A/N: Hello, my loyal readers. I apologize if this chapter took longer but i was sick - well, I still am - and I had to take some time off to recover. Plus, my girlfriend and I celebrated our fourth anniversary together so I lost a day of writing when we went out on a date. I'm not sure how you'll feel about this chapter. I haven't read it yet, so I have no idea whether you'll like it, but I'm hoping you will. :D

You're Beautiful Let It Show: Yeah, I like your new name better, too. :D

infurno:Yeah. I'm trying to work those out, but thank you for overlooking the mistakes and appreciating my story. :D

AnonymouslyChic:Well, you should definitely sign up and post that story here. Come on, share your talent to everyone! :D

arceethefirst:Actually it was there. It was on the letter Grace left for Amy and Dan. They read it right after they emerged from the gauntlet and won the clue hunt.

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"It's okay to have hope, because sometimes that's the only thing keeping me going."

- Matt Donovan

(The Vampire Diaries)

WISE GIRL'S SEAWEED BRAIN 2.0:

DARKNESS ARISING

Chapter 17: WHEN PUSH COMES TO SHOVE

UNKNOWN

The things they had done were slowly paying. The half-blood was rescued as was brought to the Camp, putting every single demigod in danger. Lester Fleming was a ticking time bomb, as the son of Poseidon graciously put it. The daughter of Athena was starting to suspect that something else was going on and was starting to get suspicious of the daughter of Hecate, but it didn't matter. In a few days' time, the game would happen and one of their biggest surprises would be sent to Camp Half-Blood and terror would be unleashed.

The goddess smiled as she waited for her servant. A few feet away from where she sat were her prisoners. A sickly woman, his husband, and an immortal. Surprisingly, of the three of them, the woman with cancer was the most resilient with her spells. In the beginning, there were a lot of yelling and demands but with one flick of her hand, they were silenced. But the boy's mother, even with the sickness, kept on waking up and demanding to see her son. One little ounce of magic, however, she was easily overcome. And the process kept on repeating.

There was a point when Chaos, however, felt the woman's life force being drained. She cured her of her cancer, not because she wanted to, but because she needed to. She needed the woman as leverage for the boy to be assured of his cooperation.

She once again smiled as she felt the presence of her servant. She stood up and waited for her to materialize. The air before her shimmered and in came was the mole she had implanted inside Camp Half-Blood.

"How are things with the demigods?" the goddess asked.

"Sketchy," said the servant. "The daughter of Athena is starting to suspect there is something going on with the demigod and her little boyfriend."

The goddess smirked. "Of course. I'm surprised she hasn't caught up to what's actually happening right under her nose." The goddess sat up again and motioned for her servant to come up to her. The shadow knelt in front of her and bowed. "We have to proceed with the second phase of our plan soon."

The shadow bowed. "This coming weekend, the Camp will be having a game of capture the flag, my lady."

Chaos nodded. "If we're going to flush the demigods out, might as well make a show out of it, now, shall we?" Her servant nodded, head still bowed. The goddess could feel her hesitation and she had to smile. "Do not fear, little godling. You are doing the world a favor. We will be relieving this planet of the manipulative gods. They have been ion reign for too long. It's about time this ends." The goddess sat back and leaned her head against her intertwined hands. "We will proceed this weekend at the said game, my servant. We will unleash the beast."

"As you wish, my lady," said the servant.

"Camp Half-Blood won't know what hit them," said the goddess. "They would be driving their saviors away by their stupidity in a few days' time." She softly chuckled. "And we will finally see everything we'd worked for unfold right before us."

PERCY

I sat alone at my table and rubbed my burned wrist. Today was Saturday and later was capture the flag. Lester and I had been working around the clock training. The kid was a natural fighter. He had in born sword skills. There were a couple of occasions that he actually beat me.

I was pretty confident on how this night was going to end. There might be only the two of us but Lester was one hell of a fighter. Once he had it going, he was unstoppable – and that was what worried me sometimes – that he'd lose control. But he was doing pretty well during training so I guess Camp would be safe. There was no more losing control. He was doing good with his powers. I knew it was because of Skylar. He might not say it but I knew there were officially together now. I was happy for him. He'd had a tough life and it was about time that he found a little bit of happiness. And if being with Skylar meant that he wasn't going to accidentally burn me again anymore, who was I to complain, right?

To that moment, I had no idea what happened back on our first training session. Right before my very eyes, Lester controlled water and I was surrounded by black flames – something that only he could do. Annabeth had been trying to make me confess on what really happened but I didn't say anything to her. I figured Chiron was the first person to know. This one I told to her and, after a long glaring contest, she'd eventually elf tem alone, saying that she'd make me pay during capture the flag a few minutes from now.

We just finish having dinner and the red team was gearing up for the game while my only ally was missing. I craned my enck to look for him but he wasn't anywhere to be seen. I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked up and saw Lester looking down at me with a guilty expression on his face. I gave a sigh of relief. "I really am sorry for that, dude," he said.

"Nah, it's okay," I said. "You up for the game?" I asked him.

Lester grinned. "Yup. I have a pretty good feeling on how this game is going to turn out." I couldn't help but smile at him. He was more confident now, walking with his head held high and not stopping anymore.

"And what is that?" I asked.

He looked around, his face turning a bit serious. He then leaned down and whispered, "I have something in my sleeve. The other team isn't going to be much competition, trust me." I raised my eyebrows at him, asking him to elaborate. Lester shrugged. "Just trust me, okay? This one's going to help us win."

"Okay," I said simply. "But make sure that it doesn't involve getting me incinerated." He gave me an embarrassed smile. I saw Skylar approaching us. "Girlfriend alert."

Lester turned around with a grin on his face. I was glad he had learned to fully welcome people into his life. I watched as he willingly kissed his girlfriend without paying attention to the Campers around. I hid a grin behind my hand. I was also relieved that Lester was becoming more solid with his emotions. Before, he was like a very thin film of glass that would shatter any time, but now, thanks to Skylar Gray, he was more stable, which meant he could control his powers easily.

"Hey, Percy," Skylar greeted me.

"Hello, Mrs. Fleming," I teased.

Both of their faces reddened. "Oh, shut up," said Lester.

Skylar looked at me. "Anyway, I'm bringing you two a very good news," she said. Lester was making funny faces behind her head and I grinned. "I'm not participating on the game."

"Oh?" Lester asked. "Why is that? Scared of me now?" he teased.

"You wish," Skylar answered. "I'm not participating because I've already done my part and Annabeth let me not be in the game itself. Nobody's going anywhere near our team's flag. Besides, even if Annabeth and I sit out, our remaining teammates are more than you two can handle."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, sweetie," Lester told her. "See, I have a very huge trick to pull off tonight."

Skylar was quiet for a moment then stepped closer to her boyfriend, dropping her eyebrows and lowering her voice. "And I'm pretty sure you're going to tell me all about it, right?" I cleared my throat uneasily, uncomfortable with what was happening, and wary at the same time. What if Lester gave in and divulged this so called ace of the sleeve of his?

I didn't have to worry long, though. My only teammate grinned at Skylar. "Nice try, Skye," he said.

Skylar pouted. "You'll regret that later," she said walking away.

"I'm beginning to think our girlfriends are the two most dangerous girls in this Camp," said Percy.

"Oh, I won't be so sure about that, Percy," said a voice behind us.

Lester and I both turned around. I was met with a girl with red hair and green eyes wearing a school uniform with the name Clarion Ladies Academy. On her foot was a large duffel bag. She was grinning hugely and Campers were looking at her.

I grinned. "Rachel," I said, standing up to greet her.

Rachel stepped forward and hugged me tightly, laughing into my ear. As expected, Annabeth made her way to where we were. I wasn't in the very least bothered. Annabeth and Rachel had grown quite close after the Titan War. Rachel told me that because she was now not allowed to date, then Annabeth liked her genuinely.

"Now, Rachel," she said, her tone playful. "You don't want me to get jealous, do you? Where's my hug?" Annabeth opened her arms, smiling.

Rachel pulled away from me and hugged her, laughing. "I missed you, you guys. How have you two been?" she asked them. She looked at Annabeth. "How's Goode treating you so far?" She then turned to me. "And what did I hear from Thalia that you were falling for another mortal again? Holy cows of Apollo, Percy."

"Actually, it's supposed to be holy cows of Hera, Rachel," Annabeth corrected, scowling a bit. "As cow is her saced animal, since they have the same amount of brain cells."

Thunder boomed from above. I shook my head and looked beside me and was greeted by a view of Lester looking extremely uneasy. "Rachel, this is Lester, the half-blood – "

" – that has been causing some unrest within the gods and demigods alike," she finished.

I saw Lester frowning.

"What do you mean, Rachel?" asked Annabeth.

"Oops," said Rachel. "I didn't say anything." She looked at Lester and smiled. She extended her hand. "Hello, my name is Rachel Elizabeth Dare," she said, eyeing Lester from head to toe. "Gods, you're making me reconsider being about this whole no-dating thing."

Lester looked at her outstretched hand, clearly wondering whether he should shake hands with a strange girl. He gazed at Annabeth and me and we both nodded encouragingly at him. Annabeth and I shared a smile. Lester sighed and took her hand in his. "Hi, I'm Lester Fle – "

Suddenly, Rachel stiffened and her eyes glowed. Lester looked up in fear with confused expression on his face. Annabeth and I looked at each other, our eyes wide. Rachel opened her mouth and green mist came out, curling around her face and onto their intertwined hands. She opened her mouth one more time and, in a voice that sounded like three Rachels speaking with a serpentine quality – the voice of the Oracle – said:

To the west the seductress is being concealed,

For survival, one's warning the three must heed.

The death, the sacrifice, the vessel shall usurp the goddess,

To bathe the world in endless darkness.

The sea and abyss bound by blood,

And one's betrayal shall severe the mark of the damned.

When the last word left her mouth, Rachel collapsed, bringing Lester down with her. We rushed forward to them and I cradled Rachel's head on my lap while Annabeth grabbed Lester's arm, trying to calm him. He looked scared and the dissipating green mist didn't exactly help in easing him down. "W-what was that?"

Rachel groaned, clutching her head. "What happened?" she asked. If the situation wasn't serious, I would've rolled my eyes at her and said, Like you don't know. Instead, I simply said, "You just issued a prophecy to Lester."

ANNABETH

Nobody spoke for a while. Every camper was fixated on Lester. He was looking around in confusion. "What's going on?" he demanded in bewilderment,

I pulled him to his feet. I locked my eyes to with his brilliant blue ones and tried to communicate without having to use words. I was asking him to stay quiet, but I might as well ask Percy not to eat the food he is seeing. "What was that about?" he asked me, his voice rising in panic. "What's a seductress? What do the sacrifice, vessel and death mean? Does that mean someone's going to die? Annabeth, please tell me!"

"Lester," I said in a quiet voice. "I'm just as clueless as you about this matter. I promise we'll talk about it later, okay?" Lester was about to open his mouth to protest but I squeezed his arm, hard. His eyes were frightened so I squeezed it again, more softly this time. Lester sighed and nodded.

Skylar and Chiron arrived. Skylar's eyes instantly fell on Lester and a worried look crossed her face when she saw how pale he looked. Naturally, she rushed up to him and grabbed his face. "Are you okay?" she asked. "What happened?" she asked me.

I looked at Chiron. An understanding passed between the two of us. "I guess we'd better discuss this in the Big House, now, shall we?" he said. Campers were starting to protest. They obviously wanted to know what was going on but Chiron held up his hand to silence them. "I believe that your time should be used in training for tonight's game. Besides," he gestured behind everyone. Every single camper, except for Percy and Lester grinned at the sight of the two half-bloods standing there. "Thalia and Nico need to be acquainted with your plan."

Scattered murmuring spread to every direction. Chiron used this diversion to pick Lester and Rachel up and he galloped to the Big House, with Percy, Skylar and I following suit. I gave Thalia a small smile before going off.

We got inside and Chiron closed the door quietly behind him and motioned for us to sit down. Percy and I sat on either side of him. "Now," said Chiron, settling himself in front of us, "I believe you have something to say."

Percy and Skylar both looked at me. I nodded at them and repeated the prophecy word by word. I have to admit, I was very curious myself. What do the death, sacrifice, and vessel mean? And by the goddess, I was guessing it was Chaos. Based on the fourth line, it looked like we were facing another doomsday yet again, but it also supplied that the three aforementioned would stop her and I thought that was a good thing. What disturbed me was the second to the last line. The sea and abyss bound by blood. It was obviously pertaining to Percy, as he was the only half-blood child of Poseidon, unless it was about the god of seas himself – which was highly unlikely. And the abyss – it could only mean Chaos herself. I shuddered as I tried to come up with explanations on what could happen but every single thought that occurred to me were not pretty. I pushed them out of my head.

Chiron looked grim, but he tried to cover it up for Lester's sake. "Don't worry, my boy," he said. "There's a very good chance that this prophecy won't happen for some time."

" Yeah," Percy piped in. "The one about me? It took seventy years to occur. It was issued long before I was born. Who knows, this might not be about you."

"Seaweed Brain," I said, shaking my head. Really, after being together for so long, you'd think a child of Athena's intellect would start rubbing on him. "It was issued to Lester, even without him asking for it – it's most definitely about him." And you, I wanted to add, but thought against it. I turned to the said half-blood. "Chiron is right; it might not happen for some time, so if I were you, I won't worry about it."

Skylar reached out and took Lester's hand in hers. "Don't be scared, I'm here," she said. Lester's shoulders visibly relaxed and the worried look in his eyes lessened. Funny how a relationship like this could change a person. I was happy for the both of them. You'd have to be blind not to see what they have, but I was still suspicious about Skylar. I still believed that she connected Lester and Percy together, though I was still trying to figure out how she did it. As Lester pointed out, she would've needed Sally or Lester's father to complete such incantation.

"Okay," said Lester.

"Are we done here now, Chiron?" Skylar asked. "Can we go now?"

Chiron bowed his head. "Of course."

She stood up, bringing Lester along with her. He looked at Percy. "I'll see you later, man. See you, Annabeth." I nodded at him as he exited with his girlfriend.

When I heard the door close, I turned to our Oracle who had been quiet the entire time. "What is it, Rachel? I asked.

She looked nervous. Knowing Rachel, this was a sure sign that she was seeing visions. She looked at Chiron. "I'm afraid the prophecy had already started, Chiron," she said in a grave voice.

Percy, being himself, tried to lighten the load. "Okay, no need to be freaked out, right? I mean, this won't be the first prophecy we had."

"It isn't," said Rachel. "But our planet has never faced a threat greater than this. I see – " she hesitated, but decided to continue, "I see that it will come very close to destruction, much closer than it did last summer. I can't see the exact outcome but one thing I'm sure of: there will be betrayals, losses, sacrifices and deaths in this quest." Rachel took in a shaky breath. I could see that her job being the Oracle was taking its toll on her. "The participants will have to be very, very careful."

"Don't worry, I'll look out for Lester," Percy interjected. I opened my mouth to protest that he couldn't go, but he stopped me. "Annabeth, it's pretty obvious that I'm a member of this quest." I nodded grimly. As much as I hated the idea of Percy going in a quest as dangerous as this one, I knew he was right – he was a member of the quest. The prophecy said that much.

"Fine," I said in defeat. "Then I'll keep an eye on you."

"What? You're not coming on this quest!" he protested.

"I'd like to see you try and stop me, Seaweed Brain," I said.

Percy sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Wise Girl, the prophecy makes the quest sound like a very dangerous one – and don't get me wrong; you've been in perilous missions before – but there's no way in Hades I'm letting you go on this one."

"It's dangerous," I said, "which is why I'm going."

"Annabeth – " he began, but was cut off when the conch horn blew from the distance.

Chiron, who had been surprisingly quiet the whole time, stood up, with Rachel following his lead. She gave me a sad smile. "It seems we'll have to discuss this some other time," he said, his voice light, but I could see the gears turning in his head as he tried to piece everything together. "But in the mean time, it's time for capture the flag."

I scanned the surroundings in satisfaction.

My team had set up our flag on top of Zeus's Fist. I was standing a few feet below where it was fluttering in the wind as I looked around to check what was going on around the area. A meter away from the line I drew, the Hephaestus Cabin had set up booby traps than when triggered, would send small jars of Greek Fire. I know, it was dangerous and all, but I'd made calculations and was sure than it wasn't going to do serious damage to anything, or anyone, for that matter. It was our last line of defense. At the opening of our part of the forest were the Apollo Cabin, lounging on trees, waiting for the chance to use their bows and arrows; next was incantations by the Hecate Cabin. When Percy and Lester passed them, they would give them a fun time scratching their skins raw, hallucinations that vary from giant cockroaches and evil rabbits, and because we were nice, make-ups and hairdos that would be good for two weeks. See, I was being nice. Next line to that was . . . oh well, I'm not going to elaborate more.

Clarisse came running back to base for her report. I jumped down and met her halfway. "No signs of the punks. No traps, no lines of defenses, no anything," she said. "Got to admit, it's worrying me."

I nodded and faced my other teammates. "Okay everyone, listen up," I called. Those who were still around rushed back to me. "There's one thing we have to remember: Never underestimate those two. If there's one thing we can agree about, it's that Seaweed Brain's not exactly a seaweed brain."

"Hear, hear," said a voice behind me. I turned and saw Thalia, with Nico following her. "I didn't find anything placed by the other team," Thalia reported. "It's weird for Kelp for Brains to be this careless."

"I sent the skeletal warriors around," said Nico, holding his Stygian iron sword. "They're scouting and making sure nobody's going near our flag."

"It's a bit too much for two guys, don't you think, Annabeth?' asked Katie.

"One can never be too careful," I said. "Anyway, back to what I was saying. Always expect the unexpected tonight. We know what Seaweed Brain can do. I know how he thinks so I'll take care of him with half of the team. Thalia, you're with me. Clarisse and Nico, lead the other half and focus on Lester. We don't know what he's capable of doing. He's pretty smart, so we can only expect him to pull off something. We have to be ready for whatever it is." I looked around. "The rest of the plan you already know."

My teammates nodded. "Okay, good luck, everyone. Game's on!"

I knew those two were planning something. As soon as the signal blew from the distance, I put on my Yankees baseball cap on and stepped a few meters away from our flag, making it look like it was left undefended. I knew it wasn't going to fool Percy. I knew he'd assume I'd be using my cap of invisibility, but I deducted that he'd go for defense while Lester took offense and defend their flag, as Lester was the least experienced and didn't know the woods very well.

But I was wrong.

I heard a twig snap from the distance and I craned my neck to see what was happening and saw Lester approaching our base like he wasn't bothered by the traps. He was passing the part where the Hecate Cabin's incantations were and I waited for them to take effect, but nothing happened. Smoke was lightly coming off his skin, and I figured there was some sort of magic surrounding him.

He took careful step and arrows suddenly rain on him. I straightened, worried that we had overreacted with our plans. I was on my way to see if he was okay when I saw a light blue aura rippling around him. He was smiling. It was an innocent kind of smile but there was something dangerous about it that made my skin crawl with goosebumps.

Somewhere from the distance, I heard fights going on. I had no idea what was going on but I was pretty sure that Percy wasn't going to make it easy for my teammates. He had withheld longer against an army with bigger number of enemies before. Birds that were residing in the forest squawked and flew off from where I knew Percy's team's flag was. I knew instantly that Percy was doing his son-of-Poseidon-summoning-a-hurricane-thing.

I looked back to Lester. He was fighting half the Ares Cabin single-handedly and seemed to be doing a good job of it. I watched as he launched himself to the air, slammed the butt of his new sword at the side of a camper's helmet. The son of Ares crumpled to the ground unconscious. He then muttered something under his breath and a circle of black flames surrounded him, separating him from the others.

Thalia ran to where he was and shot an arrow at him, but it just melted as soon as it came a few inches from him. She frowned and then concentrated. I knew Thalia enough to know that she was summoning lightning. She frowned. "What are you doing?" she asked Lester, the remaining of my teammates who were still conscious, or not injured, circling them.

Lester smiled. But didn't answer. He then twisted his right wrist and Thalia was flung off the ground. I took of my cap and ran to where he was, drawing my dagger out. "Hello, Annabeth," he said, without turning around. He raised his sword and stabbed it down on the ground. A crevice opened from where his blade was buried and the ground shook. It brought another smile to his face. "Nice timing, Percy."

I continued running, trying hard not to stumble on my feet. When I was within range, I threw myself and tackled him. We went rolling on the ground and stopped a few meters away., me on top of him. I straddled his legs, pinned his arms on top of his head with oen hand whiel suing the other to press the dagger to his throat.

"You're defeated," I said.

"I don't think so," he said. I felt a weird sensation behind me. I turned and saw a swirling mass of black smoke surrounding a vortex. I felt myself being sucked towards it. I looked back at Lester who was smiling. "I think you forgot this little bit of myself, child of Athena," he said teasingly.

I grabbed his arm to stop myself from being sucked into what I knew was a portal Lester had opened. From what he told me, I knew Lester has the ability to open portals. I was only guessing back then. I didn't know he was aware of it yet, but during that moment, I realized that Lester had found out about that ability of his.

He lifted his hips off the ground and pushed my body with his. That one little heave was enough for me to get sucked into the portal. A weird sensation ran down my body, like I was being bathed with ice cold water while having a really huge fan blow hot air into me at the same time.

I felt my back coming in contact with hard packed dirt. I gasped in air and tried to catch my breath. The scenery around me was familiar. To my left was a huge pile of stones, which I recognized as the one where Kampe was buried. I was at the sight of the Battle of the Labyrinth.

A moan from my right made me sit up. My eyes widened and I suddenly found it very hard to breathe. Lying a few feet away from me was Clarisse. Her spear Maimer lay broken at her side. Her skin was pale and her face was sweaty.

And there was a bloody gash on her shoulder.

LESTER

As soon as Annabeth's weight disappeared on top of me, I jumped back to my feet. My opponents had grown in number. I saw Travis and Connor; the guy from Hephaestus Cabin, Jake; Skylar's sister, Lou Ellen; Nico and Annabeth's brother, Malcolm, joining the remaining children of Ares.

I grinned at them. I've never felt more alive until that point. I realized it had something to do with the fact that I was able to unleash my powers. It was euphoric and exhilarating. Plus, I didn't have to worry about my ADHD as it was the thing keeping me alive.

The black flames surrounding me were still raging around me, preventing the Campers from actually coming in range. Arrows shot at me from somewhere and I knew it was the Apollo Cabin. They didn't harm me, however, as the shield around me prevented anything from coming close to me.

I opened another portal behind me and felt a little full of myself with the campers' reaction. Opening a portal was something I realized I could do. Really, it was very obvious I couldn't believe I didn't see it before. It came to my attention one afternoon while Percy and I were training. I was getting better with my sword and controlling my powers but I was still no match against Percy. I had won a couple of times we sparred but I suspected he just let me win them.

Anyway, that afternoon, Percy knocked me to the ground for the twelfth time and was about to stab down on me when something swirling opened up behind me and I felt myself getting sucked into it. The next thing I knew, I was hanging upside down from a tree a few meters away from where I had been.

Percy looked around, searching for me.

"Um, dude?" I called. "A little help?"

Percy's head snapped upwards, his eyebrows scrunched up. "What the hell happened?" he asked. "One second you were there by the sand and now you're up there. How did you do that?"

"I have no idea," I admitted. "Look, can we discuss it later? Right now, I need help to get down from here."

"Right," he said. Percy stepped forward and talked to the tree. Wait, what? The tree? Yeah. I was right. He was talking to the tree. When he stepped back, I felt a pair of hands grabbed me by my thigh. I looked back and saw a girl with elf-like features. She giggled and grabbed onto me tightly. I blushed feeling her hand so close to . . . ahem. Yeah.

A second later, my head hit the ground. I groaned as I sat up, rubbing my head. I saw the girl who helped me giggling as she disappeared in a poof of green mist. "What was that all about?" I asked Percy.

"Dryads," he said, helping me up. "Now, that's not what we need to talk about. How did you get up in there?"

"I don't know," I said honestly. "It's like what happened back when I was feeling threatened by the other campers. One second I was in that alley, and the next, I was back in my room. It was like I teleported."

"But something appeared behind you like a – " Percy stopped short.

Realization dawned on me. "Like a portal," I finished.

Percy grinned maniacally. "Dude, we are so going to win capture the flag. You have to master how to do that!"

So for the next few days, that's what we do. I tried to master how to control my portals. At first, nothing much happened. I stood there, like a total idiot while I visualized a portal opening before me. It went on for a long time that I got frustrated and kicked the sand on my feet.

That's when a portal opened up.

That moment, I figured that the best way for me to let my powers out was by letting my emotions loosed. And that's what I did. I stopped trying to hold back what I was feeling. Next in line was controlling where to land. After a few more disastrous endings up on the trees and one extremely embarrassing mistake of landing inside the girls' shower room, I managed to take control of it.

Percy and I knew that the game would be interesting.

Presently, I found myself kneeling on top of the rock formation they called Zeus's Fist. I grinned when I saw the other campers looking for me. I grinned as I opened up another portal. I couldn't see Percy but I knew he was on the other side of it.

"Yo, Percy," I called. "Come on, it's time for our little victory."

A gust of wind enveloped me, dried leaves flying towards where I stood, and ultimately giving my position to my adversaries. They looked up, and started barking orders at each other when they saw I had my hand on their flag. I knew there were traps set up in here and from what I could gather; they were trying to activate them, to no avail. I smiled inwardly, knowing my nullifying powers were working.

Percy materialized in front of me. He stumbled and I caught his arm. He chuckled. "Still not used to it," he said. He looked down and watched our opponents scrambling around, a smile on his face. "They thought they will win, but no w—" he stopped short, a frown spreading on his face. "Where's Annabeth?"

I shrugged. "I sent her away," I said. Percy looked at me like I was crazy. I held up my hands. "Hey, she's safe; don't worry."

Just then, the subject of our conversation came running to her teammates. She was panting and there was a smudge of blood on her cheek. I felt Percy stiffen beside me. We looked at each other. I nodded and we both jumped off the rock formation and ran to her.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Are you okay?" Percy asked.

Annabeth nodded, still panting. "It's Clarisse," she said breathlessly.

"What – "

Percy was asking but he wasn't able to finish. A furry figure barreled to us and we both came crashing on the ground. I sat up and was on my way to standing up when the same figure knocked me down again. Then I felt sharp teeth sinking into my shoulder.

[Next - Chapter 18: INTO THE WILD]