Signs of a Storm

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter 32: Stupid Immortals And Their Stupid Immortality

"Does everyone understand?" Percy was trying to work with Jason. Bet you can guess how well that went. Most of it they spent arguing.

"Ladies! Ladies! You're both pretty, now, what's the real plan?" Clarisse interrupted. For once I agreed with her.

"Well, I guess I'll take the defense team and Tara to defend." Jason said. For some reason I was appointed second-in-charge by him.

"No way, she's coming with me to get the flag." Percy shouted back. They really needed to take chill pills. Both of them.

They argued for a few more seconds about where I was supposed to go, until I stepped up and separated them.

"Percy, Jason, It's swap time. They know you're going for the flag, and Jason, trust me, they know for sure that you're defending. So, you swap. Jason takes offense, Percy takes defense. And if either of you refuse..." I stared Percy dead in the eye, "then you'll have to come complain to me about it. And I will slap sense into you, if need be."

They gave each other death glares, but I stared them both down even worse. The mega-triple-death-sentencing-glare. Deadly. I got them both to shake hands on the agreement, and smiled. We would actually stand a chance of winning.

I told everyone their positions, and swapped most of them around. Clarisse, for instance, would play defense, which was unlike her. She griped, but with the help of Frank, (who kinda intimidated everyone) she obeyed.

Piper was coming with me as my backup later in the game when I decided to go after the flag. Hazel had said she was really good at sneaking around, and being a child of Pluto/Hades, I didn't doubt it. She was paired with Nico.

They would be the first to go after the flag. I would stay behind with Percy and Frank.

"Ok, we can win this. I know that those guys, or rather, girls, are not going to expect this." I said as the horn started, and the game begun.

I was parked in the treetops. The other campers had said that the Hunters liked to stick to the trees. And as we usually stuck to the ground, that was swapped as well. Everyone was all mismatched, and it was a great plan, until Thalia came along.

Percy had the ground covered, along with Frank. The rest of us had every single tree inhabited. There was rustling to my right, so I turned around quietly. In the small moonlight, I saw a flash of black hair against the night sky. She was steady and soft, but it only takes one to notice her. I only had my dagger, and unlike her bow and arrow, my weapon couldn't go very far. Plus it didn't help that I sucked at throwing knives. I mean really, I was better at Arts & Crafts. As she notched an arrow, I was afraid she'd hit one of the boys.

Instead, Thalia aimed and shot one at the opposite tree. Frank glanced quickly in that direction, but Percy didn't flinch. I was terrified that he might fall for the trick, but he made eye contact with me, and I shook my head. No.

He slightly nodded, and looked right up at the tree she was positioned in. But when I glanced over, Thalia was gone.

There was a tiny snip of a twig behind me. I turned just in time for a pointy, sharp arrow to be pressed to my throat. "Clever," Thalia admitted, "but I'm trickier." She whispered. Percy and Frank weren't paying attention to me, so I couldn't do anything. There was a small pinching at my thigh. I remembered my dagger was there.

Of course Thalia would keep me distracted until her friends came after her. But I couldn't let that happen. My hand inched slowly to my left thigh, which was not the one I held the dagger on. She noticed and gripped my left hand. "I would be more suddle next time, if I were you." She mocked me, but I had her tricked.