The Child of the Dead Sea (a Percy Jackson fanfic)

4. Capture The Dreams

PERCY

Yes! Capture the Flag! With Annabeth!

Frank and Hazel sat out this game since neither felt like joining Clarisse's team, which she made clear that that would be the only option for them. I was with the Athena cabin, as always, the Hephaestus cabin, as well as Apollo, and Hermes. We would have had Nico on our side too, but no one has seen him or Will since just after the meeting. I had made a guess to Annabeth that they were sparing in the arena, but she just laughed and have me one of her famous, you're clueless looks.

Annabeth and her siblings sent the other three cabins in positions on the border. Then she turned to me and Kate. "I want you two to go after the flag together. I'm assuming that you have some unexpected abilities?" She asked Kate, to which she nodded. "Good, now is the time to use them. Watch your back while you're there, Clarisse will most likely be seeking you out since you showed her up at the meeting. Percy, you help her. You probably know better than most on what Clarisse will do out there." She dismissed us and we headed to the border.

"What kind of abilities can i expect?" I asked Kate.

She gave me a side glance and smiled. "You'll see." I didn't get time to ask again because the horn sounded signaling the start of the game.

One of Kate's bracelets shimmered and turned into a silver bow. Another shimmered and wrapped around her waist to form a quiver filled with arrows. She drew one and held it ready to shoot.

We heard fighting to the left of us as we crossed the border. I had a good idea where the flag was and we were headed there.

When we got there i was surprised to see no one guarding the flag. Kate glanced around and started towards the flag in the middle of the small clearing. Before she could come into five feet of it, an arrow knocked her bow out of her hand causing it and the quiver to return as bracelets on her wrist.

I looked to where the arrow had come from and Clarisse stepped out along with three other Ares campers. One had a bow drawn and aimed at Kate.

"Annabeth is getting predictable. I knew she would send you two." Clarisse sneered. "There is no way you are getting this flag." She said, brandishing her spear. "Not if Maimer has anything to say about it."

"Yeah?" Kate responded. "Well you can take your spear and shove it up your-" she was cut off by Clarisse throwing her spear at Kate's head.

Kate dropped to the ground and snarled at Clarisse. I couldn't believe what i was seeing because Kate didn't get up, instead, her body morphed until she was a leopard with green eyes. She jumped towards Clarisse and three of the other Ares campers.

I was so distracted by my sister's sudden change that i didn't notice the last Ares camper with a sword until he was right behind me.

I swung Riptide and we fought. He was easy to beat and i knocked him out for good measure. I looked over at Kate the leopard to see if she needed help. But she had chased off the other three Ares kids and she had Clarisse pinned on the ground. Impressive. "Get the flag!" She snarled at me.

I reached up and snatched the flag from where it hung and turned around to see Chiron and a crowd of campers flooding the clearing. He blew the horn and announced the blue team as the winners. We cheered and Kate released Clarisse and turned back to human.

"Go luck next time Clarisse." She sneered.

"Go to Hades, Sea scum!" Clarisse shouted back.

"That was pretty fun." Kate commented walking up to me and Annabeth.

"You can shape shift?" I asked.

"Yep." She smiled and walked off back to the direction of the cabins.

~~~~~~~

ANNABETH

I woke up to screams. They were faint so no one else in my cabin heard them, but i did. From my time in Tartarus, i woke up at the faintest sound. This happened when Percy screamed from a nightmare. He would do the same. But these screams weren't from Percy. They came from his cabin, but they weren't Percy.

I got out of bed and left quietly. As soon as i was out of the cabin i sprinted to cabin 3.

This time i didn't bother to knock. Opening the door i saw a scared Percy trying to console a still sleeping Kate who had stopped screaming. At first i didn't know what had shaken up Percy so bad as Kate was the one who was screaming, but then i saw them. Kate had long deep cuts covering her arms. As i watched another cut made its way down her arm, made by an unseen force. But then all of them disappeared when she woke up. Like they were never there.

"What the Hades." Percy said staring at her arms.

"I-it's the dreams. I can't control them." Kate choked.

"It's ok. Just go back to sleep." Percy said sounding tired. She nodded and layed back down but i could tell she wasn't asleep.

I pulled Percy over and started to whisper to him. "What the Hades was that?"

"I don't know. She just sat up in bed screaming in her sleep and the scratches just started appearing on her arms."

"Was she doing it?"

"No, she couldn't have. Those were definitely made by a monster. Only a claw can tear flesh like that, i've seen it before, and so have you."

I nodded. Those marks were made by a hellhound. But how.

"You should go back to your cabin." Percy whispered.

I nodded and left. Once i was back in my bunk i fell asleep.

KATE

I waited till i hear Percy snoring. Once he was i leaned over the side of my bed and under it, finding a black sketchbook and pencil. I didn't want to open it. To reveal the horrors inside. It's the only way. I reminded myself.

I opened it, skipping to the first blank page and began to draw.

When it was satisfied i closed the book, slid it back under the bed and fell back asleep, now calm.

~~~~~~

Chapter 4. And its still Friday! My first update on a scheduled time! Sorry it was a little short and moved fast but in my defense i was rushing to get to the main events. Which will come up soon.

I already have the next few chapters written but i wont publish them until Friday. But i can give you a hint: there is a visit from a certain character that sends everything down hill. Can you guess who?

Until next Friday my you have an endless supply of blue food!