First Lie || Deception Book I ||

Fire, Mist, and Magic

"All good," I said to Ally as I finished checking her armour.

She blew out a breath. "Thanks. Ugh," she muttered as she hefted her shield. "Why is this thing so heavy?"

I smiled sympathetically. "You get used to it."

"Girls, are you ready?" Luke asked, approaching us.

"Yeah," Ally replied.

I didn't answer, too busy sliding into my armour.

"I've got it," Luke said, strapping the back of mine before I even asked.

"Thanks," I said. I ignored Ally's smirk and headed down to where Annabeth was waiting.

"Percy's on border?" I asked.

Annabeth nodded, her eyes distant as if she were already in the thick of the game. "You and Luke are going after the flag. Ally can go or take defence, it's up to her."

"I'll rather defend," Ally said, looking nervous. "I don't know so much about attacking."

I snorted. "What, all those times when you nearly demolished the arena were defending?"

"Hey, hey," Luke said, winking at me. "Better if it's just us, isn't it?"

I coughed, flushing. Thank the gods that the flickering lights made by the torches covered everything.

"It's time," Annabeth announced, her grey eyes distant. "Let's go. Blue team, forward!"

Everyone yelled and cheered and shook their swords, running down the paths into the southern woods, the red team yelling insults as they took to the north.

Luke and I split off from Ally, heading towards the border. I glanced back, and she nodded, reassuring me that she'd be fine. I checked for Percy as well, finding him talking to Annabeth despite the humming anticipation, and smiled to myself.

Luke and I headed closer to the border, ducking behind an outcrop of boulders, and waited for the horn.

"So," Luke started, despite me motioning him to be quiet. "Is this your first time playing capture the flag?"

"The 'let's-kill-each-other-with-swords-and stuff' version, yes. The 'let's-go-get-the-other-teams-flag-and-avoid-getting-tagged' version, no."

Luke nodded. "I see. Okay well, then, don't fall behind." He took off through the trees, just as the horn blew, and I cursed as I scrambled around the trunk and shot after him.

We dashed through the undergrowth, me using my shadows to keep us under the radar, and stopped as we came to the bank of the creek. Glancing downriver, I saw Percy standing there, his giant shield in hand, and winced at the thought of him being bait, even though it was a smart decision.

"Come on," Luke said. He jumped in, wading across the shallow creek, and I followed, crossing on the rocks to avoid getting wet.

We were officially in enemy territory, now.

We crept into the woods, heading towards the place where I sensed the flag was with my shadows. Cheating? Maybe a little. Did I care? No, not really.

I motioned Luke to stop, pushing him into the shadows of a bush, and just in time as one of the opposing campers walked past. searching for invaders. I flicked my fingers and a wisp of the Mist snaked out, touching the camper, who promptly fell asleep.

"Useful trick," Luke murmured in my ear as we dragged him into a bush.

"Thanks." I crept off into the woods again, Luke behind me. A couple of minutes later, with no further confrontations, we stopped at the edge of a clearing. The red team's banner hung there, a circle of Hephaestus and Dionysus campers guarding it. From what I could see, there were only four of them.