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Royally Screwed

Night fell and a deep, nasal sound filled the silence in the dark while huge flocks of birds escaped the rustling trees. Chiron, the activities director of Camp Half-Blood, had blown the conch horn. Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glistening gray, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree. From the opposite side of the pavilion, an athletic girl and her buddies ran in with another banner, of identical size, but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head. Hick shuddered. Athena is going to be up against some really tough opponents. Especially that leading lady of Ares. Man, look at those biceps.

"She's huge, isn't she? That's Clarisse, daughter of Ares."

Hick turned in the direction of the voice and saw a boy around her age standing next to her. His hair was the same light shade of blonde as Ryan's under the flicker of the fiery night torches, but she could not make out his facial features. He seemed much taller and muscular than Ryan though.

Hick held her torch up to his face. The blonde guy looked nothing like Ryan. He looked handsome, no doubt, but he did not have the playful, flirtatious look that Ryan has. This guy has an intense steely gaze in his electric blue eyes and angular, serious features; all of which makes him come across as some sort of blonde superman.

"I heard from Annabeth that Ares and Athena are in the lead for this whole competition on which is the best cabin," Hick commented. "I'm guessing those are the flags the opposite teams have to steal from each other?"

The blond guy nodded in reply. He turned to face Hick. "You're the daughter of Hades, right? The drifter?"

"Hah?" Hick stared blankly at the new friend she made. What drifter?

"I'm Jason, your teammate for the quest you're going to be on. You know me... right?" He sounded kind of hopeful.

Hick raised an eyebrow.

"Uh... well sure, I just met you. Some pretty girl told me you were looking for me earlier on. Sorry for the delay. Annabeth had to prepare me for this stupid competition," she replied, brandishing her bow and arrows. His face fell. Hick didn't get it. Did I answer the question wrong? She shuffled her feet nervously, unsure of what to make of the situation.

There came another blow of the horn, and everyone started charging off, roaring and banging their swords against their shields as they did. The flags have been in placed. The teams were announced. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins, as well as the Three Greats: Poseidon, Zeus and Hades.

Ares had allied themselves with everybody: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus. The Dionysus's kids were excellent athletes, but there were only two of them. Demeter's kids had the edge with nature skills and outdoor stuff but they weren't very aggressive. Aphrodite's sons and daughters mostly sat out every activity and checked their reflections in the lake and did their hair and gossiped. Hephaestus's kids weren't pretty, and there were only four of them, but they were big and burly from working in the metal shop all day. They might be a problem. That, of course, left Ares's cabin: a dozen of the biggest, roughest, strongest kids on Long Island, or anywhere else on the planet.

"Which cabin do you belong to?" Hick asked Jason, at a lost as to what she should do while the last of the half-blood kids passed her by.

"I'm a son of Jupiter, the Roman god. So under Greek terms, I'm a son of Zeus. I guess we're allies."

Hick looked around. Everyone had left. She and Jason were the only ones left at the assembly point. The cricking of the crickets filled the silence. She turned to him. "Yeah… Okay… I'm just gonna head straight to Ares and see what I can do."
Jason frowned, "But we're suppose to stick to the plan Ath-"
"Okay you go do that. Bye!" Hick shrugged, jogging off to Ares' territory.
"H-Hey! Wait up!" Jason called out, running after her.

Hick and Jason trudged through the trees in the dark, simply talking. She learnt of Percy's brother, who is apparently a Cyclops and a child of Poseidon as well. There was Piper, the girl Jason is clearly smitten with, and Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus and Jason's best friend. Then there were her siblings, Nico di Angelo from the Greek camp, and Hazel Levesque from the Roman camp. Both of them have yet to arrive at Camp Half-Blood.

Hick stopped in her tracks and signalled Jason to keep silent. The shadows had spoken to her. Eleven were approaching from behind, another eleven up ahead. On the left, four were closing in fast and the right is where the flag is. Half of the defence team had abandoned the flag and started to approach them.

That meant that Ares' flag was sparsely guarded.

"We're surrounded. By dozens," Hick whispered to Jason. She could feel the enemy closing in fast on them.

"Any idea what we should do next?" Jason whispered in reply.
"Up the trees," Hick replied, looking up at the thick tree branches hovering over them. "Always up the trees."

Hick snuffed the life out of her torch's flame with the shadows, carried it between her gritted teeth and began climbing the nearest tree, with Jason following her close behind.

"Don't you think we should help out with Athena's plan instead of hiding out here," said Jason, as soon as both of them settled on a sturdy tree branch.

"Hey, we're helping them out now, alright? Now that a couple of them are looking for us here, Ares' defence around the flag has weakened. Let's hope we can buy Athena some time to penetrate through their defence," said Hick, conjuring green underworld flames from her fingertips and lighting up her torch again. The flame roared bright and fierce in the dark forest. That would attract definitely attract Ares' attention.

The rival team members finally revealed themselves.

"Attack!" Hick could hear Drew shriek command from below.
Arrows started coming up at Hick and Jason. Somehow, her teammates seemed to obey her too readily for Hick's taste.

"Shoot," Jason cursed under his breath. "She's using Charm Speak to make everyone follow her bid."
"Hey! No maiming!" Hick yelled at them.
"Oops! Guess we're losing out desert privileges!" taunted one blonde Aphrodite girl.
"Are they serious?" gasped Hick, turning to look at Jason. "Do they want to KILL us?"
"Uh... We demi-gods heal fast," Jason shrugged. "And people can get crazy competitive. Oh shoot, some of them are starting to climb up."

Hick hastily went through her options. Necromancy? No, ghost armies kill. Geokinesis? Right, opening up the ground and sending us all to the underworld is the way to go. Ugh! Think, Hick! Think!
She was running out of time.

"Psst!"

Jason sat straight and strained his ears. "Hick, did you hear that?" he said.
"If you mean those stupid Ares kids down there going all 'Oh! My desert privileges! My desert privileges! Boohoohoo!' then yes, I heard that! Gosh, how long are they gonna stand there and mock me?"
"Psst!"
"Again! There it went again!" said Jason. "Didn't you hear it?"

Hick heard it this time. It was coming from their left. So Hick turned to look and what she saw shocked the bejeezus out of her. Sitting on the branches of a neighbouring tree was a petite African American girl with tightly curled dark brown hair. Seated right next to her was a taller, lankier boy who looked as pale as a ghost. How had Hick not sensed their presence? She immediately drew an arrow and pointed it at them.

"Who the hell are you?" Hick exclaimed. She couldn't help herself. The girl and the boy totally freaked her out.

"Hazel! Nico!" Jason greeted them.

The pale boy whom Hick guessed must be Nico pressed a finger to his lips. The girl, Hazel, was peering at Hick with her wide, puppy dog eyes and it was starting to freak Hick out a little. She seemed to be signalling to Hick and Jason something. Someting above them. Hick unhooked the arrow from her bow, and looked up. Just hovering above her and Jason was a long tree branch, and it had a hornet's nest dangling at its tip. Hick met Hazel's eyes again. The girl was signalling a sawing motion. Cut it off, she seemed to tell Hick with her eyes. Without a word, Hick climbed onto the branch above her and crawled her way to the hornet's nest. She unsheathed a pocket knife Annabeth had given her and, heating it searing hot with underworld flames, sliced the thick branch and let the hornet's nest fall. What followed later was a series of surprised yelps, followed by bloodcurling screams as the enemy below experienced the painful sting of hornets.

"You may want to do something about those two climbing up your tree," Nico called out. Jason looked down. He almost forgot about the two Ares boys that were climbing up after them. They were only three or four branches away from them now.

"Uh… Hick? Got a plan?" Jason called out. Hick swung down to Jason's tree branch and nestled herself right next to him. Reaching her right hand out, Hick flexed her fingers, taking control of the shadows. The attackers climbing the tree suddenly froze, unable to move. Panic seized them as they struggled to move, but to no avail.

"What's going on?!"
"I can't move!"
"Oh gods! Oh gods! Something's grabbing my feet!"
Jason squinted at the Ares boys in the darkness and saw dark, shadowy beings hugging the attackers in place to the tree bark.

"Jump off, Hick," Drew called out. Jason froze. Uh oh. She's using Charm Speak again, this time to manipulate Hick. He turned to look at his comrade. She looked dazed. Confused. "No, Hick! Don't!" Hick shook her head and snapped back to her senses, trying not to lose control over her body.

"Jump off," Drew repeated.
"Hick, she's using Charm Speak to control you! Snap out of it," Jason yelled, panicking as he watched Hick get to her feet, balancing precariously on the tree branch. He grabbed onto her hand.

Too late. Hick wrenched herself from Jason's grip and fell off the tree branch, hurtling towards the ground. She hit the ground with a sickening thud. Pain seared through her entire body and she screamed in pain.

"Hick!" Jason yelled from the tree tops.

The Ares kids had encircled her. Most of the kids from the other cabin were gone, along with the rest of the hornets. Much to the remaining enemy survivors' displeasure, the wounds sustained from the fall on Hick were healing at an alarming rate with the aid of the dark. She tried to get up, her knees wobbling beneath her while Drew stood before her and watched her struggle. The Aphrodite girl had a beautiful but cruel sneer etched across her face, and she felt downright powerful, Hick was sure of that.

"Well, well. Look who we have here. The newcomer everyone's been making a huge fuss about," she scoffed, circling Hick. "You think you could just do whatever you want and act like a some stupid SLUT? "

Hick froze.

Apple Valley, California, 2002.

Hick was only eight years old, but she could tell from how her mom was trembling so that the woman Hick knew to be brave and capable was, for once, utterly terrified. They hid in the dark closet and Hick pressed her face into her mother's shirt, drying the hot tears that were spilling out of her eyes. She hated being in the dark closet, but she hated being outside of it even more.

She could hear furniture crashing to the floor, chairs flung across the room, and her mom jumping to every loud crash and bang in the house.

Then the closet door flung open.

"Now there's the SLUT!" the man growled.

The present.

Rage clouded Hickmind and a huge bout of newfound strength surged through her veins. The forest started to grow darker and everyone flinched at the sudden dimming. Maintaining her composure, Hick stood up straight and looked at Drew square in the eye.

"What did you say?"

Drew smirked. She seemed to have picked on a raw nerve. Getting up close to Hick's face, she whispered those taunting words.

"What? Slut?"

Keep calm, Hick. "Look, we don't want any trouble. It's just a stupid camp game. No one needs to get hurt."
"Why are you so offended, being called a slut? You shouldn't be ashamed of what you are," Drew taunted her, drawing laughter from her teammates.
"Please don't call me that," Hick replied, wearing an amused smile. But the angry glint in her eyes gave away her facade. Drew smirked.
"Why, slut?" said Drew.
That was it. Hick grabbed Drew by the collar and pulled the daughter of Aphrodite towards her, so they were cheek to cheek.
"Call me 'slut'. One more time," Hick hissed into her ear. The Aphrodite beauty had on a cocky smile, unaware of the trouble she was about to get into. "I dare you," Hick urged her. "Say it. One. More. Time."
"Slu – "

Hick released the pretty girl's shirt and the shadows grabbed her, shooting her right up into the night sky. Her long, shrill shrieks petered out into silence. Everyone froze.

"What have you done?!" One of the Aphrodite boys cried out, utterly terrified. "What have you done to her? Bring her back!"

Jason, Hazel and Nico had finally reached the ground and were utterly shocked after what they had just witnessed. They didn't know whether to laugh or stare at Hick in horror.

"Oh don't worry, she'll be back," Hick replied, wiping the beads of sweat off her face as she set her sights up at the night sky.
"This is against campus rules!" a buff boy yelled at her. "You can't just throw peo – "
"What? You'd like to go next, you say?" Hick asked, glaring at the Ares kid.
Everyone backed down, leaving Jason and Hick alone in the centre. "Yeah, that's what I thought," she scoffed, returning her gaze to the sky.

Then, there came a loud cheer from the Ares territory and Hick could see Percy, Annabeth and the rest of the team under Athena heading towards them. "Hick! Hick! We got the flag!" Percy yelled, running towards her. Hick walked past him, her eyes very much still focused on the sky, "Sorry Percy, hold up. Uh… I think it should be… right… around… here?" She stopped in her tracks and reached both arms out, still looking up.

"What's she looking at?" someone whispered. Everybody craned their necks to look up, following Hick's gaze.

Seconds later, there came the faint sound of a hoarse scream that grew louder and louder and louder, and everyone eventually saw a pink dot growing larger and larger. Something was plummeting towards them.

"Everybody, stand clear!" Percy yelled, getting everyone to back off. Hick raised her arms out and caught Drew just in time before she slammed into the ground. Her once glossy curls were now frizzy ringlets, and tears were streaming down her face as she wailed and gasped, smudging her eyeliner. There came a collective gasp from the bystanders.

"Alright, alright, you're alright," Hick scoffed, helping the traumatized girl settle on her feet. Everyone watched as the once confident daughter of Aphrodite sobbed and hyperventilated her way into her siblings' arms. And then, all eyes were now on Hick. Damn, Hick cursed, shoving her hands into her pockets.

To be continued...