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Quote of the Chapter:

"When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That's relativity."

~Albert Einstein

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Chapter 7: I'm Trampled by an Elephant

The campers met up in the arena, milling about until Chiron came to explain the rules. Bryn and Derek, being the seasoned veterans they were of the game simply took refuge in a tree and watched the scene before them. Bryn was searching for Luke and Silena. It didn't take her long to find Luke because he was so tall, taller than most of the campers. As if he felt her eyes on him, Luke turned in her direction and they locked eyes. Bryn simply smiled at him. He turned around, probably telling Silena where he was going and headed over towards Bryn and Derek. Bryn saw Silena trailing behind him.

"Hey," Luke greeted as he came up to the tree. Derek leaped down from the tree with an eerie silence, but then again, Bryn was able to do the same thing. In fact she had taught him how to jump silently.

"Are you ready for the game?" Derek asked with a grin.

"Not really," Silena admitted.

"Why?"

"Uh, we're kinda using real weapons and I might be an all right fighter but I'm not a real skilled one. What I mean is I'm going to get my butt whooped."

"Can't you kill someone if they don't block themselves well enough?" Luke inquired.

"Yes, but it has never occurred in all of camp's history. I doubt you will be the one to break that," Bryn said.

"So are we on your team?" Silena questioned curiously.

"No. You're on Athena's team. Just follow them. They will lead you to where you need to go," Bryn said.

"Why aren't you on our team?" Silena prodded.

"Zeus and Poseidon do not get along well. While you would not be an issue, Luke would be because he is as obdurate as I am and in case you have not noticed in the past few days you've been here, there hasn't been a day that's gone by that we didn't get into some form of argument," Bryn pointed out.

"Obdurate?" Silena queried.

"Stubborn," Derek explained.

"Well if you actually listened to me and didn't think you are right twenty-four seven then we wouldn't be having that issue," Luke muttered.

"I don't think I'm right, I know I'm right. You're the rookie. I'm the seasoned veteran. I know when and when not to do something," Bryn pointed out.

"You're not always right!" Luke argued.

"Name a time when I wasn't," Bryn said with a challenging gleam in her eyes. Luke glared at her but said nothing. "That's what I thought. You better head on over to the crowd. May the odds be ever in your favor."

With a wink, Bryn turned around and started climbing the tree. Luke rolled his eyes and stalked off towards the crowd. Silena grinned and said "Let the Hunger Games begin!" before following her brother.

Derek climbed up after Bryn and stretched precariously out on a branch.

"I swear to the gods of you fall off that branch…" Bryn warned.

Derek grinned lopsidedly. "Then you'll fly off the branch and save my sorry butt."

"Or I'll let you fall and break your butt," Bryn countered.

"You know you'd save me," Derek said with a grin.

"Yeah, yeah…" Bryn mumbled with a smirk. "Oh, hello Silena."

Derek leapt up quickly. He lost his balance on the branch and started to fall. However, Bryn had been expecting the reaction and had grabbed his hand.

"Not funny, Bryn," Derek grumbled. Bryn was laughing her head off. Silena hadn't really been there but Bryn knew if she acted like Silena was, Derek would flip out.

"Au contraire, it was quite amusing," Bryn said before falling into another laughing fit.

"You are an evil one, Bryn Winchester."

"And yet you're still friends with me? I must be doing something right because you're still here with me."

"Who else is going to make sure you don't do anything stupid? Like zap a child of Poseidon in the butt?"

"I would never zap your girlfriend in the butt!" Bryn exclaimed, pretending to be horrified at the prospect.

Derek flushed. "She's not my girlfriend!"

"But you want her to be," Bryn pointed out with an I-know-it-all grin.

"Possibly, but if you say anything to her, I'll tell Zeke that you desperately want to kiss him," Derek threatened.

"Don't you dare!" Bryn gave him a glowering glare because she knew he would carry out his threat.

They stopped talking as Chiron came and announced the rules. Bryn had played the game so many times she could repeat the rules word for word.

"Looks like they're getting ready to head on to their area; come on, we better go," Derek said. Bryn and Derek climbed down and with their allies behind them, headed off to their designated area. Their flag had a lightning bolt on it. Since Bryn was the one who had received the flag in the last Capture the Flag game, it was to have her symbol on it this time, representing her whole team.

"Okay, Apollo cabin, I want half of you up in the trees and the other half of you on the ground hidden in the bushes. Shoot at any enemies. Hephaestus, if you can, set traps around the perimeter as quickly as you can. Nemesis, Hermes, Hades, and Nike cabins will fight and try to give you as much time as possible. Since there are about fifteen of you, set five traps, three people on each one, and then get ready to defend the flag. You know the rules about distance. Derek and I will head out for the flag. We're going Tarzan," Bryn said with a mischievous smile. "Everyone know what they're doing?"

The conch shell sounded, alerting everyone to get to their places. The Hephaestus kids had already started on the traps and were halfway done. Hades, Nike, Nemesis, and Hermes trekked to the front lines.

"Hey, Brandon!" Bryn shouted. The son of Hades turned around.

"What?" he inquired.

"Feel free to use as many soldiers as possible!"

Brandon grinned. "With pleasure."

He ran up to catch up with his brothers and sisters to tell them what Bryn had said. By soldiers, Bryn meant that Brandon and his siblings could bring the dead alive, or have some of their father's guards help them out. The soldiers obeyed their every command.

"Hey!" Derek called out. Bryn looked up from the tree he had climbed. "Tarzan give Jane hand up tree!"

He pounded his chest before offering his hand. Once Bryn was in the tree, she said, "Thank you, Tarzan."

"My lady," Derek replied, bowing his head.

"Come on; we don't have much time," Bryn urged. The two of them started leaping from the branches. They reached the battle in a short amount of time. They weren't sure whether that was a good or bad thing. It would be good because that meant they were making good time to the enemy's side. The bad thing would be that the battle was close to their encampment.

She glanced down as she leapt from another branch. It was then that Bryn spotted Luke and Silena, but it was Luke who caught her attention. He was kicking butt. Silena was faring pretty well, too, but Luke was captivating in his movements, graceful and deadly.

Bryn swore under her breath as she made her sword catch the sunlight and directed the beam into Brandon's eyes. He looked up at her, rage in his eyes. Bryn pointed to Luke and Silena and mouthed, "Get them! But don't hurt them!"

Brandon nodded. He had a fantastic ability to read lips much to Bryn's advantage. Derek pushed her lightly, telling her to keep moving forward. They continued. As the two of them leapt from branch to branch, tree to tree, their hands became raw and bleeding from the rough bark.

"Hang on," Bryn said, wincing at the pain. She spoke a small spell that she had learned from the book Hecate had given to her as a present. It had been so useful and Bryn had made sure she memorized the thing. The magic took energy out of her, or at least the bigger spells did, like turning yourself invisible and creating a magical energy ball to throw at enemies, but the smaller spells had little to no effect on her at all.

Bryn had practiced in the dead of night (with Chiron's permission of course). The first time she tried it- she was about eight years old at the time- she had woken up in the infirmary with Chiron staring over her worriedly. Apparently, Derek had found her. That was really how they met. He was a few months older than her but once she had thanked him and once they had started talking to each other, they bonded on a level so deep that they could almost read each other's thoughts. From that day on, Derek stayed up with her every night, helping Bryn hone her magic skills. It wasn't something she liked to use; she tried to save her powers for dire situations. Bryn had passed out multiple times but slowly, her powers grew stronger, she could take on stronger spells without passing out. She had been thrilled.

"Bryn!" Derek hissed softly. Bryn shook her head to clear her thoughts; she hadn't realized she'd been daydreaming.

"Sorry," she mumbled as she spoke the incantation, first on her hands and then on Derek's. "All right, come on."

When the two of them reached a spot where they could see the enemy's flag, they stopped and surveyed the area.

"One of us needs to distract them…" Derek whispered.

"You or me?"

"Me. You're stealthier than me and can run faster. Besides, you can turn invisible." Derek nudged her gently, obviously remembering the time Bryn had turned herself invisible and hadn't even noticed it. It had stunned the opposing team to see their flag floating by itself, not to mention it had shocked Bryn.

"Alright, go now," Bryn advised. Derek leapt down to the ground as Bryn hurriedly made herself invisible and leapt down as well, barely making a sound when she landed.

"Hey!" Derek shouted. The Ares kids looked over at Derek; their loathing for him was written all over their faces. Bryn dashed between two of the Ares kids (who were occupied advancing on Derek) and went to the flag. It didn't take her long to pick it up and dash from the trees. The Ares kids yelled out in rage as Derek followed her. Bryn was using the flag like a jousting stick and it was effectively moving kids out of the way, mainly because the kids didn't want to be impaled by the thing. Luke was the only one who blocked her way. Not wanting to impale him, Bryn shifted the pole so that it was horizontal in her hands. She barreled into Luke before quickly getting up and crossing the river, the boundary between the two teams. Her team cheered and the flag Bryn was holding changed from the blood red color of Ares to the silvery fabric with a lightning bolt in the middle of it- the symbol of Zeus.

Bryn's invisibility charm had worn off and now that everyone could see her, they attempted to hug her. However, Bryn was going to where she had practically run straight over Luke. He was there sitting down, holding his hand to his head; Silena was kneeling down next to him. Panic rose in Bryn's chest. How hard had she hit him?

"Luke? Are you okay?" Bryn inquired, kneeing down. He looked up at her. Thankfully, everyone was either cheering that they won or grumbling that they had lost so no one was paying attention to Bryn and Luke. His helmet was nowhere to be seen.

He laughed. "I know now what it is like to be trampled by an elephant."

"Are you calling me fat?" Bryn demanded.

"No, it was an analogy."

"I do not appreciate being compared to an elephant… is your head all right?"

Luke brought his hand away from his head. Bryn felt lightheaded when she saw the blood running down his face.

"Oh gods, Luke, I'm so sorry!" Bryn apologized softly.

"It's not that bad. I've had worse injuries. If I hadn't lost my helmet, it wouldn't be this bad," Luke told her with a shrug.

"Let me heal it," Bryn said. Luke's sea-green eyes met Bryn's hazel ones.

"If you want to know, I think you're not up to it," Luke told her quietly.

"I'm not weak, Luke," Bryn snapped.

"I'm not saying you are, but you look pretty pale," Luke replied.

"He's right, Bryn. I think that invisibility charm took it out of you," Derek agreed. Bryn ignored him and put her hand to Luke's head, speaking the healing charm so quietly that her words were almost undecipherable for the others to hear.

When the charm was done, she was satisfied to see that the cut and blood were completely gone. On the other hand Luke and Derek had been right and she felt drained and dizzy. Derek helped her up.

"You are such a hard head. Let's get you to your cabin," He told her. Bryn could only nod as she forced herself not to faint. She would not faint in front of everyone.

Once she had been escorted to her cabin and had taken off her armor, Bryn collapsed into her bed, falling asleep almost instantly.

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