ARCHER - PJO / HOO / TOA

CHAPTER FOUR

OVER TIME, I helped Percy adjust to camp life. I helped him with Ancient Greek, archery (which he sadly was not really good at), and led him through everything. Soon enough, I considered him a friend.

And then we had to play capture the flag.

That was when everything went wrong.

I was on the blue team, as I was a daughter of Apollo. I was grinning, watching as Luke explained the rules to Percy.

"Heroes!" Chiron called, hammering his hoof on a marble table. "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, by 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 filled with our weapons. I didn't grab any, just armed my bow. It was the only thing I trusted myself with.

"Blue team, forward!" Annabeth called.

We cheered, and marched off to the forest.

I knew what I was supposed to do--- I was one of the two guards for the flag. I positioned myself in one of the trees, my bow armed.

They weren't the arrows I usually had. They were armed with some of my light magic, so I shot them at the feet of the opponents. They temporarily blinded them, leaving the other guard to take them as prisoner.

I sat on the branched, perched against it. I took a deep breath, feeling the leaves around my face. I held tightly onto my bow, my arrow between my fingers. The moon shined through the tree, leaving a white glow against my surroundings.

I had always loved nature, really. It was my home. 

I finally opened my eyes, adjusting ever so slightly on the branch.

It went on like this for awhile, as I either just sat there or warded off anyone. Until I glanced up, and noticed that a spider had landed on my shoulder.

I wasn't afraid of spiders. In fact, I loved them. But I was just surprised.

And I lost my balance.

The other guard had left for a quick moment. And I immediately wished that I had asked him to stay.

I threw my bow to the side, twisting onto my back. I hit the ground, and I let out a groan of pain as I felt the crack of my ribs.

My eyes watered, as I stared up at the ceiling. It hurt to breathe, and I almost felt like I would black out.

But then I saw them running. Everyone. We had won. I couldn't help but smile.

Then, a few minutes later, I felt that pain in my temple.

Despite everything, I staggered to my feet. Everything hurt. But I kept going. And going. When the pain grew, I tried to go quicker.

I didn't get there in time. Really, I only got there in time to see a dead hellhound (questions were later asked), and the most shocking thing I had ever seen.

Percy stood in the water, and my eyes laid upon the green hologram of a trident. The symbol of Poseidon.

Maybe it was from the shock, or the fact that the pain was beginning to make me want to die, but I fell to the ground, and my gaze turned black.