Celestial - a Percy Jackson fanfic [BOOK ONE]

Chapter seven

It was finally time for capture the flag. Apparently, it was a huge deal. As soon as dinner was over, the conch horn sounded, and campers began to scream and cheer like they were at a concert.

Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It had to have been at least ten feet long, a gorgeous gray, with an emblem of an owl above an olive tree. On the opposite side of the pavilion, in ran Clarisse and her siblings, carrying another silk banner of the same size, but a deep red and an image of a bloody spear and a boar's head.

We had just been sitting at dinner, so I was next to Luke and Percy as we rose from our table.

"Do Ares and Athena always lead the teams?" I asked, raising my voice to shout over the noise.

"Not always," he replied. "But often."

"So, of another cabin captures one, do you repaint the flag?" Percy asked.

Luke just grinned down at us. "You'll see. First we have to get one."

"Whose team are we on?" Percy asked.

Luke's grin widened, the scar on his face almost made him look evil in the torchlight. "We've made a temporary alliance with Athena. Tonight, we get the flag from Ares. And you two are going to help."

My skin buzzed with excitement as the teams were announced. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, who happened to be the two biggest cabins. Ares had allied themselves with all of the other cabins: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus. But, at the same time, there were only two kids from Dionysus, Demeter's kids really only liked dealing with nature stuff, and Aphrodite's kids usually just liked to sit around, do their hair, and gossip. Hephaestus's kids were big and burly, but there were only four of them. Ares's cabin had twelve kids, and they were the biggest and meanest kids on the planet.

Chiron hammered his hold 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 suddenly the tables were covered with equipment: helmets, swords, spears, shields. My eyes widened. We were absolutely going to die tonight.

"All right, find some that fit unless you want to get skewered by our friends in cabin five," Luke said to us. "You guys will be on border patrol."

It amazed me that they actually allowed campers to 'skewer' each other. Percy found a shield that had to be bigger than him and I picked one that was skinny but long. And boy, was it heavy. We each got helmets with a blue horsehair plume on top, like all of the campers on Athena's side. Ares and their allies had red plumes.

"Blue team, forward!" Annabeth yelled.

Everyone cheered and shook their swords, following her down the path into the woods. Percy and I stuck together, feeling awfully out of place.

Annabeth found us in the crowd. "Come on," she said, "and watch Clarisse's spear. You don't want that thing touching you. Has Luke given you your jobs?"

"He told us to do border patrol," I told her.

"It's easy. Stand by the creek, keep the reds away. Leave the rest to me. Athena always has a plan," she grinned deviously. With that, she pushed ahead through the crowd, disappearing from sight.

Percy and I exchanged looks. We were going to get pounded.

——

The sun had gone down, but it was still hot and humid. Fireflies popped in and out of view. Percy and I had been stationed next to a little creek while the rest of our team scattered into the trees.