Declan here.

Anyway, where was I...?

Oh yeah, dinner.

Anyway, Ace and I walked over to the Pavilion, where people were already gathering.

"So. I suppose you don't need to tell me anything about this?" I asked.

Ace looked at me out of the corner of his eye.

"Yeah. Our food is whatever we want it to be, and first, we sacrifice some to our parents. We used to have to sit only at specific tables, but they changed that. Sit wherever."

Well, I suppose that was helpful.

So, Ace showed me where the Hermes table was before wandering off, presumably to his table. The table was fairly crowded, and I'm pretty sure that most of them were children of Hermes. In front of me was a plate and a goblet. Or maybe chalice would be more accurate.

After a minute or two of awkward sitting, everyone went quiet as people started making the sacrifices. I didn't really know what to do, but by watching others, I deduced - rather cleverly, if I may say so myself, which I may - that the whatever food or drink you wanted, just say it, and it shalt be thine own. Or whatever.

I just shuffled along the line until it was my turn, then just sort of tossed my food in and then sat back down. Really, people should specify more details to the new kids. They're lucky I'm so clever.

Anyway, I'm sure you wouldn't like to just read about me eating and drinking. That's sorta boring.

Afterwards, the crowd of demigods - including me - moved towards the forest, where Chiron stood just outside it.

"Campers!" he started. The crowd quickly went quiet.

Chiron smirked.

"Tonight! It is time for the trial of strength! Of wit! Of skill! Tonight..."

He spread his arms in an expansive gesture, then threw his head back dramatically.

"Is Capture the Flag!"

The crowd immediately started cheering. I wondered if Chiron had ever thought of being an actor.

Shushing the crowd, he brought out a list.

"Blue Team! Zeus Cabin, Hermes Cabin, Hades Cabin..." He listed a few more that I didn't really catch.

"Red Team!" He listed some more. At some point, there was a groan from Blue Team and a cheer from Red. I'm not sure what about, though.

The Cabins spread into their teams. Catching sight of Ace conversing with a blonde-haired, dark-eyed girl, I immediately headed for him. After all, he was one of the few people I actually knew here.

"So, what do I do?"

He looked back, then made a 'just-a-second' gesture to the girl, who rolled her eyes before walking off.

"Just follow everyone. I'm expecting Paris-" he sneered slightly, "-to take lead, as usual."

He tossed me a helmet and a sword.

"And here's your gear. Too late to get you a real weapon, so you'll have to stick with that for now."

He made as if to run forward, but then paused. He looked back, said, "And watch out for the Eros Trio," and then rushed off.

Well, that was both ominous and unhelpful.

I wiggled the helmet onto my head, tested the blade. Wasn't very good. Bad balance. Oh well.

Our team set up our flag on a rock that, from what I heard, was called 'Zeus's Fist'. Weird, but it didn't really matter.

There was... I assume planning, but I happened to have missed most of it. Luckily, I happened to catch the attention of one group.

"Oi, new kid," said one boy. He had a sort of rocker look about him, probably helped by the unmistakable air of arrogance around him. He had jet black hair and green eyes with a hint of hazel. He smirked at me and beckoned me over. I could already guess who he probably was.

"I'm Alexander Paris," he said. Yeah, I guessed right.

He gestured towards... somewhere. "You can stay with me. Since you're new, of course. Me and the rest of this group, Ace-" I looked over, and he gave me a sort of halfhearted, sarcastic salute.

"-Lizzie-" he gestured towards a girl with long, blonde hair, bright blue eyes, tough skin, and, strangely, a crooked nose, like she'd broken it before, more than once. She smirked, giving a single nod.

"-Grace-" She was a dark-skinned girl with really creepy, pitch black eyes, sleek skin, and bright red lips. She didn't say anything.

"-and Ariel,-" A girl with long, auburn hair, dark brown eyes, and tanned skin. She winked. Her looks had a sort of... pixie-like hint to them.

"-are gonna go for the flag."

Without another word, Paris set off.

The rest of us just sighed and followed.

I'm gonna skip the boring part. All we did was creep through the forest. The only close encounter we had is when we almost ran into a group of Ares Campers, but we hid 'til they passed.

Anyway, to the good part.

The Red Team had hid their flag in an open clearing, right in the middle, Only one guard was their, lazily kicking a rock around.

Paris gestured for Grace to move, and she crept around the edge of the clearing, quiet as a shadow. Then, when the guard turned his back, she rushed forward and then - thump. The guard collapsed on the ground. When he woke up, he was gonna have a killer headache.

Paris stood from his crouch, smirking. "C'mon, then. Let's win this."

We advanced towards the flag. Halfway across the clearing, though, an alarm went off in my head. I turned quickly. I could've sworn I had seen something...

"C'mon, newbie," Paris hissed impatiently. "Don't have all day."

Ace grabbed his arm before anything else happened. "Wait, Paris. They wouldn't have set up only one guard. And we're forgetting a certain group of three, remember?"

Paris jerked his arm away, sneering. "I could handle those freaks any day. Now let's go-"

Ariel sighed. "C'mon, Thunderboy. Don't you know to be a bit more cautious?"

Paris snarled, drawing himself up-

There was the sound of a sword being drawn.

We immediately stopped arguing, looking around. No one.

Paris reached for his sword-

Which wasn't there.

"Trés attentif, Thunderer! Mayhaps you should listen to your allies?"

Paris's sword swung slowly in circles in midair behind him, then suddenly spun and then-

Thwack!

-slammed into a tree behind me.

I paled. I felt the blade pass by my face, the wind brush against me as it passed...

Slowly, a hand materialized where the sword had been. Then an arm. Slowly, a whole body appeared. Then two more.

Three males, all dressed similarly. All I could tell of them was that their eyes were a crimson red, their skin was dark, an olive skin tone, and that all three had tattoos. The first one had a snake tattoo winding around his neck, the second had a similar tattoo circling his right eye, and the last one had his snake tattoo winding up his arm. All three were dressed similarly - they all wore black jeans, black and blue, military-style combat boots, a short-sleeved black T-shirt, black leather gloves, and a black bandanna covering their face from the eyes down, so all you could see of their body was their arms, foreheads, eyes, and wild black hair.

"Ahah, du sang neuf?"

All three bowed in unison, then resumed walking in a slow circle. Their motions were almost hypnotic, the way the rotated in a circle.

"They call me Mamba," the one with the tattoo around his neck said.

"They call me Cobra," the one with the tattoo around his eye said.

"They call me Python," the one with the tattoo around his arm said.

"The Eros Trio," Ace moaned. "We're screwed."

"Plus vraie que vous pensez, Son of Hades," Mamba said. So far, he seemed to be the speaker for the group.

"To get the flag, you'll have to get through... us," And suddenly, the darted inward from the circle they had been walking in, and then... disappeared.

I drew my sword. Not that it was gonna help much.

Lizzie and Ariel drew their swords, and Grace had apparently already drawn her weapon - some sort of weird, tiger-claw things.

Suddenly, Grace swung her claws to the side, and Python appeared from the air, flipping backwards and landing on his feet.

"Ah, tres bien! Finally, some fun!" With that, he disappeared.

I caught a flicker out of the corner of my eye, and panicked. I swung hard, but something jabbed me in the stomach. I flinched, but as soon as I did, something whisked the sword out of my hand, quick as a wink.

Cobra winked into view in front of me, swinging my sword. Then, with a twitch of his arm, it launched and landed in the tree with a twang, right next to Paris's sword.

Cobra winked. "Two down." Then he disappeared.

Ace, Grace, Lizzie, and Ariel had formed a sort of square with their backs against each other.

Mamba appeared a few feet away from them, one hand held out. "Allez, s'il vous plaît. A diamond for us poor sinners, Son of Hades?"

Ace snarled, holding his two black swords in an X in front of him. "No chance."

Mamba clasped his hands together dramatically, leaning forward. "Please, monsieur. Some color in our life." I swore he actually had a hint of begging in his voice.

Ace just sneered, scraping his swords together.

Mamba straightened, his look of playfulness replaced with a cold anger. "So be it. No mercy for you, miser."

He disappeared.

Ace drew a dagger from its sheathe, then tossed it to me. "C'mon, Declan! We need all the help we can get!" I wonder if Ace realized that Paris was sitting quietly, seething in fury, against a tree. He probably did, now that I think of it.

I joined their circle, holding my dagger in front of me.

"What was that diamond thing about?" I whispered out of the corner of my mouth.

Ace hesitated a second, then said, "They're... sick, or something. Can only see grey, black, and white. Colorblind or something. They can see real colors in diamonds, somehow. They're obsessed with colors."

As he finished, Python appeared while we were distracted, kicked Lizzie hard in the leg, ducked a swing from Grace, grabbed Lizzie's arm...

And they both disappeared.

I could only hope they would go easy on the new guy.

Ace flinched as Mamba flickered into view, then parried a slash from Mamba's dagger, but folded up as the hilt of Mamba's dagger slammed into his stomach. In one fluid motion, Mamba brought his boot up and kicked Ace in the chin. Ace's head snapped up and he sprawled on his back, dropping his swords. His helmet dropped with a rattle, spinning on the ground for a second.

Ouch.

I'm not sure if that was allowed.

"Err, Ace?" He didn't move.

"Ace?" I nudged him with my foot. Unconscious.

I was screwed.

Our circle drew closer.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Paris make an attempt to sneak pass to the flag. For a second I let my hopes rise.

Then Cobra appeared and slammed the hilt of his dagger into the back of his head. Paris crumpled.

My hopes fell.

Suddenly all three of the Eros Trio flickered into view. They walked slowly around our circle, their hands folded behind their backs. We watched them cautiously.

This didn't save us.

All three lunged forward. Grace slashed her claws in an X motion, forcing Cobra back, but Python struggled with Ariel, their blades locked. I managed to bring my dagger up in time to deflect Mamba's dagger, but folded when he punched me, hard, in the gut. It felt like a brick, and I crumpled onto the ground.

With falling hopes, I saw Cobra thump Ariel on the head, Python catching her body, and then them both disappearing. Grace spun around warily, trying to keep all angles in view.

Suddenly, Cobra appeared in front of her, feinting forward. She caught his blade in a lock right as Python lunged from her right. She kicked him viciously in his ribs, but as he fell, vanishing, Mamba appeared behind her, and thumped her smartly across her head.

As Python caught her body and disappeared, Mamba approached me where I was helplessly lying.

"This shan't hurt a bit," he said, winking. Then he brought his dagger up, and-

Ooow...

I woke up, rubbing my head. I could feel a growing bump on my head. Damned Trio...

I looked around. We were in some part of the forest. Around me sat Paris, Lizzie, Ariel, and Grace. Ace was sprawled across the ground unceremoniously.

"Welcome to the jail, newbie," Paris said. He was obviously gloomy over our humiliating defeat. "We can get out once the game is over."

I sighed.