Walk With the Shadows [ Percy Jackson OC ]

FOURTEEN | Kitty

WHOEVER'S IDEA IT WAS TO PLAY Capture the Flag four days after the defense of Olympus must've been either mad, or a genius. As far as Kitty was concerned, the jury was still out. Still, she couldn't wait to see the kind of chaos that would ensue since Percy and Annabeth had been made opposing team captains.

It hadn't been hard to convince Chiron that it'd be good for camp morale to see those two go at it. It also hadn't been hard to convince Mr. D that it would be incredibly entertaining to watch Percy lose. If Kitty was going to be playing Capture the Flag so soon after nearly dying a dozen times, she wanted to have some fun doing it.

Huddled around the grey owl banner of Cabin 6, Kitty looked at the other campers. Connor and Travis stood on Annabeth's left, the latter with his arms crossed while his brother gestured through the trees. On Annabeth's other side stood a quiet Will Solace. Their three cabins had a long-standing agreement in Capture the Flag games, and today was no different.

"I'll move in and take the flag," Annabeth said. She turned to the Stoll brothers. "You two will serve as a distraction. Take half of Cabin 11 and half of Cabin 7 and go look for the flag." She turned to her half-siblings.

"We'll need to watch out for Percy," Malcolm said. "Leave Clarisse to me. She's easy to provoke. But Percy's smart. And invincible."

Kitty smiled. "Me and Alex will take Percy."

The campers all turned around to look at her where she'd been leaning against a tree trunk. She noticed Alex stiffen beside her. But she'd been serious.

"Lucky for Percy, he's invulnerable to weapons," Kitty said. She pushed off the tree and moved closer to the crudely drawn map in the dirt where two acorns represented the two different flags. She smirked, tossing her coin up in the air. "Would be a shame if he tripped and fell down some ditches or something."

Malcolm frowned, shifting from foot to foot and folding his arms over his chest. "You sure?"

"We can handle him." Alex mirrored Malcolm's stance. "Just make sure no one else gets to our flag. Ophelia," he said, turning to her. "Play decoy?"

It had been awhile since Kitty had seen either Alex or Ophelia smile. But apparently the prospect of friendly, and heated, competition, perhaps a return to a sense of normalcy, really did help morale.

"Just point me in the right direction," she said to Annabeth. Her manipulation of the Mist often meant she would protect a false flag.

"Zeus's Fist," Alex said.

The other campers froze. Even Kitty paused at the suggestion. But Alex had that grim look of determination on his face that he always got when he decided on a course of action, one he had no intention of changing. Connor and Travis both let out scoffs while Malcolm rolled his eyes. The Apollo campers, other than Will, vocally objected at the stupidity.

"Fine, you don't want the decoy there?" Alex shrugged. "Then I need to borrow Ophelia. Annabeth, do you still have that shield device?" When she nodded, one of her siblings raised it over his head. "Great," said Alex. "Find me Percy."