Owl and Snake (EXTREMELY SLOW UPDATES)

Chapter Four

It's time for Capture the Flag.
It's the first time we've done this since I've been here, and it sounds pretty epic. Also, Percy says, lots of kids get claimed during this. It's like the gods watch it on reality TV. Or, rather, Hephaestus TV. Leo says that he does most of the techno stuff on Mount Olympus.
I've been hanging around with the seven a lot, and they're pretty cool. I'm hoping that the way they attract gods will let my parent see me.
All this trying isn't working.
I'm starting to wonder if I really am a demigod, after all. I do have both parents, and none of the gods seem to have taken a special interest in me. I don't really have any of their special skills.
Am I a legacy? Jason told me about them, from the Roman camp, Camp Jupiter. They're just distant descendants of gods. That would suck.
I would start talking about the weird ancestry stuff that comes with an immortal parent, but I decided a while ago that it isn't worth the trouble to think about.
Back to Capture the Flag.
As I understand it, there's two teams, and the head cabins of each team trade practice times and chores away to gain support. The Hermes cabin is allied with everyone except the cabins for the five from the Argo II. This is going to be an easy win - for the other team. They have gray feathers (since Athena's cabin is the head of their team) and we have black ones (Hades's cabin is the head of our team).
Speaking of the Hades cabin, the only guy in it is Nico do Angelo. I don't know him well (as in I've never met him), but he apparently a) is gay, b) had a crush on Percy, c) is dating Will Solace (head of Apollo) and d) can raise skeletons from the Underworld. I've seen him around, and he seems cool enough. I feel bad that I'm going to let him down so much. He won't like that his old crush beat him, and no one here likes losing. There is no sportsmanship whatsoever. I rather enjoy that I can punch people, and attack them with my sword.
Apparently you can't actually cut people (or else you lose your dessert privileges) but the Ares cabin doesn't like that rule (no surprise there). Also, whoever runs over the line between teams becomes the head of a team next time and wins for their cabin. I'll bet the five will fight at the line for who gets to run the flag over. I'm guessing Percy will win - after all, the border line is the creek. I feel like I know my way around the woods okay, after my stroll with Connor. I should be okay on that front.
I walk over to the armory, where Connor said he'd help me with armor and such.
When I arrive, he's waiting at the door, leaning against the wooden frame, staring into the distance. I walk up and wave my hand in front of his face. He blinks and smiles at me, swinging his arm around my shoulder.
"Hey, Alyssa. Ready for the outfitting?"
"Yup." I leaned into his side, allowing him to tug me into the building. I gasp a little.
There's armor everywhere. It's on the floor, it's on the walls, it's hanging from the rafters. Connor leads me to the back, where girl's armor awaits. It's neater back here, with at least some regard for size and type, but still messier than I think (from Jason's description) the Roman camp is. I love it. I can't stand order.
Connor pulls me over to the smallest suits of armor, and I blush a little. I'm only 5' 3". Connor towers above me at almost six feet, and I feel so short next to him. It'd be weird if he was shorter than me, though. I feel like I'm wasting the only upside of being short - you can date short guys.
I've gotten a whole lot more used to Connor being my boyfriend. At the beginning I was blushing and stumbling and such, but now I'm fine.
I wonder what my parents would think. I know what they would say - 'Alyssa, you're rushing into this! You don't even know him!' - but I don't know what they would really be thinking. Am I rushing?
Connor's hand runs up and down my arm, and I forget what I was thinking.
"Here, try this." He holds up a set of silver armor. It's not pretty exactly, but as Travis says, it's function above fashion out here. I slip on the mail, and it fits like a glove. The leather thingy that goes underneath is perfect, too. The armor itself is a different story.
It seems to think that I should have more, er, curves than I do, and my shoulders are too narrow. Connor laughs at my embarrassed face and turns to pick up another for me to try.
The next one's patterned, and Connor tells me that it was probably armor for dryads at some point. A tree flourishes across the back plate.
This one fits better, but the shoulders are too tight this time, and my arms are too long.
Connor's reaching for another one when I grab his wrist, pointing at a silver set a little ways away. "That one." Connor raises an eyebrow, but walks over and picks it up.
When I put this one on, it's a perfect fit. I can move in all the ways I want to, and my arms can't swing into positions that people might try to twist them into. It's so light.
Connor's eyes widen when he stands up. I'm guessing from his expression that I must look pretty good.
"That one isn't meant for mail." He's still staring. It's fun to be the one receiving stares.
I lift off the armor and the chain shirt, pulling the armor back on. It's even better. I feel like I'm protected from every angle - but somehow still capable of moving in every direction. I grin at Connor. He's staring again.
"Enjoying the view?"
He glances around, just like I did on that rock in the woods. That seems so long ago. "Yes, quite scenic actually," and he links his fingers through mine to lead me to the weapons.
I've already been here, but I don't want to say that. It's nice to hold his hand.
He opens the door with a flourish, rather like Travis did on my first day. I'm starting to see that even though Travis isn't my type, he's not as bad as I originally thought.
I walk in and pick up the bow. It's still sitting here, after these weeks. I'm surprised that no one wants it. It's a beautiful weapon.
Connor nods and pulls down a matching quiver with gold-tipped arrows. I sling it over my shoulder, and I realize that I need a sheath for my sword. It's back at the cabin, but I'm not worried. They won't take my stuff. I proved myself.
I pull a sheath down from next to where my quiver was - it matches. My sword isn't delicate enough for this - but somehow I know that it'll fit.
Connor looks unconvinced when I tell him, but we walk back to the cabin together all the same.
When we arrive back, I pick up my sword and slide it into the sheath. The second it touches, it changes - a better, lighter, prettier blade. It's patterned like my bow.
Everyone's staring at me. It's because I'm wearing my armor.
"Don't judge. I didn't want to carry it." That's not what they wanted to know, and I can tell, but I don't care. I walk out to meet up with the five.
They're waiting for us, and when they see me their jaws hit the floor.
"Alyssa, you look fantastic! Is that the old dryad armor?" It's Percy. If it had been anyone else I might have freaked out a little, but Percy is very secure in his Annabeth relationship. They're inseparable. No, that's not bitterness - I have Connor now.
Piper drops a featherless helmet on my head. "You're supposed to get your feather from Nico." She shoos me away to get ready. Connor grabs my hand as we go.
"I'll bet Nico'll enchant the feathers to summon dead ninjas or something," we hear Leo say just before we're out of earshot. I grin. That'd be cool.
"So," Connor starts, speaking with his typical confidence. "Want to do offense with me? Athena's cabin isn't on our team, so we can just do whatever instead of following plans." He says it so casually, but I blush. I don't think he'll ever fail to make me blush.
I think about it. I'll probably be terrible offense, but if we're going to lose anyway... why not?
"Sure." I bump his hip with mine, and his arm comes around my shoulder.
"CONNOR! Have you been consorting with the enemy?" It's Travis, his mocking tone faltering into a laugh at the end.
"Consorting isn't exactly the word that I would use..."
I laugh and they join me. They start talking about pranks and such, so I weave into the crowd to find Nico.
He's sitting by himself, a pile of raven-black feathers at his feet. His eyes flicker to mine as I approach, and he picks up two feathers.
"Here you go."
"Um, thanks. I'm Alyssa." I don't know how to introduce myself without being awkward, so I introduce myself awkwardly.
"I know. Will complains about you."
I'm taken aback. Will always seemed friendly. "What? Will Solace?"
Nico laughs. "Yeah, he says Connor never shuts up about you and that it's getting old."
I laugh too, and then I realize something. "Hey, are you and Will dating?"
His eyes widen in shock. "No. Why?"
"Oh, Nico! How quickly you deny your love."
It's Travis. His smile is evil (the kind that means you need to get out of his way) and Nico seems to realize this.
He rolls his eyes, starting to say something, when Will arrives. He looks offended.
"Love? For who? Nico?"
I crack up. I can't take this. Travis joins me, and so does Connor, who has snuck up on us. Nico blushes, and Will just looks confused.
"What? What's funny? Oh, Hermes campers." He grumbles more to himself that I can't hear, and I laugh harder.
"His - love - for - YOU!" Travis chokes out between laughs. He looks like he's dying.
Will blushes too now. I erupt into another bout of laughter. I can't help it.
Chiron arrives at the edge of the forest, blowing the conch horn. Everyone shuts up.
"Okay, everyone! The current flag holders are the ATHENA CABIN," he waves his hand one way and Annabeth and her siblings run out, waving a silver banner with an owl on it, and their team cheers, "and the HADES CABIN." He waves his other hand, and Nico marches out moodily, waving his flag as he walks alone. He gets more applause, partially because a lot of people on the other team are rather attached to him.
Chiron continues. "The creek is the boundary. The flag must be in plain sight. NO MAULING! You'll lose dessert for a month!" The whole camp gasps in horror.
Chiron blows the shell.
Nico leads us through the woods at a sprint, and I know where we're going since I've been here with Connor. He holds my hand as I run, and I hold on even though I'll probably elbow myself in the stomach.
Nico scales the boulder where we slept, placing the black flag on top, where it waves proudly. He points to different people for defense, and they surround the boulder, and the rest of us disappear into the woods.
Connor and I peel off, silently bounding through the trees. Somehow I get the feeling that the gods are watching us, taking bets and cheering on their children.
I hope my parent recognizes me.
We reach the creek, and we clear it easily. We're in enemy territory.
A Hephaestus kid flies at me, waving his sword. I swing back, and he pulls out a contraption with a lot of cogs and buttons. I stab it, and he barely pulls his hand back in time.
Taking the distraction as an opportunity, I dart away, leaving Connor to deal with them - whoops. We are quite a competitive couple, though, and I want to win the banner for myself. I might just win it for his cabin anyway - but I don't care, honestly. I'm going to fight for myself, and myself only.
I'm barely avoiding their defense now, and I realize that I need to go up a tree.
There's one with low branches just behind some Aphrodite campers. They're just gossiping, but their hands are on their swords. I need to pass them... I can't avoid them this time. It seems direct confrontation is necessary.
YES! FINALLY!
I jump into their midst, hacking and slashing randomly, and they block my swings, but they're too shocked to return any, so I climb the tree and chop off the branches below me. There goes my escape route.
I jump from tree to tree, my dryad armor shaping itself to my needs like fluid metal. I don't know how I do it, but soon I'm in the tree above their base - a narrow stone arch, shaky enough that almost no one could get to it. It would look incredibly impossible from the ground, but it doesn't from up here.
I reach down, and my hand just reaches. I yank it up and slip back towards the creek. I'm just in time, because I hear Jason arrive just after me, shouting at the guards. I giggle a little and keep moving. It would suck if I got caught.
There's the creek, just ahead. Percy's waiting there, and he spots me immediately. His eyes widen and he raises his hands, water raising with them. He's making a water wall. Shoot.
I jump.
The water wall raises faster, but not quite fast enough. I just manage to grab onto a branch on the other side of the creek with one hand and keep hold of the flag with the other. It turns yellow, the owl turning to a staff with two snakes around it -
And then everything is bathed in a silver glow and it's a silver banner again. Do Athena kids have superpowers?
Percy stares in shock at a spot above my head.
I glance up, and there's a silver owl, one that matches the one on the banner, floating like a hologram.
I'm an Athena camper? I'm not that smart, am I?
Apparently I am...?
I'M NOT A HERMES CAMPER! HALLELUJAH!
People are begging to crowd around, and when Annabeth and her siblings arrive my hologram is gone. They know, though. Somehow they know.
Annabeth squeals in a way I didn't think that she could.
"You're one of US! Oh thank goodness. It would be horrifying to lose capture the flag to HERMES."
I laugh. So that's not exactly what she meant. Close enough.
So... how exactly do I become good enough to be in Cabin 6?
A/N:
Sorry it took me so long to get this out! There was so much going on... I'll try to update more often. Thanks for reading!