I was in shock. I mean, I just slapped someone–it wasn't like I hadn't done that before, but I just hit the kid I had a crush on. We were both staring at each other awkwardly until I broke eye contact by running away from Felix and the entire bathroom problem. I ran behind the 21st cabin (which belonged to Elena), sat down on the grass, and replayed what just happened. I didn't know how long I had been sitting there (I tend to zone out a lot) until Felix sat down next to me.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yup! Will got my cheek all healed up!" He said happily. "Now, are we going to eat dinner tonight or are we going to sit here until Capture the Flag starts?"

"One, we're gonna eat dinner," I informed him. "Two, you're way too nice to be a child of Ares."

"Why does everyone say that about me?" He sighed as we got up to walk to the pavilion. The number of venomous stares from other ladies I got when I entered the pavilion could set a desert on fire. I went to sit down next to Elena at her table so she wouldn't be lonely. I looked to the other end of the pavilion and saw Sophia glance at us sadly. I wanted to go sit with her but Elena had become kind of distant with all of Sophia's new friends so I wanted to talk to her. Elena looked at me and smiled slightly.

"Why were you and Felix behind my cabin?" She smirked. "I bet you were making out . . ."

My eyebrows shot off my head and my voice had a squeak to it when I said. "No, what the Hades–?"

Elena burst out laughing.

"We weren't doing anything, just apologizing for what happened," I said, flustered.

"Yeah right." was the response.

"I swear I-" I was interrupted by one of the unholiest responses in my life.

"Shhh—child, I understand, just don't get prego."

"Stop!" I covered my ears with my hands. "I said we didn't do anything."

At that moment I was very tempted to ditch Elena's table and join Sophia, but I stayed put.

Elena's eyes widened. "You would ditch me?"

And then my eyes widened. "Was I thinking out loud?"

"No . . ." Elena looked down. "Chiron told me that children of Koalemos can read minds."

"What?" I glared at Elena. And then I got up, ditched Elena, and went to join Sophia.

When I sat down, I must have had an angry look on my face, because Sophia asked, "Sheesh, girly. What happened now?"

"Elena just told me she can read minds," I snapped. "And I'm mad at her because she might have been reading our minds the whole time."

Sophia looked shocked. "And she hasn't told us this whole time?"

I shook my head in dismay.

"Wow." Sophia looked back down at her food. Lukas looked at her from across the table and gave her a sympathetic look. She glanced at him and smiled sadly. I looked at Lukas like excuse me, but you can't like my wonderful friend.

I saw Elena walking over to me and Sophia. "Guys, I'm sorry," Elena said apologetically.

"You should be," I said angrily.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Sophia asked sadly.

"Well-I guess I thought you wouldn't, you know like me anymore."

"We would always like you no matter what," I informed her.

"Wow, so touching," Leo said sarcastically.

Chiron then stood up and announced for everyone to get ready for Capture the Flag. I was bunked with Hermes Cabin for the game since I was unclaimed. Lukas came up to me and explained the teams and the game. "You're with Hermes since you haven't been claimed, which means you're on the blue team." He pointed to all the blue armor. Then he pointed to the red flag with the Ares cabin symbol on it. "Last time, the red team won. But this time we made a deal with the Athena and Ares cabins that involved cabin cleaning for a month. Percy, Sophia, and Jason were willing to join the team."

"How does the flag change color?" I asked. "Do you, like, paint it?"

Lukas grinned. "You'll see."

He dragged me over to everyone and showed me how to put my armor on.

Sophia skipped up to us. "You ready?" She asked me excitedly.

"Yep!" I said happily.

Felix walked up to us and asked if we were ready. I could see the look of disgust on Sophia's and Lukas's faces at the fact that Felix would be on our team.

"Learn to get along, gods," I muttered. Everyone smiled slightly then we got in our places.

Then the conch horn blew.

I watched as Sophia, Lukas, Luna, and some other kid darted in one direction, and Jason, Percy, and Annabeth ran in another. I paired with Felix and we ran off after Elena and Will since they were on the red team.

Before the game started, I had a conversation with the Ares kids that had a little to do with traps. They thought it was stupidly simple, and honestly, it was, but I thought that was the smart part of it.

After the Ares kids had begrudgingly agreed to my idea, they told everyone where the traps would be so that nobody on our team would get caught in them.

One, I thought as I passed by a trap that lay by a tall tree.

My goal was to get to the flag as quickly as possible before the red team. But they had other plans.

A Nike kid called Chris was standing guard, in the way of the path I was taking. This must be where the flag is, I thought. I climbed up the nearest tree (like an idiot) and then jumped down on top of the kid's head. He was knocked out for a while. I apologized to the unconscious body and then kept running further.

When I got to the flag, Sophia and Percy were already there. I heard someone yelp in the background and realized he must have gotten caught in one of our traps.

Sophia caught my eye. "You hold them off with Percy!" She shouted. "I'll get the flag." Percy and I looked at each other and we simultaneously reached into our pockets. Percy pulled out a pen while I pulled out the box knife. It would have been funny to anyone else who didn't understand the situation.

My box knife changed into a black sword–small compared to others, but I liked to think it was deadly. (I don't know, I've never killed anything with it unless you count the minotaur.)

At this point, I realized we were by the creek, which was stupid thinking for the red team and smart thinking for Sophia and Percy. But then I also realized we were near the Labyrinth and Zeus's fist.

I was about to shout this to Lukas, who came charging through, but then he tripped and stumbled into . . . somewhere.

"Lukas!" I called.

Sophia whipped her head around. She was so close to the flag, I didn't know whether or not she was going to choose to grab it or go save Lukas.

She faltered in her steps and ran the other way. Someone came up behind me and punched me. Hard.

"Luna?" I asked after I saw who it was.

"I'll take over," she said, a silver dagger glittering in her grip. "Go get the flag."

I sprinted over to the flag, which was embedded between two giant rocks. I don't know if what I did was stupid or smart, but I kicked off the ground, and became Spiderman! No—I leaped onto the rock and then jumped onto the other one as if I were climbing between two walls. I grabbed the flag and pulled it as hard as I could, but it wouldn't come out. I pulled again, and finally, the flag burst out. A little pebble hit me in the face.

Then, answering my earlier question, the flag rippled and turned blue, the Athena symbol showing (because, I later learned, the Athena cabin was 'leading' the team).

My entire team had gotten to that area at that point and were cheering as I lifted the flag in the air in victory.

My excitement died down as I realized that Sophia and Lukas could still be stuck in the Labyrinth. I tried to keep a happy face on, though. There was nothing I could do. I would probably have to let the problem: A) solve itself or B) Sophia and Lukas solve the problem together.

Then everyone gasped. "What?" I asked, I felt stupid. Then Chiron appeared out of nowhere and looked taken aback.

I looked up and saw the same symbol Elena had described: a stick with a theater mask, glowing above my head.

Chiron looked at me. "Everyone, welcome Aliya, daughter of Koalemos."