Anne's POV

I couldn't help smiling as we headed in the direction of the canoe lake. Leo's embarrassed face when Piper and Jason were teasing him was absolutely priceless. He's so cute when he's humiliated.

"So, we're on opposite sides for Capture the Flag tonight," he said, obviously trying to change the subject.

"Guess so," I replied.

"Want me to go easy on you?" he offered, actually sounding sincere.

I smacked his arm. "No way, Valdez."

He grinned. "Good!"

I smiled and squeezed his hand. Gods, he was cute today. He was wearing the same clothes he'd worn yesterday (He must have slept in them. How cute!) but he'd washed the grease off his face. His gorgeous brown eyes were surveying the landscape as we neared the edge of the lake.

"Wanna go for a swim?" he asked, grinning.

"Um, no. But we can dip our feet in," I said.

"Sounds good to me," Leo said, squeezing my hand and walking out along the dock until we reached the end, which was only about two feet above the surface of the water.

I lowered myself to the edge and pulled off my sneakers. Leo did the same, and we sat side by side as we let our feet rest in the cool lake water.

I looked down into the blue water and saw a couple of naiads down at the bottom. They smiled at me and I smiled back.

Leo draped his arm over my shoulders. I smiled and wrapped my arm around his waist. He turned to me and smiled, the sun glinting off his dark brown curls.

"So," he said. "Speaking of kissing…"

I laughed. "We weren't talking about kissing, Valdez."

He grinned impishly. "Now we are."

I rolled my eyes. "Why is this so important to you all of a sudden?"

He gave me those sad puppy-dog eyes again. "Because after my team crushes yours tonight we might never kiss again." He pretended to sniff pitifully like he was about to cry.

"Oh?" I raised one eyebrow. "And what makes you so sure your team will win?"

"Uhh…dude's intuition?"

"Nice try. Now, say that Apollo cabin is the best cabin."

"Why would I do that?"

"Unless you don't want that kiss…"

He groaned. Gods, he's cute when he's frustrated. "Fine. I agree."

"Agree to what?" I asked, tilting my head to the side. "Speak up. I was having trouble hearing you."

"Apollocabinbest," he mumbled in like half a second.

"What?"

"Apollo cabin's the best," he said in a normal tone of voice.

"What? You've gotta speak up, Valdez."

"APOLLO CABIN IS THE BEST," he said really loud. "Can I have my reward now?"

"I guess so," I smiled, closing my eyes.

Leo closed his eyes too and leaned in. When our lips met it was like a shower of sparks from a campfire, an explosion of golden color like a firework, like running through the dark of a summer night with a sparkler in each hand, lighting up the darkness.

When we pulled apart, I couldn't help lifting my hand to stroke his hair. He pulled gently at my ponytail and smiled. "You know, that's not fair."

"What isn't?" I asked, tugging one of his curls affectionately.

"You got to hear that your cabin's the best and you got a kiss." He widened his eyes innocently. "I only got the kiss. You got two things to enjoy. It's not fair," he said, sounding like a whiny toddler.

"What makes you think I enjoyed the kiss?" I asked, putting my hand on my hip. "What if I didn't?"

"Are you sure?" He narrowed his eyes.

I pretended to think. "Hmm, now I can't remember what it felt like."

"Should I jog your memory?" Leo grinned.

"Do you even have to ask?"

Our fourth kiss was just as magical as the three before it. It might not have been as unexpected as the first, or as romantic as the second, or as sparkly as the third, but I was beginning to realize that with Leo, every little moment was as special and wonderful. As my eyes closed and our lips met, I just had to wonder how in the name of the gods I got so lucky.

"Anne, where were you all day?" Scott asked in his annoying, smug, I-know-a-secret-and-you-don't voice as I strapped on my armor. "Why didn't you come back to archery class?"

I groaned. Scott was such a pain. "Do I need to practice my archery?" I hated to sound like a brat, but Scott was driving me crazy. "You're the one whose arrows are still flying just short of the bull's eye."

With that I turned and rummaged in my camp trunk for my best shoes, the ones I can run my fastest in. Before I came to camp, I used to run track, and these were my lucky shoes. With them, I kicked butt in every race.

"You take that back!" Scott yelled.

"You make me!" I yelled back.

"Gods, can you two shut up?" Isabel yelled, taking her iPod ear buds out just to scream at us. I rolled my eyes. Isabel always likes to psych herself up by playing rock music just before Capture the Flag. Usually I join her, but tonight I was busy dealing with Scott.

"Where were you when you didn't come back?" Scott asked in his smug tone, pushing his blond hair back from his face.

"At the bunker," I hissed, twisting my hair into a bun so I could put my helmet on.

"Ha! Liar!" he crowed. I narrowed my eyes at him. Any moment now I would have a serious muscle spasm, causing my hand to fly out and totally by accidental chance hit him in the face.

"What do you mean?"

"I saw you at the lake with Leo Valdez! Liar!"

My heart skipped a beat. "What business is it of yours?" I hissed coldly as I yanked on my shoes and double-knotted the laces.

Scott wasn't listening. "I saw them making out!" he announced to the entire cabin. My cheeks flamed red as amused giggles rose from around the room.

"Shut up, twerp!" I screamed, lunging for him as Will walked in through the cabin's front door.

"Guys, what in Hades is going on?" Will asked. "We should have been down at the woods five minutes ago!"

"Anne was kissing Leo Valdez at the lake!" Scott chirped gleefully. The little monster. "She never went to the bunker at all!"

Will rubbed his temples like he had a headache. "Guys, right now I really don't care." He fixed his eyes on me. "I know the Hephaestus cabin is on the opposing side. Is this going to make you not want to participate tonight? We need you if we're going to win. Can I count on you to stay focused, please?"

I nodded. That's the great thing about Will. He's always so chill about everything. "Don't worry, guys. I want to beat Hecate as much as you do. I won't be distracted. I promise."

Will smiled at me. "Thanks, Anne. And just for the record, you could do a lot worse than Leo."

I blushed.

Scott piped up, "She should've sworn on the River Styx. We don't know if we can trust—"

Whatever he was about to say was cut off by Will. "Scott, you're staying in tonight. Guard the cabin."

Scott's mouth fell open as Will walked out the door, the rest of our cabin following. I couldn't resist sticking my tongue out at him as I trotted out the door after my siblings. Ha! Big sisters: 1, bratty little brothers: 0.

"OK, here's the game plan," Annabeth Chase, the captain of our team, announced. I looked around. On our team we had the Athena cabin, my cabin, Demeter, Hermes, and Ares. I would have been okay with just the Ares and Athena cabins: Ares was out for Hecate blood too, and the Athena cabin always had a plan. Hecate had allied themselves with everyone else: Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Iris, Dionysus, and Zeus, even though the only person in that cabin was Jason Grace. This was going to be an interesting game.

"We're sending out a decoy party to the right," Annabeth said, gesturing with her arm. "And another through the middle. Meanwhile, our real raiding party will go to the left, take the flag from behind, and hightail it as fast as possible to the border. With me so far?"

We all nodded.

"Good. For the decoy parties we need good fighters; people who can keep their guards busy for a while." Annabeth turned to Clarisse, head counselor for Ares. "I'm assuming I can count on you for that?"

Clarisse nodded and brandished her electric spear. Everyone near took a collective step back. "We'll skewer those Hecate punks!" she bellowed.

"You'll take the center decoy party: Hermes and Demeter, you combine and take the right. Apollo, you guys are good runners. Pick no more than four or five people and take the actual raiding party. The rest of you will defend."

We nodded.

"I'll use my invisibility hat and scout around," Annabeth said. "My cabin and Demeter: you guys guard the flag and set up a defensive zone around it. Don't let anybody near."

The cabins nodded.

"Great. Now, everyone get to where you're supposed to be and wait for Chiron to blow the conch horn." Annabeth said.

"Apollo cabin," Will called. "For the raiding party, I'll take Cameron, Jesse, and Anne with me."

My two chosen half-brothers and I nodded. I checked the straps on my armor again. Yes! This was going to be fun.

"Um, Will?" my twelve-year-old half-sister Linda asked. "Are you sure Anne is a good choice?" She cast an apologetic look at me. "I'm sorry, but what if she gets distracted? What if she purposefully lets them win?"

"Let it go, Linda," Will said. "Anne is a fast runner, perfect for this job, and she gave me her word that she won't lose focus. I believe her."

I wanted to hug him, but then I heard it: Chiron's conch horn. "Let's go," Will said, jogging swiftly toward the border while Ares, Hermes, and Demeter got into their groups and charged. This was it. The game was on!