"They've got the whole camp surrounded!"
Helia stood up from her seat in the middle of eating her breakfast, confused. "Who?" she asked Elina, who was sitting on her right.
She stood, grinning. "The Hunters of Artemis."
Later that day, conflict arose between the Hunters and the campers- the main two arguers were Percy and the lieutenant Hunter, Thalia.
"Kelp Head!" Thalia threw at him as a final insult.
"Pinecone Face!" Percy literally threw a pinecone at her head. As she swatted it away, her eyes became stormy and little bolts of electricity flew off her armor. The other Hunters aimed their spears at him and the rest of the campers backed away.
"That's it," said Thalia, her hands balling into fists. "I challenge you to a game of Capture the Flag." The campers groaned and the Hunters grinned. The Hunters won every time they played Capture the Flag against the campers. It was hopeless.
The next day, everyone woke up early to get ready for combat. Helia wasn't too thrilled- she had never fought before. Sure, she had taken lessons from many people on Olympus, but she never played an actual game of Capture the Flag. And she wasn't very happy that she was on the opposite team of her old friends.
She chose the armor that fit her best and a simple combat sword, but she felt as if she wouldn't need it much. Walking toward the forest, she spotted Thalia talking with a small group of Hunters. Thalia noticed as she was walking and called out to her.
"Hey, Helia!"
Helia gave a small wave and walked up to them. "Hello."
Thalia put her arm around her shoulders. "You got out of Olympus, then?"
Helia laughed. "No... but how I got here is a really long story."
"Did you find out who your godly parent is?" asked another Hunter.
"Yeah, it's Thanatos. I didn't find out anything about my mother, though."
"Helia!" Someone else was calling her, Elina, probably.
"I'll see you later," said Helia as she walked away.
As she arrived at the campers' side, Elina demanded, "How are you so friendly with them?"
Helia gave her a confused smile. "I'm friends with them. I encountered them a few times and got to know them."
"Well now we're against them, so you shouldn't be so friendly with them."
Chiron somehow got everyone's attention. "Remember, the river is the border. Whichever side steals the other's flag and brings it back to their base wins. Good luck!"
The game had started.
Annabeth directed everyone where to go. "Hermes, Dionysus, and Apollo cabins, go see if you could set up a distraction. Aphrodite... do whatever you can. Athena cabin, follow me. And you guys..." She turned to Helia's small group and smiled awkwardly. "Do the best you can."
"So..." Helia looked around at the group. Her, Elina, Jack, Paul, and Nico, who had come back. "Let's see what we can do."
They ran into the woods with the others. As the other cabins were passing them, Helia heard one person from the Apollo cabin yell, "HEY NICO! NO DEATH MAGIC."
Nico rolled his eyes and yelled back, "I KNOW, WILL."
Death magic... teleportation? Helia had heard from somewhere that the children of the underworld can shadow-travel, but she never thought she would have that power. She had never done magic in her life, so she couldn't master it easily and in time.
"Helia!" Elina panted, coming to a stop. "You're in command. What do we do?"
Helia looked bewildered. "I'm in charge?" She looked around and they all nodded. "Oh, er... I don't know yet. Can we use magic?" They nodded again. "What could we do?"
Nico said, "I can't use any more magic because if I use anymore then I'll...die, I think. But I can show you what to do."
"Yay!" Elina exclaimed, throwing her arms around Nico, who looked very uncomfortable. He looked at Helia for help.
"What can you show us?" Helia asked, pulling Elina off Nico.
As Nico started explaining, Jack and Paul started arguing again. They were getting very loud, but Helia heard a sound through their bickering.
"Shh!"
It was too late. Hunters had surrounded them, aiming their weapons at them. Helia was so surprised that she backed up quickly and tripped against a tree root. She braced herself for the fall, but it didn't come.
Suddenly, she felt weary. She looked around and found that she was in a different area of the forest. Then it dawned on her what had happened, and she grinned. She had shadow traveled. Helia looked around and found the lake nearby, and beyond that, the Hunters' flag. Helia couldn't believe it.
She tried shadow traveling short distances with sticks in her hand to experiment. Yes, she could carry out her plan perfectly.
She side-stepped into the shadows, taking a deep breath. Then the flag was in front of her.
Cries erupted all around her; the Hunters were calling recruits. Helia quickly grabbed the flag and shadow-traveled one last time.
She could see the friendly base in front of her. Deafening cheers came from all the campers, cheering her on as she ran as fast as she could towards the end.
She made it. They won. She had beaten the Hunters.
A/N: I AM FEELING THE TRIUMPH IN MY BONESSSSSSS.