Hey, guys! This is important, so READ THIS.

Hazel isn't the daughter of Neptune in the actual books, she'll either be Mars, Minerva, or Pluto. But I'm not changing her godly parent after The Son of Neptune comes out, so just to verify that, 'kay? Good!

You'll also notice that I used "Camp Jupiter". According to my library site, that's what the Roman camp is called.

Chapter TEN

I tried to stay away from Hazel the next couple of days, until Lupa told me that I had to help train her. (She was only the second camper here that automatically got placed in the First Legion. Camp Jupiter wasn't exactly known for it's wits, other than the Minerva cabin.) That was an utterly preposterous statement, because, like me, all the other campers were steering clear of a potential threat, and Hazel had become very reclusive and moody. I saw her snap at a camper when he attempted some nervous conversation with her. Lupa nearly got her bones broken when she tried to placate Hazel. Bobby ended up in the infirmary with minor-case hypothermia.

So when Lupa told me that I had to train her, I was less than thrilled. I burst out, "Lupa, have you taken care of the...um, incidents yet?"

Lupa licked a fore paw. That's exactly why I want you to train her, not anybody else.

"Why didn't you tell me that sooner?" I demanded.

Lupa didn't answer, but there was an air of dismissal around her, which meant that I'd better get out of the Wolf House before she bit my head off.

I slouched towards where Hazel was sitting, twirling a couple of drops of water around. I cleared my throat. "Ahem."

Hazel snapped without looking up, "What do you want now, Jason?"

I ground out, "Lupa wants me to help train you."

"And?" Hazel didn't even look remotely interested.

"Look," I snapped, "you have got to get out of this trance of yours! At this rate, the whole camp is going to end up in the infirmary. Because of you! And what if an army of monsters attack us? You'll be the only one that is able to face them off, a legionnaire without proper training!"

Hazel scowled at me. "Fine."

I sharply inhaled. I had expected Hazel to completely refuse my statement.

Hazel stood up and icily said, "I might as well get a sword from the tool shed while you twiddle your thumbs and breath like a rhinoceros and wait for me to come back."

Without another word, she stomped off towards the central green.

I waited for a minute before Hazel came back in a foul mood, dragging a sword behind her. "Is this good enough?"

I drew my sword. "Battle stance," I instructed. "Make sure you defend all your weak points, especially your neck and head. You can worry about your backside later."

Hazel followed my orders with no comment. She was doing remarkably well, for a newcomer. Usually, they start whining about Oh, this position is to hard for me to get and Oh, my arms are hurting! When can we take a break?

"It's best," I continued, "If you fight with a partner, since—"

"You can go back-to-back and all you have to worry about is your front," Hazel drawled. "It's kind of easy to figure out," she said, seeing the look on my face.

"Right." I was a little bit calmer now, since Hazel didn't show any signs of drenching me. "Basic jabs, slashes, and disarming maneuvers."

Hazel nodded, her demeanor more relaxed.

I said, "Tell me one thing you think how Romans fight."

"Offensive all the time," Hazel answered.

I shook my head. "Some of the Ancient Romans might have done that, but here, we teach defense against your opponent."

Hazel looked genuinely confused. "Why?"

I smiled. "Sooner or later, your opponent will get tired. Their moves will become more sluggish. That's when you attack."

Hazel shrugged. "Makes sense."

"The window of opportunity comes at that point."

I steadily taught Hazel the ways of a demigod learning at the Legion camp, and by the end of the day, we were off to a good start.

"Awesome job," I congratulated Hazel. "You really got that disarming maneuver correctly."

Hazel looked uneasy. "I heard that today was Capture the Flag."

"Yeah," I agreed. I frowned. "That reminds me. You need to be on a team. You're the only one in the Neptune cabin, and since nobody thought that a child of Neptune would come to the camp, they didn't make alliances with an empty cabin. Obviously."

Hazel frowned. "Does that mean I have to sit out?"

"What?" I was appalled. "No way! We've got to find you a team, quick. Capture the Flag starts in..."

I checked my watch and my eyes nearly popped out of my head. "Oh, gods. It starts in a quarter of an hour. Come on! We've got to hurry!"

Hazel bounded after me as I took off for the Minerva cabin.

I banged on the marble door. "Dang it, Reyna! Open up!"

A muffled voice came from inside: "No can do, Jason."

I almost went berserk. Cussing under my breath, I yelled at the door, "Reyna Steele, open the door this instant!"

There was a scuffling inside. The lock clicked and Reyna stood facing me, snapping, "What in the names of the gods is wrong with you today, Jason?"

"Listen," I said, still panicking, "are you short on warriors?"

Reyna glowered at the blood-red cabin that was right next to hers. "Twenty legionnaires," she spat. "Augustus and Jessie took a lot of the cabins by bribing them."

"Ouch, " I said, wincing. "Do you mind if Hazel joins the Gold team?"

Reyna suspiciously looked at Hazel, who resolutely stared with a blank look back.

"Well, I don't see why not." Reyna suddenly had a cheery look on her face. "You know what Lupa says! As long as she doesn't kill anybody, sure!"

There was a lot of clamor at the dining hall tonight. There was an especially large tension between the Minerva and Mars cabins, as they were the leaders of the Gold and Red teams, respectively. Everybody was making bets, and food was flying everywhere until Cicero let out a low growl. Talking and flying food ceased immediately as Cicero slunk back into the shadows to let Lupa take the stage.

Has everybody chosen their weapons?

"No," Hazel said in front of the whole camp. Every set of eyes flickered at least once to her, and they looked back at Lupa.

Lupa padded up to Hazel. Well? What would you like to use?

Hazel threw a glance at me. I gave her a subtle thumbs up. "I would...like to use the bow and arrows."

A ripple of muttering circled throughout the dining pavilion. Usually in history, children of Neptune always used a trident or a sword. They were not known for archery. (Most of the times, they hit other people with arrows then they hit the target at any spot.)

A flicker of doubt flashed across Lupa's face, but she dipped her head and flicked her paw. A gleaming set of a silver bow and arrows appeared in front of Hazel. She gingerly slung the quiver across her back and strung the bow.

Bobby, who still had random bouts of shivering (though he was dispatched from the infirmary) raised his hand. "Who taught you to string a bow?"

Reyna innocently looked away as everybody glanced at either me or her. Because Reyna and I were the only ones to be able to be around Hazel without getting some sort of injury.

Lupa's ears flattened. As long as you don't kill anybody with an arrow, I think that it should be fine.

Her tone of voice made it clear: If you kill somebody with that weapon, you shall go to Hades by my order. Lupa can't risk losing any campers.

Hazel shrugged and sat back down.

Capture the flag begins now! Lupa called. Gold team takes the west part of the Coliseum, Red team takes the east! There is a maximum of two guards for the flag per team. Guards must be at least fifty feet away. The flag must be in plain sight. Killing is absolutely prohibited, but maiming is encouraged! To your positions!

Reyna hopped towards the center. "Calling all Gold team members! To me!"

The Gold team, which consisted of the Minerva (obviously), me, Hazel, Mercury, and Vulcan cabins followed Reyna into the west. We could hear the jeers, taunts, and insults coming from the rest of the camp as we jogged towards the Coliseum.

I asked Reyna, "What's the plan?"

Reyna smiled. "There isn't one."

My brain took about ten seconds to grasp the meaning of what she said. Reyna always, always had a plan. This had never happened before.

Reyna thought for a moment. "Well," she said, "there is a plan, but there isn't a plan."

"That clears everything up," I grumbled. "Thanks."

Reyna sighed as if it should have been obvious. "Sometimes, I wonder about you, Pikachu."

I was stunned by the new nickname. "I'm not yellow or a mouse!" I protested. "And you don't watch anime!"

"It's popular," Reyna pointed out. "The cute little yellow mouse that controls electricity."

"So, what's the plan that's not a plan?" I acidly asked.

"The Mars cabin will think that I have a plan," Reyna said patiently, "and they'll be all on defense. But since we don't have a plan, they'll be confused when they realize that splitting up their team was pointless. And by the time they realize that, we'll have the flag."

"That sounds kind of..." My voice trailed off.

"Stupid," Reyna chuckled. "Exactly. I agree with you."

"So why are you doing it?" I asked.

Reyna's smile wavered. "I have my reasons."

We stopped at a grassy area. Reyna scouted around the area until she found a convenient to place our flag, where the guards could see everything around them, three-hundred sixty degrees, but the flag was in plain sight. Like the rules said.

"Hey, GOLD TEAM!" Reyna yelled. Murmurings about what they thought the "plan" was ceased.

"What's the plan?" Harold, a guy from the Mercury cabin asked.

Reyna impishly smiled even more. "There isn't one."

Clamor broke out, people saying that Reyna must have gone crazy because she didn't have a plan.

"Silence!" I shouted. I indicated towards Reyna. "She'll explain everything!"

Still smiling, she repeated what she told me on the way in.

"That's stupid," somebody called.

"That's the point," Reyna retorted coolly. "The Mars cabin is so dumb that they wouldn't even think that I came up with an equally dumb not-a-plan!"

"But what if they figure it out?" somebody skeptically asked back.

"Too bad for us," Reyna replied. "But we aren't exactly going to leave our flag defenseless, are we?"

Nobody objected to that well reasoned statement. I would believe that Reyna had lost her mind if she said that there would be no guards in the west half of the Coliseum.

The bronze bell gonged, and everybody dispersed off.