This is not a Game

Teaching sword fighting was something the girl really would have preferred not to do. For starters her main weapon was a scythe, her secondary the sword. Plus, she could think of better things to do in the time she had spent with the newer campers attempting to teach them the basics. But Evie Nightingale hadn’t had a choice in the matter. It was her job for the next month, until the schedules for the camp counsellors changed again. Most of the newer campers were younger than her, ranging from the age of eleven to fourteen, but there were a few her age and one or two that were older than her.

This lesson wasn’t a particularly good one, in terms of the campers learning. It was almost lunch time and the younger demigods were just screwing around, putting themselves and those around them in danger as they swung the swords without due care or attention. When one of the swords actually hit someone, slicing their arm, Evie lost it. “This is not a game!” She yelled at them, “You don’t get a second chance in life! Stop screwing about!” It was annoying, she decided, having to teach a load of brats that didn’t give a damn about those around them. Ignorance, plain ignorance, is what it was. She gave the injured demigod some nectar for the pain, and then healed the injury with a simple spell. The skin knitted back together in front of her eyes and, even though she couldn’t replace the small amount of blood lost, she gave a small satisfied smile. A thrill ran through the girl as it always did when she got to use her magic in front of others.

Yet it still didn’t improve her mood. She would rather be anywhere but the arena. She would rather spend time with the Aphrodite and Ares kids than the ranks of unclaimed that had been flowing into the camp for the past few months. She took in a deep suffering breath as the idiots that she had just yelled at collapsed on the ground giggling. She decided that for now she would ignore them. They’d get a shock in the next fifteen minutes anyways when she got to the part of the lesson she was looking forwards to presenting the most. Instead she walked around them, to help someone who was actually trying to do something.

They were just practicing basic sword work, swinging, blocking and stabbing. Yet their guard was either too low or too high. Their aim was sloppy and they had no sense of timing. They weren’t well co-ordinated. A sword was most definitely not a suitable weapon for that kid, but it was required for them to learn. She also had a feeling that the sword wasn’t the right balance for the kid. The length and width of the blade were way too big. She gave a small smile and sent the kid off to the Armoury to get a suitable sword from a Hephaestus child.

And eventually it got round to half past eleven. That gave them half an hour to do the main thing Evie had planned. She pulled some basic table salt out of her bag, and drew a large circle with it. It would have been better if the circle was chalk, but since they were practicing in the arena, which was filled with sand, it was pretty impossible. Once the circle was satisfactory and to her standards she put the enchantment on it that would stop anything escaping it until she said so. Then it was time for the fun part. She summoned a hellhound, straight from the depths of Hades, into the circle.

The monster was around the size of a Rhino, with big red eyes and sharp teeth (which it had bared almost instantly). Foamy drool came from its mouth as it growled at them; spit flew as it let out a kind of bark. A few of the demigods flinched and took a few steps back. “This,” Evie said happily, “Is a hellhound. Most of them are the size of the average grizzly bear, or rhino, but some are known to grow to the size of garbage trucks. A few of them roam the woods, and they have been known to travel in packs. They are extremely violent and some of them like to play with their food before they eat it. They can shadow travel, are very fast, and extremely strong. You want to watch out for their mouths and paws, and their tails are also a good thing to watch for. In a minute, once you’re all ready, we’ll have a go at sending it back to the underworld. They’re not too hard to kill. Just go for the neck, or stomach.” Evie gave a happy smile as the younger demigods that had been messing around earlier gave horrified glances at each other and the hellhound. Okay, so maybe this was going to be more fun than she had expected.

Alex had tried to talk to Chiron, so he could be a Camp Fighting Instructor. Alex had really good expirience in fighting. People recognized it. He was playing with his braclet, turning it into his metal arm guard, and he was turning it on and off. He stopped and took his War Hammer that was in toy size, then turned it to the normal size of a hammer, he usually fought with it in giant mode. Alex had the strength to use it perfectly, and it was made for him anyway.

Alex started to see people pouring in, Huh. A class. Alex looked at them, and saw their teacher, a girl, who looked around a year younger than him, or the same age. Alex couldn't tell from where he was sitting. Alex sat down and looked at the girl. She seems, like a perfect teacher. Alex thought to himself. He decided to vigilize to the class, the younger kids were just messing around, Alex was about to walk down there and smack those kids upside the head, so they would respect their teacher. “This is not a game!” The Girl had yelled at them, Alex sat back down to see that she had it under control. “You don’t get a second chance in life! Stop screwing about!” The Girl had said. Why the hell am I not in this class, or teaching it with her. Alex thought to himself.

From there, the kids had been practicing, some of them sucked. Alex was looking if the teacher was going to do something, she looked kind of ticked. Alex got up from the top of the Arena, he started walking down the stairs. He walked around the side, and walked down the other flight. He walked around to the side, he remembered that girl. It was Evie, the girl who had helped him out when he had first come to the camp. Good fighter, she was. They teamed up to kill a couple of Monsters.

Before Alex could say something, the girl had done something, “This, Is a hellhound. Most of them are the size of the average grizzly bear, or rhino, but some are known to grow to the size of garbage trucks. A few of them roam the woods, and they have been known to travel in packs. They are extremely violent and some of them like to play with their food before they eat it. They can shadow travel, are very fast, and extremely strong. You want to watch out for their mouths and paws, and their tails are also a good thing to watch for. In a minute, once you’re all ready, we’ll have a go at sending it back to the underworld. They’re not too hard to kill. Just go for the neck, or stomach.” She had explained to her class. Alex looked at the girl and thought for a second, Or do it the way I did a couple days ago, a hulk smash with a war hammer, or the temple, or jump from a hill, and hit him in the back. Alex thought. He walked towards the girl and tapped on her shoulder, so she could know that he was there, and not scare her.

"Hey, Evie," Alex said. "Alex, remember? I just wanted to know If I could help you out, if you need any, like an assistant or something."

Just as Evie was getting into the Lecture, a boy came up behind her and tapped her shoulder. Her hand went to the Scythe Necklace that was hung around her throat. The charm was resting an inch or so above her chest, ready to turn it into her Scythe and attack whatever, or whoever, had just tapped her. Her eyes narrowed as she spun around to face the person who had distracted her halfway through a very important lecture on how not to attack a hellhound. Her death glare faded into a mild annoyance as she saw one of the demigods she had had the pleasure to introduce to camp. Alex something or the other. He had been annoying then, she could hardly imagine how he was now, but if he was interrupting her class then he couldn’t be too much better.

"Hey, Evie. Alex, remember? I just wanted to know if I could help you out, if you need any, like an assistant or something." The girls annoyed gaze flickered right back into a menacing glare. Yep, he was more annoying, or seemed that way at least. She would happily disintegrate him then and there, but she was pretty sure Chiron would be pissed at her if she did that. Mr.D probably wouldn’t mind though, it would just be one less demigod for him to be responsible for. “What?” The girl asked through gritted teeth. If only the nuns from the orphanage could see her now, sister Mary would probably have a heart attack. Her long dark hair was floating around her face, almost crackling with the magic that floated around her at all times, her t-shirt was a plain orange Camp Half-blood counsellors one today, and she wore black ripped skinny jeans. And she pulled it all of ridiculously well, puberty had been good to the girl and she knew it even if she didn’t act like it.

“No, Alex. I don’t need your ‘help’. Nor do I need an assistant. I am quite capable of teaching this class, as unruly as they are they’re going to turn out to be very good fighters… or they are going to die. Either way is fine by me, but the paperwork for deaths is irritating. But no, I don’t need help. Why are you even here? Don’t you have somewhere to be? Chores to do? Schedules to keep? I’d go through a list, but I need to release the hellhound…. Don’t interfere.” Evie said the last part with a small smirk. It was probably in the boys nature to interfere with everything, just look at what he had just done! He had had the nerve to interrupt her class, and seemed to think he would be able to help her teach it. She would rather have Alex leave her alone, but the chances of that happening were next to none. She would just have to take his personality and do her best to not yell at the boy.

With her piece said she stepped forwards and called the classes attention once more. “Alright! I’m going to release this here now. I want you all to at least get a hit on the monster at least once. There’s only twelve of you. It shouldn’t be too hard. Work together, not against each other. If you do it properly then it should be dust in the next half hour. If not then you’ll probably be dust.” They wouldn’t actually, she would stand in and either destroy the monster or circle it again. But they didn’t need to know that. Their battle reflexes should kick in soon enough anyhow. Evie gave a small smile and lifted the magical barrier between the demigods and the monster and then she just watched for a second.


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