Chapter 1

"THIS… IS… SPARTA!" Logan screamed as the horn was blown to start the game.

"No stupid this is New York" I screamed back at him.

"Oh, well- never mind Kalista you wouldn't get it" my idiotic twin brother said.

I ran deep into the forest and hid behind Zeus's fist. I planed out my route to take the flag. First I would look near the river, and then near in the trees. The Ares cabin likes to make it hard to find, but yet in plain sight, so I would look in the most obvious and hardest areas. Most of the campers do not take it as seriously as I do, they just think it's a game. Well, if we go on a quest, will it still be a game? No, it'll be our lives.

The only other person who takes it seriously my best friend Alyssa Madden. She was a daughter of Aphrodite but unlike her sisters, she loved fighting and didn't date 10 guys in one month. She came up to me as I was behind the rock.

"Hey!" she said

"So I was thinking we look in obvious and tricky places, like in the trees" I said

"That's a really good plan, we should-Wait, there's some kids from the other team" she said.

I whirled around to see Josh Miller, son of Hephaestus and Reed Evans, son of Demeter. Reed's my really good friend but don't let that 'son of the farming goddess' thing fool you. He is 6 ft 2 in and will squash you like a bug if you get on his bad side. Josh was his best friend and he made lots of weapons. He had bright blue eyes and jet-black hair. He could pass off as a son of Zeus. They were talking about the game when Josh interrupted.

"So, uh, do you know Kalista Sanders" I tensed as he said my name. Why was he asked about me? I mean, we hang out all the time considering we're both good friends with Reed.

"Yeah, we hang out all the time, why?"

"Well, I mean I know you guys are friends and stuff but would it be awkward if I asked her out?" he said.

My hazel eyes grew wide. I turned around to see Alyssa her face wide with a grin and that twinkle in her eye. I couldn't blame her, she was a daughter of Aphrodite. She opened her mouth to say something but I quickly threw my hand over her mouth. I gave her a If-you-say-anything-you're-dead look and she nodded.

"What!" Reed yelled

"Well, I mean I liked her for awhile and I really wanna ask her out" he said

"I guess so, but be careful, she has a hard time trusting guys," he said. I do not. Well, maybe ever since that stupid son of Nike tried to send a freaking pegasus at me I had a hard time with guys, but I was still confident

"And she has connections in the Aphrodite cabin, so be careful man" Alyssa grinned when she heard that, knowing it was her.

"So, should we be like, guarding the flag or something? I mean it's right here" he said pointing to a red flag waving in the rock.

How could I be so stupid, I mean, I was too stressed on actually finding it and Josh that I didn't see it right there. I glanced at Alyssa and we got our weapons out. Being a daughter of Apollo, I had a bow and arrow, and Alyssa had her knife. We raised our shields and ran out.

"Whoah!" Reed said. He tried to disarm me by slicing my bow but I moved out of the way. I rolled over and dodged his next hit when he tried to hit me in the head with the hilt of his sword. I notched an arrow and shot it at his knee. He fell to the ground holding his leg.

"That's for saying I don't trust guys!" I yelled. I ran up to grab the flag while Josh was in shock. As I grabbed it I saw tiny vines growing from inside the rock. I knew Reed was doing something so I ran up and grabbed the flag quickly. I had to pry Alyssa away from Josh so we could actually get this back to base.

"Lyssa come on!" I screamed. She had Josh pinned down on the ground with her knife dangerously close to his face.

"DON"T CALL ME THAT!" she screamed. She was pretty scary for an Aphrodite girl. Most guys of the guys in camp that hit on her would later end up in the infirmary. She got up giving him one of her blood curdling stares. He, looked scared.

"If you even dare hurt her you will be in the hospital for a week" she said. Great. The one guy who liked me will be deathly afraid to ask me out because of an Aphrodite girl. Thanks Alyssa.

We ran up to our base and won. But I couldn't help but feel hurt. Josh was really nice, and I mean the guy's not ugly. I felt as though I lost him. I walked back to my cabin. I saw Josh give me a look, but a quickly turned away. I ran into the cabin and shut the door. Logan soon came coming in. I was sitting on my bunk when he started talking.

"What's wrong Kali?" he said

"Do. Not. Call. Me. Kali." I said

"Then what's wrong,"

"Nothing"

"I may not be an expert on girls, but I know when they say 'Nothing' something is wrong, and I know you so what in Hades is wrong?" he said. It was sweet that my somewhat older brother is trying to protect/take care of me.

"You do know we're twins" I smirked at him

"Yeah, but I'm still your big brother" he said with confidence in his voice, "So what's wrong?"

"You, you wouldn't understand," I said

"Well, I'll try, I mean we're 15"

"So during capture the flag, I-I was thinking of ways to actually get the flag to base when Reed and Josh walked up. They started talking and Josh said, he said,"

"What?"

"He said he wanted to ask me out, okay!" I said. I turned away from him because I didn't want him to see me like this. I played with my hair tie on my wrist it was silver.

If I formed it into one of those things that you snap people with (I've had experience) it turns into a bow. It was a gift from Artemis when she wanted to recruit me. I said no, but she let me keep it as a reminder that I was always welcome to join.

"What's wrong about that?"

"SEE! I told you you wouldn't get it"

I stormed out the cabin and ran into the Aphrodite cabin and looked around. It looked like someone threw up pink and sparkles all over the room. They were giving each other makeovers and curling their hair when the guys were taking forever to fix their hair even though they were only going to go to bed soon.

If you want a description of the Aphrodite cabin, it looks like the biggest slumber party on one side, and the man cave of the century on the other side. A bathroom, of just sinks and mirrors and showers that were huge, and music blasting the entire time.

Alyssa saw me and I sat on her bunk and talked to her. Her bunk had a soft pink blanket and had all her athletic medals (She could play any sport) and her volleyball that was light pink and white. She picked it up and tossed it around.

"I tried to talk to Logan, gods he's so oblivious he didn't get it at all!"

"Yeah guys are stupid" she said. Everyone in her cabin stopped what they were doing and look at us. That was rare for an Aphrodite girl to say that. Even the super shallow guys looked at us. Matt Barnes stood up.

"We're not that bad!" and then went back to fixing his hair.

"He is just, I-I don't know. We hang out all the time, and he is Reed's best friend and it would be really awkward" I didn't dare mention Josh's name because the other girls would freak if they found out a boy liked me. You should've heard them when Percy asked out Annabeth, it was a mob.

"Give it a shot, I mean the least he can do is only go on one date, he can't break hearts, I know," All the Aphrodite girls started walking towards us. Drew, the ex-cabin leader stood up and looked at me.

"Who is he?" she said turning on her charm speaking voice.

"I would run now, and I won't say anything, I promise" Alyssa said.

I bolted out of the cabin, I slid the ponytail holder off my wrist and watched it transform into my bow. I held it at my side and ran into the forest. I heard squeals in the background that could only be from daughters of Aphrodite. I ran out into the forest and I felt like I needed to be alone. Ha, as if I could ever be alone. I saw a really tall tree. I was a pretty could climber, so I went for it.

I put my foot down on the first branch and pushed myself up higher, before I knew it I was 20 feet up in the air.

"Whoah I'm really high" I was getting a little dizzy but I had to get myself together. I found a sturdy branch and leaned against the tree. I decided that whenever I was mad I would go here, it so serene and calm, like the world was melting away, then I heard a buzz. I looked up and saw a wasp nest. Great.

I gently tried to climb down without spazzing out. I was about 10 ft away when I lost my balance. If you couldn't tell, I was really afraid of heights. I screamed. I grabbed on to a branch and was holding on with only my right hand, as I tried to pull myself up. Out of nowhere comes a wasp. I tried to shoo it away, but what does it do? Sting my hand, the hand I was holding on the branch with. I fell down to the ground and hit my head. I was barley conscious when I saw a figure come out of the shade.

"KALISTA!" It said. And I was out.