Hi, I'm so sorry about the long gap between these two chapters. My iCloud decided to break down and delete all my files. Anyways, I managed to write this chapter. So...enjoy! And sorry again.

SAM's POV

"Demigods, may I have your attention please!" Chiron called from the head table. The chatting died down.

"As you all know, the Hunters will be arriving soon tonight and like tradition, we will have a game of capture the flag!" Chiron said. It was Friday, four days after I first came to the camp. The other campers had told me about the Hunters, especially Thalia, and I really wanted to meet them. Drew had gotten injured trying to climb up the climbing wall for the first time when I was doing some kind of weird flying practice with Jason. I wasn't really surprised that it was her first time, she was very…inactive. She usually just sat around the cabin like she was head counselor when Piper wasn't around and used some charmspeak. Piper had explained to me what it was. And a good piece of news, I found out that I wasn't affected by it, but I couldn't do it either.

Yesterday Piper announced that cabin 10 would not miss out on the fight with the Hunters. Meaning we were on the Camp Half-Blood team. Anyways, at the moment most of the campers were groaning at the mention of capture the flag with the Hunters. Apparently we always lost.

After eating, everyone headed to the armory and arena either to practice or get strapped up for capture the flag. I followed the crowd and ended up in the armory. People were picking out breastplates and helmets for themselves. I didn't exactly have a weapon, just the knife Percy had given me on my first day. I kept that on my belt. But I didn't know what armor to wear, or what do to, so I just kind of stood around aimlessly.

"Hey."

I turned around and saw Will Solace from the Apollo cabin. So far I was still doing archery activities with them. He wasn't wearing a lot of armor, just a leather breastplate-vest type of thing and leather boots, while everyone else was wearing heavy metal armor. He also had a bow and a quiver full of arrows slung over his back. Of course, the Apollo cabin would be shooting, not doing close combat, I thought.

I waved at him. He came over.

"I asked Piper if we could take you," he said. "She said fine."

"Oh," I said, "So…what now?"

"Now? Hmm, well I got a weapon for you," Will said, handing me a crescent shaped hairclip. "I think it's pretty powerful. Got it from a junkyard on a quest few months ago."

"Uh," I said, holding it up. "This is a hairclip."

Will just took out a few pieces of the leather armor thing and started telling me to put it on, ignoring me. He helped me with the straps.

"This is a hairclip," I repeated dumbly. Will took it from me and clipped it onto my hair.

"Take it off when you need it," he said.

"Will!" called the Hades demigod. I think he's called Nico, but I'm not sure. Will glanced behind his back at Nico and turned back to me.

"Sorry, I gotta go," he said. Then he left.

"Hey!" I yelled after him. "What kind of weapon is a hairclip?"

"Just take it off when you need it!"

I sighed. Great start when you don't even know what your ultimately powerful "weapon" does.

"Alright, Will and the Apollo cabin can position themselves in the trees around our area," said Annabeth. "I'm going to lead a surprise attack from the right flank. Percy's going to lead the main attack with the Ares cabin and Hecate cabin from the left flank." Capture the flag had started.

"Right," said Will. "Let's show them Apollo is the better archer!" The Apollo cabin cheered. I kind of just stood around them awkwardly. Will led the way and the entire cabin jogged after him, except Rylan. He wasn't with his cabin. He never was. He spent most of his time with the Hermes guys or the Hephaestus campers in the forge. Apparently he sucked at shooting, so he would be with the defense of our flag for the game.

"Um…" I said. "Do I go too?"

"Duh!" said one of the Apollo campers.

"Okay…" I jogged after them. Will led the us to Zeus's fist, which looked more like a pile of king-sized poop.

"We're going to position ourselves in the trees around here, got it?"

Everyone nodded. Annabeth appeared with the rest of the Camp Half-Blood team (which was everyone) and placed the flag on top of Zeus's fist. Because the amount of Hunters had grown like bunnies breeding after the war was over, all the campers (except some like the Hypnos cabin, they would probably just fall asleep) were playing against the all the Hunters which was basically a lot of people in orange T-shirts versus a lot of girls.

I picked a large oak tree right next between the river and Zeus's fist, partly so I could see what was going on, and partly because the Apollo guys didn't want me near them. The game started and I watched as Annabeth and her decoy party sneaked away, while Percy and Clarisse argued about who was the leader for the main party. I settled down in a low branch and took off the hairclip. It expanded and grew in size into a bow. A small one, but probably the right size for me, like Will would probably say. A matching quiver appeared slung on my back.

"Whoa," I said, "Sweet!" I ran my hand along the bow when I heard a rustle. I froze then peeked out from my spot in the tree. A few girls in silver parkas armed with silver bows and arrows sneaked forward. The Hunters, I thought to myself.

One girl motioned to the others. "I have a good idea where they put the flag. Come on," she said. She pushed her hood back and I saw that she had a silver circlet thing braided into her hair.

I drew an arrow slowly and notched it. Then I pulled the string back. I need a flash arrow type of thing, like a flash grenade, not a normal arrow, I thought, irritated. No time to lose though. I aimed for a second and shot the arrow at the girl's left leg. It was supposed to hit her calf, but she took a step forward right before it hit her. Uh-oh. They're going to see the stupid arrow. I scolded myself. A girl cried out in warning right after the arrow hit. All of them turned in sync, five I counted, as if they rehearsed it. They all had their bows armed. The leader girl (I assumed she was the leader) pointed in my direction.

"Probably from that direction judging from the arrow," she said while pointing. "I didn't know Camp Half-Blood had real archers." One or two sniggered a bit. She pulled back the bowstring and shot an arrow in my direction. I scrambled back and lay as close as I could to the branch. The arrow whizzed over my head. I was thinking I'm a pro in dodging arrows when I turned my head and saw the arrow impale itself in the trunk. Then it exploded and the smell of sulfur filled my nose and mouth. I gagged in the yellow gas, basically choking on it.

"Stupid…fart…arrows," I gasped. I took a step to the left and realized that there was nothing. I tumbled from the tree and lay there for a second, my eyes still watering. I rubbed my eyes and sat up quickly. I saw the backs of the disappearing girls towards the direction of Zeus's fist. I failed. Kind of.

"Damn it!" I said furiously to no one in particular. I didn't exactly want to chase after them, or go back into the gassed tree, so I got up and just sort of stood around the edge of the river. Then my ears cleared and I heard shouts on the other side of the woods. I hesitated for a second, then made up my mind. I crossed the river and barged towards the sounds of the battle.

I stopped when I saw the fighting and hid behind a big bush. It looked like half of Clarisse/Percy's main raiding party against a load of girls with fart arrows. I could see Clarisse, but Percy was no where to be seen. Probably sneaking off to get the flag, like Annabeth suspected he would. Which was kinda the reason why she made him lead the raiding party. I watched in silence as a Hunter with her hunting knife slashed at a guy in armor. He wasn't very good at using his sword so the Hunter girl got in pretty close and knocked his helmet off. A bright flash of red hair popped out. Right after that, she kneed in the private part with amazing speed (ouch that must've hurt) and he fell over.

"Another camper down," I muttered to myself. I was about to turn away when something weird happened. The fallen camper's armor started sizzling. The girl that was dragging him by his shoulder strap yelped and let go. I watched in…how do I say this…amazement I guess? Anyway, the simplest way to put this is the guy burst into flames. Which freaked me out. I backed out from the bush real quick and headed into the deeper part of the forest.

I skirted around the trees, hiding from the Hunters when I saw the flag. It was silvery like all their stuff, and it was just sitting there on a high rock. I looked again. Oh right, there's a girl standing in front of it. And a few more around the area. I need something to distract all of them. Right after I thought that, I felt a weird tugging sensation in my gut. A few rocks cracked open a few feet away from me. A tree shook and the leaves rustled. The tugging got more painful and cracks appeared in the ground. I was shaking so badly it felt like there was an earthquake. That's when I realized that the ground was actually shaking, not me. The Hunter girls stumbled around, their bows strung and an arrow nocked, but how do you fight an earthquake? The tugging got to painful and it took all my willpower to make it stop. The earthquake stopped immediately, but the Hunters looked pretty shaken up.

"Whoa," I whispered, "Earthquake powers. Sweet." I closed my eyes and willed the ground a few feet away from me to shake. It was harder to shake just one specific spot and sweat dripped down my face. The shaking caused the leaves on a bush to rustle. I concentrated on a different spot and rustled the leaves. Then the same with two more spots, making it seem like there were people there. I stopped and watched as the Hunters headed in that direction, fart arrows ready. I laughed weakly. I guess it did the job. I snaked forward and wished I had a fart arrow too. I drew an arrow and frowned. It looked weird. The tip was yellow, like the color of sulfur. My arrow was a fart arrow…? I nocked it and aimed at the foot of the girl guarding the flag. Then I released it. The arrow exploded on impact and I heard the girl coughing and staggering around in the gas. The leaves rustled behind me and I had an arrow ready for release in a flash, aiming behind me.

A guy in armor stepped out, his hands held up. He took his helmet off. I lowered my bow.

"Hi," said Percy. He frowned at the girl at the base of their flag. "She shot herself with a fart arrow?" he said dumbly.

I shrugged. "Either way, good chance to get the flag."

He nodded and charged the girl. I shot another fart arrow just to make sure. I sat back and watched in satisfaction as Percy grabbed the flag without even a fight and raced towards the border.

"Not gonna be like last time," I heard him say as he raced past. I ran behind him. I thought we were going to win until I saw the five Hunter girls coming from the other side with our flag.

"No!" yelled Percy. He sprinted faster, but the girl with the flag was way closer to the river than him. Then I got an idea. I stopped and wished for a flash arrow. And the next arrow I pulled from my quiver was armed with some weird thing. I had an enchanted quiver. Awesome. I aimed and shot the arrow. The arrow exploded like a flash grenade right next to girl and she fell, covering her eyes. So did the other four. Percy thundered over the river and the Camp Half-Blood team cheered.

I smiled.

Hope you liked that. Next chapter will be quick if my iCloud is nice to me.

-mi5hao