A Call For Heroes (Pjo x Hunger Games

11

Enjoy!

Percy

Katniss didn't agree to his idea of going to the lake. Well, he couldn't blame her for that. She didn't know he was the son of Poseidon, and there was certainly no way he can explain it all to her. For all he knew, she might break the alliance after he told her he was a demigod. That would make things a lot harder as he could not protect her. So he had no choice but to follow her into the woods, down the slope.

Percy had nearly given himself away when he nearly blurted out about Thalia being a hunter of Artemis. That would have aroused numerous questions, and would ruin the whole quest. Luckily he had stopped himself in time.

Another thing worrying him about walking deep into the woods were meeting Thalia and Nico. Nico had warned him through an Iris Message that if they were to meet anywhere in the arena, they would have to act like any other tribute, so that Katniss would not get suspicious of Percy. That, put simply, meant that they would have to fight each other, or at least put up a convincing show for Katniss. Percy expected Thalia and Nico to be together, somewhere in the woods, because Thalia was a Hunter, and she would be in the comfort of the forest. This meant that as long as Katniss was in the woods too, there was quite a high chance of Thalia spotting them. Percy knew Thalia would not attack unless Katniss spotted them first. They would try to pretend that they didn't see Katniss. Although Percy knew Thalia would not attack him when he was on unawares, he was hoping they wouldn't even have to come to the point of seeing each other. As long as Katniss didn't spot them first, they were safe. But now Percy knew that Katniss too, was good at hunting. Things were going to get hard.

Percy had no idea how long they had been walking. The sky was already getting dark, and there was still no sign of water. It looks like they were going to have to spend the night thirsty. The trees in this part of the forest were dark, tall, and more spread out so they could see the sky from here.

"I think we should camp here for the night. What do you all think?" Katniss asked.

"Sure." Peeta agreed.

"Okay." Percy said.

"So we only have one sleeping bag, and a blanket." Katniss said, pointing out the obvious.

"No problem," Percy said. "You guys go ahead and sleep, while I take first watch."

"That's not fair. I'll watch first. You two go and have some rest." Katniss interrupted.

"No. You are not part of this argument. Go and sleep." Peeta argued.

"Yeah. I'll watch first, then Peeta and I can switch turns after two hours." Percy said.

"Yeah. Great Idea." Peeta agreed. "Let's get some sleep Katniss."

Finally, Katniss relented.

"I'm going to climb up the tree to sleep. It's safer there. You coming?" Katniss asked.

"Nope. I'll just fall down in the middle of my sleep. You go ahead. Besides, Percy will be looking out if anything happens." Peeta said.

"Fine. Goodnight." Katniss said, and she grabbed a sleeping bag and started climbing the tree.

Percy watched her quickly scaling the tree. It reminded him of the lava wall back at Camp Half-Blood. Katniss was nimble, and she was able to pull herself up onto the lowest branch. She unrolled her sleeping bag and slipped herself in.

Peeta, meanwhile, took the blanket and lay beside the tree. Percy went over and sat beside him. His sword in pen form in his pocket.

"How would you feel if the girl you loved was in the Hunger Games with you?" Peeta muttered.

Percy was silent for a while. He wasn't a son of Aphrodite. Piper was. He wasn't good at counselling other people's love problems. But Peeta looked like someone trustworthy, someone whom you could share your secrets with. Maybe it won't harm to tell him a bit more.

"Peeta, can you keep a secret?" Percy asked slowly.

"Of course. But how would that help me?" Peeta asked, slightly surprised.

"I'll explain. But let me start from the beginning okay?" Percy said.

"Sure" Peeta said. He propped his head on the tree trunk, listening attentively.

"Okay. I'm trusting you not to tell Katniss about what I am going to say."

"I cross my heart."

"Well, you see, I don't even belong to district seven." Percy started. "The only reason why I'm here, is because I was given a job to protect Katniss and you."

"What do you mean?" Peeta asked, confused. "Then where did you come from?"

"Someone gave me a task saying that you and Katniss must get out of this games alive, because you two are essential in a rebellion. So I volunteered and got myself in, and made an alliance with you two." Percy explained. He tried to ignore the second question.

"What rebellion? Who said all this?" Peeta asked.

"I'm not supposed to tell you this. Let's just say it's someone really powerful up there who gave me this job." Percy replied.

"Ohh-kaaay." Peeta said slowly. "But you do know that only one person can win these games, right? So how do you plan to get us all out alive?"

"Honestly, I have no idea how to do that. But when the time comes, I'm sure we can figure that out. But right now, I have to keep you two alive till the end of the games." Percy said.

"Right. So we wait for you to think of a way to get us out?" Peeta asked.

"Yep. Now go and have some sleep. I'll keep watch." Percy said.

Peeta closed his eyes and lay on a pile of leaves as a cushion. His breathing became slower, and more peaceful. Percy leant back against the tree, and stared at the surroundings.

Then, the sky lit up. And he saw a face of a District three boy in the sky. Immediately, he recalled his mentor telling him that a cannon blast would signify the death of a tribute, and the faces of the dead tribute would be showed at night. This must be it. He hadn't heard any cannon earlier that day. Maybe he wasn't looking out for it.

He counted the number of dead tributes. There were a total of nine people who had gone down within the first day. All the careers made it out on the first day, including Percy's district partner Emily. Thalia and Nico were still alive, no surprises there as they were demigods.

He tried to think about how to get out of the arena, but his brain was sluggish. Where was Annabeth when he needed her?

Percy felt like he had been sitting there for hours. Katniss was still perched on the tree resting, while Peeta was snoring a little. He didn't have the heart to wake Peeta up. Percy was a demigod after all, he was the one who was supposed to look out for them. So he let Peeta continue sleeping, while he stood up and paced around. And that was when he spotted Thalia and Nico.

If Percy hadn't been looking closely, he would have missed them. They were up on the lowest branch of and oak tree ten meters away. The foliage was thick, and the shadows hid them from view. He supposed that was Nico's doing, pulling in the shadows to blend them in. Thalia had her silver bow in hand and her eyes where scanning the surrounding. Then, their eyes met. Her eyes widened visibly, and she looked at the tree Katniss was sleeping in. Her eyes passed over Peeta who was slumped on the floor sleeping, and Katniss who was also snoozing in the tree. She made some hand signals at Percy, and he realised she was asking if they were asleep. Percy made a thumb up with his hand. Thalia nodded and relaxed, then she settled back into her trees. The shadows covered them completely.

Oooh! Close shave, wasnt it? Phew, lucky nothing bad happened. Thanks for reading, guys. Please leave a review!