of Amirah's head blazes as the Ares' symbol - a wild boar roaring - flashes brightly.

Annabeth stiffens.

"Ares. Warrior. General. Conqueror of the Battlefield." Chiron booms out loudly beside her, making Annabeth snap into attention. Along with the other campers, she hurriedly kneels down in respect. "Hail Amirah Collins, Daughter of the War God."

-----

After that spar, it took a while before Annabeth managed to introduce herself to Amirah. Clarisse - head of the Ares cabin - took over the orientation once the her godly parent is announced so Annabeth hadn't been able to get the scope of the girl's personality like she wanted to at first.

Not that it mattered now, really, since Athena and Ares doesn't see eye to eye and the chance of having a quest with her is practically non-existent, but the new camper is intriguing.

Fascinating.

Annabeth admits it's probably unhealthy to spend so much of her time observing the girl - a child of Ares at that - but Amirah sticks out like a sore thumb from her siblings. She just doesn't fit the stereotype children of Ares usually falls into. Amirah's petite, for one, so unlike the hulking, tough look children of Ares sported. One would think that this would be a disadvantage, but judging by her fight with Luke, Amirah has strength and prowess that rivals, and maybe even surpasses, her siblings.

Sitting in the mess hall for dinner, Annabeth notes amusedly how Amirah's form is comically swallowed by the other Ares campers. The image makes the differences between the other Ares campers and her even more stark and, the blond-haired girl once again wonders if, perhaps, there was a mistake.

(There wasn't, of course. Annabeth was there when the claiming happened, but it makes her marvel about the new girl's maternal side of the family when it managed to tamp down the dominant genes of a god like Ares.

There wasn't even a speck of Ares in there. Maybe, the hair color or the eyes, but that's almost nothing. If Annabeth didn't know any better, she would have pegged Amirah as a daughter of Aphrodite with her petite build and delicate features.)

After finishing her meal, Annabeth made sure to slow down her pace once she passes by the Ares cabin's table. Some time after she started taking glimpses of Amirah, Clarisse stood up and walked over to the new camper.

The two's relationship is very...curious. From what Annabeth has observed, it isn't antagonistic. There was the usual aggressive ribbing here and there during that one time during the campfire - Annabeth didn't expect any less from the girl who likes to push new campers head into toilets as "tradition" - but other than that, Clarisse seems almost protective of their newest camper.

Annabeth startles abruptly though when, after some time, the new girl's gaze bores down on her intently. Amirah smiles, her eyes falling into crescents as she gestures for Annabeth to move closer. Baffled, but intrigued, Annabeth moves toward Amirah and raises one of her brows at Clarisse's uncharacteristically flustered form.

"Yes?" She starts politely, glancing at Clarisse briefly, before turning to the new Ares camper.

"Clarisse was curious why you're staring at me so intently for the past few days." Amirah replies bluntly, her eyes amused, as she chews on her steak. "I don't really know why, but she wasn't keen on asking you." She shakes her head, before leaning in humorously. "I told her you were stalking me, but she wasn't very convinced."

"I'm not stalking you." Annabeth sputters.

"Right." Amirah looks at her knowingly and winks. "I know I'm irresistible." She surveys Annabeth up and down bemusedly before turning to Clarisse. "She's not my type, though. I like them a bit older." Her eyes light up mischievously. "Like Silena, yeah? She's very..." She leers. "pretty."

Clarisse lets out a scandalized sound as the people sitting beside her laughs. "Amirah!"

"Don't be a prude, Clarisse." Amirah snickers. "I'm just appreciating beauty like a normal person. Besides," She smirks and wiggles her eyebrows. "I know you have first dibs."

"She's my friend!" Clarisse protests.

"That's what I've said." Amirah says slowly. "You have first dibs."

Clarisse just shakes her head in exasperation and returns to her seat without looking at Annabeth. "I'm not dealing with this."

"You sound like my uncle." Amirah calls out to her sister's back. When Clarisse just gives her the finger, she laughs before turning back to her food.

"I'm not stalking you." Annabeth repeats.

"Oh." Amirah looks at her disinterestedly. "You're still here."

Annabeth flushes. "Of course, I'm still here! You're the one who called me in the first place!"

"Well, you can go." Amirah dismisses, before taking sip of her drink.

Annabeth scowls. "Excuse me! You're-"

"You're excused." Amirah interrupts magnanimously.

Annabeth glares. "I'm not stalking you."

"Yes. You've said that. Again." Amirah looks at her curiously. "Has anyone ever told you that you sound like a broken record?"

"No-"

"Well, I'm telling you now, in case you didn't know." Amirah says helpfully. "You sound like a broken record."

Annabeth tenses and fights the urge to throttle the girl before Silena, the head of the Aphrodite cabin, pats her in the shoulder in comfort as she slides right into Annabeth's side. "I know, Annabeth. I know." Silena shakes her head mock-ruefully. "It would better, if you don't rise up to the bait."

"I-"

"Ruin my fun, would you, Silena?" Amirah pouts as she faces the pretty camper, interrupting Annabeth's reply. "You're lucky you're pretty and my sister's lover or I wouldn't-"

"We're not lovers, Amirah." Silena says patiently, with the air of having said it a thousand times before. She pauses. "You do know, I would punch anyone who starts on with that 'you're lucky you're pretty' bullshit, right?"

"Not me." Amirah says cheekily. "You like me too much."

Silena raises a brow. "Really?"

Amirah blushes delicately. "All the times, we spent together-"

"I just met you last week."

"Was significant and dear to my heart." Amirah continues, undeterred. "Of course you wouldn't."

Silena sighs. "No, not you. You-" She gestures to Amirah's form fondly. "You grew on me. You're like...fungus, Amirah. The fungus I didn't really expect to have, but had anyway."

"Thank you." Amirah replies, inordinately pleased.

"But Annabeth looks like she would hit you in my place, with the way you're ignoring her right now."

Annabeth starts to unclench her fists, unfurling her fingers one by one in an attempt to control her temper.

"Aww, Silena. Don't be a downer." Annabeth can feel a vein in her head pop up in aggravation.

"No." Silena reprimands solemnly.

"But, she makes it so easy."

And with that, Annabeth's done. Holding her hands up in the air, she walks away in exasperation.

"You're incorrigible." Silena says to Amirah amusedly.

"What's her name?"

"Annabeth Chase."

"Huh." The blond-haired girl can hear the curiously wistful tone in Amirah's voice. "She reminds me of someone."

Annabeth steps out of the hall before she can hear more.