//------------------------------//
// Capture the Flag 
// Story: Half-Blooded Harmony: The Lightning Thief 
// by SonicSpeedster97 
//------------------------------//

Over the next few days, Percy and the girls had settled into a fairly normal routine… if you disregard the centaur, satyrs, nymphs, and talking dog. Every morning the group learned Ancient Greek from Annabeth and talked about the gods in the present tense, which felt a bit unusual. But it also proved Annabeth right about the dyslexia; Ancient Greek wasn’t that hard for the group to read. Well, no harder than English anyway; a few mornings in, and Percy and Rainbow could stumble through a few lines of Homer without too much of a headache, but Twilight was far more skilled, seemingly impressing Annabeth a bit.
The whole rest of the day, the group would rotate through outdoor activities to find something they were each good at; Chiron taught them archery and Fluttershy was more than a bit surprised to find she was a natural at it, hitting a bullseye almost every time, even with her eyes closed. Percy; not so much, though Chiron didn’t complain… even as he tried to remove a stray arrow that had snagged in his tail.
Foot racing was no contest, as Rainbow easily managed to keep pace with the wood nymph instructors as they all left Percy in the dust. They told him not to worry as they’d had centuries of practice running away from lovesick gods. Still, it was more than a bit humiliating to be slower than tree-people.
As for wrestling, Clarisse demolished Percy every time he stepped up to the mat. “There’s more where that came from, punk.” she’d mumble in his ear, only to be defended by Applejack’s remarkable strength, which sparked rumors from the other campers that she might’ve been a child of Hercules, though she wasn’t sure how much she believed that.
The only thing Percy really excelled at was canoeing, which – to use Rainbow’s words – wasn’t exactly the sort of heroic skill people would’ve expected from the guy who killed the Minotaur right outside camp.
The whole group knew the senior campers and the counselors were watching, trying to decide where they belonged and who their godly parent was. The girls were especially concerned about this since they didn’t want anyone to find out they weren’t from this world or that they weren’t half-bloods, though their powers didn’t make it easy. The councilors also weren’t having an easy time deciding on Percy’s fate; he barely had any real powers or skills. Luke suggested he might’ve been a child of Hermes; jack-of-all-trades, master of none, but the group got the feeling he was just trying to make him feel better.
As for the others though, the girls could feel the councilors deciding on them, though they weren’t sure what they were deciding exactly, so they decided their best bet was to wait and see what the gods themselves thought. Despite everything, they really liked camp. Morning mist over the beach, the smell of hot strawberry fields in the afternoon, even the weird noises of monsters from the woods at night. They would eat with the other Cabin 11 kids, and try to get some sort of signal from the gods with their offerings, but they never received as much as a peep. Percy had said that the most he’d ever gotten was the same warm feeling he’d always had, like a strange memory of his smile. That never made much sense to Twilight since Sally had said Percy’s father had left before he was born, though she and the others did their best to try not to think about Sally, but Percy couldn’t stop thinking that if all the rest of this magical madness was real, then maybe; just maybe…
Either way, they started to understand why Luke had been so bitter in talking about Hermes. The gods were busy running the universe; that much was understandable from the singalong their first night, but would it have killed them to call once in a while?



Thursday morning – three days after their arrival (or at least after they’d woken up) – was when the team had their first lesson in swordplay. Everyone from Cabin 11 gathered in the arena and was instructed by Luke to do basic stabs and slashes at armored scarecrows. They did alright, all things considered, though Applejack was a bit clunky with such light weapons and Percy couldn’t find any sword that felt right in his grip. Luke tried to help them, but he agreed none of the practice blades were good enough for Percy.
Eventually, they moved on to pairing up for duels. And just Percy’s luck, Luke announced he was his partner. One of the other campers snorted. “Good luck. Luke’s the best swordsman in the last three hundred years.”
“Maybe he’ll go easy on me.” Percy shrugged.
“Somehow I doubt that.” Rarity remarked. And sure enough, Luke started showing Percy a series of thrusts, parries, and shield blocks… the hard way. With every strike, Percy got more battered and bruised… and the girls got more worried.
“Keep your guard up, Percy.” Luke would say, and then whap him in the ribs with the flat of his blade. “No, not that far up.” Whap! “And lunge!” Whap! “Now, back!” Whap!
By the time Luke called a break, Percy was drenched in sweat. Everyone swarmed the water coolers, and Luke doused himself with ice water. It looked like as good an idea as any to Percy, so he doused himself as well. Almost immediately, he felt and looked better. “Okay, everybody circle up!” Luke ordered. “If Percy doesn’t mind, I want to give you a little demo.”
“You guys really like thrashing this guy, don’t you?” Rainbow remarked.
“Very funny.” Percy hissed humorlessly.
“Cmon man, it’s just a joke.” Rainbow shrugged. Though as she and the others looked around, they saw the rest of the cabin trying to hide smirks as if they knew what Percy was in for.
“Alright guys, gonna show you a little disarming technique I know; how to twist your enemy’s blade with the flat of your own sword so they have no choice but to drop their weapon.”
“Okay, that actually sounds really interesting,” Twilight remarked as she and the others all watched.
“Now this is difficult,” Luke stressed. “I’ve had it used against me. No laughing at Percy, now. Most swordsmen have to work years to master this technique.” A technique he then demonstrated against Percy in slow motion, which did indeed send his sword clattering to the ground.
“Alright, now in real-time,” Luke said as Percy picked up his blade. “We keep sparring until one of us pulls it off. Ready Percy?” Percy nodded, and Luke charged at him. Rainbow was half-expecting the whole match to last less than a second, but Percy dodged and countered all of Luke’s strikes.
“What the heck…?” Rainbow asked in awe. It was then that Percy seemed to be losing steam as if his sword was losing balance, so he tried the disarming move; his blade hit the base of Luke’s sword and he twisted for all he was worth, putting everything into a downward thrust and with a loud clang, Luke’s sword rattled against the floor-stones as the tip of Percy’s blade stopped an inch from Luke’s undefended chest.
The whole arena was silent as Percy lowered his sword. “Um, sorry?”
For a second, Luke was too stunned to speak. “Sorry?” Then his scarred face broke into a smirk. “By the gods, Percy, why are you sorry? Show me that again!”
Percy really didn’t want to; his power-boost had left him, but Luke insisted. And this time, it was no contest, the swords made contact, and Percy’s flew across the arena floor.
After a long pause, someone in the back said, “Beginner’s luck?”
Luke wiped the sweat from his brow and looked Percy over with an appraising eye. “Maybe,” he said. “But I wonder what Percy could do with a balanced sword…”
“So do I,” Twilight whispered to the girls, who all agreed.



The next afternoon, the group was sitting on the dock after a near-death experience on the climbing wall. Grover had managed to scamper up like a mountain goat, but the others had almost been burned, shaken off, or just plain crushed with singed holes in their shirts.
They sat there on the pier watching the naiads weaving baskets underwater until Percy finally let out a sharp breath. “So, how’d it go with Mr. D?”
Grover’s face turned a sickly shard of yellow as he looked at them. “Fine. Just great,” he said simply.
“So your career’s still on track?” Grover glanced over at Rainbow nervously.
“Chiron t-told you I want a searcher’s license?” he asked.
“Well, not exactly – or at all.” Applejack shrugged. “He just said you had big plans.”
“And that you needed credit for completing a keeper’s assignment.” Percy continued. “So did you get it?”
Grover just looked down at the naiads, giving them all the answers they needed. “Mr. D suspended judgment. He said I hadn’t failed or succeeded with you guys yet, so our fates were still tied together. If you got a quest and I went along to protect you, and we both came back alive, then maybe he’d consider the job complete.”
“Well, that’s not that bad, is it?” Pinkie smiled. “All we need to do is get a quest and we’re good to go!”
Grover just gave a bleating scoff. “He might as well have transferred me to stable-cleaning duty. The chances of you getting a quest… and even if you did, why would you want me along?”
“Because you’re our friend, Grover,” Twilight assured. “Friends don’t leave friends behind when they go to face danger.”
Grover just stared glumly into the water. “Basket-weaving… Must be nice to have a useful skill.”
Percy and the girls tried to console him and say that he had plenty of talents, but that just made him look even more miserable. So instead, they talked about the various activities and debated the pros and cons of the various gods. Finally, Rainbow decided to ask. “So listen, what’s up with those four empty cabins?”
Grover looked and pointed to the one that seemed to glow at night. “Number 8 – the silver one – belongs to Artemis,” he explained. “She vowed to be a maiden forever. So of course, no kids. The cabin is, y’know, honorary. If she didn’t have one, she’d be mad.”
“Yeah, okay.” Percy shrugged, pointing to the cabins near the beach. “But the other three, the ones on the end. Are those the Big Three?”
Grover tensed; an obvious indication that they were approaching a touchy subject. “No. One of them, Number 2, is Hera’s,” he explained. “That’s another honorary thing. She’s the goddess of marriage, so of course, she wouldn’t go around having affairs with mortals. That’s her husband’s job.” Rainbow and Pinkie couldn’t help but snicker at that. “When we say the Big Three, we mean the three powerful brothers, the sons of Kronos.”
“Zeus. Poseidon. Hades.” Percy remembered.
“Right.” Grover nodded. “You know. After the great battle with the Titans, they took over the world from their dad and drew lots to decide who got what.”
“Zeus got the sky, Poseidon got the sea, and Hades got the Underworld,” Twilight remembered.
“Uh-huh.”
“But Hades doesn’t have a cabin here.” Applejack pointed out.
“No. He doesn’t have a throne on Olympus, either.” Grover noted. “He sort of does his own thing down in the Underworld. If he did have a cabin here…” He shuddered. “Well, it wouldn’t be pleasant. Let’s leave it at that.”
“But what about Zeus and Poseidon?” asked Rainbow. “I don’t remember much from Chiron’s class at Yancy, but I know they each had, like, a bajillion kids in the myths. Why aren’t their cabins packed?”
Grover shifted uncomfortably. “About sixty years ago, after World War 2, the Big Three agreed they wouldn’t sire any more heroes. Their children were just too powerful. They were affecting the course of human events too much, causing too much carnage. World War 2, you know, that was basically a fight between the sons of Zeus and Poseidon on one side and the sons of Hades on the other.” Twilight had a pretty good idea which sides those were, but it also left her with a really bad thought. “And since I know you’re thinking it, no; Hitler was not a half-blood.”
“Oh, phew! That would’ve been a tough image to get out of my head; thank you.” Twilight said in serious relief.
Grover smiled with a roll of his eyes as he continued. “Anyway, after the war, the winning side; Zeus and Poseidon, made Hades swear an oath with them; no more affairs with mortal women. They all swore on the River Styx.”
Thunder boomed in the distance, as Percy seemed shaken. “That’s the most serious oath you can make.” Grover nodded lowly. “And the brothers kept their word; no kids?”
Grover’s face darkened. “Seventeen years ago, Zeus fell off the wagon. There was this TV starlet with a big fluffy eighties hairdo – he just couldn’t help himself. When their child was born, a little girl named Thalia… well, the River Styx is serious about promises. Zeus himself got off easy because he’s immortal, but he brought a terrible fate on his daughter.”
“But that isn’t fair! It wasn’t the little girl’s fault.” Percy insisted.
Grover seemed to hesitate for a moment. “Percy, children of the Big Three have powers greater than other half-bloods. They have a strong aura, a scent that attracts monsters. When Hades found out about the girl, he wasn’t too happy about Zeus breaking his oath. Hades let the worst monsters out of Tartarus to torment Thalia. A satyr was assigned to be her keeper when she was twelve, but there was nothing he could do. He tried to escort her here with a couple of other half-bloods she’d befriended. They almost made it. They got all the way to the top of that hill.” He pointed across the valley, to the pine tree where the group had fought the Minotaur.
“Don’t tell me…” Rainbow said seriously, seeming to realize where Grover was going with this.
“All three Kindly Ones were after them, along with a hoard of hellhounds. They were about to be overrun when Thalia told her satyr to take the other two half-bloods to safety while she held off the monsters. She was wounded and tired, and she didn’t want to live like a hunted animal. The satyr didn’t want to leave her, but he couldn’t change her mind, and he had to protect the others. So Thalia made her final stand there, at the top of that hill. As she died, Zeus took pity on her. He turned her into that pine tree. Her spirit still helps protect the borders of the valley. That’s why the hill is called Half-Blood Hill.”
The girls couldn’t help but feel more than a bit sad about that story. A girl Percy’s age had sacrificed herself to save her friends by holding off an entire army of monsters. Compared to that, Percy’s victory over the Minotaur seemed like folly. “Grover…” Percy said finally. “Have heroes really gone on quests to the Underworld?”
“Sometimes.” Grover shrugged. “Orpheus, Hercules, Houdini.”
“And have they ever returned somebody from the dead?”
“No. Never. Orpheus came close…” Grover shrugged, growing more and more worried with every word. “Percy, you’re not seriously thinking-”
“No.” Applejack could tell that was a lie, and she was fairly certain the others could too. “I was just wondering. So… a satyr is always assigned to guard a demigod?”
Grover studied Percy carefully as if he wasn’t convinced about Percy’s lie either. “Not always. “We go undercover to a lot of schools. We try to sniff out the half-bloods who have the makings of great heroes. If we find one with a very strong aura, like a child of the Big Three, we alert Chiron. He tries to keep an eye on them since they could cause really huge problems.”
“And you found Percy,” Twilight remarked. “Chiron said you thought he might be something special.”
Grover looked like the group had just led him into a huge trap. “I didn’t… Oh, listen, don’t think like that,” he said, looking at Percy. “If you were – y’know – you’d never ever be allowed a quest, and I’d never get my license. You’re probably a child of Hermes. Or maybe even one of the minor gods, like Nemesis, the god of revenge. Don’t worry, okay?” Something told the group he was trying more to reassure himself than the others.



After dinner that night, there was a lot more excitement than usual. And that was because tonight was the night for Capture the Flag. When everything was cleaned up, the conch sounded and everyone stood at attention at their tables.
Campers roared in cheers as Annabeth and two other Athena kids ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner, easily ten feet long, glistening gray, with the painting of a barn owl above an olive tree. From the opposite end, Clarisse and her bodies ran in with an equally huge banner, but gaudy red with a bloody spear and a boar’s head as their rampant. “Those are the flags?” Percy yelled to Luke over the noise.
“Yeah.”
“Ares and Athena always lead the teams?”
“Not always.” Luke shrugged. “But often.”
“So if another cabin captures one, then… what; do we repaint it?” asked Rainbow.
Luke just grinned. “You’ll see. First, we have to get one.”
“Whose side are we on?” asked Twilight.
Luke just gave them a wily smirk, as if he knew something they didn’t, his scar giving him an almost evil appearance in the torchlight. “We’ve made a temporary alliance with Athena. Tonight, we get the flag from Ares. And you guys are going to help.”
With that, the teams were officially announced. Athena had allied with Apollo and Hermes – the two biggest cabins. Apparently, privileges had been traded – shower times, chore schedules, the best slots for activities, things like that – in order to win support. That left Ares allied with literally everyone else; Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus. From what the girls had seen, Dionysus’ twins were actually pretty good athletes, but it was only them in the cabin.
Demeter’s kids had the edge with nature skills and outdoor capabilities, but they weren’t very aggressive. As for Aphrodite’s kids… they weren’t too worried about them; most of the time, they just sat out all the activities, checked their reflections in the lake, did their hair, and gossiped. Hephaestus’ kids weren’t pretty and there were only four of them, but they were large and burly men from working all day in their metal shop; they might’ve been a problem. And that of course left the Ares cabin; a dozen huge, ugly and mean kids giving the group glares of death.
Chiron’s hoof stamped on the marble and drew everyone’s attention. “Heroes!” he announced. “You all 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!”
“He’s just kidding about the killing and maiming part, right?” Twilight asked, before Chiron spread his hands and suddenly the tables were strewn with bronze weapons and armor.
“You tell me,” Luke smirked.
“Whoa. We’re really supposed to use these?” asked Percy.
“Unless you wanna get skewered by your friends in Cabin 5,” Luke remarked, looking at Percy as if he was crazy. “Here; Chiron said these would fit. You guys are on border patrol.”
Quickly, the group armored up in heavy bronze armor and helmets with blue horsehair plumes, while Ares’ team had red plumes. “Blue team, forward!” Annabeth ordered, leading the roaring hordes of the blue team to the south as the red team marched north, hurling taunts.
Applejack was happy to have been given a more weighty weapon in the form of a simple bronze cudgel, but she felt like the odd one out among the others with their swords and spears and daggers and bows. Quickly, she and the others did their best to catch up to Annabeth without tripping over their gear. “Hey,” Percy said, though Annabeth just kept marching. “So what’s the plan? Got any magic items you can loan us?”
Annabeth’s hand just drifted toward her pocket, as if she were afraid Percy had stolen something. “Just watch Clarisse’s spear,” she ordered. “You don’t want that thing touching you. Otherwise, don’t worry. We’ll take the banner from Ares. Has Luke given you your jobs?”
“Yeah, he said we were on border patrol, whatever that means,” Rainbow noted.
“It’s easy. Stand by the creek, keep the reds away.” Annabeth ordered simply. “Leave the rest to me. Athena always has a plan.” She pushed ahead, leaving the group in the dust.
“Great. Nice to feel needed.” Rainbow remarked.
The team was stationed at a small babbling brook before the rest of the blue team scattered into the dark woods. The group felt like idiots just standing there with their heavy equipment. In the distance, the conch sounded again and the group heard large hordes of kids roaring in battle as metal clanged. Out of nowhere, one of the Apollo kids leaped past the group and ran into red territory. “Great. We’re missing all the action.” Rainbow scowled. “Someone make a note; next time we get assigned border patrol, one of us has to demand something else.”
“Agreed. I’m gettin’ bored and sore here.” Applejack remarked, hefting her heavy shield back onto her arm.
“I don’t mind at all.” Rarity assured. “As long as we’re not in the line of fire, I’m happy. All the excitement this past week has done a number on my hair.”
“Pfft. Vanity like that, maybe you belong on the other side of this creek.” Applejack joked.
Rarity scoffed. “I admit the Aphrodite Cabin does have an appeal to it, but I would never abandon my friends in their time of need.”
“Right now, the only need I feel at this time is the need for some excitement,” Rainbow assured… before they heard a low canine growl from somewhere, prompting everyone to instinctively raise their shields and circle up. “Never mind, I’m good with bein’ bored.”
“Spike, that’s really not funny,” Twilight said in serious concern.
“That’s not me.” Spike shook his head, scaring the others.
“Then what is it?” Applejack asked in worry; it felt like the group was being stalked… until the growling stopped and the strange presence faded.
“Whew. Well, whatever it was, it’s gone now. I think we’re good.” Rainbow shrugged as everyone moved back to their positions… just before the underbrush exploded on the other side of the creek, five warriors from Ares screaming through the dark.
“Cream the punk!” And just their luck; Clarisse was leading the charge, brandishing a five-foot spear with a flickering red barbed metal tip. The others only had standard-issue swords, but that didn’t make anyone feel better.
Instinctively, the team stood ready for action as they clashed with their opponents, Percy blocking an impact from Clarisse’s spear… though it numbed his arm and send a strange shock to Twilight when she got too close to his shield. It took her less than a second to realize what had happened. “Clarisse’s spear is electric!” she warned as she clashed with another of Clarisse’s goons, but she and the others were quickly knocked to the ground.
“Give him a haircut,” Clarisse ordered. “Grab his hair.” Percy stood with his sword ready, but Clarisse knocked it away with a single swing of her spear. “Oh wow, I’m scared of this guy. Really scared.”
“The flag is that way.” Twilight could tell Percy was trying to sound angry, but it really didn’t come out that way.
“Yeah.” one of the guys said. “But see, we don’t care about the flag. We care about a guy who made our cabin look stupid.”
“Ya don’t need our help to do that,” Applejack assured from the ground, earning a swift kick in the gut.
“She’s right; you don’t,” Percy assured, only to be charged by two of the guys and struck by Clarisse’s spear right in the breastplate. Now the girls saw what Luke was talking about when he warned them about getting skewered; that spear was deadly. And it put Percy into a daze with the electricity, allowing one of Clarisse’s goons to get in a good slash at Percy’s arm.
The sight of his own blood made Percy dizzy, as he looked at his attacker. “No maiming.” he managed to say.
“Oops. Guess I lost my dessert privilege.” He laughed and shoved Percy into the water, making them all laugh. The girls figured Percy was doomed now, and then Rainbow was probably next. But then something interesting happened; they saw raw energy coming back into Percy’s eyes.
Clarisse and her goons got into the river and Percy rose to meet them, swiftly knocking the helmet off one of them hard enough to daze him. Then two more attacked, but Percy pushed them both back with a well-placed shield-bash to the nose of one of them, and a clean swipe cutting a few hairs from the other one’s plume, forcing them to back off. Clarisse was the only one who kept attacking, but Percy moved slowly back and once Clarisse thrust her spear, Percy caught the shaft between his sword and the edge of his shield, and it snapped like a twig. “Whoa! What is happening here?” asked Rainbow.
“Gah!” Clarisse snarled. “You idiot! You corpse-breath worm!”
Angrily, Applejack stood up and somehow tree roots entangled Clarisse’s angles. “I’ll thank you to be nicer to mah friends, Clarisse.” With a flick of her wrists, the roots tossed her backward before righting her and allowing Percy to bash her between the eyes with the butt of his sword, leaving her dazed for a moment before the roots faded and she tumbled into the creek.
“Whoa. How’d you do that, AJ?” asked Rainbow.
“No idea.” Applejack shrugged, looking at her hands. “I just-” Her explanation was cut short when a chorus of elated cheers cut through the night, followed swiftly by Luke and a few more Hermes and Apollo campers approaching the creek. Luke was carrying the red banner as his backup held back the Hephaestus campers chasing after them.
“A trick! It was a trick!” Clarisse yelled in anger.
Rainbow smirked. “What did you expect from a kid of the god of tricks?” she smiled as she high-fived Luke, who quickly raced into friendly territory. The whole south side of the river roared in cheers as the red banner shimmered and turned silver, the boar and spear replaced with a caduceus.
“Now that is much more stylish.” Rarity smiled as the whole blue team picked up Luke and started cheering his name as they carried him on their shoulders.
Chiron cantered out of the forest and gave a hard blast on the conch, declaring official victory for the blue team. Percy and the girls were about to join the celebration when… “Not bad, hero.” That was Annabeth, but none of the team could see her. “Where the heck did you learn to fight like that?” It was then that the air shimmered and Annabeth appeared out of nowhere, holding a Yankees cap she had apparently just taken off her head.
Percy’s face just twisted in anger as he stepped toward her. “You set us up.” he scowled. “You put us out here because you knew Clarisse would come after me, while you sent Luke around the flank. You had it all figured out.”
“I told you. Athena always, always has a plan.” Annabeth shrugged.
“Maybe next time you could clue us into that plan before you enact it.” Twilight suggested.
“Yeah, or at least make sure it doesn’t involve us getting pulverized.” Rainbow agreed.
“Hey, I came as fast as I could,” Annabeth assured. “I was about to jump in, but…” She shrugged as she glanced at Percy. “You didn’t need help.”
Twilight rolled her eyes as she looked over at Percy… and noticed something interesting about his arm. “How did you do that?”
“Sword cut. You were there for it, remember?”
“No, it was a sword-cut. Look at it.” The others looked and saw Twilight was right; where the huge cut had been on Percy’s arm, there was just a long white scratch, and even that was slowly fading away into nothingness right before their eyes.
“I- I don’t get it.” Percy shrugged.
Annabeth was thinking hard; Rainbow could almost hear the gears in her head turning as she looked around, first at Percy’s feet then at Clarisse’s broken spear. “Step out of the water, Percy.”
“What?”
“Just do it.”
Percy did as he was told; he stepped out of the creek and immediately, he felt and looked bone tired. He almost tumbled over, but Annabeth quickly steadied him. “Oh Styx.” she cursed. “This is not good. I didn’t want… I assumed it would be Zeus…”
“What’re you talking about?” Before Rainbow could get any answer, the growling came back much closer than before, just moments before a massive growl ripped through the forest. Any sense of festivity died in the hearts of the campers as Chiron shouted for his bow in Ancient Greek, which the girls were amazed they had understood as Annabeth drew her sword.
Just then, on the rocks above them, there appeared the source of the howl; a massive black hound easily the size of a rhino with lava-red eyes and dagger-like fangs… and it was staring straight at Percy. No one moved except Annabeth, who looked at the group and yelled one simple command; “Run!” She tried to jump in the way, but the beast leaped over her and slashed Percy’s chestplate clean open as he stumbled back, making him scream in pain as a massive barrage of arrows hit the beast in the back, and it fell dead to the ground.
“Percy!” Twilight yelled as she dropped next to him. By some miracle, he was still alive but no one dared look at his chest as Chiron trotted over to them, a longbow in his hands.
“Di immortales!” Annabeth said in awe. “That’s a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don’t… they’re not supposed to…”
“Someone summoned it.” Chiron rationalized. “Someone inside the camp.”
Rainbow looked close at the beast with an unusual look in her eye. “Is it just me or does this thing look kinda like Spike?” she asked the girls. And she was right; the hellhound somewhat resembled Spike, which was more than a bit disturbing to the group.
“Wait a sec; you don’t think that means…?” Spike whispered.
“Our travel here turned you into a hellhound,” Twilight whispered back in surprise as Luke came over, totally forgetting his moment of glory and the banner in his hand.
“It’s all Percy’s fault! Percy summoned it!” Clarisse yelled.
“What? Why would he summon something to kill him?” asked Rainbow.
“Be quiet, children,” Chiron ordered as everyone watched the hellhound’s body melt into shadows, sinking into the ground before it vanished.
Then Annabeth looked back at Percy. “You’re wounded. Quick Percy, get in the water.”
“I’m okay,” Percy assured weakly.
“No, you’re really not, dude.” Rainbow countered.
“Chiron, watch this,” Annabeth said seriously as Percy tiredly stepped back into the creek. Suddenly he felt his strength return, as his chest healed right before the eyes of the whole camp, some among them gasping in awe.
And Twilight saw why. “Look, I- I don’t know why.” Percy tried to apologize. “I’m sorry…” He grew confused when he realized the campers weren’t looking at his chest; they were looking just above his head.
“Percy, um…” Annabeth said simply, pointing up. By the time Percy looked up, the sign was already fading but the girls all recognized it; a green spinning hologram of a trident. “Your father…” Annabeth murmured. “This is really not good…”
“It is determined,” Chiron announced as all around Percy, campers started kneeling. Even Ares knelt, though they didn’t look too happy about it. The girls weren’t sure what to do, as they just stood and watched Percy be honored.



“My father?” he asked, completely bewildered.
“Poseidon,” Chiron said, shocking the girls. “Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God.”
The girls were still astounded until finally, Rainbow broke their silence. “Why do I get the feeling Percy just drew the shortest straw in the world?”