Andy Jackson: Child of Land & Sea

Special II: When Two Want

"Love is like that; when two want, one won't stop, the other won't quit."

a Brazillian saying

The evening started simply enough. Life at Camp Half-Blood was returning to normal. Satyrs were chasing the dryads. Monsters howled in the woods. The campers were playing pranks on one another and Dionysus was turning anyone who misbehaved into a shrub. Typical summer-camp stuff.

After dinner, all the campers were hanging out at the dining pavilion. They were all excited because that evening, capture the flag was going to be totally vicious: The Ares cabin was out for blood. On the blue team were Hephaestus's cabin, Apollo, Hermes and Poseidon. The bad news was that for once Athena and Ares, both war cabins, were against them on the red team, along with Aphrodite, Dionysus and Demeter.

While stretching out, Andy heard someone say behind her: "Hey, girlfriend."

That single word was enough to take her breath away. They'd started dating a few days ago Ubut, apparently, neither one of them got tired of saying it. Although it made her knees weak, Andy tried to keep her cool. "Boyfriend," she answered formally. "You have no business here with the elite. Your little group of losers are over there."

Anthony stopped by her side, his gray eyes sparkling under his helmet. "Tell you what," he lowered his voice. "We're going to crush you tonight, but if you pick a safe position... like right flank, for instance... I'll make sure you don't get slain with the rest of them."

"Oh, please," she sneered. "I'm playing to win. If I'm not there for the slaughter, it means I'm not doing it right."

He smiled. "Then I'll see you on the battlefield."

"Can't wait," she tried to feign indifference.

Anthony jogged toward his teammates, who all laughed and gave him high fives. He looked so happy, smiling and all, which just made him that much hotter and Andy's heart was—

"Don't even think about it," Beckendorf said, approaching her. "You can't go easy on him because you're dating. He won't."

Andy blinked. "You read minds now, do you?"

"Anthony's a winner, Andy. He won't start losing now. Unless you help me crush him." Andy couldn't tell if he was being serious or not. Beckendorf was this huge dude with a permanent scowl, muscles like a pro ballplayer, and hands calloused from working in the forges.

Then Silena Beauregard, the head counselor for Aphrodite, passed by. She had long black hair and big blue eyes. When she walked the guys tended to watch. "Good luck, Chuck," she said. Nobody ever called Beckendorf anything but Beckendorf, but Silena had some privileges now that they were together. She flashed him a brilliant smile and went to join Anthony on the red team.

"Uh..." Beckendorf swallowed like he'd forgotten how to breathe.

Andy slapped him across the shoulder. "Don't even think about it," she mocked.

***

Naturally, Beckendorf and Andy took the most dangerous job. While the Apollo cabin played defense with their bows, the Hermes cabin would charge up the middle of the woods to distract the enemy. Meanwhile, Beckendorf and Andy would scout around the left flank, locate the enemy's flag, knock out the defenders and get the flag back to their side. No biggie.

"Why the left flank?"

"Anthony wanted me to go right, which means he doesn't want us to go left," Andy explained. "Unless he's playing me, which is totally possible. He might've said for me to go right because he knew I'd go left, exactly where he wants me to go to begin with. Which means—"