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chapter iv.
( the lightning thief )
❝ capture the flag ❞

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      THREE DAYS PASSED, and so far, I have succeeded in not pushing Percy off the lava wall. The only times I really saw the boy was when me and Annabeth taught him Ancient Greek, and when he joined archery once and Chiron tried (and failed) to teach him. In the end, Percy had to detangle a stray arrow from his tail.

      It wasn't hard to notice that Percy seemed very interested in me, despite his constant sarcastic remarks and comments whenever we had a conversation. He would watch me with interest whenever he passed where I was doing my daily activities. Whether it be archery, or climbing the lava wall.

      On the second night, my dream had gotten worse. It still mentioned Percy, and whatever was stolen and how it had to be returned by the summer solstice, but a new voice appeared. It was dark and booming, shaking everything under my feet and myself as well. It seemed to stay inside my mind, echoing throughout my ears and vibrating through my body.

      And it scared me.

      On Thursday, the fourth day since Percy came to camp, I decided to join Luke and the Hermes cabin in their sword fighting session, as I had succeeded in splitting an arrow in my archery session, and Lee and Chiron decided that I could have the rest of the lesson off. When I saw Luke, I smiled and he grinned back.

      "Well, well, look who's decided to turn up." The son of Hermes said, spinning his sword around. The rest of the Hermes cabin turned to look at me. They were all in a circle surrounding him, and I realised Luke had decided to show off instead of teaching. "Split another arrow?"

      I shrugged. "I try my best." I stopped in front of him, glancing at the rest of the kids, eyeing two in particular. "So ... are you just showing off? Or are you actually trying to teach?"

      Luke chuckled, casually wrapping an arm around my shoulder. "Both."

      I caught Percy's sea green gaze, and I swallowed hard, looking away.

      "All right." Luke then said, removing his arm from my shoulder, addressing the campers. "If Percy doesn't mind, I want to give you a little demo."

      I saw Percy pale, and I bit my lip at Luke, and he gave me an 'it's all right', look, so I stepped back and Percy came forward into the circle. Every camper in the circle were suppressing smiles except for me. Luke was the best swordsman the camp's had for over three hundred years, and Percy was going to get smashed.

      Luke then explained that he would demonstrate a useful disarming technique: how to twist the enemy's blade with the flat of your own so that he or she would have no choice but to drop their weapon.

      "This is difficult," he said. "I've had it used against me. No laughing at Percy, now. Most swordsmen –"

      "Or women." I interrupted with a grin on my face and Luke rolled his eyes playfully.

      "- or women," he added, "have to work years to master this technique."

      He demonstrated the move slowly on Percy, and sure enough, the sword clattered out of the boy's hand.

      "Now, in real time," Luke continued after Percy retrieved his sword. "We keep sparring until one of us pulls it off. Ready, Percy?"

      Percy nodded, and Luke advanced.

      My eyes widened in surprise when Percy parried the blow with ease, and before I knew it, he countered each and every single one of Luke's hits, before he stepped forward and trusted one of his own. Luke's eyes narrowed in concentration as he deflected to blow easily. Noticing the change in Percy's abilities, he pushed harder on his weapon.

       My eyes were wide and my lips were parted in surprise as Percy continued to keep up with Luke, and suddenly, he tried the disarming move.

      And he succeeded.

      His blade hit the base of Luke's and he twisted, and I could see him putting all his weight into his downward thrust. Luke's sword flew out of his hand and clattered against the stone of the arena. The tip of Percy's blade an inch from his chest.

      The whole arena was silent, and I could see a small blush rise up on Percy's cheeks. "Um, sorry." He said, lowering his sword.

      For a moment, Luke was too stunned to speak. "Sorry?" He finally said, and his face broke out into a grin. "By the gods, Percy why are you sorry?! Show me that again!"

      I frowned when Percy tried it again, but Luke won with no competition, hitting his hilt against Percy's hand and sending the blade from his hand and to the ground.

      Luke's enthusiasm faded slightly, but there was still an excitement in his eye.

      "Beginners luck?" I said along with the rest of the Hermes kids after a short silence.

      Luke glanced at me before wiping the sweat from his brow. "Maybe." He said, looking at Percy with newfound interest. "But I wonder what Percy could do with a balanced sword ..."

      After the training session had finished, I stopped Percy from following his cabin mates by grabbing the material of the back of his shirt, making him yelp when he couldn't walk any further. He turned to me.

      "What was that for?" He asked, and I glanced around, before pushing him away from the Hermes kids, not trusting them one bit.

      We were standing in the middle of the arena.

      "How did you do that?" I whispered, my voice sounding much harsher than I intended, but I was in a rush.

      Percy frowned at my tone, but he shrugged anyway. "I dunno, I just ... did it?"

      I stared at him with narrowed eyes, trying to figure him out, but I was no child of Athena. "No one just 'does it', Percy." I then said. "Even someone with exceptional talent. What you did was ... abnormal."

      Percy rolled his eyes. "Now I am abnormal, thank you."

      "You know I didn't mean it like that." I snapped at him. "It's just ... it's weird OK? I mean, I'm good at archery because it's in my blood, I'm a child of Apollo. But you, you're horrible at everything – no offence," I added at his exasperated look, "and suddenly, you beat Luke at a swordfight, who is the best swordsperson we have."

      "Maybe it's like everyone said," Percy suggested. "Beginners luck."

      I eyed him suspiciously. "Maybe."

      I was about to leave him but Percy called me back.

      "Hey!" He said, and I turned back around. "You're a child of Apollo, right?" I nodded. "Do you have any 'special powers'? Like, I dunno ... splashing water over yourself and suddenly good at sword fighting?" I narrowed my eyes in suspicion again, and Percy stumbled on his words. "H-hypothetically speaking, that is."

      I gave him a weird look before shaking my head. "No. Apollo children don't have any special 'water-splashing-sword-fighting' magical powers. But we do have special abilities, like gifts from our father."

      I saw Percy's face fall, but he hid it quickly. "Like what?" He asked.

      "Well," I explained to him, "a lot of Apollo children are musically talented, like Jay and Jenna, and some are good at archery, like Lee Fletcher and Michael Yew. Surprisingly, I was horrible at archery, to begin with, but years of practice got me to where I am now. A few of us are exceptionally good at healing, and work in the infirmary sometimes."

      "Like you did for me," Percy said in realisation, I nodded in agreement.

      "That's me, Kylie and Will. And some ..." I faltered, and Percy frowned. "... It doesn't matter." I then said. "All that you need to know is that you're no child of Apollo."

      "But, wait." Percy stepped forward, he was slightly shorter than me, but Annabeth was the tallest. "What other talent do Apollo children have?"

      I sighed, closing my eyes, clenching my fists insecurely. "It's very rare. It was only thought that Apollo and Hyperion could control it, but nature has a funny way of changing things."

      "What is it?"

      "It's called Photokinesis. It means someone can literally manipulate the light around them."

      Percy nodded, before asking hesitantly. "Do you have it?"

      I looked to the ground, wondering whether to show him, but I then decided that he was going to find out eventually anyway.

      Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and held my palm face-up. Slowly, the light merged and swirled together, their bright golden string-like swirls reaching up into the air and created a small Greek letter, an omega: Ω.

      Percy watched in amazement, his sea green eyes sparkling. "Wow." He whispered. "That's ... amazing."

      I felt myself blushing, and I looked away. "It really isn't. I would wish anything for it to go away. It's a curse."

      Percy frowned. "You don't really believe that, do you? If I had it, I would see it as a gift, not a curse."

      Something inside me snapped, and I glared at him. He didn't understand, he would never understand. "Don't. Just don't," was all I said before storming off.

      On Friday, the excitement for capture the flag was big in the Apollo cabin. Jay and Will were both discussing with Lee and Michael for where to hide in the trees, and Kylie and Jenna were drawing up a new design for the flag the Athena cabin would receive if we won.

      I didn't say anything, not wanting to sink their spirits, but the Ares cabin has taken hold of the Laurel for a while now.

      I met Annabeth outside her cabin. She was fidgeting with a pencil in her fingers, and I knew she was thinking about tonight. The daughter of Athena looked up when I approached, she smiled in greeting.

      "Hey, Claire."

       "Hey," I said, sitting down next to her. "Ready for capture the flag?"

      "When am I never?" She grinned and I chuckled. "So," Annabeth then turned her body to me, glancing around to make sure no opposing camper on the other team would listen. "You know what you're doing?"

      "I'm following Luke with the rest of the Apollo cabin, right?"

      Annabeth shook her head. "No, you're staying with me, well, almost. I'm using your idea with Percy as a distraction for Clarisse and her siblings, while Luke gets the flag. Percy will be on border patrol, and we will get there as soon as we can to help him out when Clarisse attacks."

       I nodded, understanding. "What will I do until then?"

      "Stay in the trees," Annabeth told me. "Use your arrows and your powers to your advantage in the high."

       "Should I follow Percy? Stay with him? In case you don't get there in time?"

      The blonde's brows furrowed in thought. "Maybe, but stay out of sight."

      I nodded. "We're gonna win, I know it."

      Annabeth grinned. "We sure are."

*

      THE EXCITEMENT FOR capture the flag was easily seen throughout dinner. I caught Luke's eyes at the Hermes table and he gave me a funny look at the noise in which I returned with one of my own. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Percy looking at our interaction, he seemed to be trying to get my attention, but I purposely looked away.

      Once the plates cleared, the conch horn sounded and everyone stood up. I cheered along with my team as Annabeth and two of her siblings, Malcolm and Billie, ran into the pavilion with their flag. It was about three metres long, with a painting of an owl on the glistening grey silk fabric.

      The opposing team cheers filled the area when Clarisse and her friends ran in with a banner of identical size, instead, it was blood red with a bloody spear and boar's head as its symbols.

      The teams were announced. Athena allied with Hermes and Apollo, the two biggest cabins, while Ares allied with Demeter, Aphrodite, Dionysus and Hephaestus. The Ares and Hephaestus cabin may be a problem, but with a short glance with my siblings and knowing smiles, they wouldn't be much of a trouble.

      Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble.

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

      He spread his arms, and the tables filled themselves with armour, shields and weapons. I grinned as I grabbed my bow and a quiver of arrows, swinging them over my back. I grabbed two celestial bronze knives and sheathed one to my belt while the other I fixed in my boot. I shared a look with Annabeth and nodded, telling her I knew what to do. I slipped on my helmet, its blue plume sticking up like electrocuted hair from looney tunes shows. The Ares team had red ones instead.

      I ran to Annabeth's side and she yelled. "Blue team, forward!"

      We all cheered and shook our weapons before following Annabeth down the path to the south woods. The red team yelled and taunted us before running the opposite way.

      I slung my bow off my shoulder as Percy caught up with Annabeth and me.

      "Hey." He said. We both ignored him.

      But he didn't back down.

      "So, what's the plan?" He asked. "Any of you got any magical items you can loan me?"

      I gave him a look while Annabeth's hand hovered over her pocket for a moment where her Yankees cap sat. It was a gift from her mother, Athena, and could turn her invisible.

      "Just watch out for Clarisse's spear." She said. "You don't want that thing touching you. Otherwise, don't worry."

      Percy nodded before glancing at me, or more my arrows. "Are you allowed to use them? I mean, Chiron kinda said no maiming or killing allowed."

      I shrugged. "Red team and Hermes kids don't really go by it."

      "Oh, lovely."

      "But," I continued, eyeing him, "I have different arrows. They're not sharp-tipped. The red ones are explosives."

      "Explosives?!"

      "Don't worry, they're only mild ones. The yellow ones blind you temporarily."

      "Blinding temporarily, why not?"

      "I have two daggers, you know, Drool Boy, and I'm not afraid of maiming." I threatened, and Percy gave me a look, but he stopped talking. "And finally, the white tips are trip wires. I also have a few normal ones, just in case."

      "'No maiming'." I heard Percy mutter, shaking his head.

      "So, you don't need to worry about the flag," Annabeth said. "We'll get 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 and I then pushed ahead, leaving Percy behind.

      Once we entered the woods, I showed Percy where the creek was and stationed him there.

      "Oh, OK, thank you –" He tried to say, but I cut him off by running to a tree and quickly climbing up it.

      I climbed as high as I could go, and luckily, there was a clean shot from the branch. I sat down on the 'T' section, before ripping a twig from above me and snapping it in two. I then threw it as far as I could to the next tree to hopefully fool Percy that I had travelled trees and left him by himself.

      "... I know you're still there. I'm not stupid, you know."

       I groaned at Percy's words and glanced down at him. He was looking up at me from where he stood by the creek. "That's debatable," I replied to him.

      He rolled his eyes. "Why are you staying? Why not go into the middle and fight there?"

      I shrugged, slipping out my dagger and beginning to scratch my initials into the tree. "It's your first time on border patrol, you might want help with the reds."

      "I can do perfectly fine by myself."

      I arched a brow. "Sure, sure, Drool Boy."

      "Shut up."

      We stayed silent for a little while, and I realised how warm the night was. I glanced up and smiled when I saw some stars in the sky. I was happy that with all the magic of Camp Half-Blood, it made the air cleaner as well as the sky. It was much contrast to being in New York City properly, where all the light pollution hid all the constellations. But the city had its own beauty at night. It had its own stars. City lights and bright moving pictures on skyscrapers.

      Finally, the conch horn blew, and cheers filled the forest. I could hear the distant echoing of swords clashing and I could feel my fingers twitching, eager to join in.

      I saw Will pass us and leap through the water to enemy territory and I grinned at him when he caught my gaze.

      "Atta boy!" I said loudly and he grinned before heading off.

      Percy's face fell, and I think he just realised how boring border patrol actually was.

      "You should go and enjoy yourself. Go and fight." He then said, and I looked at him through the leaves. I then shrugged.

      "Want to get rid of me so quickly, eh, Jackson?" I joked. "Well, sorry to bust your bubble but you're stuck with me."

      I thought I saw him quirk a quick amused smile like he was happy that he had me for company, but I pushed it away.

      That was when I heard something. A low growl that sent shivers up my spine and my hairs on end. Quickly, I placed myself into a crouched position and notched a proper, sharp arrow in my bow. Percy raised his shield and sword.

      "Did you hear that?" He said, his tone serious but I could hear the fear inside it.

      "Shh," I told him, before carefully making my way along the branch towards the sound. I climbed a little higher and I swore I saw a brown coat of a large dog rush through the woods. I frowned and was about to follow it to the next tree when on the other side of the creek, the underbrush exploded.

       I gasped and turned on the spot to see five Ares kid run towards Percy, with Clarisse leading them.

      The plan had begun.

      "Cream the punk!" Clarisse screamed, pointing her electric spear at Percy. Her siblings around her had standard bronze swords, but I don't think that made Percy feel any better.

       They ran across the creek, and I replaced my arrow with a tripwire one, notching it and letting it go. It flew low across the ground, impaling itself in a trunk across the tree I hid in, beside two of the Ares kids. Believing I had missed, they looked up to see where I was, not looking where they were going. Soon, they were in the water, spluttering and splashing around.

      Clarisse growled at her siblings. "Idiots." She said to them.

      I had helped Percy a little bit by lowering the number he had to fight against. But that didn't stop the others. Xavier was the first to attack, but Percy sidestepped him, however, the Ares kids soon surrounded him.

      I helplessly notched another arrow, I didn't know it was going to be this bad. I couldn't shoot another arrow before I had a clear shot. At this moment, I couldn't do anything without it affecting Percy, and I couldn't do that when he needed all his strength to fight against Clarisse and her siblings.

      Annabeth needed to be here, but she was nowhere.

     "Come on, Annabeth," I whispered.

      Clarisse thrust her spear forward towards Percy and he deflected it with his shield, but that didn't stop the electric current. I grimaced when I saw him falter and fall back. He looked up to me for help, and I curled my lip before slinging my bow over my shoulder and starting to make my way back down the tree.

      I could hear their laughter as I hopped down to a lower branch.

      "Give him a haircut." Clarisse chortled. "Grab his hair."

      Percy managed to get to his feet and raise his sword, but Clarisse swiped it out of his hand with a spark from her spear.

      "Oh, wow," she said. "I'm scared of this guy. Really scared."

      I dropped down another level.

      "The flag is that way." Percy said. I could tell he tried to sound angry, but instead, his voice squeaked a little at the end.

      "Yeah," another one of her siblings, Britney, I'm pretty sure, said. "But see, we don't care about the flag. We care about a guy who made our cabin look stupid."

      Another level.

      "You do that without my help." Percy retorted, and I mentally facepalmed. Idiot.

      Two of them came at him, Percy backed up into the creek but Clarisse jabbed him again with her spear in the ribs. He was lucky he was wearing a breastplate, but that wasn't enough to stop the current. Xavier slashed his sword against Percy's skin just as I was on the bottom branch, leaving a good-sized cut.

      "No maiming." Percy managed to say.

      "Oops," Xavier said. "Guess I lost my desert privilege."

      I finally landed on the ground as Percy was pushed back into the water. I sheathed one of my daggers.

      "Hey!" I called and the Ares kids turned to look back at me. Clarisse sneered.

      "Nice shot, Miss Sunshine." She mocked, and I glared at her.

      "You know, Clarisse, you were right," I said. "You shouldn't be scared of Percy, here. In reality, you should be scared of me."

      She growled, and advanced, while her siblings followed but stayed behind to wait their turn.

      I dodged Clarisse's first strike, sidestepping and slamming the butt of my dagger against her right arm. It didn't really do much instead make her angrier. I readied myself into a stance, eyeing her spear in her hand.

      "You're daggers are useless against me, Moore." She said, and I stopped. She grinned, thinking that she had won. I nodded, standing back up properly.

      "Yeah, you're probably right." I dropped my dagger to the ground and Clarisse and her siblings frowned. I then took my dagger from my boot and dropped that to the ground as well. I finally slid off my bow and my quiver of arrows, so that I was physically unarmed. I then threw my arms out, raising my eyebrows at her to tell her to have a go.

      But what I didn't expect was her to nod at Xavier and him to attack me from behind, slicing my arm. I cried out in surprise, my hand flying to my bicep.

      "You dick head, I fixed you up from a stray arrow," I said to him, clenching my teeth at the pain.

       He shrugged. "That was like, on Monday."

      I narrowed my eyes at him.

      He then advanced with Brittany, but this time I was ready. They raised their swords and went to take a blow, but I held up my good arm and hand, and their hits were blocked. As though a golden, transparent wall had been placed in front of me.

       They staggered back and I grinned at them.

       But there was one thing I needed to work on, not getting distracted. Soon, I felt the butt of another Ares camper's sword hit my bad arm and I fell back, my head hitting the ground.

       "Ouch," I mumbled.

      Clarisse grimaced mockingly. "You may have special powers from your Daddy, Moore, but you're not so scary either."

      She was about to prod me with her spear when suddenly Xavier cried out and fell to the ground. My eyes widened when I saw Percy standing. He seemed unfazed by his multiple hits from Clarisse's spear or the cut on his arm, in fact, the blood and redness of the wound seemed to be slowly fading.

      Britney and another Ares camper approached Percy. As though practised to perfection, Percy slammed his shield into Britney's face and sliced off the other's horse hair plume. They both stumbled back, surprised. The other Ares kid didn't seem so determined to fight and stepped away.

      But Clarisse didn't back down. She ran towards Percy and went to thrust her spear, but Percy caught the shaft in-between the edge of his shield and his sword and snapped it like a twig.

      "Ah!" Clarisse screamed in anger and surprise. "You idiot! You corpse-breath worm!"

      She would have said worse, but Percy slammed the bottom of his sword between her eyes and sent her falling into the creek.

      I would have laughed, but I was too dazed by hitting the ground, the cut on my arm, and I was too surprised by Percy, who stood there, strong and unfazed. He looked at me and made his way over, and held out a hand, which I took and he pulled me up.

      "You all right?" He asked, and I nodded, still staring at him with wide eyes.

      "H-how ... you ...?" I mumbled, my brows furrowed deeply in confusion.

      Just then, I heard yelling, elated screams, and Luke came into view. He raced towards the boundary line, the red team's banner in his hand. He was surrounded by a few Hermes kids covering his retreat while my siblings were behind him, fighting off the Hephaestus campers.

      Clarisse and her siblings slowly got up, and the daughter of Ares muttered a dazed curse.

      "A trick!" She shouted. "It was a trick!"

      They staggered after Luke, but it was too late. Everyone converged on the creek and Luke ran across into our territory. The blue team exploded into cheers. I grinned, clapping loudly for my best friend. The red banner shimmered and turned to silver. The spear and boar were replaced with a caduceus, the symbol of cabin eleven. Everybody on our team picked Luke up onto their shoulders and carried him around, he passed me and I gave him an excited high-five. Chiron cantered out of the woods and blew the conch horn, signalling the end of the game.

      We had won.

      I looked to Percy, and approached him, ignoring the pain in my arm. "Not bad, hero." I said, giving a short smile.

       "Could almost call that pretty amazing." Came Annabeth's voice and Percy jumped when she shimmered into view, her Yankees cap in her hand.

       I then frowned at him, asking him the question that had been bugging me the whole time. "How the hell did you learn how to fight like that? You were OK yesterday, but Luke beat you easily the second time. Since when could you wield a sword and shield like that?"

       Percy's eyes darted between us, and he suddenly turned angry. "You guys set me up." He said. "You put me here because you knew Clarisse would come after me, while you sent Luke around the flank. That's why Claire stationed herself in the tree so she could take over when things got too bad. You had it all figured out."

      Annabeth shrugged. "I told you. Athena always, always has a plan. Some of it was actually Claire's idea."

      Percy glanced at me. "A plan to get me pulverised, huh?"

      I shrugged. "Pay back for annoying me."

      "Clarisse was electrocuting me."

      "I didn't expect it to get that bad."

      "Oh, really? You took your damn time getting down from that tree."

      "Percy, it's not Claire's fault." Annabeth said, stepping in. "She's an archer, she's not best at close proximity fighting. I was meant to help her, and I got there as quick as I could ... but," she shrugged, "you didn't need help."

      I then glanced at Percy's wounded arm, and my eyes widened once more to see no blood at all, except for a small scar that even then was fading. "Your arm." I said, amazed. "How did you do that?"

       "Sword cut," he said, seemingly proud. "What do you think?"

      Annabeth noticed it as well. "No. It was a sword cut."

       Percy looked down at his arm just as the scar faded completely from view.

      "I-I don't get it." He said, his eyes wide.

      I could see Annabeth's gears turning in her head as she thought hard. She glanced at the water, and then at Clarisse's broken spear before finally, she came to an answer.

      "Step out of the water, Percy."

      Percy frowned. "What –?"

      "Just do it."

      Percy obliged, and I gasped when as soon as he stepped out of the water, he stumbled, I just caught him, steadying him. I suddenly understood.

      "Oh, Styx." I cursed. "Oh, no, no. This is not in any way good. I-I didn't ... I don't want ... I thought ... Zeus ..."

      Annabeth was shaking her head, muttering, "No, please no, why?!" and I could see she was silently cursing many different ways in her mind. Percy frowned at me and was about to ask when a growl filled my ears. It was familiar. It made my skin crawl and chills curl up my spine. And then I realised, it was the growl from before. Soon, the beast howled from where it hid.

      Everyone fell silent, the air turned cold. Chiron shouted in Ancient Greek, "Stand ready! My bow!"

       I drew an arrow and Annabeth sheathed her sword.

      On the rocks just above us was a dog the size of a rhino. My breath hitched in my throat as I saw its chilling red eyes and its fangs like daggers.

      A hellhound.

      And it was looking straight at Percy.

      Nobody moved, except me and I looked to Percy, before yelling. "Percy, run!"

      Both Annabeth and I tried to step in front of Percy but the hellhound leapt over us and I gasped when it hit Percy and he stumbled back. I saw its razor-sharp claws dig through Percy's armour and swipe upwards.

       Chiron readied his arrows, but he wasn't going to be quick enough, neither were any of the other Apollo archers. Suddenly, something snapped inside of me and I felt my whole body grow warm. It started from my toes and made its way all the way to the top of my head. In an instant, I pulled the string of my bow back behind my ear, and let loose the arrow that was already notched.

      The arrow flew over Percy's head with astonishing speed and into the hellhound's eye, piercing straight through and to its brain.

      I stared at the beast as it fell to the ground, dead. My eyes were as wide as saucepans and my arms shook as I lowered my bow.

      "Oh, my gods." I could just say.

      All my siblings looked to me in surprise and amazement, but their attention was soon turned to the hellhound lying dead at Percy's side. I forced myself not to look at the bloody wounds on Percy's chest, and by remarkable chance, he was still alive.

       Chiron trotted towards us, his face grim.

      "Di immortals," Annabeth breathed. "That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't ... they're not supposed to ..."

      "Someone summoned it," Chiron said. "Someone inside the camp."

       I took a deep breath, staring at Chiron. He couldn't be serious? Who would summon a hellhound? No one here would ever do that. But I knew in the back of my mind that he was right.

       Luke came over, his banner held forgotten in his hand. His short moment of glory forgotten.

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

      "Be quiet, child," Chiron told her, and I could tell he almost snapped it.

      We all watched as the body of the hellhound melted into shadow, sinking into the ground until it disappeared altogether.

      I finally spoke in a small, shaky voice. "You're wounded," I said to Percy. "Quick, Percy, get in the water."

      "I'm OK."

      "No, you're not," I told him, I glanced to the director. "Chiron, watch this."

      Percy seemed to decide it was no use to argue. He stepped back into the creek, and his wounds began to heal. But then, floating above his head, appeared a green light, much like a hologram, spinning and gleaming in the dark night.

      A three-tipped spear. A trident.

      The sign of Poseidon.

      A few campers gasped, and Percy, oblivious to what was happening, started to apologise. "Look, I – I don't know why. I'm sorry ..."

      "Percy," Annabeth stopped him, pointing to the claiming sign above him that was beginning to fade. "Um ..."

      He looked up, and his sea-green eyes grew wide.

      "Your father," I murmured, shaking my head. The prophecy popped inside my head and my stomach dropped. "This ... this is really, really not good."

      "It is determined," Chiron announced.

      Annabeth and I were one of the first to kneel before him, and all around Percy other campers followed, even the Ares cabin, even though they looked not so happy about it.

      "My father?" Percy asked, completely bewildered and stunned.

      "Poseidon," Chiron said, with a long breath. "Earth-shaker, Storm-bringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God."