The Underworld's Child

13 | The Basket Queen

Elora walked around camp asking every demigod she passed of her friends' whereabouts. A camper said they saw Percy and Thalia in the armory so there she walked. And behold, her friends were there.

"Percy, everything is unfair," Thalia muttered. "Sometimes I wish..."

"We'll get Annabeth back," she interjected.

"Yeah," Percy said. "We just don't know how yet."

"First I found out that Luke is lost," Thalia said. "Now Annabeth--"

"Don't think like that," Percy said.

"You're right." Thalia straightened up. "We'll find a way."

"Yes, we will."

☀︎︎☽︎☾︎☀︎︎

Over at the basketball court, a few of the Hunters were shooting hoops. One of them was arguing with a guy from the Ares cabin. The Ares kid had his hand on his sword and the Hunter looked like she was going to exchange her basketball for a bow and arrow any second. Oh, boy, here comes trouble.

"I'll break that up," Elora said.

Thalia nodded. "We'll circulate around the cabins. Tell everybody about capture the flag tomorrow."

"Wait what?" Elora asked.

"Yeah, apparently it's tradition to play Capture The Flag whenever the Hunters paid a visit."

"Oh," Elora muttered lamely.

"All right. You should be team captain," Percy said to Thalia.

"No, no," she said. "You've been at camp longer. You do it," Thalia said.

"Or Elora could be team captain," Percy said.

"Heh. About that," she started. "I'll talk to you about that later, a fight looks like it's about to break."

Elora left her friends and ran straight to the court where the fight was brewing between the camper and Hunter. Scratch that. They were already trying to kill each other with a basketball and a sword. The kid's losing.

"Hey!" she shouted, gaining the attention of both the Hunter and the camper. "What's going on?"

"The Hunter over there was trying to steal the ball," the Ares kid said.

"It's ours," the Hunter defended.

"Okay, what about this," she said, "Hunters stay on one court and campers on another. Three balls each. Fair?"

"Whatever," the Ares kid said but backed off to his friends.

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"Here ya go," Elora said as she passed the ball to the Hunter.

"Thanks."

She nodded. "Elora."

"Lia," the Hunter said. "You play?"

"Yes, she does!" Astra popped in. "You'll be impressed at what she can do!"

"Pfft, don't take her word," Elora said. "She exaggerates."

Astra snorted. "Then let's play. She can see how you play and then she'll judge. Trust me, I'm not wrong."

☀︎︎☽︎☾︎☀︎︎

"Water," Astra moaned. "I. Need. Water."

Elora rolled her eyes at her friend's antics. Astra was one of the Hunters close to her and Lia might be adding to the list.