Rachael

Chapter 11

I crouched behind the branches, just watching. For now.

Clarisse and the others were still about twenty feet in front of me, while the flag lay seventy feet behind. They quickly glanced around, looking for hidden traps, but upon finding none, continued on. I smiled. They didn't even think to look in the trees.

I paused for a minute, analyzing the situation. I was outnumbered, but I could attack from long range, something they could not. I quietly removed an arrow from my quiver and nocked it. I pulled back and aimed just beyond Ugly Ares Kid #1's ear.

Grinning, I released. It was show time.

Ugly Ares Kid #1 immediately whirled around. The arrow had planted itself just a couple of yards away, in the trunk of a tree. Ugly Ares Kid #1 shook the others, and after another look around for traps, they continued on with more care. I shifted my weight to grab another arrow, but the movement caused the leaves to rustle gently. I froze in my place, praying to the gods they wouldn't spot me.

No such luck.

Clarisse spotted the tree within seconds and smirked. "Well, well," she called out, "Whom have we got here?"

I groaned inwardly. I had blown my cover, but I still had the height advantage. "What are you going to do about it Clarisse?" I said loudly, not caring if they heard me, as they already knew where I was. "Throw your spear forty feet in the air?" While talking I made my way down enough distance that I could jump, but I was still hidden in the branches.

Clarisse growled, but to my surprise stepped back and the other three demigods created a wall in front of her. I frowned. That wasn't like Clarisse at all. Either way, I was going to win this.

Taking a deep breath, I leapt from the cover of the tree and into open space.

Having no time to spare, I shot my first arrow at Ugly Ares Kid #1's foot and had reloaded within seconds. Ugly Ares Kid #1 cried out in pain and tried to pull it out, but it was wedged in pretty deeply. It bought me some time, but that wouldn't hold her for long. Removing my dagger, I crouched downwards and swept the blade right under Ugly Ares Kid #2's feet before he even knew what was happening. He fell to the ground and I kicked him away into the bushes.

I turned around, surprised to find Ugly Ares Kid #3's Celestial Bronze blade coming at my face, but I reacted and brought my dagger to meet it. We struck and parried for a few minutes, until he had let down his guard long enough for me to pin him against a nearby tree with Alexis. Turning back to Ugly Ares Kid #1, I kicked him hard in the stomach and sent him falling hard onto a rock, turning him unconscious.

I pulled out Alexis, but just when I was about to turn around, I saw Clarisse's spear heading straight at me. I managed to deflect it with the arrow I held in my left hand, but I still felt a painful tingling all over my body and my hair stood on end. My entire left arm went numb as the air around me burned.

Clarisse smirked. Curse that electric spear. I dropped Alexis, as I needed both arms for that. Now I had no choice but to use my dagger. There was nothing wrong with using my dagger, but archery was definitely my strong point. Clarisse tried to swipe her spear under me feet but I managed to jump over it. She tried another blow and my shoulder but I moved out of the way.

It went on like this for a while: her throwing blow after blow, me ducking out of the way, unable to deflect it or strike back. The only good thing was that I could control where we were heading. I soon started to tire and decided to try something stupid. I threw my dagger at Clarisse's shoes.

And with my amazing luck, this one time I just had to miss.

Clarisse paused for a minute and simply stood with her spear in hand, facing me.

Great. Now I was defenseless.

I took a small step back, and was surprised to find my foot drenched in water. Immediately a new wave of energy coursed through me. I took a quick look behind me and saw that we had backed up all the way to the river. Wait… river means Percy. Wasn't Percy supposed to be guarding the river? I shrugged. It was worth a shot.

I almost didn't see the next blow coming, aimed directly at my one good arm. I quickly sidestepped and soon our positions had switched: now Clarisse was just one step away from falling into the river. Clarisse got ready for another hit, but I took a chance and punched her hard in the stomach. The move messed up her balance and she fell backwards into the river, along with a loud splash. At first nothing happened, she just sat up and wrung out her hair, but just as she was about to stand, a fist grabbed her and pulled her back into the water. Percy came out from his hiding place in a bush, his hand matching the water's movements. I grinned.

Clarisse spluttered and tried to get back up but an invisible force was holding her under. "About time, Percy," I said, laughing.

"Well, you weren't doing so bad yourself," he replied.

"I do have my moments." I opened my mouth to say more but was interrupted by a loud roar as a full-sized drakon slithered onto the battlefield.

Allow me to explain: there are dragons, and there are drakons. Dragons are the kind of animal you would find in a fairy tale book, and in the end Prince Charming always would find some way to defeat it. A drakon, on the other hand, in something you would find in my over-popular and just amazing demigod life.

Drakons are several million years older than dragons and way larger. They look like giant serpents, as most don't have wings. They are all poisonous, immensely strong and their eyes can paralyze you. We do have drakon-fighting classes at camp, but there is no way to prepare you for the real two-hundred-foot-long serpent as thick as a school bus, it's yellow eyes like searchlights and a mouth full of razor sharp teeth big enough to chew elephants.

Yep, just another lucky day as a half blood.

I dipped my left arm into the creek and the numbing pain in my left arm immediately disappeared. I sheathed my dagger and pulled out Alexis as the drakon let out another roar. Just as I nocked an arrow, the drakon opened its mouth and blew out a flame that reduced about forty trees to ashes.

So apparently it breathed fire. Not the greatest addition to the list.

"I'll distract it, you sneak behind?" A voiced asked behind me. I turned around to see Annabeth holding her Yankees cap in her hands. The cap had the power to turn its wearer invisible. It had been a gift from her mother, Athena.

"Sounds good." I melted into the bushes, watching as Annabeth yelled insults along with Percy. The other campers were nowhere to be found. But what confused me was how the drakon had made it into camp. No monsters could get past the camp borders unless…well, I didn't really know the 'unless'. There was a rumour that the borders could be defeated by some kind of magic, but no one had ever done it before.

The trees rustled behind me, and I froze. To my surprise, the one and only Leo Valdez tore through the bushes and right onto the battlefield without even noticing me. The other teams flag was tucked in his tool belt, and he opened his mouth to yell something before realizing there was a two-hundred-foot serpent staring down at him.

"Holy Hephaestus!" He yelped. "What in Hades?" I then realized that Leo had never seen a drakon before, unlike the rest of us who had been around for the Battle of Manhattan two years ago.

"No time for that." Percy yelled back, while using waves of water to try to put out the flames. Meanwhile Annabeth was playing a dangerous game of tag, weaving in and out of the drakon's range, managing a few slashes but they made no difference. Only her speed kept her alive. Percy leapt forward at the drakon's mouth with Riptide, and for a second I thought the drakon was really done for, but at the last possible second the drakon lashed out its tail. Percy flew back and slammed against the trunk of a tree, unconscious.

"Percy!" Annabeth screamed, and ran to him, abandoning her post. Now it was just me and Leo.

I shot an arrow ahead of me, and it whizzed right past Leo's head, who was still staring like an idiot. He jerked at the silver streak in front of his eyes and snapped back to reality, sending blasts of flame at the drakon.

"About time, Valdez," I muttered under my breath. I fired more arrows at the drakon, but they simply bounced off its skin harmlessly. I guessed that its mouth was its weak point, but there was no way I could shoot an arrow from this angle. The drakon was completely turned away from me now, all eyes on Leo. I stared at its back, the dark green scales glittering in the moonlight and at its tail swishing back and forth.

I shrugged. Why not?

I shouldered Alexis and leaped onto the drakon's back.

I landed just behind its head, and, trying to keep my balance, unsheathed my dagger. The drakon, noticing my presence (and apparently not liking it) thrashed around wildly. I managed to take out my dagger, but there was no way I could hold on with both hands. I clinged on desperately but nevertheless I began to slide off. The drakon's tail whipped around and only narrowly missed me.

"Leo!" I yelled. "Do something!"

Leo looked around wildly but there was nothing he could do without getting himself fried. Desperately, I searched the drakon's scales when I saw it.

A chink in the armour. A scale was missing.

Gripping my dagger tightly, I thrust it into the exposed skin of the drakon. It roared in defiance and I could hold on no longer. The drakon thrust its head back and I flew off, landing with a loud splash in the deep waters of the creek nearby.

The silence was absolute. I was floating, out of breath, lost of any sense of direction. I tried to swim up to the surface, but a weird, tugging sensation was forcing me down. I looked below me to see a sort of whirlpool of sand at the bottom. Mesmerized, I swam through it.