daylight - percy jackson¹

002

As the campers surged forward: I counted the numbers. Campers against Hunters. It was going to be a small game: only thirteen Hunters, and about the same number of campers.

The Hunters didn't look too happy. Unlike last night at dinner, they weren't laughing, glaring at the Aphrodite cabin, or joking around. They just huddled together in the pavilion, whispering nervously to each other as they strapped on their armor. Some of them even looked like they'd been crying. I wasn't sure what was going on, but I could sense devastation amongst them, and it was certainly reflecting in their faces.

On our team, we had this big burly guy called Beckendorf and two other Hephaestus guys, a few from the Ares cabin, three guys from the Hermes cabin, and a few of us Aphrodite kids: Silena, Mitchell, and I.

"I'll show them 'love is worthless,'" Silena grumbled from next to me as she strapped on her armor. "I'll pulverize them!"

Mitchell helped me get armor on,  finding me a suitable dagger to use, as I had been training with them the entirety of my camp life.

Abruptly, Chiron's hoof thundered on the pavilion floor.

"Heroes!" he called. "You know the rules! The creek is the boundary line. Blue team— Camp Half-Blood—shall take the west woods. Hunters of Artemis—red team—shall take the east woods. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. No intentional maiming, please! All magic items are allowed. To your positions!"

"Blue team! Follow me!" A voice rang out. I looked over to see who it was- lo and behold, it was Thalia, the edgy daughter of Zeus.

Our team cheered and followed. I ran with them, dagger in hand and armor on tight, though neither Silena or I approved of the bulky, rusted design.

Our team set our flag at the top of "Zeus's Fist". Apparently it's this cluster of boulders in the middle of the woods that, if you look at it just the right way, looks like a huge fist sticking out of the ground. If you look at it from any other side, it doesn't make sense, but I haven't heard anybody bring that up yet.

Anyway, it was, in my humble opinion, a good place to set the flag. The top boulder was, like, twenty feet tall and really hard to climb, so the flag was clearly visible, like the rules said it had to be.

"We'll send out a decoy to the left," Thalia told the team. "Silena, you lead that."

I could only pray I was with her.

"Got it!"

"Take Mitchell and Isabella. They're good runners. Make a wide arc around the Hunters, attract as many as you can. I'll take the main raiding party around to the right and catch them by surprise."

Everybody nodded. It sounded good, and Thalia said it with such confidence you couldn't help but believe it would work.

Thalia looked at Percy. 

"Anything to add, Percy?"

"Um, yeah. Keep sharp on defense. We've got four guards, two scouts. That's not much for a big forest. I'll be roving. Yell if you need help."

"And don't leave your post!" Thalia said. 

"Unless you see a golden opportunity," Percy added. 

Thalia scowled. "Just don't leave your post." 

"Right, unless—"

"Percy!" She touched his arm, seemingly shocking him.

"Sorry," Thalia said, though she didn't sound particularly sorry. "Now, is everybody clear?" She asked, looking at everybody and making sure she had their approval.