The Lightning Thief [Book One]

Capture the Flag Goes Wrong.

"I think we need at least three people to guard the flag," Reagan said as she kept in pace with Charles Beckendorf of the Hephaestus cabin.

"Right," he responded with a grin.

"We need a diversion," Annabeth piped up, appearing at Reagan's other side. The three glanced behind them, Percy Jackson not far behind. He was wearing a helmet, a blue feather sticking out the top, but the helmet seemed too large for him. The three looked at each other again knowingly.

"How about him for bait?"

Everyone had been assigned jobs and their flag had been successfully placed, and before they knew it a horn sounded off, echoing around the forest and signaling that the game had begun. Three had been assigned to watch over the flag, Percy was sent to some abandoned area along the creek, where hopefully Clarisse and her goons would target him personally. Luke led a small team in another direction, and Reagan was alone, scouting the forest for stragglers that wanted their flag. The forest seemed more eerie than usual, shadows danced across the corner of her vision, and then a rustling sound off to her side caused the hairs on the back of her neck to stand on end. What if it was another hell-hound? They couldn't even get passed the borders, and they were too dangerous to let roam around in the forest. There was another rustling sound to her side. The first time was just good luck, but there was no way she could kill another hell-hound. When the rustling sound got closer, Reagan spun around, sword raised.

"Woah there," Annabeth said, eyes crossing slightly as they focused on the sword point at her face.

Reagan blinked then sighed, lowering her weapon. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Luke's team?"

Annabeth blushed at the mention of Luke, glancing up at the flower crown adorning Reagan's head. "Where'd you get that from?"

"A girl made it for me for good luck," Reagan said defensively.

Annabeth nodded, pulling her baseball cap out of her back pocket again. "Yeah? Well you'll need it."

Before Reagan could demand what the blonde meant by that, Annabeth disappeared as she slipped the hat on. After a few minutes, Reagan assumed she was alone and kept walking than, sword raised slightly. There was more rustling, but this time Reagan assumed it was Annabeth somewhere, so she just ignored it and kept walking. Than a group of campers burst through the trees, laughing as they jumped Reagan. Her eyes widened, but before she could react properly, a metal net was flung, successfully capturing her. The net was surprisingly heavy, and Reagan had raised her sword to cut it, but when the net had caught her she fell to the ground, writhing in attempt to get out from under the net. The boys laughed, swords sheathed as they loomed over Reagan, making faces before racing off in the direction of her teams flag. She continued to twist and turn, sword forgotten at her side as she grabbed at the metal woven net angrily. But the attempts soon proved futile, and Reagan groaned in frustration.

There was more movement, and Reagan scowled, the thirteen year old crossing her arms over her chest. "Annabeth, I swear if you tell anyone-"

But it wasn't Annabeth. Another hell-hound, much larger than what she had slayed earlier, came lumbering out of a patch of bushes. It was frothing at the mouth, and it's blood red eyes focused on the trapped Demigod. The sight caused Reagan to freeze, eyes as wide as saucers as her blood turned to ice. It stalked towards her slowly until saliva from its mouth dripped down onto her legs, and Reagan began to shake uncontrollably, eyes squeezing shut as she prayed to the gods that she'd survive this somehow. But when had the gods ever been there for her? Certainly her godly parent had never even had it in them to even claim her, let alone support her in any way. The hell-hound sniffed at Reagan, its breath hot against her skin before deciding that she wasn't worth the effort and turned, slowly moving in the direction of the creek, like there was some other, more tastier Demigod to kill. On some occasions, Reagan felt a bit offended that she wasn't considered as tasty as other Demigods. Minutes passed in utter silence, like all animals in the forest just disappeared. Someone appeared from behind a tree, and Reagan was relieved that it was Charles Beckendorf.

His eyes widened noticeably. "Oh gods! Are you okay, Reagan?" he asked, large hands fumbling to pull the metal sewn net off of her.

She nodded. "How's the flag?"

Charles grinned, pulling the net off at last and tossing it aside. "Taken care of. We won!"

Reagan smiled brightly at that, and he grasped her hand and hefted her up. The two ran, but she didn't exactly realize that they were heading in the same direction as the hell-hound had went. Eventually the couple had reached the creek, following after it. She remembered that they had placed Percy in this area as bait for Clarisse and her henchmen. Eventually they reached the clearing where the campers had congregated at, and in the center was Percy Jackson. What looked like a broken spear was on the ground, pieces scattered in the moving water. But what made them both stop in their tracks was that hell-hound Reagan had encountered minutes ago, the monster lunging at Percy. The creek gurgled like it was coming to life, and Percy Jackson covered his head with his hands like that would to anything, but it did. The tiny creek seemed to come alive, a monster wave appearing and splashing over the attacking hell-hound with so much force that when the monster hit the ground with all the force of the creek coming down on it and making it turn to golden dust that the creek washed away. There were gasps and whispering among the campers as Chiron came over. There was a light green glow over the boys head, and Reagan felt her jaw clenching so tightly that the blood vessels would surely pop. Above Percy Jackson's head was a green trident that rotated before it disappeared, and the chatter amongst the campers only got worse and louder.

Percy Jackson was the son of Poseidon.

"No freaking way," Reagan muttered.