Annabeth's Point of View

The Lightning Thief - Capture the Flag

A/N Remember to make requests!

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The chatter at dinner was louder yet more secretive than normal. The Ares cabin had their ugly heads bent together, glancing tightly over at the Hermes table every so often - where Percy sat. In fact, every table had their heads bent together, discussing the plans the leading teams had told them about.

My cabin, on the other hand, wasn't bothered to talk about my plan out in the open - I made sure they all had it memerized last night.

When dinner was ending, my half brothers and sisters raised their glasses, which were half empty.

"To Annabeth," Malcom said, "and her genius plan."

My other brothers and sisters shouted, "to Annabeth!" and drained the last of their juice.

I grinned at them and drained my own glass, in honors of myself.

When the plates were cleared away, the conch horn sounded and we all stood at our tables.

Malcolm handed me the flag, and I held it up high as we ran down the pavilion. Our flag was about ten feet long, glistening gray, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree. The Ares cabin's flag, on the other hand, was much more barbaric. It was an ugly red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head.

I took one last longing look at my flag, memorising the pattern. It went against everything I knew to let another team get the flag, but Luke deserved it. He lived at camp just as long as I had and he went on his very own quest - he deserved the glory.

Thinking of Luke, I glanced over at him, so see him talking to Percy as though they were already best friends. The torchlight hit his features perfectly, and even from here I could see his striking blue eyes.

The teams were announced. It took a lot to form an alliance with Hermes, because they knew how to bargain. So I had to give up some of my cabin's shower time and chore schedules. For Apollo I gave the the best slots for activities, which my cabin had complained about for about three hours. But to win support, we had to make sacrifices.

It wasn't hard for the Ares cabin to ally themselves with everyone else. Since the Ares children were large and bulky, the other cabins assumed that they would win - but brute strength wasn't going to make them win this game of Capture the Flag.

Chiron hammered his hoof on the marble.

"Heroes!" he announced. "You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair

game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!"

He spread his hands, and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, oxhide shields coated in metal.

I didn't need any of that because I would hardly be fighting in this game - and because the only weapon I was completely fond of was my dagger. But I did need the armor, so me and my cabin started to put it on.

"Remember," I said to Malcolm lowly. "The Hermes cabin gets the flag. Make sure of that."

Malcolm glanced over to the Hermes cabin and his eyes drifted to Luke. His eyes flicked back to me, amused, then said, "whatever you say, Annabeth."

I felt my cheeks flush as the girls of my cabin giggled. "Shut up," I said to them. "It was the only way they would agree to be on our team. They wanted the flag."