It was time for Capture the Flag.

I wasn't gonna lie-I was terrified. Percy reassured me that he wouldn't leave my side, but it didn't help calm my nerves. I didn't understand how the campers thought of this as their idea of fun.

Percy and I were sitting in the Poseidon table when the Athena campers ran into the pavilion carrying a gray banner with an owl and an olive tree. From the other side of the pavilion, the Ares kids ran in with a red banner with a boar and a spear. Percy had explained that the Athena and Ares cabins usually led the teams.

"Whose team are we on?" I asked.

Percy grinned. "Annabeth's."

When Percy said Annabeth's name, I heard a lot of pride in his voice. It warmed my heart to see my, uh, brother being so supportive of his girlfriend. I kind of wished that I had someone like that with me.

Chiron announced the respective teams. Athena's allies were Apollo, Hermes, and Poseidon, while Ares had everyone else to back them up: Dionysus, Demeter, Hephaestus, and Aphrodite.

"Déjà vu," Percy muttered to himself.

"Huh?" I asked.

"When I was a new camper," Percy started, "the teams were the same, except I was with the Hermes kids, and Poseidon didn't really have a representative. Then after the games, Dad claimed me as his kid in front of everyone."

He proceeded to tell me what he had thought of the other team: Aphrodite kids never really played, Demeter kids weren't very aggressive, Dionysus kids were skilled, but there were only two of them (including Ben-the thought had me worried, considering he beat me in two seconds flat this afternoon). Percy told me that the only cabin we had to worry about was Ares.

Chiron stomped his hoof on the ground and proceeded to announce the rules, which everyone probably knew, except for me.

I repeated the rules in my head: creek-boundary line, magic items-allowed, no killing or maiming.

I liked the last rule.

When Chiron yelled, "Arm yourselves!" and presented us with a table full of equipment, everyone yelled and ran to the table. I looked at Percy and he just stayed in his place with his hand in his pocket. He took out a pen, which I had never seen before, and uncapped it. Suddenly, it grew into his sword-the sword he had used to save my life.

I just realized that I never saw Percy put his sword away. It had just disappeared when we went to my house, and I never put any thought into it.

"Your sword…" I said.

"Yeah. This is Riptide," he said.

"It was a pen."

"Yeah."

"A pen...and a sword…"

"Yup."

"Wow."

Percy chuckled. "Chiron gave it to me. It's a pen most of the time, but when I uncap it, it becomes a sword. I never lose it because it always returns to my pocket."

My eyes grew in amazement. "Wow."

"You have your own weapon, right?" Percy asked.

"Yeah," I said, showing him Peleus' sword.

"Let's get you a shield," Percy said.

Percy led me toward the table and gave me a normal-sized shield. I held it in my arms and told him thanks.

"What are big brothers for?" He grinned.

I felt like Percy was liking this 'big brother' thing he had going on a little too much. I wasn't complaining, but if we ever reached the point where he'd want to take pictures everywhere and make postcards and send them to Dad or something (were we allowed to send stuff to the gods?), I was going to have to stage an intervention.

Annabeth yelled, "Blue team, forward!"

The campers on our team all cheered and hit their weapons on the ground. I looked at Percy, who was doing the same thing as they were, and I followed. We marched toward the south woods, where we were going to place our banner.

"I volunteered us for border patrol," Percy said. "I figured being near the river would calm your nerves."

I was relieved. I didn't care if Percy was playing the protective older brother role. The words 'being near the river' were music to my ears. Even though I'd only known that Poseidon was my father yesterday, I always knew that water always calmed me.

When we reached the creek, Percy stood by me. We waited for campers to attack us, but no one came. I had thought we were safe, and that I didn't need to fight.

Guess I was wrong.

I heard someone emerge from the bushes to my left. Following my instincts, I ducked and sidestepped, almost bumping into Percy.

"Woah!" Percy said, catching me.

A sword's hilt had almost hit me in the head. If I hadn't dodged it, I would have probably crumpled to the ground.

The person who had attempted to attack me swung his sword at me, but I was ready (or as ready as I would have been). My short sword met his in the air. I did a little victory dance in my head because I found that a little cool, but with my luck, my triumph had to come to an end. He pulled his sword back and jabbed it at my thigh.

"Hey!" Percy yelled, jumping in front of me. "No maiming!"

Percy and the other guy started fighting while I was trying my hardest not to cry. Getting stabbed by a sword was not really part of my agenda. I looked up and recognized the guy who had attacked me.

Ben Allocco.

He was a fast swordsman, but Percy was faster. Percy lunged and swung his sword with incredible speed, I had to stare in awe. He was going to have to teach me everything he knew. I had to be as fast and as skilled as he was when it came to fighting.

After a few minutes of sword fighting, Ben looked tired and out of breath. He knew that he wasn't going to be able to beat Percy, so he did something that neither Percy nor I had expected.

On second thought, maybe I had expected this. Ben absolutely loved using me as a punching bag, after all.

He ducked when Percy swung his sword and ran toward me. Before I could get up, he pinned me down and pointed the tip of his sword to my neck.

"You gonna let me get your flag, Mcdonald?" Ben taunted.

At this point, I was getting angry. What had I done to him that made him act so horribly toward me?

Suddenly, I felt a tug in my gut. I thought it was because I was angry, but it was more than that. I saw Percy coming toward us to get Ben off of me, but before he could, a wave emerged from the creek and took Ben with it back into the river.

I wasn't joking. The water literally grabbed him.

Ben Allocco was gone. Well, for awhile, at least.

A few seconds later, the water spat him out onto the shore. He coughed and wheezed, glaring at me (what's new?).

A loud cheer echoed from the other side of the forest.

Percy mouthed, we won.

Ben stood up and dusted himself off. He looked at me with a murderous glint in his eyes and said, "Thanks for the bath."

He ran toward the sound of the campers cheering. I stood up and walked over to Percy.

"What just happened?" I asked.

"Poseidon just happened," Percy said with a grin. "You're finally using your powers, little sis."

"Please don't call me that."

Percy put his arm around my shoulders and started to lead me toward the pavilion, but I stumbled and fell.

My thigh.

I had forgotten that I was still wounded. Percy turned me around and pushed me gently toward the creek.

"Get in," he said, once we were in front of the water.

I stepped into the river and sighed. The pain in my leg subsided. When I looked at the wound, it was almost gone. It was healing really fast. I spun toward Percy, amazed at what was happening.

"This is so cool," I said.

"Perks of being Poseidon's kid," Percy said.

When my wound was perfectly healed, I stepped out of the water. My shoes and pants were perfectly dry.

"Is this a thing?" I asked, pointing to my feet. "We can't get wet now?"

Percy chuckled. "We can only get wet if we want to. We can also breathe underwater."

My eyes widened. "Oh my gods."

Percy nodded. "Cool, right? Now, we should head back. We have a campfire to get to."