Kate,
The game was easily won, though not too easily that it wasn't entertaining.
The after party though was more than the game three times over though. Everyone was cheering, though the players had gone off the field a long time ago. Drinks went around, and victory music blared from the speakers. Every fan was on their feet, dancing like it was the last time they ever could.
This was the first time the team had won this game in about twenty years, and you could tell just from one look at us.
I was screaming along to one of the songs with Adraine, my college roommate and best friend, when I suddenly looked beside me for Charlie and Emily-Rose. I was supposed to be watching them, and I had been since Aunt Annabeth and Percy went home. But now I had lost them.
Panic hit me, and I screamed their names, though you could barely hear yourself think much less talk.
Then I knew where they went.
Charlie wanted to see her brother, and, while she wasn't mischievous, Emily-Rose was. I took off through the crowds and managed to get into the locker room for the team. After having to chase Emily-Rose through the locker rooms, I finally them.
And I was right, they went to go see Noah.
I knew our first meeting after all this time would be kind of weird, but being in the men's locker room during that when he was just putting on a shirt didn't help much at all.
Things got easier though, and, before I knew it, we had survived our first week of camp.
And now here I stood, looking from the top of the hill by the temple.
The Camp was beautiful in the dwindling daylight. One way, the forest swept as far as they eye could see. Another way, there was the lake. To the next, I could see the camp, and, to the final way, I could see New Athens and the rolling strawberry fields. Everything was beautiful, and the light bounced off the Camp like something devine.
I was particularly attracted to New Athens.
I could see my Aunt Annabeth's and my father's touché in it.
Fifteen years ago, Chiron decided he wanted to build something like New Rome. It wasn't until ten years ago that Mt. Olympus Architectural company, which was owned by four children of Athena (such as my father and Aunt Annabeth), donated the money and the work.
Now, it was a thriving city. Romans and Greeks lived alongside each other. There was an urban area for the young adults, family homes, businesses for progress, and a college. It wasn't that populated, but Chiron expected many more people soon. It was my aunt's and father's favorite pastime.
It was weird to see buildings there that I had plopped down on my father's lap and watched him sketch out.
I loved this place, and I had since I had first been into New Athens.
But my eyes weren't on New Athens. They weren't on the strawberry fields or the tree nymphs playing in them. They weren't on the beautiful temple. They weren't on the camp or even the intimidating forest.
No, my eyes were on the two captains for this week's Capture the Flag.
I wanted to be on Charlie's team so much. I wasn't sure why.
She was thirteen, and I knew she knew how to take care of herself. But I felt something worrying me now, I just couldn't help it.
As my eyes occasionally shot over to Charlie, and it was hard to still see her as a child.
She still hadn't grown into herself yet. She was taller than most of the boys, and she had long curly blonde hair that she usually kept in a ponytail. Her eyes were sea green, and they had the descendant of Athena look about them, taking in everything. She was beautiful, a perfect mixture of her two gorgeous parents.
But I still saw her as that little toddler smiling and giggling all the time.
"Katherine Moore," someone called.
I looked back to Charlie, who motioned for me to go ahead.
I did, though I didn't really want to, and I took my spot next to Noah, who nudged me.
"Hey, Katey-Kat."
"You nervous to be out here?" I looked to him.
I had to admit I was.
I had been so out of it recently that I didn't know how I would fair tonight.
"A little, you?"
I nodded.
I was about to tell him about how I just knew something bad was going to happen, but then Sam got called for the other team, which made him make a face. Then it was our team's turn again.
"Charlotte Jackson!"
We all stared, our eyes wide, and everyone moved to make a path for the thirteen year old.
I wasn't sure who was more shocked, her or everyone else.
There was an order when it came to picking the members of a team.
You chose the older, more experienced and stronger people first just by nature. You worked your way through the age groups until you reached the end.
We were still in the 20-18 age group. We were nowhere near Charlie.
But here she was, slowly walking up to us. She tried to look like this was normal, natural even. But it wouldn't take a genius to know she was scared.
I smiled as I looked at her, trying not to embarrass her with a big thumbs up.
My older brother didn't have the same idea.
Noah rolled his eyes, and I felt embarrassment to call him my brother as Charlie took her place to stand beside me. She hid her face with her palm, and I put my arm around her, smiling weakly.
We continued to stand like that until the choosing was over, and we only moved when it came to the game plan.
There were only two descendants of Poseidon, at least right now, and they were stationed near the river where they thought they would be more useful, even though Noah was more talented than being able to control water. But I said nothing and took my target, son of Ares by the name of Pitt (for being as mean as a pit-bull from what I had heard). When it was time to go in, I made a beeline for the best weapon I could get my hands on for this.
"Nervous?" Charlie smirked as she reached for a sword, glancing at the bow and quiver on my back, the dagger on my belt, and the sword in my hand.
"Careful," I corrected.
"Sure, careful," Charlie rolled her eyes, and I playfully pushed her.
"Have fun by the river while I do some real stuff."
"Right because the most I will do is throw some water," Charlie pouted.
"You're still just a freshman, you know. You'll make your way up the ranks, just wait."
"Freshman. This is my second year."
"And this is my seventh. You have to give this camp some time, Shorty."
Charlie opened her mouth to protest, but it was time to make our way to the stations.
Charlie nodded towards the leader and smiled weakly at me.
"Good luck."
"You, too."
Before I could hug her like I wanted to, she was following her brother into the woods, and I was going the opposite direction. As I walked through the forest to get to my designated area that Pitt would be most likely to trust, I couldn't shake off the nagging feeling that something horrible was about to happen.
Noah,
The night was beginning to take over the sky, and I had to admit that it was beautiful.
The gurgling stream washed over the sounds of swords clashing far away. The leaves rustled, though mainly it was curious tree nymphs. Occasionally, I heard a stranger coming near me, but my the hilt of my sword fixed that.
It was pretty peaceful out here I had to admit.
It was a nice place to think, not that I wanted to think.
Thinking lead to home. Home lead to why I left home, soccer. Soccer lead to Sam. Sam lead to Kate. And Kate… well, Kate was a topic that was so expansive I couldn't get off of it.
It felt kind of wrong since she was technically my cousin, but, then again, Annabeth and my dad were technically sort of cousins, right?
To shake off those thoughts, I took out a pocket knife, and I was beginning to sharpen a thick stick. To make sure I didn't think about Kate, I thought about something else…
It was a question I had been thinking about since I was thirteen. It had eaten away at my childhood, and it had kept me in fear every time a prophecy stirred the camp. Through my own, it had kept me worried and scared as I wondered if she would go through this all.
I was nineteen now, and I was hardly a child. I lived on my own, though still near to my parents I guess. I had a job as a professional soccer player, and I hadn't been on a quest since Kate's quest three years ago. But it still kept me in fear.
Could this really be the year? I wondered, Will this be Charlie's year?
I prayed not, but I knew it had to come one day.
Maybe it wasn't this year. Maybe it wasn't next year. Maybe it wasn't even the year after that.
But it was coming, and I could only sit and wait.
This was not something I did well, especially not with Charlie.
I had always been a rather hands-on overprotective brother. With my father and me, Charlie could had a fat chance of anything happening, and we hadn't even reached the stage of boys. Gods, I felt bad for whatever poor guy would try to date her with us around.
That I could do something about.
This was an entirely new matter, and, every year, it got worse and worse. She was fast approaching fourteen, the age that I had my first quest
It was hard to have to wonder if she would make it to her first day of high school. If she would ever learn to drive. If she would ever have her first boyfriend, though I doubted that anyway if I could do something about it. If she would ever have her first kiss or go to prom or graduate. Or any of it…
"Κακή μωρό Charlotte," I skipped a rock into the river, and I reached for my cell phone, logging on to IM.
SoccerGuy18: Bored at camp. Capture the flag where I got the most boring place. How are you doing, Pixar?
It barely took a second before I got the IM back.
PixarRules4: You guys play capture the flag on Fridays, too? Weird, huh? I had to watch one girl, Pippa, who was pretty good. But she's under control and I am just watching and waiting to protect our stars.
"Uncontrol?" I asked, wondering if she meant the way we got people under control around here.
SoccerGuy18: Fun. How was your first week? I barely heard from you.
PixarRules4: It was fun, I guess. I got the classes I wanted in it, and I finally get to spend time with my little cousin, Lucy. After I went to college, I don't see her much. Love her to death.
SoccerGuy18: How much younger is she than you?
PixarRules4: Five years, She just thirteen.
I was about to type something back when I saw the alert saying that Pixar was typing.
PixarRules4: GTG.
I shrugged and typed something back, putting my cell phone back in my armor, and I stood up.
I straightened my armor, and I held my sword, boredom getting to me. I was starting off towards where the real battle was when I heard it.
The high pitch scream curdled my blood and made my skin crawl. It was the kind of scream that you were lucky to never hear. It was the scream that you heard when you knew you were about to die.
That enough made me stop and turn, but then I noticed the direction it was in.
But, even before I could put that together, I recognized the voice.
Panic didn't even have enough time to register before I found myself sprinting, my heart thudding as loud as a drum. My lungs forget how to work, and my brain could no longer function.
Another scream.
Charlie.
Oh Gods, Charlie.
I rounded a corner, and my steam died for pure shock.
Two men made of complete stone held on to my little sister, holding her by her arms with such a force that her arms bled. She had a large cut on her forehead, and her first reaction was to try to kick herself out of their grasp, which just left her with bruises.
Her sword was on the ground…
"Noah! Please!" Charlie screamed, tears streaming down her face as she got a small ray of hope.
I could barely feel my knees, much less fight.
I had protected my sister before but not from stone monsters! I didn't know the first place to start, and they were surprisingly moving fast to a cave I had never seen before, even with how every second felt like an hour.
The cave had a small opening, and it wound down as far as the eye could see, leading off into what looked like a Labyrinth, though that had been destroyed for years.
My brain wasn't in charge of my body. If it had been, I might have lost Charlie forever.
With a flick of my wrist, anger took control of the situation.
The river emptied out, even more than was in there, and it was at such a force that I would have been scared if anyone no related to Poseidon had been around that. It was so powerful that I couldn't even see it as it happened.
I only stopped when I saw pebbles beginning to fly everywhere.
When the water finally calmed down, the cave was gone. The stone monsters were pebbles. And Charlie was soaking wet, slightly buried in pebbles.
I sprinted towards Charlie, digging through the rubble like her life depended on it.
As her green eyes slowly blinked open, I held her tighly, rocking her like she was a baby.
"Noah," her voice croaked out.
"Shh, it's alright. It was just a monster," I tried, pushing her wet hair behind her ear, and she let a stray tear fall.
"No, Noah, I saw her! She-She was taking me! The woman with the knife!"
I rocked her tightly, and I suddenly heard Kate sprinting towards me, getting on her knees to look at Charlie.
"What happened?"
I met Kate's eyes, and she understood from the look in my eyes.
"Let's get her to Chiron."
It happened a little sooner than I thought, but here it is.
So the woman with the knife tried to take Charlie…
And I am the evil writer who ended the chapter there.
