Camp Hermit-Blood - The Sea of Monsters

Annabeth

The day of the first chariot race arrived.

Annabeth was not feeling great about it.

Right before the race started, as everyone was getting ready, Percy walked up to her with a concerning statement.

"It's Grover," he said. "He found something that could save the camp."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "You're trying to distract me. Cut it out."

"No, I'm not!"

"So you're saying Grover happened to find the one thing that could save the camp. I'll talk to you later, Percy. After I win."

Annabeth walked away, forcing herself to ignore Percy's wounded expression that quickly turned to determination.

Annabeth walked over to where her chariot was lined up next to the others. It was built for speed, to pull ahead of the others before the chaos even started. But it did have a few hidden weapons.

Annabeth regretted that she hadn't stayed with Percy on this. Since Posideon had created horses and Athena had created the chariot, they would have won for sure. But Tyson...

It wasn't that Annabeth hated him. It was that he reminded her of other Cyclopes who weren't quite as nice.

Travis and Connor Stoll were loading a bunch of explosives onto their chariot. The Apollo bowman was counting the arrows in his quiver. Clarisse and Ren looked like they were getting ready for Capture the Flag: Death Edition instead of a friendly chariot race. Tango glared daggers at Ren from the Hephaestus chariot, while Beckendorf got their fire-breathing automation horses ready.

Tyson seemed to be having some trouble with the horses. Then Percy approached them with sugar cubes and they calmed down.

From what Annabeth knew, no other cabins were participating in the chaos.

"On your marks!" Tantalus shouted over the campers, nymphs, and satyrs in the stands.

The chariot drivers scrambled to their positions. Malcolm joined Annabeth in the Athena chariot.

She glanced at Percy. The son of Posideon was stubbornly not looking at her.

Tyson looked between them and frowned.

"Get set!" Tantalus said, making a mad grab for a bagel that promptly zipped away.

Annabeth grabbed the reigns as Malcolm readied his javelin.

"GO!"

The chariots surged forward on the track.

Two seconds later, there was a loud cracking sound. The Apollo chariot, painted bright gold that seemed to glow in the morning sunlight, had tipped. Another noise followed it, of the Hermes cabin smashing into the wreckage. Apollo's horses dragged their chariot sideways across the track.

Annabeth knew she was in the lead. She was already going around the first post. Malcolm waved the the chariots behind them and yelled, "HAHA! SO LONG, SLOWPOKES!"

The Hephaestus, Ares, and Posideon chariots were having some sort of fight that involved Greek Fire and a bunch of chains. Hephaestus tipped. Ren put his index finger and his thumb in an L shape on his forehead at them.

Tango waved his fist in the air and yelled something about wardens in Ren's base.

Annabeth figured it had something to do with their world.

Annabeth was going towards the forest now, and she saw that an unusual amount of birds were gathering in the trees. She narrowed her eyes. They looked like something she had seen in a Greek Mythology book, but she had other problems right now.

There were only three chariots left in the race: Ares, Posideon, and of course, Athena. Annabeth knew that she was going to win this. She was still far ahead of the others-

Wait, never mind that. Malcolm readied his javelin, which meant they were at Annabeth's heels.

"I'll give you more sugar cubes!" Percy said to his horses, which seemed to make them go faster.

Clarisse glanced at her horses and looked disappointed. She couldn't bribe her skeleton horses with sugar cubes.

Ren and Tyson had taken out the weapons and were jabbing at each other's wheels. Malcolm joined in on the everybody-against-Posideon party.

The cheering in the crowd suddenly turned to screaming. Annabeth happened to glance up and saw a cloud of the birds she had saw earlier, swarming at the stands.

Percy was off of his chariot and running toward Annabeth, sword out. He was slashing at birds, but there were thousands more to take the place of every one he killed.

Annabeth took out her knife. It was times like this when she wished she had a sword.

But the knife was important to her. It was going to stay, no matter how much Annabeth wanted a sword.

She had never trained with swords anyway.

Annabeth and Percy stood next to each other, their fight forgotten. They slashed and stabbed at the birds until Annabeth's subconscious finally figured out what they were.

"Stymphalian Birds!" Annabeth yelled over the squawking. "Hercules fought them."

"Everything was fought by Hercules!" Percy moaned. "Do you realize how little that narrows it down?"

The Ares chariot stopped taking advantage of the chaos to pull ahead. Clarisse and Ren got out and joined the fight. Percy, Tyson, Annabeth, Malcolm, Clarisse, and Ren got into a protective group as if they hadn't been trying to kill each other moments before.

"He drove them off with loud noises!" Annabeth said.

She and Percy's eyes met as they both had the same idea at the same time.

"Chiron's collection," they said in unison.

They ran for the Big House.

"Why are you running?" Clarisse called after them angrily. "The fight is this way, cowards!" Then she ran screaming into the fray as Tyson and Malcolm shot her strange glances.

They finally got to the Big House and Annabeth grabbed Chiron's boom box. Percy took the first disk he could find. Luckily, Chiron had left them behind.

They ran back to the stadium, where Annabeth set down the boom box. Percy slid the disk in.

The air was filled with the wretched sound of the Fields of Punishment- no, it was violins and a bunch of guys moaning in Italian.

The Stymphalian Birds were quick to leave.

"Archers!" Annabeth yelled.

Now that their targets weren't in their faces, the Apollo cabin had flawless aim. The birds were all reduced to feathers and dust within seconds.

Annabeth stopped the boom box before anyone died from Chiron's horrific taste in music.

"We have our winners!" Tantalus cheered.

Annabeth and Percy whirled at the finish line to see Clarisse and Ren just pulling across.

The two overwhelmed children of Ares were given the golden laurels, and then Tantalus turned toward Annabeth, Percy, and Tyson.

"Now," he said, and laughed. "Now, to punish the troublemakers who disrupted this event."

~~~

The chariot race was really fun to write about

-Indigo