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That night after dinner, there was a lot more excitement than usual. Bronte sat by herself at the Zeus table, her head down and her plate full. She wasn't very hungry and with eyes constantly on her, she was starting to get annoyed.
At last, it was time for capture the flag.
When the plates were cleared away, the conch horn sounded and they all 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 ten feet long, glistening grey, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree. From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her buddies ran in 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?"
He gave them a sly look, which Percy didn't like, as if he knew something they 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 are going to help."
The teams were announced. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes and since Annabeth felt bad, she teamed up with Zeus as well. Bronte didn't know how to feel about being on the same team as her brother. She hadn't spoken to him since that night, let alone look in his direction. Not that she wanted to anyways.
Ares had allied themselves with everybody else: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus. 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: helmets, bronze swords, spears, oxhide shields coated in metal.
"Whoa," Percy said. "We're really supposed to use these?"
Luke looked at him as if he was crazy. "Unless you want to get skewered by your friends in cabin five. Here–Chiron thought these would fit. You two will be on border patrol."
The shields were huge–the size of NBA backboards, with a big caduceus in the middle. It weighed about a million pounds. All of Athena's side wore blue feathered helmets, while Ares and their allies wore red.
