Zoë Nightshade was already having a shitty day, knowing that her mistress had been captured, so she really didn't appreciate the demititan comment from the insufferable son of Zeus. Every time he or his girlfriend insulted her about her heritage, Zoë died a little on the inside. It may not have looked like it on the outside, but it hurt. Deeply. Zoë hated it when she wasn't trusted, just because she was the daughter of the sadistic, evil Titan Atlas. Zoë was preparing to calm down the Hunters after they beat the shit out of Zane, but someone beat them to it.

Arcus.

He punched Zane, kneed him, put a knee on his chest, put a knife to Zane's girlfriend's throat: all for Zoë. She couldn't believe that he—a male—was standing up for her! Again! Zoë was immensely impressed when he took that knife for her willingly (Annabeth was going to get some bad karma for that), and even more impressed, as well as confused, as Arcus went out of his way to make her happy. He convinced Argus to move when he didn't even know what she needed to see Chiron for, and constantly defended her from the camp bullies (not that she needed it with Phoebe around, of course).

Zoë thought that Arcus couldn't surprise her anymore, but the he did. Son of Poseidon, champion of Hades, and champion of Apollo. Zoë had already suspected he had some sort of relation to Apollo, due to the easygoing way that talked before the Hunters and campers left Westover Hall in Maine. And Hades was obvious done to the shadow travelling in Maine. But Poseidon? Zoë never would have guessed it. Arcus looked around sixteen, as she was, and Zoë was rather surprised that Poseidon broke his oath again; she thought he was loyal to his wife now. (A/N: Zoë never knew Percy was immortal, so she doesn't think that Arcus is Percy).

Zoë's thoughts strayed back to the last son of Poseidon she had met—not including that bastard Orion. Perseus. Zoë still remembered that dark-haired, green-eyed, handsome boy that saved her from being raped by Heracles all those years ago. She still remembered the kiss; she could sometimes still feel the soft touch of his lips on her own. But he was gone now. That was 2,000 and something years ago, and Perseus was long dead. The thought almost made her tear up. The one kind, caring, and lovable man on the planet was . . . dead.

Zoë was shaken from her thoughts as Phoebe tapped her shoulder. Zoë hummed in response.

"Let's go to the archery range. We need to warm up for the Capture the Flag game tonight, right?" Phoebe asked.

"Yes," Zoë said, rising from the Artemis table, trying to stare at Arcus, who had sat back down at the Poseidon table while that daughter of Athena bitch tried to revive her now unconscious boyfriend. He deserved every bit of it and more.

Zoë and Phoebe and a few others were firing at the archery range when Arcus showed up. He twisted a ring, and a pure black bow with sea green linings shimmered into existence. It was a beautiful bow; Zoë will give him that. But how he can shoot? That's a totally different story. Zoë knew that children of Poseidon were terrible at archery, but then again, Arcus was the champion of Apollo, one of the twin archers. On the cliff with the manticore, he shot from close range, so that didn't show much of his archery skill. Zoë bet he was horrible at it.

Well, it didn't go the way Zoë assumed it would. Arcus expertly pulled back an arrow, his body in a perfect stance. He let go of the arrow, and it hit right in the center of the bullseye. The Hunters' mouth dropped, along with Zoë because this guy was better than everyone in the Apollo cabin!

Each shot he made split the previous arrow down the middle, creating a small pile of half-arrows on the ground under the target. Arcus shot seventeen perfect arrows before he stopped. He turned to the Hunter's, and Zoë could just imagine some cocky smirk under his hood.

Arcus turned his bow back into a ring before putting it on his finger, and then turned and left. Phoebe was the first to speak, although not a complete thought.

"What in Hades . . ." She muttered.

"A good archer," Zoë commented, reluctantly complimenting a boy.

Elizabeth hummed in agreement but had her permanent scowl on her face. "Doesn't mean we have to acknowledge it. He's still a boy."

Zoë nodded, but felt some remorse at doing so for some reason. Arcus had defended her at every opportunity he got, and here she was insulting him behind his back because of his gender. Wasn't it the same thing as Zoë being persecuted because of her heritage? But, then again, Zoë didn't ask for Arcus to defend her; he was doing it on his own free will, and Zoë was going to show him that he shouldn't do that, because Zoë didn't need his help or protection. She could deal with her own problems, and Arcus needed to stop weaseling his way into every one of her issues.

The Hunters trained the rest of the day until the Capture the Flag came. Chiron stood at the front of the crowd, right outside the woods. The campers cheered, while the Hunters grinned evilly, barely able to contain themselves from tearing the insufferable campers to pieces.

"Welcome to the friendly game of Capture the flag between the campers and Hunters!" Chiron announced.

Cheering rang throughout the crowd, most of them cheering for the death of the Hunters, which made Zoë's blood boil. They'd show those spoiled campers.

"Now, we have a problem to address; who will take Arcus, Bianca, and Nico on their team?" Chiron asked, directing his question at Clarisse and Zoë.

"We'll take Bianca," Zoë said hurriedly.

Clarisse snorted. "I've seen Mr. Hood over there shoot, so I want him. And I'll take the small kid too."

There was an indignant, "Hey!" from Nico, but everyone ignored him. Chiron nodded his head and then gestured towards the large table of equipment behind him.

"Gear up and then get to your side. The conch horn will signal the start like always. Have fun! No killing or maiming, please!" He added as an afterthought as everyone sprinted towards the sharpest weapons and sturdiest armor. Zoë and the Hunters already had their stuff, so Zoë handed Bianca an extra knife and bow. The group then began to jog to their side.

Bianca jogged by Zoë and said, "So what am I supposed to do?"

"Guard the flag. You aren't even trained yet," Zoë replied rather harshly, even though she didn't mean to be.

Her guilt increased when she saw the look of hurt flash across Bianca's face. Zoë reached over and grabbed Bianca's shoulder as they ran.

"I didn't mean it that way, Bianca," Zoë apologized, "I meant that you haven't gotten a chance to train yet. But I'll teach you the basics quickly once we get to the flag."

Bianca smiled and they reached Zeus's fist, where they planned to hide the flag like always. Phoebe hopped up on it and carried the flag up while Zoë explained the plan.

"Macy and Elizabeth, take Marie, Kayla, and Kira to the left, while Phoebe and I take Jen and Rachel. Bianca," she said, turning to the black-haired girl, "you, Riley, and Gina are n defense. Everyone stay out of Arcus's way; he's powerful. Annabitch and her boyfriend are mine. I'm going to get them back for the demititan insults. Any questions?"

Everyone was silent.

"Good," Zoë said, and then heard the conch shell, "Move out!"

Zoë hustled along the right side with Phoebe, and the two others. For the first minute, they didn't see or hear anything, but soon she heard a twig snap. She looked around, but didn't see anything. Suddenly, she heard a strangled gasp and Jen collapsed onto the ground, unconscious. Before the remaining three could move, a lightning bolt slammed into Rachel, flinging her across the forest and into a tree trunk, knocking her out cold.

She heard a second twig snap behind her and she drove her elbow back blindly, and it connected with something hard. But when she turned, she saw nothing. Damn that daughter of Athena and her invisibility hat. Zoë swung her leg out blindly and hit something—it felt like a ribcage—before wildly reaching out and swiping with her hand.

She dimly heard Phoebe give a battle cry, but she wasn't too focused on her best friend at the moment. Zoë's hand hit something that felt like hard cloth, so she clenched her fist and pulled it roughly. The New York Yankees hat fell to the ground, revealing the blonde she-demon that had been tormenting Zoë recently. Her nose was bleeding non-stop, making Zoë smile. So that's what my elbow hit, she thought amusedly.

Annabeth was holding her new dagger in a reverse grip, the blade facing down. Zoë put on a grim smile and unsheathed two of her own knives. They walked around in a circle before Annabeth swung. Zoë blocked the blade with one of her own, before jabbing with her second dagger. Annabeth jumped out of the way and swung her free hand at Zoë.

Annabeth's fist collided with Zoë's jaw, sending her stumbling back a few steps. Annabeth swiped with her dagger, but Zoë didn't move fast enough. The Celestial bronze knife sliced through Zoë's sleeve, leaving a medium-sized cut on her bicep. Zoë grit her teeth and kicked the daughter of Athena in the stomach before slashing across her face. Annabeth stepped back, clutching her now bleeding cheek.

"Bitch," Annabeth insulted before charging.

Suddenly, a random lightning bolt came out of nowhere and hit Annabeth in the side, knocking her flat on her back, her shirt sizzling and burnt. Zoë assumed it was a stray shot from Zane or Thalia: whoever was nearest. Zoë took advantage of this and straddled the daughter of Athena. Annabeth tried to stab Zoë, but Zoë swung her knife so swift and powerfully that when the blades connected, Annabeth's flew out of her grasp. Annabeth looked up just in time to see the hilt of Zoë's dagger coming straight for her forehead.

Zoë got off the unconscious girl, only half-satisfied with the beating she gave the daughter of Athena. She deserved to be hurt much worse, but, even though she was a pretty cold and harsh girl, Zoë would never go farther than just knocking her out and cutting her a couple times.

Zoë turned to see one of Phoebe's blunt-tipped arrows hit Zane in the eye that hadn't been hit by her other arrow in the pavilion.

"My other eye!" Zane wailed, just before an arrow struck him in the temple, knocking him completely unconscious. Zoë sheathed her daggers and pulled out her bow, continuing through the forest with Phoebe. The found the flag, and saw it was guarded by the idiotic Stoll brothers and the quiet—and huge—son of Hephaestus. Phoebe quickly disposed of the brothers, and Zoë's well-placed arrow hit the son of Hephaestus—Beckendorf was his name—in the forehead, knocking him onto his back, groaning. Zoë snatched the flag and they took off running back to their side, when they heard cheering and shouts. She squinted her eyes to see that Arcus had the Hunters flag, and was single-handedly fighting off all the pursuers. She saw him bash Bianca with his shield, and screaming a quick, "Sorry, B!" as he continued.

Zoë put on more speed, hearing Phoebe stop behind her to deal with the following Stoll brothers and Beckendorf, who were now up and chasing Zoë down. Zoë was twenty yards from the creek. Fifteen. Ten. Five!

Suddenly, a wave of water shot from the creek, hitting Zoë right in the face, surprising her so much that she tried to inhale, sucking water into her windpipe. She dropped the flag, and tripped on something before face planting directly into the creek—or what was left of it. She choked and spluttered on her hands and knees, trying to breath.

She heard cheering as the campers mobbed Arcus and the winning team, but didn't expect to feel a hand on her shoulder. She drew a knife and put it to Arcus's neck, trying to look intimidating, but failed horribly because she kept choking and spitting water out of her mouth. Suddenly, her clothes and body dried off. She tried to frown, but spluttered again. Arcus slowly and cautiously put a hand to Zoë's cheek, and coaxed the water out of Zoë's lungs using his demigod powers.

The crowd went quiet, probably waiting for Zoë to beat the shit out of Arcus for touching her twice, but she just nodded in grudging thanks before walking over to Phoebe. Phoebe gave her a strange and scrutinizing look before shooting a hostile glare at Arcus.
Chiron laughed heartily. "The first win in years! All thanks to our new camper, Arcus!"

The crowd went wild with cheers and the Aphrodite girls began to touch him and pull him around, sneaking in idle—and slightly inappropriate—touches, and some even hugged him. Zoë looked away in disgust, and expected the insufferable boy to start gloating over his victory. But, instead, he just gently pushed the girls off of him, forcing laughs at their terrible jokes or pickup-lines, much to Zoë's surprise. How come he didn't go make out with all of them like she expected?

That was when Zoë heard the high-pitched scream from the back of the group. (A/N: almost ended it there).

Percy's POV

Percy liked winning at all, but he didn't like being smothered by slutty—and admittedly attractive—girls right in front of the love of his life. She didn't know who he was, but he didn't care. Percy saw her look away with a grimace, probably thinking how awful a boy he was. He inwardly sighed as he tried removing the girls, but that didn't exactly happen until he heard a little girl scream.

Percy shoved off the Aphrodite girls and immediately jumped into action along with Zoë, Phoebe, and Nico. The crowd turned around and everyone saw that Zane was standing over a small, crying girl. She had brownish-blackish hair, vivid green eyes, and a skinny build. She was definitely a daughter of Demeter. She looked about seven or eight, and her left cheek was cut slightly, and a small trail of blood leaked down her cheek and dripped off her chin.

When Zane saw that everyone was watching him, he asked, "What?"

Someone called from the crowd and said, "You just hit Miranda!"

Zane shot the crowd and incredulous look. "She said Arcus was better at fighting than I was! I only gave her what she deserved!"

That's when all hell broke loose. Zoë gave out a battle cry and tackled Zane as a blunt-tip arrow hit him in the ankle. Zane pushed Zoë off of him, only to receive a rough fist to the face—courtesy of Percy, of course—and then a painful kick to the ribs from Nico. Percy turned and scooped the little girl into his arms, bridal style, before carrying her to the infirmary. Miranda buried her face into his chest and sobbed, and Percy had to control the urge to murder Zane. First, he tried to kill Percy in Maine, second, he insults Zoë over and over, and now he hits a little girl. What was this guy's problem?

Percy rubbed Miranda's back soothingly as she continued to cry. When they were almost at the infirmary, her sobs reduced to sniffles.

"I-I'm t-tired and my cheek hurts," Miranda said quietly.

Percy couldn't help but smile at the cute little girl. "You can sleep when we get to the infirmary and I'll help your cheek so it doesn't hurt. Okay?"

"O-Okay," Miranda responded with a small, sleepy smile.

Once Percy reached the infirmary, he laid Miranda down in a bed and pulled the covers over her before handing he a small piece of a square of Ambrosia. Miranda popped it in her mouth and hummed with pleasure as she ate it. Percy turned to leave, but a tiny hand grabbed his own.

"W-Will you be here when I w-wake up?" She asked nervously.

Percy felt his heart warm. The little girl wanted him to be there? She hardly even knew him! All he did was pick her up, after all. But, Percy, being the softie he is, agreed.

"Sure, if you want me to," He replied kindly.

Miranda grinned at him before snuggling under the covers and closing her eyes. Percy pulled out a chair and the next thing he knew, his eyes were drooping and fell into a deep sleep