Chapter Fifteen - Capturing the Death Flag

The night was warm and slightly humid which made the armor I was wearing almost unbearable to wear. Unfortunately, I'd been warned in advance that Capture the Flag was considered a full contact sport at camp, and without the armor I'd be in danger of severe injury. In that regard, I counted myself fortunate to have the Ares cabin on my side. They were easily the most aggressive of the bunch, and the most likely to willingly forfeit dessert privileges for the chance at spilling some blood.

I was grateful for my foresight to check out the woods during the day as I had a better idea of where I was and what was around me than I might otherwise have had. The canopy overhead had made the afternoon sunlight take on a green hue that was distinctly absent in the full dark of the night with only the light of fireflies to illuminate the way. Fortunately, I didn't need to worry about such paltry constraints as proper lighting when I could activate my aura sight. Day or night, bright light or pitch darkness, it didn't matter to me. The forest was alive with so many colors that I had no problem navigating.

After about ten minutes of border patrol, I found a part of the creek that was narrower and shallow enough that only the bottoms of my shoes got wet when I crossed. Movement in the bushes ahead caught my attention as a boy-shaped mass of swirling turquoise staggered out of the woods in front of me.

"Penny?" He asked, sounding nervous as he lifted his shield. "Is that you?"

"Percy?" It occurred to me that I hadn't actually Looked at him yet. "Yeah, it's me. Are you okay?"

"Am I okay? Your eyes are glowing!"

"Oh," I chuckled. "Yeah, they do that. The better to see you with."

"It's really creepy," he said.

Before I could respond, I heard a sound that sent a chill up my spine, a low canine growl, somewhere close by. Hell hound. I raised my shield instinctively, moving to put Percy at my back.

"What...?" Percy started to ask.

"Shield up, weapon out," I hissed.

Suddenly the growling stopped and I felt the presence retreating. I waited another twenty seconds before relaxing. Just then, the undergrowth exploded on the other side of the creek as five of my teammates came yelling and screaming out of the dark. Even with her helmet on, I recognized Clarisse immediately by the heavily enchanted, barb-tipped spear that she was carrying.

"Well, look at this," she drawled. "Looks like it's our lucky day, boys."

With a wordless gesture, she directed two of them to surround Percy while the other two broke ranks to pull me away from him.

"H-hey! What are you doing?" I demanded.

"Hush now, runt," Clarisse said. "I'd tell you it's nothing personal, but that'd just be a lie. If it wasn't for the healers, I'd still be pissing blood from that little cheap shot earlier in the week. Don't get me wrong, I can appreciate a good cheap shot. After all, fighting dirty is just called fighting in Five. But you had to go and make me look bad while you did it."

"You don't need my help," I said, struggling against my captors. "You already look like shit."

One of the guys holding me swung a heavy fist into my armored stomach, denting the metal. While it didn't hurt, it definitely rattled me a little, and made it difficult to breath properly. I expected a blow like that to have broken his knuckles, but he just grinned and shook his hand like it had simply gone numb.

"You two hold her in place. Make her watch," Clarisse sneered. "Oh, and don't even think of burning up. If you do, well... The creek's right there."

I gulped, glancing from her to the creek and back. She laughed, a cruel sound. "Yeah, that's right punk. Just stay there like a good little girl while the big kids talk."

I remembered what Annabeth had said about gaining her respect by show of force. Somehow, I didn't think that would apply in this situation. She was clearly out for blood and humiliation. Percy managed to side-step the first kid, but they pressed forward and Clarisse thrust at me with her spear. His shield deflected the point and I could smell the electric discharge in the air as bolts of red magic spread across my brother's shield arm.

Of course her stupid spear was electric. His shield arm dropping, he fell back. The second guy slammed Percy in the chest with the butt of his sword and he hit the dirt. At this point, the fight should have been over, but I guess these guys didn't get the memo.

"Give him a haircut," Clarisse said. "Grab his hair."

Percy managed to get to his feet and raised my sword, but Clarisse slammed it aside with her spear as sparks flew. Both guys came at him at once, backing him up toward the creek. He tried to raise his shield again, but Clarisse was too fast. Her spear stuck him straight in the ribs. If he hadn't been wearing an armored breastplate, he would've been skewered.

As it was, the magical shocks surged through his body lighting him up like you might imagine a cartoon character being electrocuted. One of her thugs slashed his sword across Percy's arm, leaving a good-size cut. Seeing his blood made me dizzy—warm and cold at the same time. I couldn't stand by and watch this go on. I had to do something. I struggled against the grip of my captors

"No maiming," he choked out the words.

"Oops," the guy said. "Guess I lost my dessert privilege.

The others laughed as he pushed Percy into the creek and he landed with a splash. But then something strange happened. Instead of growing weaker as I would have, his aura seemed to swell and seep into the water surrounding him. Unaware of this, Clarisse and her two goons swaggered forward into the creek as Percy stood to meet them.

Before the others could react, he swung his sword like a club, smacking the flat of the blade into the first guy's head with enough force to knock his helmet clean off. He crumbled into the water, face up but unconscious. The second guy rushed forward and Percy effortlessly bashed him in the face with his shield.

"Don't just stand there!" Clarisse shouted at my two captors. "Cream the punk!"

Unfortunately for Clarisse, they seemed to be smarter than they looked as they both backed away. Neither of them seemed really anxious to attack. Clarisse roared and pressed her attack, the point of her spear crackling with energy.

"Percy!" I shouted, but as soon as she thrust, Percy caught the shaft between the edge of his shield and sword, snapped the spear like a twig.

"Ah!" she screamed. "You idiot! You corpse-breath worm!"

She probably would've said worse, but her smacked her between the eyes with the butt of his sword and sent her stumbling backward out of the creek to land on her ass.

Then I heard yelling, elated screams, and I saw Luke racing toward the boundary line with my team's banner lifted high. He was flanked by a couple of Hermes guys covering his retreat, and a few Apollos behind them, fighting off my godly siblings. Clarisse muttered a dazed curse as she and her idiots staggered after Luke, but it was too late. Everybody converged on the creek as Luke ran across into friendly territory.

The blue side exploded into cheers. The red banner shimmered and turned to silver. The boar and spear were replaced with a huge caduceus, the symbol of Cabin Eleven. Everybody on the blue team picked up Luke and started carrying him around on their shoulders. Chiron cantered out from the woods and blew the conch horn. The game was over. We'd lost.

"Where the heck did you learn to fight like that?" Annabeth asked, moving over to Percy's side. Her aura was strangely transparent as she reached up to her head and pulled off a hat. Suddenly, her aura solidified.

"What the...?" I asked.

"You set me up," Percy said. "You put me here because you knew Clarisse would come after me, while you sent Luke around the flank. You had it all figured out."

Annabeth shrugged. "I told you. Athena always, always has a plan."

"A plan to get me killed," he muttered.

"I came as fast as I could. I was about to jump in, but ..." She shrugged. "You didn't need help." She paused, raising an eyebrow as she looked at his arm. "How did you do that?"

"Sword cut," Percy said. "What do you think?"

"No. It was a sword cut," she said. "Look at it."

I cancelled my aura sight to get a good look as well and was shocked to see that the blood was gone. Where there had been a huge cut before, now there was only a long white scratch. And even that was fading. As I watched, it turned into a small scar, and then disappeared.

"I—I don't get it," Percy said, sounding dazed.

Annabeth was thinking hard. I could almost see the gears turning. She looked down at Percy's feet, then at Clarisse's broken spear, and said, "Step out of the water, Percy."

Before he could question her or comply, I heard the Hell Hound's growl again. Much closer than before. In all the commotion with Clarisse and her goon squad, I'd completely forgotten about the monster. The campers' cheering died instantly as a howl ripped through the forest.

"Stand ready!" Chiron shouted. "My bow!"

Annabeth drew her sword. There on the rocks just above us was a black Hell Hound the size of a rhino, with lava-red eyes and fangs like daggers. It was looking straight at me. Was this the same one I'd encountered before? Were Hell Hounds intelligent enough to hold grudges even after death? Then I realized it was staring at Percy, not me. Nobody moved except Annabeth, who yelled, "Run!"

She tried to step in front of my brother, but the hound was too fast. It leaped over her—an enormous shadow with teeth—knocking Percy clear of the creek as it raked it's razor-sharp claws through his armor like a horrible can opener. There was a cascade of thwacking sounds, like forty pieces of paper being ripped one after the other. A cluster of arrows sprouted from the monster's neck and it fell dead at Percy's feet.

Percy, meanwhile, was on the ground gasping wetly for breath as blood poured out of his shredded armor. I felt like I was going to be sick. Chiron trotted up next to us, a bow in his hand, his face grim.

"Di immortales!" Annabeth mumbled, shock on her face. "That was a Hell Hound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't ... they're not supposed to ..."

We watched the body of the hellhound melt into shadow, soaking into the ground until it disappeared then Annabeth noticed Percy's injuries.

"You're wounded," Annabeth said, then turned to me. "Quick, help me get Percy back into the water."

I was too tired to argue or care about a little water. I'd already lost mom, I couldn't lose my brother now. I stepped forward and, with help from Annabeth, lifted Percy and dragged him back into the creek. Miraculously, his wounds began to close almost as soon as he touched the water. Some of the campers nearby gasped.

"Look, I—I don't know why," he stammered, trying to apologize. "I'm sorry..."

"Percy," Annabeth said, pointing. "Um ..."

They weren't looking at his wounds. They were focused on the glowing symbol hovering over his head. He'd been claimed, and it wasn't by Hephaestus or Aphrodite. By the time he looked up, the godly symbol was already fading. A three-tipped spear: a trident.

"Your father," Annabeth murmured, looking from Percy to me. "This is really not good."

"It is determined," Chiron announced in a clear voice.

The campers began kneeling all around us, even the Ares cabin - though they didn't look happy about it.

"My father?" He asked, completely bewildered.

"Poseidon," said Chiron, glancing at me then back to Percy. "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God."

"What the fu-...!?"