I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to find myself in my cabin, but I was still new to it. So as soon as I woke up, I was so disoriented; I had no idea where I was.
My confusion was stifled though, as I noticed Percy across the room, and Seth sitting on my bed, holding a wet cloth. He smiled as he noticed my eyes open, and offered me a cup full of golden liquid.
"Morning! How you feeling? Still tired?" Seth was dressed in a yellow t-shirt and khakis, and his grin seemed to light up the room. Maybe it was his father's blood, or maybe it was the fact that it was nice to see him.
On the table, was my I-pod dock, with my I-pod, and it was playing. The song playing was entitled "Unwritten" and it was distracting. Good song, though.
"Yes. I am tired. You?"
"Nah, I'm good. Apparently, you're okay too. That's good." He offered the cup of liquid to me again. "Nectar? It'll help you feel less tired."
I took a sip. He was right. I could feel the Nectar driving away the ache and my limbs. It tasted like Dora-yaki. I sat up. I was okay. I smiled at him. "Thanks."
"No problem." He got up off the bed and helped me out of it. I stood up and felt fine. A little dizzy, but fine. I remembered the half bloods we had been sent to get.
"Are the others okay?" I asked. "Have they been determined?"
"Well, the girls were. We're still not so sure of Malcolm, but we are looking deeper."
"So who were they?
"Aphrodite claimed all of them right after we got down to camp. They are down at the lake getting to know the rest of the cabin. You know, favorite brands of make-up, how they like their hair, their favorite "cute" movie stars. That kind of stuff."
I giggled. "You sure know how to make people laugh."
He just grinned at me.
In the distance, a conch horn sounded. "Come on, Alex, let's go." Percy told me.
Seth took off to lead his own cabin up the hill, as Percy and I trudged up together. As we stepped onto the marble floor, it occurred to me, that I had no idea how long I had been unconscious. "Just a day." Percy assured me. "Nothing major. Just a day."
I still felt like I had missed a lot. In fact, nothing except the twins and Katie was different. But there was supposed to be a capture a flag game tomorrow. "Cool, I like capture the flag. I use to play all the time, my team always won." I'd had no idea we had to wear armor.
"Not like this you haven't." he promised. "Just make sure you know how to fight, and how to use your powers well. Try practicing at the lake tonight. I'll show you some things."
"Sounds like fun!"
"It's not supposed to be fun." He said. "It's supposed to be hard work."
He was right. As he taught me how to fight, I got tired fast. And the exercises he showed me were murder. But I kept at it. I worked on how to beat an opponent without the advantage of water, and with it. I learned to perfect my powers and control the water of the lake. I was feeling proud of myself. But the next thing he said to me made me question his sanity.
"Nice work." He approved of my sword parry. "Now let's go poke around the woods and find a monster for you to fight."
I dropped my jaw in amazement, looking at him. "Great idea! You're nuts!" I told him.
"I've already had that pointed out to me." He told me. "Now come on."
It wasn't hard to find something to fight. But it was scary to go into that huge forest looking for a fight. It just wasn't practical.
We had been in the forest a total of fourteen seconds, when a huge scorpion came barreling toward us at top speed.
Now, scorpions are cool, don't get me wrong. But an approximate on these things dimensions was at least a few 100 pounds and around thirty feet long. And it was slightly deformed; it didn't look quite like a scorpion should. So when I tell you it was terrifying, it was.
I ran for the stream. When I got there, the scorpion was only a few feet away, so I whirled around and slashed downwards with the sword Percy had given me. I heard a sharp 'slick' and a horrible scream, and I saw dust. As the dust cleared, all I could see was the venomous stinger that lay on the ground. I wiggled once, and then became totally still. On an impulse, I picked it up, and slipped it into my hip pouch I keep around my waist, tied to my belt loops. Thinking back, I wonder why I did.
"Nice," Percy commented, walking up. "A little too impulsive. I don't think I would ever have touched that thing, but nice. I didn't even know they get that big. Cool."
"I have no idea what that thing was." I pointed out. He never told me. He just studied the ground and muttered. He was probably crazy. Great, another crazy brother.
"You want to go find a Harpy?" he suggested. When he said it, he got a glint in his eye I didn't trust at all.
"No thanks. I'm not in any hurry to get dead any time soon. Why don't you go get dead? Sure would make keeping the cabin clean easier. Run along and get dead now." I was a little bit, no, a lot, mad at him. And when I get mad, even a little, I get pissy.
I didn't like that he'd pulled me into the scary woods so that I could get a chance to kill something. It wasn't logical, and I don't always like illogical, especially if it's dangerous. I am no good at hiding my emotions. My mom calls me an open book. It makes it easier to figure out how I feel about things.
He grimaced, and put a finger to his chin. "I suppose it would. But that's beside the point. Look, no one, and I mean no one, will go easy on you. Even if you are new here. Capture the flag is like, the most important way to prove yourself here. So you got to practice. Even if your battle reflexes are better than most, they may only help you stay alive. You got to practice staying alive, and not getting hurt. Understand?" I nodded. "Good. Now let's go deeper and find you a harder monster." He moved his finger from his chin and wagged it at me.
"Wait, staying alive? You mean there's an actual chance of me dying?"
"There's always a chance that someone's going to die, but it nearly never happens. Most often someone gets mortally wounded and saved, or just temporarily incapacitated by some awful joke or strategy." He explained. It didn't make me feel any better after the initial panic.
"So there's an actual chance of me dying, but a larger chance of me getting seriously injured?" I clarified, disliking this plan more and more as I thought about it.
"Yes, exactly!" He said. He actually had the audacity to sound rather chipper about it too. I grimaced at him and he laughed, and then turned around and walked straight into a tree. I laughed.
And looking back, I'm fairly certain the tree laughed too…
We stalked through the forest, alert and silent. Occasionally, a twig would snap and we froze. When there was no other movement, we continued. I could hear whispering in the trees, and could see humanoid shapes in the shadows. It got frustrating after a time. I would hear a voice whisper something incoherently to another, and I would whirl around. I saw nothing but the shadows of the leaves on the forest floor, and hear nothing but the wind, making the leaves above us rustle softly.
By the time we reached a tall Cliffside, I was thoroughly infuriated. The whispering was making me nuts and I could sense a thousand presences surrounding me, close and untouchable. The Cliffside rose above us, blocking the moon, and casting us in shadow. As we slid along the rock face, alert for any sign of movement aside from our own, I got the feeling we were not alone.
"Hello?" I whispered. The felling was so intense; I could not help blurting it out.
"Shhhhhh!" Percy hissed. "What was that for?
"I don't know!" I hissed back. "I couldn't help it. I do that."
"It's okay." Came an entirely new voice. "I think I brushed her arm anyway." Annabeth appeared in front of Percy. She had a navy Yankees cap in her hand, poised above her head as if she had just taken it off. She stuffed it into her back pocket.
"What are you doing here?" Percy whispered. "How long did you follow us? Oh, and by the way, hi." He hugged her. She kissed him on the cheek as he pulled away. His cheeks turned a brilliant shade of red. I snickered.
"Since you left the commons area. I was sitting on a rock near the Zeus cabin. Nice job with the Scorpion, though." She noted, turning to me.
"Well, now that we know you're here, why don't you join us on our hunting trip?" He suggested. He began to sneak against the cliff face again.
Suddenly, he yelped. He disappeared into a crevice in the wall of stone. Annabeth and I looked at each other, and our eyes widened. We both hurried over to the spot where he had disappeared, and peeked in. The hole in the wall, turned out to be a cave. Percy had out a glowing bronze sword, and was examining the walls. He looked confused, and said he had never seen the place before.
We explored the cave. It wasn't small, that's for sure. It had a large main room, with a few shelves shaped from the stone of the walls, and a large flat area about hip height, at the far end of the room from the door. Each shelf was lined with about a thousand books, papers and pictures, and brain puzzles. There were thousands of carvings and things all over the walls. On the hip high part, thirty or so pillows and things were stacked over each other, and they looked quite luxurious.
"I wonder what this place is for." Annabeth mused. "Amazing." She ran her hand over the walls surrounding the hip high area. She walked across the room, and pointed out a knot in the stone. She touched it. A small A, a Greek alpha appeared on the wall, it glowed yellow, and the wall opened.
"Sweet." I told her. She grinned and walked inside, and we followed her. The wall didn't close behind us. "So where are we?" I asked.
"I think this is Apollo's new flat for Rachel." Annabeth was fascinated with the way the small hall was constructed. It was ribbed in Greek columns. Every five feet, a new one passed us as we walked.
At the end of the short hallway, it was only about twenty-five feet long, was another door. I looked above it and realize there was a light above it. At the very top of the arch, hanging from the center of each Columned arch, was a lantern. "Look, lights." I pointed. As soon as I said that, they lit up. They were dull, but they lit up. We all gasped. "Off?" I suggested. The glow faded out of each one, coming from the other end of the hall. We were slowly plunged into darkness as our eyes readjusted again. "Nice." I muttered.
"This is amazing." Percy said in awe.
Annabeth touched another knot in the wall, and it opened just like the last one. The room on the other side was just as fabulous. I told the lights to turn on, and we could see the entire room. There was a large flat platform, just like the throne thing in the other room, but it was larger. The walls were rather rounded, creating a circular room. The walls of the rest of the walls were flat; but smooth.
There were more books, and poetry, and little rhymes here and there. A few by Apollo himself; those were funny; and around a thousand small prophesies written on scraps of paper, linen, cardboard, even a few fast food restaurant wrappers.
I picked up a few random ones; the first was a little rhyme I could barely read. The rest were random drabbles of the also unintelligible variety. I put them down and picked up some others.
The third mentioned a kid of one of the three brother gods of Kronos. One of them mentioned a king of some sort, and one of them mentioned seven half bloods. Many of the little prophesies, had little doodles next to them in ancient Greek-style. There were kids fighting monsters of all sorts. And heroes doing all sorts of stupid things. One of them looked like a young teen, falling from the gateway arch. How was that possible? The gateway arch didn't exist in those times. I got a sneaking suspicion it wasn't from then.
One of the ones that caught my eye the most was a little scribble of a young girl and an older man. The man had something that looked like a big fork in his hand, and she had a small curved line on her forehead. The girl had long hair, filled in so it looked like it was supposed to be black or brown. He had the same shade on his head. My ADHD had me worrying about what it meant. Who were they? Why were they next to each other? How did they relate? What was the fork-thing in his hand? I didn't show it to either Percy or Annabeth. I wanted to figure out the mystery for myself. The whole piece of paper was an 11" by 8" piece, so I folded it up and stuck it in my pocket when no one was watching. I wasn't stealing it. I would bring it back… when I was done figuring out what it meant.
Annabeth was looking through a stack I had already been through. Suddenly, she gasped. "Percy look!" she pointed to the one of a boy falling from the gateway arch.
He stared at it. The date was at least a hundred years ago. At least the date on the drawing said so. He pulled it out of her hands and scrutinized it. "At least his artwork is better than his poetry." He mumbled.
Annabeth giggle over his shoulder. "Good likeness." She commented. She seemed to be laughing internally.
"Are you kidding?" Percy demanded. "He looks so calm. The entire way down I was panicking! I was definitely not calm."
"Um…" I tried. They were too busy to notice me.
"Well at least it looks like you." She told him. "Dose this look like Clarisse?" she held up a scribble of a familiar girl, standing on top of what looked like a giant snake dragon; with X-ed out eyes.
Percy snickered. "Too fat. And to short. But the face looks good." They broke out laughing. I picked up the boy and the arch again. I finally realized what they were talking about. It did look like Percy.
"Wait, this is you?" I asked him. He nodded, stifling his laughing under his hand for a few seconds. "You Jumped out of the gateway arch, I remember now. Mitch told me." I remembered.
"Right into the Mississippi river in Louisiana." He told me. And then he laughed at another crazy picture Annabeth had stuck in his face. Looking at the picture gave me wild ideas, but I never motioned any of them.
As we left the cave, we were careful to remove any evidence we had ever been there. We left all the papers where we found them and turned off all the lights. We closed all the doors and made sure we left nothing behind.
Going back to our cabins, we were silent. The moon lit up the forest faintly, and the whispers of the trees were fewer. On the way back, we found a big fat black dog lying lazily in the middle of a clearing. As we passed him, he turned to us and his pink tongue lolled out of the side of his mouth. He rolled over, got up, and followed us back to the commons area. When we got there, he barked, and slowly headed over to the second grouping of cabins. As he walked away, he stood up on his hind legs, and morphed into a human boy. He wore baggy clothes and looked to be about our age. He walked into the Hecate cabin. Figures any shape-shifters would be there. Magic and all that.
As I pulled on my pajamas, I noticed something I hadn't before. Forty or so little horse/fish were suspended from the ceiling, like a heard of Mythological creatures. As I looked closer, I saw they were bronze, and they looked like the most skilled artisan in the world had made them. They were delicate, and beautiful, and they gleamed in the faint light of the moon. A few dozen of the most beautiful creatures in the world.
"Where did you get those?" I asked, pointing up.
Percy looked up, and smiled. "Tyson made those." He told me. "My favorite baby brother."
"You have a brother?" I asked. "I thought you were an only child."
"On my mom's side, yes. But you see, Tyson is a Cyclopes. He's from dad's side. Our brother, not just mine."
I stared at him. "A Cyclops? You mean those are real too?" he nodded. "Like, work in the forges under the ocean, immune to fire, have only one eye type Cyclops?" he nodded again, but he seemed surprised that I knew this. He didn't push it.
"Most Cyclops are kids of Poseidon, so that would mean we had around a thousand half siblings. They would mostly be boys, very rare to get a female, but 'Welcome to this ginormus family' all the same." He spread his arms and grinned. "Now go to sleep." He pleaded. "We need rest for tomorrow."
"But you were the one who dragged me out into the forest in the first place! I didn't quite want to go either! Now you got me hyperactive. Deal with it!" I told him. I bounced on my bunk to make a point. He just grumbled and got into bed, pulling the covers up over his ears.
I lay down and pulled the covers to my chin. I was soon asleep. I dreamed about scorpions and people falling from arches. And an unrecognizable couple of people, with dark hair, crowns, and a hazy pitchfork. The couple once or twice came into focus, but I never got a good look to tell me who they were. It frightened me, the mystery, and the familiarity, and the extreme sense of foreshadow.
"Let's go sleepy head. Wake up! Wake up! The conch horn is about to blow! Wake up!"
"Maybe so, but it hasn't blown yet." He pointed out, pulling his pillow over his ears.
I sat there, for five seconds, counting them off.
!
There it went. "Get out of bed! That was the conch!" I pulled the pillow off his head. "Get up, get up, get up!" I shouted into his surprised face and threw the pillow back at him. He stuck up his arm and it bounced right off.
He groaned and rolled over again. "Five more minutes. Go away. You're annoying."
I suddenly got a great idea. It was evil, yes, but I am not ashamed of my past. And if I'm desperate enough, I will resort to evil plotting. One, because it works, two, I'm an evil genius. And proud of it
I found a sheet under him, got a good grip, and pulled it just a little. He grunted and peered at me from a hole under the edge of his blanket. I dropped the sheet and took a step back, grinning like a maniac. He pulled the blanket over himself again.
"Hmm." I tried a different approach. I went around of the opposite edge of the bunk, he luckily had the middle bunk, if he didn't it wouldn't have even crossed my mind. I analyzed the way he had positioned himself on the bed. He was slightly more to one side of the bed than the other. Just enough to make it work. I grinned evilly to myself. He was about to find out just how annoying I could get.
I put my hands in the air, a few inches away from his back. I estimated the force necessary to pull this off, and took a deep breath. Go!
I pushed for all I was worth. And this time, it worked. Percy, with a yelp, went rolling over the edge of his bed onto the cold floor with a resounding, slightly muffled, but still very satisfying THUMP! I laughed. Percy stuck his head over the edge of the bed. His eyes were wide in shock and his hair was messy from bed head, and standing on end from the surprise. It pushed me over the edge, not literally, and I fell to the floor, doubled over with laughter.
Percy was too surprised to be angry, and when he did get angry, it was at himself for not getting up. I really was evil. I rolled on the floor, laughing hysterically.
"No need to prove me right." He muttered as he got up. "I'm up, so there. Happy?"
"Yep- I'm pretty- satisfied!" I managed to choke out between bouts of laughter. He pulled me up off the floor and pushed me onto my bed.
"Don't you ever do something like that again! That was so very much not cool. I've put up with you for barely a week, and already you fit the role of annoying little sister perfectly." He turned away and headed for his dresser, pulling off his shirt as he walked.
I stuck out my chin and turned to my dresser as well. I pulled out a black t-shirt. It was solid black, with white lettering, and orange and purple alternating shadows. It looks really cool. If you're not dyslexic. I'm told the shirt says "Nocturnal." And it has a picture of a stupid-looking bat. I pulled on a pair of black jeans and my green sneakers.
As I opened the door to go to breakfast, Annabeth was standing there, with a young girl in a green chitin and sandals. Her hair was amber, and her skin pale. She was smiling at something Annabeth had said before I opened the door. At the intrusion, they instinctively glanced around the cabin. They both blushed. Percy cleared his throat and pulled his shirt fully on. When the door had opened, he had been in the middle of putting it on. His jeans were a little baggy, leaving his blue boxers hanging some over the edge, exposed.
"Oops. Sorry Percy."
"Umm, it's okay. Nothing major. Umm," He blushed bright red as well." "At least it's not as bad as that other thing this morning." He assured me. "Um. Morning Annabeth, morning Juniper."
"Morning Percy." Annabeth said, trying to hold back her giggles. The other girl was not so good at a poker face. She giggled outright. I realized something about her face was wrong. She was blushing, but her cheeks were the color of grass, not pink. I found this creepy.
"Morning" I said to the girl. "I'm Alex. And you are…"
"Juniper. Grover's girlfriend. I came to ask Percy about him."
"Oh, why?" I turned to Percy, who had (behind the door) run a brush through his hair, and was straightening a baseball cap over it.
"The emotional link they share. It's a satyr thing. Is he alright?" she asked hopefully.
"Yes, he's okay. He left yesterday. He just needed to find some satyrs in Canada; he'll be back in a week or so. Try worrying then." He sighed and came out. He had a belt to keep his pants up, and his cap was slightly off to his left. He yanked the door shut and we walked up the hill to the dining pavilion.
When we got there, we got quite a few nervous stares. People were whispering about us or something, but there was a lot of quiet as Percy and I stepped out onto the floor of the dining pavilion. Conversations stopped or paused. I had no idea why until I stopped too.
I listened very hard. I could just hear the thing breathing. I looked up. Standing above us, eyes bright with anticipation, was a giant dog. She looked to be around the size of a large tank. Her breath smelled like sulfur, and straw. And something else I couldn't quite place. Honestly, I didn't want to know.
Percy saw me looking up and did the same thing. And then he did the last thing I would have done. He ran toward her leg. "Mrs. O'Leary!" he shouted with joy. I am quite positive, I was not the only one stunned by this new development. The large dog barked excitedly. The sound shook the ground. A few cereal bowls went vibrating across the tables and quite a few bowls broke loudly on the cement floor of the pavilion.
Percy hugged the giant monster abound one of her big, furry legs, and she barked again. "Hey girl, sorry I couldn't play with you for a while. I was busy." He patted her nose as he talked, and the large dog hummed like a cat's purr. Only rougher.
"Umm, you have a dog?" I was completely perplexed.
"Oh? Yes, yes I do. This is Mrs. O'Leary. My hellhound. I got her from Daedalus just before he died. Great guy. A little on the weird side, but nice. Her favorite game is "Get the Greek." It's fun, you want to play after breakfast? Maybe I can show you how to shadow-travel with her. It's awesome. You have to try it." he sat on the grass, petting Mrs. O'Leary.
Eeeeeew, gross. He was being covered in giant dog hair and slobber. "I'm in!" I announced. "But I want breakfast first."
I walked into the pavilion and sat down at the Poseidon table. I got a bowl of corn pops and I shoveled them into my mouth. I wanted to get out of here and go play with a big hellhound. That sounded like fun.
We stood in the fighting arena. I held a giant straw dummy in my arms. I heaved, and tossed it down the arena. "Get the Greek!" I shouted. Mrs. O'Leary barked as she ran down the rows of seats, chasing the dummy. She found it on the floor, behind a few big boxes. She came running for someone to throw it again. "I'm beat, sorry girl." I told her rubbing her nose. "Good dog though. Good getting the Greek." I praised her. She barked and lay down. Her haunches up the air and her nose feet from me.
I didn't pick up the dummy, my arms were too tired, and I felt like my hair was on fire. My feet felt like lead as I dragged them away. It was a hot summer day, I was burning up, and I'd already thrown it over thirty times. I went up to the lake, Percy stayed to play with the hellhound. I heard her barking, and felt the ground shake from ten meters away. I smiled at that.
I had always wanted a dog. I wanted a greyhound. Preferably a gray one. I liked how they were so sleek, and fast. Their skinny shape made me want to hug them forever. I had always thought that dogs were amazing. They weren't my favorite, which were horses. Or my second favorite, that was dolphins. I guess they were my third favorite. But I wanted one more than a horse or dolphin. They made better companions. Imagine walking down the street on a horse. That is a lot rarer than it should be. Or, better yet, a dolphin. I am absolutely positive that that would not work out.
But walking down the street with any breed of dog won't get you much more than a few glances and "Oh my gosh, he's so cute/pretty!" here and there. I could live with that. Despite my loathing for attention.
But Percy had a hellhound. A huge one. That was so not fair.
I looked down at the water beneath me as I sat next to the lake. A handful of curious faces peered up at me from the blue water.
I walked back to the Poseidon cabin. As soon as I was inside, I closed the door and shut the windows. I grabbed my toiletries and set them on the bed. I pulled my green towel out of the bottom drawer, grabbed my hairbrush, and put it all on the bed. I didn't want to be greasy much longer. I stuffed everything into my beach bag. I had nothing else to do, and all the other cabins had something else they just started. I figured I could use some cleanliness. I stepped out into the air, breathing it all in. my bag over my shoulder.
I took two steps with my eyes closed, when I ran into Helen. She seemed as surprised to see me as I was to see her. "What are you doing out here?" she demanded.
"I have nothing to do. You?" I returned.
"I just needed a bath." She admitted. "I haven't had a good shower in a while."
"Same here. I like dogs and all, but covered head to toe in slobber is a bit of a stretch." I said. She smiled and we walked together to the girls building. When we got there, we checked for any unwanted guests, and then snuck inside. The water helped more than I thought it would. It cleared my head, and gave me a moment to think.
I let down my water magic to clean myself off, and when I was done I focused on bringing it back. It worked. I was immediately dry. "Nice." I murmured.
"Well I don't have it so easy." Helen teased. "Could you give me a hand?"
"Sure!" I grabbed her hand. We laughed until I realized that it had worked. As soon as I touched her, she was completely dry. As there was no more water falling from the ceiling, when I let go, she was still dry. But it had been unexpected.
"Wow." She told me. "That was pretty cool." I looked at my hand. I agreed with her. "Good thing our cabins are together on this game." She laughed and we left the building feeling better.
That night was Capture the flag, and I was excited. Not necessarily in a good way.
"Alex, stop fidgeting. We'll do fine. Leave your shirt in one piece." It was good advice, but I still couldn't help picking at my shirt, and folding and unfolding the piece of paper in my hands. It was a note. A poem of sorts, written on a small piece of golden paper. It was written in loopy handwriting with a smiley face in one corner. It went a little something like this:
I see you, my heart beats, a drum in my chest.
You smile; it stops, and takes off yet again.
If you want to know who your admirer be,
Meet me after the game tonight, by the sea
It sounded corny, but I liked it.
It had to be an Apollo kid. No one else was the type to make up such a note. Or make it sound so much like a blind date. But I had other worries.
"Who is playing who?" I asked Percy.
"Athena vs. Ares. As per usual. With us, we have Apollo, Hermes, Hephaestus, Hades, most of the H names and a few minor gods' cabins. Ares has everyone else. Not to worry, Athena and her kids are great at getting the best fighters."
"Alright campers!" Chiron stood up at the head of the room by the big table. All conversation died down. "You know the rules! The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!" he spread his hands and the tables were immediately covered in armor etc.
I looked in astonishment at Percy. "No way am I going to be putting any of that on." I said.
"Well you have to wear it. If you don't want to get hurt too bad. At least put on the breastplate and get the sword. You have to fight at all, you'll need them. And you need to wear a blue plume helmet too. Or no one will know your side and everyone will attack you. Even our side."
He pulled on the larger green-tinted bronze breastplate and checked his watch. He got on a few other things; I had no idea what they were, and pulled on his helmet last. He took a deep breath, and pulled out his ballpoint pen. He looked at it and sighed. He uncapped it and it grew into the long bronze sword he had let me use to destroy the lawyer at the festival. He strapped it to his waist.
"What about a shield?" I asked. Sure that that was the only thing missing from his outfit.
He grinned and tapped his watch. "Already taken care of."
I of course didn't get it. I was new at this. But I really didn't see how a watch could be a shield. I guessed I would find out.
Percy showed me how to put on the breastplate. It was similar to his. Green-tinted bronze, scalloped like fish scales. On the front was a trident. I was proud to wear it. The only thing that really embarrassed me was the fact that it was shaped. It curved with my body, making it easy to move in, and comfortable, but making me blush and "advertising" more than I liked. I like loose shirts.
I pulled a shield over my arm. It was round and smooth, but it had a soft leather lining. The metal was bronze, and it too, had a trident. The shield was heavy though. My arm felt like fire if I held it up too long.
I picked up a sword too; this one looked more like one of my favorite kinds of pen. They had a point like a ballpoint, but if you pulled off the cap on the other side, there would be a thinner point. I looked at it. I uncapped the second end. The blade glowed faintly in the afternoon shadows.
"Cool." I muttered. Percy agreed with me.
"Blue team, fall in!" called Annabeth, waving her hand and motioning for us. We followed. As we followed, I held my helmet under my arm. I didn't much like it.
She told everyone what his or her position was. It all seemed to work out okay in my mind. Percy and I had border patrol. I would be farther out than he would be. Out into the woods. I wondered how well I would get through this.
When the conch horn blew, I wasn't initially surprised to see a bunch of kids running up screaming. I was scared when it finally registered that the entire Hecate cabin and half the Ares cabin was running at me. I hadn't expected so many. I don't exactly remember what happened next. It was mostly a blur, but somehow, a third of them were on the ground in a very short time. The rest, were staring at me in shock. The rest of the moment passed, and I found that stepping backwards out of the water, big mistake.
I hadn't even realized I was in the water, but it hit hard as soon as I wasn't.
Within seconds, my strength was gone. And I was a prisoner in my first game. They led me across, two Ares kids held me up out of the water, and put me down on the other side. I struggled, sure. I put up a great fight and kept up a steady string of curses and nonsense, but they seemed undeterred. They brought me back through their territory. Being led, I passed the flag. I memorized what I could. They brought me to a place near the flag. In a natural cave. They set me down in there, and one burly kid stood guard.
More, snored guard. But he was bulky, so I did not want to wake him. I sat there, fidgeting, waiting for some sign that I could re-join the game. After a few seconds, however, someone nudged snooze-boy.
"We need you over by Zeus's fist!" they murmured into his ear. "Quick! Forget the girl! We got to get that flag!"
Snooze-boy stood up, hit his head on the ceiling, muttered a low oath, and ran into the field. Alone.
"Huh?" I asked myself. Suddenly, someone had a hand over my mouth. I tried to yell, but the hand silenced me.
"Shhhhhh!" muttered a familiar voice. "Keep quiet or they'll hear you!" the hand disappeared.
"Annabeth?" I whispered. His suddenly appeared, with her hat poised above her head, as if she had just pulled it off. It was navy blue, with a big "Y" in the middle. Yankees.
"Yes, Alex, it's me." I stared at her hat. "Oh, this? Gift from mom." She explained. "Oh, common. We got to get out of here." I followed her away from the cave. We circled around the flag, hiding behind tree after tree. I found my cool sword on the ground a few feet away from the cave, dropped by the guard. We could hear voices, and the clang of metal against metal. We got close to the flag, keeping low, and ducking whenever the guards turned our way. Suddenly, out of the blue, there was a blade against my throat. I froze.
"Don't. Move." Came a slightly agitated voice. It was not hard to follow the orders. "What are you doing here?" Helen asked.
"Trying for the flag?" Annabeth suggested. Helen smiled at me.
"Hi, Alex. Hi Annabeth." The sword dropped. "May I join you?"
I grinned at her. "Sure! We could use some help, right Annabeth?" she nodded in assent.
"Alright, here's the new plan." Annabeth announced. She quickly and efficiently outlined her plans to get the guards away. Helen and she would distract the two of them, while I went for the flag in the middle. Most of the red team was at the creek or out in the woods. We were nearly alone.
We split up, going for our directions. Annabeth's plan was to whistle like a bird, and come running in two seconds later. While both guards were distracted, Helen would come in and knock one out, and they would together hold the second until I was successful in grabbing the flag.
I hid behind the flag, to take off running in the direction I was already facing as soon as I had a hold of it. Hiding was more exciting than I thought it would be. There were sounds everywhere. Metallic clangs, shouting and swearing, leathery thumps, splashing. I was so caught up in the sounds of battle around me, that I almost missed Annabeth's signal. Almost.
Tweeeeeee! Came the sound of a feminine whistle. I shook my head to dispel the other sounds. Twee! I waited two seconds, she didn't disappoint. Into the clearing she dashed. In only a matter of seconds, she had guard number one in a headlock, the second guard ambling toward her, yelling.
Helen flashed into him, knocking him over. He tried to shout a curse, but she knocked him unconscious. I looked down at him. He was bulky, and somewhat cute, but not in a dating way.
She joined Annabeth in holding onto the first guard. She beckoned me forward and blocked a punch to her face. He struggled, but they had him down on the ground, his face full of dirt.
I grabbed the flag and took off running. Both girls dropped the guy and followed me. They soon caught up and started running slightly ahead, fighting off anyone who would attack. After only a few seconds though, the red people started cursing behind us. And in front. I was lucky that no one was anywhere near as good as Annabeth at fighting. I soon had a whole crowd of people surrounding me. Blues and reds. It was a great high.
Adrenaline pumping, I sprinted. Though not as fast as I was used to. Maybe the lack of water. Don't know. Didn't care. I was flying toward the creek, getting stronger as I ran. I was inches away, when I heard Helen cry out in pain. I hesitated, but only mentally, as I flew across the river, momentum carrying me ahead through the creek. The water made me stronger again. It felt good, but there was something off . . . I had no idea.
The flag rippled from the red I remembered, to green, with a large trident in the middle. The cheering was deafening. So was the cursing. I dropped the flag into someone's hands and ran back to find Helen. She was sitting on the ground, her face red, holding her breath. She bit down hard on a piece of her orange shirt. She was scooting to the creek, trying to get there without crying out again. She caught my gaze and smiled, winced, and then dropped her attention to the water. Annabeth and a few Apollo kids were with her, trying to help. She refused, washing out her wound with her left hand.
I was abruptly hauled up onto many arms, and carried away. Annabeth received the same problem. It was disturbing, to be so high. I wanted the water.
Chiron came galloping up, and yelled for silence. "Campers! Let us put our heroes down and give them some peace." Thank you. "We all know the outcome, but let me announce it now, for all to hear! The blue team wins! Hurray for blue! Now let us all go to bed and have a good night's sleep. Goodnight!" he called and turned to Helen. "As for you, let me have a look at that." She did, and I lost sight of her as more people came to shake my hand or pat me on the back.
"All right already!" I yelled over the babble. I pounded one of the hands carrying me. "Put me down!" they did, and I pushed my way through them. But there were too many people. It took me thirty seconds to push all the way through. As soon as I was free, someone caught my hand. I yanked, but they held on. I whirled to face them, and tripped on something. Seth caught me before I could scrape myself up. I blinked at him. "Thanks." I mumbled. I yanked myself free again, and stuck my feet in the stream. I sighed.
People bombarded me with questions, and I ignored them. It just felt good to have won at something. It was annoying after just a bit though, so I hauled myself up and walked away. They surrounded Annabeth next. I didn't pay attention to see her reaction.
I went to find Helen, and I did. I found her with Chiron and a few kids. She was sitting there, trying not to scream as they fed her Nectar and poked at her right arm. She looked up at my approach.
Her entire right arm was covered in blood, and a large gash had been opened just above the elbow.
"That doesn't look good. How did that happen?"
"Stupid Ares kid. Got me good. I'll make him pay for that. I have the perfect curse." She grinned to herself with some memory that I wasn't privy too. I didn't ask.
"Does it hurt?" I asked. "Are you okay? Do you need anything?" abruptly, I realized how insane I sounded. I shut my mouth. She laughed, and I grimaced.
"I'm okay. Really. It doesn't hurt so much. I'll be fine." She sighed, and I regretted speaking. "Why is everyone so overprotective?" she muttered under her breath. If I hadn't been so close, I might have missed it. As it was, I barely heard it. I could have ignored it, if the boy sitting next to her hadn't snickered as he poured some water over the arm.
"Sorry." I apologized, realizing too late that this was also, what she referred to as "So overprotective." Chagrin colored my cheeks faintly. I grinned at her. She returned it.
"Go. Have your night off. Sleep well and ignore the fans. I'll be fine!" she waved her hand at the forest in the general direction of the cabins. She winced and bit her lip as the kid beside her poked at her wound.
"Sorry," he murmured. She smiled anyway.
"Okay, I'll go sleep." I told her. "Goodnight!" I walked away. Leaving her by the creek and searching for a bed under my hands. I thought about my exiting new life, and imagined telling my mother all about it. I thought about how my not being there would change things for her and Mic. I was not there, yet would that be unhappy, or uneasy? What if the twins weren't happy with this? How would Katie feel if my next call . . . My thoughts faded into unconsciousness as I dragged my body into my cabin, suddenly tired. I think my head hit the pillow, I cannot be sure. I don't know why I was so tired. Maybe it was not the pillow. Maybe it was the floor. I don't know.