Carina sat on the edge of the dock, watching the sun set. Perfect postured and cross legged she watched the sun sink lower and lower into the Long Island Sound. A cold Breeze passed by making her wavy ash-blonde hair flutter in the wind. The sun was more than halfway set, turning the sky scarlet.
In a blink of an eye the serene environment changed. She screamed as Derek and Melina –both children of Hermes- pushed her into the freezing water. Just before hitting the water she grabbed the two by their ankles and dragged them in with her.
"Kale! Harbor! I will get back at you especially you Kale!" She yelled, pulling herself out of the water.
"Oh really now Jo?" Melina teased. She knew how much Carina hated being called by her middle name. For that she got landed with a kick in the chest. "Ouch." She said with fake mock. Carina rolled her eyes and started walking away.
"What's her problem?" Derek asked. His sister just smiled an evil smile to herself and shook her head. "Hey! Where're you going?" he asked as Melina got out of the water and poured water out of her shoe.
"Nowhere." She gave a smirk and walked away. The only one left on the dock was a clueless and soaking wet Derek. Soon he got up too and started walking back to Cabin 11.
Passing by the archery range, he saw Carina. She was launching arrows with precision, each impaling each of its mark. "Man," he muttered in mild awe "She's good"
He raised an eyebrow. She was still in her wet clothes. She hadn't gone back to her cabin yet. She went straight here – where she was mostly found.
An arrow zipped and hit the bull's eye. She looked over her shoulder and Derek pressed himself into a wall.
After a few moments she went back to firing her arrows and he started walking to his cabin again. But he couldn't help looking back a few times. Bull's eye after bull's eye after bull's eye.
His messy sandy-blonde hair was almost dry by the time he was close enough to see his cabin. Out of nowhere jumped out Alexander Valdez.
"What happened to you?" Alex asked taking a few steps back to avoid getting wet.
"Prank backfired" Derek said simply. The son of Dionysus smiled deviously. "What?" he asked.
"It was on Carina wasn't it?"
"Your point is?" he crossed his arms.
"Nothing … except that you like her" Alex looked at the sky and put an arm on Derek's shoulder. "I can see it now. Mr. and Mrs. Kale." he laughed, making a gesture as if imagining it on a huge marquee. "You always wanted a challenge - someone hard to get."
"Be quiet Drunkie. And if I did, which I don't, why exactly would I tell you?"
"Because you love me and I am your best friend." Alex gave his best shot at a puppy dog face –which of course was an epic fail- and the two cracked up. "Plus, the best man has to know ahead of time."
Derek pushed him aside "Believe what you want. It's never gonna happen. Anyway meet me by Zephynos Creek so we can set up our traps for Capture the Flag. I'm just going to change." They did a fist bump and went their separate ways.
"Mr. and Mrs. Kale. Ha! As if." He mumbled to himself almost tripping over the stolen items on the porch of the Hermes cabin.
Grabbing a fresh shirt and his favorite cargo pants, he ran to the bathroom and changed.
He made his way towards the forest and through the dense knot of trees. Roars and grumbles echoed every now and them; the ground would sometimes be so engulfed in roots it was no longer visible; sometimes there was barely any light to see; but Derek knew this place like the back of his hand.
He started hearing the gurgling of the water and sped up to a mild sprint.
Alex sat on a rock furiously trying to put one of the traps together. "Hey Surfer. How in Hades do you do this?"
"Here let me do that." He replied, snatching it out of Alex's hands and taking a seat on another large rock.
"Are you sure this is aloud?" Alex looked slightly nervous before picking up a piece of rope. "We could get in trouble or something."
"No we won't" Tossing the trap to the side and starting on a new one "or at least I don't think so" he mumbled, barely audible.
A few minutes later a pile of nets, rope, lures and Zeus knows what traps a son of Hermes could think of lay by their feet.
"What if the red team get caught in this? Alex questioned taking a look at the pile.
"That's why I'm here!" someone supplied cheerily. Out of the shadows walked Lanette, graphic tee tucked into her hot pink skirt with ripped leggings and combat boots. Somehow the big smile and caring midnight blue eyes didn't go with the outfit –or the hair, with a streak of color to match her skirt.
"hmmmm, let's see what I can do" she pursed her lips and thought hard. Contented with what she must have thought of, Lanette muttered an ancient Greek spell and the pile glowed red. In surprise, the two boys stepped back and soon the glowing died.
"That should work." She said, slightly less cheery and tilted her head to admire her work – though you could not see any difference.
"Thanks a lot Nett." Alex looked at his watch and shoved a hand into his pocket. "We should get started, we have about 10, 15 minutes max."
Derek smiled – actually it was more of a smirk. Lanette looked suspiciously at him. "You think you can have these traps set themselves, Nett?" She closed her eyes so she wouldn't have to look at them "Please"
"Fine" she was too much of a push over. Note to self: learn to say no. It was the least she could do ... after what she was about to do tonight's Capture the Flag game.
Once again she muttered an ancient Greek spell. Everything started to stir and eventually started to move, as if being carried by an invisible force.
"I've got to go, see you later." Lanette waved and disappeared into the shadows.
The two watched until each trap had found its place then walked back to the cabins.
Dinner seemed to be a blur to Derek. He was excited for Capture the Flag, but couldn't help being nervous. He had has doubts. What if not enough campers got caught? What if they found a way to get out of them? He shoved them into the back of his mind and replaced them with thoughts of pranking and surfing.
Finally Chiron had stood up. Derek knew what he was about to say, "Everyone get ready for a friendly game of Capture the flag"
A/N: So, I'm going to change the first few chapters I've written to fit with the new idea I've had. Not to worry, all main and important minor characters will stay the same, but I'll be adding a few new pivotal characters. I'll put the character's name and the name of who submitted it in the A/N of the next chapter since I'm still going through the process of going through everyone's submissions and picking those who will best suit the needs. But I have already picked two characters who will get bigger parts to play in the story. To leave you with a little bit of suspense, I will tell you their names on the next chapter as well. Please review if my new chapter is better or worse. Thanks.