I put on my best bad girl outfit. I had to let everyone know that I wasn't one to mess with. I pulled on my blackest skinny jeans with a yellow fitted tee and my lace up converse. There I was ready for battle, well Brooklyn ready. I looked at my watch and groaned as I realized I had missed lunch now too. I was going to be an evil heifer by dinner time. I hated going hungry.

Walking around I could hear where everyone was gathered and it sounded like the open pavilion I passed last night stumbling out of the woods. At least I was learning my way around, that's what I was telling myself anyways. Everyone was just milling around the pavilion and they were all dressed in battle armor. Some were wearing helmet with red plumes and others had blue ones.

"Dillon," I turned toward the shout and saw Percy standing with a group of kids wearing blue helmets. Guess I was on the blue team, so I headed over to the group. "This is Annabeth," he pointed to a tall girl with grey eyes. I guess she was pretty if that was what you liked. She was standing with her hips cocked and her arms folded. She gave a good once over and I was just wondering if all the girls had chips on their shoulders. I saw Nico leaning against a tree and he gave me a small head nod. Well more like he stuck his chin out in my general direction. I took that as a hood greeting. You didn't grow up in Brooklyn without knowing the ghetto hand and body gestures.

Someone gave me a rough punch in the arm and I held back my yelp when Clarissa stepped into my view, "You ready?" she asked me with a broad grin on her face. I resisted reaching up and rubbing my now throbbing arm. I didn't think that would help with the silent menace I was trying to project.

I might have to ask Clarissa how she did it. Though I suspected she would first say it was because she was a daughter of the god of War. I nodded, and she turned to another beefy girl with black spiked hair and a arm full of tattoos. "Get Dillon some armor and a sword," the girl nodded and jogged off.

"Thanks Clarissa," I told her with a small smile and she stood behind me like she was my bodyguard. Well at least I felt better protected now then I did five minutes ago. I was tough I will tell anyone that but going up against some of those girls I didn't think my chances were good.

Percy clapped his hands, "So let's head over to Zeus' fist," everyone let out a big whoop and followed him into the woods. Everyone seemed to know the place like the back of their hands so it was an easy trek for them, but unfortunately for me I had no idea where we were going so I basically stumbled my way through the forest. Well as gracefully as I could anyways. Clarissa kept a good strong hand on my elbow. We finally made into a clearing in front of a jumble of rocks. Me and Clarissa were the last two out of the forest. And the girl Clarissa had sent out for my armor had even beat us. This was getting serious. She laid the armor at my feet and I just stared at it.

"I'll help her, Percy wants to talk to you," Nico said smoothly. Clarissa nodded and jogged over to Percy and that grey-eyed girl.

I put my hands on my hips, "So what do I do with all this stuff?" I asked Nico. He knelt at my feet and picked up what looked like long arm cuffs. He slid them on my arms. I knew what a breast plate was and this one was made of hardened leather. Like wearable beef jerky. He stood up and pressed the plate on my chest and reached around me to buckle it. If I didn't know any better I would say Nico was flirting with me but he didn't say a word or even catch my eye. He strapped me into my armor then handed my my helmet and a sword. The weight of the sword nearly pulled me off my feet. "What the hell am I going to do with this?" I asked looking at him. The thing felt like it weighed a hundred pounds.

There was no way I was going to be able to do anything with that thing, but everyone else had a sword. Even Nico drew his wicked black sword. Which he drew just to show off, but I caught the little smile before we both walked over to where Percy was holding court.

He gave me a quick smile, as he kneeled in the dirt and drew what I was gathering was a rough outline of the place where we were going to play capture the flag. "So I want Clarissa, Nico, Brant and Tyler here." He pointed to their positions with a stick and they each threw him a nod and jogged off into the forest. "Muhan, Zora, Arizona and Dallas I want you here, here and here. Everyone else, half of you take the perimeter and the rest just scatter." Again he pointed and those people jogged off. "Annabeth take the lead on the perimeter." She patted his head and ran off. He dusted off his pants and stood. "So Dillon I guess me and you got the flag. I'll take left and you go right. See anything with a red plume, don't let them near the flag." He said it like I really knew what I was doing.

"Um Percy is this real?" I asked. The question had been nagging at the back of my mind. I mean I was standing ina forest with battle armor, and a sword. Somehow I didn't think this was just for giggles.

He nodded, "Yeah so be careful. Just keep a look out. We've won this 6 straight times. Don't worry." he winked and then he was off like a shot into the gloom of the forest. I guess no one was a video game junkie around here.

It was several seconds and a high pitched whistle pierced the night.

It made my silver earrings vibrate and I actually felt the sensation down to my toes. It set my ears to humming and my ears twitched. I guess that was the signal to start and I could feel the movement in the forest. I felt like I should be doing something other than standing around wondering what to do.

I tried to walk and drag the sword but it was too heavy. There was a shout for off and it was followed by a sickening crunch. I dropped the sword and turned toward the noise, but as suddenly as it had happened it was over with.

That put me on high alert, but for the life of me I didn't know what the hell I was supposed to do. Or for that matter what I could do. Suddenly there was a lot of shouting and rustling in the woods. It sounded like a fierce fight and while my attention was drawn to the noise and commotion a figure jumped out of the woods and bolted straight for the flag. I couldn't do any fighting to stop them, but I could run them down and thats what I did. I took off like a bullet and made a beeline for the figure. They were running full pelt, but I was faster. I threw my tiny body at the person and down we both went. Since I was on top I threw all my weight into the tackle and I felt all the air whooshed out of the person as we landed hard. But whoever it was had a fighters reflexes and that momentary lapse didn't keep them down for long. We rolled and soon they were on top of me. I saw their fist raise and I saw it coming down toward my face. The anger rolled up from my feet, snaked up my spine and dumped in my mouth,"Oh. Hell No!" I shouted. With every word it felt like thunder rolled of my tongue and sucker punched the figure in the gut. One minute they were on top of me ready to pummel me and the next they were at least forty feet away and not moving. I scrambled up from the ground on shaky legs. I felt drained and light headed.

I had no idea what had just happened, and I didn't have the time to think the ring of trees around the clearing burst with bodies running. Red and blue plumes where everywhere and I saw a red plume break free and I was too far away to tackle them like I did the other one, and I frankly didn't know what I could do. Out of sheer desperation I threw my hands up to get someone's attention that a red plume was going to get our flag, and yes I had just finally realized what captured the flag meant, "No!" I shouted again and like a sonic boom the thunder knocked the figure over and over again and when the landed, they really landed and didn't move.

All the activity in the clearing stopped and everyone turned to stare at me.

Well that was just what I wanted. Another reason for everyone to look at me crazy. No one moved and frankly I was so tired I could barely stand and I swayed on my feet and before I could fall flat on my face Clarissa was at my elbow steadying me. "I got you." She was breathing hard and her face was smeared with blood. I hoped it wasn't hers.

There was a shout and a blue plume burst into the clearing waving a red flag and a jubilant cheer went up and I promptly passed out.

I wasn't sure how long I was out, but it felt good to be asleep. I was bone weary and didn't think I could move if I wanted to, but I opened a bleary eye and wish I hadn't. Enyo was sitting in a chair at the foot on my bed. And she was the last damn person, goddess or whatever I wanted to see.

"I must say I am impressed," she said blowing a fleck of nail polish off her fingernail. I tired to roll my eyes and my head swam and I sank bank further into the pillows. I caught the little smile on Enyo's lips. "I haven't seen a thunder clap from a hero in some time. Why I think Hercules was the only one." My ear twitched at the comparison to Hercules, which as it turned out was now my brother. Though he was dead and gone. She stood up, "You're training starts today. Something is brewing and I think we are going to need all the heros up and running." She winked and me and in a haze of red dust she winked out of sight.

The moment she was gone my room became a beehive of activity. Percy, Annabeth, Nico, Clarissa and a few other people I didn't know where crowded around my bed. They all looked supremely impressed, and I found that I was grinning a tad too.

"Damn girl," Clarissa said. "Got three kids of the Big Three on our team." she said proudly and she crossed her muscular arms over her chest. I saw Percy and Nico blushed slightly at the proclamation, but I was happy.

For the first time in my life, I had found people that accepted me. And I was liking the place I was fitting into. I wanted this feeling to last.