Category: Home

by Emery Pugh

SPOILER ALERT: The following content may reveal parts of the plot of the Percy Jackson book series. There may also be spoilers about the Heroes of Olympus book series, which is a five-book sequel to the Percy Jackson series. The Trials of Apollo series, the sequel to Heroes of Olympus, will be mentioned. It is highly recommended that you read at least the Percy Jackson series AND the first book of the Heroes of Olympus series. If you don’t mind the spoilers, then read on. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Chapter 6

Godric

I whistled to summon my teammates. I told them of my encounter with Clarisse, and we headed for Zeus’s fist to capture the Hecate cabin.

On the way, we discovered the decoy party, led by Sanderson, all tied up as prisoners. After freeing them, I informed them of our plan.

“Alright,” Sanderson said. “But I can’t come with you. Our flag is about to be captured.”

As we neared the pile of rocks, I summoned several small lightning strikes and hit each guard with one. They fell to the ground, howling in pain and their clothes steaming.

To my delight, Clarisse was one of the people I had struck with lightning. “Ow! Ow, ow, ow! Godric, I’ll get you back for this!”

I pressed a small blue triangle in between the rocks, which is how you enter the Labyrinth. (WARNING: do not try this at home if you value your sanity. If you don’t value your sanity, still don’t try it.)

The floor underneath us unexpectedly disappeared. If not for me using a gust of wind to slow our 30-foot fall, some of us probably would’ve broken a bone or two.

The Hecate cabin was about half a dozen in number. They all looked pretty tired and drowsy, probably from having to keep the trap above in working order. They were chatting quietly around a small fire.

A few moments after we landed, we had them surrounded with swords to their necks and their hands tied behind their backs. This capture the flag game has really gotten forceful and somewhat more violent than usual.

“What do you want with us?” said a Hecate girl named Paris, meekly. “We haven’t been doing anything.”

“You haven’t been doing anything,” I agreed. “Except one little thing. There’s this magic trap above.”

“We don’t know anything about it,” Paris said. “We’re down here because it’s too hot on the surface. It’s nice and cool down here.”

I snorted. “A bad excuse is worse than no excuse.”

“We’re simply talking,” the girl said softly. “You’re completely mistaken if you think we are involved with the – what’s that?” She pointed behind me and took on an expression of horror. Unfortunately for her, I knew that trick. I didn’t even blink.

I continued to stare at her as she sat frozen in place, looking behind me. After a few seconds, her expression was so comical, I couldn’t hold in a laugh. A titter went around, and even Paris had to smile.

“Disable the trap,” I said sharply. “Now.”

“But –”

“No buts.”

“But –”

“No buts,” I repeated.

She slumped her shoulders and reluctantly said, “Fine. But I can’t do it with my hands tied, and it takes all of us to disable it. But –”

“No buts,” I said, struggling to maintain a straight face. “I’ll untie your hands, but no magic other than disabling the trap.”

“You said no buts,” Paris said quietly.

I stared at her blankly. “I did. What about it?”

“You just used a but.”

I ignored her comment.

I gave the signal to untie the ropes. Once they were liberated from their bonds, they began to chant in ancient Greek. I could feel the aura of the trap above us fade. A few shards of metal that were upholstered by the magic trap clattered to the rocks.

A snarl sounded right behind me.

I wheeled around to meet a pair of glowing red eyes. The body of the creature was covered in fur, which was pitch black with streaks of silver, blending in perfectly with the darkness of the Labyrinth.

AROOOO! The wolf lifted its head skyward and bayed loudly. From the depths of the tunnels, I heard several response calls. The rest of the pack was coming.

Slight problem here: the way out of the Labyrinth, which is the opening above from where we dropped, was closed. I couldn’t summon a wind gust to fly us up there. And the wolf was blocking my way to a wall, which is where you’re supposed to find a glowing blue triangle to find a passageway out.

By now, dozens of wolves had surrounded us. All of them looked at us with hungry eyes.

With a howl, the entire pack charged.

***********************************************************************************

I loved the fairness here. It was about 15 of us versus 50 of them.

Three wolves pounced on me as I drew my sword. I gave the first one a slash he was not likely to forget. The second was sent to Tartarus. I pounded the hilt of my sword into the third wolf’s forehead, which made him go cross-eyed.

A faint blue triangle – the Greek letter delta – glowed on the wall about fifteen feet away from me. I knew that was the way out of the Labyrinth.

I hacked my way through a bunch of wolves and pressed the blue triangle. A humming sound filled the chamber and a staircase emerged. I stabbed another wolf in the gut and turned around to help the others.

In the next instant, everything became absolutely silent. The wolves and campers froze in place. A powerful aura filled the Labyrinth.

Come to me. Your precious little camp cannot keep you safe.

It was the same mysterious whisper I had heard last night.

Chapter 7

Hector

I woke up almost as soon as I passed out.

Garret was back to his old habits – chewing on things. He was gnawing on his shirt and slowly tearing the seat leather to shreds. All of a sudden, Coach Hedge pulled over. “Get out of the car! Now!”

Satyrs clambered out of the trunk and jumped to the ground as fast as a half mountain-goat could, which was pretty fast – at least, faster than I could.

Wondering what the sudden warning was about, I jumped out of the car and sneaked into the middle of the group of satyrs. Call me a coward, but to me, it’s a reasonable action based on what’s happened today.

Coach Hedge led the way into a nearby grove of trees and stopped in front of a tumbled-down old hut. He beckoned to me and pointed to the door.

I grabbed the handle and tried to open it, but it was bolted shut. It didn’t budge an inch.

“Touch the blue triangle.” Hedge pointed to a glowing blue symbol in the shape of the Greek letter delta: Δ.

I did so, and the door swung open. A steep staircase led into the darkness. It didn’t look like much of a friendly place, but Coach Hedge marched straight down anyway.

We emerged into a dim corridor. Hedge muttered something about “killing” and “whacking people on the head” as he lit a match.

For the next ten minutes, all I did was follow the crowd of satyrs. Suddenly, a satyr put up his hand.

“Don’t make a noise!”

A slight breeze washed over us from behind. As quickly as it came, it disappeared. I didn’t take that as a good sign.

“AHHHH!” A high-pitched scream echoed through the tunnels behind us. I was liking this place less and less.

“We need to move fast.” Garret jogged down the corridor, the opposite direction from the scream. A most reasonable choice of direction.

As soon as he said that, roots sprouted from the ground and wrapped around my legs. My entire body was quickly bound by roots. I opened my mouth to call out, but a handful of berries were shoved into my mouth. All that came out was, “Mmmph! Mmmph!”

I was glad I could make any noise at all, because Garret turned around as I started to sink into the earth. Without a word, he quickly whipped out his knife and cut the roots. I pulled myself out, gasping.

“Coach!” Garret called quietly. “Watch out for traps!”

Coach Hedge wheeled around. “Is there anyone to kill?”

“Um… maybe?” Garret replied uncertainly.

“Then don’t waste time,” Hedge snapped. “If there’s nobody to kill, or if it’s not related to Chuck Norris, then it’s probably not worth your attention.” This guy… I mean satyr… was getting weirder and weirder the more I knew him.

Covered in muck, I continued to follow them through the twisting corridors. The satyrs were getting more jittery with each step.

Grrrr, a guttural noise echoed behind me. I whirled around, but nobody was there. The satyrs didn’t seem to notice the sound.

Another breeze washed over us. A wolf’s howl echoed through the corridors, and the next thing I knew, a creature was upon me.

The satyrs were in total disarray.

Garret played on his reed pipes, but a wolf knocked him down. Another satyr was kicked in the stomach and bowled over in pain. Several others were fighting a losing battle against a few wolves.

I didn’t see much else, as I had my own case to attend to. The wolf hovering over me opened his jaws wide. Unfortunately for him, he never got to get a taste of me.

“DIE!” Coach Hedge raised his baseball bat (the first one broke – where does he get so many?) and slammed it on the wolf’s head. The wolf moaned and fell to the floor.

“Um… thanks,” I said. Coach Hedge didn’t hear me. He had already ran off.

Suddenly, I remembered the bronze knife Garret gave to me when we were fighting Kane, the monster-bully. I pulled it out and stared at my reflection for a moment.

The reflection began to swirl. Replaced by my reflection was a beach with a tropical forest on one side and a vast ocean on the other. From the waters, a massive serpent arose. Looking around, I realized that everyone had frozen. There were no clashes of weapons. The satyrs were frozen in place, their lips to their reed pipes and wooden clubs in hand. Some of the wolves were suspended in mid-air.

I looked back at the reflection in the knife. The serpent whispered, Come to me. Your precious little camp cannot keep you safe.

The serpent grew larger, and the tip of a tooth poked out of the bronze knife. In desperation, I threw the knife onto the floor, and it shattered like glass. The serpent’s presence dissipated, and an angry roar echoed around the chamber.

by Layal Hilal

Before you read the story, READ THIS. This story is not just a story, it’s an interactive story, so you have to write too! That means you have to fill in the rest of the story yourself. I promise, it’ll be fun! But if you want a story with a satisfying ending, this isn’t for you. Unless you’re okay with writing that ending! If you really don’t want to write, I’ll post part 2 next year. Either way, start reading in

3…2…1!

Maria

I’m not going to say life sucks. 

I still have my friends, even if they’re dead. I still have my family, even if I haven’t seen them in three months. I still have my health, even though it’s rapidly declining. I still have–you know what? I’m just going to cut myself off right there, because it’s pretty obvious, even to my oblivious self, that life sucks.

“Hey, what’s up?! I’m so tired! They practically fed me slops today! I’m not a pig or something! On the other hand, it tasted delicious, so maybe they were treating me like the royalty I am…What did you get for breakfast today? I hope it was something good, like pancakes! I miss pancakes–and waffles! Especially when you eat them with maple syrup and butter, or extra maple syrup! And…”

Great. Sally’s awake. Okay, so earlier, I actually made a mistake. I said all my friends are dead. That is not true. One of my friends is still with me, alive. She’s also a prisoner, but we’re in the same cell and she’s honestly… kind of annoying. Sally made herself my friend when we met somewhere in history on a crazy adventure to save the world. Again.

(I think it was in China? Maybe when the Great Wall was being built or something…)

I never really wanted to be friends. Sally was just supposed to help on our quest, but after we saved the world, she kind of just started tagging along with us, and eventually, she made us her “best friends for ever and ever!”. And hey, I’m not complaining. I’m just…okay, maybe I’m complaining.

“Sally,” I start, cutting her rant about breakfast foods off mid sentence. “I have a really long day ahead of me right now. Can you please leave me alone?”

“…Eggs aren’t really my favorite food and sometimes when my mom used to make them I would throw them away! Can you imagine?! I can’t even begin to make myself think about throwing stuff away now! But if it was eggs, maybe I would–oh, did you say something, Maria?”

“Forget it.” It’s clear that no amount of talking–or screaming–can ever make Sally hear me.

Suddenly, a loud knock rings through the room, jerking Sally and I to our senses. A sharp, commanding voice follows right after, a voice I can’t escape even in my dreams.

“Get up! The arena’s calling.”

Michael

It sounds louder this time. 

It’s always loud, I guess, but this time, instead of cheers and boos from a couple hundred people, it sounds like the rage of the world crushing my soul into a million flecks of dust. I wonder who I’m going to have to fight this time. Usually, Sarah and I are partnering against a monster, which is overall annoying and painful. But lately, we’ve been getting sent into the ring alone, which is not only harder, but we’ve also been forced to fight stronger monsters.

(Well, what would you call giant beasts 25 feet tall, and at least 3000 years old and who fight with the strength of the entire earth and only want to kill you and can use magic and can speak to you and are weird mutation things that look like they came out of Goosebumps?)

“Ready?” Sarah asks nervously. Her long black hair falls in a waterfall down her back, at least until she ties it up in a ponytail and pulls on her warrior boots. I nod, not trusting my voice. Maria always says–said–that I’m too proud for my own good. She’s probably right. Sarah rolls her eyes. “You’re terrified, aren’t you.”

It’s not a question.

An annoying voice that I should be used to echoes around the dimly lit cell Sarah and I share.

“Arena time,” it calls impatiently.

I sigh, already exhausted, and grab Sarah’s hand. No matter what, I’ve learned I’ll always have to fight in the arena. She gives me a tight smile and leads me out of the cell, into the blinding light of the sun and the arena full of mini-sandstorms. I walk precisely eleven and a half steps forward, and then I stop and close my eyes, just like always. Our opponent always gets the head start, and we’re left stumbling behind.

But we’ve still won every fight for twelve weeks. Something tells me it’ll be different this time.

I keep my eyes firmly shut, even as the echoing screams of the crowd bang around my head. Even as the announcer declares, “Who’s ready for The. Arena. Fight?!” Even as the double doors swing open on the other side and someone steps out. Even when I hear a gasp, instead of a blood-curdling war cry, like I expected. I open my eyes however, when my opponent says, “What?”

I recognize that voice.

Sarah

I’ve officially lost my grip on reality.

That’s how I’m going to sum up what is happening right now.

Because this cannot be real. This girl cannot be standing in front of me. She’s dead. 

(Okay, she’s obviously not dead, but what am I supposed to think?!)

I haven’t seen her for three months, ever since she was taken hostage and was then killed. And now…I have to fight her. Why do I have to fight her?! Alenios is crazy. Michael is too scared to ever say his name, but a name is just a name. It won’t do any harm and…Why am I thinking about this? 

I should be focusing on the freaking girl standing right there, acting like nothing is happening.

Well, her mouth is open like the world has fallen apart, like how mine probably is. But, wait, doesn’t she know Michael and I have been here all along? On second thought, we didn’t know she was here. Maybe she was fed the same lies we were?

I open my mouth to say something, anything, but all that comes out is a squeak. I can’t help it. This is scarier than any demon/monster I’ve fought so far. Suddenly, I notice that the girl is…glaring at me and Michael’s hands. I pull away quickly. Once again, I try to speak, but the same annoying squeak comes out instead. I kind of want to cover my face in my hands and run away. 

The girl (I don’t want to use her name. Don’t ask why.) keeps staring at me and Michael. She doesn’t say anything, just stares at us like she wants to drink in every detail. Honestly, that’s exactly what I’m doing. It doesn’t make sense, this person being right here. It just…doesn’t.

How is it supposed to be?

Maria

What. In. The. World. 

My friends are standing in front of me, their hands trembling and their mouths open. Michael and Sarah are supposed to be dead. Obviously, they’re not, which means I was lied to. Judging by how surprised they look to see me, they were lied to as well. But at least they had each other. I only had Sally.

“Okay…um, give us one moment, ladies and gentlemen,” Alinos, the very hated “boss”, says through the microphone clipped to his shirt. He marches down the steps and stops at my side. “Well?! What are you waiting for?! Fight!” I stare at him.

“What do you mean?” I ask. Alinos rolls his eyes. 

“F-I-G-H-T. Do I have to spell it out for you?” He growls under his breath.

I look at Michael and Sarah, and then back at Alinos.

“Wha…”

I don’t understand…But then I see my friends’ faces and realization dawns on me.

“No. No no no no no no. No!” Fight my friends? How am I supposed to do that? My bottom lip trembles and I stumble over my feet as I step back, horrified. I’ve fought demons, dragons, even brainwashed cyborg tigers (which was terrifying), but this is a completely new level of horror. 

“Maria, listen to me,” a quiet voice says. I look up from my torn brown shoes. Michael takes a tentative step towards me, followed by Sarah. “We don’t have to fight,” he whispers. “We can turn against everything and beat the system.”

I shake my head. “It’s…it’s not that easy, Michael,” I respond.

“Why not?” Sarah cuts in. “Why can’t we just leave? This is our chance!” I shake my head harder.

“No, no, I can’t,” I say again, almost crying. “It won’t work!” Michael steps closer.

“Just forget about it—whatever it is—and come with us. It’s not going to be as bad as you’re thinking,” Michael is doing everything he can to convince me to go, but I can’t. 

“Fine,” I say, knowing there’s only one thing that can convince my friends to stop. “Fine, let’s go.”

“Really?” Sarah asks. “You’ll come?” I nod. 

“But first, look at this.” I hold out my arm and shake it so the bangle falls to my wrist. Michael and Sarah gasp and take a step back. The large silver handcuff-looking thing clunks loudly as I thrust my hand closer to my friends. They stumble over their feet in shock. 

“Do you see now? Do you see why I can’t go? Because he’ll track me, and then you’ll all get caught with me–again.” The tracker beeps loudly and turns neon green, proving my point. Michael lifts his eyes away from the tracker and looks at me.

“When did you get that?” He asks me. I hesitate, and he asks me again, more firmly. “When did you get that?” I look up at Michael’s face, filled with confusion and trepidation, and I answer with one word:

“Today.”

Sally

I’m so confused.

First, Alinos literally snatched Maria out of our cell and didn’t even let her get ready! Second, for the first time in as long as I can remember, the arena was silent. Come to think of it, it’s still silent. 

And strangest of all, ever since last night, my hands have been shooting streams of light. Lightning. Sparkles. Energy. Something glowy-y. I don’t know! All I know is that every time I’ve been getting frustrated (or every time I wake up from a nightmare), a bright, jagged river of…brightness kind of shoots out from my wrists (ugh, that sounds like Spider-Man or something) and then it paralyzes me for at least an hour.

I’ve been talking nonstop to Maria in the hopes that she won’t notice my…powers. I can tell it’s been annoying her, but I don’t have any choice. I lie back down and the hard slab of rock that serves as a bed and close my eyes.

“Sally! Hey! You…worm…thing. Get up. They need you in the arena.”

I jerk up and stare at the cell…keeper.

“Why?” I ask. 

“Don’t know.” Alex—he’s the cell keeper—shrugs. “But get up, and hurry.”

I pull on a quick fighting tunic and shoes, and I grab a dagger (no one knows we have it) from my bag. I allow Alex to blindfold me and I stumble after him. When he rips off the blindfold, he shoves me into the ring and for a second, the sun blinds me. When the dust clears, I gasp and trip over my feet. 

What?!

Sarah

Sally’s here.

She just came outside. I wonder why they need her. Suddenly, I remember that Alinos is still next to us, listening to every word we’ve spoken so far. As if he can read my mind, Alinos leans towards us mischievously.

“That’s right,” he says, reminding me of Maria’s bracelet tracker. “She can’t escape. And neither can you. Now, for the last time, F-I-G-H-T!” Alinos storms off and hikes back up to his seat in the stands. He glares at me and turns on his microphone. “They will fight. Now.” 

Crack! 

Here is what I retain from this moment: A bright light. Sally. An extremely loud scream. And then the world miles below me, fading away. And then someone screams like a broken tea kettle. It takes me several long, drawn-out seconds to realize that’s me. 

“Calm… Down… Not… That… High…” I look to my side to see Sally propelling us—Maria, Michael, and I—higher into the air, yellow light sparking from her fingertips. I scream again. 

And again.

Michael 

Something is wrong with the world. Very wrong. Sally can fly, I’m not in the arena, we’re hundreds of feet above the ground, Alinos is dead, and Maria isn’t dead. … Just… What? 

Thank god I’m not scared of heights, like Sarah obviously is, or I would be screeching right now. The arena literally looks like an ant, and considering how big it is in person, I’m going to assume we’re very, very high.

Suddenly, Sally dips down. 

“Must… Rest…” Sally pants as she drags us along. My eyes scan the horizon for any patch of land, and I find a tiny island. 

That’s when I realize we’re flying over an ocean. 

“AHHHHHHH!” I might not be scared of heights, but I’m terrified of water. I writhe in terror, dragging Sally and my friends towards the island. “AHHHHHHH!” I continue screaming until my butt hits hard, hard, hard, hard, hard sand. I twist around in the sand and hug it, practically sobbing from fear. 

“Okay, we’ll need to do something about that,” a voice—Maria’s voice—says. I look up and see Maria, Sarah, and Sally all looking at me. I take in the sight of Sally and Maria, my best friends I haven’t seen in months, and I stop sobbing. “Seriously, Michael, I think you have a mental issue,” Maria says teasingly.

I sniffle and say, “Says the girl who cried for hours after a bee landed on you.” It happened when she was six. Yeah, we’ve known each other that long. Maria smiles and pulls me into a hug. I hug her back, for the first time in twelve weeks. When Sally and Sarah join, we all stay like that for a long time.

One week later

Maria

So what happens next? I don’t know. All I know right now is that we have to get rid of Michael’s—fear isn’t a strong enough word—something of water. So far, everything we’ve tried has failed miserably.

Even splashing Michael lightly with water makes him screech so loudly every single bird flies away.

I look around the beach, with two miserable attempts at ‘teepees’, a fire pit, coconut and date trees, which have provided food, and my friends, who are trying to force Michael into the water. I laugh and walk across the beach to them.

“No!! Mommy, save me! Stop, please!” Michael is screaming.

“This may be against my better judgment, but I feel bad for Michael,” I say. “Let’s leave the swimming ‘lessons’ for later, ‘Kay?” Sarah and Sally roll their eyes.

“Whyyyyy? It’s fun!” They say simultaneously. I shake my head.

“Sure, but not for Michael. Especially not when you guys have been doing this for the past five hours,” I say firmly. 

(Deep down, I’m laughing my head off.) 

“Fine,” Sarah says grumpily. She lets go of Michael’s arm and he practically runs back to the beach, screaming in what’s probably terror. Sarah stares at Michael for a minute and then looks at me. 

I try to keep a straight face, but it’s impossible. Together, we collapse into laughter. Sally joins us a moment later, and soon tears are streaming down our cheeks as we clutch each other in fits of giggles.

Once we recover, we walk back to the fire pit and teepees, and ‘help’ Michael down the coconut tree he somehow climbed up. He follows us back to the campsite we created, trembling. 

I smile as I let my friends walk ahead of me, laughing, talking, and cracking jokes at Michael’s poor, poor expense. I know we can’t stay here forever, someday we’ll leave. But for now, we’ll stay. I’ll stay. 

And I’ll figure out what to do later.

Alinos

I will have my revenge.

Someday.

Just wait.

So what happens next? It’s up to you! Will Alinos kill Maria and her friends? Or maybe Sarah and Sally will drown Michael—accidentally. Better yet, will the group of friends ever find their families? Will they even leave the island? How is Alinos still alive? How did Maria and her friends get captured in the first place? Why is Michael scared of water? How did Sally help Maria, Michael, and Sarah in China? Why didn’t Sarah want to use Maria’s real name at first? Who is Alinos, a demon, or what? There was a part when I said Maria, Sarah, and Michael time traveled. How? Also, is Maria still wearing the tracker? If not, how did she remove it? How did Sarah, Maria, and Michael meet in the first place? Why did Alinos put the tracker on Maria the day she was going to fight her friends? Did he know something? Where did Sally’s powers come from?! I left it—all of it—up to you! And there’s still more questions you can answer! So what are you waiting for?! You have all summer to continue this story, and without the Lighthouse, it’s time to write on your own! Get started in 3…2…1! Go!

(Oh, and if you aren’t a writer but still want to know what happens next, don’t worry! I’ll be working on part 2 this summer and will post it ASAP!) 

by Emery Pugh

SPOILER ALERT: The following content may reveal parts of the plot of the Percy Jackson book series. There may also be spoilers about the Heroes of Olympus book series, which is a five-book sequel to the Percy Jackson series. The Trials of Apollo series, the sequel to Heroes of Olympus, will be mentioned. It is highly recommended that you read at least the Percy Jackson series AND the first book of the Heroes of Olympus series. If you don’t mind the spoilers, then read on. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Chapter 4

Hector

Let the fun begin was definitely not the first thing I would say in my predicament.

The only reason I was still alive was because Kane was testing out his iron bar. His posse were having practice fights. The clang of metal was near-deafening.

I looked at Garret in horror. “Is this…”

“Real?” Garret finished my sentence. “Unfortunately, yes.”

Garret pulled out a… I didn’t know what it was, but it looked like a pond reed. He was about to put it to his lips, but Kane strode up and snatched it away.

“Oh no, you don’t.” Kane wagged his finger and snapped the reed. “No nature magic of yours.”

Garret whimpered and handed me something. I glanced down and saw that it was a gleaming bronze knife.

“Hide it,” Garret whispered. “Don’t say anything about it.”

“IT IS TIME!” Kane roared, hefting his iron bar. “WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? LET’S EAT THESE PUNKS FOR BREAKFAST!”

Five eight foot tall, super-strong monsters that I couldn’t outrun charged me with iron poles in their hands. What could go wrong?

“DIE!” sounded a cry from above.

I looked up and I was sure that it was the most bizarre scene I would ever see. A half-man, half-goat landed on top of Kane and smacked his head with a baseball bat. Kane went down screaming with a sickening crack!

More goat men soared from the rooftops and started pummeling the monsters. Some stayed on the roof and played music, which I guessed was nature magic, on reed pipes like Garret’s. Thick roots sprouted from the ground and wrapped around Kane and his posse.

“Ahhh!” Kane started to crumble to dust. “Help me!”

And just like that, all that remained of Kane’s group was a few piles of yellow dust.

“Gleeson! Er – I mean, Coach Hedge!” Garret cried. “You heard my call!”

“I don’t abandon a fellow satyr!” Gleeson/Coach Hedge hefted his Louisville Slugger on his shoulder and grinned. “Especially when someone needs a whacking on the head!”

“Um, what do you mean by ‘you heard my call?’” I asked.

“It’s a nature magic thing,” Garret explained. “Remember how I played some music on my reed pipes before school? That was the call. I was lucky that it worked, since Coach was all the way at camp.”

“So,” Hedge pointed his baseball bat at me, which made me flinch. “Do we blow this fella up or take him to camp?”

“Uh, take him to camp.” Garret politely objected to blowing me up. “What transportation do you have?”

“My Ford Pinto, of course,” Gleeson said. “Let’s go whack people!”

***********************************************************************************

I was not particularly excited when I heard Coach Hedge would be driving. Based on what I knew about him so far, he was a reckless type, which is awesome if you want to get into a car crash. However, he turned out to be a better chaperon than I thought.

I had a thousand questions, but I didn’t know what to ask first. My tongue was stuck to the roof of my mouth whenever I tried to speak.

Finally, something unintelligible came out. “Wha – who – where…?”

“What did you say?” Garret asked, leaning towards me.

I cleared my throat. “Um… Where are we going?”

“To a camp,” Garret said, like that cleared up the confusion. He elaborated, “It’s a camp for… well, people who aren’t… I was going to say ‘normal,’ but that’s not quite the word.”

“Great,” I muttered. “I needed the reminder.”

“I don’t mean it like that!” Garret said hastily. “I mean… you know about Greek mythology, right?”

“Yes,” I answered. “What does that have to do with it?”

“Everything,” Garret said. “All the things about Greek mythology… it’s real. Well, most of it, anyways. And you… you’re a half-blood – a child of one of the gods.”

He took a moment to let that sink in. To tell the truth, I had no idea what to say. Should I deny it? Most people would. On the other hand, it would sort of make sense. I mean, I just saw a bunch of horned people called satyrs whack seven-foot tall giants with baseball bats. At this point, anything could be true.

“So… um… how…” I stammered.

“I know,” Garret said. “It’s hard to believe, but it’s true.”

“What is going on in my life?” I yelled. All the other passengers in the car jumped. I attempted to regain self-control, without success.

“Ahhh!” I ripped off a chunk of the leather seat and threw it out the window. I steadied my breathing and slumped in my seat.

“Please don’t damage the car!” Hedge glanced back at me nervously. “It’s the only one I have!”

I didn’t respond. My brain apparently couldn’t process the revelation I had, since everything clouded up and I fainted.

Chapter 5

Godric

I slashed the last monster to dust, standing next to my friend Sanderson, both of us out of breath.

“That was the biggest attack we’ve had so far,” Sanderson muttered. “Even the magic of the statue of Athena couldn’t stop it.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “We’re gonna become monster chow if it doesn’t finish soon.”

You might ask what “it” is. Well, it’s a top-secret project that only a few campers know about. It may or not work, and if it fails, it could be disastrous. No. It would be disastrous. There was no question about it.

He looked at me gravely. “I’m not against a joke, but this is no laughing matter.”

“It’s true, though,” I pointed out.

The son of Apollo didn’t respond. He gazed across camp.

I should mention: I’m a son of Zeus (worst dad of all time, by the way). Sanderson and I grew up together since we were toddlers, Sanderson being a month older than me. Around turning nine years old we were orphans under the protection of a mysterious yet kind and surprisingly strong woman, until a satyr named Grover led us here at age thirteen. We’ve been at camp for about a year, and yes, we’ve gone on a quest. No, I do not want to talk about it. Not now, not here. Period. End of story.

Sanderson and I went to our respective cabins for a short rest before our morning activities. It really sucks to fight monsters for four hours when you could be sleeping and having the typical nightmares of a demigod.

I closed the door behind me and crashed into bed. Ugh. Did I mention the statue of Zeus looking like a hippie in the middle of the cabin? I was tempted to ask the cleaning harpies to eat it or something, but I didn’t think dad would appreciate it, especially with his humorous reputation (extreme sarcasm there).

I thought I would never be able to fall asleep, but I was wrong. I slipped into the land of dreams, or nightmares; pick your translation.

***********************************************************************************

My dream took place on the edge of a cliff. Below the cliff’s edge, there was only black void. About half a football field away from me, two beings, each forty feet tall, were conversing. One was so dark I could see no features, and the other was dressed in black and red robes. Its face was a swirling vortex, occasionally sucking in pieces of surrounding rock.

“I have it under control,” Swirly Face rumbled. “The monsters will distract the gods and their children from our real plan.”

“If you say so,” the dark being said with a sigh. Its voice was feminine and soft, but it had an edge to it that told me it could speak harshly as well.

“Trust me, you need not worry,” Swirly Face said reassuringly. “We are both eternal. Even if our minions fail in their plans, we can easily crush the gods underfoot. We will avenge our fallen sister.”

Swirly Face was about to say more, but I didn’t catch it. The whole world seemed to be shaking.

***********************************************************************************

Godric, a deep, raspy voice whispered in my head. Come to me. Your precious little camp cannot keep you safe.

I sat bolt upright in my bed, gasping. The whispered words echoed in my mind.

Dawn had just arrived. The sun’s rays seeped through the hills into the valley. Usually, today was a day to kick back and relax, since it was Saturday, being an off day. But today was special. I suddenly recalled the capture the flag game at noon and my armor and weapons I needed to polish and practice with.

I changed out of my pajamas and headed towards the combat arena.

I always felt in my element when I was fighting. Even though I was a relatively new camper at Camp Half-Blood, few could contest me in a sword fight. I was also one of the few good shots in archery other than the majority of the Apollo campers.

I strapped on my armor and practiced my moves on the straw-and-rubber dummies for approximately thirty minutes.

“Hey, Godric,” said a voice behind me.

I whirled around and almost decapitated my best friend. “Whoa there, Sanderson. Don’t come sneaking up on me like that. I might accidentally cut your head off.”

“The head cutting-off part is hardly my fault,” Sanderson muttered. “Anyways, I decided I’d come here to practice, since both my sword and my sword skills are a little rusty.”

“Alright,” I said. “I’m ready to destroy you.”

I always tease him about his close-range fighting, but one has to give him credit. Children of Apollo are not meant to be front-line swordsmen. He does have a few good moves (that I taught him, thank you very much).

After an hour or so we went next door to the archery range, where Sanderson scored all bullseyes and it was basically the combat arena but the script was flipped.

“Hey, punk,” said a voice next to me. “You are so gonna get pulverized in capture the flag today. This is your one chance to surrender.”

I turned and found Clarisse in full battle armor, as she always was, glaring at me. After returning a few days ago from her mysterious, top-secret quest, she has been grumpier than ever.

“I’m not surrendering, and definitely not to you,” I said. “I’d rather eat a bottle of wax.”

“Alright, just don’t blame me if you lose.” Clarisse huffed and walked away, but a smile flickered on her face. I had a gut feeling that she had some trick up her sleeve.

The conch horn sounded and everyone shuffled off to the dining pavilion.

“ATTENTION, CAMPERS!” Chiron pounded his hoof on the marble floor as everyone was seated. “Capture the flag will begin at precisely noon! Standard rules: the creek is the boundary line and each team’s flag must be placed in a prominent position where it is clearly visible. No guards within twenty feet of the flag. Magic items are allowed. And remember, no killing or maiming, unless you want extra chores!”

The conch horn sounded again after breakfast and everyone cleared the tables and headed for the woods.

I drifted over to Sanderson, who was mingling with the rest of the Apollo cabin. I hung out with the Apollo cabin a lot since I rarely have cabinmates.

“Clarisse has something up her sleeve,” Sanderson said as I neared him. “I heard her say something about it to her cabin mates, but I didn’t catch what.”

“Could she be bluffing?” I speculated.

“Unfortunately, no. It wouldn’t be like her.” Sanderson said.

“I’m not letting her pulverize me,” I growled. “Not for a million dollars.”

The teams were the Zeus, Apollo, Hephaestus, Hermes, Aphrodite, Iris, and Hebe cabins versus the Ares, Athena, Demeter, Dionysus, Hecate, Nike, and Nemesis cabins. We slightly outnumbered them, but they have the best fighters (Ares), the best strategists (Athena), and that naughty magic cabin that could cause us no end of trouble (Hecate).

Our team had a vote and we decided to put our flag atop Bunker 9, which is a secret bunker used in the Civil War by the Hephaestus cabin. By the way, mortal history reflects demigod history. It sounds confusing, and it is, but in summary, any war that the demigods have will carry over into the mortal world.

“You lead defense.” Connor Stoll, the head counselor of the Hermes cabin, tapped me on the shoulder. “I’ll go offense.”

“The last two times you were on offense, we got destroyed,” I said. “We’re reversing it this time.”

“Fine,” Connor relented. I knew I had to watch out. Those Hermes kids know how to prank and steal. By forcing him out of offense, I probably just earned myself the top spot on his prank hit list.

“Alright,” I said. “I’ll lead twenty of us to the right, and Sanderson, you lead fifteen people to the left as a decoy. Just make sure to arrive ahead of us and do as much damage as possible. Good luck, everyone.”

Sanderson grumbled something about not wanting to lead the decoy as we parted. The conch horn sounded and the game of capture the flag was on.

***********************************************************************************

After waiting a few minutes to give the decoy party a lead, I led about fifteen others into the woods. I veered to the right and after twenty minutes or so of jogging through the trees, we reached their flag.

Unfortunately for us, the banner was placed on top of Zeus’s Fist, which is just a pile of rocks that looks like a fist from one particular angle. There were only a few guards around the pile of rocks, but that didn’t matter much. It would be a heck of a challenge to climb the thirty foot high pile. That meant the only person who could get the flag was me. As a son of Zeus, I had some pretty sweet flying and electrifying powers.

In the distance, I saw some of the Ares campers clashing with Sanderson’s decoy. The guards near the flag weren’t paying attention in the slightest.

“This is a trap for you, Godric,” a Hephaestus camper said to me. “They want you to fly.”

I frowned. “It’s wide open. Why shouldn’t I go?”

“I sense a trap.” Another Hephaestus camper pushed through, Jake Mason by name. During Leo Valdez’s absence, who is the primary head counselor, Jake took the job temporarily. “There’s a few shards of metal floating in the air, perhaps caused by the Hecate cabin’s magic.”

“How do you know?” I demanded.

He shrugged. “Just like you know the exact wind speed of any location within five hundred miles, down to five decimal places.”

“Alright,” I said. “I’m going to try something. Stand back.”

I raised my sword to the sky and a streak of lightning ricocheted off of it. The bolt hit the invisible trap and exploded. After the dust cleared, I was about to launch into the air until a Hephaestus camper stopped me for the second time.

“The magic is too strong.” Jake put a hand on my shoulder. “The trap is still intact.”

I stared at the flag. “So… if I can’t fly up there or blast the trap apart, how do we win? It’s impossible.”

“Our job is going to be a lot harder than we thought it would be,” Jake said gravely. “Based on what I know about automatons, we’re going to have to find the makers of this trap and force them to dismantle it.”

***********************************************************************************

Now I knew why Clarisse had been so cocky in the morning – cocky enough to ask for my surrender. She, alongside the Hecate cabin, had designed a death trap designed specifically for me (it’s probably against the rules, but Clarisse could care less). I silently vowed to pay her back some time later… with interest. Compound interest.

No Hecate camper was in sight, and we certainly didn’t have time to tramp around the entire woods before our flag would be taken.

“Scatter,” I commanded. I didn’t need to explain what that meant. Everyone scattered throughout the woods in ones and twos.

I saw the glint of a helmet flash around a tree and I dropped down to the ground and hid behind a bush.

It was Clarisse, leaning on a tree and polishing her electric spear.

I sneaked closer to Clarisse and jumped out of the bushes. A few moments later, I was sitting on top of her with my sword to her throat.

“What do you want?” Clarisse asked sharply.

“About the trap around the flag,” I replied. “How do I disable it?”

She stared at me blankly.

“Come on,” I said impatiently. “You know what I’m talking about.”

“I – I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yes, you do.”

“No, I don’t.”

I hesitated, considering that perhaps she actually didn’t know about the trap until a sickly grin spread on her face. She tried to conceal it, but I saw it before the grin faded.

“Aha! So you do know!” I yelled. “Come on, tell me.”

“Tell you what?” Clarisse snorted. “You can’t make me.”

“Actually, I can,” I corrected her. I summoned a strong electric shock. “How’s that?”

“Ow!” Clarisse yelped. “I still won’t tell you.”

I raised my hand as if to conjure a lightning bolt from the sky.

“Okay, fine,” she grumbled. “You have to find a member of the Hecate cabin.”

“We know that already. So… where can we find the Hecate cabin? Tell the truth, or you’ll get it hard,” I warned.

“The trap is for testing purposes,” she said. “It’s related to the project to save the camp.”

“Okay,” I said slowly. “But you still haven’t answered my question. Where are the Hecate campers?”

“In the Labyrinth,” Clarisse muttered. “Under the flag.”

I stared at her. Nobody had dared to enter the Labyrinth for a long time. Few had lived to tell the tale of the horrors of the maze. I couldn’t believe that the Hecate cabin had volunteered to do that.

Clarisse (curse the villain!) took that moment to punch me in the gut and slip out from under me. Before I could get to my feet, she was long gone.