How does the lava wall work? When the person falls, does the lava disappear? Because otherwise we'd have boiled campers every now and then. For story purposes, the wall's lava will turn off after the camper fails. Also, thanks so much for all the nice messages! I really appreciate them!
On with the show!
Chapter 6
Annabeth
Annabeth smirked as she watched Percy scale the lava wall. You're in for a big surprise soon, Seaweed Brain. The lava rose, inch by inch, until it touched the soles of his shoes. He looked down, panic evident in his eyes. Percy tried to keep on going, but his fingers slipped, and he fell. The lava disappeared, and Percy landed on the ground with a thump. Normally, Annabeth would laugh and wait for the camper to get up, but Percy didn't get up.
Now it was Annabeth's turn to panic. She ran over to Percy. "Seaweed Brain?" She shook him. He didn't answer. That's when she saw the bloody lump on the back of his head. Her giant brain went into full alarm mode, forming sixteen different strategies to carry Percy to the infirmary. She decided on just dragging him, because she had no desire to cut his shirt up and weave a stretcher out of it. Plus, she doubted she could lift him.
Aurora Gallagher, the second oldest Apollo camper, shook her head when she dragged Percy into the infirmary. "Already, on the first day of camp?" Annabeth nodded. "It was kind of my fault. I told him the lava wall was a normal climbing wall, and he panicked when he saw the lava." Aurora laughed. "Clueless one, isn't he? I'll have Flash take care of him." She gestured to her twin brother, who was changing the bandages on another camper who had an accident at the forges. Flash sauntered over. "What's up, sis? Hey Annabeth." His golden hair was neatly trimmed, and his blue eyes sparkled with amusement. Aurora was literally the feminine version of Flash, with the exact same hair and eyes. Flash slung Percy over his back. "I'll be ridding you of this boy now. You can come visit whenever you want. I'll Iris-Message you when he's awake." With that weight off her shoulders, Annabeth gladly left the infirmary.
Percy
Percy woke up in a room with way too many lights on. He groaned as he sat up. Why did his head hurt so much? A tall guy with curly golden hair rushed over. "Oh good, you're awake. I'll Iris-Message Annabeth. In the meantime, have some nectar. Don't drink too much at once or you'll die." He handed Percy a glass of the stuff. He took a sip, and the pain in the back of his head subsided to a dull throb. He let out a sigh of delight as the sharp headache disappeared, and proceeded to drink the entire thing.
Annabeth rushed in a few moments later. "SEAWEED BRAIN!" She barreled right into him, tackling him back onto the bed. "I was so worried! How'd you manage to conk your head on the lava wall?" "So you admit it was a lava wall, huh? I was wondering why you forgot to mention that earlier." She gave a guilty grin. "I wanted to see your reaction. I didn't expect it to be passing out." Percy tried to wriggle out from underneath her grasp, but she was strong. "I'll get you back for this, Wise Girl. You'll see." Suddenly, Annabeth got a hard look in her eyes, and the next thing Percy knew, he was flying through the air. He hit the floor hard, and moaned. "Did you seriously just judo flip me?" "Don't you ever do that again, you understand? Or I'll do it again too." The healer from before came rushing over. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! No fighting in the infirmary! Out you go!" He ushered both of them out the door.
The first thing that Percy noticed when they left the infirmary was that it was definitely not afternoon anymore. "Why is it so much later now? I thought we were at the lava wall in the morning!" Annabeth smirked. "We were, Seaweed Brain. But you missed lunch when you were unconscious. It's almost time for dinner now." Just then, the conch shell blared the signal for dinner. The blond girl smiled. "Come on Seaweed Brain. We have dinner to eat, and then Capture the Flag. Prepare to lose for real this time, because you'll be going up against Ares and Athena."
Dinner was uneventful. Chiron announced the new campers, which meant only him, and then Percy burnt part of his dinner for Poseidon. Hi dad, He thought. Camp is pretty nice. I met a daughter of Athena named Annabeth. She's pretty awesome. I've already been knocked out once though, and we learned that I absolutely suck at archery. Talk to you later. Percy headed back to his table, satisfied that he got to sort of tell somebody about camp who wasn't already at camp.
After everybody had finished eating, Chiron stood up. "Attention campers!" He clapped twice, and waited for the noise to die down. "Today's Capture the Flag teams will be: Ares, Athena, Apollo, and Dionysus on the red team and Hermes, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus on the blue team. You may all grab your equipment now." A roar of protest went up from the tables on the blue team. Luke banged his fist on the table to silence the Hermes table. "Guys! Listen up!" He roared. "I know that putting the battle strategists with the tough fighters AND the archers isn't fair. But we have to win with what we have. And we have the weapon makers. Let's drop smoke grenades on them all!" The Hermes campers cheered, and Percy grinned at Annabeth from across the pavilion. She was already talking strategy with her cabin. Time to fight at last. Bring it on, Wise Girl.
I think this chapter is shorter than most, but I want Capture the Flag to be its own chapter so... yeah.
I really wanna see Percy beat an Ares camper that's about 3 times his size and weight. It would be hilarious.
Thanks for reading! Constructive criticism and reviews are appreciated!
