Daughter of the Sea, Book One

I Love Hiding in Trees

The rest of the week went by pretty fast. Sure it was boring being the only kid in the Poseidon cabin, but I got to make the rules. I got to set up my schedule so that I could spend times with my friends, I didn't have to do the harder chores because I was the only kid although I often worked with Castor and Pollux, who were Mr. D's only kids. We small cabins needed to stick together, which was the case for capture the flag. This was by far my favorite time of the week. The Athena cabin had allied with the Apollo and Hermes cabins, and Ares with, well, everyone else. As I was putting on my armor Clarisse walked over to me. "I want to cream the punk, wanna join?" She asked with a grin. "Maybe, I'll watch from above and help out where I'm needed." I replied with a shrug. Clarisse smiled and ruffled my hair. "I figured you'd say that." Chiron stomped his hoof against the ground to get everyone's attention. He then explained the rules and then Mr. D gave the go to start the game. I gave a nod to Clarisse before running off to the creek. Water was my strong suit, so I tried to stay close to it. I decided to hide up in an old oak tree to keep watch. About five minutes into the game I heard someone bumble along quite loudly. Rolling my eyes I leaned over and looked down at the person. I scoffed seeing that it was Jackson. "What are you up to Annie?" I asked myself quietly. There was no way in Hades that she would leave Jackson to fend for himself knowing that Clarisse was out for his blood. I decided to keep watch in case something interesting happened and believe me, the wait was worth it.
A few minutes later, I saw Clarisse and a few of her siblings rush out of the bushes on the opposite side of the creek. "Cream the punk!" She yelled at the group surrounded Percy. He tried his best to fight back but it was five against one, not a very fair fight. Clarisse thrusted her spear at him and of course like an idiot he used his metal shield to block it. I watched as his arm dropped from the electric shock. "Give him a hair cut," Clarisse said with a laugh. "Grab his hair." Percy stood up and tried to fight back but Clarisse knocked his sword out of his hand. "Oh, wow, I'm really scared of this guy. Really scared." She said as she moved towards him. Percy stumbled up and pointed at something in the woods. "The flag is that way." He said, causing one of Clarisse's brothers to sneer. "We're not after the flag. We're after the guy who made our cabin look stupid." Percy looked up at the guy. "You do that without my help." He said, causing me to laugh, but the Ares kids didn't find it funny. They all moved in on him at once, all of them slashing and stabbing. Percy managed to dodge a fair bit of it but one of the Ares kids stepped forward and slashed at him, cutting his arm. I shook my head at this. "Hey, no maiming." I heard Percy muttered. "Oops, looks like I lost my dessert privileges." The kid looked extremely dizzy. "Get out of there you idiot." I growled from my hiding place. The Ares kid sneered and pushed Percy into the water. I sighed and got ready to step in before someone got seriously hurt.
Clarisse and her brothers walked into the creek, and Percy stood up. I watched in shock as he proceeded to open a can of kickass that would make even a veteran Athena camper do a double-take. Clarisse growled and thrust her spear towards him, which Percy caught between his shield and sword, cracking it in half. Clarisse let out a pained yell. "You idiot! You corpse-breath worm!" She yelled, she looked like she was going to continue but Percy hit her with the butt of his sword and sent her stumbling back. This was the last straw for me. "Hey! Leave her alone!" I yelled, dropping down from the tree and pulling my trident clip out of my hair. It immediately grew until it was a full size trident that was as tall as me.
"I'm not fighting a kid." Percy said, turning his back on me.
"I'm not giving you a CHOICE!" I yelled, rushing towards him and swinging the staff part of my trident towards him. He turned around and blocked it with his sword. I was a little shocked at his strength, and judging from the look on his face he was probably thinking something similar about me. I managed to dislodge my trident from his sword and spun it around, slamming the head of it flat against his chest. He fell back into the water with a splash. I grinned and turned around. I let out a surprised yelp when I was shoved into the creek, the cold water immediately soaking me to the skin. "What the Hades?!" I sputtered, pushing my hair out of my face. I looked up to see Percy laughing. "You think this is funny?" I growled, splashing him. Percy laughed more and splashed me back. We continued like this until I heard yelling and I saw Luke and some of the Hermes campers with him. They had our flag. "Dang it." I grumbled as the flag turned from red to blue. I flopped back into the creek with a groan as I heard the conch shell sound.
"Nice job hero." I heard Annie's voice say. I flailed around as I sat up, just in time to see Annie take off her hat. "Of course you had something to do with this." I growled. She laughed. Percy looked at her with a look of pure betrayal. "You set me up. You put me here because you knew Clarisse would come after me, while you sent Luke around the flank. You had it all figured out." He said to her as she walked over to help me up. "I told you. Athena always, always has a plan." She replied with a shrug.
"A plan to get me pulverized." Percy grumbled.
"I came as fast as I could. I was about to jump in, but.... You didn't need it." She said, glancing back at him. She raised her eyebrow at something. "What happened to your arm?" She asked.
"Sword cut, what do you think?" Percy said. I looked over Annie's shoulder and saw that the cut was healing.
"No. It was a sword cut." Annie said. "Look at it." Percy glanced down at it, a look of surprise on his face. I felt my stomach fill with a strange sense of dread.
"I—I don't get it." Percy said.
"Jackson, step out of the water." I said, glancing up at Annie, who's face had paled tremendously.
"What—" He began.
"Just do it." Annie said sternly.
Percy did as he was told and nearly fell over. Thankfully Annie managed to catch him.
"Oh Styx," I heard her curse. "This is not good. I didn't want.....I assumed it would be Zeus...." she said quietly. Percy looked like he was going to ask what she meant but he stopped when a low growl came from the woods. I glanced at Annie who had stepped in front of me. I heard a loud howl and everything went silent. Next thing I heard was Chiron yelling, "Stand ready! My bow!" I grabbed my trident and Annie drew her sword. Suddenly a hellhound, a gods to honest hellhound, jumped out of the shadows. Annie put her free hand in front of me protectively but I felt my heart stop when I realized something. It wasn't looking at me, but at Percy. Suddenly Annie yelled. "Percy, run!"
She pushed me out of the way and rushed in front of Percy but the thing jumped right over her and landed on Percy. I cringed as I saw it's claws rake into his chest. Suddenly I felt an excruciating pain in my head, curling up in a ball as my vision faded in and out, strange scenes flashing in my head. I felt like my head was trying to tear itself open as I watched as I saw a girl with black hair standing above me. She had tears in her eyes as she was pleading with someone. "Please don't make me Master." She begged. I heard a sadistic laugh. "Hana failed Baby 5. She needs to be taught a lesson." A man said. The black haired girl cried even harder as she looked down at me, a small sword in her hand. She was over and swung it down at me, but just before the sword cut through my skin, I heard Luke's voice. "Hana! Hana, you need to wake up! It's just a dream!" I was slowly brought back into reality, Clarisse and Luke kneeling besides me. I slowly sat up. "You okay kid?" Clarisse asked, rubbing my back. I nodded, reaching up to rub my eyes. I was shocked at the fact that my face was wet with tears. "I—I was crying?" I asked, my voice gravelly. "More like screaming. You went into another one of your attacks, we couldn't get you out of it." Luke said quietly. "Can you remember what happened?" He asked. I tried to remember but it just made my head hurt. Clarisse must have noticed this because she hugged me, glaring at Luke. "You know she never does." She said. Luke held up his hands. "Right, sorry." He said. "What did I miss this time?" I asked quietly as Clarisse helped me up. "You missed Percy being claimed." Luke said. "By who? Wait, never mind. I probably already know." I grumbled. Clarisse scowled. "Can't believe that prick is your brother." She grumbled. I couldn't help but smile. "Half-brother. Thankfully we only share a father." I said. They walked with me to the big house.