Alstroemerias {Percy Jackson}

17

Magnolia was mad. Really mad. When you make a plan, you're supposed to tell others what it is, not some other made up idea to get them to stay away from you. You don't tell your friend, "Wow. so cool. We're going to get the flag," when your really going to attempt the murder of your other friend. It's not cool.

The green eyed girl had followed Clarisse instead of completing her own job because she had felt that something fishy was going on.

They stopped for a bit, before charging through the underbrush toward the stream. Clarisse led her siblings toward a startled Percy, yelling, "Cream the punk!"

Percy managed to sidestep the first kid's swing, but before long the group had him surrounded. Clarisse thrust her spear at him prompting Percy to believe that he was gone.

However before it could hit him, a flash of green stepped in front and deflected it.

Maggie.

She grunted as she fell back. He managed to grab hold of her arm and drag her back, away from the Ares kids. He didn't get very far before another Ares guy slammed into him with the butt of his sword. He fell backwards, taking Maggie with him.

"What the Hades Johnson! You're supposed to be on our side!"

"And you're not supposed to purposely hurt anyone, so I guess we're even."

"He asked for it." she spat as she turned toward her brother. "Give him a haircut."

Percy managed to get to his feet before the other boy could grab him. He raised his sword in an attempt to strike, but before he could get anywhere Clarisse slammed it aside with her spear. A painful tingle traveled through the small boy's body, rendering his arm numb. The spear was electric.

"The flag is that way." Percy tried to say.

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

"You can do that just fine without my help."

"Percy?"

"Yes, Maggie?"

"Shut up."

Percy thought her words would have been more helpful earlier. Two of the kids charge at the black haired boy, pushing him back toward the creek. He tried to raise his shield but Clarisse was too fast. Her spear stuck him in the ribs. The armored breastplate he had been wearing, thankfully, prevented him from becoming a Percy-ka-bob, but it didn't do much to prevent the effects of the electricity. One of Clarisse's cabin mates managed to get a good sized cut on the boy's arm in his shock.

"No maiming." Magnolia called out. Percy looked over to her seeing that she too had a cut on her arm, though hers was much shallower. One of the kids she had been fighting was unconscious, while he other was being held down by a multitude of vines.

Maggie caught Percy staring, but the only thing she said was, "We'll talk about this later."

The guy who had cut Percy took his moment of confusion as an opportunity to push him into the creek. Instead of making him cold and sluggish, the water had the opposite effect. It woke up his senses, similarly to the way having a bag of his mom's double-espresso jelly beans did.

Clarisse and her cabin mates stalked forward. Magnolia tried her best to keep them away from Percy, but one of Clarisse's brothers managed to wrap his arms around her and pin her in place.

As they came closer, Percy swung the flat of his blade against the first guy's head, knocking his helmet clean off. He crumpled into the water.

Two others came at him. Percy managed to slam the first one in the face with his shield and shear the other's horsehair plume clean off his helmet with his sword. The two quickly retreated.

Clarisse eventually made her move and as soon as she thrust her spear at Percy, he snapped it in two.

"Ah!" she screamed. "You idiot! You corpse breath worm! You snapped my spear!"

"You deserved it." Maggie growled as she smacked her between the eyes with the butt of her sword. The blow sent her stumbling into the creek, allowing Percy to see that the other kids were all wrapped in vines.

Yelling filled the clearing as Luke raced toward the boundary line, the red team' banner raised high. He was flanked by a couple of his own siblings and a pair of Apollo kids. The Ares kids got up, and Clarisse muttered in a dazed curse.

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

They staggering after Luke, attempting to stop him before he could get past the creek, but it was too late. Everybody converged on the creek as Luke ran across into friendly territory. Percy's side exploded with cheers. The banner shimmered and turned silver as Luke crossed the line. The boar and the spear were replaced with a large caduceus, the symbol of cabin eleven. The blue team picked up Luke and started carrying him around on their shoulders.

Chiron cantered out from the woods and blew the conch horn, declaring the blue team the winners.

Percy had been about to join in on the celebration when Annabeth's voice rang out next to him, saying, "Not bad, hero."

He looked around, but the blond haired girl was nowhere to be seen.

"Where did you learn to fight like that?" he asked. The air shimmered, and Annabeth slowly materialized holding a yankees baseball cap.

"You set me up! You put me here on purpose because you knew that Clarisse would come after me, while you sent Luke around the flank. You had it all figured out."

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

"A plan to get him killed?" Maggie butt in. "What were you thinking?"

"I came as fast as I could. I was about to jump in, but..." she turned back to Percy. "You had it under control."

"Yeah, after Maggie hopped in. I would have died if she hadn't shown up."

Annabeth ignored him. "How did you do that?" she pointed at his wounded arm.

"Sword cut," he answered. "What do you think?"

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

Percy looked down at his arm. The blood was gone, and where the huge cut had been, there was a long white scratch, but even that was fading. He watched it slowly turn into a small scar before it disappeared.

"Wow." Maggie breathed.

"I-I don't get it."

Annabeth was thinking hard. She looked back at Percy for a second before realization set on her. She needed to test her theory.

"Step out of the water Percy."

"What-"

"Just do it."

He walked out of the creek toward Magnolia. Annabeth could see how tired he felt after following her command. If the shooter girl hadn't steadied him, she was sure that the boy would have fallen over.

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

Before Annabeth could explain what she meant to the clearly confused demigod, a canine growl echoed through the woods followed by a loud howl.

The campers cheering died down, and Chiron called for everyone to stand ready.

Annabeth drew her sword just in time to see a hellhound the size of a rhino leap onto a rock and fix his gaze on Percy.