Maddie got up bright and early the next morning. Today was the day that everyone had been telling her about since she first arrived at camp. Capture the flag! Apparently, it was some old camp tradition that pitted the cabins against each other in a test of skills, strength, and strategy. Everyone kept talking about it and she couldn't wait to see what all the excitement was about.

Things were better after Marcus had watched over her yesterday. He seemed to have told some of their friends and they all agreed to make sure that Maddie wasn't to go anywhere alone from now on. She wasn't going to complain, after all she was used to it, mother had always had the same rule whenever they went out into the town. She felt a lot happier and safer knowing that her friends were with her. Though...she would be lying if she wasn't nervous about the fact that they may be near her on the battlefield today. If she hurt one of them like she hurt Marcus the other day…

She shook her head to get rid of the thought. No. I will control it this time! Now that I know it's supposed to happen I don't have to be scared of it! Then I'll have control! Right…?

She quickly dressed for the day and hurried to the pavilion where the group said they were going to meet her. They were gonna get a quick breakfast and then start getting ready for the big battle today. The two cabins in charge of the battle today were the Demeter cabin and the Hecate cabin, Marcus and the others had already agreed to join the Hecate side.

That was another thing that was really cool about the camp. Even though you might be claimed by your godly parent already, campers were able to choose their alliance for events such as these. So you could be a child of Hecate but not side with the rest of your cabin mates and join the Demeter side. It was kind of weird overall but Maddie liked it. It meant that she could always be on her friend's team no matter what, or she could be on the team of her favorite god.

She got to the pavilion to see Aaron and Hunter already there. They waved and she quickly trotted over to them.

"There you are! Here! Ta Da!" Aaron immediately held out the spear that she had used in the fight the other day. It had been shortened down so it was less awkward for her to hold and it had been freshly polished so the celestial bronze at the top was sparkling.

Maddie took it with wide eyes of amazement. She had to struggle not to drop it immediately though when she felt her mind switching again.

"Thank you." She said with awe and carefully placed it down on a nearby table. When given a questioning look from the boys she smiled back awkwardly, "I just don't want to get it dirty or break it before today." She said hoping that they wouldn't ask any more questions.

"So I think the plan for today's battle is that we're going to have three teams, front lines, defense, and distraction. Distraction, from what I hear, is probably going to be a lot of illusions and magic so Dolos kids are probably going to be mainly in charge of that. Personally, I think that Marcus, Alicia, and I should be front lines. Maddie, you might want to stay on defense since it's your first battle." Aaron sat down at the table and started eating as he explained the strategy to them.

"What do you mean by that? You think I can't be in the front lines with you guys?" Hunter's brown eyes glared dangerously at Aaron.

"Never said that. I just think for this battle in particular, you may want to hang back."

"Yeah, fat chance buddy. Make Kelly babysit the newbie. What is she doing in your grand mind might ask?"

"Kelly is definitely on the distraction team. Her magic is getting more powerful everyday. I'm not saying you're babysitting. We all saw yesterday, Maddie can definitely hold her own if she needs to. I'm just saying that against the Demeter kids you'd be better off hanging back."

"Unless I get a direct order from the head of the Hecate cabin, I'm doing whatever I want. You're not the boss of me."

"Alright. So how about you stay back Hunter? It works best for what we're aiming to do."

Maddie watched Aaron struggling to hold back laughter as they stood around with the head of the Hecate cabin, Ashley. Hunter's face went red with fury. He opened his mouth to protest but immediately shut it, instead settling for a glare at Aaron and mumbling "shut up."

"You ready for your first real battle Maddie? I'm still upset I didn't get to see you destroy Marcus yesterday. Anyone who can knock that dork down a few pegs is good in my books." Alicia gave Maddie a pat on the back and smiled widely down at her.

"I...It was an accident…' Maddie said quietly and Alicia just laughed in response.

"You're such a sweetheart. Once you've been through a few battles you'll be saying you beat Marcus with pride. He's a big strong man, if he's annoyed that you defeated him then he's got bigger problems."

"Alicia I would appreciate it if you didn't make me seem like a wimp."

Alicia turned around and stuck her tongue out at Marcus and then began to laugh brightly.

"We should go get into position. Game will be starting soon," Marcus led the group towards the forest. The group talked, joked, and laughed as they made their way out to their side of the field. Maddie tried to join in, but holding the spear was not making it easy. The only way she was able to get from point A to point B right now was because of the group distracting her. Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts. Just like mother always said. Happy. Happy.

Maddie was stationed close to the flag, which they were hiding in a tree. She was about thirty or so feet away. Close enough that she could see the flag area if she needed to but far enough away so that it wasn't blatantly obvious as to where the flag was in proximity to where she stood. Marcus had protested at first when he found out she was going to be alone but Ashely had assured him that there were going to be other campers near and around her, hiding so she wasn't really alone. Apparently a lot of campers tended to try and go after newbies so Maddie was supposed to be a bait of sorts. She was fine with this and agreed with Ashley that she would be fine. Marcus had reluctantly accepted it.

As soon as she got to her position she threw down the spear and let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. She was confident that she would be fine. Even though she was supposed to be "bait" she wasn't scared, strangely enough. She knew that her teammates were near, even if she couldn't really see them.

I just gotta stay and patrol this area. Fight anyone who comes my way, or at least try, and then the others will join me and help. Easy peasy.

Maddie wasn't really sure what to do. Sure, her job was to patrol but when the cannons fired, announcing the beginning of the game, she just kind of awkwardly stood around. She continuously walked around, examining every corner around her a thousand times over but nothing happened. Every so often a shout or an explosion would come for the distance that would make her jump. Overall though, she was just by herself, hanging out and enjoying the nature surrounding her.

A large shout then came from only a couple yards away, screaming "Backup!" Maddie watched as a few campers that had been hiding in the trees around her suddenly jumped down.

"Stay here! We're gonna go help the others!" One of the older girls yelled over her shoulder at Maddie as she charged off. Maddie watched them all go and anxiously started playing with her hair. Now she was actually alone. Not that big of a deal. It's fine. The others will take care of it and then come right back. I'll be fine by myself for a few minutes. She went back to pacing around, though now she was a little more tense.

When she heard the rustling behind her, she immediately stopped and turned around.

"Plan worked like a charm, wouldn't you say guys?"

She wanted to run.

It was Michael and two of his friends again. They were slowly approaching her just like before.