Hello readers! I hope that you are actually reading this and haven't given up hope that I would ever finish writing it! Anyways, I own nothing here except Taylor and a few other characters!
The next morning when I woke up, I pulled my iPod away from its charger and put the headphones in my ears. Taylor Swift's Mine was playing, but all I could think about was the looming prospect of Capture the Flag. I was excited yet nervous, because from what I heard, the Hunters have never lost yet, but it was always a vicious game with a lot of injuries and the Apollo kids working over-time.
Of course, no one else was up, so I walked out to the beach to see the sunrise. I was surprised to see someone else out there too, I normally wake up before everyone else. By normally, I mean every single day, but apparently not today. I walked closer to see who it was, and was pleasantly surprised to find out that it was Taylor.
"Oh, hi Nicole. I didn't think anyone else would be out here this early." She barely even looked up before speaking, and I was a little freaked out, but I guess she got used to being super-aware of her surroundings.
"Yeah, ditto. Are you excited about Capture the Flag today? You're going to be on our team." I watched Taylor's reaction, and she looked up at the sky. I wondered what that was about before I realized that she was probably used to looking up at the sun where her dad was.
"I guess so; it's just that I really hope I made the right choice. I mean, I can't wait to be a Hunter, it must be epic; but I'm going to miss my friends a lot. Also, I don't think any of them besides Antonia and Cristina know that I'm going to be on your team." Taylor sighed. I sort of see her point, but I didn't have any friends before joining the Hunt, so I can't exactly sympathize with her on that.
"Yeah, but the Hunt is amazing, you're going to love it." After that we just stayed silent and waited for Lord Apollo to drive by in his sun chariot. It was really quiet and peaceful, until both of our iPods switched from songs that fit the quiet serenity of the moment to louder, more upbeat songs that blared out.
We looked at each other and laughed. It was a good moment, and then Lauren and Ella walked over to us and started lecturing me about leaving before the rest of them even wake up. Oh well, they're just going to have to get used to it.
The four of us all walked into the dining pavilion together and we caught a lot of people staring at us. Taylor winked at us before leaving to sit at her cabin's table. Ella, Lauren, and I all joined Lady Artemis's table along with most of the other Hunters. I noticed that less people were staring at us than yesterday, but it was still a pretty big selection.
I caught a few times that one of the demigods that talked last night, would glance over at me or the other Hunters. Occasionally, one of them would look over at another, and they would appear to be having a silent conversation. That happened especially often between Cristina and Ace; I wonder what's going on there. After everyone got their food, we all proceeded to the huge fire that looked like it hadn't been put out last night, and offered burnt food to the gods and goddesses.
I noticed that Taylor lingered a fraction of a second longer than her half-siblings, and offered twice the amount of food. When it was Thalia's turn, she did the same thing, as did almost the entire Hunt. I guess they must be offering food to their parent AND Lady Artemis. That's probably a very wise choice so that you don't anger or annoy any godly beings.
When everyone had already offered their sacrifices, Chiron stood up and announced that Capture the Flag would take place a little after lunch so that we would have to chance to strategize first. I was glad of that; I really needed the extra time before the game started.
I stood up and walked over to where I had seen most of Apollo's kids walk to, I knew the archery field had to be somewhere near there. Sure enough, there were about twenty targets at different distances all lined up and about ten blond haired kids all with their own bow and arrows.
Grabbing my bow and quiver of arrows out of nowhere, how only Hunters can, I aimed at one of the easier targets and let the arrow go. It hit the bulls-eye exactly, so I took that as a good sign. Moving up the line of targets that got progressively farther and farther away, my arrows hit the target in the middle every time.
That was when I noticed that a lot of campers were staring at me, and even a few sons and daughters of Apollo looked impressed. I walked back to Lady Artemis's cabin like nothing had happened, but still managed to catch a little of what the kids back by the targets were saying.
When I got back to the cabin, I noticed a few things were different from last night. 1) all of the Huntresses that was present at the time were all in a small semi-circle 2) Taylor was in here 3) Lady Artemis herself was actually standing in the middle of the cabin. Oh, this must be what Thalia was talking about when she said we could get Taylor to become a Huntress right before Capture the Flag.
I watched along with everyone else as Taylor recited the pledge and Lady Artemis formally accepted it. Apparently, Taylor had been considering becoming a Huntress for a while, but only just agreed officially.
We formed our Capture the Flag battle strategy with the approval of Lady Artemis, and then went to go practice some of our fighting techniques. Lauren, Ella, another Hunter named Melody, and I all practiced together. We were pretty evenly matched if teamed up, because Lauren and I were both new to most of this while Ella's had more practice and Melody is a daughter of Nike.
After about two hours of training, the four of us all went to go eat lunch in the pavilion. Again, we were served by tree nymphs and it was all vegan food. I never really realized how much of a limited diet vegans had.
Everyone offered the best part of their meal to their parent and/or Lady Artemis, and then sat down to enjoy the rest of the meal. I noticed Taylor sitting with her half-siblings, and she winked at me. I guess she had to stick to our plan as closely as possible.
Soon (but not soon enough, in my opinion) Chiron stood up to announce that Capture the Flag was starting in five minutes. The entire population of the camp seemed to dash off at theses words, and I must admit, even I was getting pretty excited. We had a solid plan and I was positive that we could execute it perfectly.
We all stood and gathered our weapons, and some people grabbed light armor. This is going to be fun; getting to fight it out with random campers we don't know, bring it on!
Everyone all gathered together at the edge of the river while Chiron gave us the official rules of the game. Then the conch horn blew, and we all ran off to our places in the woods so that we could get this game started.
Well, that was fun to write! I'm going to my friend's birthday party later today, so I don't when I can post the next chapter (which WILL include the actual game of Capture the Flag), but it will be soon! I promise! Please review!
~monkeypicklez