𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖑𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖊𝖋

PHOENIX DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT as she lined up for dinner the night of Capture the Flag. Similarly, the campers didn't know how to react.

Her Hermes cabin mates stared and whispered as she stood up from her corner and lined up behind Percy at Dinnertime. Luke looked stunned, but he gave her an encouraging nod when he noticed he was staring. She rolled her eyes, avoiding his. She hardly thought it was that big of a deal.

"You're coming with us?" The new boy asked

She sneered, "What does it look like? Are you blind as well as dumb?"

"You're a real sweetheart did you know that?" He teased, facing forward as the line started towards the dining hall.

She growled, "Don't call me that."

"Why, you don't like it?" He asked.

"No."

"Good to know."

Phoenix crossed her hands across her chest, she huffed in annoyance. The closer they got to the Hermes table, the more shocked faces she noticed. The louder the constant whisperings that she couldn't decipher got. She almost turned right back towards the cabins, until she noticed grey eyes.

Annabeth gave her a gentle smile. Phoenix looked away at once. She sat down grudgingly next to Percy, her arms still crossed over her chest.

He started to ask her about the four empty cabins

"Ask Luke, I'm not your tour guide." She mumbled bitterly, taking a swig of her water.

"You're real helpful, sweetheart."

"You're a real pain in my ass, Jackson." She hissed,

"Why aren't you eating?" Percy asked

She glared into his green eyes. "Are you always so curious?"

He shrugged, "Oh y'know. Only when I find out I have to go to a magically protected summer camp because I'm half god and all the Greek myths are true."

She huffed, ignoring his last question. "Number eight, the silver one, belongs to Artemis, She vowed to be a maiden forever. So no kids. The cabin is, you know, honorary. If she didn't have one, she'd be angry."

"Yeah, okay. But the other three, the ones at the end. Are those the Big Three?"

Phoenix ran her fork over her empty plate. "No. One of them, number two, is Hera's," She said. "That's another honorary thing. She's the goddess of marriage, so she won't go around having affairs with mortals. That's what her husband's for. Big Three, is the three powerful brothers, the sons of Kronos."

"Zeus, Poseidon, Hades."

"Bingo. 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," Percy remembered. "Poseidon the sea, Hades the Underworld."

"Uh-huh," Phoenix said. "Guess you're not such an idiot after all."

"Gee. Thanks." He rolled his eyes. Taking a bite out of his—Blue pizza slice? "But Hades doesn't have a cabin here."

"No. He doesn't have a throne on Olympus, either. He's in the Underworld." Phoenix shrugged. "The black sheep of his family I guess."

"But Zeus and Poseidon—they both had, like, a bazillion kids in the myths. Why are their cabins empty?" Percy asked

Phoenix groaned, as if talking to the boy took a lot out of her. "About sixty years ago, after World War II, the Big Three agreed they wouldn't sire any more heroes. Their children were too powerful. They were affecting the course of human events too much, causing too much carnage. World War II was basically a fight between the sons of Zeus and Poseidon on one side, and the sons of Hades on the other. 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.

Percy said, "That's the most serious oath you can make."

Phoenix nodded. "Did the thunder do it for you?

He rolled his eyes, "And the brothers kept their word—no kids?"

Phoenix's face darkened. She looked towards Luke who sat at the head of the table. He nodded to her slowly, letting her know he'd be okay. "Seventeen years ago, Zeus fell off the wagon. There was this TV starlet with a big eighties hairdo— the man couldn't help himself. When their child was born, a 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."

"The world isn't fair Percy, Get used to it." She said, "Children of the Big Three have powers greater than other half-bloods. They have a strong aura, and a more potent scent to attract monsters. When Hades found out about the girl, he wasn't happy about Zeus breaking his oath. Hades let the worst monsters out of Tartarus to torment Thalia. In the end...Well, I think you can guess without me spelling it out for you...."

He swallowed, a defeated look fell on his face. He stopped asking questions, becoming silent for the rest of dinner. Phoenix didn't know how she felt about that.

𓌪

AT LAST, IT WAS TIME FOR CAPTURE THE FLAG

When the plates were cleared away, the conch horn sounded and they all stood at their tables.

Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glistening gray, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree.

From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her buddies ran in with another banner, of identical size, but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head.

Percy turned to Luke and yelled over the noise, "Those are the flags?"

"Yeah."

"Ares and Athena always lead the teams?"

"Not always," he said. "But often."

"So, if another cabin captures one, what do you do—repaint the flag?"

"First, we need to not suck" Phoenix shrugged.

"We don't suck Phoenix." Luke hummed, "We have a really good chance at winning now that you've joined us."

"Whose side are we on?" Percy asked

Luke gave him a sly look, as if he knew something Percy didn't. "We've made a temporary alliance with Athena. Tonight, we get the flag from Ares. And you two are going to help."

The teams were announced. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins.

Ares had allied themselves with everybody else: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus.

Chiron hammered his hoof on the marble

"Heroes!" he announced. "You 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 spread his hands, and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, oxide shields coated in metal.

"Whoa," Percy said. "We're really supposed to use these?"

Luke looked at him as if he were crazy. "Unless you want to get skewered by your friends in cabin five. Here Chiron thought these would fit.—"

"Which is my weapon?" Phoenix frowned slightly.

"Phee..." Luke swallowed, "You get the wooden sword."

Phoenix growled as Luke handed her a sad excuse of a blade. "You're kidding? Even the nine-year-olds get actual weapons."

"I'm sorry Phee but—" Luke sighed, "Chiron's orders. You'll be on border patrol with Percy."

"This is a joke." She hissed, "Right? You're not seriously—"

"You have your orders Phoenix." Luke demanded, "Don't make things harder than they have to be."

Phoenix didn't bother to say anything else. Her eyes showed no emotion as she placed her helmet over her head, like all the helmets on Athena's side, it had a blue horsehair plume on top.

Annabeth yelled, "Blue team, forward!"

They cheered and shook their swords and followed her down the path to the south woods. The red team yelled taunts at them as they headed off toward the north.

Phoenix stormed over to Annabeth. Percy trailed behind her.

The blonde kept marching.

"So what's the plan?" Percy asked. "Got any magic items you can loan me?"

Annabeth's hand drifted toward her pocket as if she were afraid he'd stolen something.

"Just watch Clarisse's spear," she said. "You don't want that thing touching you. Otherwise, don't worry. We'll take the banner from Ares. Has Luke given you two your job?"

"Border patrol, whatever that means."

"Why the hell do I have Border Patrol." Phoenix interrupted with a huff, "Seriously, I know how to fight."

Annabeth glanced at her. "Nothing against you, I just figured you'd want an easier time at your first game. Luke told me—."

"I don't like easy." She hissed. "And I don't like this stupid excuse of a sword."

Annabeth glanced at her, her grey eyes took in her obsidian ones. "Noted." She stared forward. "For now, Stand by the creek, keep the reds away. Leave the rest to me. Athena always has a plan."

She pushed ahead, leaving them in the dust.

"Okay," Percy mumbled. "Glad you wanted me on your team."

Phoenix's head snapped toward him. "Wait, She asked you to be on her team?"

He nodded, slightly inching away from her. "Yeah? Why? did she ask you too—"

Phoenix growled. "We may be stuck together, but do me a favor, and don't speak to me, Jackson!"

𓌪

IT WAS A WARM, STICKY NIGHT. The woods were dark, with fireflies popping in and out of view.

Annabeth stationed them next to a little creek that gurgled over some rocks, then she and the rest of the team scattered into the trees.

Standing there useless, beside Percy Jackson. Made Phoenix want to run back to her spot in the corner. She wanted to go back to her comforting drawings, to be away from all of this—She hated herself for saying yes.

Far away, the conch horn blew. Phoenix heard whoops and yells in the woods, the clanking of metal, kids fighting. A blue-plumed ally from Apollo raced past them like a deer, leaping through the creek, and disappeared into enemy territory.

Great. She thought, I'm missing all the fun...Again...

Then Phoenix heard a sound, a low canine growl, somewhere close by.

She raised her wooden stick; She had the feeling something was stalking them. "Do you hear that?" Phoenix asked.

Then the growling stopped. She felt the presence retreating.

"Now you're talking to me?"

She glared, "Idiot."

"I haven't done anything to you." He hissed, "Could you at least try and be friendly."

"I don't have friends, Jackson." She mumbled, "Never have, Never will."

He looked at her almost in pity. She looked away. "What about Bella? Luke?"

"Luke is just the guy in charge of me." Phoenix shrugged, "Bella is Bella. She's kind to mosquitos."

"Wow." He said,

She hissed, "Don't judge me. You don't know me either Jackson."

"Well, Maybe if you'd let me." He argued. "Instead of trying to intimidate me every time we talk. Be nicer, then you'd have more friends—" He smiled sheepishly when she sent him a cold look. "Just a suggestion."

"Well, your suggestion stinks!" She barked, "You have no idea how hard I try. I've learned to give up, there's no point. I am who I am. Everyone's already afraid of me...So why not feed their fear?"

He shrugged, "Well, I'm not."

She bit her lip. Muttering lowly, "You will be..."

On the other side of the creek, the underbrush exploded. Five Ares warriors came yelling and screaming out of the dark.

"Cream the punk!" Clarisse screamed.

Her ugly pig eyes glared through the slits of her helmet. She brandished a five-foot-long spear, its barbed metal tip flickering with red light. Her siblings had only the standard-issue bronze swords—not that that made it any better.

They charged across the stream.

Phoenix intercepted when one of the boys tried to attack, she managed to sidestep the first kid's swing, but there were too many. They surrounded her, and Clarisse thrust at Percy with her spear.

Percy's shield deflected the point, but the electricity conducted through it. His hair stood on end. The air burned.
He fell back.

Another Ares guy slammed him in the chest with the butt of his sword and he hit the dirt.

Phoenix watched.

They could've kicked him purple, but they were too busy laughing.

"Give him a haircut," Clarisse said. "Grab his hair."

He managed to get to his feet. He raised his sword, but Clarisse slammed it aside with her spear as sparks flew.

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

"The flag is that way," Phoenix reminded.

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

"You do that without his help," She told them.

Two of them came at her. She only stared, not moving a muscle. They stopped in their tracks. Turning to each other, they began to fight.

"I can't believe you broke my lucky knife!" One of them yelled.

The other brother hissed, parrying his attacks. "I told you! I didn't know it was there when I sat down!"

Phoenix turned away in triumph. Right in time to see as Percy backed up toward the creek, he tried to raise his shield, but Clarisse was too fast.

Her spear struck him straight in the ribs. The electric point just about shocked his teeth out of his mouth. One of her cabinmates slashed his sword across his arm, leaving a good-sized cut.

"No maiming." Phoenix reminded. "You're breaking the rules, and ganging up on someone who has hardly any proper training. Seriously—You're all pathetic."

"Shut up Phoenix!" Clarisse hissed, "Why are you even here? If you want to defend him—fight!"

Phoenix shrugged, "It isn't my fight. I didn't make you guys look like the idiots you are. He did. It's his job to kick your ass. And he will."

Percy looked confused and angry, Phoenix had a feeling part of that was directed at her for not doing much to help him. They pushed him into the creek and he landed with a splash. Then they all laughed.

Clarisse and her cabinmates came into the creek to get him, but Percy stood to meet them.

Phoenix saw the strength that emerged within him once he appeared from within the water. Her suspicions that lingered since sword practice was confirmed—The water does affect him...

Phoenix stepped around the Ares kids making direct eye contact with Percy. She pursed her lips and a trail of white smoke blew in his direction. She shared her breath with him, She shared her chaos.

Suddenly, Percy didn't just look stronger. But completely enraged and a little bit off his rocker.

He swung the flat of his sword against the first guy's head and knocked his helmet clean off. He hit him so hard Phoenix could see his eyes vibrating as he crumpled into the water.

The two that were fighting came at him. He moved swiftly but with the force of a tsunami. He slammed one in the face with his shield and used his sword to shear off the other guy's horsehair plumes right off. Both of them backed up quickly and frantically.

The fourth brother didn't look anxious to attack, but Clarisse kept coming, the point of her spear crackling with energy.

As soon as she thrust, Percy caught the shaft between the edge of his shield and his sword, and he snapped it off like a twig. He sneered, his eyes glistening with anger.

"Ah!" she screamed. "You idiot! You corpse-breath worm!"

She probably would've said worse, but he smacked her between the eyes with his sword-butt and sent her stumbling backward out of the creek.

"Told you," Phoenix said monotonously

"Yeah, thanks so much for your help." He hummed sarcastically. His chest rose and fell with adrenaline and anger.

"Next time, Piss less people off." She asserted, "I did what I could, I don't exactly have much to fight with..."

Percy frowned, he blinked and his eyes looked less wild. "Hey, I'm sorry—I didn't mean—"

"Yeah, Yeah." She said, "You're fine I'm used to it."

She tried to ignore him after that, but his gaze seared the side of her face.

Then they heard yelling, elated screams, and Phoenix saw Luke racing toward the boundary line with the red team's banner lifted high. He was flanked by a couple of Hermes guys covering his retreat, and a few Apollos behind them, fighting off the Hephaestus kids.

The Ares folks got up, and Clarisse muttered a dazed curse.

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

They staggered after Luke, but it was too late. Everybody converged on the creek as Luke ran across into friendly territory.

Phoenix's side exploded into cheers. The red banner shimmered and turned to silver. The boar and spear were replaced with a huge caduceus, the symbol of cabin eleven.

Everybody on the blue team picked up Luke and started carrying him around on their shoulders.

He made eye contact with Phoenix, a wide grin on his face as he winked in her direction.

Chiron cantered out from the woods and blew the conch horn.

The game was over. They'd won.

Annabeth's voice, rang right next to them in the creek, saying, "Not bad Heroes."

Phoenix looked, but she wasn't there.

"Where the hell did you learn to fight like that Percy?" she asked. The air shimmered, and she materialized, holding a Yankees baseball cap as if she'd just taken it off her head.

Phoenix could feel every drop of the anger that started radiating off him. He was so mad, he wasn't even fazed by the fact that she'd just been invisible.

"You set me up," He said. "You put me here because you knew Clarisse would come after me, while you sent Luke around the flank. You had it all figured out. That's why you asked Phoenix to stay, You knew she'd cause us all to be more wound up. You were using us as the distraction."

Phoenix's face remained blank, but there was a slight sinking feeling in her chest, So that's why she asked me to join.

Annabeth shrugged. "I told you. Athena always, always has a plan."

"A plan to get me pulverized!"

"I came as fast as I could. I was about to jump in, but..." She shrugged. "You two didn't need help."

Then she looked at his wounded arm "How did you do that?"

"Sword cut," He said. "What do you think?"

"No. It was a sword cut. Look at it."

The blood was gone. Where the huge cut had been, there was a long white scratch, and even that was fading. As they watched, it turned into a small scar, and disappeared.

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

"Isn't it obvious?" Phoenix hummed, "It's the water."

Annabeth looked at Phoenix, she looked down at Percy's feet, then at Clarisse's broken spear, and said, "Step out of the water, Percy."

He came out of the creek and immediately his posture slumped. He almost fell over, Phoenix let him fall away but Annabeth steadied him.

"Oh, Styx," she cursed. "This is not good. I didn't want ... I assumed it would be Zeus..."

Before Percy could ask what she meant, Phoenix heard that canine growl again, but much closer than before.

A howl ripped through the forest.

The campers' cheering died instantly. Chiron shouted something in Ancient Greek: "Stand ready! My bow!"

Annabeth drew her sword.

Phoenix felt pathetic, she threw down her sword and snapped it in half with her foot. When she picked up the jagged piece, her eyes began to glow red as the Hellhound advanced.

She soon realized it was looking straight at Percy.

Nobody moved except Annabeth, who yelled, "Percy, run!"

The blonde tried to step in front of him, but the hound was too fast. It leaped over her-an enormous shadow with teeth-and it hit him, Percy stumbled backward and its razor-sharp claws ripped through his armor.

Phoenix leaped on the monster's back, she stabbed through its furry flesh with her jagged sword. The hellhound was only wounded considering her weapon was made out of nothing special. But the injury was deep enough for it to fall away from the boy. She jumped off, slicing down against its snout with the other broken piece as the creature cried.

The campers unfroze after Phoenix had saved Percy, when they did, the hound's neck sprouted with a cluster of bronze arrows. The body of the creature melted into shadow, soaking into the ground until it disappeared.

"You call yourselves life savers?." She sassed the Apollo kids, and they all huffed in harmonious annoyance.

Chiron trotted up next to them, a bow in his hand, his face grim.

"Di immortales!" Annabeth said. "That was a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't .... they're not supposed to.

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

Luke came over, the banner in his hand forgotten, his moment of glory gone.

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

"Shut up," Phoenix told her. "You're not embarrassed enough?"

"Phoenix! You stupid little—"

"Quiet, Child." Chiron said, "And Phoenix please refrain from provoking your fellow campers."

"Where's the fun in that?"

"You're wounded," Annabeth told him. "Quick, Percy, get in the water."

"I'm okay."

"No, you're not," she said. "Chiron, watch this."

He looked too tired to argue. He stepped back into the creek, the whole camp gathering around him.

Instantly, He looked better. The cuts on his chest closing up. Some of the campers gasped.

"Look, I-I don't know why," He said, trying to apologize. "I'm sorry...."

That's when something appeared above his head, Phoenix looked up. Her eyes glowed red at the sight.

"Percy," Annabeth said, pointing. "Um"

He looked up, There was a hologram of green light, spinning and gleaming. A three-tipped spear: a trident.

"Your father," Annabeth murmured. "This is really not good."

Phoenix tilted her head, "Well, Shit. I was thinking maybe a minor river god..."

"It is determined," Chiron announced.

All around him, campers started kneeling, even the Ares cabin, though they didn't look happy about it.

"I'm not doing that." Phoenix glared

"My father?" He asked, completely bewildered.

"Poseidon," said Chiron. "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God."

Phoenix felt a burning sensation run within her. One that felt like her skin was roasted over a fire...

She gazed at Percy inquisitively, Something told her that things were about to get a whole lot more chaotic.

And a part of her couldn't wait...