Chapter 3
Hello, everyone, SpeechBubbleMe here! I'm so excited about the good responses that this story has gotten! Thank you so much to all of you who added me to your favorites or followed Daughter of the Mist, and I hope that you'll keep reading! Please, please, please feel free to shoot me a mail for ideas, thoughts, and feedback because no matter what it is, I'll read and reply. Thanks so much!
Disclaimer: Rick Riordan, may he be scourged by fangirls (or fanguys, I don't care which), owns the Heroes of Olympus universe and the lovely things inside of it. Not Arian, though... she's my OC :)
Luke, in my opinion, was far too excited about capture the flag. Personally, I didn't see what was so great about going into monster-stocked woods while trying to fight against another team of demigods, but I guess that this was really Camp Half-Blood's only source of fun for these kids. I would want a distraction too if I had to spend my life here without contact from the outside world.
When Friday came around, Luke took me to the armory to see if we could find any helmets and breastplates that would fit. When we entered the forge, only one of the Hephaestus kids looked up from what he was working on, setting down the messy tangle of gears and wires on his desk before greeting Luke. I recognized his face from my first night at the camp – this was Charles Beckendorf, the kid who apparently fixed the lava spigots on the climbing wall. From what Luke had told me before, they were old friends – Beckendorf was the next kid to come to camp after Luke and Annabeth did.
"So, you're here for armor?" the burly boy said, cracking a few of his knuckles, "I'll show you what we have." With that, he walked down a door-lined hall that led away from the heat of the open forge, stopping in front of a locked door. He fished a set of keys from his pocket and opened the door, wincing a bit as the hinges creaked. "I still haven't fixed that," he apologized. I repressed a smile – though all of the children of Hephaestus I had met were brilliant with machinery and solving problems, they tended to be a bit forgetful and got distracted easily by a new project or toy.
"You won't need a sword, so that solves half of our problem," Luke said as he maneuvered around a mountainous pile of shields. He picked up a small, circular shield embossed with the golden sun of Apollo. "Shield?" I shook my head and turned to the rack of helmets on the wall. I tried a few on, but most were too big and slipped down on my head. When it looked like none of them would fit, Beckendorf offered to refit one of the smaller ones. I thanked him for the offer, but declined. I'd been fighting without a helmet for so long that it would be harder to fight with one than risk a concussion if I didn't.
After nearly an hour of trying on countless breastplates, vambraces, and other bits of weaponry, I finally decided on a Greek-style leather breastplate that would stop any arrows from the children of Apollo that were allied with Ares, and a pair of matching arm guards that would protect my forearms and wrists against the powerful blows of my opponents. I wouldn't be as fully outfitted as most of the other demigods, but I would have a full range of motion that was otherwise restricted by all of the heavy armor. Before we left, Beckendorf promised to have my new armor cleaned up and ready by the time the game started.
"Thanks, man," Luke said as he clapped his hand on Beckendorf's meaty shoulder, "I owe you one – see you at the games."
As we walked back to the Hermes cabin, Luke filled me in on the rules of capture the flag: Every camper who isn't injured has to play, the creek that ran through the woods was the boundary line, and the entire forest is considered fair game for traps, "prison", and as a hiding spot for the flag. Other rules were more technical, such as the flag must be prominently displayed and can have no more than two guards – those guards can't stand within ten yards of the flag. Still others were safety concerns, like the rule that banned killing, maiming, and binding prisoners – any intentional maiming would bring about the loss of dessert for a week. I was a little more excited when Luke said that all magical items were allowed, which meant that I could use my charms for invisibility, speed, and one that produced a gale of wind strong enough to knock a demigod off their feet.
In addition to the charms on my bracelet, I had a few spells up my sleeve that would work as warning devices and keep my enemies from getting too close. One of my personal favorite was the spell that caused any mortal or monster within a ten foot radius to feel dizzy and nauseated, but had the unfortunate side-effect of consuming a large amount of energy. I didn't know how well it worked on demigods, though, but it wouldn't hurt to try. I could also try and summon the Mist, but I didn't think that the camp boundaries and the concentration of demigods around me would allow it. It was always harder to fool a focused demigod than a hungry monster or foolish mortal.
When we arrived back at the Hermes cabin, most of my cabin mates were suiting up in blue-painted armor, contrasting with the red war paint belonging to the Ares team. Across the green I could also see the Athena and Hephaestus cabin strapping on blue-painted armor as well. The red team had the rest of the cabins: Apollo, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Dionysus. A loud cheer went up from both sides when Chiron blew a long, low note on his horn to signal the start of the game. The Red team disappeared into the other half of the woods as the Athena kids brought us all in a circle to give orders.
The strategy was to split up into smaller groups, each headed up by one of the Athena kids. Luke and I were assigned to an offensive group under Annabeth along with Chris Rodriguez, Ethan Nakamura, and Charles Beckendorf. Our job was to create a distraction deep in enemy territory while another offense group got the red flag. Luke and Beckendorf gave synchronized evil grins at the word "distraction", probably meaning that they planned to blow something up along the way. With the impromptu briefing over, our group ran into the trees, spurred on by another blast of Chiron's horn.
Annabeth led our small group through the trees, her small figure barely making noise as she skirted around the rocks and fallen branches. She seemed to know where she was going, so I followed her without question. When we had gotten a ways into the enemy territory, she suddenly stopped and ducked behind a large bush, signaling for the rest of us to follow. I barely made it down in time to avoid being caught by a pair of Apollo kids whooping war cries as they trampled through the brush. As soon as they were out of sight we were moving again, silent as shadows.
Finally, we reached the small clearing where we would set up our first "distraction". To my surprise, Beckendorf pulled out several large rig components from his backpack (including one that looked a whole lot like a Power Ranger helmet on steroids) that should have been impossible to fit in there. He flashed a grin in my direction and explained, "Magic storage bag – it was a gift from my dad last year." Once we had assembled the components, the finished product looked much like the result of a giant's connector set linked together in the shape of a very gangly stick figure about twenty feet long.
Beckendorf stood at the other end of the clearing and pulled out a small controller that looked suspiciously like a GameBoy. After extending the large antennae on the end about a foot, he pressed a series of buttons on the controller.
"Talos Seven, activate!" he said in a firm voice. I watched in awe as our new metal friend moved his spindly arms and sat up straight, as if waiting for more instruction. "Execute battle plan Alpha!" The robot stood up to its full height of a little over two stories, towering over several of the smaller pine trees.
Luke grinned widely as we backed away from the robot's feet. "This part was my idea – you may want to hold on to something." I hastily grabbed hold onto a nearby tree as the Talos Seven began to squat slightly, holding its arms out parallel like a gymnast. Too late, I realized what the silver automaton was going to do. The coiled springs in the legs released, sending the whole contraption flying more than fifty feet into the air. Everything was silent as the robot hung in the sky for a heartbeat, then came crashing down to earth with a loud thud, rattling the trees nearest it with the shockwave.
"Well, I think we have their attention now," I muttered, shaking the effects of the impact from my head, now covered in dirt and dust blown out by the less-than-stellar landing.
"Wait for it," Luke said, picking himself up from the dirt. I turned my gaze back to the Talos Seven as a very loud voice began singing very off-key and lights began flashing, making our part of the forest look like the center of a very wild rave. "The Apollo kids can't stand bad music," Luke explained as we took up our ambush positions across the clearing from Annabeth and Chris Rodriguez. "We might put ourselves on their kill list for a little while, but at least it'll get their attention away from the main attack."
"Oh yeah, kill list sounds good," I drawled as I spotted the first red-crested helmet to break through the trees. Sure enough, it was one of the kids that I recognized from the Apollo cabin. With a loud war cry, he charged the Talos Seven but was intercepted by a well-placed tripwire of Beckendorf's. More members of the Red team rushed through the trees, intent on capturing us. I summoned Argyros and stepped into the fray, my sword clashing against several others as I fought my way through the mass of opponents.
I ended up fighting next to Ethan Nakamura for a little while until he ran off to help Chris with two burly Ares kids. I caught a glimpse through the fighting bodies of Annabeth skillfully wielding a short sword and a knife, catching many off guard with her carefully planned tactics. I couldn't see Beckendorf, but I could see the effects of his handiwork – splatters of blue paint from his bombs and tangled nets that stuck magnetically to the Red team's armor told me that he could definitely hold his own.
My eyes eventually found Luke, gleefully dispatching his opponents with ease. He must have been holding back when we sparred, because now he was making the two girls from Apollo that were attacking him look like blundering cows in comparison. However, he was so engrossed in the battle that he didn't notice Lee Fletcher from Apollo sneaking up behind him, untangling one of Beckendorf's nets to throw.
"Luke!" I warned, dodging a reaching swing from one of my opponents as I ran towards him, twisting the cube-shaped charm for a burst of extra speed. Thankfully, as he turned towards me he spotted Lee out of the corner of his eye and moved slightly out of the way. As I ran through the now-crowded clearing, I could see that we were definitely going to lose this battle – the Talos Seven had been deactivated once the Red Team captured Beckendorf, confiscating the GameBoy controller. Ethan and Chris were tangled up in a pair of nets, looking mutinously at their guards. Through the crowd, I spotted my new "friends" in the Ares Cabin. Obviously they wanted a rematch.
I was cut off before I could reach Luke, leaving my back vulnerable as my speed charm wore off. Whirling constantly, I swung my blade in an attempt to keep my assailants off of me. That tactic worked for less than a minute before they figured out that if they rushed me from more than one side, I would be quickly overpowered. As soon as I was disarmed, the Ares girl that had cornered me in the bathroom swung a wild fist at my face. There was no way in Hades that my tired reflexes would stop it, and before I knew it, I was staring blankly up at the blue sky as my scattered senses tried to return to my head. Distantly, I registered that the area around my left eye was beginning to swell amidst the throbbing of my head. With my luck, I probably had a concussion too.
As the Red Team pulled my limp form over to the rest of my captured teammates, I let my head swing to the side. A grin split my bruised face as I saw two blue-clad figures run through the trees with a bright red flag.
Luke caught my smile as he was escorted over. "Some game, huh?"
The Apollo Cabin wasn't too enthusiastic about healing our wounds after the game was over, especially since we were the ones mostly responsible for their loss. The only sympathy I got from any of them was from Lee Fletcher, the head counselor of Apollo, who bandaged the cuts on my eyebrow and cheekbone then mashed together a poultice for my swollen eye.
"Renée gets a little excited," he explained, jerking his head slightly in the direction of the girl who'd punched me, "Just be glad she's off to college at the end of the summer." I gave a slow nod as he walked away from my cot in the infirmary to help more injured kids. Several minutes later, all who were able to walk were ushered out of the infirmary and out to the green for the awards ceremony. The leader of Cabin Six, Annabeth, and a few other children of Athena went up to the podium to accept the victor's laurels which would hang outside their cabin door until the next game of capture the flag.
Aside from getting my face clubbed with Renée's meaty fist, I found that I actually enjoyed playing capture the flag. Not only did it give me an opportunity to test my skills against other demigods, but it was also an excellent place to vent all of my pent-up frustration from the previous week, leaving my body exhausted but at peace. It was a good kind of tired, I guess, and allowed me to quietly slip into sleep that night.