Chapter One

Capture the flag was one of the most popular training games at Camp Half-Blood, mostly because it was a War Game using a wide amount of swords, shields, spears, armour, and magical weapons.

The setting of the game was the forest, where the monsters were located and hiding. Despite being extremely dangerous, it was considered beneficial for the demigods, as it trained them for life in the real world, where they would have to fight off monsters on a daily basis.

Two teams were made, blue and red, and each team given a flag. On each side of the forest, both teams would hide their flag somewhere visible, but easily defensible. To win for one's team, one needed to capture the opponent's flag and carry it across the river that divided the middle of the forest, and acted as a border.

Chiron the centaur usually served as battlefield medic and referee.

The match was soon to begin, as it did every Friday afternoon, and the campers were dividing themselves into teams. It would be Poseidon, Hephaestus, Athena and Hermes cabins VS Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, Ares, and Apollo cabins. Blue and Red respectively.

All campers who weren't injured had to participate, much to the angst of one camper in particular.

She was thought to be the personification of Day and Night, for she was the product of a child of Apollo and a child of Hades. Yes, Laurel Solangelo was the only member of the Hades Cabin since her half siblings openly disowned her and banned her from the Apollo Cabin.

"Don't worry about me, Chiron." She would say before every match. "I've always been a lone wolf anyway." Laurel easily stood out amongst the teams, her black leather armour and blonde hair contrasting like an elephant in the room. She had inherited characteristics from both her parents; her mannerism from her father Nico di Angelo and her blonde hair from her other dad Will Solace. Her eyes displayed them both, merging between blue and brown.

Like an Apollo child, Laurel was a natural-born archer, and always carried a bow and quiver, but preferred small iron throwing knives as her primary weapon of choice. They were made of black iron and resembled her father's Stygian sword. Minus the life-force sucking ability the metal had, hers were plain black iron.

But there was a rumour around the camp that they were in reality made with Stygian iron, another reason for the other demi-gods to avoid her.

Laurel watched the play-fighting from one of the immense trees that were in the forest, leaning against its core with arms crossed. She hadn't even bothered to draw a weapon yet. Maybe I'll just watch for today. She thought to herself. She made a bet with herself that Blue team would will this one, because the Jackson/Chase twins were kicking some serious ass.

But a member of the Red team in particular had caught her attention merely because he was riding a horse as white as his hair, which was like freshly fallen snow. She remembered his name because he lived in the Poseidon Cabin because the god loved his mother Khione, Goddess of snow.

Deep down, she envied him. He was accepted into another God's cabin, while she wasn't even accepted into her own father's cabin. He dismounted in a flash and began to fight off some Blue team campers, and Laurel could see another one sneaking up on him from behind.

Throwing one of her black iron knives, it caught his orange shirt and the blade was edged deeply within the mighty tree. They made eye contact; he smiled and nodded his thanks. She nodded back, and he ran off to find more enemies to fight.

Then everything happened in a matter of seconds. An arrow hitting the tree a mere inch from her face. Laurel falling back and down at least two stories onto the forest floor, the dead leaves hardly cushioning her fall. Her vision clouded with tears of sharp pain, but still being able to see two Apollo girls and three Aphrodite girls looking down at her.

"Stop staring at Jack." The one who shot the arrow ordered, gesturing with her bow.

"There's no way he would go for a girl like you." An Aphrodite girl added. "No one likes people like you." Then they left her there, on her back staring up at the canopy colored like a bright dawn. Full of red and orange and yellow, hardly any green at all.

Soon everything will be in its dead-like sleep as the snow begins to fall, everyone will go home for Christmas, and I will still be here. Dead inside like these trees will be…

She sang a healing hymn to her grandfather Apollo as she cried silently; with only the wind to dry her tears.