I'd had an interesting day at Camp Half-Blood. Well, interesting is an understatement. I'd gone to a basket weaving course taught by a wood nymph, tried and failed to throw a spear through a straw dummy of what looked to be Ryan Reynolds, and struggled through some beginner's Ancient Greek. So, yeah, I guess interesting pretty much covers it.

At this point, I was just glad that it was time for dinner. At least I could have a good final meal before someone tried to poke a sword in me.

I headed into the dining pavilion, a big open roofed structure where everyone ate, following the crowd of hungry campers.

'Hey, Castor, over here!'

I turned to see Alyx waving in my direction, her dazzling smile acting like a beacon to guide me over.

Well, I don't need to be asked twice.

She was sitting with the rest of the Hermes cabin, including those who I recognised from that morning's welcome party around my bunk.

I saw the unmistakeable dreadlocks of Fetu, who was closely following Ross as he shuffled a deck of cards about. Fetu pointed at a card, which Ross flipped over gleefully. Fetu swore loudly, before grudgingly handing over a large gold coin. Edvin patted him on the back in a gesture of solidarity – it didn't matter what language you spoke, getting scammed out of your money was universal.

At the head of the table were two guys I hadn't seen before. They looked like they could be twins, and were chatting to one another excitedly. It was hard to tell, but it kinda looked like one of them was holding a firework.

I made my way through the dining pavillion towards the Hermes table, ducking underneath a fork that someone had thrown like a javelin, and picking my way around a couple of buff looking campers who were in the middle of a heated argument over who would win in a fight between Aqua-man and a two hundred pound octopus that could fire lasers from its eyes.

I also caught Percy's eye, who gave me a thumbs up. Well, at least Percy was on my side, even if his girlfriend wasn't.

When I arrived at the Hermes table, the group greeted me enthusiastically. Fetu budged over to give me a seat on the bench.

'Great to see you, Castor' he grinned, punching me on the shoulder by way of friendly greeting, which left me with a dead arm. 'Dude, we've been hearing all about how you completely obliterated that Mormolyceia. I'm looking forward to seeing you show-off your bad ass swordplay skills tonight when we take the flag.'

Alyx nodded eagerly in agreement.

'We haven't been on the winning team in ages' she complained. 'But I have a feeling our luck's about to change.'

All of the Hermes kids turned to look at me expectantly, like I was supposed to give them a stirring Lord of the Rings style speech. Instead, I just smiled weakly.

Oh crap. There's no way I don't come out of tonight looking like an idiot. But hopefully, an alive idiot.

'So' I said, looking to steer the conversation in another direction, 'what's for dinner in this place anyway? Roast Pegasus?'

Fetu stared at me like I'd just said, Man, you know who my favourite artist is? Katy Perry.

'Dude' Fetu said 'that's not funny. Percy would probably turn you into a shellfish or something if he heard you cracking that joke.'

'He can do that?' I asked incredulously.

Ross leaned in conspiratorially.

'I heard that once, he turned a guy into an anemone.'

Fetu sighed. 'No you moron, he turned a guy into an enemy. Not the same thing.'

Ross frowned.

'Wait, what?'

'Anyway' Fetu continued, ignoring Ross' confusion. 'Dinner here is epic. I mean, the food's great and all, but watch this.'

He picked up one of the fancy looking cups on the table, and said to it, 'Pepsi.'

There was a fizzing noise and faint pop, like the sound of soda can being opened, and Fetu's cup filled itself up with frothing Pepsi.

'That is awesome' I agreed, wondering how I was still able to be impressed after arriving at the camp on a flying horse.

I picked up a cup and filled it with Sprite, which simply appeared in the cup as if being poured by an invisible waiter. Man, talk about a soda fountain.

Fetu hadn't been lying about the food either. There was an entire smorgasbord on offer, from BBQ, to fresh bread and fruit. I piled my plate high, but as I was about to sit down, Alyx gave me nudge.

'Not yet' she said, pointing at a brazier in which a fire crackled merrily, shooting sparks into the night sky. 'You need to offer a portion of your meal to the gods.'

'Great, so they need a portion of food as well?' I complained. 'Do the gods even like grilled chicken?'

Alyx rolled her eyes.

'Just throw a bit of your food into the fire, OK? And say a prayer while you're doing it' Alyx told me, her green eyes glinting in the firelight. 'You never know. It might be answered.'

I shrugged.

'Sure.'

I headed over to the fire, letting the warmth wash over me. I threw some vegetables into the brazier, which I wasn't going to eat anyway, and looked up into at the stars.

Hey Dad, I thought, feeling stupid. Mind noticing me anytime soon?

I didn't get any reply from the stars. I wondered if they were giant balls of gas, burning millions of miles away like I learned in science class, or if they were sparkles on Zeus' rain jacket or something.

Whatever.

I went back to my seat.

At the head of the pavilion sat Mr D. He was lounging back in his chair, sipping another Diet Coke, and looking like he'd rather be literally anywhere else than here. He took a big swig, belched loudly, and then raised his voice to speak to the campers.

'Everyone, sit down and shut up; I've got something to say' he drawled lazily, crumpling the can between his fingers and quickly pulling another one out of thin air. 'Now, as you're all no doubt aware, tonight is Capture the Flag.'

The campers roared their appreciation, banging on the tables till the plates and cutlery rattled loudly and threatened to leap off the tables' altogether. Mr D raised his hands for silence once more.

'Yes, yes, it's all very exciting' he muttered, sounding the exact opposite of excited. 'You all get to run around the woods and try to murder each other. What fun.'

I threw a surprised look at Fetu.

'Is he joking?' I asked, trying to sound casual.

Fetu made a see-saw motion with hand, sign language for 'kinda.'

'Who'll be leading Blue team tonight?' Mr D asked disinterestedly.

I caught a glimpse of blonde hair as Annabeth stood up from the Athena table.

'Athena will lead Blue team tonight' she proclaimed loudly, her Athena team mates whooping excitedly. 'We'll be leading a coalition of cabins Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Ares, and Apollo.'

Fetu groaned.

'Annabeth has put together a killer team tonight' he explained to me. 'She's got the Big Three cabins, as well as the best fighters and archers. This is gonna be tough.'

'Yeah, and I don't think most of our allies are up to scratch' Ross commented dryly. 'I mean, the Hypnos table is already taking a quick nap to get over the exhaustion of dinner.'

Mr D was clearing his throat to speak again.

'And who'll be leading Red team?' he asked, stifling a yawn.

One of the guys at the head of our table got to his feet.

'Hermes!' he announced proudly. 'We don't care who you've got on your team, Annabeth, we're still gonna kick your butt.'

We all laughed. At least we had bravado going for us.

'We're taking all the other cabins' our team leader told Mr D. 'Let's do this thing.'

For the first time all night, Mr D smiled.

'Break out the swords and spears, boys' and girls' he called. 'Usual rules: no intentional maiming, and try to avoid stabbing the facial area. Apart from that, you kids go for it. Now get playing.'