Sunburn- phoebus apollo

- viii. capture the flag doesn't go as planned

THE NIGHT AFTER DINNER had a lot more excitement than usual.

At last, it was time for capture the flag.

When the plates were cleared away, the conch horn sounded and everyone stood at their tables.

Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was about three meters long, glistening gray, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree. From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her buddies ran with another banner, of identical size, but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head.

Percy turned to Luke and yelled over the noise. "Those are the flags?"

"Yeah."

"Ares and Athena always lead the teams?"

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

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

Luke grinned. "You'll see. First we have to get one."

"Whose side are we on?" Rhea asked.

Luke gave her a sly look, as if he knew something she didn't. The scar on his face made him look almost 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."

The teams were announced. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins. Apparently, privileges had been traded - shower times, chore schedules, the best slots for activities - in order to win support.

Ares had allied themselves with everybody else: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus. From what Rhea had seen, Dionysus's kids were good athletes, but there were only two of them. Demeter's kids had their plant magic and were good with nature, but they didn't seem very aggressive. There were only four Hephaestus kids, but they were all pretty muscular from working in the metal shop all day. Aphrodite's kids seemed less interested in the game and more interested in talking.

Then, of course, there was the Ares cabin: a dozen of the biggest, meanest kids on Long Island, or anywhere else on the planet.

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: bronze swords, spears, ox-hide shields coated in metal.

"Woah," Percy said. "We're really supposed to use these?"

Luke looked at him like he was crazy. "Unless you want to get skewered by your friends in Cabin Five. Here - Chiron thought thee would fit. You and Rhea'll be on border patrol."

Luke handed Percy a shield with a caduceus in the middle, which he struggled to carry. Luke went easy on Rhea, knowing that she had her bow and arrows.

Annabeth yelled, "Blue team, forward!"

Everyone cheered and shook their weapons and followed her down the path to the south woods. The red team yelled taunts at them as they headed off toward the northern side of the forest.

They managed to catch up with Annabeth without tripping over the heavy equipment. "Hey," Rhea said. She kept marching.

"So what's the plan?" Percy asked. "Got any magic items you can loan me?"