Camp Hermit-Blood - The Sea of Monsters

Bdubs

Here's my little Christmas present to you wonderful people: the last few chapters of Camp Hermit-Blood: Sea of Monsters published all together. Enjoy <3

~~~

Chiron announced that the chariot races would go on as planned. And Bdubs was excited.

But first, back up a bit to when they arrived.

Clarisse got a lot of attention for it. Nobody gave the Hermits, Percy, Annabeth, Grover, or Tyson a second glance. Instead, Clarisse and Ren the Rodent got to wear laurels. Clarisse pulled a singular leaf off of her crown and put it on Ren's head. The Golden Fleece was placed in the pine tree at the top of Half-Blood Hill, and immediately, the grass turned greener. A few campers stayed behind to guard it until they could find a dragon or something.

Bdubs, meanwhile, crossed his arms and glared at everything.

Until Zedaph reminded him that it was a good thing. If anyone admitted that they had stowed away or snuck out of camp to hitch a ride on a monster cruise ship, they would have to be expelled.

WELL ANYWAY, BACK TO THE CHARIOT RACES!

Grian acted like he had never been left at all. Annabeth and Percy apologized a lot, but Grian waved it off. "It's fine," he said. "I'm fine. It was an opportunity to cause chaos."

However, despite all that, he still wanted to cause chaos at the races. He had convinced Connor and Travis to let him be the weapon guy in the back of the chariot. But now they needed a driver.

Bdubs volunteered.

Hey, it was horses. How bad could it be?

They spent hours fixing up the chariot. The other children of Hermes helped with that, since Tango and Zedaph both became competitive gremlins whenever Grian told them to come over to the Hermes cabin and be smart.

Bdubs didn't care, though! He was perfect at redstone. He could do this.

Wait, no, Connor and Travis insisted on putting explosives on it.

Grian's eyes flashed evilly when he saw them.

And that was only one of the tricks they had planned. They spent several days before the race training and practicing on the track, as well as spying on the other teams to see what they had in store.

The day of the race came around. Bdubs considered himself ready. It was just another horse course, he told himself.

Grian, however, panicked.

Bdubs had to drag him into the chariot. "Come on, idiot," he yelled. "We're goin' horshe racing! And you have TNT!"

Grian submitted and readied his javelin.

Bdubs fed the horses a few sugar cubes each. "Go fast," he told them, and got on the chariot.

Chiron clopped in front of the six chariots who had decided to join: Athena/Posideon (they had teamed up), Apollo, Ares, Hephaestus, Demeter for some reason, and of course, Hermes. "All rules from the previous race apply," he said. "Meaning, there are no rules."

The campers broke into cheering.

"Hopefully there won't be any killer birds this time," Grian muttered. Bdubs snickered, but the trees appeared to be clear.

An Apollo kid fired an arrow into the air. The arrow exploded into a firework, and at the sound, the chariots pulled forward.

The Athena and Posideon chariot was already in first place. Demeter broke down almost immediately. Apollo seemed to have remodeled their chariot, so it wasn't as weak, but it still flashed gold into Bdubs' eyes. Maybe that was the point.

The Hephaestus chariot decided they needed to be taken down and snagged a chain in Apollo's wheels. Unfortunately, that held Hephaestus back, and the blacksmith god's chariot crashed into the first pole. Bdubs stuck his tongue out at Tango as they rounded the first hairpin turn.

Tango yelled something rude at Bdubs and shot a chain out of his broken chariot, a last attempt to stop them. Grian swatted the chain away with his javelin.

"Come on, faster!" Bdubs yelled at the horses. "Come on Lu-!" he didn't finish.

Grian caught the slip up and glanced at Bdubs, but didn't say anything.

Instead, he took out the Ares chariot with a spectacular explosion as they took the second bend. The Hermes campers cheered. Clarisse swore at them. Grian laughed at her.

That left Athena/Posideon.

The second lap started, and it was a lot more peaceful than the first two. The chariot, driven by Percy and Annabeth, was far ahead of them.

Bdubs flicked the reigns again. "Come on," he muttered.

Annabeth glanced back at them and readied a javelin.

Bdubs smiled. "Grian, take the reigns," he said. Grian grinned at him and took them.

Bdubs ducked into the chariot and took a stolen paintball gun out of its straps.

"We're missing a few spokes on the wheel," Grian said. "Just so you know."

Bdubs nodded and aimed his paintball gun.

"HOW DID HE GET THAT?" Percy yelled, glancing back. The horses on the Posideon and Athena chariot swerved around the broken Ares chariot. Clarisse and her driver were still there, glaring at both chariots. They didn't know who to root for. It was hilarious.

Percy and Annabeth were almost to the end.

Bdubs finished taking aim and pulled the trigger.

Percy put a hand to the back of his head and it came away with bright yellow paint. And in the moment of distraction, Grian threw his javelin.

It somehow landed in their wheels. Annabeth and Percy spun off the track just shy of the line.

The cheering in the stands turned to a roar as Bdubs and Grian crossed the finish line.

Demigods, dryads, satyrs, and Cyclops flooded out of the stands. Someone gave Bdubs a golden laurel wreath. Bdubs immediately put it on. It slipped to the side - it was too big for him.

"I was so close!" Percy mourned.

Annabeth smacked him. "You let a paintball distract you!"

"That was pretty hilarious," Zedaph said, going up behind them.

Grian, Connor, and Travis were in a circle, jumping and screaming. Bdubs didn't understand it. But he wanted in. He joined them.

Chiron pushed through the crowd. "Congratulations to our winners," he said. "No chores for a week for the Hermes cabin!"

The largest cabin among them erupted into even louder cheering. Bdubs hadn't known that was possible.

The campers disbanded and went to dinner. Bdubs was kind of disappointed that he didn't get to use his powers in any way, but they had still won. That was what mattered.

After marshmallows and a ghost story from Travis and Connor about an evil king who got eaten by demonic breakfast pastries, everyone went to bed. Bdubs set the laurels in his shulker box of items and clothes. He would have to give them away at the next race... unless they won again. Bdubs smirked at the thought and crawled into his sleeping bag.

The thought crossed his mind that he needed to threaten one of the campers who had been there before him into giving him a bed.

He was just drifting off when a call rang through the camp.

"Somebody come quick! It's Annabeth!"