Sam Temple

Photo courtesy Katherine Tegen Books

Advantages

A natural leader
Can shoot light that burns out of his hands
Does what needs to be done





Disadvantages

Unsure of himself
Has an evil twin - literally.

Percy Jackson

Photo courtesy John Rocco

Advantages

Son of Poseidon
Can control and breathe in water
Is healed by water
Owner of the celestial bronze sword Riptide
Can speak to horses and has a friend pegasus
Helped defeated Kronos, father of the gods


Disadvantages

Protecting people is his mortal weakness

How we think the fight might go...




Sam let the palms of his hands glow, a warning to anyone who might come near.

He wasn’t letting anyone into the Plant. Even though resorting to violence wasn’t natural to him, he would fall back on it tonight, if necessary. Astrid and Little Pete were inside, finding out information that not everyone should know – information no one should know, really.

No one should have known they were even there, and the sight of this dark-haired boy unsettled him.  Even though this stranger didn’t look like much, you can never be too safe in the FAYZ.

This kid approached him without hesitation, determined even. Twenty feet away was too close for comfort. Sam help up his hands, letting them glow bright red so he would know just who he was. The kid glanced at a nearby pond.

“Sorry, but you’re not allowed in here,” he said in an authoritative but apologetic tone.

The stranger looked him in the eye, his gaze unfaltering. “Sorry, but I have to get in,” he said in a tone just as authoritative and apologetic. He glanced over Sam's shoulder, as if he could see what was inside the locked door.

Whatever his reasoning for needing into the Plant, it probably wasn’t good. But this kind didn’t look like one of Caine’s followers. But one could never tell for sure. He didn’t seem alarmed by Sam’s hands, either, which was a little more than troubling.

Maybe he just didn’t know the extent of damage he could do.

Percy glanced over the kid's shoulder again. He couldn't have been much older than him, if at all. He needed in that Plant. He needed to figure out why the Gods wanted to exile him here; with a little help from Athena, Annabeth had found a path (of course it was Annabeth) that led straight to the Plant. Whatever was hiding here would tell him the answers he needed to know.

Percy Jackson needed in, and Sam Temple couldn't allow that.

Percy didn’t think this stranger, he must be a demi-god, one of Apollo's son's perhaps, knew who he was. He thought he’d warn him, in a very clear way. Percy pulled on the water from the pond as Sam let his light erupt out of his hands. The water held but was evaporating almost instantly.

It burns too? Percy thought. He let the shield go and ran for the water, barely missing the flame. He rolled in the dirt, the pond still ten feet away. At first he thought it was only his clothes were singed, but then he felt the burns. A searing, scalding kind of pain going up both his arms and across his side. Behind him a bush flamed and a branch crashed to the ground.

Percy rolled, throwing his arms in the water. The boy stared at him as if he were insane. If only he knew. He felt the water's energy flooding his veins. He channeled it, calling like family, and threw it at the kid as his hands glowed bright again.

Water and fire and light met in an explosion beyond anything either could have imagined. Sam swore out loud. Caine or anyone in the FAYZ could have seen that from miles away.

That's the power of one of the Big Three. Is he a son of Zeus? Percy thought. Fire showered down, catching alight on the dead grass around the building. Maybe it’s not me, but him, that the God’s want to contain.

He must be one of Caine’s groupies, Sam thought while watching water move from the stranger’s hands like he owned it. It flowed over him like a second skin. It was mesmerizing and unsettling. But Caine couldn’t get the information Astrid was trying to find. If he did, he could control the FAYZ. And everybody in it. Sam glared, his resolve sharpening. Light exploded from him, hot as he could make it. His power had grown lately, and it showed. Percy staggered, having been hit by a blast of crimson. Fire danced around him, evaporating the water covering him in patches of bubbling water. Percy screamed and fell to the ground, crawling to the small amount of water left in the pond.

Sam stopped firing and let his hands cool, knowing he’d sufficiently made his message clear. No one was getting in. And a message was all he needed to send. Even though this guy was surely one of Caine’s followers, he couldn’t kill him. Whoever he was, Sam wasn’t sure he deserved death and uncertainty is enough of a reason to halt. The stranger was too weak to fight back, anyway, he thought.

But a look at the kid and he knew he was wrong.

Percy touched the water and it poured life into him. Percy drank it deliciously, savoring each taste of existence. His body strengthened, his mind cleared, and rose to this demigod in front of him. Percy called to mind every horrible creature he had faced and lived through. He had stared into the depths of Tartarus and seen Kronos. He took every ounce of water in that pond, in the clouds above him, in the soil the ground was devouring, and threw it at Sam Temple.

He crumpled.



Predicted winner: Percy Jackson

Sam Temple is from Michael Grant's Gone series and Percy Jackson is from Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.

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