Hello, my lovely readers!
So sorry that you had to wait for this, I was just really busy. Got a long one for ya to make up for the wait though :)
Hope you enjoy this, I did when I was writing it!
Don't forget to review, so I can continue this :)
Enjoy and remember that I only own my OC, nothing else.
Yours truly,
~thegirlwiththetrident

Chapter seven: Capturing the flag

That night there was a definite buzz of excitement at dinner, as everyone planed their strategy for the game.
The Hephaestus' cabin was working on some brilliant plan as well, but Leo wasn't really paying attention.
His eyes were trained on Penelope, who was sitting a few tables away next to Chleo, looking pale and not touching her food.
He felt a twinge of sympathy, recalling how nervous he'd been before his first capture the flag game.
Before quite deciding to do it, Leo had stood up and started to make his way towards the Hecate table.
A quick glance at Chiron told him that, although the centaur was watching him, he wasn't giving him any sign to stop, so Leo slid onto the bench next to Pen.
"Hey there" he said, quietly. "You okay?"
"Umhum" Penelope nodded, still pale and her face tense.
"Don't worry, it'll be fine. The game's actually lots of fun, you'll see." he told her, trying to sound encouraging.
"As long as I don't get myself killed." Pen answered, dryly, making Leo laugh.
Penelope's face softened a bit. "Have you found any allies, then?" she wanted to know, and Leo turned a bit red. "Yeah" he said, sighing. "The sleep god cabin. Uh..." Leo could never remember that god's name.
"Hypnos?" Penelope offered and Leo nodded, a bit embarrassed that she already seemed to know more about the gods than he did.
"Yeah, that one. Not like it'll do us much good." he whispered, rolling his eyes.
Penelope giggled. "Maybe they could just snore at people in the dark, to scare them."
Both of them laughed at that thought but before Leo could say anymore, there came an extremely pointed cough from Chleo.
Leo was being disrespectful sitting at their table, and the girl creeped Leo out too much for him to want to annoy her.
He got up, but leaned down quickly to say "See you later" to Penelope, who smiled feebly.
When Leo had sat back down at his own table, he saw Chleo whisper something into Penelope's ear and the two of them stand up.
Before they left, Penelope shot Leo a last "Help me" sort of look but he just winked at her and grinned.
Somehow he doubted his new friend would do badly tonight.

A few hours later, Leo and two of his cabin mates were standing at the edge of the forest, ready to go hide their flag.
He could see the Athena, Hecate and Apollo campers not too far away, through his new and pretty awesome night-vision goggles, that worked like heat sensors. The good thing was, demigods seemed to run slightly hotter than other humans, so there was a next to no chance that Leo might mistake one for a bear or whatever.
The night had fallen fast and dark, and he could hardly wait for the game to begin.
Nobody would find them where they were going.
There was only one thing that worried Leo a bit, and that was that Chleo and Penelope hadn't shown up at the camp fire, or at the briefing before the game.
He didn't like to think what they were up to, and he could only hope that Chleo would take care of her new sister.
But now, he had to concentrate, as the game had begun.
Quickly and silently, they sneaked off into the woods, until they were at the bottom of a hill, which peaked out of the forest roof and so was clearly visible, as the rules stated.
What the rules didn't forbid however, was the ditch that Leo and his two brothers Brad and Ronny proceeded to dig in a ten foot perimeter around the flag which they'd placed right at the top of the hill.
As only the tip of the hill stood above the trees, the ditch wouldn't be visible in the gloom, unless you knew it was there.
If anyone tried to take their flag, they'd fall in first and get caught.
It was a good plan, and Leo had been very relieved when Ronny had told him about it, having forgotten to think of one himself.
The kid was only ten, but Leo swore he was an absolute mastermind.
The drills which they'd used to dig the ditch were super fast but almost completely silent, and it had been Ronny who had built them.
As only two guards were allowed to be by the flag, Leo got ready to walk into the woods, but not too far away, searching for any monsters that might decide to venture up the hill.
All he needed for that was his weapon and his night-vision goggles.
But the goggled were no where to be found.
"Hey, Ronny!" Leo whispered.
"What?" the kid asked, his bright orange hair gleaming even in the pale moonlight.
"Have you seen my goggles?"
"Didn't you put them next to the flag?"
Leo cursed inwardly. Of course, he'd put the goggles down to stick the flag in the ground, and had forgotten them there.
Quickly, he got the plank which they'd taken as a method of getting over the ditch themselves, and carefully laid it across on part of the hole.
When he'd gotten his goggles, he was about to walk back across when he noticed that the plank had moved, an inch to the right.
He was about to say something to the others when he noticed Brad, just a foot away, walking around the ditch. He must have moved the plank by accident.
Back on the right side of the ditch, Leo removed the plank and hid it up high in the branches of a tree.
"Right, good luck, you two. Don't forget the sign."
The boys had agreed that if there was any sign of a monster or an opposing team, they would blow two times into one of their horns, which had a very high sound and could be heard even from a distance.
Then, Leo set out into the woods, putting his goggles firmly over his eyes and his weapon at hand.
For ages, nothing happened, and Leo only had to get rid of two very small arrow birds flying at him.
It didn't seem right, all this peace.
Normally, the other team got to the flag quicker, though Leo guessed that things were a bit different now that there were more than two teams.
Back before Leo had come to camp, Annabeth had told him, there had always been only two teams, but lately they had to divide into more as there were just too many cabins.
Just then, Leo heard a twig snap.
He whirled around and saw a bright orange shape sprint towards him, a bow in hand.
He ducked just in time and quickly whipped out his horn. He blew into it twice, and the sudden sound scared up a deer in the next bush, making it jump away.
Meanwhile, the Apollo camper had turned to face him again, but instead of attacking, he simply waved and sprinted away, leaving Leo standing there, dumbfounded.
Either the camper was a bit dim, or this was a trap.
Somehow, Leo felt the latter was the case.
He decided to go check on Ronny and Brad, and tell them about the Apollo kid.
When he got closer to the hill, he could see a bright speck of orange right by the flag, and he wondered why Brad or Ronny would go near it.
Unless the orange form wasn't Ronny or Brad...
He broke into a fast jog, trying to be quiet at the same time. Upon the hill, he saw the orange form dart over the ditch as if it wasn't there and run down the hill, straight at him.
"OI!" he shouted, charging the form. It dodged to the left and Leo only just missed it.
Scowling, he took up the chase, darting through the trees, trying to follow the form.
He was starting to gain on it, and then, with just a few metres left between them, just as they reached a small clearing, Leo threw himself upon the form, pining it onto the ground.
"Give it here!" he yelled, ready for the struggle.
But it never came.
Instead, the figure underneath him laughed gleefully, and said "Can't those goggles of yours sense metal, Valdez?"
Leo ripped off his goggles to see the person under him, and wasn't surprised at the sight of Chleo, laughing evily.
"What do you mean, sense metal?" he asked harshly, but a sinking feeling was already spreading out in his stomach.
"Well, if they could see metal, you would have noticed that the flag you thought I was stealing, is actually still on top of that hill!" Chleo was now wheezing a little, and she shoved him off, and sat up. Then, chuckling, she added "Well, I supposed it was still there, anyway."
The whole thing suddenly clicked into place and Leo understood.
"You weren't running away from me at all, were you?"
Again, Chleo laughed. "Oh no. Believe me, if I hadn't wanted you to catch me, you wouldn't have. After all, my mum's the goddess of the night."
Stupid, Leo told himself, getting up and brushing the dirt of his trousers.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
"What did you do to Brad and Ronny?"
"Oh, they're fine." Chleo giggled.
"They're simply getting to know that fabulous ditch of yours a little better. "
"How did you get them-?"
"That was easy" the girl said "You see, children of Hecate are able to alter what people see, control the mist if you will. We simply made your brothers see the plank, and when they tried to run across it, they ended up in the hole."
Leo said nothing. He felt foolish for having fallen for the trap, but he was also worried about his half-brothers. That ditch was deep.
Chleo seemed to understand his silence, because she said, with a trace of sympathy
"Don't worry, they're fine. We made sure they didn't get hurt."
"So you followed us?" Leo asked, starting to make his way back to the hill, followed by Chleo.
It was too late to follow the actual flag-napper, but he could at least make sure his siblings were out of the hole.
"Very good, Valdez. Yeah, we were following you all the time."
"Why didn't I see you through these then?" Leo wanted to know, indicating his goggles.
"We have ways of concealing ourselves." Chleo winked, a sly grin on her face.
They walked the rest of the way in silence, and together pulled Ronny and Brad out of the ditch.
"Leo!" they cried, when they were standing straight again.
"The plank disappeared, Leo! We don't know how- what's she doing here?" their faces were so confused and muddy that Leo couldn't help but laugh.
It was just a game, after all.
"Come on" he told the two boys. "I'll explain everything on the way back."
When they arrived at the edge of the woods, they found that the game had finished, the Athena/Apollo/Hecate alliance having secured three of the five flags and the Aphrodite/Zeus/Demeter/Janus alliance two.
Everyone was either celebrating or grinding their teeth, like the Ares cabin, who had been completely overrun by Apollo campers.
Leo joined his cabin, who were taking their defeat well enough.
When Chleo told everyone how Leo had chased her without realising she didn't have the flag, they even joined in laughing, and Leo grinned in spite of himself.
"Hey, Chleo!" he called, and the dark haired girl turned to him.
"Yes?"
"Who helped you get our flag?"
Chleo smiled, a mischievous smile.
"Who do you think?" she said, and turned towards her friends.
And there, holding the Hephaestus' flag, raised into the air by her fellows, was Penelope, a wild grin on her face.
When she saw Leo she waved with the flag in her hand, laughing heartedly.
Leo stared for a second, then laughed as well.
His feeling that Penelope would do well tonight had been right then, after all.