Chapter Fourteen | KITTY ELLIS
WHOEVER'S IDEA IT WAS TO PLAY Capture the Flag four days after the defense of Olympus must've been either mad, or a genius. As far as Kitty was concerned, the jury was still out. Still, she couldn't wait to see the kind of chaos that would ensue since Percy and Annabeth had been made opposing team captains.
It hadn't been hard to convince Chiron that it'd be good for camp morale to see those two go at it. It also hadn't been hard to convince Mr. D that it would be incredibly entertaining to watch Percy lose. If Kitty was going to be playing Capture the Flag so soon after nearly dying a dozen times, she wanted to have some fun doing it.
Huddled around the grey owl banner of Cabin 6, Kitty looked at the other campers. Connor and Travis stood on Annabeth's left, the latter with his arms crossed while his brother gestured through the trees. On Annabeth's other side stood a quiet Will Solace. Their three cabins had a long-standing agreement in Capture the Flag games, and today was no different.
"I'll move in and take the flag," Annabeth said. She turned to the Stoll brothers. "You two will serve as a distraction. Take half of Cabin 11 and half of Cabin 7 and go look for the flag." She turned to her half-siblings.
"We'll need to watch out for Percy," Malcolm said. "Leave Clarisse to me. She's easy to provoke. But Percy's smart. And invincible."
Kitty smiled. "Me and Alex will take Percy."
The campers all turned around to look at her where she'd been leaning against a tree trunk. She noticed Alex stiffen beside her. But she'd been serious.
"Lucky for Percy, he's invulnerable to weapons," Kitty said. She pushed off the tree and moved closer to the crudely drawn map in the dirt where two acorns represented the two different flags. She smirked, tossing her coin up in the air. "Would be a shame if he tripped and fell down some ditches or something."
Malcolm frowned, shifting from foot to foot and folding his arms over his chest. "You sure?"
"We can handle him." Alex mirrored Malcolm's stance. "Just make sure no one else gets to our flag. Ophelia," he said, turning to her. "Play decoy?"
It had been awhile since Kitty had seen either Alex or Ophelia smile. But apparently the prospect of friendly, and heated, competition, perhaps a return to a sense of normalcy, really did help morale.
"Just point me in the right direction," she said to Annabeth. Her manipulation of the Mist often meant she would protect a false flag.
"Zeus's Fist," Alex said.
The other campers froze. Even Kitty paused at the suggestion. But Alex had that grim look of determination on his face that he always got when he decided on a course of action, one he had no intention of changing. Connor and Travis both let out scoffs while Malcolm rolled his eyes. The Apollo campers, other than Will, vocally objected at the stupidity.
"Fine, you don't want the decoy there?" Alex shrugged. "Then I need to borrow Ophelia. Annabeth, do you still have that shield device?" When she nodded, one of her siblings raised it over his head. "Great," said Alex. "Find me Percy."
They placed their flag as far away from any water as possible. Annabeth wasn't as big a fan of leaving themselves open to chance as Kitty was. But she didn't care. She and Alex would keep Percy out of the mix. Then it would be up to their friends in Cabins 6, 7, and 11 to execute whatever brilliant scheme Annabeth came up with.
Kitty followed Alex and Ophelia as they crowded around Daedalus's video shield. It didn't take long for Jenny, a young daughter of Athena, to manipulate the device to find Percy. As expected, he kept close to the river. As much as he could, anyway. They'd positioned the flag near a large pond fed by the central river. Percy stood about twenty feet beyond it. He shifted from foot to foot, unable to stand still, glancing at each shadow and wringing his hands.
Alex smirked down at the image. Then he glanced up. "O, give me and Kitty ten minutes to reach Zeus's Fist. Then go grab him." He nodded at Kitty once. "You good with this?"
"Am I?" Kitty grinned. She'd never seen Alex have a crazier plan in his life. "I love it. Let's go."
The closest water source to Zeus's Fist was the creek. That had to be at least a half mile away, assuming the creekbed nearest to them had water in it at all. In the height of August, who knew. Few plants grew around the rock formation, thanks to Kampê's burial sight and the unwillingness of nymphs and Demeter kids could set foot anywhere near there. That would give Alex plenty of room to cross swords with Percy, and Kitty could climb Zeus's Fist for a better vantage point.
As they broke out into the clearing, Alex paused to catch his breath, barely sparing the two massive piles of boulders a glance. Kitty, though, hadn't been back in months. Shivers crawled up her spine at the way the red, blue, and gold sunset provided an eerily beautiful backdrop to where so many of their friends had been killed a year ago.
"We just need to give Annabeth time to get the flag," Alex said.
Kitty tore her eyes away from where the Hundred-Handed One had buried Kampê alive as Alex tucked himself in the shadow of Zeus's Fist. He drew his sword, glancing into the polished celestial bronze for several moments.
They could do this. Kitty took a deep breath. They had to do this.
Scaling Zeus's Fist took a bit of effort, but she found hand holds. Most had been there for ages. She remembered clambering up the sides hundreds of times in previous games. Too bad such a perfect Capture the Flag base location had become so tainted.
At the top, Kitty settled onto her stomach. She could see to the edge of the clearing, no problem. Below her, Alex concealed himself in the darkest shadows cast by Zeus's Fist. If she hadn't known him so well, she might've missed him.
Her heart pounded in her chest. Lying on the rocks hurt a bit, shards of stone from where Kampê's draconic claws had cracked and splintered it littering the surface. But she ignored it. Instead, she focused on the ground. Shouldn't be long until-
A muffled snap in the air and explosion of darkness heralded Ophelia's arrival. She wasted no time in letting go of a shouting Percy.
"Really?" Percy said. Then he doubled over, clutching his stomach. "Gods, I hate Shadow-Travel."
Ophelia smiled. She waved her fingers at him in a tiny goodbye. Then she faded back into nothingness, gone as quickly as she'd appeared.
"Should've brought Mrs. O'Leary," he muttered. Hands on his hips, he shook his head.
Kitty watched as Percy turned to look around. His black hair blew in the wind that had started to pick up around them and she could see the brilliant sea-green of his eyes widen ever so slightly. She wondered if he'd been back to this spot since the Battle of the Labyrinth. Probably not. It held bad memories for everyone. Kitty flattened down a bit more, holding Tyche's coin in her right hand close to her face.
As with every time she looked at Percy's luck, the colors around him swirled like a rapid, living tangle of black and gold threads. She couldn't see Alex. But she saw Percy's golden threads begin to fade, and she figured Alex would get the jump on him.
He did. With a grunt, Percy went tumbling to the ground. Kitty watched Alex get himself back into position after kicking him from the shadows, a small smirk on his face and sword out at the ready. More gold than black twisted around her friend, but he seemed to exist in the state of uncertainty that she'd gotten used to seeing around Percy and Annabeth.
She didn't know what messing with his luck, or Percy's, would do. But she had to try.
"One on one, Percy." Alex said. He let him recover, standing up off the ground, wiping dirt off his face. "Me and you."
"Maybe you should've brought more," Percy said. But he drew riptide, smiling right back. "How many times have I beaten you?"
"Annabeth thinks I'll win."
"What?" Percy scoffed. "No way."
Kitty couldn't help but marvel at both of their forms. She knew how to fight with a sword. She wasn't great at it, was even worse at archery, and frankly didn't care to be much better. But she could appreciate good technique when she saw it. And Alex and Percy were the best.
Every so often, Kitty forced through the pain in her head as she leeched luck from Percy and caused him to trip on an exposed stone, skid on loose dirt, or duck just a bit too short from a left hook Alex threw. She could see him getting angrier by the minute.
Alex didn't have invincibility but his father was the god of athletes. With each clash of their bronze weapons, tiny sparks lit up the air. Percy was an immovable object, blessed skin deflecting any blow that managed to find purchase. Alex was an unstoppable force, twisting and bending and utilizing the environment to keep Percy on his toes.
Any time Percy's aura began to glow gold, Kitty shut it down. She could feel her own luck growing and growing, a warm buzz cascading over her entire body. She found the perfect position to lay down in. The wind stopped blowing her blue hair into her eyes. Between Alex's swordsmanship and her manipulation, Percy never had time to concentrate. He never had time to pull the distant water his way.
And without his water, Alex could match his skill. They'd both trained under Luke. Alex had trained longer. As she lay atop Zeus's Fist and watched their duel, she couldn't help but remember those first few days when Percy had been in their cabin. She remembered Alex's words to him at their first training system.
"Good luck," he had said. "Luke's the best swordsman in the last three hundred years."
Alex had worshipped Luke. Then again, so had much of Cabin 11. Especially the unclaimed kids. Kitty had been neither a child of Hermes like Alex nor unclaimed like Chris, but even she had found herself agreeing with him whenever he talked about how great Luke was.
Then this unclaimed kid in camp for only a couple of days had disarmed their counselor. At the time, she'd said it had to be Beginner's Luck. As a child of Tyche, she knew about such things. The cabin listened to her, all too eager to preserve their idol's supremacy in the sword fighting department. Now, she knew better.
Alex didn't try to disarm Percy, not this time. A good tactical move. If he could keep Percy armed, he might not spend energy on summoning the creek. After all, its not like a slash to the hand would do anything to him.
She tugged on Percy's luck once more. He overstepped, ankle twisting in some sort of animal burrow. Alex seized the opportunity. Even though Percy managed to raise Riptide in defense, it left him open to a second attack. Alex kneed him in the chest.
"It's ok, Percy. Can't win em all," Alex said, backing away. Goading him. Keeping him away from trying to find water. "Come on. It's a wonder Luke always warned us about your sword skills."
Percy groaned, but stood up, regaining composure quickly. He brushed the dirt off his knees and tested putting weight on his foot. But then he pointed Riptide at Alex's chest. "Glad I lived rent-free in your minds. Gave you and Luke something to talk about."
Even in the deep shadows of late sunset, Kitty saw Alex's demeanor shift. He went from competitive to angry. And before she knew what had happened, he drove forward, knocking Percy off balance and twisting his blade around Riptide's hilt. With a hard, downward thrust, he knocked the blade from Percy's hand, sending it flying off into the dark.
Their auras shifted immediately. Still swirling, still a combination of black and gold, Percy's began to glow, to shift, to brighten. Alex elbowed him in the face with a move that would've broken anyone else's nose. Percy scrambled back, weaponless. But she watched as Alex's luck changed moment to moment from good to bad.
She concentrated on Percy. She tried to leech away his luck, but she couldn't. He must've reached out to the creek already. She couldn't stop him from summoning the water. So instead, she turned to Alex. He had finally realized his mistake. Gritting his teeth, he glanced around at the slow rumbling in the trees. His aura turned almost completely grey.
Kitty had no interest in getting hit with a wall of water summoned by the son of Poseidon. She scrambled down the back of Zeus's Fist, landing unharmed at the base just as water smashed into the front. The way water sprayed off the rocks reminded her of ocean waves hitting a cliff. Kitty released a long, tense breath.
She could hear Alex coughing and sputtering around front. When she reached him, he lay propped up on his side on waterlogged earth, his clothes, hair, skin drenched. Percy stood over him, Riptide back in hand in pen form.
His eyes were wide, staring down at Alex struggling in the moonlight. Kitty skidded by his side. He pushed her away, insisting between choked coughs that he was fine. But Percy didn't move. She couldn't help but wonder if he was thinking the same thing she was. In the chaos and the dark and the anger, Alex had looked so much like Luke.
She glanced at Percy. He met her gaze. Neither of them spoke as Alex picked himself off the ground.
The shadows rapidly deepened around them. In an instant, Ophelia reappeared, grinning from ear to ear. "We won."
Percy groaned, slipping his pen back in his pocket. He shook his head. "Annabeth will never let me hear the end of this."
Kitty laughed. "No, she won't." Patting Alex on the back, she half pushed him forward. "Come on. Campfire awaits. I for one am very much looking forward to seeing Clarisse and Katie have to serve me marshmallows tonight." Then she glanced at Percy. "Good game, Jackson."
He huffed, but a tiny smile broke through. "I should've known you were around here."
"Yeah, well." Kitty winked. "Can't win em all, as Alex said."
"I can give us a lift back," Ophelia said. She looked Alex up and down, clearly amused at the way water still dripped off of him like he'd just had a shower fully clothed. "Unless you'd rather walk, Percy?"
Not even Kitty wanted to walk through the entire forest and chance a monster attack when they could just teleport. When they rematerlized on the edge of the trees, they found their Blue Team celebrating, Connor and Travis stoll holding Annabeth up between their shoulders as she carried Percy's sea-green Cabin 3 Trident banner.
"Oh head's up," Percy said, while they walked over. "Apollo's here. Knowing him, he'll want to be at the center of attention. Don't say anything that he'll want to turn lyrical. Please. I'm begging you."
Even Alex had to laugh at that. Letting Clarisse and the rest of Cabin 5 tear Percy to shreds over their loss, Kitty just turned to Ophelia and Alex. It was nice to see them both looking better. Though she had to admit, for a moment there, Alex had reminded her a bit too much of Luke.
