House of Cards, percy jackson & the olympians

vi. Red Team's Loss (And Sea God's Son)

house of cards
❛ vi. red team's loss ❜

━━━━━ FRIDAY NIGHT'S WERE always exciting. Capture the Flag was a favorite among every camper at Camp Half-Blood — they all wanted the chance to fight and prove themselves as skilled (and, of course, to completely destroy the other team). And Genna — like everyone else on her side — was stoked to absolutely obliterate the red team tonight.

Tonight, it was the Athena Cabin that was leading the blue team — and like most times it was the Athena Cabin leading, Annabeth had come up with the strategy that would hopefully let them win with ease. Again, Annabeth was in charge, and somehow, she might even be more determined than normal — that could either be a wonderful thing (if they won), or something terrible (if the blue team lost). This was Annabeth's plan, and she was great at strategy, so Genna had hope — the blue team would beat the Ares Cabin and their red team.

That night, when the plates cleared away, the conch horn sounded — the horn rippled across the ground, and heads perked up — and campers stood at their tables.

Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings — Malcolm and Sophia — ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glistening grey, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree. From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her siblings — Sherman and Cole — ran in with another banner, of identical size, but gaudy red and painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head.

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

The blond nodded. "Yeah."

"Ares and Athena always lead the teams?"

"Not always." Luke shook his head. "But pretty often."

"So, if another cabin captures one," Percy started to ask, "what do you do — repaint the flag? That seems tedious for one game."

Luke's face twitched, his scar curling around his smile. The scar on his face made him look almost evil in the torchlight. "You'll see. First, we have to get one."

"Whose side are we on?"

Genna elbowed her way beside Percy to be heard better. Her grin was as sly as Luke's, and Percy got the feeling those two both knew something he didn't. Her hair looked like it was almost dancing like fire from the torchlight. "Temporary alliance with Athena Cabin, Percy," she told him. "So we're the blue team. And" — she slung an arm over his shoulders and pointed to Clarisse and her siblings — "Ares and their red team are our enemies. We'll get the flag from them, and you'll be the key to it."

Percy eyed the redhead. "What does that mean?"

Her grin widened. "You'll see."

"And I don't like that answer, Genna."

She shrugged. "Sucks."

The teams were announced — Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins. The red team consisted of Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus, along with Ares of course. It was a pretty typical team setup — the Ares Cabin aimed for intimidation by the sheer number of cabins, while the Athena Cabin created alliances through trades. To get Hermes and Apollo cabins to fight with them, Annabeth (and her brother, Malcolm) offered shower times, chore schedules, and the best slots for activities. It made sense the Athena Cabin wanted to side with Apollo and Hermes cabins — as insufferable as Cabin Seven could be, they rarely missed their marks. They were frustratingly good at anything that had to do with art, healing, and marksmanship. Plus, their trick arrows (of Lee Fletcher and Michael Yew's doing) were good at causing distraction and mayhem.