Titan's Curse: Capture the Flag

The next day was like a rollercoaster for Nico. He trained and studied with the same schedule as the Hermes cabin which involved archery lessons with Chiron, sword fighting with the Ares cabin, arts and crafts with the Apollo cabin and a crash course of Greek mythology for Nico with the Athena cabin. Of course, there was some pranking going around and a few things getting stolen by the Stoll brothers; Him not being an exception. All in all Nico thought the day to be one of the best moments in his life, next to when he realized he was a demigod and when he got the rarest edition of a Mythomagic card set.

That night after dinner, Nico looked around to see that many of the campers were getting ready for the capture the flag game. From what he heard by Travis and Connor Stoll, it was going to be a small game: only thirteen Hunters, including his sister, Bianca di Angelo, and about the same number of campers. It was the winter vacation that's why there weren't many campers to spare unlike if they were all there to use their huge number against them. That's why everyone's going to have to rely on strategy (most likely from the Athena cabin) of getting the flag. Of course, Nico wanted to win, not only because it'd be his first game with the other demigods but because he could finally get to fight against the Hunters. It wasn't anything personal really…just because they took his sister away didn't mean he hated them.

Or so Nico told himself.

Zoe Nightshade looked pretty upset. She kept glancing resentfully at Chiron, like she couldn't believe he was making her do this. The other Hunters didn't look too happy, either. Unlike last night, they weren't laughing or joking around. They just huddled together in the dining pavilion, whispering nervously to each other as they strapped on their armour. Some of them even looked like they'd been crying. Probably because they knew they couldn't win against a huge array of demigods with varying degrees of power and skill. Nico could practically see it all like a Mythomagic game set.

On the demigod's team, they had three Hephaestus guys, a few from the Ares cabin, the Stoll brothers and himself from Hermes cabin, and a few Aphrodite kids. It was strange that the Aphrodite cabin wanted to play. Nico, when he first met them, had viewed the bunch as some gossipy, make-up, fashion obsessed kids like the ones who'd use to tease him and Bianca from school. But now they looked like they were raring to go.

Looks like I'm not the only one ready to fight, Nico thought as he heard one the Aphrodite girls grumbling about love not being worthless and pulverizing them.

That left Thalia and Percy. The big two powerful demigods currently in camp, born from two of the Big Three Gods. You could say that Nico idolized them; Percy more than the other because although Thalia also rescued him and his sister from the manticore that day, it was Percy who had run to save them first with his shining sword at his side, looking like the great demigod hero he was.

Nico broke out of his thoughts when the others started rushing towards the armoury to grab some weapons and shields for tonight. The Stoll brothers helped him put on a helmet and breastplate that was probably too big for Nico but the younger demigod didn't care as he was too busy jumping in excitement. He grabbed a sword that was so heavy he had to drag it at his side and he rushed towards where Percy had finished talking with Thalia.

"Percy, this is awesome!" His blue-feathered bronze helmet was falling in his eyes and Nico pushed that up to direct a huge grin at Percy. Nico lifted his sword with effort. "Do we get to kill the other team?"

"Well… no." Percy answered uncertainly.

"But the Hunters are immortal, right?"

"That's only if they don't fall in battle. Besides—" Percy tried to explain but Nico's mind was already in a whirlwind of ideas, his mouth not too far behind.

"It would be awesome if we just, like, resurrected as soon as we were killed, so we could keep fighting, and—"

Percy cut him off before he could finish. "Nico, this is serious. Real swords. These can hurt."

Nico stared at him, a little disappointed that he was lecturing him instead of gearing him up for the game.

Percy, seeming to realize his mistake, patted Nico on the shoulder. "Hey, it's cool. Just follow the team. Stay out of Zoe's way. We'll have a blast." That cheered Nico enough for him to get excited again.

Chiron's hoof thundered on the pavilion floor. "Heroes!" he called. "You know the rules! The creek is the boundary line. Blue team—Camp Half-Blood—shall take the west woods. Hunters of Artemis—red team—shall take the east woods. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. No intentional maiming, please! All magic items are allowed. To your positions!"

"Sweet," Nico whispered next to Percy, imagining what awesome things he could do with a magic item. "What kind of magic items? Do I get one?"

But before Percy could break it down to him, Thalia called for her team, "Blue team! Follow me!"

Nico, suddenly forgetting about the magic item, cheered and followed. They set their flag at the top of Zeus's Fist which just looked like a cluster of boulders in the middle of the west woods. It was a good place to set the flag. The top boulder was twenty feet tall and really hard to climb, so the flag was clearly visible, like the rules said it had to be, and it didn't matter that the guards weren't allowed to stand within ten yards of it.

Percy set Nico on guard duty with an African-American Hephaestus kid and the Stoll brothers. Nico didn't like that he wouldn't be out there fighting against the Hunters but at least he had an important duty to keep the flag safe. Percy entrusted it to him so Nico was going to do his best to protect it even if he was still a beginner demigod.

"We'll send out a decoy to the left," Thalia told the team. "Silena, you lead that."

"Got it!"

"Take Laurel and Jason. They're good runners. Make a wide arc around the Hunters, attract as many as you can. I'll take the main raiding party around to the right and catch them by surprise."

Everybody nodded. It sounded good, and Thalia said it with such confidence you couldn't help but believe it would work.

Thalia looked at Percy. "Anything to add, Percy?"

"Um, yeah. Keep sharp on defense. We've got four guards, two scouts. That's not much for a big forest. I'll be roving. Yell if you need help."

"And don't leave your post!" Thalia said.

"Unless you see a golden opportunity," Percy added.

Thalia scowled. "Just don't leave your post."

"Right, unless—"

"Percy!" She touched Percy's arm which looked like it gave him a shock. That wasn't surprising considering that Thalia was the daughter of the lightning god. Nico definitely knew he should never get on her bad side.

"Sorry," Thalia said. "Now, is everybody clear?"

Everybody nodded. They broke into their smaller groups. The horn sounded, and the game began. Silena's group disappeared into the woods on the left. Thalia's group gave it a few seconds, then darted off toward the right.

Percy stayed behind with Nico's group as guard duty. He climbed Zeus's Fist and seemed to be waiting for something as he scanned the forest. Nico followed, wanting to be able to see the battle that was going to happen as well.

"What's happening?" Nico demanded, trying to climb up the irregular structure of the rock pile.

Percy didn't answer for a few seconds, looking as if he were deciding something before he looked towards the Hephaestus kid. "Can you guys hold the fort?"

The guy snorted. "Of course."

"I'm going in." Percy dropped down from the pile just as Nico got up and he cheered the older demigod on as he raced his way towards the boundary line. From the top of Zeus' fist, Nico could see Percy rushing through enemy territory and a few Hunters surrounding Thalia in a clearing.

This looks bad, Nico thought before he heard a rustling sound behind him and the next thing he knew arrows were flying towards them. Nico ducked and jumped down the pile just when Connor and Travis were whacked in the head and fell to the ground. A shadow leaped over Nico's crouched body and when he looked up, he realized that Zoe Nightshade had attacked them, grabbed their flag and was now running furiously towards the boundary line.

Nico and the Hephaestus kid— Nico should really find out his name— pursued the Hunter immediately. When they saw Percy running on the other side of the creek, they started yelling, hoping to get his attention to see that Zoe had their flag.

Percy understood the threat as he yelled "No!" and started pouring on more speed. He was two feet from the water when Zoe bolted across to her own side, slamming into Percy for good measure, causing the Hunters to win this game's Capture the Flag.

The Hunters cheered as both sides converged on the creek. Chiron appeared out of the woods, looking grim. He had on his back the Stoll brothers who still looked as if both of them had taken some nasty whacks to the head. Connor Stoll had two arrows sticking out of his helmet like an antennae.

"The Hunters win!" Chiron announced without pleasure. Then he muttered, "For the fifty-sixth time in a row." Sad and dejected, Nico frowned at the demigod's lost and was about to walk away when Thalia came storming in, smelling like rotten eggs. She was so mad, that blue sparks flickered on her armour and the cause of her rage was known when she yelled, "Perseus Jackson!"

Everybody cringed and backed up because nobody wanted to get in the way of her wrath and her scary looking shield, Aegis.

"What in the name of the gods were you THINKING?" she bellowed.

Nico saw Percy balling his fists. He could tell a fight was going to break up and Nico didn't know whether to be terrified or thrilled about it.

"I got the flag, Thalia!" Percy shook it in her face. "I saw a chance and I took it!"

"I WAS AT THEIR BASE!" Thalia yelled. "But the flag was gone. If you hadn't butted in, we would've won."

"You had too many on you!"

"Oh, so it's my fault?"

"I didn't say that."

"Argh!"

It's starting, Nico thought as he watched Thalia push Percy, none too gently with her shocks that it blew Percy backward ten feet into the water. Some of the campers gasped. A couple of the Hunters stifled laughs for which Nico glared at.

"Sorry!" Thalia said, turning pale. "I didn't mean to—"

However, Percy seemed to be far from being reasoned with as Nico could see his green eyes darkening in anger. A wave erupted from the creek, blasting into Thalia's face and dousing her from head to toe.

Percy stood up. "Yeah," He growled. "I didn't mean to, either."

Thalia was breathing heavily. "Enough!" Chiron ordered.

But Thalia held out her spear. "You want some, Seaweed Brain?" Nico noticed the nickname made Percy angrier as he yelled, "Bring it on, Pinecone Face!"

Percy raised Riptide, but before he could even defend himself, Thalia yelled, and a blast of lightning came down from the sky, hit her spear like a lightning rod, and slammed into Percy's chest. Nico was horrified for a few seconds, thinking that Thalia had fried up his favorite hero until the smoke cleared away to show Percy sitting down on the ground with his shirt black from soot.

"Thalia!" Chiron said. "That is enough!"

Percy got to his feet and willed the entire creek to rise. It swirled up, hundreds of gallons of water in a massive icy funnel cloud. Nico stood in awe, amazed at the sight of power Percy was controlling. Man, he's…woah, Nico couldn't even think of a single adjective to describe him.

"Percy!" Chiron pleaded.

Percy was about to hurl it all at Thalia when suddenly he lost his concentration and the water splashed back into the creek. Nico turned around to see what made Percy so shocked until he saw it.

Someone… something was approaching. It was shrouded in a murky green mist, but as it got closer, the campers and Hunters gasped.

"This is impossible," Chiron said nervously. "It… she has never left the attic. Never."

Although Nico may not know what this thing was, he still felt creeped out that a withered mummy was shuffling its way here as if it were controlled by strings like a puppet. It went forward until she stood in the center of the group. Mist curled around their feet, turning the snow a sickly shade of green.

None of them dared move. Then her voice hissed inside Nico's head. Apparently everyone could hear it as well because several clutched their hands over their ears.

'I am the sprit of Delphi', the voice said. 'Speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python'.

Nico, suddenly realizing it was the Oracle speaking to him, couldn't contain a huge grin at the thought of another super awesome being indirectly contacting him. But he smothered it quickly when he felt the atmosphere getting tense and serious by her arrival.

The Oracle regarded everyone with its cold, dead eyes. Then she turned unmistakably toward Zoe Nightshade. 'Approach, Seeker, and ask.'

Zoe swallowed. "What must I do to help my goddess?"

The Oracle's mouth opened, and green mist poured out. Nico saw the vague image of a mountain, and a girl standing at the barren peak. It was Artemis, but she was wrapped in chains, fettered to the rocks. She was kneeling, her hands raised as if to fend off an attacker, and it looked like she was in pain. The Oracle spoke:

'Five shall go west to the goddess in chains,

One shall be lost in the land without rain,

The bane of Olympus shows the trail,

Campers and Hunters combined prevail,

The Titan's curse must one withstand,

And one shall perish by a parent's hand.'

Then Nico watched as the mist swirled and retreated like a great green serpent into the mummy's mouth. The Oracle sat down on a rock and became as still as she'd been there all along. Nico, in his excited state at witnessing a prophecy being spoken, whispered, "Cool."