┌────── •✧• ──────┐

chapter two ˏˋ°•*⁀➷
002. Capture the Flag

└────── •✧• ──────┘

THE WEEK PASSED BY FAST. Each day was just like the rest for Cassie.

Arguing with Annabeth over gods know what and training. She overworked herself, trying to get stronger like her siblings.

Cassie wasn't as big as them, so she was often teased when she was first claimed.

She quickly gained a reputation though and her siblings decided to make fun of other people.

The daughter of Ares had many friends though. Like Connor and Travis Stoll. Two sons of Hermes who had the same last name and looked practically identical but weren't twins.

Cassie joked that they were separated at birth and final found each other. It was also an inside joke that they were the demigod version of the Weasley twins.

They had come up to Cassie during her normal practice time.

She wore a red tank top that showed her black sports bra. Her classic jean shorts and red converse were the rest of the outfit.

"Hey Li!" The Stoll twins spoke in unison.

The nickname came from her middle name, Anneliese. Cassie whipped around at the familiar nickname.

"Boys." She nodded in greeting, waving her sparing partner off to have a break.

She grabbed her water bottle and took a sip. Turning back, the Stolls were looking at her eagerly.

"What's up?"

"Did you hear about the new kid?" Travis spoke.

"Hear what about Percy?" Cassie hadn't heard anything other than the trash talk on her cabin after Percy's bathroom stunt. She didn't care what the others thought though.

"How he beat Luke today!" Connor answered.

"What do you mean beat because if he got Luke Castellan bloodied and bruised, you two should've gotten me sooner."

"No, not beat up." Connor disagreed, disappointing Cassie.

"He dumped water on himself and then disarmed Luke." Travis clarified.

"Oh. . . wait. Did you say he dumped water on himself?" Cassie questioned.

"Yeah."

"Interesting, but thanks for telling me boys."

Travis and Connor smiled before running off to go prank someone. Cassie headed back to her cabin to sleep.

༻ ─── •✧💢✧• ─── ༺

Friday evening was finally here and that meant it was time for capture the flag. After everyone finished eating, the plates were cleared, and the conch horns sounded. All the campers stood up.

They shouted and applauded when Annabeth and two of her siblings came running in with their silk banner.

It was gray and had an owl and an olive tree depicted on it.

Then, from the opposite side, Clarisse, Cassie, and one of their siblings brought their banner.

It was blood red and had a spear and boar's head on it.

Chiron announced the teams. Athena had teamed up with the two biggest cabins, Apollo and Hermes.

Ares had gotten the rest, Dionysus, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, and Demeter. Cassie wasn't so sure about their alliances.

Castor and Pollux were great athletes, but their cabin was only them two.

Aphrodite's children stared in mirrors the whole time and only a few actually competed.

Hephaestus cabin was big and burly, but there were only four of them. They were a bigger help.

Then, Demeter's kids were obsessed with greenery and weren't into fighting.

Ares cabin made up half of the team, but Cassie didn't know if that was enough.

Chiron stomped his hoof. "Heroes, you know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!"

After Chiron finished his instructions, the tables filled with weapons and protection.

"Woah! We're really supposed to use these?" Percy asked Luke.

Luke made a face. "Unless you want to get skewered by your friend in cabin five. Here—Chiron thought these would fit. You'll be border patrol."

Percy glanced over to the other team. They were all wearing helmets with red plumes while he put on one with a blue plume.

Cassie had put on her helmet and stocked up on daggers and arrows. She stuck with her sword which qualified as a magic item.

༻ ─── •✧💢✧• ─── ༺

"Blue team forward!" Annabeth shouted.

Her team cheered, shaking their swords. They followed her towards the south woods. The red team yelled taunts whilst walking north.

Percy caught up to Annabeth. "Hey, so what's the plan. Got any magic items you can loan me?"

Annabeth didn't even glance back. "Just watch Clarisse's spear . . . and Carter's sword. You don't want those things touching you. Otherwise, don't worry. We'll take the banner from Ares. Has Luke given you your job?"

"Border patrol, whatever that means."

"It's easy. Stand by the creek, keep the reds away. Leave the rest to me. Athena always has a plan."

Annabeth sped up leaving Percy behind.

"Okay. Glad you wanted me on your team." He mumbled.

Their team got to the spot and Annabeth showed Percy his position by the creek. Then, she and the rest of the team scattered. In the distance, the conch horn sounded, and the game began.

༻ ─── •✧💢✧• ─── ༺

Cassie grasped her sword. She snuck into enemy territory without being noticed. Making her way through the woods, she found who she was looking for.

Annabeth stood with a firm grip on her Yankees cap. She glanced around for any red team and was about to leave when Cassie spoke up.

"I'll give you credit, Chase."

Annabeth swiveled around on her feet. Cassie leaned against a tree with her sword lazily in her hand. She had a smug smirk on her face.

"You made a pretty smart plan. For once." The daughter of Ares teased.

Annabeth's eyes widened slightly, but she decided to play dumb, which Cassie thought made her more dumb.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Cassie scoffed. "What happened to the 'Athena always has a plan'?" Her voice mocked Annabeth's.

"So what?" Annabeth demanded.

"Jeez, no need to be mad I was just complimenting you." Cassie raised her hands in surrender. "Keeping Percy as bait for the rest of my cabin and letting some Hermes kid get the banner. Not bad."

"How'd you know?" Annabeth was surprised that Cassie had enough brains to figure it out.

Cassie rolled her eyes, "You're very predictable, Chase."

"Do you all know?" Annabeth referred to Cassie's team.

"Ehh, they'll figure it out sooner or later." Cassie shrugged twirling her sword.

Annabeth made a face. "You didn't tell them?"

"Maybe, maybe not. Guess you'll never know. But I'm bored and fighting's fun so."

Cassie raised her sword, pointing it at Annabeth. Annabeth stuffed her hat in her pocket, taking out her sword.

Cassie's sword glowed red and sparked. She pressed a button on the grip and the red glow went away. It was an electric sword she found when she was a kid, lost in the woods.

Their swords met, but cries rang out through the woods. Annabeth ran to help Percy and Cassie saw Luke rushing through the woods with the red flag.

She sprinted after him with her sword ready to hit but Apollo kids blocked her. She slashed and was able to knock them off their feet, but Luke made it across the creek.

The Ares banner changed to silver and had a huge caduceus instead of the boar and spear. Cassie ran a hand through her hair in disappointment.

'Ugh, stupid Chase and her stupid plans.'

The blue team shouted as they picked Luke up onto their shoulder. Chiron joined them blowing the conch. Hermes had won.

Cassie glanced over and saw Percy and Annabeth talking near the creek.

"Not bad Percy. Where the heck did you learn to fight like that?" Annabeth spoke as she took off her cap making her visible.

Percy was angry. "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."

Annabeth shrugged proudly. "I told you, Athena always, always has a plan."

Annabeth said that right when Cassie came into their view, scoffing. Percy gestured to her in agreement.

"A plan to get me pulverized." Percy remarked.

"I came as fast as I could, but there was a hold up." She glanced at Cassie. "Besides, I was about to jump in, but . . . you didn't need help."

Cassie was inspecting Percy. Not just anybody could take down five of her siblings and snap Clarisse's electric spear. Subconsciously, she moved her sword away from Percy's view.

"How'd you do that?" Cassie spoke up.

"Sword cut. What do you think?" Percy sassily said.

"Well take a look for yourself because it looks pretty clean for a sword cut."

Percy's cut had healed. The blood was gone and there was only a white scratch where the cut had been. As they all watched, the scratch became a scar and then disappeared.

"I. . I don't get it?" Percy stuttered.

Cassie looked at him like she had just confirmed something, and Annabeth was thinking. You could almost see the gears turning in her head.

"Step out of the water, Percy." Annabeth ordered.

"What—"

"Just do it."

Cassie laughed to herself. 'That's the nike slogan.'

Percy came out of the creek, and he turned pale again. He almost fell onto Cassie and Annabeth, but they both stabilized him.

"Oh, Styx. This is not good. I didn't want. . . I assumed it would be Zeus. . ."

Cassie wanted to annoy the blonde more. "Don't assume it makes an 'ass' out of 'u' and 'me'."

Annabeth went to insult Cassie, but a canine growl came from the woods. A howl sounded from the forest.

All the campers became quiet. Chiron shouted in ancient Greek.

"Stand ready! My bow!"

Annabeth drew her sword. Up on the rocks was a hell hound. It was big, the size of a rhino with blood red eyes. It barred its fangs and stared straight at Percy.

Percy saw a flash of red on his left. Cassie held her hands up and the red light materialized into a bow.

Nobody moved and Annabeth shouted. "Percy, run!"

The blonde stepped in front of Percy as Cassie aimed her bow. The hound jumped over both of them and tackled Percy.

Before it could rip the boy to shreds, Chiron fired his bow with Cassie right after. The arrows hit the hounds' neck and it fell dead.

Chiron came next to them as Cassie's bow disappeared in another flash.

"Di immortales!" Annabeth said. "That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't. . . they're not supposed to . . ."

Cassie looked at her bored. Then Chiron answered her. "Someone summoned it. Someone inside the camp."

Luke walked over and everyone forgot all about his win.

Clarisse shouted, "It's all Percy's fault! Percy summoned it!"

Cassie gazed at her with a 'really' look on her face. Don't get her wrong, she loved her sister, but how could Clarisse be worried about Percy making their cabin look dumb when she says stuff like that.

"Be quiet child." Chiron scolded.

The body of the hound sunk into the shadows and vanished into the ground.

"You're wounded. Quick, Percy, get into the water." Annabeth said.

"I'm okay."

"If your definition of okay is 'about to bleed to death' then yeah 'you're okay'." Cassie sarcastically quipped. "Chiron you probably want to see this."

Percy got in the water and all the campers gathered around. The cuts healed as Aphrodite campers gasped.

"Look, I—I don't know why. I'm sorry . . ." Percy tried apologizing. He realized that they weren't watching his wounds heal. They were staring at something above his head.

"Percy," Annabeth pointed up. "Um . . ."

Poseidon had claimed Percy. A sea-green light shone above his head with a white trident in the center.

"Your father—" Annabeth started.

"Di immortales. This is really not good." Cassie interrupted.

"It is determined," Chiron declared.

Everyone started kneeling. Cassie's cabin didn't seem so happy about it though.

"My father?" Percy was oblivious.

"Poseidon. Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God."

__________________________________________

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ author's note

Here's part 2. Part 3 might take a bit because I deleted the whole draft I already wrote ): but enjoy!

—Just Another Overthinker