Here We Go Again (Sierra Lestrange Book 3)

Chapter 16: Falling Into A Freezing Creek. Just a Normal Holidays

Her story brought tears to my eyes and I hadn't cried for months. I knelt front of her.

"No. No one here will take you back. A lot of people have had similar things like that happen. We're all marked as the bad kids out there. The outsiders. But here, we're all family. We care about each other. As soon as you're claimed, you'll be put in the cabin with your brothers and sisters. You'll never have to go back there again."

She smiled. "Really?" I nodded. "Of course not. You'll be able to stay here forever if you want." She grinned. "Thank you," she said, giving me a hug. I hugged her back.

"Now let's get you a weapon," I said. I pulled a knife off the shelf and handed it to her. She shook her head. "It's too heavy," she said.

I looked around and found a lighter one. It was about a foot long with a black handle.  I handed it to her. She held it up, turning it in her palm. "It's perfect!" she said. I smiled.

"That is a dagger. Used for close up fighting. Only the best fighter use these." She smiled. "What's the engraving say?" I took a look.

"ο προστάτης. It means 'the protector' in ancient greek." She smiled. "That's so cool!" I snorted. "Come on. Let's get back in there and we'll see what you can do with that."

***

It turns out, she was pretty natural with a sword, which might not be a good thing considering she was only ten. After the arena we had archery, (which I seriously sucked at) and then dinner.

After dinner, we had Capture the Flag, one of my favorite camp activities.

The teams were Hermes Cabin vs. the Athena Cabin. It was the Athena Cabin, Aphrodite, Demeter, Iris and a few others. Nico and I were with the Hermes Cabin, along with the Poseidon cabin and all others.

As we were putting on our armor, Zeke came up behind me. "You ready?" he asked.

"You're one of our best defenders, but I'll half to ask if you me, and Nico can sneak in on the far side to get the flag. We'll have two decoys go in before us to distract them. We'll be virtually clear." I nodded.

"Perfect," I replied. We entered the woods and hid the flag so it was possible to see, but only if you were looking right at it.

The conch horn sounded and Nico, Zeke and I Took off in the woods. We heard the distant sound of swords clashing and armor hitting the ground, but we couldn't see anyone or anything. We were almost completely silent until I saw the flag. I grabbed Zeke's arm and pointed toward it.

"Three guards. One for each of us," I whispered. They nodded. "On the count of three, Nico, you get the one on the right, Sierra, the middle and I'll get the one on the left. Whoever gets the flag first, run. Don't worry about the others."

We nodded. "One. Two. Three!" We jumped out of the bushes and ambushed the three guards. While I was fighting one guard, I saw a streak of black out of the corner of my eye. Nico had their flag.

We kept the two guards distracted while Nico ran and crossed the creek. About a minute after he left, we heard shouts of joy erupt and the conch blown. Someone had won.

We all stopped mid-strike and heard chanting. "Nico! Nico!" I smiled. Nico had just won Capture the Flag. Me and Zeke exchanged a breathless smile. The other two were grumbling about "unfair" and "how".

They left, but me and Zeke and I stood there a minute, thinking. We won. Zeke's plan worked. The Athena Cabin would never live this down.

"We should probably get back," Zeke said after a minute. "Before they start looking for us." I nodded and we took off through the trees.

After a few minutes, we were at the creek.

"Hey, Sierra, I-" You'll never guess what happened next. He tripped. Right into me, knocking us both into the creek. I was shivering within seconds, but him, being the lucky duck he was, he was completely dry because of his son-of-Poseidon powers.

He was right onto of me, looking straight into my eyes, so close that I could feel his warm breath on my face. We sat there like that for a second. I couldn't feel the ice cold water soaking through my armor and jacket. My gray eyes met his intense blue-green ones. I was almost tempted to kiss him.

Finally, he shook his head. "Sierra, I am soo sorry!" he said getting off of me. He offered a hand, which I gratefully took. "Oh, gosh, your soaking wet! Here, take my jacket." I shook my head. "No,no, its okay. I'm fine," I said quietly. He shook his head.

"No. You'll get sick wearing a wet jacket. Just take the coat." I reluctantly gave in. I took off the drenched jacket and he draped his over my shoulders, showing a sweater underneath his camp t-shirt. "C'mon. Let's get back to the cabins and get  you some new clothes." I nodded.

The jacket help a little bit, covering the wet t-shirt and blocking out the cold wind. But still, my shirt was drench in the water, plus my hair was dripping too. I couldn't wait to get back to my cabin so I could change out of these drenched clothes.

When we got onto the campgrounds and went to my cabin. I opened the door and saw Nico sitting on his bed, grinning like a little boy on Christmas.

But the grin disintegrated when he saw me and Zeke. I gave Zeke back the coat. Nico sent me a questioning glance, which in reply I sent a I'll tell you later look. He nodded.

"Thank you," I said to him. "No, no need to thank me. It was my fault you got soaked." I smiled slightly. "Well, I better go. You need to get out of those wet clothes." I rolled my eyes and nodded.

"I'll see you tomorrow," I said quickly. He left and I closed the cabin door. I changed into pajamas and sat on my bunk across from Nico. He stared at me, waiting for an explanation.

"Before you ask, no. Nothing happened. After you got the flag, Zeke and I went back to the creek. He tripped and we both fell into the creek. That's all that happened, I swear." He raised an eyebrow but said nothing. "Honest. That's it." He sighed, obviously thinking its not working.

"So what happened to you after you got the flag?" His face lit up and he recounted what happened.