Here's the next chapter! Hope you like it!
Chapter 25: Reyna
Reyna felt disrespected. The Greek camp was nothing like Legion Camp. Their training routine wasn't as good as theirs was, and they didn't even have an organized army. Just a bunch of demigods learning to fight monsters. As she walked around camp the day after they landed with Bobby, toured around by Jason, she couldn't help but think that anyone in the third legion and up could take down anyone here. Except maybe Percy. And Annabeth, she wasn't sure about.
They got to the sword arena. Reyna wanted to give the people that were training some serious sword training. The place wasn't as big as their colosseum, and it was a little more modern.
"Yeah, and this is the sword arena." Jason said. He sounded uncomfortable. Reyna wasn't sure why. "That's the De- Ceres cabin training over there."
Reyna turned on him. "You almost said Demeter. Have you forgotten where you come from? Or did you just change from Roman to Greek, because that's what it looks like." Reyna, rather than being relieved that she was seeing Jason again, was angry at him. He had befriended the Greeks. That was enough for her to be angry. Until he gave her a good reason, she was going to stay mad.
"Reyna," Jason started, "Look, I didn't know who I was when I first got here. Once I realized that I was Roman and they were Greek, what was I supposed to do? Immediately become their enemy? They had accepted me, and yes, I had already made friends." he paused. "Juno was right. We have to work together. We shouldn't have grudges against each other just because of what aspects our parents take."
Reyna still didn't agree with him. She didn't want to fight these people, but she also didn't want to be best friends with them. Instead of saying this, she just nodded to Jason, and let him lead her and Bobby back to the Big House, where Chiron was waiting for them.
"Hello," he said, smiling. "I see Jason has given you the tour around camp. I think that I will-" he was cut off when somebody yelled. "Chiron!"
Reyna turned to see two girls running towards her. One was a little taller than the other, about 14, with dark brown hair braided down her back. The other one was younger, about 12, with dirty blonde hair, also braided. They were both dressed in jeans and silvery jackets. Reyna had a guess as to who they were.
"Ah, hello!" Chiron said. "Has Artemis sent you?"
The older, dark haired girl shook her head and said, "No, Lady Artemis is busy. We came to see if there was any news or if we could help with anything." she paused. "We didn't even know you had sent the Argo II off! Thalia was glad to see Percy."
Chiron smiled. "I'm glad the Hunters are here. We have much to discuss. Meanwhile, we will have the honorary Capture the Flag game tonight." Both girls nodded, and raced back towards the hill where Jason had told Reyna the camp border was. She had been right. The girls were hunters.
Then Bobby asked something that had just come to Reyna's mind. "Who's Thalia?" Reyna thought Jason looked a little proud when Bobby said that.
Chiron smiled a mysterious smile. "She is the lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis, daughter of Zeus, or for you, Jupiter, and she is Jason's older sister."
Reyna stared from Jason to Chiron and back again. "What do you mean, sister? Jason doesn't have a sister!"
Jason nodded. "Yes I do. I think I told you about her once, that I had a very vague memory of her. We were separated when I was two, so I didn't know until I came here and saw a picture of her. And then I knew that she was my sister."
"So- so she's Greek and you're Roman?" Bobby asked.
Jason nodded. "Come on. We should find her. I want you guys to meet her." Reyna took a deep breath and followed Jason. Why did things have to be so complicated?
They found her heading towards the cabins with Percy and Annabeth. "Thalia!" Jason yelled, and started running towards her. She had black, unruly, punk style hair and electric blue eyes. Her hair wasn't braided like the other hunters, but she did have a silver circlet in her hair.
"Jason!" she yelled back. "I was just going to come say hi to you!" They hugged. Reyna found it disturbing that they looked the same age. She wasn't sure how old Thalia really was.
She smiled and said, "I can't wait to beat you all in capture the flag tonight."
"In your dreams, Pinecone Face." Annabeth smirked. "I doubt that'll happen."
Reyna wondered where Annabeth got that nickname for Thalia. She looked at Jason, but he wasn't looking in her direction. Percy noticed her look of confusion, though, and said quietly, "She got turned into a pine tree for a while." Reyna thought he was joking, but Percy looked dead serious. Reyna decided to ask him about it later.
They started heading back to camp. Dinner was pretty similar to what they had at Legion Camp, except the tables were like picnic tables, not round, and there were a lot more of them. After dinner, Chiron said, "Now it is time to welcome the Hunters of Artemis with a game of Capture the Flag!"
Leo
Leo was excited for Capture the Flag against the hunters. There were a lot more than there had been when he had seen Thalia in that cave when he, Piper, and Jason were on their quest. Now there were about 40 of them, and about the same amount of campers playing, maybe a little more. All of the campers would have played, but there were way too many. Reyna and Bobby were also sitting out.
Chiron announced the game, and armor and weapons appeared on the tables. Leo got out his hammer, but his sword was strapped to his side. He put on some armor and walked over to where Annabeth was drawing out a plan.
" -and then Will's group will be scattered in the trees. I'll take a group towards their right flank, while Travis and Connor will go to the left. We'll need a diversion in the middle- Clarisse, will you take that?" Annabeth asked, looking up at the daughter of Ares.
Clarisse snorted. "'S long as I get to play offense."
Annabeth nodded and continued. "Alright, the hunters have Zeus's fist in their territory, that's where Travis and Connor will be headed. If they don't have their flag there, my group will be waiting off to the right of the creek. I need an Apollo camper to go with them to fire and arrow or two into the sky to signal to us whether they need us to go straight to the flag or if we should head farther out to the right, around and back."
Then she turned to Leo. "If you guys have got any tricks up your sleeves, like traps you can set, set them around our flag and at the border. Make sure that you don't get surrounded."
Leo nodded, though he had kind of wanted to play offense. He had played defense last time, also setting traps, and they had won, but still, it would be more interesting to be in battle. Plus, he might get to use his awesome fire skills. Leo vaguely wondered if he could breath fire. He'd never tried it. Then he got an idea.
Annabeth was continuing, assigning people to their groups. The Apollo campers would be scattered around the creek and farther into the forest on their side, to shoot oncoming hunters. Leo had made a few trip wire arrows for them. He was looking forwards to seeing them used.
The blue team, or Camp Half-Blood, cheered, and Annabeth led their team out of the pavilion and into the woods. The flag was silver and gold and had a silvery owl drawn on it. Leo glanced at the hunter's flag and saw that it had a bow and arrow on it, along with some old mythological creatures. The flag itself seemed to glow silver.
They strung the flag between two trees above a bunch of rocks. It was pretty high up, and visible, so defense could stand right next to the rocks it was hung over and not be breaking the ten yard rule.
Leo led his cabin out into the woods a little bit. That's where they started setting traps, like Greek fire that would explode on impact, trip wires between trees, spiky camouflage mats, and Leo had even made a automatic arrow that shot when sensed something coming. He had even adjusted it so that it would only shoot hunters, and, also, when it hit, it would give out a cloud of smoke, like the kind from Greek fire. Then the defense could finish off whoever had tried attacking them. Leo put that little device, which he called "Death Shot" closer to the flag, so that if there was more than one party of hunters coming from a different direction, they wouldn't be caught off guard.
Somewhere in the distance, a conch horn signaled that the game had started. "I can't wait to kick these hunters butts!" Leo said gleefully. Annabeth glared at him, then signaled for Clarisse's group to go. Then Connor and Travis left with their group. Five seconds later, Annabeth headed off to the right with her own group. Percy was with her.
Leo waited. And waited. And waited some more. Everybody was getting impatient. A bunch of demigods with ADHD couldn't just sit around waiting for something to happen. Leo was about to take off after Travis and Connor's group to see what was happening, when suddenly there was a scream off to their left. Everybody tensed.
The sound of fighting was getting closer and closer. Then Nyssa, one of Leo's half sisters, cried, "Look!" and pointed at the sky. One arrow with a glowing tip went up into the sky, Travis and Connor's signal that Annabeth's group should head farther around the flag. Then a second arrow, which meant that Annabeth's group should get the flag now.
Leo turned back towards the sound of fighting. He left the rest of his cabin standing there and crept quickly through the trees. Then, he saw four hunters batting with three campers. They were Apollo campers, who should've been in the trees by the creek to shoot the hunters down as they came across. The hunters were backing up the Apollo campers (who were using swords instead of bows and arrows) closer and closer towards Leo, and soon they would run into a trip wire. Ten more seconds, and the hunters would have the Apollo kids down, and not only because of the trip wire.
Thankfully, Annabeth had had a plan if something like this happened, which had been very likely. Leo waited until the trip wire was a foot behind the Apollo campers, then yelled, "Under you feet!" and the Apollo kids turned and jumped over the trip wire. The hunters started after them, but the trip wire did its job, and the Apollo kids, accompanied by Leo, starting pushing the hunters back towards the creek. Eventually they turned and ran back into their territory.
"Thanks, man." Will Solace from the Apollo cabin said, breathing hard.
Leo frowned at them. "Weren't you guys supposed to shoot them down as soon as they crossed the creek?"
One of Will's half-sisters (Leo was pretty sure her name was Carrie), said, "We tried, but they were shooting back at us, and so once they got past us a few of us went after them." The others nodded. Leo looked around. At first, he didn't see anything but trees, but after searching carefully, he saw more Apollo kids sitting camouflaged in some of the trees.
The group turned towards the creek when they heard the sound of yelling and fighting. Annabeth had probably gotten the flag. Leo squinted, but he couldn't see anybody yet. Then he heard fighting from their side of the creek too, coming towards them. How could the hunters get the flag? Leo and the Apollo campers had chased them back into their own territory, and there were traps and more of his siblings guarding the flag.
"Get ready!" Will yelled into the trees. Out of the corner of his eye, Leo saw one of the Apollo girls hidden in the trees aim an arrow at the sound of fighting.
Leo, followed by Will and his siblings, ran into the trees. Pretty soon they saw Thalia running with the flag. A few Hephaestus kids were pursuing them, battling other hunters who were protecting Thalia.
Suddenly, Leo had a plan. "Hide!" he hissed to the Apollo campers, then dragged Will with him behind a tree. Carrie and her siblings dove behind other trees, ready to shoot. The Apollo kids had picked up their bows. "Do you have any trip wire arrows left?" Leo whispered to Will. Will nodded, and shot an arrow at a tree a few yards away.
Thankfully, Thalia didn't see it coming. She tripped, and the other hunters tripped over her. Leo grabbed the flag out of her hands and took out his sword. Thalia got out her hunting knife and they started to fight. Leo tried to stab her side, but Thalia parried it and they kept going. Leo was thankful that his sword was longer than Thalia's dagger, otherwise she'd be up and running with the flag again.
Great. Leo thought. Thalia was pushing him back towards the trip wire Will had shot from his arrow. Leo feinted left then rolled around Thalia's right, hitting her chest with the butt of his sword and sending her toppling over the trip wire again. But she just got up again and started pushing him back towards the creek. Leo chanced a glance around and saw that the other hunters were also pushing the Apollo and Hephaestus campers back towards the creek. Nyssa was battling the hunter who had the flag.
Suddenly the air smelled of electricity. Leo felt a lighting bolt hit his armor, sending him toppling to the ground, hard.
"HA!" Thalia yelled. She turned and ran back towards the creek. A few of Leo's other teammates had also been hit by Thalia's lighting, including Nyssa. Leo got up and chased after the girl who was carrying the flag, who he realized was Phoebe. The air crackled with electricity again. Leo thought that Thalia was trying to slow them down again, when Phoebe and the other hunters got hit with lighting bolts. Only Thalia wasn't affected. " GODS, JASON!" she screamed. The creek was in view, and so were Annabeth's and Clarisse's groups, still in enemy territory and also battling hunters. Piper was carrying the flag and battling a few hunters at once. Leo could tell she was charmspeaking them, because they would lower their guard for a few seconds, then get really angry when she pushed them down.
Thalia grabbed the flag from Phoebe, who was still getting up, and they ran for the creek. Leo ran after Thalia, though he knew it was hopeless. She was too far away for him to catch up in time, and Piper, on the other side of the creek with the flag, was still preoccupied. He saw arrows flying towards Thalia, but none of the Apollo campers were in the trees anymore, and it was harder to get a clear shot around the trees.
Leo had no other choice. He didn't want to hurt anyone to badly, but he raised his hand and a wall of flames erupted over the river in front of Phoebe and Thalia. But, at the same exact time, a wall of water erupted over the river too. Both fire and water was about twenty feet tall, but only five feet wide. Leo understood what was happening and lowered his flames, but Percy seemed to think the same thing and his water wall went down too. Thalia saw her chance and started across the river, only to be blown back by a huge wave, causing her to lose her grip on the flag.
Piper saw her opening and ran across the creek. The blue team's cheers were deafening as the flag shimmered, changing from a bow and arrow to a pale pink background with a dove in the middle and flowers curling around the edges.
Spluttering, Thalia got to her feet. "PERCY JACKSON!" she yelled. "CURSE YOU!"
Percy emerged from the crowd gathered at the creek, laughing. "That's the game, isn't it?" he asked. "You used your powers, I used mine." he paused. "Do you need more water?" he said, smiling.
"Or fire?" Leo suggested.
Thalia scowled at them both, then turned to Percy. "Next time, Jackson, next time." she muttered.
"And the campers win!" Chiron trotted up, smiling. "For the first time in many years!"
"Only because he's playing!" Thalia retorted, pointing at Percy.
Chiron was about to say something, then smiled. "Just don't let this argument get out of control." he said, still smiling.
Thalia, Percy, and the other campers smiled. Then the smiles started to fade off their faces, as if remembering something unpleasant. Leo wondered what had happened. "All right, let's get to bed! You have a full day of training tomorrow!" Chiron yelled, covering the awkward moment. Then he clip-clopped off in the direction of the Big House.
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