DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN PJatO OR HoO! ANY CHARACTERS/DIALOGUE/PLOTS YOU RECOGNIZE BELONG TO RICK RIORDAN. I AM A FIFTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL PLAYING WITH FANFICTION.

A/N: I was slightly conflicted about this chapter. I feel like it was too short. On the flip side, it's now summer vacation! Which hopefully means more writing, although I can't promise that. (Sorry.)


CHAPTER 8

The trio rushed through the woods. Leo struggled to keep up, but he struggled with the shield Beckendorf had lent him.

After about a hundred yards, they reached the creek. The rocks around it were slippery and smooth, and the water slid past it with a soft trickle.

Percy grabbed onto Beckendorf and Leo and dragged them across the water. Leo was expecting his shoes to get soaked, but they stayed quite dry.

He wiggled his toes. "What -"

"Son of Poseidon," Percy said, as if that explained everything.

It probably did, but Leo was forced to abandon that thought in order to keep up with Beckendorf and Percy. They rushed through the woods, as quickly and quietly as possible. The forest blended together – each step seemed exactly the same as the last.

The trees towered over them. As they traveled, Leo could've sworn that he saw a girls face frozen in a tree...

This is eerie, Leo thought. He had conflicting feelings about this forest. On one hand, it felt familiar, safe. It evoked a feeling similar to the one he got when he heard the name 'Camp Half-Blood'. On the other hand, it was terrifying – sometimes when he closed his eyes, he could imagine being chased through here with a pack of bloodthirsty nymphs screaming about parties and eggnog.

He blinked. That was oddly specific.

He adjusted the shield on his arm and ran faster, as if he could leave those random thoughts behind in the wind. He would have to ask Beckendorf if it were a normal demigod thing.

"Are we there yet?" Leo asked. Then he realized that he sounded like a whiny kid. Oops.

"Almost," Beckendorf answered. They were slowing down now – probably getting closer to the other team.

Leo's suspicions were confirmed when their quick pace slowed down and became a stealthy walk. In the distance, he could hear the distinct sound of metal against metal. People were fighting.

It wasn't long before they stopped.

"Here we are," Beckendorf said, and Leo stared at the 'bunny trail'.

They were not joking when they said that he would be the only one who would fit in there. The foliage was thick and lush, nearly impossible to walk through without making a noise. The only way through was through a small trail, leading through the bushes, that he could probably crawl through. It would be a close fit.

"Are you serious?" Leo asked. "What if I get stuck?"

"You won't," Beckendorf said confidently. "There's no forks, so just follow the trail. It should open up above their flag, on a small hill. Get through there as fast as you can."

"Okayy," Leo said uneasily. He took the wooden shield off his arm and strapped it onto his back. Then he adjusted the sheath where his sword was attached, so it wouldn't get in his way.

"Get moving!" Beckendorf winked at him, and soon the older demigods were gone.

Leo was on his own.

Sighing, he knelt down and prepared to crawl.

"I really hope there's no snakes in there," Leo said to himself. Then he entered the trail.


It was a close fit. The bushes seemed to close down around him. Thankfully, he wasn't claustrophobic, but he figured anyone would get uncomfortable in his situation.

I can't believe Annabeth would think of this, he thought. From what he'd seen on the quest, the girl was terrifying, smart, and really liked architecture. He didn't expect her to be mean, too. Then there was that other girl, Rachel, who was also smart, but infinitely less terrifying. And Nico, who for some reason didn't stay at Camp. Not that Leo was complaining, because that kid was creepier than his Tia Callida on a bad day.

A bug crawled across his arm. Leo groaned and flicked it off.

I am never doing this again.

He continued to crawl through the trail. He couldn't tell how much time had passed. What if the game ended and he was still stuck in this trail? What if no one came to find him? What if no one cared? What did they dryads think of him crawling through all their bushes?

Now that he thought about it, they probably disliked it. Leo was basically crawling through their property. In fact, he was kind of crawling through them, now that he thought about it.

He stopped thinking about it.

As if responding to his thoughts, the trail ended. Leo scrambled out of the bush tunnel and immediately stretched out his limbs. His neck was stiff.

Then he took a look around. Thankfully, it was exactly the place that Beckendorf described.

It opened up into a small clearing. His entrance was hidden by some conveniently placed grasses. He stood up, stretched, and crept forward.

Small hill? Yeah right, Leo thought. It was more of a small cliff. Leo peeked over the edge and stared. The ground was a good twenty feet below him. There was giant red flag with a crudely painted boar. There were two guards, both of them big, buff, and scary-looking.

Ares cabin, Leo thought.

How was he supposed to distract them? He was a scrawny twelve-year-old who's voice hadn't even changed. The guards below probably bench-pressed boulders for a warm up. What could he do?

The team is counting on you, part of him thought.

Well, they made a mistake, the pessimistic side replied.

Annabeth is smart. This will work out.

Or maybe it won't work out!

Leo sighed. He wouldn't be able to get anything done if he kept arguing with himself. Instead, he sat down on the ground and tried to think.

What am I good at? He thought. Leo began to list them on his hands.

Making bad jokes. Building things. Messing things up. Starting fires.

Fire was definitely out. He doubted he'd get on anyone's good side if he burnt down the entire forest. Messing things up was what he was trying to avoid, so he crossed that off his mental list. That left building things and making bad jokes. Building would probably be more useful.

He reaching into his pockets and pulled out an inch of string. He looked around the clearing. There were some sticks and a few rocks, but nothing really good to build with.

Bad jokes, then, Leo decided and he studied the guards below him.

The guards seemed kind of stiff, as if they didn't like being paired together for guard duty. Maybe they didn't know each other that well, though it seemed unlikely. Maybe they had an argument.

Or... maybe they need an argument.

Leo grinned. He just had the greatest idea.

Quietly, he rushed around the clearing, gathering as many rocks as possible. It wasn't long before he had a good handful of large pebbles. Quickly, he returned to the edge of the mini cliff.

I hope I don't miss, Leo thought, and he chucked the largest rock in their direction.

Leo ducked into the grass and watched as the rock sailed through the air. It hit one of the guards with a clang.

"Dude, what the heck?" the guy said angrily.

"What?"

"Don't throw rocks at me!"

The other guy rolled his eyes. "I'm not doing anything, Brad!"

Brad scowled and returned to guarding the flag.

Leo grinned triumphantly. He'd hit him! This was better than he'd hoped for. Another rock flew through the air, and hit Brad in the shoulder.

"Stop it!"

"I'm not doing anything!"

"I just told you to stop throwing rocks at me!"

The argument escalated as rocks steadily fell from the sky. One of them pulled out his sword.

"What are you doing? We're guarding the flag!"

"And you're being annoying!"

The guy lunged at his friend, and Leo marveled.

He seriously needs to go to anger management, Leo thought as he observed their fight. He'd never seen anyone with such a short temper.

The fight grew even more fierce. Brad was in full attack mode – slashing and jabbing at the other guy with everything they had. After a few minutes, he dropped his sword and they started wrestling.

Leo stared at the clearing below him. Brad and the other guy were no longer paying attention to the flag. Leo was tempted to go down there and get it himself, but he wasn't sure how he would get out alive.

C'mon, Beckendorf! Leo thought. They won't be fighting for long... probably.

Like a miracle, a figure appeared at the edge of the clearing. Leo grinned as he recognized Beckendorf's shield. Beckendorf stood there for a second, clearly not expecting the sight in front of him. Then he ran in, grabbed the flag, and ran out.

"Get off me! He's getting away!" One of the guards shouted.

The guards stumbled around and started shouting as they chased after Beckendorf. Leo let out a laugh and scampered away, no longer bothering to sneak around. He sprinted through the forest, wanting to watch Beckendorf cross the border. Leo felt invincible. He successfully distracted two guards, allowing the Hephaestus cabin to win. It felt great.

He was moving pretty quickly, too, when a sudden impact from behind knocked him to the ground. Leo rolled over onto his back, snapping a twig as he did so.

"Nice shot, Kayla!"

A group of giggling armored girls appeared. The first things Leo noticed were the blue plumes on their helmets. The second thing Leo noticed was that they were laughing at him.

"Uh, hello?" Leo said as they approached.

"Hey there," one called as they approached. Leo felt the blood rush to his face.

Some warrior I am, he thought, lying defenseless in front of the other team..

"Aren't you the new kid?" One of the girls tilted her head and squinted at him. "Vasquez, was it?"

"Valdez," Leo corrected. "Leo Valdez."

"Eh, whatever," she shrugged. "Kayla, take this prisoner to the jail."

Leo's stomach flipped. "Jail?"

"It's capture-the-flag, silly," she laughed. The girl smiled at him as though he were an amusing child. "Have you ever played capture-the-flag before?"

"Well, what was I supposed to think?" Leo mumbled. "We're using actual swords and explosives here."

"What was that, sweetie?" the girl grinned innocently.

"Lay off, Drew," a different girl spoke up. "Like you said, he's new."

Drew and the girl who spoke up had a short staring contest. Leo wondered if he would be able to sneak away unnoticed.

After a few tense moments, Drew backed down. "Whatever, Silena."

Silena smiled at Leo, ignoring the glares Drew sent her. "Next time, Leo, don't roll over. You had a shield on your back – it would've been better protection."

Leo looked at his back. There was a broken arrow sticking out of his wooden shield. He had forgotten that he strapped it onto his back. The broken arrow must have been the 'twig' that snapped when he rolled over.

"Thanks, I guess."

The girls helped him up and made him put his arms behind his back. Leo felt incredibly dumb.

Just then, the sound of a horn echoed through the forest, followed by loud cheering.

"Game's over," Leo grinned proudly. "Should've gone after Beckendorf instead of me!"

"Charlie?" Silena asked.

Leo blinked. "You call him Charlie?"

Drew and a few other girls snickered, but Silena ignored them. For some reason, it felt a lot more serious than a girl being teased for her crush. Cabin politics were weird.

"Is there something wrong with that?" Silena asked him. Her voice seemed a little colder, but not towards him. It almost seemed like she was arguing with Drew about something.

"Nothing's wrong, it's just... new..." Leo mumbled. The air was tense. Whatever was going on in here was something he did not want to be a part of.

"C'mon, Valdez," Silena said. She grabbed his arm and dragged him away from the group of girls. "Let's get out of here."

As they marched off, Leo could hear Drew whispering something, followed by uneasy laughter. Leo tried to ignore it. This wasn't his problem.


"You should've seen it, man!" Beckendorf was retelling the story to the red team, gathered at the edge of the canoe lake. "I walked into the clearing, and Brad and Peter were just full on wrestling. All I had to do was run in and grab the flag. It was ridiculous."

"I did a pretty good job of distracting them, huh?" Leo winked.

"What did you do?" Christopher asked. "Ares Cabin takes capture-the-flag pretty seriously."

"I kinda... threw rocks at them?"

The team stared at him in disbelief. Out of the corner of his eye, Leo noticed Annabeth smiling, as though she knew it all along.

Percy suddenly burst out laughing. Leo laughed along, and soon everyone was clutching their stomachs. After a few more moments of celebrating their victory, the group conversation broke into several smaller ones. Leo could hear people trading jokes and trying to plan a strategy for the next capture-the-flag game.

Percy and the Hephaestus cabin huddled together. Nyssa, Jake, and Christopher looked excited, as though they were about to execute a great plan.

"Great job, guys," Percy grinned at the group. Then he turned to Beckendorf and put on a serious face. "Allies?"

Beckendorf pretended to look calculating. "Only if you trade dish-washing slots."

Leo blinked. "What are we doing?"

"We're going to secure Percy's loyalty for the next capture-the-flag game by trading our chore times," Jake explained. Then he narrowed his eyes at Beckendorf. "But why are we trading the dish-washing slot? I thought we were going to try and get more time in the forge."

"Yeah," Nyssa added. "We could switch Percy's smithing lessons with our battle tactics class. Why don't we do that?"

"Because battle tactics are important, and I'd rather wash dishes tomorrow than on Saturday."

"What?" Percy blinked. "You hate washing dishes."

"No, I don't," Beckendorf insisted.

Percy seemed just as confused as Leo, but Nyssa suddenly straightened.

"I know what you're doing," she said, smiling at Beckendorf. "I know what you're trying to do."

"What do you think I'm trying to do?" Beckendorf asked innocently.

Nyssa smirked. "Fourth of July is coming up soon.," she pointed out. "And guess who else is washing dishes tomorrow morning."

Beckendorf blushed, and Jake and Christopher burst out laughing.

Leo was confused.

"I give you my blessing," Nyssa teased Beckendorf. "She'd better say yes."

Percy seemed to realize what they were talking about and grinned. "Okay, it's a deal."

"What's going on?" Leo asked.

Beckendorf groaned and put his head in his hands. "Nothing, Leo. Nothing is going on."

"Except that our cabin counselor is -"

"Nyssa, shut up!"

Nyssa cackled and Leo felt incredibly lost.

"Be right back," Percy said suddenly. "I gotta go." He ran off and headed to the bathrooms.

While he was gone, a girl from the blue team was walking towards them. Her helmet was in the shape of a boar, and she held a wicked-looking spear.

The whole red team ceased their conversations and glanced up.

"It's Lamer," a Demeter boy whispered, and a few kids started laughing. Leo wondered what the joke was.

"Listen, Beckendorf," the girl hissed as she grew closer. "Laugh all you want, but let me tell you – Ares does not forget a defeat."

Annabeth glanced at the girl calculatingly. She rubbed a bead on her necklace and started whispering with Malcolm, one of her brothers.

Beckendorf smirked at the Ares girl. "Bring it on, Clarisse."

The girl glared at him. "Be prepared to get your butt kicked tomorrow night." She turned her gaze to Annabeth. She shifted uncomfortably before reluctantly gritting out a question. "Allies?"

Annabeth and Malcolm exchanged a glance. "Yes."

Clarisse nodded and stormed off. The whole group of demigods broke out into a storm of whispers. Annabeth and the Athena cabin suddenly stood up and walked away, right as Percy returned from the bathrooms.

"What just happened?" He asked.

Beckendorf looked shocked. "I think Annabeth and Clarisse just teamed up."

"What?!"

"Okay, hold up," Leo butted in. "I'm really confused here. What does this have to do with capture-the-flag?"

"We just stole the flag from Ares," Christopher explained. "Clarisse is seriously out for blood if she's teaming up with Annabeth to get back at us."

"And that's a bad thing?" Leo asked.

"Very bad," Jake nodded. He grimaced. "Tomorrow night's capture-the-flag game is going to be intense."


After hanging out at the lake for a while, Beckendorf called them back to Cabin 9 for the night. Leo quickly changed into his Camp Half-Blood pajamas and ducked into his bed as fast as he could. Capture-the-flag wore him out.

As soon as his head hit the pillow, he dreamed.

He was standing in the forest. It was the middle of the night – he could see the stars twinkling up above the trees, and the moon cast a faint light.

In his dream, he shivered. He could see his breath in the air. The air was cold.

Leo walked around. The ground seemed soft; his feet sunk into it, like quicksand. He kept moving through the trees, not quite sure where he was headed.

Finally, he stopped and looked around. He was standing in a clearing. This area seemed familiar, somehow. From what he could tell, he was deep within the forest – probably deeper than he was supposed to be. In front of him was a limestone cliff – much taller and steeper than the one he'd been on top of in capture-the-flag. Leo stared up at the rocks. It was nearly a hundred feet tall, with faint cracks crossing the stone. Why would this be in the forest?

Leo moved closer to the cliff and placed his hand on it. Against his will, his hands ignited. Leo jumped back as lines of fire spread across the cliff, revealing a door.

"Fire-user."

Leo jumped. His cabin-mates were standing behind him like statues. All of them were glaring at him.

"Guys, I can explain -"

"You're putting us all in danger," Christopher hissed as he stepped forward. "You lied to us."

"I didn't mean to!" Leo protested. "Please, just let me -"

"Do you really think that you can stay here?" Nyssa asked him, her voice cold.

"You're dangerous," Jake said. "You're going to get us killed."

"We trusted you, and look where we are now."

Leo looked around the clearing. The forest was burning. All around him, the trees were turning to ash. Dryads scrambled around, screaming.

To storm or fire the world must fall.

Leo doubled over as though he were punched in the gut. He would recognize that voice anywhere.

"You," he choked out.

He looked up at his siblings. With panic, he realized that they were not looking back at him. Their eyes were closed.

They were sleeping, just like a woman made of dirt a long time ago.

Leo backed up as they closed in on him. Soon he was leaning against the stone cliff.

"Wake up!" He yelled at his siblings. "Please!"

It's no use, the voice laughed. Your path may have changed, but your fate remains the same.

His siblings closed in on him. Leo ducked a punch from Jake, but Nyssa kicked him in the gut. He fell to the ground, gasping for air.

"Don't -" he choked out, but Christopher punched him in the jaw and his head banged against the cliff behind him.

Leo tried to rise, but the ground was sucking him in. His hands were sinking into the soft earth. Painfully, he looked up at his siblings.

Beckendorf raised his sword.

Burn, little hero!

Suddenly, Leo sat up in his bed, breathing hard. His bed was uncomfortably hot. With shock, he realized that his hair was smoking.

He looked over at the clock. It was two in the morning.

He lay back down in his bed, still breathing hard. He'd never had a dream that vivid before.

Leo looked over at his cabin-mates, sleeping peacefully. He shivered as he recalled their sleeping faces in his dream.

To storm or fire the world must fall. Why did those words sound so familiar? What did they have to do with him?

He didn't get much sleep for the rest of the night.


"So," James began, as they worked on a sculpture, "what kind of prank would you like to pull? I have so many ideas. I've been brainstorming for years. Except, well, it's not exactly fun if you do it by yourself. Do you think we'll be good at this? It's going to be great!"

Leo fiddled with the collection of rubber bands and straws in his hands, trying to pay attention to the conversation. James, he learned, loved to talk. It would've been annoying, but Leo was content to just think in their Arts and Crafts class.

"I tried pulling this one prank, back in my first summer here," James continued. "I put a bucket of paint over the Demeter cabin's door. But I did it wrong, and instead of dumping paint over them, the bucket fell and knocked Miranda unconscious. Boy, Katie was really ticked off about that."

"Oh," Leo replied. A rubber band in his hand snapped. He sighed and grabbed another one off the table.

"I had an idea to build a tunnel underneath the volleyball pit and then make it collapse, but then I realized that it'd take a lot of digging. Also, the harpies discovered my hole and then filled it back up."

"Why would you collapse the volleyball pit?" Leo asked.

"I dunno," James shrugged. "Why not?"

"Have you ever successfully pulled off a prank?" Leo wondered out loud.

"Well, I did manage to throw bugs down Katie's pants. But that was mostly to watch her yell at Travis. I think Katie secretly has a thing for him, but Travis doesn't cart. He likes Claire, from Cabin 6. The volleyball girl."

"Mhm," Leo replied. He held up contraption he'd created. "D'ya think that Chiron would let us use gunpowder?"

"What is that?!" James asked, looking up from his sculpture of a narwhal.

"It's a dart shooter," Leo grinned. "See this part here? You load a dart in here and the press this part," he said, pointing to a bent straw. "It shoots out the dart. Maybe we can make explosive darts; that's why I asked about the gunpowder."

"I don't think we even have gunpowder at Camp," James pointed out. "It's mostly magical explosive things."

"Are you sure?" Leo asked, his face falling.

James thought for a moment. "Well..."

"Well, what?"

James turned to Leo with a pensive expression. "Michael Yew had his birthday a few weeks ago. He got a set of explosive arrows. Maybe -"

"Maybe there's gunpowder in there!" Leo grinned. "James, you're a genius!"

James grinned back. "Y'know, the Apollo cabin's not so hard to break into."

Leo's eyes lit up.

"Tell me more."


A/N: Oh James, no wonder why your siblings don't let you in on pranks. You're such a dork.

This prank is going to be so fun to write. I know how it's going to end, and it makes me smile thinking about it. BWAHAHAHAHA.

In this chapter, we had: capture-the-flag, TLH references, foreshadowing, and prank planning. So the Great Apollo Break-In will either happen next chapter or the one after that. I can't decide which one I want to come first.

The plot-moving prank? Or the plot-moving adventure? How long is this story going to go?

(Also, do any of you know of other stories where Leo comes to Camp Half-Blood early? Because I'm in the mood for those.)