𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐬'𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 • 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘺 𝘫𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴𝘰𝘯

War Games & A New Find

Y/n's Pov:

That night after dinner, Quintus (Will told me his name) had us suit up in combat armour like we were getting ready for capture the flag, but the mood among the campers was a lot more serious. During the day, the crates in the arena had disappeared, and I had a feeling whatever was in them had been emptied into the woods.

"Right," Quintus said, standing on the head dining table. "Gather 'round."

He was dressed in black leather and bronze. In the torchlight, his grey hair made him look like a ghost. Mrs O'Leary (Percy told me how they met) bounded happily around him, foraging for dinner scraps.

"You will be in teams of two," Quintus announced. When everybody started talking and trying to grab their friends, he yelled: "Which have already been chosen!"

"AWWWWW!" everybody complained.

"Your goal is simple: collect the gold laurels without dying. The wreath is wrapped in a silk package, and tied to the back of one of the monsters. There are six monsters. Each has a silk package. Only one holds the laurels. You must find the wreath before the other teams. And, of course...you will have to slay the monster to get it, and stay alive."

The crowd started murmuring excitedly. The task sounded pretty straightforward. Hey, we'd all slain monsters before. That's what we trained for.

"I will now announce your partners," Quintus said. "There will be no trading. No switching. No complaining."

"Aroooof!"Mrs O'Leary buried her face in a plate of pizza.

Quintus produced a giant scroll and started reading off names. Beckendorf would be with Silena, which Beckendorf looked pretty happy about. The Stoll brothers, Travis and Connor, would be together. No surprise. They did everything together. Clarisse was with Lee—melee and ranged combat combined, they would be a tough combo to beat. Annabeth was with Grayson, to which both blushed slightly. Quintus kept rattling off the names until he said, "Percy Jackson with Y/n Hunter."

"Nice." Percy grinned at me.

Aw, dang, that smile. I'm gonna melt. 

Don't open your mouth, Y/n, you'll say something stupid. 

Oh crap, he's looking at me, I must look weird since I've been staring at him. 

Quick, say something!

"Your armour is crooked," I said. 

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

I re-did the straps for Percy. Next to me, I heard a soft squeal. I turned to see Kyle and Katie fangirling. I blushed.

"Grover Underwood," Quintus said, "with Tyson."

Grover just about jumped out of his goat fur. "What? B-but—"

"No, no," Tyson whimpered."Must be a mistake. Goat boy—" 

"No complaining!" Quintus ordered. "Get with your partner. You have two minutes to prepare!"

Percy looked at Tyson and Grover worryingly. I grabbed his hand reassuringly.

"They'll be fine," I said. "Maybe this time together will help them bond. Come on. Let's worry about how we're going to stay alive."

~

It was still light when we got into the woods, but the shadows from the trees made it feel like midnight. It was cold, too, even in summer. Percy and I found tracks almost immediately—scuttling marks made by something with a lot of legs. We began to follow the trail.