"You cannot get angry at me, Zeus!" Hades shouted. "Even when we still had the Big Three pact, you broke it twice!"
"I recognize that," Zeus said. "Still, you know the danger-"
"Yes, I do. Which is why I chose the mortal that I did." With that, Hades vanished in a cloud of darkness.
/\
Joshua woke up. That had been an odd dream. He had been told earlier that demigod dreams were supposed to mean something, but he didn't ponder the dream long before falling asleep again.
/\
Josh found himself in a cave. In the center of this cave was a single man, being faced by an army of... something. At the army's head was a boy. He looked about eighteen, though Josh couldn't be sure. He was dressed in black jeans, a black shirt and jacket, black shoes, had black hair, even black gloves. The only thing he wore that wasn't black was his ring, which was silver and shaped like a skull. The boy's skin was pale, and his face gaunt, as though he hadn't eaten in days. His eyes were strikingly similar to Josh's: so deep brown that they could hardly be distinguished from black. The phrase brown, almost black didn't even cover it. You had to look really closely to see the line between the pupil and the iris. The boy looked at the lone man with fear, determination, anger, everything negative.
"Nico DiAngelo, was it?" the man asked. "Supposed King of Ghosts?"
Nico's eyes narrowed. "What of it?"
"Well, Nico..." the lone man snapped his fingers, and the army behind Nico vanished. They reappeared in full-force behind the man, now in the light. They were dead. All skeletal warriors, in different clothing of wars in history. Confederates from the Civil War, Patriots from the Revolution, even some modern army soldiers. Josh was suddenly very afraid for this Nico. "...you've just lost your throne," the man continued. The skeletal warriors surged forward, and Nico shouted. One of them faltered, stabbed the strange man in the back, then collapsed. The rest, though, continued forward.
/\
Joshua awoke again, and stood. His heart was pounding. He sprinted from the Hermes cabin, toward the new installment at Camp Half-Blood. It was a misty fountain that absorbed light to make a constant rainbow. It was used for Iris-messages. Josh threw in a golden drachma, and spoke frantically.
"Show me Nico DiAngelo..." Josh faltered. He knew he was supposed to say where, but he didn't know. "...in that cave!" he finished. To his surprise, the mist shimmered. He looked in, and saw Nico fighting off an army of undead. He was standing on a hill of bones, and it took Josh a moment to realize that it was the remains of part of the army. Even as Josh watched, Nico was spinning and slashing, destroying the skeletal beings. Still, they would soon overtake him. Josh wanted the undead to stop, wanted them gone. He felt a tugging in his gut, and the undead crumbled. Josh collapsed, barely regaining his feet. Nico looked around, and saw the message.
"Who are you?" Nico said suspiciously.
"I'm- I'm Josh."
"Did you do that?" Nico asked.
"Um... I don't know..."
Nico looked puzzled. "Did you feel anything? Some strange sensation?"
"Yes. Like I just ate too much and-"
"Well, Josh, congratulations. You're a son of Hades."
"What?!" Josh yelled. He forgot for the moment that it was still, like, 1 o'clock in the morning.
"Nobody else would be able to do that, especially at such a distance. And, he was right. That man. I have lost my throne, because you are quite obviously more powerful than I am. Congratulations again, because you are now King of Ghosts."
/\
Joshua was found at the fountain. When Nico had told him he was 'King of Ghosts,' he had simply frozen until the Iris-message faded and the sun started to climb. When the first campers started to rise, they found him at the fountain. Just his luck, those first campers were of the Ares cabin, the least accepting of all.
"Who's this?" one said.
"Some Hermes undetermined. Too bad he's not thirteen yet."
"Yeah, then Jackson's little deal would've happened."
Joshua started to get angry. The Ares campers continued to talk about him as if he wasn't there, and blood rose to his face. "Go away," he muttered. He'd tried not to say it, but it had just slipped out. He knew he couldn't win a fight against an Ares posse. Sure, he had five years of martial arts training, but Ares was the god of war. He couldn't' win. The Ares campers got quiet.
"What?"
Now I'm in for it, Josh thought, but stood anyway. "I said, go away." He turned to face the campers. "Is there a problem with that?" These words were definitely ill-advised. As he turned around, he saw three campers. All at least two years older than him, all angry. He couldn't hope to compete.
"Oh, yeah. There's a problem with that. I think maybe we'll introduce you to the bathrooms. Yeah? You seen the toilets yet?"
Josh flushed again. King of Ghosts... "Oh, I've seen the toilets. And you're about to." Josh reached out his hand, and several forms began to wade out of the canoe lake. The Ares kids didn't see them. The forms finally cleared the water, and Josh saw eight skulls. They rose even more, and Josh could make out U.S. Navy uniforms. The skeletons were covered in seaweed, barnacles, and blackened char-marks. They had apparently sunk at some point. They didn't hold guns, though, but swords.
The Ares campers started forward. Josh had to buy his skeletons some time. They were still a few yards away. He jumped back, sidestepped, and slammed an Ares camper with the heel of his hand. The Ares kid stumbled, knocking over his friends, and Josh's skeletons broke into a run. They reached the tangle of Ares limbs, and somehow disassembled the pretzel. There were two to a camper, holding them back with unnatural strength. The remaining two skeletons had their swords drawn and pointed at the campers. One spoke in a strange chattering noise, and Josh somehow understood him.
"What would you like us to do, sire?"
Josh smiled. "Show them the toilets."
/\
Josh made himself at home in the Hades cabin. He chose a bunk across from Nico's, which was a bit ratty and somewhat frightening. There were a few bones there, some bits of gold, a sword sheath, and a black hoodie. Josh only had a sleeping bag and his issued weapons, which he had gotten his first day at camp. These weapons were fist and foot weapons, which Josh could use with his martial arts skill. For his hands, he had been given leather gloves. They would have been disappointing, except for the fact that they were covered in Celestial Bronze studs, spikes and blades. Every hand strike Josh knew had a set of studs dedicated to it. If he used any of these strikes on something, at least one stud would make contact. Even with all of these studs, he found he could still hold other weapons. If he managed to disarm an enemy, he would still be able to use the weapon. For his feet, he had a set of spiked straps. They could be fastened around his shoes, and had Celestial Bronze spikes all over the tops. The straps and spikes were all connected to a Celestial Bronze plate, which could be fastened to the bottoms of Josh's feet to let him use different kicks that required the bottoms of his feet. Lastly, he had been given a set of elbow pads and kneepads that had Celestial Bronze spikes on them.
Josh laid these weapons on his bunk and walked out of the cabin. As soon as he crossed the threshold, he heard the conch horn blow for breakfast time. He made his way up to the dining pavilion, where everyone was getting settled at their tables. Before Josh sat, Chiron the ancient centaur beckoned him to the front. Once everyone quieted down, Chiron spoke.
"For those who have not heard the news, Josh has been indirectly claimed. He is son of Hades, the third one we've seen at this camp and hopefully the second who'll stay." The half-bloods clapped, not loud or enthusiastic, nor quiet or half-hearted. It was simple applause because Josh was claimed. Josh made his way to the Hades table, where he found one empty goblet and nobody else. He sat, thought about how much he could use some pomegranate juice, and watched the goblet fill with just that. Chiron made one more announcement, then backed off. Dryads and satyrs stepped forward with whatever any given camper wanted, though any meat was super-lean and there was an excess of vegetables. Josh received his choice meal. It was his favorite breakfast: Eggs Benedict. He stood with the rest of the campers, approached a brazier in a line, and waited to give some of his meal to the gods. When he reached the brazier, he portioned out the best parts of the food, dropped them into the fire, and said, "Hades." The smoke floated up with a pleasant pomegranate smell, then twisted like a rag and plunged into the ground.
As Josh walked back toward the table, he heard someone else say "Hades." the voice was strikingly familiar, and Josh couldn't help but turn around. There, walking away from the brazier, was Nico DiAngelo.
"Hello, Joshua. Shall we return to the table?"
Josh nodded and followed Nico back to the Hades table. They sat, but Chiron stepped forward again before they could eat.
"Before you all dig in," he said, which got a groan from the campers, "I forgot one more reminder, which is a bit ironic. We're having Capture the Flag after dinner this evening, as usual." The groan turned to excited murmuring. As Nico started to eat, Josh raised an eyebrow.
"Capture the Flag?"
Nico swallowed and replied. "It's fun. Trust me. Of course, not as thrilling as when we used to use real weapons. Still, good fun and good practice." Nico kept eating.
"What's it like?" Josh asked. It sounded like something he'd be into.
Nico finished his meal and let the dryads take his plate. "Well, we'll start at the beginning, then. Whoever's won the last round-"
"How do you win?" Josh asked.
"I'll get to it," Nico said irritably. Josh took the wise course and shut his mouth. "As I say, whoever's won the last round has a flag. The other victor or champion has the other. We set those up on opposite sides of a selected playing field. The cabins who have the flags choose other cabins to make alliances with, by trading chores or food or activity times. These such trades we'll be experiencing soon. Once the alliances have been formed, and every cabin is on a side, we all equip ourselves with practice weapons. Sometimes the teams have to be evened out, of course. Anyway, we switched to practice weapons a while back after an old fight got someone killed-. But that's beside the point. The mock weapons allow us to fight without much restraint. We also allowed for people to be... er, "killed." Nico made air quotes with his fingers. "Once you get hit in a fatal spot, you're to go back to your flag for 30 seconds. After that you can get back in the fight. The goal is to find the flag and take it back across the boundary line. Once that happens two out of three rounds, the flag will repaint itself to match the cabin who captured it. They become the new host cabin for the next week. They become the ones who make alliances and deals and choose their team. Now you can ask questions."
"Who are the host cabins right now?"
"Well, that's the complicate part. It's Poseidon and Athena, which is unfortunate."
"Huh? Why?"
"Because Percy and Annabeth are... a thing." Nico seemed a bit angry about it for some reason. "They always team up, but last time Percy captured the Ares flag." Nico looked up from Josh, and his bitter look melted. "Here we go."
As if on cue, an Athena camper stopped at their table. He started to say something, but Nico interrupted him. "Your arena time."
The camper thought for a moment, then nodded. "We get yours, right?"
"No."
The Athena kid growled in indecision, then stamped his foot. "Fine." He walked back to the Athena table and said something, which the other campers groaned about.
"What was all that?" Josh asked.
"Athena just recruited us, and now we get two hours in the battle arena instead of just one."
"Wait, why didn't we discuss with the Poseidon cabin first?"
Nico smiled. "Because now we have a bargaining chip. And we're about to be able to use it."
Once again, a camper stopped at their table. He was easily recognized, though: Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon.
"Hey, guys."
At Nico's gesture, Josh tried negotiating. "What's better than an extra arena time?"
Percy thought for a moment. "I'll do your chores all next week."
"Mm, not good enough." Josh drove a hard bargain. According to Nico's face, perhaps a bit too hard.
Percy thought again. "All right. I'll do your chores half of next week, and give you my arena time."
"All for just two people?" Josh asked. Before Percy could change his mind, Josh agreed. "Sure." Percy walked away, and Nico beckoned an Athena camper over.
"We're backing out. You can have your arena time back."
The Athena camper looked a bit disappointed. "What if we-"
"No."
"But you didn't let me-"
"No."
The Athena kid growled and stalked back to his table.
"Well," Nico said. "guess we're on the Poseidon team. Here goes Capture the Flag."
/\
Josh looked over his Capture the Flag equipment. He had grappling gloves, which were open-finger gloves with padded knuckles, MMA shoes, which were foam covers for his shoes, hardened leather chest armor and a leather helmet. He donned all of these in about thirty seconds, and had several minutes to wait for the rest of the camp. Once they finished, Nico approached Josh.
"Looks like you've been ready for a while." Nico slid his wooden sword into a loop on his belt, then put on his helmet. After Chiron reviewed the rules, everyone moved toward the woods. Nico and Josh followed the mass of campers around Percy, and ended up in a nondescript part of the forest. Across the field, Josh could see a tumble of boulders. At this angle, it looked like a massive fist protruding from the ground. On top was a gray flag with an owl in the middle. As Josh continued to walk, watching as the fist started to look like a pile of deer droppings, he ran into something. As he stepped back, he saw a sea-green flag with a gold trident in the middle. Chiron blew the conch horn, and Josh turned to Nico.
"Get into position," Nico said. Josh rushed to the boundary line, which was a stream, and waited. The conch horn blew again, and Nico spoke from behind Josh.
"Go." With that, Nico ran off. Josh crossed the boundary line, and was immediately attacked by two Athena kids. A wooden spear stabbed at him, and he sidestepped. The other camper swung at Josh with a sword, and Josh caught his wrist. With his other hand, Josh grabbed the spear just below the head. The swordsman tried to pull his wrist free, but Josh twisted his arm behind his back. The sword fell to the ground. Josh turned as the spearman tried to pull his spear free, but Josh turned and punched his helmet clean off. The camper staggered back, and Josh ripped the spear from his hands. From there, he spun it like a staff. He smacked the swordsman in the head and his helmet turned sideways. Josh then stopped swinging the spear and stabbed the spearman in the chest. Both grumbled, took back their weapons, and stalked toward the Athena flag. Josh moved forward, keeping to the shadows. A wooden axe suddenly spun from the trees, and Josh leaned back to avoid it. A camper jumped out of the trees and came at him with two daggers. Behind him were two more campers, both armed with swords. One was very tall, and would have a lot of reach. The other was shorter, but had a shield. He might be difficult if Josh didn't have a plan. Josh took the knifeman's wrists, moved his arms, and kicked him in the chest. He went sprawling back into his comrades. Josh picked up a dagger and stepped forward. Before any of the campers could recover, Josh stabbed them each in the chest. He straightened and looked around.
In many places, Josh could see campers locked in intense battles. Even the best and quickest fighters weren't as close to the Athena flag as Josh was. With this in mind, Josh rushed forward. He dodged two campers, swept the leg of a third, and burst into the clearing with the rocks. He jumped forward, punched two archers, and kicked a swordsman. He then jumped to the lowest rock, then the next, and the next. On this one, he encountered another camper with a knife in her hand. She lunged, but Josh easily caught her arm. He spun, dodging a second knife, twisted her arm behind her back, and waited. After half a second, four arrows thudded into the girl's chest piece. Josh leaned forward, said "Sorry," and dropped the girl. She tumbled from the rock and landed on a patch of soft soil. Josh jumped to the highest rock, snatched the flag, and jumped to the ground. The rock was tall, and he had to roll, but he ended up unhurt. Three arrows whizzed past him as he sprinted toward the creek.
Just as Josh was about to cross the line, he saw a girl running toward him, blonde hair flying. In her hand was the Poseidon flag. Josh sped up, but it still seemed like they would cross at the same time. He jumped, leaned until he was almost horizontal, and tucked his left leg under his right. As the girl looked up, she saw Josh flying at her. She faltered some, but Josh was already close. The sole of his right foot smacked into her chest, and she flew back several feet before coming to rest in a pile of leaves. Josh looked up at the flag. A black mark appeared in the fabric, as though it had been ripped. Then the mark filled in with a the sea-green color of the Poseidon flag.
It took about a half second for campers to start streaming out of the trees. They were obviously looking to congratulate Josh, but he wouldn't have any of it. He stepped forward, pushing aside several campers, and knelt next to the girl in the leaves. He was genuinely concerned. That had been his most perfect flying side kick ever, and it was probably very painful as a result. The girl's head was down, and the red horsehair plume on her helmet hung down over her face. When she looked up, Josh saw that she was grinning widely. He smiled in relief, but still asked if she was okay.
"I'm great!" she exclaimed. Suddenly, Percy appeared next to the girl.
"Annabeth!" He shoved Josh in the chest, and he fell on his butt in the creek. Percy stood, and lifted his hand. The water copied the movement exactly. Percy made a fist and brought it down, hard, and the water hand did exactly the same, right next to Josh. It then opened, picked Josh up, and carried him right next to Percy's face.
Percy started some kind of threat. "Don't ever-"
Percy fell, and the water hand splashed back into the creek. Percy rolled over onto his back and saw Josh's skeleton. He had fallen from a tree, and was dressed in a sniper's ghillie suit. His weapon flickered from a great sword to a sniper rifle, then back again. He raised the sword, and before Chiron could intervene, plunged it into the soil next to Percy's head.
"STOP!" Chiron yelled, too late. Josh blanched. He'd been trying to dispel the skeleton for a full minute now. He'd never wanted to go too far, but now he was. In addition, maintaining the skeleton was draining his energy. Finally, he collapsed. The skeleton did the same, the tumble of bones and fake grass sinking into the ground. Josh rolled over, and watched with his rapidly fleeing vision as Chiron trotted over and looked down at him with disappointment.
/\
Josh woke up to a hand on his forehead. He grabbed it, spun the arm attached, and pinned it against its owner's back. Someone approached from the left, and Josh fell over in the opposite direction, still holding the first assailant. As the second got closer, Josh kicked him in the gut. He then let go of his first opponent and rolled to his feet. With a rush, Josh felt his adrenaline leave him and his Fight or Flight instinct broke. Two sons of Apollo writhed on the ground, one cradling his arm and the other holding his stomach. The rest of the sick bay was empty, save one bruised up camper on a cot and two more Apollo healers next to him. All three stared at Josh in shock.
The last of Josh's adrenaline faded, and his knees buckled. His head hurt like nothing he'd ever felt before. Chiron trotted into the sick bay.
"What is going on in here?!" he rumbled.
Josh lowered his head. "I woke up to these two-"
"And your reflexes took over."
Josh looked up.
"It's a good thing to happen in a fight, but not in the sick bay."
"I know, sir." Josh was getting slightly annoyed, now. "It was as I woke up. When I wake up to someone's hand near my face, I'm going to move it, regardless of who it is or where I am." Josh winced. His voice had gradually raised, and his headache had gotten worse and worse. He slumped onto the cot, and Chiron walked over.
"I understand. You need to recover."
As if on cue, Josh fell back on the cot and fell asleep.
/\
Josh woke up again, but this time he was in a small cave. Next to him was a red-haired girl. She wore marker-stained, torn jeans and a maroon Harvard jacket. Despite the strange cave, the girl looked cheerful.
"I'm guessing you're Josh?"
Josh nodded.
"Well, then, here we go." Rachel's face blanked, and green steam billowed from her mouth. It formed strange shapes of creatures, while Rachel spoke in a raspy voice.
The mother of enemies will surface again, but this time she'll have more than her one little friend.
You will use your birthright to raise up a legion, but they'll only be able to save one small region.
The rest of the world will be taken by her, unless put in the hands of an amateur.
No one else can assist him, or all will be lost, though beware, for the Mother dislikes to be crossed.
The mist disappeared, and the redheaded girl sat down casually. Josh looked at her with confusion.
"Well?" she said. "You've got your prophecy. What are you waiting for?"