❦𝓕𝓪𝓿𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓮 𝓒𝓻𝓲𝓶𝓮❦ - 𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓬𝔂 𝓙𝓪𝓬𝓴𝓼𝓸𝓷

𝒱𝐼. 𝒞𝒶𝓅𝓉𝓊𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝐹𝓁𝒶𝑔

𝒟𝒾𝓃𝓃𝑒𝓇 came and went as usual, the campfire was the same as every night. Friday was a bit of a blur. Zoe helped Percy with his Ancient Greek, played some volleyball, rode some pegasi, and went up the rock wall a few times before it was dinner time. As she sat with her siblings, they were placing bets on who would win.

"I think we will."

"I'm not sure, Scout. Annabeth is leading the other team. She probably has this super complicated plan that will whoop our asses."

"Shawn!" Selina covered Lucy's ears. "Tiny people here!"

"Oh, come on! Zoe swears all the time and you never call her out on it."

"She has, I just don't care." Zoe's smirk was prominent in her voice.

Scout snorted, putting her hand over her mouth to stop potentially spitting out food.

"Wait wait-wait. Are we just going to ignore the fact that Shawn just complimented Annabeth?" Lucy asked incredulously.

Shawn's cheeks went rosy and he looked away, staring down at his plate.

"No I just said she's kick our butts-"

"That's a compliment dipshit." Zoe smacked him on the back of the head. His cheeks went redder.

Dinner continued with more teasing and Selina scolding Shawn and Zoe for swearing. Scout almost spit out her food twice because of Shawn, and Lucy just smiled and played innocent.

When all the plates were cleared away, the conch horn sounded and everyone stood at their tables. Everyone cheered as Annabeth, Malcolm, and Lisa ran in, holding the Athena flag. It was a silk banner, about 10 ft long, glistening gray, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree.

On the opposite side of the Pavilion, Clarisse and her siblings ran in with another banner, of identical size, but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head. The teams were announced. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins. Cabins had traded privileges-shower times, chore schedules, the best slots for activities-in order to win support.

Ares had allied themselves with everybody else: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus. Zoe sent a glare to Selina for making them team up with Ares. Selina just waved her off. Zoe thought they had a slight chance of winning because Dionysus's kids were actually good athletes, even though there were only two of them. Demeter's kids have the edge with nature skills and outdoor things, but they weren't very aggressive.

Most of Zoe's siblings sat out of every activity, checked their reflections in the lake, did their hair and gossiped. But Zoe, Selina, Scout, and Shawn, were playing tonight. Hephaestus's kids weren't pretty, and there were only four of them, but they were big and burly from working in the metal shop all day. Lastly, there was the Ares cabin. A dozen of the biggest, ugliest, meanest kids on Long Island, or anywhere else on the planet. Aside from maybe the huge fancy galas Zoe sometimes had to attend. The kids there had sticks up their asses and thought they ruled the world. 

There was about a 50/50 chance they won tonight.

Chiron pounded his hoof on the marble, shouting, "Heroes! You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!"

He spread his hands and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, ox-hide shields coated in metal. Zoe grabbed a helmet but took off the scallop shell clip in her hair. It elongated until it was αγκάθι. Thorn in greek.  The celestial bronze glinted in the dying light of the setting sun. Zoe put on her armor and grinned at Annabeth from across the pavilion.

"Blue team, forward!" Annabeth yelled as she headed off into the woods.

"Red team, let's go!" Clarisse shouted as they went the other way.

"Good luck, Annie!" Zoe called with a smirk as the Ares kids yelled taunts and insults at them.

"We don't need luck, Zo. We have wisdom on our side!" Annabeth replied with a wink before Percy stumbled up beside her and they were out of view.

"Hey! Prissy Pink Princess! Stop fraternizing with the enemy!" Clarisse shouted as she slammed the flag into the dirt.

"Not fraternizing Clarisse, talking with friends. You know, who aren't my siblings and forced to like me?"

Clarisse scowled as snickers rippled through the red team.

"For that, you're on flag patrol." Clarisse sneered.

"Oh, flag patrol. How grueling." Zoe mocked, a smirk plastered on her face.

"Shut it, princess." Clarisse had gotten out her electric spear, the tip sparking with electricity.

Zoe didn't flinch, just narrowed her eyes and shot back, "Princess? That's the best you got? That's not even an insult, dumbass."

"Zoe, Clarisse, calm down okay? We want to win and fighting each other is not going to do that." Selina stepped in between the two, putting her hands against each of their chests and pushing back slightly.

"Whatever. Me, Mark, Alice, Nora and Matt will charge the border."

"Why the fuck would you charge the border?" Zoe couldn't come up with a logical reason for charging the border so why were they going to?

"Why not, punk? You got a better idea?"

"Um- yeah. I've got at least a hundred better ideas then that one."

"Sure you do. We do what I say, I'm the team captain."

"Ok, fine. Whatever you say."

"So, Me, Mark, Matt, Alice and Nora will charge the border, Zoe and Shawn will be on flag patrol. Selina, help the Hephaestus cabin plant some traps. Castor and Pollux go around with Scout and the rest of the Ares cabin to get the flag."

"What about us?" Katie Gardener called, raising her hand and gesturing to the Demeter cabin.

"I don't care, grow some plants or something. Doesn't matter. Now get in position!"

Clarisse ran off with four of her siblings, shouting and whooping all the way to the border as the conch shell sounded.

"Ok, guys, wait! We can do better than this." Zoe stated. 

A/N Sorry, I know its late again. This weekend was hectic but you guys don't want to hear my life story. The next chapter is kinda long cuz I couldn't break it up without it feeling forced and even this feels a little forced. Sorry about that. Anyway, Happy Passover or Easter or whatever you celebrate during spring!

Thoughts?

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Headcannons?