Here re is chapter eight! A huge, huge thanks to all those who read my story, reviewed it, criticized it, and PMed me. You guys are what make me want to write. I hope you like this new chapter. Any guesses to Ari's parent?
Disclaimer- If you think I am Rick Riordan, he will personally come to your house and smack you.
Annabeth II
Now, I've never been to a normal mortal summer camp, so I have nothing to go off of here. But, I am going to assume that no other camp I the world does Friday nights like Camp Half-Blood. In fact, if they did do it like Camp Half-Blood, they would be shut down. Immediately.
Because, on Friday nights, we play the most intense games of Capture the Flag that you will ever see.
My cabin, the Athena cabin, held the record for the most wins in a row. Sadly though, the Ares Cabin had won last week's game, and therefore held the winner's laurels.
Gods, I hated that ugly cabin.
Tonight, though, I had a feeling that my team was going to win. I mean, sure. I always had that feeling, but it was different today. Today wasn't just a gut feeling. I was absolutely sure. And I will tell you the one reason why.
Percy Jackson.
Ari had been watching him all week, doing different activities, trying new things. She would analyze what he did and report everything back to me. And when I said everything, I meant everything. Ariana had a photographic memory. She could remember every single thing that has ever happened to her before.
Anyway, she had watched him the whole time, finding his strengths and weakness. She told me that he was kind of fast, but not really, he couldn't shoot an arrow to save his demigod behind, he was was an amazing canoer, and he had skills with a sword that rivaled her and Luke.
That was impressive.
I stood in front of my cabin, holding our banner, or flag, for the game. The two cabins that were the captains for the game got to be in charge of the banners, and got to choose what they looked like. Ours was about ten feet long, bright gray, and had a large painting of an owl on it. It was beautiful and graceful.
The Ares cabin's banner was a bright, awful red decorated with a blood soaked spear and a boar's head. I thought that it was just plain ugly.
My older brother, Malcolm, stood next to me, going over our plan, out loud. "So, we are allied with Hermes and Apollo for tonight. Ares has Demeter, Aphrodite, Dionysus, and Hephaestus. Right?" He looked at me, making sure that he had all of his facts straight. I gave him a nod. He smiled. "Good. I think we have a chance."
"So do I." I smiled. Suddenly, we heard a loud horn coming from the dining pavilion. This was our signal enter the dining hall. All of the other campers were already there, finishing dinner. Malcolm and I had left early to grab our banner, and well, make a grand entrance
"You ready girl?" Malcolm looked at me with a sly smile.
"Oh yeah." I said, grabbing the banner and taking off, sprinting up the hill. Our flag billowed in the winds. The setting sun reflected onto the gray banner, making it look as if it was made of starlight. I kept a small smile on my face as I went, trying to look excited, but competitive at the same time. Needless to say, I had this look down.
As we approached the dining pavilion, I heard the sounds of about a hundred campers chatting quietly. Then, as we ran in, the entire space was flooded with cheers. The Ares cabin ran in across from us, waving their red banner in the air. People whooped and screamed and yelled like banshees. Guys were banging on their chests and girls were pumping their fists. Let's just say, Capture the Flag was a big deal here
"Now, as you all know, tonight is Capture the Flag night." Chiron said, silencing the crowd. "Currently, the Ares Cabin holds the winner's laurels." A loud, deep cheer rang out from the middle of the pavilion. Chiron stamped his hoof, making them be quiet. "As I was saying,, the rules are all the same. The creek is the border, and the whole forest is fair territory. The banner must be obvious, and have maximum of two guards. And remember, no killing or maiming, Clarisse." The centaur glared at the girl while the rest of the camp snickered. "Armor up Camp!"
He spread his arms wide, and the plates all disappeared. They were instantly replaced by piles of armor, shields, helmets, and celestial bronze weapons.
Ah yes. The celestial bronze. Harmless to mortals, and deadly to monsters. Sadly, demigods, being half mortal and immortal, could be killed by normal, mortal weapons, and celestial bronze weapons.
I walked over to the Hermes table, grabbing my armor from the Athena table as I went. As I neared the overcrowded table, I saw Ari and Luke fitting Percy with armor. They had already given him a bronze breastplate and Luke was now trying to find a shield for the boy.
"Hey guys!" I said, smiling at Ariana. She was wearing a pair of ripped jeans and a gray tank top. Her midsection was covered in a shiny, bronze breastplate with a picture of a drakon on it. Her long,curly brown hair was pulled into French braided pigtails. A silver helmet with a blue plume was tucked under her arm. A shiny, sharp sword hung at her side. It was called o Daímonas, The Demon.
Luke stood next to her, looking as composed as ever. His blonde hair was disheveled, but in a neat, 'I did it on purpose' kind of way. His sword hung at his side and his bronze armor was etched with a caduceus, the symbol of Hermes. When he turned and looked at me, and my heart did a little flutter. He gave me a smile, and my heart did a little flutter. I just couldn't help it. I had a crush on the guy. He was beautiful, with his big blue eyes and his defined chin, and bulging muscles…..Woah Annabeth. Slow Down there.
"Hi Annabeth." Percy mumbled, snapping me out of my thoughts. I tried to stifle a laugh as I looked at his appearance. His breastplate was about three sizes too big. The shield he was given looked as if it was weighing him down. His helmet, which also had a blue plume, like all the rest of the campers on Athena's side, fell down in front of his eyes, making him look like a little kid wearing their parents clothing.
"Hi." I nodded curtly. I turned my attention to the two advanced campers next to him. "Luke,you'll be part of attack team Delta. Ariana, watch crew Omega, with me. Okay?" They both nodded, checking all of the straps on their armor.
"What about me?" Percy asked in a quiet voice. I looked him up and down. He wasn't much, pretty scrawny and not too tall. He would have a hard time winning in a fight, now, I'll admit, he had some skill with a blade, but it was still only his fourth day here. He wasn't ready to be in the thick of it yet. I had to give him an easy job. Or, that was what I told Luke, anyway.
"Border patrol." I said flatly. "Stand by the creek, keep enemies away, try not to hurt yourself." He looked a little crestfallen, and it was only then that I realized how harshly I had spoked. I felt bad, but said nothing. This boy needed to learn his place.
After a few more minutes of adjusting armor, stretching, and yelling over weapons, we were finally ready to begin. I walked over to the Athena table, which was on the edge of the pavilion, and stood on the table, kicking extra helmets and weapons out of the way. "Blue team!" I yelled. The space instantly went silent. I was only twelve, but everyone here respected me. I was the head counselor of the Athena cabin.
"Tonight, we are going in strong, and fighting until the end. We are going out there, and leaving it all out on the line. Fight like you've never fought before, and we will pull through. Blue Team, move out!" I raised my bronze knife in the air, and the rest of the crowd followed me, raising their swords, shields, and fists in the air, hooting and hollering.
Wow. I was good at battle speeches.
With grace, I jumped off the table and marched off towards the southern half of the woods, the rest of the blue team following close behind me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the red team moving into the north. A new wave of energy coursed through me, giving me a new boost of confidence.
As we entered the woods, we hit the creek, which marked the border between the red and blue sides. I stopped my marching. I turned and watched as the troop stopped in a ripple. "Border patrol! Break off here. Spread yourselves out along the entire creek line. The rest of you, follow me."
I turned and began to march again, but not before I saw Percy step out of line. He looked slightly sad, probably because of his lame position. But, what he didn't know was that he was the main part of my battle plan.
Athena always has a plan.
Here it was: Clarisse is the only reason the Ares team won. She was a menace. She fought with an electric spear, a gift that she received personally from her father. Anyone who faced her one on one usually ended up in the hands of the battlefield medic. So, the only way to win is to get her distracted. Cue Percy.
I know that she, and the rest of her cabin mates were still upset with Percy for, well, making Clarisse look like an idiot. I know that she will personally seek him out and get some revenge of her own, regardless of whether it was against the rules or not. While she was focused on Percy, my team would steal the flag.
Essentially, Percy was the pawn. And he didn't even know it.
We marched deep into the woods and chose a spot to put our banner. We decided to put it on top of Zeus's Fist, which is the name we gave to a cluster of rocks in the middle of a clearing in the woods. It was the perfect place to put the flag because it was only accessible in one way: by climbing up. If you just put two guards by the base of the rock, nobody could get up there.
My brother Malcolm came up next to me. "Attack group Delta, you're with me. Watch Crew Omega, you're with Annabeth. Roll out!" He yelled in a deep voice. The troop split into two separate groups. Hermes campers and half of the Athena cabin went with Malcolm. The Apollo campers and the other half of my brethren came to me. I gave Malcolm a small salute as he marched off, taking his group with him.
Quickly, my own group formed a semicircle around me. I looked at all of them with analyzing eyes. "Okay." I announced. "We are the watch group, which means that half of us are staying on this side of the creek, fighting off the enemy. The other half will go to the other side, keeping them distracted. Think you can handle it?" Everyone nodded eagerly, ready to start.
"Alright. Lee, you're on this half of the creek." The son of Apollo nodded. "You have Michael, Julia, Kathryn, Damion, Andrea, Chris, Rodney, and Lila." There were a few whoops and hollers, and a lone 'but, I was on this side last time.' I rolled my eyes. Lee gave me a million dollar smile, and walked over to Zeus's Fist, beckoning his team to follow him.
"Alright, Chad, Gianna, Leon, Bobby, Nikki, Connie, Gabriella, Ariana and Hayden. You guys are on my team. And we're going across the border." I said it as if it was a big reward, and they acted as if it was. Nikki and Connie high fived. Hayden gave me a toothy grin. Ariana nodded knowingly. She was in on my plan.
Suddenly, we heard a loud noise. The sound of a giant gong.
The game had started.
"Move out!" I yelled, charging forwards through the the woods, back to the creek, towards the border line. I jumped over fallen trees and rocks, skirting around thorn bushes and running right through puddles. When I was fighting, I was in my element.
Without bothering to look down, I ran right into the creek. Ariana was running right alongside me, matching me stride for stride. She was incredibly fast. Her sword was in her right hand. I looked and saw my own bronze knife in my left hand. As opposed to her, I preferred fighting with my knife. I enjoyed the thrill of getting close to my enemy.
I patted my sweatshirt pocket, underneath my silver armor. That was where I kept my secret weapon. A blue Yankees cap. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. What's so special about a baseball cap? Well, it's not just any old cap. As soon as you put it on, you turn absolutely invisible, clothes and all. My mom had given it to me as a gift.
Before I knew it, I was in enemy territory, Ariana beside me, my team hot on our trail. I looked around.
We had just entered a clearing of short cut grass. It was surrounded by trees and boulders, like an arena. But sadly, it was deserted. Our job as the attack team is to distract the Reds, so our team could steal the flag. You can't distract people if there aren't any people to distract!
Then, suddenly, it wasn't deserted anymore.
A loud horn sounded, and reds began to swarm. They came out from every direction, screaming, and cursing, and waving their weapons in the air. To a mortal, this would have been chaos. But, for a demigod, it was manageable.
Thanks to the ADHD.
The reasons demigods had ADHD was because our brains and bodies were always ready for battle. We couldn't sit still.
The first red came at me with a large sword in his hand. I quickly stepped out of the way, causing him to run past me. Angrily, he turned around and spat. He swung his sword clumsily and I blocked it with ease. This was obviously a Hephaestus camper, good with making weapons, and bad at using them. Quickly, I turned and hit him in the gut with the hilt of my knife. He stumbled back and fell on his butt. One down.
I whirled around and began to fight like crazy, hitting people with the hilt of my knife and disarming them and kicking them down. People around me were dropping like flies, falling and tripping and getting pushed down. It was impressive.
But the most impressive part was Ariana. She fought like a whirlwind, stabbing, slashing,mucking, dodging, spinning, and stepping. Everyone else seemed to slow down when they got close to her, like an invisible wall was pushing them back.
When I finally caught a break, I looked around and came to a happy realization. Clarisse and her goons were nowhere to be found. They had taken the bait. We had a chance!
After a few more minutes of fighting, I heard a loud howl from the border. I turned wildly to look for the source of the noise. Apparently, Ari had heard it too, because she stopped whatever she was doing, and turned to look. She gave me a confused glance. I shrugged my shoulders.
Then, we heard it again, this time even louder and more strained. Now I was starting to get worried. Ariana looked at me again, her face etched with worry. After a moment of consideration, I gave her a nod, and we ran out of the clearing, towards the source of the noise. I trusted my team to hold off the reds. It was time to investigate.
We ran until we hit the edge of the woods, where the creek divides it in half. "The sound is coming from…...oh my gods Annabeth." Ariana said, pointing towards the creek. I jogged over to her and looked where she was pointing. When I saw it, my heart stopped.
Clarisse and four of her goons were fighting someone. That someone was Percy, and he was getting his demigodly but whooped. I cringed as Clarisse charged at him, nailing him square in the chest with her electric spear. Her ugly brother came at Percy and sliced his arm open. Percy's face was filled with pain, from being electrocuted, cut, and beat. He looked a little dizzy from the sight of his own blood, and that is when it hit me.
I was the reason he was hear, getting pulverized. I had been so focused on winning that I hadn't thought about what could happen to Percy.
Clarisse shoved him into the creek, making him fall on his butt. This was getting hard to watch. I had the urge to run out and help him, but I felt a firm hand keeping me in place.
"No, Annie." Ari calmed me. "He needs to do this himself. He will be okay." I shot her a sceptical glance, but the look in her mismatched eyes told me that she knew what she was talking about. Reluctantly, I stayed put, watching the fight.
When I turned around though, I was confused at what I saw. Percy was standing in the creek, but he didn't look exhausted or in pain. He looked…..energized, like he had just taken a double shot of espresso. And his arm….my gods. His cut was completely healed! It was barely a scratch now.
What…..?
The five Ares campers walked into the creek to get Percy, but he didn't shrink away. He stood his ground, his sword raised. He hit the first guy with the flat of his sword and sent him sprawling to the ground. Then, Percy hit one guy in his face with his shield, knocking him back, and sliced of the other boy's red horse hair plume. The fourth guy stood still in the creek, a nervous look on his face.
Then, I saw Clarisse, her face red with anger. She charged Percy, her spear crackling with electricity. "Aaah!" She screamed as she ran. She thrust at Percy, but he caught her spear between his shield and his sword. With one swift turn, her spear snapped in half.
"Damn!" Ariana yelped beside me. I couldn't blame her. That was amazing. He broke Clarisse's spear!
"Ah! You idiot! You stupid, corpse-breath!" Clarisse howled in range, clutching her broken spear in her hands. Then, Percy slammed the butt of his sword in between her eyes, and she fell backwards.
I stared at him in utter disbelief. What had just happened?
Suddenly, a group of people burst through the woods, running into the creek, screaming and yelling. Luke was in the front of the crowd, waving the red team's banner in the air. The Hermes campers flanked him, fighting off reds. As soon as they crossed into friendly territory, our entire side exploded into cheers.
We won! We freakin' won!
Ari let go of me and we ran out to join the celebration, but I didn't go to Luke. I went to Percy.
"Hey. Nice job." I smiled, patting his shoulder. He looked at me, and his eyes flashed with anger.
"You used me!" He yelled. "You knew Clarisse would attack me. I was your pawn!"
I shrugged my shoulders. "I always have a plan."
"A plan to get me killed."
"Well, Ariana and I were watching, and we were going to attack, but it looked like you had it handled." I smiled. Then I thought of what had just happened, and a question popped into my mind. "Hey, how did you heal your arm?"
He looked down at his arm, and then back at me, his eyes full of shock. "What? I didn't ...I was…..what?" He stuttered wildly.
Just then, Ariana ran up to us, a stern look on her face. She seemed to be focusing hard. Her eyes trailed from Percy, to his cut, to the creek, to Clarisse's spear. Finally, she spoke. "Step out of the water, Percy."
He was about to protest, but Ari interrupted. "No. Just do it."
As soon as he stepped out, he got weak. His head drooped and his knees buckled. I lurched forward and caught him, before he hit the ground.
"Well, Styx." Ari grumbled.
Suddenly, I realized what she meant. This was a sign. He was important. Before I could speak though, I was interrupted by a rude growling. I looked up to see a hellhound standing on the bank behind us. A HELLHOUND!
Chiron bolted into the arena, in full centaur form, bow raised. "Archers ready! My bow!" He called. All of the Apollo campers and Ariana pulled out their bows and notched their arrows.
I looked over to see Percy, frozen with fear. His eyes were locked with the blood red ones of the hellhound. Suddenly, it lunged, straight at him. I tried to push him out of the way, but I was too slow. It leaped on top of Percy and began to rake his chest.
"Fire!" Chiron yelled. There was a loud zipping sound, like paper being ripped, and forty arrows sprouted from the beasts neck. With a bowl of rage, the monster turned into a pile of sand.
I ran over to Percy, where he lay bleeding on the ground. "Di immortales!" Ariana yelled, following me. His face and hands were bleeding and his leg was bent in a strange direction. "He's wounded."
"Yes. Yes he is. We must get him to the infirmary." Chiron said sternly, but I shook my head.
"No. He needs to get in the creek." I said.
Luke ran up to us, his face confused. "The creek? Why?"
"Just trust me." With Ariana's help, we helped Percy up and walked him into the shallow water. He looked instantly stronger, his cuts disappearing. All of the sudden, a blue shape appeared above his head.
It was the holographic image of a green trident, spinning in the air.
My gods.
Percy looked up in alarm just as the image disappeared.
"This is really not good." Ariana murmured next to me. "His father….."
All around us, people were kneeling, looking at Percy with wide eyes. Ariana and I knelt beside Chiron, our breathing shaky.
"My father?" Percy asked, completely and utterly confused.
"Poseidon!" Chiron yelled. "The Earthshakers, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God!"
This was not good.
Character of the day: Gabe
