Chapter 5 (Thalia) The Game
We had a few Hephaestus kids as well as a bunch of Aphrodite kids. Of course, they would play. We were playing against the Hunters. Silena Beauregard was grumbling. The twins from Hermes cabin, the Stolls, were shuffling around with Nico di Angelo following the around like a keen puppy. Percy was standing aside, his eyes staring right ahead. I walked up to him.
"Hey." Nice start to the conversation. He looked at me.
"Hm?" Head full of water.
"The game's about to start. Don't you have a plan?"
He shook his head. "Annabeth would the one doing the planning. I would just stand there." He looked down. I slapped his arm.
"Hey!" He didn't look angry.
I took a deep breath. "How about this? I take offensive, you're on defence. I can leave Connor, Travis, Nico and Beckendorf with you."
He nods. I turn to the others.
"Alright, guys. I'll lead a main raiding party off to the right. Silena, take two runners with you off to the left as a decoy. Maybe Laurel and Jason."
Silena nods. "Let's do this."
I looked around. "Percy will lead the defence party with the Stolls, Nico and Beckendorf. Go Camp Half-Blood!" I cheer. Everyone yells and sets off into their respective groups. Someone taps me on the shoulder. It's Percy.
"Don't you think that you would be better at defense with Aegis?" He waves a hand at my shield.
I laugh. "Don't kid me, Percy. This shield is more for attack. Besides, you've got more practice at defense." He shrugs and walks away.
"Alright." I turn to everyone else. "Sherman, Max and Lucas. You three will be our attack. Nyssa, Shane, Mitchell and May. You'll be with me. We'll skirt around the enemy while the three of them hold the line. Silena, go now. Remember to lead them back over there."
Silena nods and leads her group off into the forest. I count to ten in my head before sprinting off to the right. I reached a tree with unusual markings on it. I stopped and signalled for the rest to stop as well. They gathered around to look. The trees had engravings on it, most likely from a knife. What was most peculiar was that there were webs on the tree floor. Spider webs. The camp's borders normally prevented creatures to wander in but this was most unusual. Nyssa, daughter of Hephaestus, leaned in.
"This isn't spider webs." She said. She looked around wildly. "This is a trap!"
Suddenly, Hunters appeared and shot a volley of arrows at us. The Ares kids leapt into action. If you've every seen stray dogs that haven't eaten in a week, that's what the children of Ares looked like. Sherman went after a Hunter with blond hair and grey eyes. She leapt aside as he slashed his sword at her. Max and Lucas went up against three hunters. One of them was Zoë Nightshade, the Lieutenant of Hunters. They couldn't hold them.
"Nyssa, with me. The rest of you, help the others."
Shane ran forward to help Sherman and the fighting continued. Nyssa and I ran ahead and arrived at their base but their flag wasn't there.
"Over there!" said Nyssa. She pointed at a person running at top speed back to our territory. Percy. I ran after him.
"Percy! What are you doing?" I yelled. Suddenly, an arrow flew at us and I swatted it away but another came right after. It landed at our feet and grey smoke oozed out. Nyssa and I started coughing.
"There! Nyssa! Thalia!" yelled someone behind us. Sherman was running at us. Behind them were the rest of the group, all injured. Behind them, the Hunters readied their bows and from my left I heard Percy cry out. He fell down and the flag flew off to his right. He got up and started running again but was slammed aside by Zoë Nightshade. She raced over the creek and the Hunters exploded into cheers. We had lost.
"Percy Jackson!" I yelled. Everyone was silent. I pushed through the crowd towards him. "What the heck do you think you're doing?"
He looked shocked that I was yelling at him but he composed himself. "I got the flag, Thalia!"
"I was at their base but the flag was gone. If you had just stayed back at our base, we wouldn't have lost!"
"You had to many on you!" He yelled back.
I was so mad I didn't even think about it. I pushed him. Sparks flew out of my hands. He was blasted back into the creek. A lot of people laughed. Chiron pushed forward. He had the Stoll brothers on his back. They looked dazed and confused. Travis Stoll had a dent in his helmet and his brother had two arrows sticking out of his helmet. Percy breathed heavily and stood up. He raised his hands and a wall of water slammed into me. I stumbled back and he laughed. I raised my spear and a bolt of lightning arced towards Percy. He was blasted into the air and landed on the ground. He stood again and the whole creek was raised up. Suddenly, his hands dropped down and the water fell back into the creek. He looked shocked at something behind me. I turned around and saw the Oracle of Delphi slowly walking towards us.