Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING BUT JOOLS
Sorry for the late upload, life has been... Annoyingly busy.
Chapter 8: We Beat Up Uglies
The next few days were enough to make me feel like normal again – except for the fact that our lessons were coming from satyrs, nymphs and a centaur. Annabeth taught Thalia, Nico, even Jools and I Ancient Greek, and discussed gods, goddesses and other immortals in the present tense. Okay, it was weird, I must admit, but pretty interesting too. Annabeth was right about our dyslexia too, since Ancient Greek wasn't harder than English for me. I could stumble through some texts without getting a headache after a couple of days.
We rotated through outdoor activities the rest of the day while Jools left for the archery range. The rest of us looked for something we were actually good at. Chiron tried to teach us archery too, and Thalia was pretty good at it. Nico and I were pretty bad, though. At least he didn't complain about desnaging stray arrows from his tail.
Jools even showed us his cuff bracelet again – which had an Ancient Greek inscription – and pressed the crystal. As if by magic, the cuff popped out of his hand and transformed into a silver bow adorned with crystal snowflake patterns. "Wicked, right?" he said with a grin. "Its name is Frostbite."
"But you don't have any arrows," I pointed out.
He grinned and held out his palm. He closed his eyes in concentration. It might be my imagination, but it seemed like silvery frost danced across it, solidifying – and an arrow made of ice appeared on his hand. "It doesn't even melt unless I will it to," he said, aiming and scoring a bull's eye. The arrow disappeared. "Doing it too much makes me tired though, so I need to get a quiver from the armory for real practice. I also redirect arrows with a small – really, really small – gust of wind. I can't do more than redirecting arrows with it since I'm not a son of Zeus or Aeolus or something."
I sucked at foot racing. The wood-nymphs who instructed us left me in the dust. Only Nico could come close to their speed, but they told me not to worry about it. They had centuries of pracice from running away – from lovesick gods and satyrs, that is. It was pretty humiliating to be slower than a tree, though. Thalia was seething.
I don't even want to talk about wresting. Clarisse pulverized us whenever we got on the mat. Oh, and Thalia apparently fried her eyebrows off with an electric touch or something, but I wasn't there to see it for myself, sadly.
I was pretty good at canoeing, which wasn't the kind of heroic skill you would expect from the kid who beat the Minotaur. Well, at least it beats Nico's foot racing skills or Thalia's archery, but none of our skills were something to brag about.
I was sure that the senior campers and counselors kept an eye on us, trying to decide who our dads – or dad, gods forbid – were. None of us had the strength – or ugliness – of the Ares kids. We weren't as good in archery as the Apollo kids or cheat like Jools, the resident Boreas guy. None of us were metalwork experts and great mechanics like the Hephaestus kids. Of course, none of us would be awesome in vine plants like Dionysus' kids or have green thumbs like Demeter's.
"You might be children of Hermes," Luke said. "Jack-of-all-trades, master of none kind of deal – though we're sneakier and we're wily too." He was just probably trying to make us feel better and didn't know what to make of us either.
"Maybe you're Boreas' kids too, or something," Jools said hopefully. "Doesn't look like you've got ice powers though, and you don't look, uh, frozen."
Camp was still fun, though. The morning fog over the beach, the smell of hot strawberry fields and noises from monsters all became facts of life. Whenever I ate dinner with the rest of the cabin and scraped part of the meal into the fire, I tried fo feel some kind of connection from my dad. All I got was the warm feeling, the memory of his smile. It also helped when I didn't think of my mom. The possibility of saving her stayed in the very back of my mind though, worming its way out whenever it could.
I kind of understood Luke's bitterness and why exactly he resented his own father, Hermes. I know that gods had a lot of more important things to do, byt why can't they do something like call, or thunder, or something, like Dionysus and his Diet Coke? At least his kids ate their meals with him. Why can't my dad make a phone appear?
When Thursday afternoon came, three days after we arrived at Camp Half-Blood, we had our first sword-fighting class. The entire cabin eleven gathered in the big circular arena with Luke as our instructor.
Even Jools looked a little nervous. "I don't think that I'll do well," he said. "Archers and swords, y'know."
Nico was crazy excited, though. "Swords. Cool!"
Thalia was her usual self. "I can finally smash Clarisse to bits," she said gleefully.
We learned basic stabbing and slashing, and used straw-stuffed dummies in Greek armor. We were pretty okay – or at least understood what we're supposed to do. Jools did have a bit of trouble like he predicted, and Thalia was having a bit of a hard time too.
We couldn't find blades that matched what we wanted. Jools showed us an icy blue crystal button on the lower part of his cuff which turned it into a silver-hilted, crystal blade sword, though. Still didn't help him. Thalia, Nico and I had to put up with blades that were either too light, too heavy, too long or too short. Luke did his best to fix us up, but he did agree that none of the practice blades worked for us.
We moved to dueling in pairs. Thalia and Nico immediately paired up. Luke announced that he would be my partner, though. Jools shuffled off to be paired with a kid called Chris.
"Good luck," a camper told me with a snicker. "Luke's the best demigod swordsman in the last three hundred years."
"Here's to hoping he'll go easy on me," I said.
Jools and Nico nodded to me as I faced Luke. He showed me numerous techniques the hard way. Every swipe and strike added another bruise to my collection. He whapped me on the flat of his blade mercilessly while calling out instructions and tips to me.
I was soaked in sweat and very, very sore when he called for a break. We alls warmed the drinks cooler, and I gulped down a lot of water. "You doing okay?" Thalia asked.
"Um, no," I told her, showing my new bruise collection.
Jools winced when he saw them. "That doesn't look good."
"It definitely isn't," I agreed.
I saw Luke pour ice water on his head. Of course, I did the same since it seemed like a good idea. As if by magic, I suddenly felt better, the pain in my body gone. My arms felt stronger, and the sword wasn't so awkward anymore. I saw my friends imitate me, but it didn't seem to work well for them. Jools looked more awake, but Nico and Thalia simply shuddered.
"Okay, everyone! Circle up," Luke ordered, before motioning for me to come closer. "If Percy doesn't mind it, I want to give you a little demo."
"Great, let's all watch Percy get pounded!" Thalia joked.
I gave her my best death glare. "Shut it, Lightning Rod." The other kids snickered.
Everyone gathered around Luke and me, suppressing smiles. I guess most of them have been in my shoes before and can't wait to see another kid get pounded in their place. He announced that he had a new disarming technique to teach us, which involved twisting the enemy's blade with the flat of your sword. Apparently, this will give him no other choice aside from dropping his sword.
"It's very difficult, and I've had it used against me." He gave Thalia a long look, and she flushed. "Don't laugh at Percy, most swordsmen need years just to master this technique." He demonstrated the move on me in slow motion, and I did drop my sword. While I picked it up, the other kids began to watch intently. "Now, in real time. We keep sparring until one of us pulls it off. Ready?"
I nodded, nervous. I was about to make a fool out of myself in front of my friends and the rest of cabin eleven. Luke came after me, but I managed to keep him from striking my sword hilt. My senses were open in a way that I've never noticed, so I saw every attack coming and countered. I managed to step forward and decided to give the attack a try. I thrusted my blade, but Luke parried it. I saw a change in his face though – his eyes narrowed and he began to strike more forcefully. All of that reminded me that I had a sword that wasn't right for me, and it felt heavy in my hand. It was only a matter of seconds before I made a big mistake, so I tried the disarming maneuver.
My blade hit the base of Luke's. Pressing my luck, I twisted and put my whole puny weight into a downward thrust. Luke's sword flew out of his hands and landed against the stones with a clang. The tip of my sword was barely an inch away from his chest.
The other campers went silent, even Thalia. I realized just exactly what I managed to do and lowered my sword. "Sorry," I mumbled.
For a while, Luke was silenced by shock too. Then he broke into the trademark Hermes grin. "Sorry? What in Olympus are you exactly sorry for? By the gods, you should show me that again!"
I didn't want to, really. The sudden energy that surged through me was now totally gone, but Luke insisted and of course, why should I argue? This time though, it didn't take much effort for him once our swords connected. All he did was to hit my hilt and I dropped my sword.
"Beginner's luck?" someone asked.
Luke shook his head and wiped off his sweat. He gave me a look full of interest – like maybe I was something more than a random camper. "Maybe. But I wonder what he could do with a balanced sword…"
That night, we had pizza, bread, cheese and assorted fruits for dinner. I could barely taste it and had to wash it down with blue root beer. I still ate a lot though, since the sword fighting made me really hungry. My entire body ached and all I wanted to do was go to sleep.
Thalia ate glumly, slowly popping strawberries in her mouth and chewing sluggishly. "If that was a basic sword fighting lesson, I don't want to think of how advanced ones would look like."
Nico grinned. "It wasn't so bad." Apparently, not even the class could hinder his cheery nature.
"Yeah, right, you were the one who walloped me throughout the sparring sessions."
"Guys, just – just stop it, okay?" Jools stopped eating, glaring at his plate of half-eaten giant pizza slice. "We're all not that good in sword fighting, and let's leave it at that."
Desperate to change the subject before one of my friends exploded, I pointed to his bracelet. "So, can it do other forms? Like, I don't know, grenade or something?"
"Sadly, no." Jools drank the rest of the white stuff in his cup – he called it Milkis or Milcu or something. "My dad probably didn't expect me to blow up his gift, maybe thought I'd use it forever."
"At least your dad gave you something," Thalia told him darkly.
By Friday afternoon, we tried the climbing wall and barely came out of it alive. Grover even joined us, though he was better. He could jump to the top, kind of like a mountain goat. The rest of us had to fend off the lava and had holey camp shirts as souvenirs. The hairs were even singed from my forearms and part of Nico's eyebrow was burned off.
We sat on the pier by the lake and watched the naiads with their underwater basket weaving. Jools stared at them dreamily. Meanwhile, I asked Grover about his conversation with Mr. D, which made him turn a sickly shade of yellow.
"Fine," he muttered. "Just great."
"Does that mean that you're career's on track?" Thalia asked hopefully, while I quietly explained all about Grover to Jools.
Our goaty friend gave us a nervous look and began to fidget. "He told you that I wanted to get a searcher's license?" he asked.
"Grover, we have no idea about what a searcher's license is," Thalia said, rolling her eyes. "He just told us that you had big plans and needed the credit by completing the keeper assignment thingie. So did you get it?"
Grover looked down at the naiads dejectedly. "Actually, Mr. D suspended judgement and told me that I hadn't failed – or even succeeded – with you guys yet. Our fates are still tied together so if one of you goes on a quest and I went along to protect you – and we come back alive together – then my job may be considered complete."
"That's not so bad, right?" Jools asked hopefully. "I don't know what a quest is but if you go with them then…"
Grover bleated. "He might as well as transfer me to stable cleaning duty! The chances of a demigod getting a quest, even the three… and even if they did, why would anyone want me along for something as dangerous as that."
"What? But of course we'd want you along," I argued. "You're awesome!"
Grover sighed, eyes on the water. The naiads waved and giggled. "Basket weaving must be a useful skill, huh?"
We tried to reassure him that he had a lot of talents, but the thing is that it made him more miserable. So we talked about canoeing, swordplay and archery for a while. Then we began to discuss the pros and cons of the different gods, and Jools grilled him about Boreas. Finally, I asked about the four empty cabins.
"The silver one, number eight, belongs to Artemis," Grover explained. "She vowed to be a maiden forever so naturally, she has no kids. The cabin is honorary. If she didn't have one, she'd be mad. Sometimes, her hunters come around to visit."
"Oh, okay. But what about the other three at the end?" I insisted. "Are those the Big Three?"
Grover tensed, as if we were talking about a touchy subject. "No, they're not. One of them is Hera's – number two. It's honorary, like Artemis'. She's the goddess of marriage and definitely won't go around having affairs with mortals. That's Zeus' job. When we're talking about the Big Three, we mean the three powerful brothers, sons of Kronos."
"You mean like Zeus, Poseidon and Hades?" Nico asked.
"Right. You know them. When the battle with the Titans was over, they took over the world from their dad, so they drew lots to decide who got what."
"Zeus got the sky. Poseidon had the sea, and Hades received the Underworld – and I don't know why he's upset over that, I think it was a pretty sweet deal," Nico continued.
"Hades doesn't have a cabin here," Jools noted.
"No, and he doesn't have a throne on Olympus too. He kind of does his own thing in the Underworld. I think that if he did have a cabin here… It will either be unpleasant, or reall cool." Grover shrugged. "Let's just leave it at that."
"But did he have kids? And Zeus and Poseidon both had a bazillion kids in the myths, right?" Nico pressed on. "Why are their cabins empty?"
Grover shifted uncomfortably. He gave us a nervous look. "Around sixty years ago, the Big Three made an agreement that they wouldn't sire any more heroes. It was the end of World Warr II. Their children were too powerful and affected the course of human events in bad ways – too much chaos and carnage. World War II was basically just a fight between Poseidon and Zeus demigods on one side, and sons of Hades on the other. Of course, Zeus and Poseidon won, so they forced Hades to swear an oath with them: no more affairs with mortal women. They even swore on the River Styx."
Thunder boomed overhead, and we all shuddered. "Isn't that, like, the most serious oath you can make?" Thalia asked nervously. She kept looking at the sky.
"So, um, the brothers kept their word?" I asked. "No more kids?"
Grover's face darkened. "I don't know what happened, exactly, since I was away back then. There was his girl called Clio Knight, daughter of Zeus, around five years ago. Well, the River Styx is serious about promises. I guess Zeus got off easy since he's immortal, but the girl…"
"But that's not fair! It wasn't the girl's fault."
Grover hesitated. "Percy, the children of the Big Three are more powerful than any other half-blood. They have a strong aura, a scent that attracts monsters. When Hades found out about Clio, he wasn't too happy that Zeus broke his oath, so he let the worst monsters out of Tartarus to torment the kid. So a satyr was assigned to be her keeper when she was twelve, but even he could barely do anything about it. Gleeson did his best to escort her here with two more half-bloods that she'd befriended, like he did when he brought Clarisse here."
Jools sat up straight. "Gleeson. You don't mean Gleeson Hedge, right?" he asked, eyes wide. "He's the satyr who escorted me here too, and let me tell you, if even his violence and goat-fu skills couldn't save the girl, then no one can. He's seriously awesome."
"I know, I told you, the worst monsters were let out of Tartarus," Grover said. "They almost made it too. They got all the way to the top of that hill, all of them injured, battered and near death." He pointed across the valley, to the pine tree were we fended off the minotaur. "All three Kindly Ones led the chase, followed by a hoard of hellhounds. They were about to be overrun too, but Clio told the satyr to save the two half-bloods. She held off the monsters and made her final stand there. Gleeson didn't want to live her – gods of Olympus, he's the most violent satyr I know – but he couldn't change her mind and he had to protect the others too. One of them was barely seven!"
"What happened to her?" Thalia asked in a low voice. I imagined her in Clio's place, and I was pretty sure that she would've done the same for us in a heartbeat. I hoped it never happened. Though we fought a lot, she's still one of my best friends. Besides, I wouldn't wish for it to happen to anyone, not even Clarisse.
"Clio died alone, at the top of that hill. Her dad, Zeus, took pity on her and transformed her into that pine tree. Her spirit still helps protect the borders of the valley, way better than it was before. It's the reason why the hill is called Half-Blood Hill."
I stared at the pine tree, feeling hollow and guilty. A girl my age sacrificed herself to save her friends by facing a whole army of monsters. I barely survived my fight with the Minotaur, and that fight didn't seem like much compared to her sacrifice. I wondered if I could have changed things by acting differently – if maybe, just maybe, I could have saved my mother.
"Have heroes really gone on quests to the Underworld?" I asked.
"Sometimes. It's really rare, though." Grover shrugged. "Orpheus, Hercules, Houdini…"
"Percy? What are you thinking?" Thalia asked sadly.
"Have they ever returned somebody from the dead?" I continued.
"No, never. Hercules had to save living people. Orpheus almost did, but Percy, you can't seriously be thinking of going there to do that!"
"No," I lied. "I was just wondering about it, if those myths were actually true too. So anyway, a satyr is always assigned to guard demigods?"
Grover gave me a weird look, like he wasn't really persuaded. "Not really, but we go undercover to a lot of schools."
"Oh, yeah!" Jools chuckled. He winked and waved to a couple of naiads who blew him bubbly kisses. "Hedge told me about a couple of times that he worked as a gym teacher and a baseball coach."
Grover nodded. "We try to sniff out the half-bloods, especially those who might make great heroes and are very vulnerable to monster attacks. If we find ones with strong auras, like a child of the Big Three, we alert Chiron. Of course, he tries to keep an eye on them. They could cause a lot of huge problems."
"And you found… one of us," I said.
"So, which is it?" Thalia said. "Who has the strong scent?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Grover said. He looked like we just led him into a trap or something. "You all have equal auras. Besides, if any of you were special, you'd never even be allowed on a quest so I'd never get my license. You might be Hermes' kids, or maybe one of the minor gods, like Nemesis, goddess of revenge. Don't worry."
"Or you might be children of Boreas, since you don't look like the children of Hermes," offered Jools. "I mean, gods, I'd like to have a sibling or something. Sucks being an only child on both sides."
"Might not be so bad, being your brother," I said, "but I don't think you'd like to be related to someone with potty powers. Maybe my dad is the toilet god or something."
"I've got a sister," Nico said sadly. "She ran away when she was twelve. Do you think she's a demigod too?"
"And I've got a twin brother, Jason." Thalia's eyes hardened suddenly, as if the memory pained her. I only heard of her talk of a missing brother once, and it was just fleeting. I knew she didn't want to talk about it. "He ran away with a cousin when we were ten. Actually, nobody knows what happened but that's why my mom started drinking again."
All wrapped up in our own thoughts, we fell quiet. By the time we returned to cabin eleven, it was almost dinner.
Right after eating, there was a lot more excitement than usual. The kids were talking about capture the flag all throughout dinner, but nobody wanted to explain. I knew about typical capture the flag games, but Luke assured us that it would be much different.
"Maybe the flags are satyrs," Thalia offered.
"Of course not, that would be crazy," Jools said, though his eyes did have a pretty crazy glint. "Maybe we'll do something extreme!"
In a way, he was right.
When the plates cleared away, the conch horn sounded and we all stood by our tables. Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and two other blond kids from her cabin ran into the pavillion, carrying a beautiful silk banner. It was maybe ten feet long and glistened gray. The painting of a barn own above an olive tree was its only decoration. From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and two of her beefy siblings ran in with another silk banner of the same size. It was a vivid red, painted with a bloody spear and boar's head.
"Please don't tell me those are the flags," I said.
"What? Of course they are," Luke said with a frown.
"Do Ares and Athena always lead the teams? Does this mean I get to pound Clarisse?" Thalia asked.
"It's not always them, but often. And no, I don't think you'll get to beat her up."
"So what happens if another cabin captures one? Do we repaint the flag?" I asked.
"You'll see. First, we get to have one."
"What? But whose side are we on?"
Luke gave us a sly look that made him look really mischievous. His scar made him look almost evil in the flickering torchlight. "We have a temporary alliance with Athena. Tonight, we get the flag from Ares, and you guys are going to help."
Before any of us could tak, the teams were announced. Athena had an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins, in exchange for privileges like shower times, chore schedules, activity slots and others for their support. Ares was allied with everybody else. Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite and Hephaestus.
The sons of Dionysus were pretty good athletes, but there were only two. Demeter's kids had nature and outdoor skills, and they can even make plants grow fast, but they're not an aggressive bunch. Aphrodite's kids weren't a problem, since they just sat out every activity and gossiped while looking at their reflections. Their head counselor, Silena Beauregard, was pretty smart though, so we might have to look out for her. Hephaestus' kids, led by a guy called Charles Beckendorf, weren't a good-looking bunch, and there were only four of them. They were big and burly from working in the metal shop all day, though, and could make pretty much anything. Then, of course, we have Ares' cabin – twelve of the biggst, ugliest, meanest kids in the universe.
That wasn't exactly reassuring.
Chiron hammered his hoof on the marble. "Heroes!" he called out, though I don't think I felt pretty heroic. "You know the rules. The boundary line is the creek, and the entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. Display your banners prominently, and have no more than two guards. Disarm prisoners, but don't bind or gag them, understand? Killing and maiming is forbidden, naturally. I will be your referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!" He spread his hands, and the tables were filled with equipment like helmets, swords, spears, and shields.
"Um, that's a lot," Nico said, which was pretty obvious.
Thalia picked up a dented helm in distaste. "We're supposed to be using these?"
"Unlike Jools here, you didn't get weapons from your parents, nor armor. So yeah, unless you want to get skewered by your cabin five buddies. Here, Chiron thinks you four will fit in these. You'll be on border patrol."
We had shields the size of NBA backboards with a caduceus painted in the middle. It was really heavy and would have made a fine snowboard for Jools mom, but I don't think I could run fast wih it. Athena's side wore helmets with a blue horsehair plume, while the other team had red ones.
"Blue team, forward!" Annabeth yelled.
We cheered and shook our swords impressively – even Jools, since Frostbite was in sword form. We followed Annabeth down the path to the south woods while the red team headed north – yelling taunts at us all the way.
We caught up to Annabeth. Jools raised a hand to her in greeting. "Hey, hey," he said with a crooked grin. "You're the boss, right? Gosh, you're pretty!" In the few days we've known him, he tried to hit on every female in camp, be they naiad, nymph or demigod.
Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Go hit on the naiads or something," she said with a groan.
"So, what's the plan?" I asked. "Do you have a magic item to loan us or something."
Her hand flew to her pocket, as if she was scared that we might steal something, which Hermes' kids loved to do. The Stoll brothers were the most notorious, from what I've heard. Anyway, Annabeth gave us a scary look. I flinched, but Nico blushed and grinned at her goofily. "Just watch out for Clarisse's spear, you don't want it touching you. Don't worry, okay? We'll take the banner from Ares. Did Luke tell you your job?"
"What's border patrol for?" Thalia asked.
"Easy. Stand by the creek, patrol it. Keep the reds away and leave the rest to us. Athena always has a plan." She pulled down the visor of her owl helmet and ran off, leaving us.
"If she thinks I can use my potty powers in the creek…" I said quietly.
"I can freeze it or something," Jools said uncertainly. For a while, his laid back look was replaced by doubt. "I haven't tried it before, I've always stuck to a few drops of water."
"So you have more ice powers than those arrows?" I asked.
"A little. I kind of discovered them while running from some harpies when I met Hedge. It's nothing to brag about, really. Just really small icicles and the like. Not even enough to kill monsters."
The night was warm and sticky, though staying close to a son of Boreas kept us feeling significantly colder. He was cool that way. The woods were dark – too dark. Fireflies fluttered around the place. Annabeth stationed us next to this little creek that gurgled over glistening rocks, before the rest of the team scattered into the trees.
We stood there quietly. I felt stupid with my oversized helmet and huge shield. My sword felt wrong, like every other glowing bronze blades that I've tried. The leather grip was pulling on my hand, kind of like a bowling ball. Nearby, Jools stood under a tree, eyes on the creek, as if thinking of how he could freeze it if he had to. His crystal blade shimmered in the darkness. Thalia stood a little behind, balancing herself on a boulder to see our surroundings better. She hefted her too-short sword uncomfortably.
Nico was right beside me with his too-long sword that was longer than his arm. "Nobody would actually atack us, right?" he asked me.
"I don't know, but won't Olympus have some liablility issues or something?" I told him with a grin. Behind us, Thalia snorted. "Shut it, Lightning Rod."
The conch horn lew again, and I heard campers whooping and yelling all around the woods, coupled with clanking metal and kids fighting. An ally from Apollo's cabin darted past us, as swift as a deer. He leaped over the creek and disappeared into the enemy territory.
"I'd give anything to join them," Jools said wistfully. "Scouting, shooting enemies from afar, it would be fun. But I'm just a good archer, not as excellent as Apollo's kids."
"Have you tried other things with your powers?" Nico asked.
"Yeah. Can't do anything but redirect my arrows, and I can't do anything in enclosed spaces like buildings."
We fell quiet as we heard a low canine growl close by. The sound chilled me to the core, and I shuddered. I raised my shield and we all moved together. I was sure that we were in danger. The growling suddenly stopped, as if the strange presence retreated.
On the other side of the creek, the underbrush exploded. Eight Ares warriors came yelling and screaming out of the dark. "Cream those punks!" Clarisse was yelling. I could see her ugly pig eyes glaring at us through the slits of her helmet. She brandished her five-foot-long spear, and its barbed metal tip flickered with red light.
I could see the standard-issue bronze swords that her siblings brought, but that didn't reassure me at all.
Before anyone else could do anything, they charged across the stream. Nobody was around to help us, and I didn't think that we could run away from big, strong, athletic kids. We had to defend ourselves against more than half the Ares cabin.
I could barely see what was happening to my friend, since I had to sidestep someone's swinging sword. They were seasoned warriors though, so sadly they still aren't as stupid as the Minotaur. We were surrounded quickly, and Clarisse thrust her spear at me. My shield deflected it but my entire body tingled painfully. My hair stood on end, and my shield arm went numb. It felt like the air was burning.
"An electric spear?" Nico yelped.
Swords raised, we began to fall back. They slammed us with their sword butts, and Nico hit the dirt. They laughed at us. One of them grabbed Nico. "Cut his hair," Clarisse ordered. "We could at least make him look less stupid."
Jools growled angrily. Thalia raised her sword, but Clarisse slammed it aside with her spear. Blue and red sparks flew, but for some reason, my friend was unharmed. "The flag is that way," she growled, shoving Clarisse over.
Clarisse shoved her too, and she fell down. "See, we don't care about the flag. We care about the kids who made our cabin look stupid."
"You can do that without our help," I said, which probably wasn't smart.
They came at us, and we backed up toward the creek. I tried to raise my shield, but Clarisse was fast even if she was huge. Her spear struck me in the ribs, which would've skewered me if I didn't have an armored breastplate. The electric point almost shocked my teeth out of my mouth. Another kid slashed his sword across my arm, and the blood made me dizzy.
"Hey, man, no maiming!" barked Jools, though he looked as scared as us.
"Whoops," the camper said. "Guess I lost my dessert privilege."
I could barely see my friends trying to fend off the enemy campers when the big guy pushed me into the creek and landed with a splash. I was afraid that they would kill us horribly, but something happened. The water woke up my senses, as if I ate an entire bag of my mom's double-espresso jelly beans. Clarisse and another camper came into the creek to get me, but I stood up to meet them. I swung the flat of my sword against a guy's head, knocking his helmet clean off. I slammed him in the face with my shield and knocked him out.
Nearby, my other friends worked together, as if they trained for it their whole lives. Jools splashed water from the creek, turning it into ice cubes that shot toward the Ares campers, while Thalia swung her sword around nervously, blue electricity running down its blade. Nico stood a little behind, eyes closed. The ground around him seemed to churn angrily, trapping two kids' feet. Thalia and Jools knocked them out with their sword butts while they were busy trying to dodge the electricity and the ice cubes.
Clarisse charged at me, her spear crackling with red electricity. As soon as she thrust, I caught the shaft right between the edge of my shield and my sword, snapping it like a twig. "You idiotic, corpse-breath worm!" she roared. Ibet she would've said something worse, but I smacked her between the eyes with my s word-butt. She stumbled backward, out of the creek.
Someone yelled, and kids yelled in excitement. Luke raced toward the boundary line, the red team's banner lifted high and proud. He was flanked by two of his brothers, who were covering his retreat. Three Apollo campers were shooting trick arrows at the Hephaestus kids. The Ares campers got up, with Clarisse cursing dizzily.
"It was a trick!" she suddenly shrieked.
They staggered after look, but too late. Everyone converged on the creek and Luke crossed the boundary. Our side exploded into cheers, and the red banner began to shimmer. It turned silver, with the image of a huge caduceus – cabin eleven and Hermes' symbol. Our team picked up luke and carried him around on their shoulders, cheering. Chiron trotted out of the woods and blew his conch horn.
"We won!" they kept chanting happily.
Annabeth's voice suddenly piped up right next to me in the creek. "Not bad, hero." I couldn't see here there, thogh. "Where exactly did you guys learn to fight like that?" The air shimmered, and she appeared. She was holding a Yankees baseball cap, like she just took it off her head.
I was angry, and I didn't even feel the shock of her being invisible. Before I could talk, though, Thalia stalked toward her angrily. "You set us up, Wise Girl," she growled. "You put us here, knowing Clarisse would come after us, and sent Luke to get the banner."
"You set us up," I repeated. "Had it all figured out, did you?"
"Athena always, always has a plan." Annabeth shrugged.
Jools and Nico converged on her too, arms crossed. "A plan to get us puvlerized. If the fighting didn't force us to learn more about our powers…" Nico shuddered.
"I tried to come as fast as I could. I was going to jump in, but you guys were doing just fine." She noticed my wounded arm. "How did you do that?"
"Sword cut," I muttered. "What else?"
"No, Percy, it was a sword cut," Jools said, eyes wide.
The blood was gone, and the cut was just a long white scratch that also faded. It turned into a small scar before disappearing. "I don't get it."
Annabeth was thinking so hard that I could almost see the gears turning in her head. She looked down at my feet, then Clarisse's broken spear. "Step out of the water."
I glanced at my friends, who nodded. I came out of the creek and tiredness washed over my body. My shield arm went numb, and all the energy in my body left my. I almost fell over, but Nico and Jools steadied me. "You okay, man?" Jools asked.
"I don't know," I muttered.
"Oh Styx, this is not good." She looked at the others. "This is so not good at all."
Before I could ask, the canine growl started again, this time much closer than before – and it was joined by two others. A loud howl penetrated the gloom in the forest. The cheering stopped, and Chiron shouted in Ancient Greek about standing ready and his bow. We all drew our weapons. On the rock just above us was a massive black hound. When I say massive, I mean the size of a rhino, with blood-red eyes and blade-like fangs. Two others joined it, and they were looking straight at us.
"No!"
Annabeth tried to step toward them, but the hounds were fast. They leapt, like massive, toothy shadows. One landed on top of me, while the other two were right in front of Thalia and Nico. I stumbled backward, feeling its razor-sharp claws ripping through my armor. I vaguely saw Annabeth and Jools charge toward the other two monsters. There was a cascade of thwacking sounds, kind of like forty pieces of paper ripping one after the other.
The monster fell dead at my feet. The other two lay dead nearby too. My friends were okay though Jools was sporting a cut across his cheek. Electricity zipped around Thalia's hands, while the ground churned around Nico.
I was still alive – which was probably some kind of freak miracle. I didn't want to look down to the ruins of my armor. My chest felt warm and wet, and I was sure that I was badly injured. If they waited for another second, I would have been dead, and my friends would've gone the same way. Chiron trotted next to us, bow in hand. His face was grim.
"Di immortales!" Annabeth was pale, her hand tightly gripping her sword. "That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. T-They don't… they're not…"
"Someone summoned it here," Chiron told her grimly. "Someone inside the camp."
"Practical joke?" Jools asked hesitantly as Luke came over, the banner in his hand forgotten.
Clarisse snarled, "It's all Percy's fault! He must have summoned it!"
"Quiet, child," Chiron said. The bodies of the hellhounds melted into the shadows, passing right through the ground until it disappeared. "This is more than a practical joke."
Annabeth stared at me. "You're wounded. Get in the water."
"What? But I'm okay," I told her.
Nico frowned. "No, you're not."
Annabeth put a hand on my shoulder. "Chiron, watch this."
I let her guide me into the creek. I was too tired to argue with her. The whole camp gathered around me. Good thing I felt better instantly. The cuts on my chest began to close up. Some of the campers gasped.
"Potty powers?" Thalia said.
Before I could reply, I felt a sea-green glow above my head. I looked up and saw a hologram of green light that spun and gleamed. It as a three-tipped spear, or a trident. A few seconds later, it disappeared a blue hologram of a cartoon lightning bolt shimmered above Thalia's head. A dark violet skull flared to life above Nico.
Nobody spoke for a few seconds.
"Your fathers…" Annabeth shook her head. "This is so not good."
Campers started kneeling, bowing their heads. The Ares cabin didn't look to happy about it, thouh.
"Hail, Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon, Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Lord of the Seas," Chiron began. "Hail, Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus, King of the Gods, Father of Olympus, Lord of the Sky. Hail, Nico di Angelo, son of Hades, the Unseen, God of Riches and Lord of the Underworld."
"This is so not good," Annabeth repeated nearby.
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