User blog:TheWiseOne/Jessie - Broken Rules and Surprises

 Jessie held her sword close to her side as she walked towards the Arena, hand-in-hand with Brody Thresh, her boyfriend. They were going for a quick training run before the campfire. Roslyn, Jessie's best friend, had tagged along for the fun of it.

 They walked through the Arena gate and the smell of the summer air, strawberries and sweat smashed into their faces. Roslyn immediately went for the first training dummy with her black obsidian dagger. In seconds, there was a pile of fluff and material cloth where the dummy used to be. She hadn't even broken a sweat. Jessie sat in the stands, polishing her sword as Roslyn went for the next dummy, her black hair tied into a ponytail, swishing back and forth as she walked. Her white tee-shirt glowed in the torch light. Brody set down a boom-box. Jessie looked up from the glowing bronze.

"What's that for?" Jessie asked as Brody pulled a disc from the pocket of his old torn denim shorts. His silver dog tag shimmered on top of his baggy black hoodie. He loaded the CD and buckled his spear sheath on his back.

 "Some tunes." He flexed his shoulders, getting ready for training. The boom-box started spinning the disc. Brody pressed PLAY and "The Good Life" by Three Days Grace wafted from the speakers. Roslyn came over from the piles of ravaged fluff and material and turned it up.

 "Come on, Jess!" She pulled Jessie out of the stands and went into a combat stance.

 "Okay," Jessie held up her hands, "This isn't fair. I have a sword and you have a dagger."

 Roslyn shrugged. "I don't care." She lunged with her dagger. Jessie blocked. Brody cheered them on. They kept going and Jessie started getting into it. Then, the doors burst open and Leah came running in.

 "Guys!" She cried, catching her breath, "Come on! Something happened in the Hermes Cabin! Someone's been claimed!" She ran back out the doors. Roslyn and Jessie looked at each other, then at Brody. Roslyn put away her dagger and Jessie sheathed her sword and ran after Leah.

 When they came to the Hermes cabin, there was a crowd. They pushed through the kids and found Leah with Travis Stoll the Hermes Cabin Counsellor, Matt and some skinny dark haired kid in the centre.

"What?" Brody called, coming up behind them. "What happened? Who got claimed?"

"He did." A camper said, pointing to the dark haired kid.

 "Who is he?" Someone murmured.

 "Who claimed him?" Another said.

 "When did he get here? I've never seen him until now." Another one called to Travis.

The crowd parted and Chiron, the Camp Activities Director, strode through. His upper half from his waist up, was human, dressed in a blue NUMERO UNO HORSE DUDE tee-shirt. But his bottom half was a white palomino horse.

 "What's happened?" Chiron trotted through. The skinny kid moved forward.

<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"> "He was claimed." Travis stepped up. "By Hermes. He's one of us." Chiron's face slowly changed from concern to excitment.

<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"> "Your name is Patrick Martin, am I correct?" Chiron smiled.

<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"> "Y-yes." The skinny kid, Patrick answered.

<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Chiron gingerly bowed and so did the rest of the campers, including Jessie, Roslyn and Brody.

<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"> "Patrick Martin, Son of Hermes. God of Travellers, Merchants, Thieves and Medicine. Messenger of the Gods." When Chiron stopped speaking, everyone applauded. Jessie stood, clapping. She looked over to Matt. He was cheering with everyone else, but he didn't seem too … cheery. As Patrick was taken into the Hermes Cabin, Matt stayed behind. He lowered his head and slowly walked towards the Amphitheatre.

<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"> "Hey Matt!" Jessie called after him. He stopped in his tracks and looked back.

<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">"What's with you?"

<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"> Matt just shrugged. "I've been here for so long." He spoke softly. "And he comes last night and gets claimed the next day. I've been here, what? Five years? Not one sign or anything." With that, he sprinted off to the Amphitheatre.

<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"> Brody came back from the Hermes Cabin. He grabbed her side and pulled Jessie in for a kiss. When they broke apart, Brody looked at her, up and down. "What's wrong with you?"

<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"> Jessie sighed. "Matt. He's upset because he hasn't been claimed. It's not much." She pulled away. "I'm gonna go find Chris and Daniel. Before the campfire starts." She started walking down towards the dock, where they usually were. Roslyn came up beside her.

<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"> "Hey," she wrapped her arm around Jessie's back, "I know how much you care about him. Everyone is still depressed after what happened with James. At least I am. But, let's have some fun, hey?" She smiled her coy smile and dragged Jessie towards the dock.