It was pitch black.
Even though the moon was shining brightly, the tall trees blocked it out almost completely. There were only a few shreds of light illuminating through the leaves. I practically had to feel my way around. I knocked into Sophia once, plowed over Percy three times, and I lost count of how many times I brushed against Nico.
"It's dark," Ren stated from the side, wandering into the trees from the lack of light.
"Thanks, Captain Obvious," I replied, running into Nico again.
"Yes, I believe we need to make a campsite," Sophia said, stopping in her tracks and me knocking into the back of her.
"Who volunteers to gather firewood?" Leo announced from behind Phillip, who was beside me. "I think Nico and Amath should."
"Noo.." Percy protested. "Me and Amath should."
"Amath and I," Sophia corrected.
"Gods, who cares?" Percy said, a hint of exasperation in his voice. "Athena kids.."
We argued among each other, until Phillip broke us up. "Ren and I will gather the fire wood. All against this idea, say so."
No one replied.
"Good," he muttered, and I heard the two tramp off into the woods to look for logs to gather. At least no one argued.
We were rather quiet for a moment, until Leo, once again, broke it. "Hey, Sophia," he said. "You could hold on to my tool belt, you know, so you won't get lost in this dark."
I heard a smack, and Leo going, "Ow!", so I went out on a limb and guessed that she didn't want to hold on to his tool belt.
It was rather quiet again, except for the noise of Percy carving something into a tree's bark and Leo deciding to breathe quite loudly. No one stopped him.
Finally, Ren and Phillip ran back into the clearing, and I heard fire wood being dropped quickly and their heavy breathing.
"W-w-we were almost KILLED!" Ren bleated nervously, trembling.
"Gods, was it more monsters?" I asked, staring hard in the direction that I hoped Ren and Phillip were in.
"Silver arrows. Girl's voices. Ambush." Phillip explained in-between breaths from the side of me. I then realized that I was facing Nico. Aphrodite was trying too hard.
"Should-d-d we hide?" asked Ren, pacing around.
"No. Stand your ground," Sophia responded, notching an arrow in her bow.
I unsheathed my blade and looked at it glint as Leo started the fire quickly, looking around. Whoever the attackers were, they were nearby, and quite swift. Ren was very on edge, always looking around and bleating nervously and as quiet as he could.
Finally, I got a glimpse of one of Phillip's silver arrows. It came sailing over a tree and missed Leo by an inch. He backed out of the line of fire, but there was no telling where the line of fire really was. We couldn't see the attackers.
Sophia eyed the arrow, and then fired her own over the tree. Maybe the attackers would identify us. The arrow had her name on it, anyway.
I heard a few leaves crack and a noise like something running through brush nearby. Sophia told us to stay near the fire, and walked down the forest path with her bow and arrow at ready, charging into the fray.
We all were very tense, waiting for her. The moving brush noises became louder, and we heard voices. We waited for Sophia to call for help, but the call never came.
