YEEEEEEEESSSSSSS! HALF WAY DONE WITH REWRITING!

I actually started rewriting the chapter(s) after this, which is just stupid, but... Meh... I'm weird like that... And laziness also happened, plus I started a new story! Yay! So go check it out!

Beta: trustingHim17

Chapter 9

"Let's make it a bet."

In the following days, Rox noticed something.

Everyone was evading her, and the few campers she had gotten along with fine, seemed to be too busy with their own stuff to be bothered with her (unless she met them during lessons). Of course, Percy, Grover and Daimon were all beside her, but even Grover had become a lot more skittish around her, though she couldn't blame him - he had always been more of Percy's friend than hers. Then there was Daimon, who was acting completely normal, but she couldn't place him. Did he mean her harm? Or was he trying to help her?

Despite all that, Rox quite liked the camp. She especially loved how the dew clung to her windows in the mornings, the smell of hot strawberry fields in the afternoon and the forest bathed in moonlight at night, as she still went on her night trips. She would eat dinner at table twelve, with Mr. D, Chiron and Castor and Pollux, she'd scrape part of her meal into the fire - not really thinking of anything in particular.

She started to see why most of the undetermined, the minor gods' children and Luke resented the gods, or just their godly parent. She knew the gods had important things to do - or she hoped so at least -, but that didn't mean they couldn't contact them once in a while, or thunder, or something? Mr. D could make Diet Coke appear out of thin air, so why couldn't the gods make a phone appear?

Rox mentally scoffed.

Her lessons were taught by satyrs, nymphs and the one centaur at camp, along with a camper here and there - like Luke and Clarisse. She would take Ancient Greek, which was rather fun, seeing as she understood most of it, the only down side being she had to be taught by that Annie girl. At least she was fun to annoy.

She had dropped archery, along with pegasus riding, for obvious reasons and was glad nobody decided to question her about it. Though she still spent hours with the Hephaestus kids in their forge, finding the blazing heat comforting.

Then there was the dryads, who she would foot race against in the vast forest. Rox was pretty good, if she had to say so herself, her form was small so she had an easier time squeezing through gaps between trees. She was glad, as she quickly got the hang of running in the forest, knowing to look out for roots, and small rocks, and the uneven ground - though she was ashamed to say she learned it through running head first into a couple of trees, and she got laughed at for it every single time.

A very important rule when running: look where you're going, for the gods' sake!

Dum and Dee – aka, Conner and Travis – were as usual getting into trouble, and they made sure to drag Rox with them when they could. Surprisingly, it wasn't as much as she had thought, or hoped for. They did, however, when they had time, teach her some nifty tricks.

Last but not least, one Thursday afternoon, Rox had sword-fighting lessons with the Hermes cabin. Luke was their instructor and started them on basic stabbing and slashing motions, using some straw-stuffed dummies in Greek armor. She didn't use her ring, mostly because she didn't feel like answering a bunch of question on where she got it, so she had to use one of the practice blades that felt awkward in her grip.

Percy didn't fair any better in his search of the right sword, but his reflexes were good.

She couldn't see Daimon anywhere, which was weird, since he was supposed to be with the Hermes cabin, training.

They moved on to dueling in pairs, Rox slowly moved back through the crowd, and Luke announced he would be Percy's partner. She went for the stands, sure no one wanted to be with her, weaving through the throng of people, who all backed away from her so she wouldn't touch them.

"Good luck, " she heard the camper she passed tell Percy. "Luke's the best swordsman in the last three hundred years. "

"Maybe he'll go easy on me, " Percy said.

The camper snorted.

Even as she got out from the crowd, she could her the telltale whap! of the flat of a blade hitting flesh, and Luke's voice telling Percy to, "Keep your guard up!" Whap! "No, not that far up!" Whap! "Lunge!" Whap! "Now, back!" Whap!

She stabbed her sword into the ground by the walls of the arena, sitting down besides it as she leaned her back against the surface of the walls. The air was hot, the sun beating down relentlessly, and Rox rarely felt a nice breeze blow. She decided sleeping sounded nice.

By the time she woke up, she could hear the sound of metal against metal, grinding and hitting. Curious, she made her way towards the crowd, pushing though them. The sounds got louder and more frequent, until she heard a simple clang. She made it to the front.

Luke's sword rattled against the stones. The tip of Percy's blade was an inch from his undefended chest.

The other campers were silent as Rox blinked in surprise.

Percy lowered his sword. "Um, sorry. "

For a moment, it seemed Luke was too stunned to even speak, he was quiet but then his face broke into a grin. "Sorry? By the gods, Percy, why are you sorry? Show me that again!"

She could see the reluctance on Percy's face, and she was sure Luke could too, but he insisted. They both readied themselves, and instantly, Rox could tell there was no contest. The moment their swords connected, Luke hit Percy's hilt and sent his weapon skidding across the floor.

After a long pause, somebody in the audience said, "Beginner's luck?"

Rox pursed her lips, frowning.

Luke wiped the sweat off his brow. He appraised at Percy with an entirely new interest. "Maybe, " he said. "But I wonder what Percy could do with a balanced sword..."

. . .

When Rox woke up Friday morning, she was ecstatic.

She couldn't wait for dinner to be done with, much less the whole day. Though she hadn't made any alliances yet (she had been rather busy), she still had an idea slowly coming into place, so all she needed to do was get on the red team.

The Ares cabin, fittingly enough, bore the color red, and had managed to rope the Dionysus, Demeter, Hephaestus and Aphrodite cabins onto their team.

She knew that the Aphrodite campers wouldn't be of much help, at least, not if they'd only be sitting by the lake checking their reflections, doing their hair and gossip about who knows what. Mr. D's kids were good athletes and had a bit control over nature, but they were only the two of them, though the Demeter cabin would be able to help seeing as they had an advantage with nature. Unfortunately, they weren't exactly aggressive. Hephaestus had four kids, who were all big and burly from working in the metal shop all day, and the Ares campers were all big and strong, maybe a bit rash, but their father was the god of war, so that had to count for something.

Hopefully.

Rox found herself in the arena, overlooking a team meeting (she had heard from Clarisse when and where they were going to hold it), and walked over to the group of demigods. Her eyes searched the crowd, quickly dismissing anything that didn't match the picture in her head, until they fell on brown/dirty blonde hair held by a bandana.

"Clarisse," she called. Outwardly, she showed no signs of being nervous, but on the inside she felt each and every one of their eyes surveying her, like little needles poking her skin. The Ares' counselor pushed her way to the front of the group as the others gave her wary looks.

"Roxanna." she greeted. "I thought you would be with Prissy and Wise Girl by now."

Rox grimaced, as if she had swallowed something bitter. "Annie girl can't stand me, the feelings are completely mutual I tell you, and Perce is still part of the Hermes cabin, so he's most likely with them right now."

The other girl raised her brow, crossing her arms loosely. "Oh? Aren't you suposed to be with them, or did they send you to spy?"

Rox couldn't help it, she grinned toothily and said, "Actually, I had hoped I could join you and the red team."

"That so?" Clarisse was wearing a matching grin, a wicked gleam in her eyes.

. . .

Friday afternoon found Rox, Percy and Grover sitting at the lake. They had all been on the climbing-wall just moments ago, and decided to take a break after Percy experienced a brief hello with Thanatos for the umpteenth time.

Grover had scampered to the top like a mountain goat (excuse the pun), and Rox followed behind at a decent pace, dodging the lava and stones. Percy, however, wasn't as lucky, as the melted stone had almost gotten him, his shirt had smoking holes in it, and the hairs on his forearms had been singed off.

The three of them sat on the pier, and Rox watched the naiads doing underwater basket-weaving as she zoned out, thinking endlessly over the summer solstice deadline.

Poseidon and Zeus were fighting, that much was obvious, but what could possibly be so important to make two 3000-year-old men fight? What was stolen at the winter solstice?

The other gods didn't seem to care, from what she knew, they only seemed to care whether it would effect them or not. Of course, she couldn't be too sure, since Mr. d was her only example and he usually didn't care about much.

It was something important, something the two younger brothers would fight, and perhaps blame, each other for - something they had in common. Sadly, Rox was pretty sure there wasn't a thing that only they had (unless they'd suddenly gone out, gotten a little too much to drink, and bought matching friendship bracelets), so she had to expand her circle a little.

Hades, Poseidon and Zeus, they all had something in common, something very powerful. If it was Poseidon and Zeus fighting - along with a voice goading them on from underground -, then that meant…

Rox's eyes darted over to the form of Percy, who was still talking with Grover, and she nearly cursed aloud. Someone had successfully stolen one of the big three's symbol of power, and since the gods couldn't directly steal from each other, that only left one possibility left.

'The others visited during the winter solstice.'

The counselors.

"Percy, we need to-"

"But Hades doesn't have a cabin here." She heard him say.

Her mouth shut closed. Should she tell them? As far as she could see, Percy was the one blamed for the whole thing, if what Chiron and Grover talked about back at school was true and from the way the former seems to be so observing around Percy. But then again, she could be wrong.

One look at Grover and she could tell he was incredibly uncomfortable.

She sighed internally.

It could wait.

"No." Grover said, fidgeting. "He doesn't have a throne on Olympus, either. He sort of does his own thing down in the Underworld. If he did have a cabin here..." he suddenly shuddered, but then looked over at Rox, who was narrowing her eyes at him.

"Yeeees~?" she dragged the word out, slightly leaning towards the satyr.

He gained a look of panic, waving his hands in front of him. "No! N-no, t-that wasn't w-what I meant!"

Rox simply raised an eyebrow, humming in disbelief.

"I-i-it's just that a-all his o-other children," Grover cleared his throat nervously. "they were all… well, scary and a bit on the psychotic side if you ask me…"

She still had her eyes narrowed at the poor satyr, but let it slide (this time). She then waved her hand nonchalantly in the air, gesturing for them to carry on.

"Zeus and Poseidon," Percy continued from where they left of, "they both had, like, a bazillion kids in the myths. Why are their cabins empty?"

Grover shifted his hooves uncomfortably as Rox listened closely. He said, "About sixty years ago, after World War II, the Big Three agreed they wouldn't sire any more heroes. Their children were just too powerful. They were affecting the course of human events too much, causing too much carnage. World War II, you know, that was basically a fight between the sons of Zeus and Poseidon on one side, and the sons of Hades on the other. The winning side, Zeus and Poseidon, made Hades swear an oath with them: no more affairs with mortal women. They all swore on the River Styx."

Thunder boomed overhead.

"That's the most serious oath you can make." Percy stated.

Grover nodded in confirmation.

"And obviously some didn't keep their promise." Rox said drily.

"What about the others – no kids?"

Grover's face had darkened, seemingly remembering a bad memory. "Seventeen years ago, Zeus fell off the wagon. There was this TV starlet with a big fluffy eighties hairdo – he just couldn't help himself. When their child was born, a little girl named Thalia… well, the River Styx is serious about promises. Zeus himself got off easy because he's immortal, but he brought a terrible fate on his daughter."

"But that isn't fair." Percy said, clearly put off. "It wasn't the little girl's fault."

"Yeah, and I'm practically fine," Rox added lightly, having a bitter taste in her mouth all the while, "no terrible fate here."

Grover hesitated. "Percy, Rox, children of the Big Three have powers greater than other half-bloods. They have a strong aura, a scent that attracts monsters." He hesitated again. "Rox, you're a child of Hades, you'll end up with all those things. Once you've found out how to control your powers, you'll have powers even strong average demigods won't ever have - monsters will be more attracted to you than anyone."

Rox stared blankly at the satyr. "Just what I always wanted."

Grover continued, as if she had never said anything, "When Hades found out about the girl, he wasn't too happy about Zeus breaking his oath. Hades let the worst monsters out of Tartarus to torment Thalia. A satyr was assigned to be her keeper when she was twelve, but there was nothing he could do. He tried to escort her here with a couple of other half-bloods she'd befriended. They almost made it. They got all the way to the top of that hill."

Rox, remembering the rid home from Yancy, resisted the urge to narrow her eyes. Grover pointed across the valley, to the pine tree where Percy and she had fought the Minotaur.

"All three Kindly Ones were after them, along with a horde of hellhounds. They were about to be overrun when Thalia told her satyr to take the other two half-bloods to safety while she held off the monsters. She was wounded and tired, and she didn't want to live like a hunted animal. The satyr didn't want to leave her, but he couldn't change her mind, and he had to protect the others. So Thalia made her final stand alone, at the top of that hill." Grover cleared his throat for the lump that had sat itself there, Rox wasn't fooled, he was clearly chocking up, but she seem to be that only one to see that. "As she died, Zeus took pity on her. He turned her into that pine tree. Her spirit still helps protect the borders of the valley. That's why the hill is called Half-Blood Hill."

Percy stared at the pine in the distance, and Rox looked at her friend, concerned. She could see that he felt hollow, and guilty too, but she didn't press into it. Sometimes it was better to figure things out for yourself, and this was one of them.

She looked at the big Christmas-ish tree. A girl her age had sacrificed herself to save her friends. She had faced a whole army of monsters. All because the gods sucked at holding promises, and therefore bringing their children a fate they didn't deserve. Rox felt that little naïve part of her, which still had some respect for the gods, demolish.

"Grover," Percy said, "Have heroes really gone on quests to the Underworld?"

"Sometimes," Grover answered carefully. "Orpheus. Hercules. Houdini."

"And have they ever returned somebody from the dead?"

"No." Rox said. "But Orpheus came close once, so if you're secretly an extremely talented musician..." She trailed off, shrugging.

Grover suddenly looked alarmed, as if someone had just told him they were all out of enchiladas. "Percy, you're not seriously thinking-"

"No," he lied. "I was just wondering. So… a satyr is always assigned to guard a demigod?"

Grover studied Percy warily. Percy hadn't sounded sincere enough when he lied, and Rox told herself she would need to talk to Conner and Travis about lying lessons, or at least acting lessons.

"Not always." Grover finally answered. "We go undercover to a lot of schools. We try to sniff out the half-bloods who have the makings of great heroes. If we find one with a very strong aura, like a child of the Big Three, we alert Chiron. He tries to keep an eye on them, since they could cause really huge problems."

Rox hit him on the shoulder halfheartedly and glared playfully. "You wanna risk repeating that?"

Percy smiled at the two. "And you found Roxy and me."

Grover looked as if he'd just been led into a trap. "Oh, listen, don't think like that. If you were - you know - you'd never ever be allowed a quest. You're probably a child of Hermes. Or maybe even one of the minor gods, like Nemesis, the god of revenge. Don't worry, okay?"

"Grover, dear, Nemesis is a goddess, you know, female."

. . .

At last, it was time for capture the flag.

When the plates were cleared away, the horn sounded and all stood up by their tables. Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings – one of them was the boy who stopped the fight, and Rox remembered hearing his name was Malcolm – ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glistening gray, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree.

Just like the Ares cabin' steam had the fitting color of red, the Athena campers' wore blue.

The blue team was made up of, obviously, the Athena cabin, along with the Hermes and Apollo campers, the two biggest cabins.

The Hermes campers were fast and swift, and Rox was sure that they would be putting traps up. Apollo's daughters and sons were all masters with the bow, and could hit you from a pretty decent distance if you weren't careful. Athena was primarily the goddess of wisdom, battle and strategy, so Rox was sure that they'd have a good plan… and a backup plan, and probably a backup plan for the backup plan, unless they were too confident in their skills, which would be a great opportunity for the red team. She wasn't very sure of the undetermined, since she had no idea who their godly parent was.

From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and two of her siblings ran in with another banner, of identical size, but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head.

Rox turned to Castor, who she was standing next to since she was sat at table twelve, and called over the noise, "Does Ares and Athena always lead the teams?"

"Most of the time, yeah." he said.

She nodded. Athena and Ares were both gods who had something to do with war, so it wasn't all that surprising their kids had some kind of understanding for it - Capture the Flag was basically a "war".

The teams were announced, and everyone went over to their respective sides. The two leading cabins had traded privileges to get the others on their side – shower times, chore schedules, the best slots for activities -, she even saw the Stoll brothers promising the Demeter campers not to prank them for a whole two weeks, but Katie seemed too mad with them to so much as think about it, seeing as they ended up on the red team.

Chiron hammered his hoof on the marble.

"Heroes!" he announced. "You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. And please try and be careful with wounding others. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!"

He spread his hands, and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, ox hide shields coated in metal. Feeling confident, and maybe a bit cocky, Rox made her way over to the blue side after she armed herself. She quickly found Annabeth. She was already in her gear, ready to go, but she wasn't holding any shield. Her helmet, like all the helmets on Athena's side, had a blue horsehair plume on top, while Ares and their allies had red plumes.

The blonde girl gave her a well hidden sneer, looking at her with narrowed eyes and down turned lips. Her voice was clipped and to the point as she said, "What are you doing here?"

Rox shrugged nonchalantly. "Thought I'd tell you good luck. You're going to need it if you plan on winning."

Annabeth scoffed. "Yeah right. You might want to hold on to that luck yourself, I think you'll be needing it more than me."

Rox smirked cooly, sticking her hand out. "Let's make it a bet."

Annabeth surveyed her carefully, eyes checking for any ulterior motive and ill intent, but what the blonde didn't know was that Rox couldn't have cared less for things like humiliating her or knocking her off her pedestal. All Rox wanted to do was show her who was the better of the two - show her not to get too close her friends.

She kept her face mindfully neutral.

"Deal." Annabeth nodded once, and they shook on it. Releasing each others' hands, she, still staring straight at Rox, yelled, "Blue team, forward!"

They cheered and shook their swords and followed her down the path to the south woods, as Rox made her way back to the red team, who were all yelling taunts at the other team, while they headed off toward the north.

Catching Percy's eye, she nodded her head towards him, mouthing 'Good luck' and ran straight for the lake. She threw off her helmet with the red plum, followed by a sigh of relief, glad she hadn't bothered taking a shield. She wouldn't have been able to do anything with it, perhaps besides hiding under it - it was big enough -, and it was slowing her down, so the choice was pretty obvious.

It was a warm, sticky night. The woods were dark, just like she liked it best, with fireflies popping in and out of view. Rox ran passed trees, jumped over boulders and logs, and scanned the area for any enemies. Luckily, she didn't run into any as she finally made it to the lake, where the Aphrodite campers were talking and giggling.

She slowed down to a walk, as a very pretty girl spotted her.

Her hair was black, long, silky and wavy, and she had pretty sapphire blue eyes. She was slim and a very beautiful girl, who Rox could imagine was stared at by everyone. Her name was Silena, Rox remembered, and was the Aphrodite cabin's counselor.

She belatedly noticed the voices had become silent now, everyone looking at her with wariness, some even seemed to remember her from the mango incident, and a smudge of curiosity. Silena stood up, looking at her carefully.

"You!" But it wasn't she who spoke first, it was the Asian girl. The tall girl stood up, too, pointing a well manicured finger at her.

Rox smiled. "Me."

"Don't you play coy with me!" She spat. "I know you had a hand in that prank!"

"Drew." Silena placed a warning hand on the girls shoulder, frowning prettily. "You have no proof she did." She raised a hand to silence any protest and said softly, "She may have helped Connor and Travis, but so long as you don't have any proof, she has the benefit of doubt. Okay?"

Weird. Rox was actually starting to feel a trickle of - what was it? - guilt? Gratitude? She wasn't sure and quickly shook her head to rid herself of any unwanted thoughts, and straightened her spine. "I have a proposal."

Silena eyed her. "I'm listening."

. . .

Percy was standing by the creek alone, with his big blue-feathered helmet and his huge shield - he felt like an idiot. The bronze sword, like all the swords he had tried so far, seemed balanced wrong. The leather grip pulled on his hand like a bowling ball.

He almost pouted when he heard the clanking of metal, kids fighting. He wanted to be with them.

He heard a sound that sent a chill up his spine, a low canine growl, somewhere close by. He raised his shield out of instinct; Percy had the feeling that something was stalking him.

Then the growling stopped as soon as it had come, and he felt the presence retreat.

On the other side of the creek, the underbrush exploded. Five Ares warriors came out of the dark, Clarisse leading them.

"Get him!" she screamed. Her brown eyes glared through the slits of her helmet. She brandished a five-foot-long spear, its barbed metal tip flickering with red light. Her siblings had only the standard-issue bronze swords.

Not that it made Percy feel any better.

They charged across the stream, spreading out, making a half circle around him. No help was in sight. He could either run, or defend himself against half the Ares cabin.

The decision was made for him, as he sidestepped the first guy's swing. Sadly, they didn't seem to be as stupid as the Minotaur.

The guy, who had swung at him, tried for a stab but he ducked under the blade and slashed upwards. The guy blocked, kicked him in the stomach and took a step back. Percy clutched his aching stomach, but stood up. They both charged, and at the last second Percy sidestepped and whacked the guy over the head with his shield.

The guy crumbled to the ground, lying in a heap.

One down, four to go.

Percy looked at the still standing Ares campers with suspicion. "Are you playing fair, War Girl?"

"Shut up, Prissy," Clarisse growled. "you should thank your friend, she told us to go easy on you."

She gestured for another guy to step forward, and Percy instinctively backed towards the creek.

He raised his shield, but the guy was obviously much stronger than just that, because Percy heard and felt the hit vibrating through his shield and into his arm. The guy kept pushing down on the shield, as Percy was forced to take a couple of steps back. Percy quickly let go of his shield, casting it aside as he hit the guy in the side.

The guy held a hand to his armored side, where Percy had hit him, but then stood up straighter. Even though Percy prepared himself, he was still knocked back into the creek by the powerful blow from the Ares guy's sword.

The guy smirked. "See? Not all that hard." He boasted.

But then something happened. The water seemed to wake up Percy's senses, as if he'd just had a bag of his mom's double-espresso jellybeans.

The guy came into the creek to get him, but Percy stood to meet him. He felt a newfound confidence and swung the flat of his sword against the Ares guy's head and knocked his helmet clean off. He hit him so hard he could see the guy's eyes vibrating as he crumpled into the water.

Two down, three to go.

A new guy came forward. Percy swung his sword, locking weapons with the guy. The guy pushed, but Percy gave a final push and the guy stumbled back. He took advantage of the situation and slammed the hilt of his sword in between the guy's eyes, knocking him out.

Two to go.

The next guy didn't seem all that anxious to fight, but attacked nonetheless. Percy parried, swiftly taking the guy out like the others before him. Finally Clarisse stepped forward.

One.

"Roxanna is gonna have to wipe you of the ground when I'm done with you." She sneered.

"Oh yeah?" Percy growled. "You sure it's not the other way around?"

Clarisse thrust her spear at him, cutting his side in the progress as he dodged. He felt a painful tingling all over his body. His hair stood on end. His side went slightly numb, and the armor burned slightly.

Electricity. Her dumb spear was electric.

Percy stumbled back.

Clarisse swung her spear down, but he managed at parry, sword just under the tip of her spear. This time, he kicked her in the stomach, making her fall down. He slashed after her but she rolled out of the way and swiftly got to her feet. Clarisse struck after Percy, she was too fast, and her spear stuck him straight in the ribs. If he hadn't been wearing an armored breastplate, he would've been shish-kebabbed. At least the numbness went away quickly.

Percy felt the shock even in his teeth, wondering briefly if they would fall out of his mouth.

He shook the shock off and used his sword to shear off Clarisse's horsehair plume. They kept going like that: slashing, dodging, stabbing, thrusting, swinging, ducking. But Clarisse kept coming, her spear crackling with energy as she attacked.

Just as their weapons locked each other in place, they heard yelling, elated screams. Percy saw Silena racing toward the boundary line with the blue team's banner lifted high, Rox following close behind, guarding her against attacks. They were followed by a couple of Hermes guys, who were trying to get the flag back. But whenever they got too close Rox would attack, working fast and and swiftly, just making sure they didn't get within range of the prize. She didn't seem interested in knocking them out, since that would only hold her back.

A few Apollo campers were behind them, fighting with the Hephaestus kids. The Ares guys got up, and Clarisse smirked in triumph.

"Who would have known?" she said. "She got the Aphrodite campers to help after all."

They ran after Silena and Rox, providing backup.

But just as they all thought it would be over, Luke appeared on the opposite side with the red team's flag. Both sides cheered, helping their own get across first, it was like one big battlefield. Luke ran like the wind, nearing the creek at a fast pace, which was when Silena drew her arm back, flag in hand, and threw it like a spear into friendly territory and into the hands of an ally.

The red side exploded into cheers. The blue banner shimmered and turned to pink. The barn owl and olive tree were replaced with a huge white dove, the symbol of cabin ten. Everybody on the red team picked up Silena and started carrying her around on their shoulders. Chiron cantered out from the woods and blew the conch horn.

Rox released a grateful sigh.

The game was over. They – the red team – had won.

She moved through the crowd, getting pats of approval on the back as she did, and with a little effort she finally got out. She scanned the area and saw Percy talking with Annabeth, while the former of the two looked rather peeved.

She quickly moved over to her friend and as she closed the distance between them, she caught the last part of Percy's sentence, "-Luke around the flank. You had it all figured out." He added as an afterthought, "Or you would have, if not for the Aphrodite cabin and Roxy."

Annabeth scowled. "My plan would have worked if not for that scoundrel."

"Is that bitterness I hear?" Rox sauntered languidly over to the Athenian, as a lopsided smirk crossed her lips and her features turned mischievous. "Or are you just lying about actually having a plan?"

"Athena always, always has a plan."

"Then you should have had one for if this would ever happen." She added airily, "Which it did."

Annabeth sneered. "Did you come to boast?" She said, referring both to the game and their bet.

"Well," Rox, mock benevolent, smiled. "that was my intention at first, but then I figured that just being near you would be more irritating." She grinned. "Your welcome."

Annabeth gritted her teeth and, it looked almost painful (she hoped it was, too), spat, "How did you do it?"

"Silena and some of the others distracted the guards, while I took the flag." She answered with a nonchalant shrug.

Percy rolled his shoulders and felt some of the tenseness leave, but as he stepped out of the water he immediately felt bone tired. His side and body started to go numb again. His adrenaline rush left him, leaving place for the wariness to settle in. He almost fell over, but Rox quickly steadied him.

She frown, looking once down at the water he just stepped out of, and worried her bottom lip. "I was right."

Before Percy could ask what she meant, he heard that same canine growl again, but much closer than before. A howl ripped through the forest.

The campers' cheering died instantly. Chiron shouted something in Ancient Greek, which Percy translated perfectly: "Stand ready! My bow!"

Rox had her standard-issue bronze sword out within seconds.

There on the rocks just above them was a black hound the size of a rhino, with lava-red eyes and fangs like daggers.

It was looking straight at Percy.

Nobody moved at first, too shocked by the out come, then Rox yelled, "Run, Percy!"

She tried to step in front of him, but the hound was too fast. It leaped over her – an enormous shadow with teeth – and just as it hit Percy, he stumbled backward and felt its razor-sharp claws ripping through his armor, there was a cascade of thwacking sounds, like forty pieces of paper being ripped one after the other.

Rox acted fast, she slashed deeply at the hellhound's side as a cluster of arrows sprouted from the hound's neck. The monster fell dead at Percy's feet. The body of the hellhound melted into shadow, soaking into the ground until it disappeared.

She moved swiftly over to Percy, whose chest armor was shredded and wet with crimson blood. She could feel the still warm blood on her hands as she checked Percy's pulse, and laid a hand over his heart. Another second, and the monster would've turned Percy into a hundred pounds of delicatessen meat.

Chiron trotted up next to them, a bow in his hand, his face grim.

"Di immortales!" Annabeth said. "That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't... they're not supposed to..."

"Someone summoned it," Chiron said. "Someone inside the camp."

Rox could feel her muscles squeezing together, a lump in her throat, and dread filled her body as she looked at Percy. She wanted to, but she couldn't say anything, couldn't get the words to leave her mouth.

Stop standing there and HELP HIM!

Silena came over and Rox gave her a brief look, too focused on Percy to think about anything else. Silena shook her head, and mouthed, 'You helped us, now we'll help you.'

Rox nodded her head gratefully, also for the fact that Percy seemed to have good luck in dire situations. She helped him up, just as Annabeth yelled, "What are you doing!"

"Shut up and watch." she snapped and sent a death glare in the other's direction. Rox let go off Percy slowly, making sure he could stand and told him to get into the water.

"I'm okay." he said.

She gave him a disbelieving look, and said drily, "Obviously."

Percy, too tired to argue, stepped back into the creek, the whole camp gathering around him. Instantly, he felt better. He could feel the cuts on his chest closing up. Some of the campers gasped, and Rox shifted her weight from one foot to the other as she smiled hafl-heartedly.

"Look, I-I don't know why," he said, trying to apologize. "I'm sorry..."

But the campers weren't watching his wounds heal. They were staring at something above his head.

"Oh, Styx," Annabeth cursed. "This is not good. I didn't want… I assumed it would be Zeus…"

Rox jerked her chin up. "Look up, Perce."

As he looked up, the sign was already fading, but he could still make out the hologram of green light, spinning and gleaming. A three-tipped spear: a trident.

"Your father," Annabeth murmured. "This is really not good."

"It is determined," Chiron announced.

All around Percy, campers started kneeling, and the Ares campers didn't look happy about it. Rox, who was smiling at him with one hand on her hip, was the only one not kneeling. She even went as far as straightening her back.

"My father?" Percy asked, completely bewildered.

"Poseidon," said Chiron. "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God."

Rox looked around for the familiar twin mops of hair. Finding them rather quickly, she call, "Dum, Dee, you owe me ten drachmas… each."

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