BY fates design

Canadians

The visitors were cracking their knuckles, eyeing them up and down like it was slaughter time. Sloan blew the coaches whistle and carnage ensued. His entire team ran for the centre line.

On Percy's side, Raj yelled something in Urdu before making a run for the exit. Corey Bailer tried to crawl behind the wall mat and hide. The rest of the team doing their best to cower in fear and not look like good targets.

"Great teammates." Sirius remarked sarcastically as he watched the awkward children hide away from their opponents.

"They just didn't want to be hurt." Percy shrugged, he couldn't blame them really, that whole game did go up in flames.

"Tyson," Percy said, "let's g-" before he could finish a ball slammed into his gut. He fell hard to the middle of the gym floor, all the air pushed from his lungs. The other team exploded into laughter.

His eyesight was fuzzy and a ringing seemed to buzz in his ears. "Percy duck!" Tyson yelled. Percy rolled just as another dodgeball whistled past his ear crashing into the wall mat with a thud. He was vaguely aware of Corey Bailer yelping at the impact.

"This looks like a very... fun, game. What is it?" James asked uncertainty as he watched the children pelt rubber balls at each other. Before discovering his daughter he would have jumped at the chance to participate in the game on screen, but it seemed the parenthood dulled his eager enthusiasm for dangerous games.

"It's called dodgeball. Not exactly my idea of fun." Percy shuddered.

"Hey!" He yelled at Sloan's team. "You could kill somebody!" The visitor named Joe Bob grinned at him evilly. Somehow he looked bigger now, his biceps bulging under his shirt.

"I hope so Perseus Jackson! I hope so!" The way he said his name sent a chill down no his spine. Nobody called him Perseus except those who knew his true identity. Friends....and enemies.

Percy racked his brain. 'What was it Tyson had said? They smell funny.'

Monsters.

All around Matt Sloan the visitors were growing in size. They were two and a half meter tall giants with wild eyes, pointy teeth and arms tattooed with cheep drawings. Sloan dropped his ball, staggering away from them while muttering to himself.

Many in the hall shrieked at the horrid sight of the monsters. "Those are not children!" Barty exclaimed with an indignant scream, one leg curled up to his chest as he jumped in surprise.

The other kids started to scream and beeline for the exit but the giant, Marrow Sucker, threw a ball with deadly accuracy that slammed the door shut. Raj and some others banged on the door helplessly, but it wouldn't budge at all.

Percy yelled at the giants, demanding that they allowed the others to leave. "And lose our tasty morsels? No, son of the sea God. We Laistrygonians aren't just playing for your death. We want lunch!" He waved his hand and a new batch of dodgeballs appeared on the centre line. They were bronze, the size of cannon balls, perforated with fire bubbling out the holes.

Desperately, Percy tried to get the coaches attention but it was in vain. Nunley hardly looked up from his magazine. Like all mortals his eyes would be clouded by the mist, whatever he saw was not a cause of concern for him. With a half hearted "play nice" he went back to his magazine.

"He's about as useful as Dumbles." Blaise scoffed sending a heated glare to the headteacher who sat confined at the head table.

The giant, Skull Eater, threw his ball. Percy dived, the fiery bronze comet sailing past his shoulder with a sickening sizzle. "Corey!" He scream. Tyson pulled him out of the exercise mat just as the ball exploded against it, blasting the mat into smocking shreds.