Well, I hope that you enjoy this chapter! Since it is the month of October, it is the month of Halloween! And since I'm obsessed with Halloween and forcing my Halloween obsession on other people, I haven't had much time to write! I hope you like the chapter, anyway!
I was on patrol duty along with some other Hunters. We were supposed to keep watch on the river so that no campers could sneak over the boundaries into our territory. Thalia had given us the orders to shoot at anyone who crosses over.
It really is a shame that there's no intentional maiming allowed in here. That would make this game EXTREMELY interesting; and help me relieve some stress and anger (I don't care what people might tell you, I do NOT need anger management!).
There were four of us total right here on guard in the trees. We saw two stray demigods trying to sneak across the river, and I think they must have been Poseidon's kids because of the way the water was reacting to them. Norman was one of them, and he seemed to be leading the other one who looked a year or two younger than him.
It was decided wordlessly that we would wait for them to be on dry ground again before attempting to shoot at them. They took their time climbing out of the river to try to reach the flag though, so I was already suspicious.
As the other three Hunters I was with working with watched the two Poseidon kids, I scanned the area around us. I looked around carefully, and was rewarded when I saw a bush move.
Bow raised, I kept watch on the small piece of shrubbery. All of a sudden, Norman and his half-sister climbed out of the river. At the exact same time that three arrows flew, I shot at the greenery and heard a gasp.
It turns out that Antonia and Alexandria were the ones hiding in the bush, and my arrow had gone right between the two of them. It had startled the pair enough for me to gain the time to string another arrow.
As they started to get themselves back together again, I shot one more arrow. It whizzed past Alexandria and hit Antonia in the shoulder. Luckily for her, she had on light armor and the arrow just bounced back off.
Everyone else had realized what was going on by then. Norman and his accomplice ran over to where the two girls were standing and tried to help ward off the attack of arrows being fired at them; but it was too late.
At that exact moment, Thalia ran over the boundary line with Taylor covering her. We had counted on the fact that no one would attack her because they knew she was a camper, and that the only people that did know she was now a Huntress were her friends.
It must have worked because neither of them had so much as a scratch on them. A little late, Donald, James, and another daughter of Apollo came through the trees. The two boys had knives and the girl had a bow and arrows. That's when I noticed that Taylor was missing all of her arrows, and even Thalia was short a few.
Both of the knives were thrown directly at Taylor, while an arrow flew at Thalia. They dodged them, and Thalia fired off a few arrows of her own, while Taylor threw her half-brothers' knives back at their owners with deadly accuracy.
Both Donald and James ducked and the knives impaled themselves into a tree where their heads had been a moment before. They pulled out their weapons, and looked ready for a fight. Taylor had fished a small dagger out of a pocket in her Hunter's vest, and I was afraid this would not end well.
Fortunately, two tree nymphs showed up and started yelling at all five of the demigods for their abuse of trees. That kept them distracted (ADHD, remember?) enough for Chiron to gallop over and announce that the game was official over.
From everyone's faces, I could tell that this had just begun; but they all put away their weapons. Thalia was greeted by most of the Hunt and congratulated, while Taylor and her half-brothers glared daggers at each other, almost literally.
Some of the rest of the group from last night went to talk to Norman, Donald, James, Antonia, and Alexandria. Apparently, she used her powers to make the bush rustle as a signal for Norman and his partner in crime. Anyway, they came to talk, or most likely, gossip. I heard them mention Capture the Flag more than once and I noticed that the guys and even some of the girls had excluded Taylor and were giving her nasty looks.
She just shrugged and walked off on her own, most likely to find some of her arrows. Lauren and Ella ran up to me at that point, and told me what had happened to them during their distraction run. Apparently, Lauren had met Evan, Michael, and Margaret, and Ella had seen Julianna, Marie, Ace, Mickey, Cristina, and Earl. They were a big group, but I guess it was explained by the fact that three of them were children of love deities and Cristina was the daughter of the goddess of forgetfulness. She and Ace seemed to be very close, hmm . . .
I wondered vaguely how big the forest really was to have held all of these minor fights at the same time. That's when Zack came running up to us. I don't know why, but he looked like he was about to freak out, cry, or seriously injure someone. Maybe even all of the above, knowing Zack.
"Have any of you guys seen Taelor lately? I can't find her anywhere!" Oh, well that explains why he looks so frantic. If Taelor's missing, then Zack would probably do anything to find her, He is a really overprotective brother.
"I haven't seen her since before Capture the Flag. Have you guys?" Lauren and Ella both shook their heads and that caused Zack to freak out. None of us had seen her since the game ended.
"If I haven't seen her and you haven't seen her, then where is she?" Didn't we just tell this boy that we hadn't seen his sister, and now he's asking us where she is! Are all boys that stupid?
"How are we supposed to know? You're her brother, you should know these things!" I know that was probably not the nicest thing to say, but he needed to calm down. Taelor was probably just in the woods, exploring.
"But I don't know! Isn't that a bad sign?" Zack started pacing back and down, does he ever sit still? Oh, right, ADHD, my bad.
"DUDE, CALM THE HADES DOWN! You're about to hyperventilate!" He needed to hear it, but I didn't expect Ella to be the one to tell him. She hadn't talked to him once since we met him.
"Okay, okay, I'm calm. Now what are we supposed to do?" Zack still wasn't calm, but I honestly don't think that he really cared all that much. He should learn to listen to girls more; he could get hurt really badly that way. Us girls can be extremely touchy and can slap people extremely hard, not that I would know.
"Well, you could always consult the oracle. I heard that she hasn't changed at all over the past twenty years since we were sixteen!" None of us had heard Thalia come up behind us, but I guess twenty plus years in the Hunt will give you awesome skills like that. She was being sneaky like ninja, and epically winning at it! (Sorry if you don't like the random inside jokes I put in here and hate me for them, that's why you're on the inside of the outside joke!)
"Really? That would be a good idea!" After Zack agreed, Thalia led us all back to the Big House of camp and instructed Zack to climb the steps up to the attic. I think I was scarred for life now, that music choice was just plain scary. I'm sorry to anyone who likes it!
"So, now we just wait until he comes back from his visit with Rachel, assuming that he's still sane after it." Again, very blunt statement from Thalia followed by blank, expressionless faces from the rest of us. It didn't take long until Zack came back downstairs and found us waiting for him.
"Well, apparently I need to take two other demigods with me, and we have to travel to the Underworld. At least, that's what it sounded like . . ." Oh, well that sounds interesting. I could already tell that this was going to be one quest that I was not going to sit out from.
Hello! I am sorry to anyone who was expecting me to update quicker, but being Halloween Obsessed Person takes A LOT of time, not to mention science fair! I'm sorry for the delay and all the random inside jokes if you don't like them! Please review to tell me what you think, or to tell me what an awful person/author/writer I am!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN! ~monkeypicklez