No one really trusted Ryan. Everyone got all shifty eyes when he was around, as if they expected him to just start attacking or make a couple dozen monsters appear out of thin air. Ryan was treated like an outcast, with no one so much as speaking with him. If someone did talk to him, it was typically an insult or a threat.

I didn't blame everyone that much.

Ryan betrayed the gods in the first place. Betray the gods, you betray their backup army, a.k.a., us. If you betray the demigods, you got a war on your hands. People don't trust a traitor and certainly not one who "suddenly" sees the light and rejoins your side. Chiron announced to everyone that I'd convinced Ryan to rejoin us, but some people weren't convinced. Heck, some people didn't even trust me.

There's no way you can be more powerful than a god unless you were blessed by a Titan, in which case, you inadvertently become a god. Chiron was still uncertain as to just how I became more powerful than Morpheus. Apparently, Chiron spoke with the Olympians and they were just as confused as us when it came to it. Only the Fates, a previous Oracle, Morpheus, and Kronos knew the truth. However, seeing as one of them was dead, two of them were trying to kill the gods, and the last wouldn't even be able to tell us what was going on, we had no way of knowing.

Ryan walked beside Annabeth, Michael and I as we headed in the direction of the fighting arena. Ryan had been free of the dream world for two days and seemed to be in good health, aside from the fact that he was drained of his powers almost completely. Chiron reassured us that he'd be able to regain his strength before the war, but Ryan was having difficulty with not being able to use the powers.

I imagine that I looked like Ryan when I first arrived at Camp Half-Blood, or even when I met Luke and his crew on the Princess Andromeda. He could barely hold a sword, although I was told that I was a clear natural. Ryan was no match for anyone, even one of the newest demigods who arrived just the day before; that wouldn't be bad, if she weren't nine.

Forget archery, that was not his style. Ryan couldn't forge anything, although he seemed quiet gifted in finding sticks to make arrows out of. He was small and quick and had nearly no difficulty climbing the rock wall, but Ryan was very hesitant to so much as speak with someone, let alone fight them.

I realized that Ryan was a pacifist. He wasn't a fighter and we'd have a hard time turning him into a cold-blooded killer that we so desperately needed. Ryan wasn't comfortable in this world of violence, something that surprised me, seeing as that his previous siblings and mine were skilled fighters and our fathers are ruthless. Then, I realized something more: Ryan and I didn't really need to physically fight. Our fathers' abilities strictly rely on getting into someone's head and messing it up. Our fighting typically was done best on the side and our of harms way.

But I preferred to fight with a sword and shield.

"What're we doing," Ryan asked nervously as we reached the arena.

I grinned and stopped in the middle of the field, turning back to look at him. "I'm going to teach you how to fight properly."

"I thought we agreed that I'm hardly capable of holding a shield, much less fighting someone."

Annabeth rolled her eyes from next to him, "Anyone can be trained to fight; demigods are especially easy to train. Fighting is in our blood."

Ryan shook his head and carefully took the sword Michael was holding out towards him. "Maybe I'm a genetic freak; I don't want to fight."

Michael's mouth tightened and he frowned. "Sorry, buddy, but you don't have much of a choice. You know the deal; fight with us and you're a free man."

Ryan nodded slowly and tensed up, preparing to practice. I almost felt bad for the kid. He didn't belong in this world, truly he didn't. But he was a demigod and whether he wanted to or not, he was going to have to fight sometime. No matter which side he chose, Ryan would be up against someone.

I attacked first, my sword hitting his shield with such force that he stumbled back. Michael and Annabeth quickly scrambled off, knowing better than to get in the way. Ryan looked down at his shield briefly and stole a glance at me as I came charging again. This time, he raised his sword to meet mine. Our blades clanged and Ryan looked surprised.

This time, he charged me.

Ryan caught on quickly, even if he was reluctant. Soon, he was matching my fighting skill, no doubt using his abilities to mimic that were similar (although less powerful and profound) to quickly realize little tricks here and there. While he couldn't overpower me, Ryan was able to hold his own within half an hour. He may not like fighting, but he was born to do so.

In honor of nearly all of the Campers returning to Camp Half-Blood, Chiron decided that, on the fifth night, we should play Capture the Flag. The Campers broke out into excited screams; usually, they were so tense about the impending war. I assume that Chiron decided to make them loosen up just a tad bit. Capture the Flag was the Mecca when it came to Camp and definitely one of my favorite parts.

Most of the time, the Athena Cabin and Ares Cabin led the teams. Whenever it's announced that we're to play Capture the Flag, the Camp gets split down the middle and the teams make alliances. Typically, Ares will take Hephaestus (at the very least), creating a super team of big Campers with brute force. Athena almost always takes the Apollo and Hermes Cabin, adding quite a lot of Campers, enough that Ares could take the rest of the Cabins and we'd be pretty much equal.

I was in sitting in the Hermes Cabin with Connor, Travis, and a few others before dinner when Annabeth showed up. Typical Annabeth, she didn't knock and simply swung the door open, letting it hit the wall. Connor jumped and ripped around, "What the Hades, Annabeth? Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

Annabeth grinned and nodded, calmly walking into the Cabin and looked around at the scatter of too many sleeping bags and piles of clothes laying carelessly on the floor. She scrunched her nose in distaste. "It's too cluttered in here; there's too many demigods."

Connor raised his eyebrows and I locked eyes with an unclaimed demigod named Ryan for a brief moment before I stood up from my spot on the floor and put the book I was reading into a backpack from the Camp Store. "Sorry that some of our parents don't have Cabins, or we just weren't claimed," I muttered. Annabeth's eyes went wide.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to insult you guys or anything!" She looked around at the couple of unclaimed demigods who were staring dully at their shoes and at LeAnne, a daughter of Nike. Slowly, LeAnne and Ryan nodded at Annabeth, silently saying that it was fine. Ananbeth shook her head, as if trying to shake off the mistake she said. After a minute, she looked up at Connor and Travis.

"Athena's the blue team leader; Ares is red. Katie and I wanted to know if you guys and the rest of Hermes wanted to join our team. Everyone else has teamed up with Ares and I expect that Clarisse will be coming around anytime now to recruit you."

Travis nodded in agreement as he tidied up his bunk, "Yeah, sure. What's the game plan?"

Connor ran off to call of the Hermes and Demeter Campers together so we could discuss tonight's battle strategy. I followed him carelessly, telling the respective Campers to meet in the Hermes Cabin. I caught a glimpse of Michael heading towards his Cabin, wearing his training armor and carrying his sword. His head was bent down, like he was watching his feet.

I ran towards him, catching up to him in no time. I grabbed his free hand and he looked up, smiling brightly. "Hey," he said softly.

"So you're teaming up with Clarisse? What happened to you promising to me last summer that we'd eventually be on the same team?" He grinned sheepishly and his sweaty face reddened with me calling him out.

"Yeah, well, the Ares Cabin will be doing our chores for two weeks and my brothers and sisters didn't want to pass that up." I rolled my eyes but smiled all the same.

"You're such a sucker for getting out of stuff."

"What? Do you want to clean out the stables? Be my guest, in fact, I think Clarisse would get down on her knees and thank you. She hates chores almost as much as I do."

I nodded and we walked in silence. After a minute, we reached the Apollo Cabin and I could hear his siblings buzzing excitedly inside. Kayla's loud and booming laugh could be heard from out here and I couldn't help but laugh along with it. Michael grinned as we stood just outside the Cabin, looking into each other's faces (which was a little awkward, seeing as I had to look down and he had to look up).

Slowly, we got closer and our lips met. His sweaty face touched mine, but I didn't mind all that much. Michael reached out with his free hand and placed it on my back.

"Hey! Quit fraternizing with the enemy!"

I pulled away quickly from Michael to see Clarisse shaking her head and marching over to us. The Apollo Cabin door open and Kayla's face appeared, raising her eyebrows at the scene. I turned to Michael quickly and gave him a peck on the cheek, jogging away from the Cabin and past the Hephaestus Cabin and to Hermes.

Inside said Cabin were three Cabins crammed together and talking in hushed voices. I slipped in past a group of Demeter demigods cluttered near the door and made my way over to Connor who was watching Annabeth, who was huddled over a map, drawing out plans.

"You're late," Connor whispered, not taking his eyes off of Annabeth's slender body.

"I had a meeting to attend."

Connor grinned and glanced at me, "If you make us lose because Michael distracted you, you're officially banned from my inner circle."

As soon as the moon kissed the Earth and darkness overtook our side of the world, the games began. The Red Team (Ares, Hephaestus, Apollo, Dionysus, and Aphrodite) ran off to the opposite end of the woods to their base. The Blue Team (Athena, Demeter, and Hermes) went to the other side of the woods. Annabeth led the way, walking a few feet ahead of everyone with her heads held high, as if she were put in charge or something.

I didn't mind Annabeth, in fact, I liked her. However, I often got the impression that she thought she were slightly better, as her mother was on a higher hierarchy than the rest of us, even the other Olympians. Most of the other kids were fine with that, but I wasn't.

I walked right beside her, holding the flag bearing Athena's symbol. We congregated at Zeus's Fist and gathered around Annabeth. Said girl pulled out a map and started reviewing the plan one last time. Usually, Annabeth sent a small team out to retrieve the Flag and I would be apart of it, acting as a lookout and bodyguard. I was the most able, as I could shoot down anyone in the trees and take on anyone with a sword. Kind of best of both worlds.

But this time, I was going to retrieve the Flag on my own. Two false groups would be going into the enemy territory, with two girls around my height dressed in very similar gear to mine. This would be a distraction, as the other team have become accustomed to our attack.

Annabeth nodded to one of her brothers who took the Flag and started climbing up a tree, hiding the Flag on one of the highest branches. He and another Athena girl sat on a couple of branches, bows and arrows in tow. Annabeth locked eyes with me and she nodded once to me; I nodded in return and the conch shell rang throughout the Camp. The game began.

I took off in the opposite direction of Zeus's Fist, taking a hard left and running at full speed to the boundary, the Creek. Used to running through obstacles and evading others, I was nearly as silent as a mouse. One of the mock groups were behind me, stomping through branches and grass. I jumped across the Creek and crossed over onto Red Team turf.

Immediately, I almost ran into Shane Devlin, son of Ares. Just feet from him, I twirled around and hid quietly behind a tree. Shane turned around from his spot and pulled out his sword; squinting his eyes at the place I'd just been, he barked out, "Who's there?"

One of his brothers, Tomas Wright, and a sister, Lindsey Schultz, immediately perked up from their positions and struggled to see in the dim light. I peeked around the tree to see there were a couple of sons of Hephaestus also in the direct area. It was surprising to see guards so close to the border, especially big ones that would normally guard the Flag. This meant Clarisse was insecure about her plans and wanted to stop us before we could get too far into her territory, which she normally welcomed (an added challenge).

I frowned and whipped around, quietly and quickly making my way out of the immediate area. I carefully looked where I placed my feet and kept my eyes open for Apollo demigods scattered in the tops of trees. After a few minutes of running, I heard shouts coming from the border; the second group probably dispatched from base and ran into the border patrol.

A backup group of Hephaestus demigods zoomed pass me, barely avoiding colliding with me as they rushed out from behind trees. They headed in the direction of the shouts with their swords out. Clever Clarisse; she's getting sneaky.

I turned again scanned the trees. No one was in sight, so I quickly climbed the nearest tree until I got high enough to scan the horizon. About a hundred yards away, I could spot the Red Team's Flag, which was surrounded by Clarisse, the rest of her siblings and the majority of the Hephaestus Cabin. Aphrodite demigods and Pollux (son of Dionysus) were sitting on the ground, pulling grass from the ground and ripping them up. Getting past them would be a cake walk.

Facing the border were the Apollo Campers, at least, the majority of them. They were high in the trees, taking aim at the poor Campers who ran into the border patrol. Off to my side, Michael and Kayla were marching back and forth, bows cocked and waiting. I quickly climbed down the tree and ran in their direction.

I waited behind a large tree to ambush the two. When they were facing the opposite direction of me, I ran at them full speed, transforming my bracelet into my sword. In less than five seconds, Kayla and Michael spun around ready to fire and my sword was at Michael's throat. He gulped with surprise.

Kayla had her arrow pointing directly at my face, a look of fear on her face. Michael's face eased and tension rolled out of his body when he realized who ambushed them. Slowly, he grinned. Kayla however narrowed her eyes. "No intentional maiming."

"I'm not. I'm simply taking out the competition. Besides, would I really hurt Michael?"

Kayla slowly lowered her bow to the ground, but she pulled her sword from off her back and brought the blade down on my arm. Immediately, the sharp blade struck my skin and cut it open. Blood ran out and pain shot through my arm. I twisted away from her and Michael and got into fighting stance.

"Kayla," Michael murmured warningly, "What are you doing?"

"Just because you're willing to be taken prisoner by your girlfriend doesn't mean I am! Clarisse will chew us out if we lose to Violet again!"

With that, Kayla and I became locked in battle. Michael backed up quickly, wanting to stay out of the fight. Kayla was a good fighter, much better than most of her siblings. But the battle didn't last long. Kayla got a swipe at my face and left a gash on my cheek, but I took her down in about five minutes. With the butt of my sword, Kayla was knocked out and sleeping on the ground. Using rope given to me, I tied Kayla and Michael together quickly; Michael didn't even put up a fight.

I smiled at him for a minute before I took off. He smiled right back and suddenly, I couldn't imagine that Michael wasn't right for me. He was perfect, everything I wanted: cute, funny, kind. After a moment, Michael frowned and motioned for me to go get the Flag. I nodded once and ran off.

It was a really stupid thing to do, I fully realize this. You see, I didn't get my sword out or start hitting people with my arrows. Instead, I ran into the small clearing in which the Flag was being held, empty handed and relying on simply being quick. When I entered the clearing, I didn't stop to survey my surroundings or the crap load of demigods who were guarding the Flag. No, I bolted for that Flag.

At first, no one noticed me. I'm a very fast and quiet person; I can get in and get out like it's no one's business. As soon as I got my hand on that Flag, though, everyone seemed to notice me. Clarisse cried out and started charging me with her spear out and a dozen demigods right behind her. I gripped the Flag tightly and immediately ran the way I came in.

Luckily, all of the Ares and Hephaestus kids are big and bulky, making them slower than me. I quickly got the lead in the chase and zoomed back past Michael and the still knocked out Kayla. A few arrows started falling all around me, the Apollo children trying to work their magic, but I was just a few steps ahead of them.

Soon, I was near the Creek. A couple of demigods on my team were in sight and cheering me on, getting excited. Clarisse, who was right behind me, had her hand stretched out and almost wiggled the Flag out of my hand, but I leaped over the Creek and landed on my side. Immediately, the red Flag turned into one designated as Hermes'. My teammates roared with excitement and joy. Clarisse and the others groaned, as they were once again defeated by me.

Later, we had a little party, as we always do. A little feast of desserts and drinks were in order and the red team quickly forgot who won Capture the Flag. I sought out Kayla and personally apologized about knocking her unconscious and tying her up; she apologized for giving me a scar on my face and a scar on my arm.

Michael and I left the party early. In fact, we were there for about a total of five minutes. Parties weren't our scene, so we headed down to the archery area. There, we practiced in the moonlight. With silence (spar the arrows hitting the targets and our bows snapping with release), it was peaceful, just Michael and I. When we were alone, it was like the upcoming war didn't exist; like my father didn't want to murder me because I was more powerful than him; like I didn't have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach that something was going to happen to Michael.

*Author's Note*

I know, I know, I'm sorry. I'm sucking at updates and I apologize. But today is my last day of school, so I'll be able to update all summer. I didn't mean to leave you guys just hanging or whatever, I've just been distracted. Anyway, I'll try and get the next chapter up soon.

XxSamacoyxX