Chapter 1

When Girls Fly

My summer had sucked even before the new girl turned up. Six days ago, the Battle of the Labyrinth had brought the Titan War to our home. Before that, I had stumbled through leading my first quest. My friends and I had barely made it out alive. I was sure I'd already hit my yearly quota for near-death experiences. But the Fates are funny like that—they always find a way to prove me wrong.

The night it all began, nobody was thinking about the prophecy, the war, or anything else important. You'd be amazed how easily a hundred demigods can be distracted from the fact that our home had just been invaded and the world is fated to end in a little over a year. There I was, sitting in the dining pavilion with everyone else, eagerly awaiting the start of the most important event of the week: capture the flag.

Preparations for the Battle of the Labyrinth had thrown Camp Half-Blood off schedule. The first capture the flag game was finally being held tonight, more than three weeks after it was originally planned.

Everyone was antsy. You can't put a hundred ADHD teenagers trained for combat and itching to fight in close proximity and expect them to sit still. Half-bloods were milling about, brokering alliances, discussing strategy, and talking trash.

I was at the head of the Athena table, staring at a map of the woods. I traced my finger down the creek, considering the usual crossing areas and choke points. Despite all the thought I'd given it, I still hadn't chosen where to put our flag. The best spot, Zeus' Fist, had been obliterated in the recent battle, so that was no longer an option.

A pair of legs slid onto the bench next to me. I glanced up and recognized the owner as Malcolm, my half-brother.

"We've got Apollo," he said with a grin. "Michael was pretty cool about it. He's not even forcing us to do their kitchen patrol. I think he just wants to win."

I nodded. Lee Fletcher, Apollo's previous counselor, was one of the several who had died in the battle. Michael Yew, the new counselor, was not someone I knew very well. Fortunately, he was friends with Malcolm.

"That's great," I said with a grin. "What about Hermes?"

Malcolm shrugged. "The Stolls still haven't picked a side, but if we get them, we'll be set."

"What did you offer them?"

"Our shower time for a week."

I raised an eyebrow. "They didn't accept that?"

The Hermes cabin was notoriously bad about cleaning up. On inspection days, they normally got one of the worst scores, and as a result, they were punished with the worst shower time—before dawn.

"No," he said, thoughtfully. I could practically see the gears turning behind his stormy eyes. "What do you think Clarisse offered them?"

"Her spear, maybe?"

Malcolm snorted. "She'd never give up Lamer."

I smiled. Clarisse's terrifying eight-foot magical pike sounded a lot less intimidating when called 'Lamer'.

Malcolm sat back and crossed his arms. The thoughtful expression lingered on his face. He looked down at the map. "So where we gonna put the flag?"

"I still haven't decided. Little Hill, maybe."

"That's a good spot, especially since we have Apollo," he agreed.

"I was thinking the same thing."

"We've got Percy, right? He's gonna be important tonight. I heard that Ares is planning to hit the middle, so I was thinking maybe he could—"

By that point, I had stopped listening to Malcolm. A lump formed in my throat at the thought of Percy, but it had nothing to do with the upcoming game.

It went without saying that he was an asset in capture the flag. Sure, he was skilled with a sword and a natural leader, but his most important attribute in the game was his power in the water. Because the border was the creek, Percy was undoubtedly the strongest defender in the camp. I remembered his first game, when he'd defeated half the Ares cabin on his own. That had been years ago, before he'd even learned to fight. These days, the team that had Percy would usually have him hold an entire crossing point solo. The other team would typically try to avoid him by crossing on the other end of the woods or in the center.

Thankfully, his presence on my team was almost always guaranteed, no bribing required. There had been a few times we had been against each other, like when my cabin went up against Hephaestus, but it wasn't common.

"Annabeth."

"Huh?" I asked, blinking away my thoughts.

"You spaced out again," Malcolm remarked.

"I was just thinking, sorry. What did you say?"

"I asked if we had Percy."

"Well… I don't really know," I said, slowly.

He tilted his head. "You two still fighting?"

"We aren't fighting," I said. "I mean… not really. I just haven't talked to him about it."

"Seems like you haven't talked to him at all, lately."

I raised an eyebrow. "What makes you say that?"

Malcolm shrugged. "Just something I noticed. You used to always hang out with him."

I saw Malcolm glance over to the Poseidon table. I didn't dare follow his gaze. Since our quest in the labyrinth, Percy and I hadn't exactly been on the best terms with each other. I had hoped that it would go unnoticed to the rest of camp, but evidently it had not.

Since I didn't reply, Malcolm kept talking. "You've been spacing out a lot too. What, did you two break up or something?"

"Malcolm! We're not even going out."

He smirked teasingly. "I guess not, since I saw him hanging out with an Aphrodite girl at the beach yesterday. I think it was a date."

"Wait what?" I felt my eyes widening. That didn't sound like something Percy would do at all. My mind raced to rationalize it. The girl must have desperately begged Percy to spend time with her, or maybe she used her powers to make him crush on her. Or maybe—"That's a joke, isn't it?"

"Yep." I could tell he was barely holding back a snicker.

I made no effort to hide it when I rolled my eyes at him. "Gods, you're as annoying as he is," I said, but in honesty, I was pretty relieved he had been kidding. Aphrodite girls were bad news when it came to boys.

"Seriously though," Malcolm said, "what happened on your quest? It's like you've been avoiding each other since he went missing. When he came back I thought you'd be happy, since you were so worried.

I rubbed my temples in exasperation, growing tired of his teasing. Sometimes dealing with my siblings was worse than dealing with Percy. At least he usually got the message when I tried to get him to stop asking questions. My siblings were too smart and too curious.

"It's nothing, okay?" I said. My tone kind of sharp, but I didn't care. Malcolm should have known better than to question me about Percy.

"Fine, fine. Anyway, I hope we've got him on our side. We're gonna need him if we don't get Hermes."

"We probably do," I said after a moment of consideration. "He never fights for Ares."

"I'll go make sure, if you don't want to," Malcom said, starting to stand up.

"No," I said, cutting him off. "I'll do it."

A knowing grin spread across his face as he sat back down. "Okay."

I sighed and shook my head. Malcolm's teasing could be a headache, but I really did appreciate his help. Despite being more than a year younger than me, he made a good second-in-command.

I could feel a lot of eyes on me as I stood from the Athena table. Capture the flag nights made me into a figurehead. As the counselor of the Athena cabin, I was the de facto leader of my cabin and its allies for the night.

Campers got out of my way as I walked over to the Poseidon table. I'm thankful that Percy was facing the other way, because my bravery probably would have melted under his gaze as I approached. I muttered a silent curse against his eyes for being so striking. It wasn't fair that he could make me feel lightheaded by just looking at me.

I filtered the thoughts away. They weren't going to help me with convincing him to fight for us. I forced a neutral expression and willed the butterflies in my stomach to be still. Cautiously, I took the seat across from him. Percy didn't even notice my presence. He was practically inhaling his blue noodle spaghetti.

I have to admit, it looked pretty funny.

"Hey," I said, mustering my courage.

Percy's eyes met mine. I'm not sure how I expected him to react, but I figured he wouldn't be pleased with me. After all, we hadn't had a conversation in days.

At first he just looked surprised, but then he surprised me back with his signature grin. Had imagined our whole feud? It was hard to believe he just wouldn't care that I had avoided him all week, but he didn't look upset.

"What's up?" he asked.

"You're playing tonight, right?"

"Yeah, I'm playing."

I sighed in relief. "Good. So I was thinking about having you hold the east tonight."

"Oh," Percy said, slowly, putting down his fork. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Well, you see… I kind of agreed to play for red."

My jaw went slack. "You what?"

"Hey!" he said defensively, holding up his hands in surrender. "Connor offered me smuggling services for a month. I can get a ton of Coca-Cola out of that, y'know?"

It didn't go over my head that what he said also meant that Hermes wasn't actually neutral. They must have been lying to keep me from suspecting they'd bribe Percy. After all, he was friends with a lot of the Hermes cabin.

"Percy!" I glared at him, frustrated. "You can get as much Coke as you want from your goblet!"

"It's so much better out of the can."

I clenched my teeth. Percy had a knack for getting me riled up without even trying. "That doesn't even make sense! It's the same exact drink."

He shrugged. "But it's true."

"Percy, come on. You never play for Ares."

His smile faltered. "So? I can play for whoever I want."

"Why wouldn't you want to play for us?" I demanded. "The Percy I know would never think twice about teaming up with his friends."

I probably shouldn't have gone there. In retrospect, you should never question Percy's loyalty. I later learned it was his fatal flaw. Percy's eyes widened a little in shock. His hurt expression made my heart sting with guilt, but I was too angry to want to apologize.

"Yeah," Percy said, his voice dripping with bitter sarcasm. "Because you've been real friendly lately."

I was vaguely aware that most of the conversation in the dining pavilion had hushed. I felt a lot of eyes on me. A part of me regretted making such a scene, but my pride made me refuse to back down.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I narrowed my eyes on him.

"Well," he said, "first you avoid me all week. Then when you finally talk to me, all you want is my help in capture the flag. You don't have to be Athena's kid to see when someone's using you."

It made me a little angry that he'd even suggest that, but I managed to keep a level head. "You know that's not true."

"No. I don't."

I stared at him, drinking in his hurt expression. His eyes were filled with thought, which was highly atypical of Percy.

"Well it's not," I said matter-of-factly, crossing my arms. "I'd never use you like that. I just want my friend on my team, honest."

He stared back at me. His expression was unreadable until his lips cracked into a little smile. "Well good, I guess. But I'm still playing for Ares. I've already agreed to it. Besides, I'm not giving up that Coke."

I heard some high-fives and fist bumps from the Ares and Hermes tables. Even if I couldn't get him on my team, I was not about to allow Percy to have the last laugh.

I smirked back at him. Percy's crooked smile was contagious. It was hard to stay mad when he looked at you like that.

I stood up. "Fine. It's just too bad you'll have to lose tonight, Seaweed Brain. I'm coming for you."

There was a chorus of amused "Oohs" from the demigods who were observing our argument. I heard some snickering and whispering. I guess they liked what they were seeing. Trash talk was commonplace before capture the flag, but trash talk between Percy and me? Not something you saw every day. To them, it was probably better than reality TV.

"We'll see about that," he flashed me an impish grin.

The audience of demigods whooped and "Oohed" again. If nothing else, at least our argument was getting everyone else hyped up.

I walked back to my table.


Thirty minutes later, everyone was geared up and I was leading my team into the south woods, carrying the blue banner high. A collection of campers wearing blue-plumed helmets marched behind me, representing the cabins of Athena, Apollo, Hephaestus, and Dionysus. There were about forty of us, and the vast majority came from Apollo and Athena's cabins. Hephaestus and Dionysus only had five campers combined, but thankfully they were above average age-wise and pretty experienced.

I knew that somewhere north of here, Clarisse La Rue was leading the campers from the Ares, Hermes, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Poseidon cabins. If my mental math was correct, they numbered around fifty-five, but I was not too worried about the manpower discrepancy. Red had Demeter and Aphrodite, which meant that more than twenty of their campers would be weak in battle. The Hermes cabin was a mixed bag skill-wise. Their campers typically made great scouts and flag runners, but beyond that they were average.

It was obvious who the real threats were on the opposing team—the Ares campers and Percy.

I threw the flag down at the top of Little Hill, planting it in the mud. Little Hill is about twenty feet tall and has the benefit of being in a clearing. It provides good lines of sight and easy defense, and since we had Apollo, I wasn't worried about archers picking off our defenders from the trees.

The four cabins gathered around me, looking at me expectantly. I inwardly grinned. Nothing got me revved up like seeing my strategy in action.

"Okay!" I spoke loudly, so that all could hear. "I want Apollo split up into three teams: attack, defense, and patrol. Names should be self-explanatory. I'll lead the attack. You know what to do, right?"

Michael Yew stepped forward and took the reigns of his cabin. "If you're leading attack, I'll lead the patrol squad. Will, you're taking defense."

Will Solace nodded, gripping his bow. "You got it."

"How long have we got until the horn?" Malcolm asked.

"Not long," I said, quickly. "Let's hurry."

Everyone muttered in agreement. I looked to the lone son of Dionysus. Looking at him made me feel sad, but I forced a friendly smile. He'd lost his only brother in the Battle of the Labyrinth. I didn't really want to order him around.

"Pollux, what do you want to do?"

He thought for a moment. "I'll go solo, but I'll stay in our territory."

"You sure? There's strength in numbers."

"I'll be alright. It's not like I'm rushing into their territory anyway."

"Okay… just be careful," I said. In truth, I didn't like the idea of him being alone, but I didn't protest.

"I want Hephaestus with me on the attack. Objections?" I looked at Beckendorf.

"None," Beckendorf said. The tall black demigod grinned, looking pleased with being assigned to the attacking team. "We got your back."

I nodded approvingly and looked at my stepsiblings. "And finally, I want half of Athena holding the creek, and half with me. Malcolm, lead the border guard. Got it?"

"Yeah, but one question," said Malcolm, uncertainly, "what if we run into Percy?"

I stifled a groan of annoyance. I hated having to worry about Percy wreaking havoc. I wished I could just ignore the fact that he'd switched teams and worry about it later, but Malcolm's concern was legitimate. If the red team used Percy defensively, he could cover their flank while they pushed hard on the other side. If they used him offensively, he could quickly break the line for the Ares cabin, and it'd be unlikely that one third of the Apollo cabin alone could protect the flag for very long.

"Use a reactionary defense," I finally decided. "Stay within earshot of Michael's patrol and stay away from Percy. Absolutely don't fight him near the creek; he's basically unbeatable there. Don't try to disarm him either; his sword returns to him magically. Just lure him away from the water if you can. Also don't let the Ares cabin drive too far into our side."

"Or we could just send you in to distract him!" someone from the back of Apollo piped up. The whole group chuckled. I just rolled my eyes and decided to let the comment slide.

Somewhere in the distance, the unmistakable sound of a horn broke the silent night. The game had begun. I heard distant whoops and hollering, no doubt Ares campers getting psyched up for combat.

"Okay, move out, blue team!" I shouted.


We decided to attack the west. Turns out, red team was fast. I suppose I should have expected it, since we were up against the Hermes cabin, but it was still surprising to run into the enemy before we even reached the creek. It was a band of three Hermes campers, hiding in the tree line near our bank of the creek.

My attack squad was sixteen strong. As soon as the three Hermes half-bloods saw us, they turned and ran, jumped over the creek, and disappeared into their side of the forest. The Apollo campers accompanying me fired arrows after them, driving them off faster.

"Scouts." I cursed. "They know we're coming this side now."

To the east, I heard clanging metal and shouting. An off-course arrow whizzed twenty feet away and hit a tree. It was faint, but I also heard the crackle of electricity.

"Clarisse's over there," noted Beckendorf, as he hefted his custom-made longsword. "It sounds like they're pushing the east."

I clenched my jaw. "And Percy's not here."

"Which means he's over there, on the attack," confirmed one of my younger half-brothers, Drake. He sounded worried. "Do you think they'll hold?"

"No," I decided. "I'm going to help them." I looked at Beckendorf. "You lead the attack, okay?"

Beckendorf smirked and rested the flat of his longsword onto his shoulder. "The red flag's as good as ours. Good luck."

With that, he ran off into the creek, then into the trees on the other side. I silently wished them luck, then ran east along the edge of the creek, keeping a sharp eye out for red-plumed helmets. I heard combat close behind me. Apparently Beckendorf and the attackers had encountered resistance. I kept running.

It didn't take me long to find the enemy. Only about fifty paces into my jog, I spotted two half-bloods wearing red-plumed helmets wading through the creek. They were younger girls, probably about eleven or twelve. I vaguely remembered them being newcomers—children of Demeter, I think.

Quietly, I crouched down behind a bush, hoping that they hadn't seen me. Fortunately, they made no indication that I was compromised. I watched carefully as they climbed out of the creek. The taller one bent down to help the shorter one up. A part of me felt bad for what I was about to do, but another part of me recognized that it was all part of the game. I'd been beaten by older kids a lot when I was even younger than they were.

As the second girl climbed out of the creek, she put her weapon down to grab a root for support. I recognized it as my best chance for an ambush. In an instant, I jumped out of my hiding place and drew my dagger, only a few feet away from the two. I prioritized the girl holding a weapon.

Before she even seemed to realize what was happening, I kicked her in the abdomen. The girl's eyes went wide behind her helmet and she opened her mouth to yell, but I had knocked the wind out of her. She stumbled backwards and fell back into the creek with a splash!

The second girl was a little quicker in combat. In the time it took me to kick her friend into the water, she managed to grab her sword and get to her feet. She shouted and hacked the blade vertically downward at me. My brain registered the threat and my demigod battle reflexes kicked in.

I twisted my shoulders to the right. The girl's celestial bronze blade passed in front of my face, but narrowly missed my shoulder, her intended target. Judging by her form, I could tell that the girl was inexperienced. She put far too much into that attack, swinging with both hands, and now she was off-balance and undefended.

I didn't want to maim her, so instead I used my dagger like a hammer and slammed her helmet with the hilt. When metal impacted metal, there was a loud THUNG! I saw her eyes vibrate from the force of the impact. She crumpled.

I muttered a silent apology to the two. The fight had only lasted about fifteen seconds. I kept running towards the sound of battle to the east.

But as I ran, I couldn't shake a feeling of dread. You know that feeling you get when you know someone's watching you? It hung over me like a raincloud. The hair on the back of my neck stood up.

Someone is watching me, I thought. I knew it. I could feel it. Someone was gonna ambush me. Probably the reds. Maybe Percy.

I skidded to a stop and whirled around, my weapon raised. To my surprise, nobody was there. It was just the dark forest. In the distance, through the thick trees, I could see the remains of Zeus' Fist: crushed boulders and fallen trees. But I didn't see any campers.

But even as I stared in that direction, I swear, I felt eyes on me. I bit my lip in apprehension. A part of me was tempted to follow my superstition towards Zeus' Fist to investigate the feeling, but I had a game to focus on.

I suddenly felt the urge to get back to my teammates. Shaking off the feeling of dread, I pressed on down the river.

It didn't take me long to find another player. This time, fortunately, it was a teammate. Less fortunately, he was on the ground, sitting with his back against a tree, and was soaking wet. It took me all of two seconds to figure out what had happened.

"Pollux!" I shouted, rushing to his side.

"Unggh…" he muttered, squinting to look at me. "Annabeth?"

"Where's Percy?" I asked, removing his blue-plumed helmet so that I could understand him better. Pollux looked shaken up, but not injured. Judging by the impact mark on the tree behind him, Percy probably blasted him into it with a jet of water.

"He…" Disoriented, Pollux raised a finger to point to the east. "That way… Be careful. Ares too."

"Got it, thanks!" I said, trying to smile. This time, I failed. I knew I shouldn't have let Pollux go alone.

Nevertheless, I took off to the east. And just like him, I was on my own.

After about half a minute more of running, the shouting and clanging of combat grew loud. I knew I was getting close. I reached the edge of the clearing and hid behind a tree. Carefully, I poked my head around to survey the battle.

Needless to say, it didn't look very good. Clarisse and the rest of Ares had formed a phalanx and were advancing relentlessly on a small band of my stepsiblings and about ten Apollo campers. It looked like Malcolm's defensive line had been broken. I cringed as I watched one of the stragglers get shield-bashed by an Ares hoplite. Apollo campers were slowing the advance with a barrage of arrows, but Clarisse was barking orders at her cabin, and they were getting better at blocking the arrows with every passing second. Oddly, Percy was nowhere to be seen.

After about ten seconds of surveying, I decided that I'd better go help. Even if I didn't have a plan, I couldn't just sit back and watch my friends get routed. I dashed out into the clearing, running along the sandy creek bank.

One of Clarisse's underlings must have seen me approaching and notified her, because her helmet turned and her eyes locked onto mine. She yelled something at her siblings that I didn't catch, and then she stepped back, out of the phalanx, and turned to face me.

"Lookie here!" Clarisse shouted with glee. The sharp tip of Maimer crackled with static electricity in her hand. "The blue team captain. Come to surrender?"

I skidded to a stop in the sand twenty feet away from her. Behind her, I saw the Ares phalanx as it continued to push through the blue team's defense. The Apollo campers that hadn't been knocked out or captured were retreating towards Little Hill.

However, without Clarisse guiding the phalanx, I noticed that its advance had slowed significantly. More of the Apollo demigods' arrows were slipping through the shield wall and pelting the Ares campers in their armor.

I knew what I had to do.

"You wish," I said defiantly. "I came for a duel."

"You want to duel me?" Clarisse asked incredulously.

"That's right." My voice came out confidently, but inwardly I knew the odds were stacked against me. Don't get me wrong, I'm a good fighter, but my dagger is unfit for dueling. Not to mention that Clarisse was probably the best warrior in camp. She could even defeat Percy when he wasn't in the water.

"Brave, I'll give you that." the tall girl snorted, pointing her spear at me. Tendrils of electricity danced its entire length as she leveled it towards me. I'd seen Maimer in action enough times to know what was about to happen.

I reached down and snatched my cap of invisibility out of the back pocket of my jeans. I slapped the cap onto my head, turning invisible, and dove to the left.

For a split second, the dusk turned to day. Then, a crash of thunder left my ears ringing as I rolled to my knees. To my right, where I had just been standing, the ground was blackened and burned, the product of a lightning blast from Maimer.

In an adrenaline-fueled frenzy, I shot to my feet and rushed Clarisse, still invisible. She scanned her eyes in my general direction and held her shield up warily. I closed the distance quickly and flipped my dagger in my hand, so that the blade was facing downward. I was about to smash the hilt into her helmet when she violently thrust her shield forward.

I felt the wind leave my lungs as Clarisse's shield bash knocked me off my feet. I fell down backwards onto my butt, dropping my blade beside me. When I looked up at her, my vision was spinning, but my mind managed to register that I could see my legs. Unfortunately, that meant Clarisse could too. My cap must have been knocked off.

She leered down at me and pointed her crackling lance down towards my face. I impulsively scooted backwards in terror. Trust me, it's impossible to be brave when Maimer is shoved directly in your face, even if you know that maiming isn't allowed.

"Your little trick's not gonna fool me," Clarisse smirked cockily at me, evidently pleased with herself. "Surrender now, or—"

THWANG!

Just then, something hit Clarisse in the right side of the helmet so hard that she staggered to the left. A second later, three more blunt-tipped arrows smashed into her breastplate, knocking her off her feet.

I blinked in shock, but reacted as quickly as someone who had just taken a shield bash could. I scrambled to my feet and snatched up my knife and hat, both of which lay in the sand beside me. Clarisse groaned in pain on the ground nearby and pulled off her helmet, but she didn't make any move to stand up.

I scanned the surroundings. To my surprise, things were looking really good. I saw the Ares campers retreating, being chased off by a large group of bow-wielding Apollo campers. I frowned in confusion, wondering where they had come from. When I had started my fight with Clarisse, there had not been anywhere near that many Apollo demigods defending the creek. But even they were over a hundred feet away. Who had fired the arrows at Clarisse?

I got my answer when Will Solace walked out of his hiding place in the bushes.

"What were you just saying about surrender, Clarisse?" Will asked, with a playful grin.

"Solace," Clarisse scowled from where she lay, clutching her forehead. "You just interrupted a duel, runt."

"All's fair in love, war, and capture the flag," Will replied in a singsong voice, grinning. "You alright, Annabeth?"

"I'm fine," I said, stuffing my cap into my back pocket again. "But Will, why are you here? I thought you were defending the flag."

He eyed me with confusion, like I had asked a stupid question. "We saw Michael's patrol and the kids from your cabin guarding the river were getting whipped. Ares was following them, so we ambushed them and chased them off."

"No," I said, rubbing my forehead in frustration. "I mean why did you leave the base? Your team was in charge of guarding it."

"We had to help you," he explained with a shrug. "Besides, we drove all the Ares guys off."

"Was Percy with them?"

"Percy? No, I don't think so."

I got a sinking feeling in my stomach. "Did you leave anyone guarding the flag?"

"No…" Will said, slowly. "But seriously, we drove them all off, it's not like—"

Will was cut off by a loud sound coming from the east. It reminded me of the drone violent rapids. When I looked upstream, I was shocked to see a huge surge of water racing towards us, extending far beyond the normal banks of the creek and even into the trees.

"Oh gods…" Will muttered in awe, backing away.

"Look out!" I yelled, but before I could even react, the torrent was upon us.

The six-foot wall of water hit me in the back as I turned to run, knocking me off my feet. I tumbled and flipped through the freshwater surf like a ragdoll as the huge wave broke on the sand and carried me downstream. I thrashed and struggled, trying to regain control of myself, but the current was too strong. Attempting to fight it was like trying to swim up a waterfall.

When the wave finally petered out and I managed to stagger to my feet, I realized I'd been moved more than a hundred feet downstream. As dizzy and dripping wet as I was, I knew exactly who had caused the wave. Only one person in the camp could do something like that.

Sure enough, near where I had just been standing, I saw Percy race out of the tree line on my team's end of the creek. Carrying the blue banner, he sprinted into the creek and waded across it with speed that would be impossible for anyone else. I broke into a run after him, but it was no use. He was home free.

I had just reached the bank of the creek opposite him when he set foot on dry land. He paused and turned around to look at me. I swear I saw him smirk under his helmet as he threw the banner down, planting it in the sand. The dark blue banner shimmered and turned sea green. Athena's mark—the owl—was replaced by a golden trident.

Somewhere in the distance, I heard the conch horn blast, signaling that the game was over. Poseidon, a cabin with only one camper, now held a flag.

Percy pulled off his helmet and tucked it under his arm. His hair was even wilder than usual because of the helmet, but I didn't mind. I'd never admit it to him, but Percy made the hoplite armor look good.

"Hey Wise Girl," he called across the creek, offering me a taunting grin.

"You got lucky," I declared, crossing my arms, which probably looked kind of ridiculous, since I was soaking wet.

"Maybe," he said. "How was your swim?"

I rolled my eyes, ignoring his jab. "If my team had listened to me, there would have been twenty Apollo guys guarding the flag."

"Y'know, I thought it was a trap when I showed up and found your base empty."

"And you still walked in anyway?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

He shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

I cracked a smile. It was so typical of Percy to run in and 'just go for it', despite the risks involved.

He waded over to my side of the creek as though it was easier than walking on land. As he stepped onto the sand near me, I admired his banner.

"I like it," I remarked.

"Huh?" Percy asked, looking down at me in confusion.

"Your banner, I mean," I quickly amended. "I've never seen Poseidon's before."

"Oh," He glanced up at it, then back down to me. "Neither have I, come to think of it. The trident looks pretty wicked."

"The color's pretty."

He shrugged. "It's okay I guess. I thought it'd be bluer."

"It's the same as your eyes," I blurted, without thinking. As soon as I heard my own words, I cursed my ADHD. "I-I mean—"

I tried to backtrack, but he cut me off. "You think so?"

"Yeah." I breathed in relief. This was Percy I was talking to, why was I even worried? He wouldn't have made that connection given a hundred years.

An uncomfortable silence settled between us. I became acutely aware of the bubbling of the creek nearby. The wind was picking up quickly, and it whistled through the trees. I wanted to say something, but the words eluded me. My mind drifted back to our kiss in the volcano. I felt my cheeks heating up at the thought, and I hoped it was too dark for Percy to notice.

I hated the silence. It reminded me of how we'd been avoiding each other. It reminded me that things were tense between us. It reminded me of how he'd left me for two weeks and I thought I'd never hear his voice again. It came as a relief when he broke it.

"Where is everyone, anyway?" he asked.

I looked around, considering his words. It was odd that nobody had found us yet. Everyone was supposed to return to the creek at the end of the game so we could walk back to the cabins together. It had been a couple minutes since the horn, but nobody had showed up except us.

"I don't know," I said. "Will Solace and Clarisse should be around here somewhere."

"Oh," he chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Actually, I sorta overdid it on them. They probably ended up near the beach."

I nodded. When he didn't say anything else, I could feel the silence starting to rise again between us, which worried me. In the past, we never had trouble talking about anything. But recently, just maintaining a dialogue with him was harder than fighting a cyclops.

Thankfully, he stepped up to the plate before I had to. "I've been meaning to ask you…"

I felt my heart catch in my throat. We were alone, and Percy normally never started questions like that.

"Yeah?" I asked. My voice sounded small.

"Well…" Percy shuffled uncomfortably. I unconsciously held my breath in anticipation. "I was uh… just wondering about—"

"Percy!" cried a nearby voice, cutting him off. I wasn't sure whether to be disappointed or relieved.

I turned and squinted to see someone sprinting up the sandy bank of the creek. As he got closer, I recognized it was Drake, the younger stepbrother of mine who had been on the attacking squad during the game.

He skidded to a stop in the sand in front of us and huffed to catch his breath with his hands on his knees. Percy looked at me questioningly. I shrugged. Drake looked like he'd seen a ghost.

"Is something wrong?" I asked, feeling the seed of worry starting to sprout in my stomach.

"Yeah!... the beach!... Percy help!" Drake babbled in between gasps of air. It was hard to really make out what he was saying since it was mixed with so much gibberish.

"Wait, what?" Percy asked, baffled. "Dude, slow down, I only got like five words of that."

I set a steady hand on my stepbrother's shoulder.

"Drake, get a grip," I said sternly. "What's wrong?"

He took a deep breath and tried again. "The beach. There's someone stranded in the water. It's all stormy… can't risk it." Drake looked at Percy hopefully.

Percy and I exchanged a worried glance. Drake was still only sort of making sense, but I got the gist of it this time: someone was in the water and needed Percy's help.

"Alright, let's go," Percy said. "Drake, when you follow us, bring my flag."

The younger boy glanced up at the banner, probably noticing it for the first time. "You got it," he said, still panting.

With that, we raced off, following the creek towards the beach.


It was a pretty lengthy run to the shoreline. Wearing armor made it even harder, and we had just played capture the flag, so I was already tired. By the time we reached the edge of the forest, I was gasping for air. My muscles ached. I made a mental note to apologize for being short with Drake, because I could see why he had been drained at the end of the run.

Percy had it easy. All he had to do was run in the ankle-deep part of the creek and the water granted him virtually unlimited stamina. He wasn't even sweating when we reached the shoreline.

Since the game had started, the wind had picked up. Clouds had blown in, covering the moon, but thankfully there was still enough light from the sun just below the horizon to see what we were doing. Big wind-whipped waves crashed on the shoreline. The ocean didn't look inviting at all. I couldn't imagine being stranded out there.

"Over there!" I said, pointing to a congregation of campers near the water.

I jogged over to them, Percy in tow. Chiron was with them, standing in the center of the group, arguing with a few of them.

"We've gotta do something!" I heard Connor Stoll yell. "She'll drown!"

"No!" Chiron replied, "Don't go out there, you'll just end up stranded too. We need—" Just then, he turned to see us. "Percy! Thank goodness you're here."

Forty pairs of eyes turned to look at us.

"Someone's out there?" Percy asked, looking out over the stormy sea. It was dark enough that the water looked inky black. I didn't see anyone until Chiron pointed her out.

"Directly out, about five hundred feet," Chiron said, grimly.

I squinted and scanned the water. At first, I saw nothing; the waves blocked my vision. Then, after the nearest wave crashed on the shore, I saw her. It was definitely a person. I could make out two arms and a head. The rest must have been underwater.

"There she is!" cried one of the onlookers, Katie Gardner, who pointed her finger at the same thing I had seen.

"Get a move on, Jackson!" shouted Clarisse, of all people. "She's drowning out there!"

Percy must have seen her too, because he ripped off his breastplate and shoes. His shirt came off with his armor, which didn't really matter since it wouldn't have gotten wet anyway, but I wasn't about to complain. We all watched as he ran out, waded into the water, dove into the first wave, and disappeared under the dark surf.

"How did you notice her?" I asked nobody in particular.

"Connor saw her," Travis Stoll said.

"It sounds stupid, but she fell from the sky," Connor confirmed what his twin said. "I saw her hit the water."

There was a lot of muttering about among the group that. I frowned. If I hadn't seen the girl with my own eyes, I probably wouldn't have believed Connor. Children of Hermes were not known for their honesty.

Another big wave broke on the shoreline. I couldn't help but get worried, even though I knew Percy should be fine. After he'd vanished during our quest, I'd started to worry about him more.

"How long ago was that?" demanded Clarisse.

"It was right before the end of the game," said Connor. "I dunno, five or ten minutes? She was yelling for help at first but I had no idea what to do."

"If she stopped yelling, that might mean she's unconscious," I said.

Chiron's expression was grim. "Let's hope not."

As the next wave broke, we saw that Percy had surfaced next to the distant figure. Everyone watched as he grabbed her by the shoulders and waved his hand, which sent both of them jetting back towards the land. I didn't look away until another wave rose and blocked my vision.

"Chiron," I said, gaining his attention, "Camp Half-Blood's boundaries still apply on the water, right?"

"They do, at the shoreline," was all Chiron said.

A wave of uneasiness spread throughout the group of campers as Chiron's words sunk in. When I heard murmurings of 'half-blood' and 'mortal' being thrown around, I realized the others were thinking the same thing I was:

If the girl turned out to be mortal, she would drown. Percy wouldn't be able to get her to the shoreline. The boundary would prevent it.

All talking ceased when the next wave broke, revealing Percy wading through the surf, carrying the mystery girl towards the shore. Apparently he hadn't even considered what might happen if the girl was mortal, because he had no hesitations about walking right out of the water.

When Percy stepped out of the ocean with the girl still in his arms, it started a commotion.

"She's a half-blood!" exclaimed Silena Beauregard. "She has to be, because she passed the border, right?"

"It would seem so," replied Chiron, thoughtfully.

Percy walked up, knelt down, and placed the girl down on the sand. I rushed over and knelt down on the other side of the girl's body. Everyone else crowded around.

For the first time, I got a good look at her. The first thing I noticed was that she had clearly had a bad day. Her tight jeans were soaked and dirty, and her blouse had been cut in a few different places. The girl was Asian, had black hair, and looked about my age, maybe a little younger. She looked tall, but I couldn't tell quite how tall when she was lying down. Her eyes were clenched shut and her face had a pained expression. If she hadn't been so beaten up, I would have thought she was pretty.

"Oh my gods," said Connor, "I don't think she's breathing!"

With shaking hands, I reached to touch her neck. For a chilling second I couldn't find her pulse, but after a second manage to locate it. It felt normal, which was odd, since she wasn't breathing.

"No," I declared, "she's alive."

A thin wave of relief spread through the group, but only for a second.

"Then why isn't she breathing?" the other Stoll demanded.

"I… I don't know," I admitted.

"That doesn't make sense," Percy said urgently. "She said something when I grabbed her, so she had to have been breathing."

I let my eyes wander as my mind raced. Everyone was looking down with mournful expressions, as though we were standing around a grave.

"Wait," I said in realization. "Her lungs! Percy, she must have water in them. Can you—?"

"Yeah, got it."

I watched in concern as Percy put his hand over her mouth and closed his eyes in focus. Could Percy even control water inside other people's bodies? I didn't know, but at this point, it was her only hope. The girl's face was pale. She would asphyxiate if she went much longer without oxygen.

He pinched his index finger and thumb together, like he was grabbing a string. When he yanked his hand back, a short stream of water snaked its way out of the girl's mouth and levitated upward to follow Percy's hand.

Immediately, the girl gasped like she had surfaced from the bottom of the ocean and shot up to a sitting position. Her dark eyes frantically darted around, taking in the sight of everyone crowding her. Her breathing was panicked, but it was hard to say whether it was because she just had water in her lungs or because so many unknown people were surrounding her. She shivered when the wind gusted against her drenched clothes.

Murmurs of uncertainty spread throughout the entire group. We all crowded in a little tighter. After a minute, the unknown girl's breathing normalized and she gaped at us in wonder.

"What's going on?" she asked. Her voice was smooth and pleasant, but laced with fear and uncertainty. "Oh my god, I didn't drown, right? Who are you people?"

Chiron stepped forward. I saw her eyes widen significantly when she saw him, but she didn't panic. I figured she must have seen some monsters or mythological creatures of some type before. Anyone that hadn't would have gaped at the centaur.

"You were drowning," Chiron said, gesturing to Percy, "until Percy here fished you out of the water."

"Oh," the unidentified girl mumbled. She glanced to Percy and managed a little smile, despite being wracked by shivering. "T-Thank you."

"It was nothing," Percy said with a shrug.

"You are at Camp Half-Blood, a refuge for demigods," Chiron declared. "Welcome."

"Demigods…" the girl said in wonder, but I noticed that she didn't sound that surprised, which I found weird. She swiveled her head around, drinking in the sight of us all. She let her eyes linger on Percy for a little longer than I approved of. "Like, you mean you have a parent who's a god?"

"That's right," Chiron confirmed. "Greek gods, specifically."

"All of you?"

"All of them," he corrected, "I am a centaur. My name is Chiron."

"I think I'm a demigod too," the girl said slowly.

I knit my eyebrows. How on earth could she have known that? I had no idea about what I was until Thalia and Luke had told me.

"You must be," said Chiron. "It's impossible for mortals to cross the camp's boundaries, but you just did. Tell me, what is your name?"

"Drew," she said, finally smiling a little. "Drew Tanaka."