Much to Lily's disappointment, that was the last time she ever saw Percy.

Nah, she was kidding, but it was the last time she was able to have a conversation with him. Chiron had chosen as many activites as he could to fill up Percy's schedule, besides studying Ancient Greek with Annabeth, that is. Wrestling, archery, foot-racing, canoeing, etc. and Lily knew that it was because Chiron wanted to get take the attention off Percy. She knew that ever since the bathroom accident, he was cautious of who Percy's parent might be and that the new-found attention he was getting was not good—if you got what she was saying.

It was only after Luke started teaching Percy how to swordfight that Lily found time to actually see Percy. They were only brief glances, however. Most times, she would be making her way towards the woods or the strawberry fields—because where else would the daughter of Demeter go—and she would hear the clang of swords, and (ignoring her racing heart, something she had yet to understand) looked up, hoping to see an unruly mop of ebony hair. Since Luke was teaching Percy defensive fighting, with a dash of offensive here and there, she would generally see Luke's sandy hair and drenched shirt, causing her to wrinkle her nose in disgust.

By the time capture the flag rolled around, Lily was a jittery ball of nerves who kept getting glares from her siblings' every time her knee accidentally knocked the table.

"Sorry," Lily muttered half-heartedly, for what felt like fifteenth time, awkwardly stabbing her salad with her fork.

Her siblings only rolled their eyes or muttered under their breath before continuing to eat their dinner. No one bothered to comment on Lily's anxiety; capture the flag was a big deal for her.

During capture the flag, there were no limits on what you were allowed to do. The only rule was that you weren't allowed to kill or maim another camper. So, if you were a child who had stronger 'powers', you were allowed to use them to their full extent. Something that Lily had only recently discovered and something that the Aries and Athena cabin was quick to fight over. No matter which team her cabin was put on, she constantly remained as a defender, her vines trapping anyone who stepped to close to the flag.

As soon as the plates cleared and the conch horn sounded, the tables emptied as everyone ran to grab their team flag or to gather into teams. It was easy to block out all the screams and shouts that were coming from around her. After all, she had learned how to ignore Clarisse.

"Damn," Lily muttered when her chocolate brown eyes landed on a mop of unruly hair. She had been dying to see Percy's skills the moment Mindy had run in shouting that he had beaten Luke. It was too bad that he was on the other team, though. Maybe she could try and convince Clarisse to let her play offense this game.

With two rough stamps of his hoof, Chiron had silenced the two opposing teams.

"Heroes! You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game," Lily's eyes caught Percy's as they flickered to her and she smirked at him, internally laughing when his eyes widened before turning his attention back to Chiron, "All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoner may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as the referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!"

Lily didn't waste a second to grab the small breastplate and arm guards that laid on the table in front of her, among the copious amounts of armor. She had gotten rather cocky in when it came to arming herself, knowing that she could take anyone down with the flick of her wrist. It wasn't long before the conch horn sounded again and Clarisse ordered everyone to 'march forward'.

With a few slips in between younger campers and sharp glares towards older ones, Lily quickly made her way up to the front and stood next to Clarisse, trying to ignore the pungent smell that was wafting off her. Lily wanted to gag and guessed that the last time she took a shower was when Percy hosed her down.

"Hey, um, Clarisse?" Lily began and ignored the sharpness of Clarisse's 'what?', "I was wondering if I could be offense tonight? Because, ya know, I can do—"

"Sure, whatever." Clarisse snapped and Lily blanked for a moment, not comprehending that Clarisse had actually agreed to her offer, "Tangle that Jackson kid in some vines so he can't get away."

Lily blinked.

No, that wasn't her plan actually.

"Sure," Lily nodded, smiling brightly to make it seem more realistic. Clarisse must've found her irrelevant because the next thing she knew; she had been pushed back into the group.

Once the flag was in position and the game actually started, Lily wasn't sure what to do. For the past four years, she either climbed up a tree and trapped unsuspecting victims in vines and flowers or just sat next to the flag, doing the same thing. Now that she wasn't guarding a flag, she didn't know where to start. Standing idly in the middle of a field, twirling a loose strand of hair, Lily decided that the best way to find Percy was to head towards the creek.

It was basically a stroll in the park, or it was until a golden arrowed planted itself in the tree in front of Lily with enough force to crack the bark. Whipping around, Lily clenched her hands as she stared at the older Apollo girl.

"Jenny."

"Lily," The two girls greeted one another, both eying each other warily. While Lily's eyes were fixated on the bow and the arrow that was currently notched, Jenny was staring at Lily's hands.

"You sure you wanna… fight?" Lily shrugged awkwardly, "I could just tell you where the flag is."

"Don't play games with me," Jenny snapped, pulling her arm back farther.

"Well, this is a game," Lily tried to joke and winced when Jenny glared at her, dropping two fingers off the bow and pulling her shoulders back a little more. Lily sighed, realizing that Jenny wasn't going to let her off and grumbled.

"Fine," She muttered and flicked her wrist up while curving her other hand so that it looked like it was doing a slanted karate-chop. The familiar tingling in her fingers strengthened as a large root coiled itself around Jenny's feet, effectively trapping her, while twelve bellflower plants wrapped themselves tightly around her body.

It was quicker than what Lily had originally expected. Most campers put up a good fight for at least fifteen to forty-five minutes, but Lily often forgot that the newer campers tended to go after her first. They were called a 'distraction' for Lily because both teams knew that she could take them down if she really wanted to.

In fact, Lily could be her own team if she wanted. She wouldn't need anyone to count on and nobody could screw her over… she could beat them all. Lily gently shook her head, blinking harshly as she tried to clear her mind.

"They should let go in about fifteen minutes," Lily said, turning and running down a trail that she knew led to the creek, ignoring Jenny's shouts of frustration from behind her. There was no way she could relax now, not when she knew that the other team was actually going to try and attack her.

By the time Lily stumbled to the creek, she was a panting mess and ducking behind the tall grass. It was only when she took note of the red drops staining the rocks and pebbles around her, she looked up. To be frank, Percy was a mess. A very bloody, struggling mess.

His hair was standing straight up—and Lily automatically knew that he had been hit by Clarisse's spear, blood was pouring out of a cut on his arm, and he kept stumbling over his own feet as two of the three Aries campers cornered him. But, Lily was surprised that he had managed to hold them off for that long and, looking at the crumpled body on the ground, disable one of them.

A soft, sharp gasp Lily's lips when she noticed that the third kid was creeping behind Percy. Still, in the cover of the brush, she reached her left hand forward, palm up, and slowly lifted it. Nobody but herself seemed to notice the little, mossy vines that began to grow off the algae from the rocks. Twisting her hand clockwise, she forced the vines to wrap themselves around the third person and yank him back, trapping him against the rocks.

"Lilliana!" Clarisse howled as she caught sight of her impaired player, "What are you doing?"

Lily didn't bother to respond. Instead, she lifted her hand once more and rubbed her fingers softly together, giggling as the second camper slipped on a large patch of algae. A sudden sharp crack drew her attention away from the Aries kid and her jaw dropped as the head of Clarisse's spear clattered against the ground, her screams stopping as Percy smacked her with the hilt of his sword between her eyes. Lily could've cared less about the cheers and screams that suddenly surrounded her, her eyes zeroing in on where Percy once had a cut.

But it was gone.

SUH-PRISE!

Sorry for the hiatus, I hit a writer's block and wasn't sure what I wanted to do. Anyway, I think that I will be editing the chapters that have been posted over the next few weeks and then get back to posting regularly. And yes, I know this chapter isn't stellar, but I wanted to give you guys something.

Thank you so much for the reviews and for sticking with me!

Also, thank you for following/favoriting this story!

Ana