Everyone in Camp Phoenix hated Zavid that night.

Now, I normally don't have any hard feelings toward our camp director. In fact, normally, he's a pretty cool guy. But in a forest, at a few minutes after midnight, with freezing February winds and only pajamas to keep us warm, no one liked him at the moment.

"I thought I was going to get a good night's sleep tonight. Guess what? I was wrong." Calla Blu, a daughter of Antheia and a total flower child, was pacing through the mud next to me. She's pretty easygoing, except when the aforementioned freezing weather and late time factors in.

"Yeah, well, get used to it. We won't get any sleep tonight, since we have to keep checking behind our shoulders for monsters," I snapped.

"Hey, Jesse?"

"Mmm?"

"How about you stay and guard the silk while I go back to my nice, warm cabin and sleep?"

"How about no?"

"Well, it was worth a try."
"It really wasn't."

Calla whirled around suddenly, bumping into me. "What was that?"

I turned also, hand on my bow. "What did you see?" She was squinting into the darkness, her bright blue eyes dimmed to a dull slate in the gloomy lighting. I tried to follow her gaze, only to see a clump of trees and a few bare branches.

"I… heard something. Zavid, if that's you, I swear-"

I nudged her to shut her up. "Don't be so loud!" I hissed. "It may just be training, but that doesn't mean that we can go around yelling through the forest."

She opened her mouth to reply, and we both jumped. A tree branch had cracked in the brush. We both had our hands on our weapons, me with my bow and her with her sword. And a pair of eyes was staring maliciously at us.

"I vote we go thut way."

"Are you insane? No. We'll get eaten by monsters in two seconds."

"Weel, yuh hav' any better idears?" Finn asked testily. The Irish boy's patience was running out and his partner, Askira, wasn't helping.

"Yeah, actually. We walk along that line of trees and past the river, where we can get to safety by the water. Plus, the oaks provide good cover," she pointed out. Finn shrugged and let her lead the way. "Nut like I care, 'nyway."

Askira laughed sharply. "Sure. You'll care enough when you're faced with a huge hellhound and I'm safe by the river."

"I'm goin' wif yeh, aren't I?"

"Yeah, whatever."

"Whateveer yeh're self, Kirna."

"Askira."

"Ass Kirna."

She stormed off into the oaks.

As the two of them waited by the river, both on guard, neither boy nor girl was in a good mood, and certainly they weren't talking to each other. Every minute that ticked by was just one minute closer to dawn, when they were to report to the Big House with a prize- a silk ribbon, guarded by one of the other teams. No one had any idea where it was. And there was still about six hours until daybreak.

"I hate it here."

Finn looked over at Hephaestus's daughter with dull surprise. She was tracing patterns in the water with her sword, looking moodier even than usual.

"I mean, why do we have to wake up incredibly early, get paired with people we don't even like, and then traipse through the forest with them in the freezing cold for, what, six-odd hours?"

"I a'sure yeh, tere's no love lost b'tween us," Finn said grumpily.

"And I can't even understand a word you say with your accent."

"Tat's yehr problem." Under his breath, he scoffed, "Americans."

Crack.

"Did you hear that?" Askira had jumped up in a second, her sword ready. Finn was right after her.

"Come oot!" he called into the darkness.

"I bet it's a monster," Askira growled, beginning to advance toward the source of the sound. Finn hung behind. Better her then me.

But Askira had stopped in her tracks. Because, staring out at them from the depths of the forest, was a pair of eyes staring at them.

Josephine finished off her map in the dirt, lifting her stick with a flourish. "There." she said satisfactorily. "That's our map to the silk. You get behind them and distract them while I sneak up around you and steal the silk. I'll run down the hill and be in the forest before they even know I've taken it."

She was quite proud until she looked up and saw that Zavid had his that's-a-bad-idea look on his face. Without asking, he knelt down, took the stick, and scribbled out her whole plan.

"Zavid!" she cried, outraged. "That was our only map!"

"Exactly," he muttered. "No offense, Josie, but that map was horrible. Let me help."

"Don't call me Josie, and it was perfectly fine!"

Showing no sign of listening, he began sketching. "So," he explained as he drew, "you'll distract them by running up the side of the hill and attack, but try not to get too close to the silk. They'll assume that I'm coming up the other side so we can corner them and take the ribbon. But really, I'll come up the front of the hill, through the underbrush. They won't see me because of the plants, and they'll never expect a direct attack. I'll take it, run down the hill, and be in the forest before they even know I've taken it."

"Wow," Josephine said caustically. "That was a truly amazing plan, yet it had a ring of déjà vu."

"It was amazing, thanks." Zavid grinned, pushing himself up and helping Josephine.

The manticore and the daughter of Discord snuck through the trees. From their postion near the hillside, they could see the jutting point at the top where the silk, hanging from a pole, would be there ripe for the taking. And, silhouetted against the dusky sky, there were two figures, on top of the hill, near a thick forest. The guards of the silk, another team.

"This is good," Zavid whispered. Josephine nodded. But wait- did she see something out of the corner of her eye? She looked over her shoulder and saw two glowing red eyes in the trees. She swatted Zavid and pointed. "What-"

But the eyes were gone. Josephine blinked. Weren't they just there? But now, with a silent signal Zavid motioned for Josephine to begin her charge up the side of the hill. Josephine began running, her hand on the hilt of her sword. She purposely thrashed through the brush, not loud enough to be ridiculously obvious, but loud enough to draw the guards' attention, who she now saw to be Calla and Jesse. They seemed to be looking at something in the brush, but with the noise she was making, they must have heard her. She saw them turn around and point down at her, and Jesse ran to her side of the hill, beginning to slide down. Josephine had to hide her proud grin. Zavid had been right! They were splitting up, Jesse stopping her and sending Calla to the other side of the hill to stop Zavid. Except, obviously, Zavid wouldn't be there.

Jesse had reached her and was grinning devilishly. "Trying to steal our silk, eh?"

Josephine took her sword out of its sheath. "Are you on guard?"

"Oh, I'm ready," the son of Poseidon replied cockily, and stabbed at her with his sword. She parried easily, and they fought along the hillside. She went easy on him, but not so easy that his mind would wander. Zavid could be stealing the silk at that very minute, so it was essential that she kept him focused.

After a few minutes or so, a cry- Calla- came from the hilltop. "ZAVID!"

Jesse and Josephine both dropped their swords, stared at each other for a minute, and ran as fast as they could. Josephine could feel her feet pounding on the hard grass as she rounded the hill, Jesse right on her heels. Her Converse were pumping and she saw Zavid, far ahead of her- he was at the base of the hill already, darting into the forest. Calla was close after him, and Jesse was still behind Josephine.

She suddenly realized something; to win, she and Zavid needed to cross the forest border with the silk ribbon together. She had to catch up to him.

Taking a risk and praying to the gods of stupid sledding tricks, she let herself fall to the icy hillground. It was February, and the grass was laced in thin, warmish ice- not thin enough, though, to crack under Josephine's weight. She slid down the hill, fast, and passed Calla in an instant. She was spinning, spinning, spinning, heading at a rocket speed toward the forest. She was going to crash into a tree- break her head- die, maybe-

Then Zavid was pulling her from the grass and yanking her into the forest, half-running and half-dragging her. She retained her balance and began running, slamming down the path along with Zavid. They were home free, almost to the border, and Jesse and Calla were too far away to do anything about it. Josephine let out a triumphant war whoop as the two of them ran toward victory.

Clay sat in a patch of grass, looking up at the distant top of the mountains. "Willow, what do you think if we tried to take the river along the mountainside, then sneak up and fight the guards? Do you think we could make it?"

"Yeah, okay," Willow said absentmindedly. Clay looked over at the eight-year-old and stifled a sigh. She was lying on her back in the grass, watching the stars.

"Willow, you have to focus." The little girl, saluting impishly, sat up and padded over to where he was. "So what was the plan again?"

"You didn't even listen to the plan?"

"Mmmm… no."

Clay rubbed his temple exasperatedly. "Willow!"

Suddenly, she looked a little past his shoulder, to the forest across from them. "What's that?"

Clay turned. Indeed, he saw a figure, silhouetted scarily, bounding into the forest. Willow was already on her feet and declaring, "I bet it's a monster!" She ran after it, leaving Clay behind. "Willow, wait!" he yelled, scrambling to his feet and running after her. She was a few paces ahead of him- soon he could grab her collar- but then she was veering, chasing the figure into the forest. "Wait! Willow, stop!"

He plunged into the brackeny forest after the little girl, cursing in Greek as the plants scratched up his legs. He could see Willow just a couple steps ahead, plowing through the brush, and, a bit farther, a faint outline of the figure they were chasing. He could see sunlight filtering through the trees. They must have been getting near a clearing, which meant he could get Willow before she got away while chasing her monster. He could see it, with a little river in it, and Willow and the figure ahead- and he was catching up with her- but she had caught up with the figure in front of them, and she leapt at it, and he leapt at her- and they were all tumbling into the clearing in a pile.

Calla and I stared at the red eyes, our weapons drawn. Then, as soon as they had been there, they were gone. "What was that?" I breathed.

"I don't know. But- no matter. We have to keep guarding."

I wandered over next to the ribbon. We had guarded it successfully for the night, with no attack attempts. I cracked a smile. We were good at this.

As if it was karma, as soon as I thought that, Calla screamed, "Jesse! Josephine's coming up the side!"

I drew my sword and raced over, glancing down the mountain. She was, indeed, struggling up the mountain, her sword drawn. "I'll take care of it, Calla. I'm pretty sure she's partners with Zavid, he's probably coming up the other side of the mountain."

I slid down the side, meeting Josephine halfway. All the better to keep her away from the flag. I grinned, feeling confident in the fight. "Trying to steal our silk, eh?" I asked.

She unsheathed her sword, looking serious. Probably because she knew she was beaten. "Are you on guard?"

Am I ever! "Oh, I'm ready," I smiled. Then I lunged. She parried, and we danced across the February grass. She was a good swordfighter, but I matched her skill. I thought I had the fight- until I heard Calla's furious cry. "ZAVID!"

I stared at Josephine and a million thoughts ran through my mind. It was a trap, but now it was a race. I had to reach Zavid and get the silk back.

We both started running. Josephine got a lead and began to slide down the hill, grabbing onto Zavid and dashing into the forest. I caught up with Calla and pulled her down the hill. "Come on!" I said, strained. We had to get them- had to catch them. We had to run, run, run. We crashed through the forest, following the faint figures of Zavid and Josephine. I heard Zavid give a huge whoop. The bastard thought he had victory in the bag! Well, not yet. There was a stitch in my side, but Calla was next to me and she was still running and we had to run. I thought I heard footsteps running behind me, but that was impossible. Another team would have had to have been right next to the mountain to be following us.

I saw a clearing, up ahead. We were too far away from Zavid and Josephine to catch them, though. We couldn't lose them, we couldn't, we couldn't. We had to win. They were running through the clearing now, and I thought I saw other people next to them, but that wasn't possible. Then- miracle!- Zavid and Josephine seemed to trip over something simultaneously! This was our chance to snatch the ribbon and return it to its place. We were gaining on them, they hadn't gotten up yet. Except then I was toppling to the ground and someone had tackled me. Everything went black for one… two… three…

"Ugh." Calla's voice in my ear revived me. I realized that I had what felt like the weight of three people on top of me. I pushed them off and sat up, my head spinning. Slowly but surely, I took inventory of my surroundings. Calla, Clay, and Willow were all sprawled around me. Dawning on me, I realized that Clay and Willow must have been the footsteps behind me I heard, and the ones who tackled Calla and I. Looking up, I saw Zavid and Josephine lying on their stomachs, tripped over a rock. And Zavid- tricking thief- had the silk ribbon clutched in his hands. As my gaze traveled up, I saw Finn and Askira, standing near the brook and looking surprised at all the sudden visitors. I pushed myself upright and groaned. "What just happened?"

We all talked, and pieced it together. When Zavid and Josephine had stolen the silk and ran into the forest, Calla and I chased them. Willow and Clay were battle-planning, and saw the two of us running. Willow thought we were a monster and chased us, eventually tackling us in the clearing, right after Zavid and Josephine had tripped over a rock that Askira and Finn had planted there when they heard that we were coming.

As we all got up and loped back to camp, sharing stories, we agreed that all of us deserved the ribbon. After all, we were all just as bruised and dirty as the rest of us.

And as for the mysterious eyes? Those were, we agreed, probably just a reflection. Maybe some berries glowing in the moonlight. It couldn't have been anything dangerous, or it would have attacked.

Right?