Camp Demi-God (Percy Jackson fanfic)

The Game #part 1

AN: REALLY REALLY sorry guys! I haven't published in ages, I am a very busy person and haven't had the chance to write very often. -plez don't hate, just enjoy what I have managed to write.

~Starlark🌠

Chapter 5: The Game #part 1

When we reach the Hall, most campers are already seated and eating, while Hestia sits patiently at the front of the hall, waiting for something or someone. She smiles as we enter. We go and sit around an empty table near the front, dumping our wet towels and togs on the ground.
Hestia clears her throat then begins.
"Now I'm sure you all remember that tonight we will be having a game of capture the flag. So after your last activity you will have ten minutes to get ready, then we will meet outside the armoury. See you there" and with that she walks off and sits at a table with some of the campers and everyone resumes talking.
Rose starts spitting out words like a machine gun.
"Hey, um..." I interrupt "what is this capture the flag game?" After I ask this they all stare at me like I have never had chocolate!
One of the girls that went jumping with me started
"It's only the best-" The girl I saved cuts her off, grinning
"-game ever!-"
"You have two teams, each has a flag. They have to protect their own flag while trying to get the opposing teams flag" Seems easy enough.
"Hey, this sounds like what me, my sister and our friends used to play around home. We would each choose a base and hide our flag there, then we would leave one person guarding the base while the other went looking for the other team's flag. We would have calls too, code words that meant either 'help' or 'I have been shot!' " I say, smiling to myself at the happy memory.
"But I bet you didn't play with weapons" Rose says seriously, and the other girls nod in agreement.
"No, we used water guns" I reply. We all laugh at how stupid that sounds.
Once we finish eating our toasted sandwiches (with extra cheese) Rose explains to me where we are going next.
"Okay, so our last two classes before the game are Hippocampi handling and the obstacle course"
I process that, wait but Hippocampi are like those beautiful creatures I rode over to the island on.

"So we need to put our togs back on then, right?" I ask slowly. She Rose nods her head in response

After we finish eating (and talking) we get changed back again and head down to the rocks, which are slightly to the left of the entrance to camp. We walk down the gravel path to the water, and spot six others already waiting. A young girl stands on a rock about one metre away from where we are gathered, she must be the instructor. Silky, rich, dark brown hair blows off her face, except unlike the movies, her face was getting blasted by the wind rather than a gentle zephyr. Her jade eyes glowing brightly, matching her warm welcoming smile.

"Good afternoon class, my name is Celestina - but you can call me Tina - and I will be teaching you to care for our wonderful hippocampi" She tell us beaming. "Let’s get started shall we?" She asks rhetorically, before jumping down to the rocks we are standing on. Celestina pulls out a cord from around her neck, a pretty, dark sugilite gem that had been carved into a whistle. She places the whistle to her rosy lips and blows, a sweet melodic sound sweeps through the atmosphere. An orchestra of small euphonics; chiming, tinkling, plinking. The dark waves surge up and crash back down in the gap, as two magnificent hippocampi are summoned. Hearing a high pitched whistle causes everyone (including the hippocampi) to snap our heads towards Celestina.

"So we will split into two groups and each group will look after one hippocampus each. Both groups can start with washing, then polishing the delicate smooth scales" Tina instructs us while splitting us into two groups of eight. Rose and I follow the others from our group, each grabbing a bucket and dipping it in the sea. Two boys in our group jump up on top of the hippocampus and starts spilling bottles of purple washing liquid (which we are told is eco-friendly) over her, covering her malachite scales completely (which is unusual, as all other hipocampi have multicoloured scales). Celestina tells us that our hippocampus' name is Áschimos, or Ash for short. The other (the rainbow one) is called Ómorfos.