"Red team is on the south side of the forest! Blue is in the north!" Chiron shouts, and the campers gathered around him cheer.

I follow the sea of red-plumed helmets to the south side, not socializing like the others. Clarisse eventually falls back from her position up front to talk to me.

"What's the plan?" I ask her.

"So far, there is no plan," she admits. "I was hoping you could help me quickly make one."

Clarisse asking for help?

She must not be feeling well.

"What magic items do we have on our team?" I ask, pondering what we could do with them.

"Your flute is all I can think of," she states, looking around as if to detect other magic items. Her eyes then land on my feet.

I smile mischeviously. "We'll figure something out."

oOo

The horn sounds, starting the game of capture the flag.

The Ares cabin, along with the few other cabins, races off to the east and west sides of the forest. I stick behind for a bit, making sure that our two best bowmen are well-stocked and ready to go.

I head down the middle of the forest, occasionally weaving around the trees that block my path. Within a few minutes, I can see the creek. I get as close to it as I possibly can and draw a bit of attention to myself. Several campers on the blue team come over to me, ready to strike.

Of course, they haven't learned anything from the past games.

I whip out my flute, playing a slow, sweet lullaby. The music does just what I want it to do – they fall asleep on the spot.

Excellent, I think to myself as I cross the border.

I hear the sound of footfall on all sides of me, and it kind of worries me. I know my team is nearby, but I could be giving myself up too easily. To reassure myself, I duck behind several trees on my way to Zeus' Fist. When the flag is in plain sight, I pull out my dagger.

Things might get ugly.

I duck behind another tree, searching the woods for any sign of my team. Surely enough, a red plume is visible. I subtly wave to the person – who turns out to be Percy Jackson – and he nods in understanding. He nudges whoever is next to him, who sticks their head out from the woods as well.

It's Clarisse. She sees me and makes a gesture that suggests our plan. I nod at her, preparing myself to execute orders.

I whisper Maia and Hermes's shoes sprout pure, white wings. I don't specify where I'm going; I just politely ask to have control over where I'm going for a bit.

I zip out of the trees on foot, surprising the two guarding the flag. I get close to one of them before shouting, "Fly!", causing me to take to the skies. I go up a few feet before coming right back down to kick him onto the ground.

The other guard calls for help, and I laugh. I come at him with my dagger, the rest of my team circling around Zeus' Fist while I draw him away from it. I slash at the air, trying to frighten him. He tries to knock me out of the sky, but I'm too fast.

Correction – the shoes are too fast.

I ward him off long enough to knock him into the creek, but he still calls for reinforcement. Before I can process it, a sea of blue helmets pours out of the trees, migrating towards Zeus' Fist.

Towards my team.

I forget about the guard and turn myself around. The trees are a blur and I'm back with my team in seconds. But the other team is already here, battling my team as if they were soldiers in war.

Clarisse knocks down Mr. D's son, Pollux, and I call out to her. "Need some help?" I shout.

"Oh, Gods, yes!" she says. She lifts up her arms, and I use all my strength to hold onto the giant named Clarisse as I get her to the top of the mound of rocks.

Upon setting her down, she scrambles for the flag, pulling it out from between the crevasses of the rocks. Anyone who is sane would steer clear of Zeus's Fist, but some still tried to climb it and get Clarisse.

Clarisse lifted up her arms, and I flew down, picked her up, and we were on our way. But her weight was too much for the shoes. We were going down and we were incredibly slow. At this rate, we'd be shot out of the sky in seconds.

"Drop me!" she yells, realizing our situation.

My face contorts out of terror. "Are you sure?"

She shrugs. "Ambrosia and Nectar will fix anything. Just get the flag over to our side!"

I give in.

I close my eyes before releasing my grip, which I immediately scramble for again. That would have worked if Clarisse wasn't already feet below me.

I forget about her, pure determination overcoming my feelings of guilt. I manage to get myself to fly higher, and start zooming towards our side of the forest.

I take a moment to observe our team's situation. Several campers are fighting at the creek. I can see a girl wielding a bow and arrow, training it on her target. She smiles, satisfied with her aim, and shoots the arrow.

Which lands in the bottom of my shoe.

I freak out, causing myself to do a flip in the air. I frantically try to keep the flag from falling out of my hands whilst attempting to pull the arrow out of my foot. I can feel the metal tip touching the sole of my foot, and I really don't want to walk on that.

I free the arrow, throwing it down on someone from the other team. I will the shoes to fly faster, and they do. I aim my feet so I'm heading feet-first at the ground. My landing is a somersault that turns into a run. I hold up the flag, since I'm on our side and all, but I have other things on my mind.

That girl was on my team.

What's her deal?
Almost immediately, campers surround me and cheer. But I ignore them, dropping the flag on the ground and causing them to silence before I run towards the camp.

She must have escaped.

I break out of the forest, running through the camp frantically. Maybe she was a hallucination? Maybe I'm paranoid because Annabeth said my quest wasn't over?

I start to think of possibilities of what is going on before seeing a face in the doorway to the Big House. Oh Gods, is she going to tell Mr. D about something I did once that he doesn't know about?

I run after her, bursting through the front door and down the hall to Mr. D's room. I can feel her there. I'm not crazy.

I slow down when I approach his door, carefully opening it. Inside is Mr. D, whose head turns to me from the girl who shot my foot. Sitting next to her is Ally. "Ah, Aria," he says, a bit unamused. "It seems you have a visitor."

"Visitor?" I gulp.

He motions to the girl. "Well, it's not every day that Hera comes to visit you, right?"

So, I've been trying to think of a way to end this chapter all week. And now I've done it!

And, I feel like this isn't my usual quality of writing, but I'm working several drafts for several new stories I want to do in the future, so that's my excuse.

Excuses are lame, I know.

And I'm getting to Katie and Will, people. They'll be back very soon. [insert mischievous smile here]

Thanks for reading!