Camp Wildheart

Dominance? Asserted. Mommy Problems? Spill the tea, bro!

Sadie

Sophie led them back down the path, this time into a large clearing that had another grove of kids in it. Sophie addressed both groups at once.

"Right now, we have a game rotation. The games we're supposed to play are kinda awful, so instead we're going to play Capture the Flag. 

We picked here because you can use the terrain to hide. The flags will be these bandanas," she said, then held up a pair of folded bandanas from the group backpack, "and we'll do it boys vs. girls. 

No shoving. If someone tags you, you're in jail until you get tagged by someone on your team. You have five minutes to hide your flag. GO!"

Keefe ran one direction, and most of the boys followed him. 

Sophie ran one way at first, then as soon as she was out of sight led them sneakily into a circle of trees, one of which had roots elevated above the dirt, hiding them and the flag from view.

"Ok, I'm going to go search for the flag. 

Sadie, Annabeth, Alex, Piper, Linh, you're with me. Hazel and Rachel are decoys. Find a buddy and go in the original direction, then find a place that is hidden from one side. 

Try to draw them away from the actual base. Half of the remaining girls from grove two should go over that way," 

Sophie gestured to an area far enough away from the base and out of sight so the prisoners couldn't become spies. "They will guard the prisoners. Other half should be made up of those who can make an owl call. Spread out. The owl call tells the flag guards someone's coming." 

Looking at her watch, she said "GO!"

A cry sounded from the boy's base, and Sophie and Linh rolled their eyes at each other. Sophie held her finger to her mouth, then led them, carefully stepping so as not to snap a twig or rustle a leaf. 

Sadie felt a thrill to be playing the game, and also a thrill that for the first time, the only thing she was hiding from was her brother. Still scary, but not likely to eat her. Once, a boy almost caught Linh, but she pressed herself up against a tree, and he moved on.

They eventually got to the boy's base, where Keefe, Carter, Percy and two boys she didn't know were in a loose circle around a tree, where the bandana was lodged on a thick branch about twelve feet above the ground.

 Pulling them behind a rock, Sophie tapped Piper and Alex on the shoulder, then pointed towards the left. She then pointed towards Sadie, Linh and Annabeth, then right.

"Make noise. Draw Carter, Percy and the two other campers away. I'll get Keefe and the flag. Got it?" 

Sadie, Linh and Annabeth teamed up to get Percy and Carter confused, then Annabeth tagged them. Linh and Annabeth went back with them, and Sadie went back to watch Sophie. S

ophie was halfway to the flag, and Sadie watched as she climbed the rocks next to the tree, then the tree itself, until she got to the bandanna. Tying it around her arm, she climbed back down, then tapped Keefe on the back. He whirled, laughing, and Sadie joined them. When they got back to the base, most of the boys were in jail or being chased by the guards.

Sophie crossed the territory line, and Keefe called, "GIRLS WIN!"

Keefe

Keefe flopped onto his sleeping bag and let out a sigh.

Leo said in a voice that was barely a whisper, "Are we going to play truth or dare again?"

Magnus nodded and added "No loud dares, though. I really don't want to make counselor Sophie mad. She scares me."

Keefe laughed, thinking of all of the danger Sophie posed. "Sophie's definitely fierce, but only if you REALLY annoy her. She's pretty hard to annoy. 

Honestly, she's a completely adorkable innocent person 90% of the time. 6% of the time she can be scathingly sassy, and 4% of the time you will absolutely regret ever crossing her."

Magnus didn't look too reassured, so Keefe added, "She's vegetarian and anti-violence most of the time, so you're safe."

Will cut in before Keefe could continue. "Okay, Keefe, since you seem to be set on scaring Magnus, you get to go first. Truth or Dare?"

Keefe knew that the dare would most likely have something to do with not scaring Magnus anymore, so Keefe said, "Truth."

Will smiled, and he felt a momentary stab of worry that he quickly dismissed. "What is your biggest fear?"

Keefe let out a breath, and he knew the expression on his face must have been bad because Will said, "If it's too painful, you don't have to."

"No... it's fine" he said, running a hand through his hair. "My worst fear is probably my psycho mom breaking out of prison and killing So... everyone I care about in front of my eyes."

Frank looked slightly affronted by that. "That's a really scary nightmare, dude."

"Actually, my mom has tried to do that kind of thing before."

Percy's eyes widened. "Sorry. I know what it's like to have a bad parent. My stepdad was awful. Not as bad as that, but still... do you want to talk about it?"

Keefe cast his eyes down to his feet. He didn't want to unload his problems on the campers, especially since it was his job to care for them, not the other way around.

Somewhat sensing his response, Nico said, "You're more like a friend than a counselor. Besides, all of us have seen worse than a psycho mom."

Everyone in the tent nodded, and Keefe wondered exactly what events had occurred. 

"My mom falls waaaay outside of even an abnormal amount of evil. 

She was pretty much the ringleader of a band of terrorists, she experimented on me, and she even went so far as to have Sophie and Dex kidnapped. 

We all thought they were dead, and mother dearest even sniped at me for crying too much at their funeral, when she knew that her buddies were holding them against their will. That's just the tip of the iceberg, really.

 For the past, what, 4, almost 5 years, she's been trying to hurt Sophie and anyone who would stand with her. She's been a part of the group for who knows how long before that. The Neverseen are mostly gone now, though."

Carter's face was frozen in a mask of surprise, and Will's sympathetic face was too much for Keefe. Cutting off Leo's stream of questions, he said, "Maybe I'll tell you more later. Let's change the subject for now, though. I'll tell you a ghost story."

Keefe began to tell a ghost story Sophie had told him. At first, Keefe had been skeptical, but the story was just the right amount of scary, with a lonely, misunderstood monster turning campers (and counselors) here to stone and a brave teenage counselor who turned everyone back to normal and became friends with the lonely monster. Keefe had (on purpose) made the counselors and Campers sound a bit like Sophie and the campers of their Grove, so that it would be even more spooky.

So, a can of worms was opened, suspicions may or may not be raised, and the girls kicked butt!

I'm satisfied with this chapter, galactlings.