I know this one is a little long, but I think you'll like it.

Chapter 13:

I wait until I hear the twang of a bow letting an arrow fly when I go into action. "Ahhg," I grunt and stumble. I hope that they would think they hit me, and leave me alone. Just to make sure, I fall to the ground and hold my leg, to show that they "shot" me. I stay on the ground, writhing and moaning. I heard them stop, and I remind myself to keep acting. After a few more moments, I hear them start moving, and their footstep get softer and softer.

Yes, I did it! I think. I keep moaning and slithering around, just until I am out of earshot. I quietly get up and adjust my belt. I wonder if I should go back to the smoke area, but I decide I should go back to the flag. Silently, I skirt the smoked area and go back to the flag.

With my sword in my hand, I rush to the defenses. "It's Pietro! They're coming, and with smoke arrows!"

The Hephaestus campers stop their tinkering and pick up their weapons. Some are equipped with shields, and some just have clubs. Other small cabins like Nemesis, Hecate and Iris members take up arms and stop building barricades.

"Over there," I point to the place that I came from. If I squint, I can see wisps of smoke sneaking toward us. Some smaller cabin members take some bows and notched their bows.

"If only some Ares campers stayed behind," one of the Hephaestus mutters. I hope Nico is doing okay, back in the smoke. I doubt he can get out and help us defend.

"Incoming!" Someone yells. I see three or four arrows soar fro the bushes and land around the flag. I already know what is going to happen, so I charge straight to the place the arrows took flight. I wish I had a shield, so I can block potential arrows, but I can't do anything about it now. Thankfully, no one see me sneaking from tree to tree. I hear the archers scoot closer, with arrows notched. While I'm behind one of the trees, I'm thinking about how I can defeat a handful of archers in close quarters. My long sword doesn't help, but I know I have to stay close enough so they can't fire an arrow at me.

While I face the way I came from, I wait for the first archer to come into view. I time my first swing just before he appears. I knock the wind out of him and as he crumpled to the ground, I jump from my hiding spot. The people behind him cry out, startled. I take the brief moment of confusion to close in.

I shout and charge the group. I get close enough to them that they don't have the space to draw an arrow. I don't know how much damage I can do to someone without getting in trouble with Chiron, so, I play it safe. I quickly knock out someone with the hilt of my sword and bring down the flat of the sword onto someone's bow arm. They cry out in pain while I snap someone else's bow in half.

When I'm about to jab someone, I feel a sting across my midsection. My adrenaline keeps the pain at bay for the time and later, someone tells me that they cut me with their hunting knife during the skirmish. Thankfully, the group of enemies that I'm fighting are just a small scouting party.

By the end, I take out four Apollo campers and take them to the place where we keep prisoners. After lots of mumbling and protesting, they give me their weapons, even the broken bow, to confiscate. I feel accomplished that I can take out four campers at once, even if they are only armed with bows and small knives.

The prison is a little way from the flag, but is on the way. I drop them off to an Ares camper. He nods and takes them from my hands. The "prison" is more like a small hut that has a place to store confiscated weapons. The rules of the game says that the prisoners can't escape, so each team just uses one person to guard it. I quickly get back to the flag, I have our part of the forest memorized in my mind, so I know the quickest route to the flag. The smoke has cleared a little and the defenders seem dazed and confused. I yell to get their attention.

"Organize! Prepare for some more smoke attacks! That was just the scouting part, there's going to be another, bigger assault. Does anyone have a way to see through the fog?" I shout. Everyone looks at me, and no one volunteers any way to look through the damned fog.

"Yes, I think this works," a Hephaestus camper raises his hand and in it, is a pair of regular sunglasses. "I made them out of old Ray-Ban frames. They can see through the dark, and I guess, smoke."

I almost laugh. I don't believe it, but he passes it up and I try them on. The instant I do, the glasses tighten and secure themselves to my head. When I look through the glasses, my sight sharpens and the forest looks illuminated by the sun, even though the sun set a while ago. My eyes wander to the smoke. Its odorless and white appearance make it ominous. Sure enough, I can see through it as if it wasn't there.

I gasp when I see figures through the smoke. Just ahead, about fifty yards away is at least twenty-five armored campers. Most are equipped with bows, but some of the ones in the front have sword and shields. All of them have some type of funky goggles on. That must be how they see through all the fog, I think.

"Over there!" I point to where I'm still looking at. I look at the guy who gave me the glasses and he nods. I assume that means I can keep them for now.

Hopefully, we can slow the oncoming attackers long enough so the smoke can disappear. As I'm about to say that idea, a couple of arrows whiz by and land by out feet and near the flag.

"More smoke!" A Hephaestus cabin member shouts. "To your stations!" Suddenly, half of the defenders peel off and go to protect the flag and man the machinery. The other half look at me expectantly.

I realize in that moment, that I am the only one that can actually see the enemies. My mind races as I try to formulate a plan. I will have to shout out all the actions that the other team is doing.

"Shields first and listen to me," I order. In the dense smoke, it is hard to even assemble, but after a couple of precious moments, we make a formation with shields in the front, to block any potential arrows. "Dead ahead."

We start moving together, swords sticking out of the shield gaps, like a phalanx. I focus on the attackers and try to anticipate what they are going to do. They seem to be staying put, probably confused at how we know where they are.

I take off the sunglasses and wipe my watering eyes. The instant I do, my vision goes back to a radius of 5 feet around me. When I put them back on, I give another order. "When you see someone, charge. You have enough space to see a little ahead of you."

Everyone nods and arrows start flying by. Lots of them bury themselves into the shields, but some arrows hit the campers. I am relatively safe, even if my head's vulnerable. Whenever someone goes down, a camper behind him or her takes the fallen shield and goes to the front of the wall.

The archers and guards start to walk backwards. Some trip on roots, and I make some adjustments to our march forward, and then the first of us charge.

"Charge!" I yell. We start to break off and run toward the startled attackers. Our phalanx dissipates and we all take on a person. After a second, I find an opening and sprint toward the archers. I have an advantage of surprise on them because they don't know I can see through the smoke. While the archers' guards are occupied with our campers, I step around all the small skirmishes and sneak to the archers. They look funny with their night-vision goggles on, but I keep my eyes on them. Most of the enemy archers are trying to aim at us, but can't get a clear shot without risking hitting their own teammates. When one of them sees me, she alerts the other archers and I start to run toward them. An arrow is shot in my direction and just misses me by a hair.

Dread fills me as I realize, mid-stride, that my plan is doomed to fail. We are outnumbered and can barely see our enemies. Only I have the magical sunglasses that allows me to see where I am going. A blunted arrow hits my left thigh, and I falter. My whole left leg is limp and I have no protection from oncoming arrows.

I cry out as another arrow disables my right arm. Now that my sword arm has been hit, I'm practically useless. I can still hold onto my sword, but I can't move it in any direction. My legs give way and I crash to the ground. All around me are my teammates losing their battles, and one by one, we all fall to either sword or bow.

Whoops and cheers go up from another section of the forest. My heart sinks faster than a stone in water. All around me, the other team starts cheering, once they realize that they won. I don't even have the strength to get up, or the willpower. My idea has failed, and probably lost the game for us. Half the Hermes cabin is with me, groaning with some sort of pain or cut.

The other team doesn't take us to their prison or even take our weapons. They just laugh and skip away, happy their plan worked. Slowly, all around me a makeshift hospital is set up to clean wounds and bandage bruises.

"Good job out there," the Hephaestus kid that gave me the glasses says. "Your plan was stellar, but they have every advantage on us." I realize that this is Craig, the camper that I met on my first day here.

"Thanks," I say. "I tried my best but even that wasn't enough. How is the fight at the flag?"

"Terrible," he replies bluntly. We laugh and then he resumes. "We were about even in numbers, but they dropped some smoke bombs on us and that really won them the game. We couldn't see and they sat tight, just picking us off."

I try giving back the glasses to him, but he refuses. "They were just a toy I made in my spare time. It's nothing really, and they look good on you."

I smile at the compliment. "Thanks man, I owe you." I walk away and start helping out at the hospital. Not many people are hurt, but still, it feels good to get my mind off my failure. Around forty people are at the hospital, bustling around.

I see Nico wander in, a couple of cuts on his arm. I quickly usher him into the tent. "Where did you go after we split up? I ask him.

"I sneaked out and try to snag the flag," he replies once he sat down. Someone came to clean his cuts and bandage them, but he shoos them away. "I got caught right along the border. A group of Athena kids brought me down. Pathetic, really." He shakes his head in disappointment.

I want to reassure him, but I don't know what to say. "It's good. Nothing can compare to how much I failed when we got split up."

He gives me a questioning look, and I plunge into the story. I start at the part where the first smoke arrow exploded. He laughed at the part where I acted as if I is shot. My story is slightly exaggerated at that part, but I kept going. He stayed quiet for the rest of the story until the end.

"Are you kidding? That plan is one of the smartest things that anyone could think of," he praises. "Just face it, no one could have won in your situation. Everything was at your disadvantage."

I try to hide my burning cheeks. "But I still failed. I could have done better. I could always do better." Oh gods, I'm sounding like Nico, I think after I say that.

Nico's face hardens. "Of course. Always room for improvement." He stops to think. He changes the subject on me. "If today is the 15th, I want you able to Shadow Traveling by yourself by the Summer Solstice."

"A week? That's not enough time! It's- it's impossible!" I splutter. I can handle maybe three teleportations a day before puking everywhere, but that isn't enough practice to be proficient at it. Nico even say that it took him months to control his Shadow Traveling.

"I know. But, it is better to make difficult goals that easy ones that don't mean anything." I look at him, bewildered. "So, get to bed and get ready for some hard working next week"

I groan. Shadow Traveling once a day is hard enough, but doing it all week is going to be a killer. While I'm walking back to the Hades cabin, Nico calls to me, "and next Friday is the Solstice. So, tick-tock."

When I get back to the cabin, I cross out Friday the 15th, and get ready for bed. I've started to write about what I did every day on the calendar. It's mostly the same, working out, sword fighting and studying, but I still like writing it.

While taking off my shoes, I realize that I still haven't contacted my mom. I shrug because it it too late to call and I just want to sleep. My thoughts wander to Nico, and why he never sleeps in the cabin. Yet another thing to do right as I go to sleep, I mutter in my mind.