ᝰ.ᐟ CHAPTER THREE:
So... He's Technically Not Allowed To Be Alive.
"THE FIRST TEAM to retrieve the opposing flag and return it across the river shall be the victor," Chiron announced, standing on a large boulder at the edge of the river.
Clarrise's team, the red team, stood in front of us, looking as menacing and aggressive as ever. They hadn't won Capture the Flag in two years since Annabeth and I became in charge of the blue team, and today, it would become three years. At least I hoped. Annabeth had explained to me her plan yesterday, and I was confident it would go perfectly.
Chiron continued, "As always, there will be no maiming and no killing. I trust these rules will be respected. Any magical items you may possess are permitted as well."
I smirked, raising a hand to run a finger over my golden necklace. The point of the arrow charm was sharp on my thumb.
"Every camper who is not injured has to play. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged," he said. And finally, one final call. "Let the games begin!"
The conch shell blew, and the red team stood, battle cries spilling from their mouths. They were intimidating, sure, but we had the brains.
The blue team clanged their spears against their shields. "Huh!" we shouted. Annabeth and I walked up to the rest of the team.
"All right," she said, catching Luke's attention. "We have 20 minutes before the second conch and game-on. You know what you're doing?"
Luke nodded. "Yes, ma'am." He started to walk away before Annabeth halted him.
"Hey. Today feel like a winning kind of day to you?" she asked.
"Yeah," he said, before turning to me. "I'll see you on the other side." I nodded, and Annabeth handed me her hat.
"You lose this, and I will kill you. Got it, Val?" she said. I gave her a firm nod. She walked up next to look.
"Company, move out!" he ordered. The rest of the blue team marched forward, Luke and Annabeth behind them.
Percy started to as well, before I stopped him. "Not you, sunshine," I said. "You're with me." He looked confused, but I ignored it, walking the opposite direction from the group.
We trudged down a muddy path. The whites of my converse started to turn brown. I would have to clean them later. Percy trailed behind me as he looked around, taking in the scenery.
I stepped over a fallen branch, but Percy didn't seem to notice it. He fell on the ground with a thud and a groan. I turned to look at him as he sat up on his knees.
He looked at me, as if waiting for me to say something. I said nothing.
"I'm find, thanks. But I appreciate you, you know, standing there silently," he spat sarcastically. He stood up a sheathed his sword.
I turned again and headed down the path without a word. Percy jogged up to just behind me, taking off his helmet. "Listen, I—I get it. Okay. You're better at this than me," Percy said.
I tilted my head in agreement, thinking about it.
"But I need this to go well today," he continued. "I can't really get into it, but I need my father to see it go well. So, if you're gonna expect me to know how to do something I don't know how to do... and I end up falling flag on my face, I— I can't really have that right now."
I stopped and turned to him. He looked at me, hopeful that I would say something that made him feel understood.
I noticed one strap of his chest-plate not in place, so I raised a hand a carefully tucked it in. Percy looked kind of confused.
"You still don't get where you fit into all this, do you?" I said. Before he could answer, the conch shell blew for the second time. Which meant that Clarisse was already hunting Percy down.
I looked back at Percy. "Game on." I raised the hat and placed it on my head. It felt no different, being invisible, than being visible. But Percy's face contorted into a look of shock and confusion.
"Wait, what?" he called. I laughed slightly and took the hat off.
"Annabeth got this as a gift from her mom. She's letting me use it. Just for the plan," I explained. He didn't look any less confused. "Don't worry. You'll do great."
Percy started to look scared. "Do great? Do what great?"
I just smirked and placed the hat back on my head, disappearing from his eye sight once again. I began to walk backwards, before doing a little excited spin and walking normally into the woods.
Once I was out of earshot, I began humming to myself. I was glad Annabeth gave me this job. All I had to do was sit here, and watch him.
The next thing I knew, I could hear the sound of rubber squeaking. I looked over to Percy from my spot on the tree branch to see him... flossing?
"What?" I muttered to myself, so quiet even I could barely hear it.
He kept going back and forth, moving his arms left and right. It was weird to watch. Annabeth thought for sure that he was the one, but I would never have guessed that the one would be the type of guy to dance during a game of Capture the Flag with Clarisse.
Suddenly, he stopped flossing and walked over to the rock in front of the tree I was sitting on. I tilted my head in confusion. What was he doing? Suddenly, I heard a zipper and realised far too late what he was doing. I looked up, disgusted. I would definitely be ranting about this to Sunniva and Will after this was done.
Finally, the sound of a zipper going up made its way to my ears and I stopped straining my neck. I didn't bother to watch Percy the entire time. He was fine so far.
I lent my head on the tree and closed my eyes, taking in the sounds of chittering geckos and rustling leaves in the winds. My eyes started to get heavy. My breathing evened out. Slowly, I began to drift off into sleep.
I regretted it the minute my mind was covered with the blanket of sleep. Despite it only being a nap, part of the dream still came.
The opened door. The growling. The scream. Those beady red eyes. They all came to me, and it was like torture. I begged to wake up, but nothing happened. I was stuck there, with the blood-thirsty eyes ready to kill me.
But my sleep was interrupted before they could get to me. The sound of metal clanking against rock woke me up.
I looked towards Percy and noticed him surrounded by Clarisse and her friends. "Flag's that way. It's not here," he told them. He probably thought it wound get them to back off. I knew better.
"We know," Clarisse said. "Yeah, glory's fine. Revenge is more fun." She smirked and stomped her spear on the ground. The tip lit up with crackling lightning.
Percy scrambled to grab his shield and sword from behind the log as Clarisse and her friends took a couple threatening steps towards him.
"No maiming," Percy tried to remind them. "It's like the one rule."
Clarisse stopped and looked at her spear. "Yeah, I guess I'll lose desert privileges for a while. I'll live." She raised the spear and swung it down on him. He dodged it, but she swung again from the side. Finally, she hit his shield as he was coming back from a dodge.
Percy fell back with a grunt. I reminded myself not to help him. That wasn't part of Annabeth's plan. Her plan was for me to watch him. To see how well he does, and to report it back to her. So she'll know if he was the one.
I still had my doubts, but they were slowly fading as I watched him block swings from Clarisse and her friends. He ducked, but when he came back up one of her friends cut him with the sword.
Clarisse took the opportunity to jab at him with her spear. The first time, Percy blocked it with his shield. The second time, when Percy was throwing his shield arm back in place, Clarisse found an opening and jabbed her spear at his chest. Percy flew backwards and landed with a groan. My fingernails dug into my palm. She was going to seriously hurt him, if she got the chance. But I wasn't allowed to do anything about it. I had to stick to Annabeth's plan.
The Ares girl stood over him. "I'm actually not interested in maiming or killing you, believe it or not," she said. I snorted at her words. One of her friends must've heard me, as they looked in my direction. I slapped a hand over my mouth.
"I just want you to admit you're a fraud," Clarisse continued. "It'd make me feel better. Are you feeling up to that yet?"
"Run," I whispered to him. He couldn't hear me, but it's almost as if he did.
Percy clambered into a run, heading further down the path.
"Guess that's a no," Clarisse said before leaping over the log and following him. Her two friends followed close behind.
I stayed in the tree, trying to guess where Percy would go. I spotted the waves, first. The beach. I jumped down from my spot on the branch, landing with a thud.
There was a quicker way to the beach than that path, and I took it. It was steeper. But Annabeth wouldn't care, so I continued on.
A low tree branch cut into the skin of my arm. I let out a cry as blood dripped from the wound. I couldn't let it stop me, though.
I heard a grunt from the beach and I made it just in time to see Percy fall onto the rocky shore.
Clarisse waited behind him as her friends walked closer to him. He turned to run, but she was there with her lightning-laced spear pointed straight at him. Percy stumbled back, his face full of fear.
The older girl then laughed and brought her spear back to hold with two hands. She ran towards him and tried to stab him, but he rolled out of the way at the last second.
One of her friends swung at him, but only caught his forearm. Percy rolled and stood, doing his best to block every swing they threw at him. He was doing well so far.
Clarisse lunged at him with her spear but he caught it just in time. She jutted it forward to try and stab him but he moved the tip to the side of him. Clarisse's friend advanced towards him but instead recieved the side of the spear to her chest as Percy pushed it.
He ran and leaped for his shield, sliding his arm in the straps and rolling back up into a kneeling position. My eyebrows raised, surprised he was able to do that. It took me at least two years to master that. Considering I was, like, six.
The three angry kids cornered Percy, throwing hits at him left and right. Clarisse tried to stab him with her spear, but instead it got lodged in his shield.
He turned and blocked more swings from Clarisse's friends. Percy then moved his attention to Clarisse. He swung at her, trying to use his elbow to break her hand's grasp on her spear. Instead, she turned and rolled backwards. Percy flew over her. And there was a snap. My eyebrows raised again and my mouth fell open.
Clarisse sat up and saw she was holding the handle of the spear, but the spear wasn't attached. The rest of it was still caught in Percy's shield.
Percy removed it, staring at the broken weapon. Clarisse kneeled, taking another look at her spear. She let out a blood-curdling scream, "NO!"
I shook my head, trying my best to stay put; to not interfere. She stood up and walked towards Percy. Clarisse grabbed his chest plate, lifting him. She looked in his face and got ready to threaten him. But the threat never came.
Instead, the sound of the conch shell blowing flooded into our ears, and we could hear campers cheering. I look in the direction of the sounds. Luke and Annabeth led them as the blue team emerged from the trees, cheering. Luke held the red flag in his hand and stabbed it into the ground.
I smirked, looking back at an even angrier Clarrise. Her face fell as she realised she lost yet another game of Capture the Flag. Annabeth made her way over to me. I slipped the hat off my head and gave it back to her.
"Well?" she asked.
"He broke her spear," I laughed.
Annabeth's eyes went wide as she looked between me and the broken spear. I laughed harder at her reaction.
Clarisse let Percy go and trudged away in defeat. He fell to his knees, panting. I walked forward, Annabeth close behind me.
"Not bad, hero," I said.
He looked me, confused. "Were you here the whole time?"
"Yeah," I smirked. "Invisibility cap." I pointed to the hat in Annabeth's hand.
"You were here the whole time and you didn't help me?" he asked, exasperated.
I started nodding. "Umm, yeah. Pretty much."
Percy shook his head. "Why?"
I stretched out a hand for him to grab. He stood, using the hand for support. Percy grunted as he finally lifted himself from the ground.
Annabeth whispered in my ear. "Push him. Into the water. Push him."
"What?" I furrowed my brows. "That wasn't part of the plan."
"Just push him, Valerie."
I took a deep breath. "Listen... Percy." He looked at me, waiting for me to say something. I shook my head. "I'm sorry," I said, pushing a hand out in front of me and pushing him. He stumbled and fell in the water with a grunt.
"What is wrong with you?" Percy shouted. He panted as he stood.
Then, I noticed something. I squinted my eyes, and realised that his wounds were healing. It didn't take Percy long to realise what was happening. He looked up from his wounds.
"I don't understand."
Suddenly, a turquoise glow fell over our faces. I looked up, smiling.
That's when Percy noticed it too. Above him. A trident. A bright blue trident floated above his head.
"Your dad's calling," Annabeth said.
A forbidden child, he was. A son of Poseidon. One of the three gods who vowed to never have children again. And yet, here he was. Percy Jackson, get ready. You got a lot of danger ahead of you.
I smirked. "Holy shi—"
ᝰ.ᐟ AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Approx. 2500 words
Sorry for basically ghosting this book, that's my bad. I've been busy with xmas and new years, so yeah. I've also been preoccupied with another story I think some of you would like, I've got some great ideas for that. So tell me if you wanna hear about it.
Thanks again for reading. I've already started on chapter four, so be ready for that.
love, divinebqv
xx