It's about time for another disclaimer! I *sniff* do not own the rights to Heroes of Olympus, or *sob* Leo Valdez! That would be Rick Riordan! However, Anne Soleil (and Scott, Isabel, and all of the other Apollo kids besides Will Solace) belong to me!

And thanks for submitting reviews placing your bets on who wins the game!

Leo's POV

I adjusted the straps of my armor and pulled on my helmet, fizzing with energy. I had managed to fall asleep before dinner, and now my energy was restored to me. I needed to run. I needed to steal the other team's flag. The only problem with that? I was on guard duty.

My job for the night was to basically stay in one place and fight off any people who tried to get the flag. It was an important job, but I wanted to run into enemy territory. I wanted to sprint through the woods, dodging arrows and swords.

I could hear the Hecate kids laughing as they magically constructed a seven-foot-wide ditch around our flag, which was lying on the ground in plain sight.

"Couldn't somebody break their legs falling into this thing?" I heard Jason ask them.

"Probably," Lou Ellen, the head counselor of Hecate, giggled. "But once they see it, they won't mess with it. They'd have to be really stupid to try to jump across."

The cabin laughed and moved away to their posts. I was stuck on guard duty with Butch from Iris and Pollux from Dionysus. Neither of them seemed inclined to talk much. They just held their weapons and paced back and forth.

My head whipped to the side as I heard Chiron's conch horn. The signal to start!

Almost immediately I heard shouts from the border. The shouts faded to the clang and clash of weapons.

"Raiding party coming through the middle!" Piper yelled to us from high up in a tree. The underbrush shuddered and a dozen Ares campers exploded out, yelling. Most of the Iris kids rushed to engage them, and a few from Hecate ran to help.

I itched to join them, but I was under strict instructions from Lou Ellen not to leave. I was forced to pace around the ditch with Butch and Pollux, looking around for any more raiding parties.

"Another from the left!" Piper shouted. A split second after the words left her mouth, a herd of Demeter and Hermes campers leaped around the Ares kids, sprinting toward our flag. Most of my cabin leapt to intercept them, Jason in the lead.

My eyes scanned the woods for anyone else. There shouldn't be. They had to have some campers on defense, even though we didn't need to steal their flag to win. We just had to keep them from stealing ours. That must be their last attempt at offense.

"Watch out!" Piper screamed. I spun around to see four Apollo kids sprinting right toward me, Anne and three of her brothers. One of the guys drew a sword and slashed at me; I leapt away from the ditch and blocked his strike. Will Solace drew a sword and attacked Butch, and a third Apollo kid engaged Pollux. I pressed toward the Apollo guy with my shield, trying to get him out of my face. Where was Anne?

When I caught sight of her, my heart nearly stopped. She was sprinting full speed toward the flag. She was going to fall in the ditch. Couldn't she see it?

"No!" I screamed, slamming the Apollo guy away with my shield and running toward her. She didn't hear me. She got within a foot…and jumped.

I skidded to an astonished halt as she cleared the seven-foot-wide gap and snatched our flag from the ground. Quicker than a deer, she easily leapt back across the ditch and sprinted for the border.

"Get her!" Piper screamed from her tree. "She's got the flag!"

The Apollo boy tried to stop me, but I pushed him roughly back and ran after Anne. Around me, my whole team was pursuing her. I saw some of her teammates running to intercept my team, letting Anne make a clean getaway. I dropped my shield so I could run faster and sprinted toward Anne, who still had the flag. Nobody stopped me.

"Get her, Leo!" I heard Jason yell before he was blocked by an Ares kid.

Anne's head turned and she saw me. Thanks a lot, Jason. She narrowed her eyes at me and grinned. "C'mon, Valdez, show me what you've got!" she yelled over the noise.

That did it. I sprinted as hard as I could in her direction. She turned and leapt back to full speed. She was practically flying over the ground.

The creek was coming up, the boundary line. I could not let her get away. I put on an extra burst of speed I didn't know I had in me, and closed on her. Ten feet. Six. Four.

"You're not getting away that easy!" I said, closing in and reaching for the flag. There was no way she could get away now. She—

Wham! My foot hit something and I went down hard, sprawling into ice-cold water. I lifted my head, stunned, to see Anne leaping over the creek with our flag still in her hands. She was greeted on the other side with cheers. Chiron galloped over with a wounded Hecate camper on his back. It was Lou Ellen, and her eyes smoldered with anger.

"Apollo wins!" Chiron announced. As he spoke the words, the banner in Anne's hand shimmered and changed from the symbol of the Hecate cabin to a bright gold the color of the sun. Nobody paid any attention to me, still lying facedown in the creek.

Finally Jason ran over and offered me his hand. "You okay, man?"

I let him pull me to my feet, nodded and rubbed my scraped elbow. "Yeah, I'm good."

Across the creek, Anne's eyes met mine. Sorry, she mouthed, looking apologetic.

I nodded and smiled to reassure her. Hey, it was a pretty good victory she'd just pulled off there. And despite falling into the creek face-first, that had been a really awesome game.

"Let's go," Jason said, nudging me toward the cabins. Around us, everyone was starting to walk back. "Do you need a medic, Leo? Your elbow's bleeding pretty bad."

I looked; the blood was running down my arm. "Eh," I said, flexing my arm. "Wouldn't hurt, I suppose."

"You'll see your girl there," Jason teased. "Aren't Apollo kids the camp medics?"

"Shut up, man," I grumbled.

"You sure know how to pick them," Jason smiled, unfazed. "I can't believe she pulled off that win. I thought that gap would stop her."

I smiled. "I did too." I looked ahead at Anne, carrying the golden banner, surrounded by her cabinmates.

I have to admit, I was really impressed. I did know how to pick them. The more I thought about her, the more I liked her. She was so together, so calm and sensible. But she wasn't boring in the least. The first time I met her, she'd been out after curfew. She'd just pulled off a bold win in Capture the Flag. I never knew what to expect from her, but not in a dangerous way. I knew she'd never push me past my comfort zone in any area, but I knew she'd keep me on my toes. But on the other hand, I knew that she would always be there to pick me up and dust me off when I fell.

Except for a minute ago. But you know what I mean.

Jason grinned. "She's cute, Leo. You should ask her out."

I laughed. Jason knew nothing about our night in the woods. If that wasn't a date (or something close), then I was a shape-shifting hamster.

"What's funny?" Piper smiled, appearing at my shoulder. "The wipeout Leo just took into the creek?" She saw my face and pushed me gently. "I'm sorry. It wasn't that funny."

"I was just telling Leo that he should ask Anne out," Jason said.

Piper smiled at me, a supportive friend smile. "You should, Leo. You two would be so cute." Her face morphed into suspicion. "You didn't let her win just now, did you?"

"No!" I said indignantly, wiping at the blood that was running down my arm. "Like I would take a header into the creek on purpose? Think again, beauty queen."

"Don't call me that!" she said, sounding more amused than angry. "I was just saying, if you did…"

"I did not. Let it go."

"You do need to ask her out though," Piper said, not letting that go.

"Uh…"

I was conflicted. I didn't want to sound like a coward if I said no, but we already had been out together. And I wasn't sure if I should tell them about our night in the woods. That was more of a just-between-me-and-her thing.

Piper shook her head. "You're hopeless." She fixed her multi-colored eyes on me. "You're always flirting with every girl we meet, ones that frankly don't deserve you—"

"Hey! What about Thalia?" Jason interrupted.

"I didn't mean her. She's a Hunter of Artemis!" Piper retorted. "I meant Khione."

I sure remembered her. She was gorgeous, but so cold (literally, she's the goddess of snow), the exact opposite of Anne.

"Can I finish?" Piper asked. "Anyway, Leo, you always fall for girls it won't work out with. Now you've met this girl your age, who's really pretty, and she actually likes you. And you're wimping out of having a relationship with her."

"Can you two stop hassling me?" I protested. "I do have a relationship with her." At least, I think I do.

"Leo, just holding hands doesn't exactly make a relationship," Jason grinned.

I rolled my eyes. He was one to talk. He and Piper hadn't kissed yet; or at least, not in real life.

"No, I've…" I cleared my throat and lowered my voice. "I've kissed her."

Piper gasped and hugged me. "Leo! That's great!"

Jason clapped me on the back. "Way to go, man."

"Ow," I protested weakly as neared the Big House. "Can you two not beat me up?"

"Sorry!" They both backed off, grinning.

"Have fun getting that patched up," Jason said, looking at my arm. "We're going back to our cabins."

"Good night, Leo," Piper said, waving.

"'Night," I answered, trying to wipe most of the blood off my arm before I walked into the infirmary. I didn't want to bleed on Anne if possible.