A/N: Writing this chapter took quite long... One reason was that therewas so much I wanted to put into this. Other was that I had too many ideas for the future chapters(Titan's Curse) that I needed to write upon a separate document. But well... what can one do? Hehe.

I have no freaking idea what month it is in this chapter. I guess I originally intended October but now I wanted snow in there... Maybe it's early November during Capture the Flag. and they got snow earlier to the camp than to the Big Apple itself...

Chapter 6: In which there're smoke, ash and fire

"Where were you?" Luke asked me as soon as I got back to the Hermes cabin. "Annabeth told me you were coming here but…"

"Just around. I wanted to have a look on my pace." I waved a hand dismissively and propped my quiver and arrows against my bed post. My tsuru was placed atop of the covers. "Is the dinner soon?"

"Yes. In a couple of minutes." The counsellor sat down on his bed and patted the space next to him. I sat down too. "What do you think of this place this far?"

I shrugged. "Quite nice I guess. I miss my family of course and I haven't participated in the activities yet but I suppose I'll get along just fine."

"That's good to hear." Luke grinned, the scar on his face twisting slightly in the dim October light. I supposed it was around half a year old scar. At least that's what the known time line suggested.

"Hey, Luke… Since you've been here so long… do you know which gods and goddesses usually claim their children quickly?" I decided to ask then. At my question some of the other teens who also were in the cabin looked up too.

"Hmm… Well, it depends a lot. Some are claimed even before arriving like Annabeth and I." The blonde teen frowned for a moment before continuing to contemplate the answer. "I heard Clarisse was too… But otherwise some of the campers are claimed during the first camp fire if not when they enter the Camp. Hephaestus, Apollo and Demeter claim theirs quite soon, with Apollo having the best track record this far. Ares and Athena usually wait until the child impresses them somehow. Aphrodite drags for a long time. I suppose she is too busy pairing everyone up and then messing with their love lives… And Hermes… Well, he isn't known as the busiest of the gods for nothing." The last part was said bitterly and I'd wager Luke rather had said something much more unsavory if some younger kids hadn't been in the cabin too. And I had just arrived so he probably didn't want to give me a bad impression.

"How about the minor gods?"

"The children of the Olympians don't generally pay attention to them. Their children are just considered an extension of Hermes cabin. We are a wanted ally in Capture the Flag because of our manpower even though the unclaimed kids can choose whichever team they want to. But when it comes to determining… Those gods that reside in Underworld usually stay quiet to prevent their children being orchestrated. Ethan for example is unclaimed but he's pretty sure he's son of Nemesis." Luke waved his hand toward the boy on one of the upper bunks. A dark haired boy waved back from there.

"The Goddess of Revenge. I can see that others wouldn't look at him with a good eye if they knew." I nodded.

"Yes. But we here in Cabin Eleven hold together. Yeah, we're here quite cramped but we get along and protect our own." The almost eighteen year old boy nodded. "Why did you ask?"

"Because I wanted to know what were my chances of being claimed no matter who my godly parent is." I told with a smile. "Though frankly I don't care who it is."

"You don't?" A girl from other side of the cabin asked, incredulously. "I've been here for two years waiting for sign from my father and you don't care who dumped you on your mortal parent?"

"Yeah." I nodded.

"Unbelievable…" The girl muttered before turning away from me. I felt like chuckling at the reaction but I knew it could offend other unclaimed children. Some were desperate to know who their parent was. Especially if the conditions at their mortal home weren't the best.

"Well, why should I? I have two perfectly good parents already." This gained some looks that I ignored. Thankfully for me the conch horn sounded right then, signaling the dinner. Luke got up and clapped his hands.

"Alright cabin eleven, fall in." And naturally as the new camper I was the last one. But it didn't bother me as I got to look around in peace while we made our way to the Dining Pavilion.

The Hermes table was crowded but everyone still had a place to sit. Some of the tables were empty and some had only a few demigods sitting in them. From the pavilion was a straight view to the cabins which were – now that I was used to them being so mismatched – quite a beautiful sight. Especially cabin eight was beautiful now, shining at the neighboring ones too with its silvery light.

"To the gods!" Chiron toasted.

"To the gods!" We chorused and began piling food on our plates. Fresh fruits, bread, chicken, fish, cheese… All the honest to god good stuff. I could only hope that Luna was also eating at least moderately good food. Maybe I should Iris Message her tomorrow.

"Speak to your glass and it'll fill itself." Luke told me across the table. "It'll be whatever you want as long as it's nonalcoholic."

I glanced at my glass. "Apple juice." Because… hey, just because you can drink anything doesn't mean you should immediately go on soft drink diet. Besides I could have Sprite and Fanta and whatever else whenever I wanted. I took a sip on the juice. It tasted freshly made. Delicious.

With a low voice Luke told me about the offering to the gods as we watched Athena table and Ares table getting up and walking to the fire. We followed them. Once it was my turn I dropped a peeled mandarin in the fire while mentally sending a thank you prayer to Hestia. She was after all the one keeping Luna and my home safe.

The smell that assaulted my senses them was heavenly. As if I'd stepped into Eden. Or to a Botanical Garden. I'd visited a few of those around Europe back in our home world. Luna had absolutely loved them.

I shook away my melancholic thoughts when I returned to the table. We ate amidst chatter. People were firing questions at me but mostly I just brushed them off and told them that I'd rather talk tomorrow after I'd rested properly. Interestingly enough no one brought up my sister.

After meal Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor thus getting everyone's attention. Mr. D got up with an expression that he'd rather be anywhere else than here. Which was probably true.

"Well, hello…" He began. "I don't have anything to say to you, brats, but our activities director Chiron has announced that the next Capture the Flag is within a week. Wednesday he says. And Cabin eleven holds the laurels right now…"

Apparently the Hermes cabin had been the leaders of one team in the last game, I mused while the campers around me cheered.

"Yeah, yeah… congrats and all that stuff." The god of wine grumbled. "That aside, I have to tell you that we also have a new camper today. Clark Gibson."

My name was said wrong but I didn't care as the god didn't bother with anyone's. Or so was the impression.

"Right, Clay Gavin." Dionysus corrected. And naturally Chiron had been whispering to him. Only once so the rest of the campers would know the right name from the start. "And now is the time for your silly campfire. Off you trot."

"Campfire, really?" I looked up at Luke as we made our way to the amphitheater. "I'm knackered."

The older boy chucked and threw an arm on my shoulders. "Though luck, Clay. Those are mandatory. Besides they are fun."

"If I fall asleep, you better carry me to the cabin."

"Sure, sure…" Luke began awkwardly but another voice joined in.

"We can do it!" That was one of the Stolls. In the dark I didn't see which one.

"We sure can!" The other one chorused. Yeah, I really was too tired to tell the difference between the two. But I nodded anyways. I didn't have anything valuable in my pockets after all.

And true to my words as we ate s'mores and sang songs all the excitement and exhaustion finally caught up with me. The warmth of the campfire made me relaxed and in no time my head hit Luke's shoulder and I fell into the land of Morpheus.

Next day I woke up early and surprisingly enough from my own bed. I had slept well. Very well considering that I was in completely new place. Nevertheless, I put on fresh clothes and made my way out of the cabin. The morning was crisp and only a couple of people from the cabins of Demeter and Apollo were already awake. I walked up to the Big House and looked at the schedule posted on the noticeboard. It had the schedules of all the cabins in it. Well, an old summer schedule really. The winter one was basically everyone together unless you were more advanced than others. And naturally some of the activities that were obligatory were at different times so people could attend them if they so wished.

But now I was looking at what was going to be my timetable for the coming winter. Today I'd have Ancient Greek. With luck I'd be able to convince them that I don't need lessons. This was like back in the previous world: having instant understanding of the most useful language. After Greek was archery, then the lunch… Afterwards some sword fighting and an activity of own choice (art, Pegasus riding etc.) then dinner. That was the first day. Tomorrow would be wrestling and monster classes. Oh yippee…

We were going through some basics. Athena kids were teaching. I had several papers in front of me. On some was Ancient Greek writing. I remembered those alphabets by heart. Back home Luna had read aloud them over and over again when they first came up during math lesson (or was it algebra? Well, who cares?). Alfa, beeta, gamma, delta, epsilon, zeeta, eeta, theeta, ioota… And so on and so forth.

"Kappa, lambda, myy, nyy…" I mumbled as I really had nothing better to do. I was practicing my writing after all. Next to me was some words and names written in the regular alphabet. Including the names of the gods. That is until someone snatched the paper from underneath my elbow. I looked up sharply. It was Annabeth. Who else was as nosy?

"Your dyslexia is worse than I thought." She commented. "Or then you simply don't know how to write these."

"Would you kindly give them back?" I asked through my gritted teeth and I bet if this were a comic, there would've been a pulsing vein at my temple.

The girl regarded me for a moment. "No. I'm going to test you."

"Test?" I repeated while trying to reign my temper. She really pushed my buttons. Without even trying and I'd known her for a day only.

"Spelling test. Malcom, would you keep record?" She called to her sibling. Blonde, grey-eyed boy(naturally, he was Athena's kid) around my age or older nodded. "Great. I'm going to give you names to spell, Clay, and you are going to spell them for me letter by letter."

"I do know how spelling works, Betty." I replied cordially. She glared me for a moment.

"I told you not to call me 'Betty'." She snapped.

"And I decided not to listen. Betty." Before she could get any angrier, I prompted her to give the first name. And I decided to let the whole camp know not to make assumptions about me.

So she began giving me names from ancient Greek mythology. And at first it went quite well(in her opinion): Ares, Zeus, Hera, Artemis, Perseus, Herakles, Andromeda, Helen, Diomedes, Odysseus… Then there began to be differences.

"Apollo."

"A-P-O-L-L-O-N."

"Helen."

"H-E-L-E-N-A."

"Jason."

"I-A-S-O-N."

"Aphrodite."

"A-F-R-O-D-I-T-E." There was some snickers at that.

"Chiron."

"K-H-E-I-R-O-N."

"Charon."

"K-H-A-R-O-N."

And then some bigger differences.

"Athena."

"A-T-H-E-N-E."

"Troy."

"T-R-O-I-J-A."

"Hephaestus."

"H-E-F-A-I-S-T-O-S."

"That's it!" Annabeth slammed her hand on my desk. "You are failing on purpose to annoy me."

"No, I'm not." I replied blankly. "I'm not failing on purpose. Actually, I'm not failing at all."

"Liar." She hissed. "These are easy. Everyone else gets them. You are simply an idiot."

"No." I glared at her. "I'm simply not spelling them in English like you assumed, Birdbrain Betty."

She gave me completely flabbergasted look. Apparently she wasn't used in someone opposing her directly. Other than Clarisse that is.

"Did you just-…?" She was at loss of words.

"Insult you? As a matter of fact… yes, I did."

"What did you mean by not using English?" Malcom decided to intervene before either of us decided to gut the other.

"It means exactly what it means. I spelled them in a way of other language than English." I snarked. The boy raised his hands in surrender.

"Hey, chill… I'm just curious. Could you tell us what language you used? And possibly why too…"

"I could."

Silence followed a while. Then Malcom caught on.

"Would you also do so?"

"Fine…" I sighed and leaned back in my chair. "I used Finnish."

"Finnish?"

"Yes, Finnish. You know… native language of the country of Finland. Which is situated in Northern Europe between Sweden and Russia. You know… The home country of Santa Claus?"

"I thought Santa was Swedish." The boy stated.

"But Saint Nicholas is Russian!" Some kid shouted from the back of the class room.

"The lore is mixed up! Coca-Cola Company gave him the current appearance but Santa still lives in Finland." I sighed.

"But why?" Annabeth was back in the game. Unfortunately.

"Because my roots are Finnish. I was born and mostly raised in Finland. Thus Finnish is my first language. English is secondary one though I'm fairly proficient in it too." In my mind proficient equaled fluent.

"But you're a demigod!" Annabeth spluttered.

"So?"

"We are American."

"Truly?" I gave her a look. "I have a dual nationality but I don't identify myself as American. You silly English-speakers think so highly of yourselves. You think you have the right to meddle all around the world and what good has it done in the end? The history is blood-stained because of that interference."

"But you have an English name!"

"So has many other people around the world though they don't necessary even speak English."

"…" The blonde girl was obviously struggling to find next argument to prove her point.

"I understand Ancient Greek just fine. Why, just last week I read Homeros' Ilias… But I'm quite proficient in German, Swedish and Japanese." I shrugged before settling on glaring at the paper Annabeth had snatched from me. "Moreover I don't appreciate you taking my stuff despite you playing a teacher here."

The girl yelped when the paper caught fire. How I did it? I used my imagination. You know how you can set things on fire with sunlight and magnifying glass? Yeah, that was the theory. How I did it indoors with only my glare? Well, I was son of the sun god, right? (Sort of…) And humans do have lenses in their eyes – build in magnifying glasses really. So I used what I had. And the paper turned into ash in a matter of seconds.

"But no worries, Birdbrain Betty. I won't come on these lessons again." I gathered my stuff and simply walked out of the door into the chilly October air, with everyone staring after me.

"Hey, new kid!"

It was a girl's voice. Quite rough one at that. I bit my lip not that let out a sigh and turned slowly around. I knew this would come sooner or later but I'd hoped it'd be much later.

"Yes?" I asked politely. I bet my smile was nervous. After all this was the counselor of cabin five, Clarisse La Rue. The girl narrowed her eyes at me. I fought down the urge to step back.

"I heard you walked out of Wise Girl's lesson."

"I did." I nodded slowly, not averting my eyes from her. To my surprise, she smirked.

"I think I like you, runt."

I blinked. That was unexpected. "Okay…"

"I was thinking of giving you a swirly as the tradition states…" I high doubted tradition actually stated it but kept my mouth shut. "…but I think I'll rather give you a chance to prove yourself at Capture the Flag. You'll be at our team."

Well, one problem is solved now.

"Am I right in guessing that Athena cabin is leading the other team?"

"Yeah. And we are so going pummel them to ground."

"As long as I don't need to listen to orders from Birdbrain, I'm fine with it." I shrugged.

"Great. Tomorrow is the first strategy meeting. You better be there." Clarisse told me with a harsh glare that basically said 'or else'.

"Alright. I'll be there. When and where it'll be then?"

"Dining pavilion, right after last classes."

"'Kay." We both made a move to head to Archery lessons and ended up walking together. "By the way… The red splatters are wrong shade of red… If they are meant to imitate blood that is…"

Clarisse whipped her head to look at me quizzically. "What?"

"The coloring of your cabin. The red color is too orange-ish and cold. Blood-red is darker and warmer, almost rusty brown." I shrugged. "My sister paints a lot so I've heard my share of color-theory."

"…I thought you sister died." The daughter of war god frowned (and was quite tactless to be honest). "It's like a public secret around here."

I smirked. "Don't tell anyone but that's not true."

"Huh?"

"My sister is very much alive, currently attending Yancy Academy with the help of the funds we stole from your father…" At that Clarisse let out a surprised gasp which could decide whether be impressed or angry. "People think she is dead only because Kheiron interpreted my words as such. He asked me where she was when I mentioned her telling me to come here. I answered 'She didn't…' He assumed I meant she didn't make it."

"That's…" The girl grinned. "Fucking brilliant."

"Ain't it so?" I grinned back. "But seriously don't tell anyone, 'kay?"

"You can count on me, runt."

"Hey, I'm taller than you."

"How did you steal money from my father again?"

"You see…" And I proceeded in telling the tale. It was weird how one simply bonded with people. I certainly hadn't expected to make an acquaintance with Clarisse.

I had my bow (yeah, it was a tsuru actually but because everyone kept calling it a bow I decided to use it too) drawn and I was taking an aim at the target board at a fair distance. Fair distance being twenty meters. It was alright I supposed. Some targets were closer and some further, depending on the skill level. Some Apollo kids were using the furthest targets while there still was some campers on the closest ones too. I'd gone straight to the twenty meter targets despite Chiron telling me to start with easier ones. Bah, I thought. I knew my limits. I could assess what I was able to do and what needed improvement.

Chiron was making his way towards me right when I let go of my arrow. It whizzed through the air and embed itself in the target, on the right edge of the bull's eye. I purposely let it 'miss'. I didn't want too much attention after all.

I drew next arrow from my quiver when the centaur stopped by me.

"Clay, I told you to use the closer targets, didn't I?" The archery instructor told me gently but firmly.

"I suppose you did…" I replied nonchalantly as I took aim again and let the arrow hit a bit above the bull's eye. "But I knew they were too close to me. If it were mounted archery, they'd be just fine but seeing as I've not gotten acquainted with the equines of this place…"

"And I heard you also walked out of Ancient Greek lesson today." The centaur continued. I gave him a sideways glance before letting go of my third arrow. This one hit the half-way point of bull's eye and the left side of the target.

"They were turning it into English spelling test for me. And I know my Greek well enough already. I can – though – give you a written report of it if it means I don't need to go on the lessons anymore."

Chiron nodded slowly and turned his gaze on the target.

"Have you practiced long?" He asked me.

"Since I was eight." After shrinking for the first time that is. "I had a mentor, Kuroto-san, who taught me. I learned Yabusame so I'm used to keep moving while taking an aim." I explained and reached for my fourth arrow. This time it hit the middle of the middle circle.

"I guess you got your bow from him too…"

"Yes…" I eyed the centaur warily. I could see he was trying to calculate who my godly parent was. He wasn't going to bet on Apollo straight-away apparently. Well, good for me.

"You seem to have international connections then."

"Yeah. Thanks to dad." I smiled. At the horse-man's questioning gaze, I added: "Mortal dad. But that's hardly the point now, is it? He is only dad I need. The best one there is."

He couldn't help but smile at my words. I guess there wasn't many demigods who were in good terms with their parents… The one who'd been with a god/goddess and the one who hadn't.

Sword lesson was horrible. I wasn't awful, having sparred with Heiji at kendou (well, he hit me with takemitsu and I tried to block) but it could've gone better too. I was against some Demeter campers and did decently. I was just happy I didn't get trashed by Luke or some other more experienced camper. Gods forbid it, if I'd been put against Ares or Athena campers…

That night on dinnertime I sacrificed food to Apollo and asked not to be claimed. I told in my prayer that I rather wanted to get to know people without then labelling me and thus making assumptions. I got the feeling he listened.

Next day went so and so… I hated wrestling. Clarisse took the opportunity to pummel me to the ground and not even my experience in Taekwondo helped me. My moves were apparently too sophisticated for her. The jerk. I did, however, get Travis Stoll down before taking on Connor. The duo was impressed by my skills and were probably planning already how to use them in their favor.

"Which side did the Hermes cabin choose?" I asked the brothers when we were heading for showers.

"The claimed ones were picked up by Athena cabin." Connor told me. "The unclaimed ones are still mingling about but many of them are going to be in the blue team."

"I see. We are gonna be enemies then." I grinned. This made the brothers stop.

"You're in red team?" Travis gaped. "How? They never take newbies."

"Apparently I managed to impress Clarisse." I shrugged.

"Sweet…"

It was the time for the first strategy meeting. Or war council like one of Clarisse's brothers called it. I didn't remember his name yet. There wasn't much of us yet. Five Areses, Three Apollos, eight unclaimed/minor god ones(including me), the Dionysus twins and one from Hephaestus (Beckendorf). There was no Demeter kids at the camp and the only Aphrodite camper here (Silena) was in the Athena team that also had Hermes and rest of the unclaimed/minor god ones. The recruiting had been very fast and in the end we were quite balanced teams number-wise. I realized that the amount of campers during the capture of the flag wouldn't be nowhere near this… because so many had run to Kronos' troops. I swallowed down the bitter taste that threatened to rise up my throat and sat down at the end of the table with Lee Fletcher and Beckendorf. The Ares cabin was assembled at the other end of the table and Clarisse was standing and assessing all of us. Then she gave us a feral grin.

"Alright, punks, time to out-plan the geeks and flatten them to the ground." She told us. We cheered so loud they probably heard us at the other side of Long Island.

The next week was spent on lessons, planning, out-planning, changing plans when we discovered Birdbrain spying on us, and returning to the old plans. Ha, I bet they won't expect us to use the plans they spied on. With a few tweaks of course… But the days flew by and then it was finally the time for the grand game.

Beckendorf was guarding the flag. Castor and Pollux were guarding him. As it was winter, plant didn't grow and even if the twins had managed to get some vines to stop intruders… Well, those plants would be weak from cold. The flag itself was hung between two trees. It was just so high that you either needed to jump of climb on other person's shoulders to get it but otherwise it was relatively easy to yank free. It was skirting the rules really… but ensured that no one could just sneak-'n'-dash. The Ares cabin was in two groups with some unclaimed with them (groups were 3+2 and 2+3). They'd scout the flanks and take out anyone coming our territory. The Apollo's (Lee, Michael and Kayla) were lifted high in the trees midway to the border and were each facing different direction. I in the other hand had two from cabin eleven with me. Lou Ellen, daughter of Hecate, and Samuel Lucas who was unclaimed. We were to be the spies or attack group to get the flag that was most likely a top of the Zeus Fist. Or the pile of rock poop as we privately knew it as. I was in because of my aim, Lou Ellen because of her prowess in spells and Samuel because he was damn good runner. I wouldn't be surprised if he turned out to be Hermes' child.

The horn was blown into and the game began. I warned everyone watch out for Annabeth and her invisibility cap. It was an old trick that everyone was tired of. The opposing team always had to be on a lookout for it whether it was used or not. It was almost cheating in our opinion. The three groups were on the move. We did our best to hide our presence in the snow. The three of us hand white coats and loose pants made out of old bed sheets. Snow suits. Simple but effective. We managed to avoid two scouting pairs by going flat against the snow that had come early this year. They saw nothing. And apparently the Blue Team was sending out pairs to cover as much forest as possible.

But we went on. In the distance we heard the Ares kids taking on the enemy. I smiled. With five against pairs like this the opponent had no chances.

"They're trying to sneak past us." Lou Ellen stated. "Pairs are less noticeable…"

"Yeah… but weaker." I stated. "They have four Athenas, Silena, six Hermes kids and seven others from cabin eleven… Most likely they have one Athena by the flag, Birdbrain sneaking and third one directing the troops… The rest are divided in pairs to look for the flag or in trios to keep defense. I guess two defense groups are max… Or then they are pulling some nasty surprise."

"At least we have Beckendorf's traps on our side." Samuel sighed.

"Yeah…" We wandered towards the rock formation before ducking underneath some leafless bush between two snowbanks.

"Alright… What's the plan?" Samuel asked and I realized that they were both looking at me. The Zeus' Fist was right in front of us.

"Why are you asking me?"

"Because you are smart. Honestly, if you had grey eyes and bit lighter hair color, I'd beg you for Athena kid." Lou Ellen told me. I stared at her blankly.

"I'm eternally grateful that I'm not. I wouldn't stand a minute at that bird nest." I told her seriously and we had to muffle our laughter into the snow so we wouldn't be spotted. When we gathered our bearings, I glanced at the grey flag atop of the rock. I had a plan. Sort of.

"We go from the side. They are guarding the front, left and behind currently. Lou, can you put any of the guards asleep?"

"One or two…" The girl frowned at the two cabin eleven kids with Malcom. "I'm not that good with the sleep spell yet. I rather not give any permanent damage."

I turned to look at the guards. The female guard was the one who'd been unpleasant to me when I'd arrived and ever since looked down at me with scorn. The boy… I didn't recognize him but I could see he was Hermes'.

"Samuel, you take down Malcom, be quick with it. Lou, you get the girl. I'll handle what's-his-face…Whoever is done first, climbs to grab the flag." The other two nodded. "When we are done, we take the flag and get going as fast as possible while keeping it down. Unless they manage to alert their team mates. Then we run and fast. I trust our archers to take down any pursuers. Samuel, you have the flag. You run. Damn fast. Lou and I will take down people approaching us. Got it?" Nods again. "Great."

We moved to the right and struck. Lou's spell took down the female guard immediately and she climbed on the rock to the blue flag. Samuel attacked Malcom while I swiftly hit the side of the neck of the last guard. Malcom managed to shout an alarm before he was defeated.

"Let's go!" I yelled as I could already hear Athena cabin ordering people to fall back to get the flag back. Lou threw the flag to Samuel who shot forward like a bullet. He dodged trees and campers that Lou and I made stumble in the snow and slow down effectively. We were heading towards the border when I noticed something from the corner of my eye. Our red flag was moving too.

"Annabeth…"I growled. I had a good guess that she'd gotten Luke to hoist her up while our guards had been occupied with rest of their team. With a quick count I realized it was entirely possible. At least if they had only one defense trio. Or something. My brain was too jumbled up at the moment to handle numbers. I could see the tree where our archers were.

"Lou, guard Samuel." I told the witch girl next to me.

"What are you…" Her voice faltered as she spotted out flag swerving to the side while approaching the border at distance.

"I'll take care of that one." Then I took a deep breath and shouted one of our code words. "OBJECTION!"

It basically meant fire at will, we got their flag but need time, they got our flag, do anything to hinder enemy backup. And all that at once.

"TAKE THAT!" Was answered all around the woods as our scouting quintets emerged, chasing after the sneaky blue-pairs. I took off to the direction of our flag. Thankfully I was faster runner that Annabeth and had decided to forgo the armor in favor of speed.

I crossed the creek and ran right at the invisible girl, tackling her to the ground.

"Aah!" She shouted, her Yankees cap flying out of her head and the flag slipping out of her hands. I sat on her stomach and took the flag to myself.

"Tough luck, Betty. Red Flag is quite well seen in white background." I grinned down at her and then took a hold on her wrist with my free hand. She'd tried to stab me with her dagger. Luke was approaching us in order to help Annabeth but in his hurry managed to hit one of our traps. Greek fire exploded on his left, forcing him to hit the deck.

The conch horn was blown when the grey flag with an owl turned into silver one with caduceus. At the same time that same symbol appeared above Samuel's head: he was claimed.

"We won. How's that?"

She just glared at me before trying to shove me away. I just laughed. I hadn't had anything this fun in ages.

A/N: Next chapter will have Luna in it. And December is approaching. That much I can promise. Timelinewise Luke's quest has been approx. six months ago by the way.

I just reread the Lightning Thief... Apparently Annabeth got her cap on her twelfth birthday... Now she is ten or something... Damn, I need to draw up a timeline for myself...

Suggestions concerning this fic are welcome. I'll definitely need something to fill the days as long as nothing too drastic happens with the vague plotline I have in my head...

Replies to Reviews():

-Grace F:
Exactly that. I'll update those two when I get to write next chapters... Right now my attention is a bit divided though...
Thank you very much. I'll do my best. :)