“And I still suck at it. We’re even.” Michael said, offering his free hand out to Gavin, which he took.

Michael was in a noticeably good mood that morning: partially because his team had been victorious in Capture the Flag the day before, and partially because he just got to beat the shit out of him. Gavin had been giving Michael lessons in archery and fixing his technique, and Michael thought it was an equal trade if he helped albeit it was mostly a way for Michael to channel his excessive anger.

However, it was still better than getting elbowed in the nose again. Gavin still had a bruise.

As an Ares kid, Gavin guessed, it just made Michael the best at anything violent. He swung the sword around as Gavin watched, beheading a collection of dummies that he had pulled out of storage. Each swing had produced a cloud of dust and straw. “See? See!” He would say after every couple of swings as if Gavin was supposed to understand. The first no had received a terrifying scowl, so Gavin only nodded and smiled each time instead.

Then, as they began to spar, Michael seemed to find immense joy in knocking Gavin’s sword out of his hands in increasingly creative ways. Knocking him off his feet, almost dislocating his shoulder, and simply tackling him to the ground seemed to be Michael’s favorites, even if only one was truly swordplay.

Yet, somehow this seemed to help somewhat as Gavin rubbed out his sore shoulder and picked up his sword from the ground, thus begun round Gavin-lost-count-a-long-time-ago.

“Ready for some more?” Michael smirked, lashing out with his sword just as the last word left his mouth.

Gavin’s sword went up faster than any time before, matching Michael’s strike and sidestepping his larger opponent. He tried to sweep Michael’s feet, aiming the flat of the blade for his knees, but the swing was easily jumped. There was another attempted strike to Gavin’s right that only missed his armor by a hair’s width. However, with that swing was a gap in Michael’s stance that was immediately taken advantage of.

With a forward thrust, Gavin caught a strap of Michael’s armor with the side of his sword and with a grunt; he put his whole weight onto the blade. The sudden tug in his armor caused Michael’s to stumble and to Gavin’s immense glee, lose his balance. “Fuck!” He shouted before hitting the ground.

There was a cloud of dust and Michael was on the ground, wrestling Gavin’s blade out of the leather strap. “You son of a bitch, that was awesome.” He muttered, trying to hide the smile that fluttered across his red face.

Gavin matched that smile, bending over his knees panting. The heat of the day beat down on them and the front of their shirts were clearly soaked with sweat. “It’s probably about time we turned in. Caleb hasn’t taught me how to deal with heat stroke yet.”

Michael looked like he was about to say something when someone beat him to it.

“Hey llllllloosers!” Ray trotted into the arena, grinning madly as he spotted them. “Is Michael teaching you how to swordfight, that’s hysterical.” The dark-haired kid commented, a sly smile crossing his face.

Michael jumped to his feet, clenching his jaw. “What’s that supposed to mean?” His knuckles turned white around the hilt of his sword. Gavin’s hung in his other hand until he held it out to Ray. “Put your money where your fucking mouth is.”

“Okay.” The smile didn’t disappear from Ray’s face.

The fight that proceeded was nothing like Gavin and Michael had. Michael swung his sword toward Ray’s stomach for a brutal blow that was swiftly met with a counter that threw Michael backward with an explosion of sparks. Then, with movement almost too fast for Gavin to see, Ray took the butt of his sword to Michael’s fighting hand. The force of the strike caused Michael to let go with a cry, but that wasn’t the end. Ray took the flat of his sword to his opponent’s ankles. Michael was down on the ground and had the tip of a sword to his throat before Gavin could even think about assisting his friend.

“We both know what you’re good at Michael. Stick to that.” Ray took the point of the sword away, the seriousness of his expression dissolving into a more familiar goofy grin. “Now that’s aside, I wanted to talk to you idiots about something important.”

“What? Kicking my ass wasn’t the most important part of your day?” Michael growled, trying to wipe the shame off his face.

Ray raised an eyebrow. “Maybe I won’t take you on my quest.”

Michael never scrambled to his feet faster. Gavin noticed a new flame burst behind his eyes. “A quest? Why the hell didn’t you say so sooner?”

Ray shrugged, a mischievous smile spreading across his face. “I don’t know if it will be as fun as the hellhounds in Nashville, but the rings of Alecto, how does that sound?”

“Wait a second, a quest?” Gavin quickly interrupted before he became as lost as usual. This didn’t sound like something that was to be taken lightly, as Ray and Michael looked to be on the edge of reminiscing. Between violent games of Capture the Flag and classes including dangerous weapons, it wasn’t surprising that these quests were a thing.

“Saving people, finding artifacts, understanding the world. You know, that stuff.” Ray smiled, but there was something off-putting about it. “And I was going to ask if you both wanted to come.”

“Gavin?”

“Me?”

Both of them were incredibly incredulous at the same time. Gavin’s jaw dropped slightly, he had just gotten to camp and accepted that this entire experience wasn’t an extended vivid dream. Why the hell would he leave when he was just settling?

“Hell yeah, you have mad aim. Michael may be able to hack and slash his way through enemies, but you have the advantage of distance.”

“Why not take some Apollo kid that actually has some quest experience?” Michael interjected, but Ray shook his head.

“Come on dude, it’s like a right of passage. I think Gavin can handle it.”

Gavin found it very difficult to get his jaw to snap back into place. It was nearly touching the ground. “I—I guess I could go.”

An arm rough wrapped around Gavin’s shoulders and Michael pulled him closer. “And I’ll protect him. We’re both in!” He was a little more enthusiastic than usual. “He’s my boy, where he goes I go.”

“Awesome. Now just to fill the last spot.” Ray said, starting to turn around.

“Wait a second,” A confused look passed over Michael’s face. “It’s not just the three of us?” The tough exposure that he always presented seemed to slip. “More than that tends to be bad luck.”

“Nope. Quest calls for six. Nothing I can do about it.” Ray shrugged, still trying to smile, but Gavin could tell it was getting harder. “Starting packing your bags Lads, we leave on Monday.”