Will twirled his sword a few times and finally charged. Hunter dodged Will’s first thrust and hit the blade away. Taking a step forward, he swung his knife downward. Will spun, dodging Hunter’s swing and making one of his own. Before Hunter could react Will’s sword was against his neck. Hunter laughed. “You’ve gotten better, man.” He said with a laugh. Will shrugged and stepped back to fight again. Hunter did the same squared off, waiting for an attack. Will took a swing at Hunter’s torso. Hunter took a step back and dodged it. Will did the same again, but this time Hunter took a step in and wrapped his arm around Will’s. With a quick movement, Hunter disarmed Will and held his knife to Will’s throat. “That first one was practice.” He said with a chuckle.
“Whatever, man. That one counted.” Will said as they squared off again. Hunter went on the offensive this time with a strike to the head. Will ducked the attack and brought his sword up so the point was just touching Hunter’s chin. “Looks like it’s 2-1.” Will said with a grin. Hunter smiled back and shook his head.
“I’m pretty sure this one’s a tie.” He said with a grin before he pointed down. Will looked down to see Hunter’s knife pointed into his stomach. Will glanced up at him and shook his head.
“When did you even…” Will said with a chuckle. The two of them put away their weapons and high fived each other. “Good fight, man. We’ll call this one even then.” He said with a chuckle. “Hey, we’ve got campfire tonight and capture the flag tomorrow. You in?” Will asked with a smile.
“Of course. I haven’t missed a capture the flag in almost 20 years. You think that I would start now? Come on, let’s get dinner.” Hunter said punching him in the arm. The two of them walked out of the arena and to the mess hall.
As they entered Hunter got waves and smiles from campers he had gotten to know over the years. He got food and sat down with Will at the Artemis table. Chiron seemed to not mind when the smaller tables sat together. It seemed a little useless to have one person sitting by himself. Hunter picked up his cup and looked at it with a small smile. He thought back to all the times he had tried to stump the cups that automatically filled itself with whatever you told it to. He thought for a second. “Watermelon bacon cranberry iced tea with a small bunch of grapes on the side of the glass.” He whispered to the glass. He held it out and watched as it seemed to smoke and glow a little before filling with a bright brown liquid. His eyes narrowed for a second until a small bunch of 4 or 5 grapes appeared at the side of the glass. “Son of a…” He cursed under his breath as he ate the grapes with a scowl. He put the stems on the table and gritted his teeth before taking a drink out of the glass. He held the liquid in his mouth for a moment before shrugging and swallowing it. “The bacon actually goes pretty well.” He said before taking another drink. He set down his glass and started going through his food.
“Hunter!” He heard from the doorway to the mess hall. There stood Marina Goldman. His mind briefly flashed to his dream of her crying.
“Hunter? Where?!” Shouted another voice as it walked into the doorway. Kyle Julius stood there looking right at him. “Hunter!” He shouted. Hunter’s mind flashed to his dream of Kyle squaring off against him. Hunter shook away the bad memories and stood up to greet his two friends. They ran over and glomped him, almost knocking him to the ground.
“Hi, guys! When did you get back?” Hunter said with a chuckle. They unlocked their arms from Hunter and resumed their typical position of holding hands.
“We could ask the same about you, mister.” Marina said poking him in the chest.
“Yeah, mister.” Hunter said poking him in the chest again. Hunter glared at him. “Sorry.” He said studying the ground.
“I got here…probably a couple, few hours ago.” Hunter explained. “I’ve been bumming around. Talking to people. Beating Will’s butt.” Hunter said with a chuckle.
“Will!” They said in unison as they walked over and hugged him. “We didn’t even see you there. No offense or anything.” Kyle said before putting his hands in his pockets.
“So how’s Olympus?” Marina asked eagerly. Hunter sat back down and offered Marina and Kyle the seats around Will and Hunter. “Tell me everything.”
“It’s been good. Really fulfilling.” Hunter said with a laugh. “No, I’ve kept busy. Nothing too horribly exciting. That’s all.” Hunter said, shrugging at Marina. ‘Oh, yeah. And I had a dream where we were imprisoned and forced to fight each other. That was good.’ Hunter thought to himself as he finished his food.
“Come on! Campfire is starting.” Marina said as she urged Hunter and Will to eat faster. Hunter looked up at Will.
“I’m sorry to interrupt your eating, but do you hear something?” He asked with a glance at Marina. Will chuckled and looked up at Marina.
“I was unaware this was so urgent.” Will explained. “It’s not like we have a campfire every year.” Will said with a chuckle. Once Hunter finished eating, he took care care of his dishes and left, calling it an early night.