DISCLAIMER: Me no own Percy Jackson. Me wishes I did, but me clearly does not. Me only own copyright to Hayden, Erin, and all me made-up characters.
Hayden: That was a really stupid way to do a disclaimer.
Me: Me don't care. Me awesome.
Hayden: You weird. Me awesome.
Me: I CREATED you. Therefore, me awesome.
Hayden: You got a point there, anonymous author with a really strange pen name.
Me: My pen name is AMAZING, for your information.
Hayden: AH HA! So you can talk like a normal human being!
Me: Me have no idea what you are talking about.
Hayden: And you call yourself normal.
Me: Anywho, enjoy the story!
Hayden was hot. Of course, everyone already knew that. He was, after all, on fire.
"AHH! LEO, LEO, PUT IT OUT!" Hayden yelled as manly as he could, which is really hard when you're running around and trying to put out the flames on your butt. He leaped over logs and swatted his bottom, completely forgetting the stop, drop, and roll drill. Honestly, it's hard to think of technical things when fearing for your life.
"Hayden! STAND STILL!" Leo howled as he barreled in Hayden's direction. "I can't put out your butt flames if you just run away!"
It took all of his manly pride to stop running and control the urge to scream like a little girl. Leo, and just about the whole entire camp, raced over to him. The flame boy, with an irritating grin, stopped near Hayden and pushed on the taller boy's shoulders. Hayden bent his knees and sat on the ground. The flames went out.
"Seriously? That's all I had to do?" Hayden complained. He had looked like an idiot when Leo accidentally set his bottom on fire during Capture the Flag. A stray fireball, and Hayden was suddenly running around swatting his back end like a maniac.
"That wouldn't have been funny if I told you to sit down." Leo said with a silly grin. Hayden, being the idiot he is, grinned along with the pyromaniac. He would have done the same thing, except he didn't have magic flame powers like Mr. McShizzle over there.
Leo held his hand out, and Hayden gratefully used it to heave himself off the dirty ground.
"Yo, McShizzle, who won while I unnecessarily ran around like a chicken without a head?"
"That saying sounds so stupid with a British accent."
"One, it's an English accent. I'm from London, Great Britain just refers to the UK."
Leo rolled his eyes and swatted Hayden's shoulder. He stared at Leo.
"Okay, okay, I know that was weak." Leo said, his hands up in surrender. "Anyway, everyone's been too busy watching you freak about the flaming buttocks. No one's grabbed the flag yet."
Hayden, however, spotted the bright red flag at the edge of the crowd. A small, pale hand gripped it protectively, and he saw the lithe body of his cousin, Erin, hold the flag for the whole camp to see.
"Apollo, Hermes, Ares, Hecate, and Dionysus win!" Chiron announced from one of his many vantage points. The clip clop of the centaurs hooves echoed through the trees, and the creature in question appeared.
"Campers, go back to your cabins. The game is over."
It had ended as fast as it had started. With a groan, Hayden lugged himself all the way to the Apollo cabin. Their only prize was no kitchen duty until the next game and itchy laurel wreaths. Will Solace, Hayden's cabin counselor, walked over to him and slung an arm around his shoulders.
"Way to humiliate yourself again." The counselor commented. Hayden grinned and cocked his head to the side.
"Awe, you're welcome, mate! Anything for a good chap like you, Will Solace." Hayden smirked and swatted Will on the back. The counselor rolled his eyes and ran ahead to the cabin. Hayden, however, hung back and waited for Erin to come towards him. His little cousin sulked over and stood next to him apprehensively. He, not caring that she was sensitive to physical contact, swung his arm around her shoulders and escorted her to the Hermes cabin. Although she was fourteen, no god had claimed her. Or, she had been claimed before getting to Camp Half-Blood. She had only been at camp for less than a year, after all.
"Good job, Erin. Those are some bloody brilliant stealth skills you got there." He complimented as they walked slowly towards her cabin. He felt her hunched shoulders shrug, and Hayden felt slightly sorry for his younger cousin by two years. He had only met her twice before camp; once when he was six and she was four, the other six years later. She had always been reserved and calm. Although it was a relaxing calm, not the deathly calm that she always carried around with her.
"You know, it might be helpful to tell your teammates where you learned those things." Hayden added nonchalantly. Erin flinched and shook her head. Erin's past was a sad one, he could tell. As far as he knew, she had only told him her story. Although she seemed like the bad guy, Hayden couldn't point a weapon at her. She was too good a person to judge. Everyone did, after all, have their dark moments.
"Well, it was just a suggestion."
"HAYDEN!" A voice yelled from behind. He turned and saw Leo running right for him. Erin glared at the intruder apprehensively, but Hayden didn't let her wiggle out of his casual embrace.
"What is it, Mr. McShizzle?"
Leo, huffing loudly, hunched down on his knees and pulled in deep breaths. "Camp Jupiter-WHEW-Harley-PHEW-missing-OH GODS NEVER RUNNING THAT MUCH AGAIN."
Hayden, slowly piecing together Leo's mumbling, widened his eyes and hastily ran towards the Big House. Chiron was probably waiting there with the messenger. Those four words from Leo felt like a knife in Hayden's heart. His little brother, Harley, a Roman, was missing.
He only hoped Leo had heard wrong.
I hope you liked! Please like and review! And if you want to see what happens, keep reading! This is only the beginning *evil laugh*