Bab 27: 26
Chapter 26
Harry emerged from the fire at Camp Half-Blood. Winter had fallen, and snow covered the landscape. Frost clung to the buildings, leaving a fairytale-like winter wonderland that seemed to have escaped directly from a Disney animation. He was dressed warm enough, and grinned at the sight of his breath steaming in the cold air.
Christmas was around the corner, and all the year-rounders at camp were off from school on winter break. Which was, coincidentally, exactly why he was here. Annabeth and Silena had invited him over for a day of 'fun and games', which was why he was carrying his bow and quiver of arrows.
Feeling surprised at the invitation, and suspicious at the term 'games', especially as he had been asked to bring his bow, Harry walked deeper into camp.
"Harry!" Annabeth shouted, obviously the first to spot him. She raced over, and gave him a hug. Happily, he hugged back.
"Hi Annabeth!" he said, cheerfully. "How have you been? Enjoying the holidays?"
The Daughter of Athena smiled widely. "I was first of my class," she said. Her smile dropped slightly. "I didn't hear from my family, but camp's brilliant and so are my brothers and sisters."
Harry nodded softly and gave her another hug. He could understand family issues quite well, and knew there was nothing he could say to make her feel better. A hug often did wonders, though.
He was surprised when a weight landed against his back, pushing both him and Annabeth forward, before two slender arms wrapped around them. For some reason, the weight and the arms managed to completely miss the bow and quiver he had slung over one shoulder.
"Hi guys!" Silena said, laughing loudly at the surprised looked on her friends' faces. "You looked way too serious!"
Annabeth gave her friend a mock glare.
"Hi Silena," Harry grinned at his other friend. "Good break?"
"GREAT break!" the Daughter of Aphrodite replied. "Finally done with boring homework and boring classes and boring exams. Freedom from oppression!"
Annabeth's glare intensified somewhat. "Classes aren't boring and you're not being oppressed," she replied. However, Harry could see her lips twitch and knew she was just playing along for fun.
Silena released the group hug and stood up straight. "Until children everywhere have a choice on whether or not to accept slave labor, I will not rest!" she actually raised a fist into the air, as if she were declaring the revolution.
"It's not slave labor, either," Annabeth replied, calmly, lips twitching again.
"You're getting paid? Because I'm not," Silena replied. "I was never asked whether to go to the slave labor camp, if I don't go, I am punished – severely – and I am not getting a single cent in return for my labor."
"School isn't a slave labor camp," Annabeth replied, pinching the bridge of her nose, but Harry could hear the amusement in her voice.
"What brought on this bout of revolutionary zeal?" Harry asked. "Also, keep in mind that organizing and leading a revolution is a lot of hard work. Not to mention rebuilding after you're done."
Silena looked like she hadn't considered that. "We learned about slavery and the emancipation and all that," she replied.
"Unfortunately, Miss Revolutionary had a brainwave," Annabeth said, grinning. "She's been on this train for a while now. I would be more annoyed if it didn't mean that she actually is studying the subject now."
Silena pouted at her friend. "When the School Freedom Revolution kicks off, I'm still making you my second in command, you know."
Annabeth's shoulders shook in a shrug. "That'll give me plenty of opportunity to sabotage you from the inside."
Silena hugged her and hit her with a double dose of the Puppy Dog Eyes. "You wouldn't do that to your bestest friend, would you?"
Annabeth looked away so she wouldn't have to stare into the Eyes of Doom. "In a heartbeat."
"Cold," Silena replied, releasing her friend and grinned. "Very cold."
"Yup," Annabeth answered, laughing. "Don't touch my school!"
"The biggest problem isn't the revolution, nor even succeeding in said revolution," Harry said, as if pondering deep thoughts.
"How so?" Silena asked, curious.
Harry shrugged. "Succeeding in a revolution is as easy as walking up to the oppressor in charge, shooting them, and sitting yourself down in their chair. The biggest problem is making it past five minutes, because the previous oppressor's bodyguards will likely be after you for kicking their boss out."
Annabeth squeezed the bridge of her nose, as if in physical pain. Silena, on the other hand, was laughing. "I'm so making you my Minister of Strategy for that one!" she chortled.
Harry laughed along with her. "I'd do better as Minister of Supplies, that way I get to cook for everybody, and let's face it, nobody ever kills the cook."
Annabeth's shoulders were shaking. Silena nodded gravely. "That's very true."
"Let's change the subject, please," Annabeth implored them. "I know neither of you are serious, but imagine what other people might think if they heard us."
"That you're a bunch of revolutionaries," Louis said, making himself heard. "Can I be Minister of Propaganda?"
"Sold!" Silena said, pointing at the large Son of Apollo.
"Please don't encourage them," Annabeth implored.
"Too late," Jack – or was it Jim? – said. "Is Minister of Sport still available? Because if so, I'm game!"
"And Minister of Sport is sold to the blonde guy with the grey eyes," Silena said, pointing to the one twin who had spoken.
His twin brother looked put out, but then grinned. "I suppose I could be Minister of Education. Every day is a day off under the revolution, so it's a cushy job."
Silena studied him for a moment. "It'll be the Minister of Education's job to make sure that all schools are closed properly, it's a lot of responsibility."
"Please stop," Annabeth pleaded.
They all laughed. "I propose we have mercy on the poor Daughter of Athena," Silena proposed.
"Seconded," Harry immediately said.
"I have a proposal and a second, let's vote," Silena said to her 'council of ministers'.
Louis and the Guys nodded gravely. "Everyone's in favor, we're going to have mercy," Silena said, officiously. "I hereby declare this session of the Revolutionary Council to be closed."
Annabeth's shoulders still shook. "I would be so upset at you guys if you hadn't actually done that properly," she said, laughing silently.
Silena threw an arm over her shoulders. "And we still love you, even if you're a treacherous member of the establishment."
Annabeth elbowed the Daughter of Aphrodite in the side. "Enough already."
Silena took the elbow with a small 'oomph', then turned to face Harry. "I'm glad you could come, Harry. Today's Capture the Flag and Annabeth and I thought that it would be great to have you participate."
Louis and the two Guys suddenly looked worried. "That's why he has the bow and arrows?" the oldest Son of Apollo asked.
"Yup", Annabeth said, smugly. The three Sons of Apollo looked even more worried.
"Why are you three upset?" Harry asked. "I can guess what Capture the Flag is, but maybe someone wants to explain things to me."
"We break up into two teams, red and blue, with the different cabins joining different teams," Annabeth explained. "Everyone dresses in armor and tries to steal the opponent's flag. And the reason those three are upset is because they accepted an alliance with the Hermes Cabin and are allied against us."
"Oh," Harry said. "And this involves a bow and arrows?"
"We use live weapons," Louis explained. "And we've seen you shoot."
"I don't want to hurt anybody," the young demigod replied. "I've been taught to shoot to kill, so that's a really bad idea."
"You're not allowed to kill or maim anybody anyway," Annabeth said, as if that rule was no big deal.
Harry remained silent; Artie and Miss Zoë had drilled him extensively in shooting his bow. They had insisted on one hit kills; they told him that wounding an animal was bad sport. You didn't want your prey to suffer; you want it dead as quickly and painlessly as possible.
The very thought of shooting to hurt or injure sat bad with him. He didn't want to shoot people anyway, regardless of whether it was to hurt or to kill, but the very idea of not taking a perfectly valid kill shot just rankled him after all the training he had received.
Then he shook his head. He wasn't even sure he wanted to compete in this game, and he was already worrying about shooting people. Harry grinned at himself; he should better get his priorities in order before worrying about shooting people.
Not that he wanted to, anyway.
While Harry had his introspective mood, Silena and Annabeth had kept up a lively chatter with the three Sons of Apollo. They were stopped by a muscular girl of Harry's age, with brown hair and eyes. She was a head taller than he was, though, and had three other thuggish-looking kids behind her, all as big as she was.
"What's this? Fresh meat?" she asked, eyeing Harry.
"Clarisse," Silena said. "This is Harry, Son of Tyche. Harry, this is Clarisse La Rue, Daughter of Ares."
Harry grinned at her. "Nice to meet you," he told her, extending one hand.
She scoffed at him. "Drop the pleasantries," she said, her grin widening. "So this is the one, huh? You don't look like much."
Harry shrugged, and dropped his hand. "I'm not sure what I'm supposed to 'look like'," he answered, self-depreciatingly.
"I think I'm going to start an initiation ceremony for newbies," Clarisse said, reaching out towards Harry.
"Clarisse," Annabeth sighed.
"Stay out of this, Wise Girl," Clarisse snapped.
Harry studied her. She will reach in and attempt to grab me by the neck with one arm to limit my mobility. He knew that he couldn't keep dodging, plus, as a Daughter of Ares, she was really focused on violence. Then he remembered how he'd gotten Nemmy to behave before. I should step to one side, then move forward and slap her cheek to snap her out of it.
As Clarisse tried to grab Harry's neck, he sidestepped the one-handed grab the girl tried to employ, then stepped into range and slapped her. "Please do not employ violence upon my person," Harry admonished calmly.
Clarisse gaped at him. "Did you just slap me?" she asked, as if she couldn't believe what had just happened.
She will reach again, two-handed this time. Step back two steps to throw off her range, then step left-forward two steps, and slap her other cheek.
"Yes," Harry said. "You were attempting to employ violence."
Clarisse let out a low growl and made to grab for Harry with both hands. The boy took two quick steps back to have her miss, then stepped forward and to the left and slapped her other cheek. "Please refrain from doing that," he told her calmly.
"Holy crap," Silena muttered behind him.
"Right there with you, Beauty Queen," Louis replied.
Clarisse's face started to glow red. She's going to draw a weapon and engage. From her stance, it is either a spear or a pole-arm of some kind. Move sideways to avoid the weapon, use its unwieldy nature against her. Step into range and engage at short range.
True to Harry's thoughts, the Daughter of Ares drew something that turned into a spear. A spear that had red light, writhing like electricity, along its tip. "How'd you like that, punk? A gift from my father!"
"You mean a surprise," Harry answered. "Mister Ares doesn't do 'gifts'."
Clarisse blinked in surprise, before her grin's edge abated as she realized that he really did know her father on a personal basis. "True enough, Newbie. But, you humiliated me in front of my peeps, so you got to pay."
As Clarisse charged with the spear, Harry stuck to his pre-determined plan, and kept up a sideways and forward motion, quickly closing the distance into hand-to-hand range, then slapped her cheek.
She's going to growl, and attempt to step back to re-engage with her spear. I should step up to maintain the distance.
As Clarisse growled and took a step back, Harry stepped with her, and slapped her other cheek. She's going to strike with the butt of her weapon; I should take a large step forward to get passed her, then slap her… other… cheek.
The Daughter of Ares inverted her spear and tried to jamb his stomach with it. Harry stepped to one side to avoid the strike and loped past her, slapping backwards, hitting her behind.
The girl yelped loudly as his hand connected to her buttock.
She whirled around. "Will you stop that!" Clarisse shouted at him, face red with embarrassment and humiliation. Her three compatriots looked like they couldn't stop laughing, which probably didn't help matters.
"I will stop as long as you stop trying to perpetrate violence upon my person," Harry answered calmly, somehow digging up all the expensive words that Athena had drilled into him.
"Huh?" Clarisse asked, staring at him.
"He wants you to stop trying to hurt him," Louis said, grinning widely and sounding as if he was fighting not to burst out laughing. As opposed to you actually hurting him was left, very loudly, unsaid.
"Oh," the Daughter of Ares said, staring at Harry. She sighed, straightened up, and tucked away her spear. "You know, you're not so bad, Newbie."
Harry chuckled; she was so exactly like Ares. "You're not so bad yourself, Clarisse," Harry said, extending his hand again. This time, she shook it.
"We should spar for real sometime," she told him. "I'd be curious to see who'd win."
"Harry," Annabeth, Silena, Jack and Jim, and Louis said at the same time.
Clarisse gave them a glare.
"Yup," came from one of her brothers behind her.
Clarisse turned to glare at him, too. "Do you want me to put you in the dirt again, punk?"
The boy in question shook his head. Clarisse gave him a firm nod. "Then remember who can kick your ass," she snapped at the boy who'd spoken up.
"You talking about me?" An African-American boy asked as he walked up. He was about as tall as Clarisse, and just as wide. However, where Clarisse had a 'thug' sort of width, this new boy had the 'muscular' sort of width that could only come from lots and lots of physical labor.
"Harry, this is Charlie Beckendorf, Son of Hephaestus," Silena said, motioning to the new boy. "Charles, this is Harry."
"Call me 'Beckendorf, please," the muscular, dark-skinned boy said, holding out one huge paw of a hand.
Harry grinned, and grabbed it. "I'm Harry, nice to meet you, Beckendorf," he said, feeling the strength in the other boy's grip and making sure to squeeze back.
The Son of Hephaestus grinned. "Nice grip strength," he answered as they released each other's hand. He turned to face Clarisse. "I heard you talking about kicking ass, so I thought you were talking about me," he told her.
The Daughter of Ares grunted and scowled at him.
"Charles kicked her ass," Silena confided.
"All this muscle from swinging a hammer comes in handy," the other boy replied, smiling widely. "I could hold her with one hand."
"Don't remind me," Clarisse muttered.
A conch shell sounded over camp.
"Lunch time," Annabeth said when she noticed Harry looking a little lost. Nodding, he followed the group the dining pavilion, joined by the other campers. Satyrs emerged from the meadow, Naiads stepped out of the lake, and actual Dryads emerged from the trees of the trees in the woods. Assorted Wood Nymphs stepped from the woodland shadows as well, joining the trek to the dining pavilion.
Overall, Harry thought there were about a hundred campers total, a few dozen Satyrs, and perhaps a dozen or so assorted nymphs: Naiads, Dryads, and Wood Nymphs.
When they reached the pavilion, Harry saw torches blaze around the marble columns, yet no roof existed to rest on them. A central fire blazed hotly in a bronze brazier the size of a large tub – or perhaps a small wading pool. Each cabin had its own table, covered in white cloth trimmed with purple.
Some tables were empty, like the one Harry guessed corresponded to Artie's cabin. Zeus' table only seemed to hold Thalia, and Harry felt somewhat sorry for her, having to eat by herself all the time. Hera's table was correspondingly empty, as was the table for Poseidon.
"As the son of a minor goddess, you should join the Hermes cabin," Annabeth said, when Harry froze and watched everybody take their seats.
Harry glanced at the table for his grandfather, and saw how overcrowded it was. There would barely be any room for him there! At the same time, he wondered where Hestia's table was; they didn't have a cabin for her, but surely, they had a table for her, right?
Just as he concluded that no, Camp Half-Blood didn't have a table for his all-time favorite goddess either, he was drawn back to the here and now. "He can join us," Silena decided, grabbing his arm. "Come on, Harry, Mom let you into the cabin, I'm sure she'll let you sit at her table, too."
"Ehm… sure?" Harry half-asked, wondering when the decision had been taken out of his hands and debating whether it was a bad thing or not. Before he knew it, he was seated at the table with Aphrodite's children, and as Silena had predicted, no curse befell him.
He felt immediately accepted at the table, just like the time he had entered Aphrodite's cabin, and grinned when he answered questions from the other children of the Goddess of Love.
As he talked, Harry continued to look around, and found Dionysus at table twelve, along with a couple of the Satyrs, as well as two rather plump looking boys that took after Dionysus. Chiron stood off to one side, his large centaur build preventing him from making use of a picnic table.
Chiron pounded his front hoof against the ground, quieting everyone down.
"To the gods!" the trainer of Heroes shouted.
"To the gods!" everybody else shouted back, raising their glasses. Harry felt a bit odd doing so with an empty glass, but decided to join in nonetheless. He rather liked most gods and didn't mind honoring them.
"Talk to the glass, it's awesome," Silena whispered quietly. "Strictly non-alcoholic, though."
"Thanks," Harry whispered back. He looked at the glass. "Mulled cranberry apple cider," he told the glass. It soon filled with a warm, mulled, cranberry apple cider.
"Whoa," Silena muttered. "I'm so having that after I'm done with my coke." Quite a few of Aphrodite's children gave Harry an appreciate look at his choice of beverage.
Wood Nymphs stalked between the tables, carrying platters of food, lots of fruit, cheese, fresh bread, and lots of barbecue. Harry filled his plate, and was about to start eating, when he noticed everybody get up. He jumped to catch up and not embarrass himself or the Aphrodite Cabin.
They all filed towards the center of the pavilion, and Harry saw them swipe some of their food into the fire.
Ah, they were offering food to the gods, Harry realized. He wondered for a moment why Hestia had never explained that to him, nor asked him to do the same, but then he realized that she tried to join him for a meal as often as she could and likely felt that joining him was better than an offering.
Since he was here, however, he may as well. He swiped some brisket, fruit, bread, and cheese from his plate into the fire, ensuring it was a balanced meal, and silently thought, Hestia, Mom, this is for you.
The smell that came from the food surprised him; he had expected to smell burning food but instead found that it smelled wonderfully of a home-cooked meal, chocolate chip cookies and grilled meat and wildflowers for some reason.
They all trooped back to their tables and started eating.
Maybe it was the fact that he had learned to cook from Hestia, who, as Goddess of the Home, was also the Goddess of Cooking. Or maybe it was just his experience of cooking for himself so often. Whatever the case was, Harry wondered if there were other options as mealtime. As much as he liked grilled meat, he wouldn't want to eat it every day.
As nice as the meat was, he missed some condiments for it, too.
He closed his eyes and focused for a moment, then took the small container of horseradish that appeared, and smeared some of it over his brisket.
Conversation at the Aphrodite table came to a halt. "Haaarrry?" Silena wheedled.
Harry blinked at her. "Yes?" he asked, feeling apprehensive for an unidentified reason.
"Where did you get that from?" she asked, straightforwardly.
"It's a talent," he said. "Hestia gave it to me. I can create food, as long as it's a home cooked meal or a part of a home cooked meal."
"Any food at all?" Silena asked, over the surprised gasps from her siblings.
"As long as it's a home cooked meal, yes," Harry answered.
"You have the most awesome broken gifts," the Daughter of Aphrodite said with a giggle. "It's been a long time since I had Macaroni and Cheese… please?" she wheedled again.
Harry grinned, closed his eyes, and brought his hands together. A small plate of the dish appeared between them. Silena's eyes went wide and she grabbed it before anyone else could. Harry made sure it was a small plate, a side dish, basically. He loved to cook; he wouldn't want to offend any of the nymphs by implying the campers preferred other food.
Grinning at the putout looks of the other children of Aphrodite, Harry took requests, and was soon conjuring additional side dishes, some of which didn't come around very often at camp. Like Norm, the very same who had gotten him his outfit for visiting Athena, who asked for frog's legs.
Not that Harry minded, he loved it when people enjoyed his food, even if it was food he conjured rather than cooked. Happily, he ate his own meal.
After everyone was done eating, and just sat around talking, Chiron pounded the ground again. Harry realized that the centaur seemed to enjoy doing that for some reason.
Dionysus, with a huge sigh, pulled himself to his feet. "Our Activities Director, Chiron, informs that we have Capture the Flag this afternoon. Cabin Six currently holds the laurels." The table that held Annabeth burst into cheers.
"Yes, yes, congratulations," Dionysus went on, sounding anything but interested in giving kudos. "Also, luckily for me, Harold Poitier is only here for the day and not to stay. Having heard of his exploits, he'd turn my hair gray before the end of the month."
Harry grinned. I like you too, Mister Dionysus, he thought silently, knowing that the god in question could hear his silent prayer without issue.
The god's eyes caught Harry's, and for a moment, the boy thought the portly God of Wine winked at him. Just like with the sun in the mornings, it was quick enough that it may just be his imagination, however.
"Now run along," Dionysus said, waving disinterestedly.
The Sons and Daughters of Aphrodite broke up and Harry joined Silena to find Annabeth.
"Did I see you conjure food?" Annabeth asked Harry as soon as the Daughter of Athena met them.
The young Son of Tyche nodded. "It's a gift from Hestia. It's awesome."
Annabeth narrowed her Athena-grey eyes, but remained silent. Louis and the two Guys had joined them without anyone noticing.
"So, are you playing?" Louis asked.
"I don't want to hurt anybody," Harry replied honestly. "Who all are playing, anyway?"
"Technically, everybody," Annabeth answered. "But Aphrodite Cabin usually sits out the game."
"We're lovers, not fighters," Silena said with a grin. "Well, some of us are, anyway. I'll be joining for sure."
"If they can sit it out, I may as well," Harry said, slowly, as if thinking about it. "I'd love to see how the Capture the Flag game is played, but I really don't want to hurt anybody."
Louis seemed relieved at that. "That's good, Harry, if you feel that way you should totally sit it out," he told the younger boy.
Harry narrowed his eyes, feeling as if Louis wasn't telling him something.
"Don't listen to him, Harry. He's just scared," Annabeth told him. "We've managed to forge an alliance with Ares and Aphrodite Cabins, leaving Apollo and Hermes cabins with everybody else. They thought they had it in the bag, numerical superiority being what it is."
"Hey, that reminds me!" Louis said, pointing at Harry. "You're the Son of Tyche, right?"
Harry pointed at himself, not used to one of his friends pointing at him like that. "Yes?" he asked.
"As the son of a minor goddess, that means you're supposed to be in Hermes Cabin! That means you would be on our side! Dude, you should totally join the game!"
"Hey! That's not fair!" Annabeth protested. "We brought him here! And you didn't want him playing until you figured out he could be on your side!"
"Well, duh," Louis answered casually. "All's fair in love and war."
Annabeth narrowed her eyes again. Harry had to admit she had inherited her mother's glare.
"Hang on," Harry said, breaking up an impending argument. "It's basically Athena and Ares Cabins, plus Silena, against everybody else? That's not really fair, is it?"
"We spent too much time forging the alliance with Ares Cabin," Annabeth muttered, shamefacedly. "By the time that deal got done, everybody else was on the opposing side."
"Louis, I'm afraid that I'm morally obligated to help a downtrodden underdog, so I'm sorry, but it seems I'll be on Annabeth's side," Harry told the older Son of Apollo.
"But you're supposed to be on our side, with Hermes Cabin and all that!" Louis protested.
Harry grinned. "I'm in Hestia's Cabin, and being the only member of said cabin, I get to decide which side I'll join," he answered convincingly.
"Aw man," Louis pouted playfully.
"Can we turn traitor and join Hestia's Cabin?" Jack – or Jim – asked, causing Harry and the two girls to burst out laughing.
"Guys!" Louis scolded.
"We'd be victorious traitors, having seen which way the wind was blowing and joining the winning side. History is written by the victors," the other twin replied.
The first twin nodded. "And considering we'd be on the side of the victors, we'd be 'freedom fighters' or 'rebels' or some such, rather than traitors."
Louis scowled darkly at them. "Dad would be ashamed of you."
"Dad would probably be on Harry's side, too," the second twin answered. "From what we heard, he likes Harry."
"Mister Apollo's cool," Harry said with a nod. "A bit of a pervert, but totally cool nonetheless."
"So you're definitely joining us?" Annabeth asked, suddenly sounding a bit shy.
"I'll need to find some blunt arrows. I really don't want to shoot somebody for real," Harry answered. "So, how exactly is this game played?"
"Oh, it's easy," Silena said. "We're divided in two teams, Red and Blue. Temporary alliances are made, so the composition of the teams changes from game to game. We're all let go in the forest; the creek that runs through it is the boundary. Each team is given a flag, which they have to take to their side of the forest, and protect it with no more than two people per flag. The goal is for one side to capture the flag and bring it to their side of the forest."
Harry nodded. "That sounds suspiciously like some of the stuff Miss Zoë had me doing. Find a target, capture a goal, retrieve an objective, that sort of thing." He still looked unsure. "I really don't want to hurt anybody, though."
"We all get weapons and helmets and stuff, so we're all pretty secure," Annabeth tried to reassure him. "And like I said, we're not allowed to kill or maim."
Harry pouted at her. "Not a lot of good that rule will do if I shoot someone through the eye and into the brain," he told her.
They froze and looked at him. "You can shoot a moving target in the eye? For real?" Louis asked, gaping at him. "We're the Sons of Apollo; we could make the shot, maybe."
Harry shook his head. "Standing target, not a moving target. For a moving target, I need a bigger area, so I usually aim for the throat. Very few things survive an arrow to the throat." Yeah, like Nemmy, he thought silently.
He saw Annabeth grasp for her throat, remembering his knife and what it did to that man that had tried to kidnap her. She paled slightly.
"Some good may as well come from it," Harry whispered to her while giving her a gentle hug. The Daughter of Athena nodded sadly.
"It's a good tactic," she whispered back, her voice shaking slightly.
Recognizing that something was up, but not necessarily what, the others stepped back and let Harry comfort her.
The conch shell sounded again, and Harry let go of Annabeth. He gave her a look that asked whether she was okay. She nodded, and gave him a faint smile that said that yes, everything was fine now.
Sometimes, friends didn't need words.
"Let's get outfitted," the Daughter of Athena said instead. Harry nodded, still not feeling all that enthusiastic about something that may cause him to hurt people.
They trooped back to the dining pavilion. The teams were announced, along the lines of what had been discussed earlier. Athena had managed to forge an alliance with Ares and Aphrodite Cabins, something that took a lot of political wrangling, exchange of shower times, chore schedules, the best activities slots, and so forth. Harry was suddenly very happy to be on his own – because shower times? He wanted to bathe when he needed it, not when someone told him it was okay, thank you very much.
The note on making sure he never ended up at camp filed away, Harry continued to listen. Apollo and Hermes Cabins, the largest at camp, had allied with everybody else, Dionysus, Demeter, and Hephaestus cabins. And Thalia, as the only representative for Zeus' Cabin.
"Heroes!" Chiron yelled. "You know the rules. The creek is the boundary lines, and the entire forest is fair game. You can use all magical items; your flag must be prominently displayed and can be guarded by no more than two people. Prisoners may be disarmed, but neither bound nor gagged; killing and maiming is prohibited. I will serve as referee as well as battlefield medic. Now, arm yourselves!"
At a sign of his hands, the tables were covered with equipment; helmets, bronze swords, spears, shields.
Harry reached out and grabbed a sword. The only experience he had with this particular style of weapon was with the sword Ares put in his hands while fighting the Hydra, still, this weapon felt entirely different.
It felt unbalanced, for some reason. It was too tip-heavy for his tastes; sure, it would deliver a more powerful downwards strike, but it would take more energy to maneuver and reset for a new strike. He put the sword down again; he didn't have enough experience with one anyway.
He emerged his bracers, then his shield, then Hestia's Lasso, which he looped on his belt. Grabbing a helmet that seemed to be his size, he put it on. It had a red plume, like all the plumes of the helmets on their side.
Suddenly, something drew Harry's attention.
A quiver of blunted arrows. Grinning, he grabbed it. Blunted arrows would prevent him from killing people.
He hoped.
Because even a blunted arrow could seriously mess somebody up if he shot them in the eye with one.
He'd still be hurting someone, though, which didn't sit right… Hestia didn't like violence, after all. Although self-defense was probably allowed. He thought, anyway.
He wished he'd had some time to talk this over with Hestia, but it was too late now.
The young demigod cast a glance over at the blue team, and found that Jack and Jim, despite their earlier statements about defecting, were sticking close to Louis and their other Apollo siblings.
"Harry?" Annabeth said, drawing his attention.
"Yeah?" he asked, still distractedly trying to figure out how, where, and when he had gotten himself enrolled into an apparently very violent game; a game that involved enough bloodshed that there was a rule about not killing or maiming, and one that required an actual battlefield medic.
"Most of us will be on border patrol, but a few of us will be going after the flag," the Daughter of Annabeth explained. "Can you and Clarisse protect the flag? Considering there are way more of them than there are of us, we're thinking a lot of them will get by our guards."
Harry shrugged. Playing defense sounded good to him. Maybe he could talk people out of attacking him. He glanced over at Clarisse; the Daughter of Ares had her spear out and was cackling.
Yes. Actually cackling. It made her sound like one of those over-acting villains out of an old black and white movie, and Harry found himself grinning.
"We're gonna have so much fun, Newbie," she cackled at him.
Harry grinned. "We probably will," he answered her, thinking about placing a few traps for the other team. "Our opponents probably won't feel the same," he added, suddenly realizing that shooting someone, even with a blunted arrow, will hurt.
Her cackling intensified. "I knew I liked ya for a reason!" she laughed, slapping him on the shoulder. Only the fact that he was used to various deities slapping him on the shoulder allowed him to internalize a yell and refuse to be moved forward.
"Great, they're getting along," Annabeth muttered, almost quietly. She looked at Silena, the only one of Aphrodite Cabin to actually join them. Her brothers and sisters seemed to have peeled off and were gossiping next to the creek. "How did that happen?"
The Daughter of Aphrodite shrugged. "Harry works in mysterious ways, I suppose," she replied, earning herself a dirty look from her friend.
Harry chose to ignore the commentary, and focused instead on calming himself down. First, he didn't want to lose. Second, he wanted to show that all the hard work and training he had put in wasn't wasted. Third, he wanted the various gods who had been kind enough to teach him to know their effort wasn't wasted, either. Finally, he wanted to do this without seriously injuring too many people and thus making Hestia sad.
"Come along, Newbie," Clarisse said, the Red Flag draped carelessly over her shoulder. "Let's go get set up."
They found a small and secluded open area, and Clarisse just casually stabbed the flag's pole into the ground. "Here good?" she asked.
Harry looked around. "I'm guessing everybody knows where these clear spots are?" he asked.
She nodded. "Yup, of course."
Harry grinned. "Let me show you a trick," he said, focusing on the flag, and throwing some Shen at the image. Suddenly, he was holding a, for all intents and purposes, identical flag.
Clarisse whistled. "Here's what I'm thinking," Harry said. "We put this flag near that tree line over there, and trap the heck out of it. Whoever grabs it will trigger the trap. If there's more than one, the second one either will be too busy helping the first one, or will grab this fake flag and run. Whatever the case may be – I can disappear this fake flag before they can get very far, and if they're helping their comrade, we can jump them."
Clarisse was practically rolling on the floor. "I like your thinking."
"Since the regular flag needs to be displayed prominently, I suggest we display it prominently – like from a branch of that tree over there, which should be a good 10 meters straight up," Harry said, pointing to a particular tree that had its lowest branches a dozen or so meters off the ground.
"How the hell will you get that flag over that branch?" the Daughter of Ares demanded.
Harry grinned, grabbed the original flag, tossed it over his shoulder, and took a short sprint at the tree. At the right moment, he pulled on his three energy centers, adding energy to his climb and allowing him to practically run up the tree's trunk to the lowest-hanging branches.
He almost didn't make it, feeling the energy slip between his ethereal fingers, but he just managed to grab hold of the branch he was aiming at. He pulled himself up and fixed the flag.
"Good?" he shouted down.
Clarisse was gaping at him, then laughed loudly and gave him a thumb's up. "Now get yourself down, Newbie!"
Harry grinned; using the skills that Zoë had taught him for climbing trees, he grabbed hold of the trunk with arms and legs, clamping down as hard as he could, and then wormed his way down.
"Impressive trick," she told him. "Let's go trap-"
The conch shell sounded, followed by the distant cries and whoops of the demigods. "Never mind," the Daughter of Ares said. "Let's get ready." Her grin widened. "We're gonna have loads of people after us, it'll be great!"
Harry nodded, then sprinted at a smaller tree and soon vanished into its branches. The evergreen concealed him, even in the depths of winter. Of course, there were few evergreens around so the moment he loosed his first arrow people would know where he was; it was virtually the only decent hiding spot around.
Clarisse laughed, and gave him another thumb's up. Warriors came in all sorts and sizes, and if Harry was content to snipe people, then that was fine by her. More physical violence for her that way.
Harry settled behind the evergreen's greenery, and readied a blunt arrow on his string. He wished he were better at magic, but despite months of exercise, he had yet to find the greater world's magic.
When he had complained to Marduk, the ancient mage had the audacity to laugh at him. It had actually hurt his feelings somewhat. Calming himself, the immortal had explained that, just because Harry had been very good or very lucky to find the first stage very quickly, didn't mean that he would be so good or so lucky to repeat it for the second step. Marduk then reminded him that it would take him 20 years to be good at this.
Harry had pouted at having forgotten that part.
He noticed Clarisse grinning and pulling herself up, readying herself for violence. Shaking himself from his depressing thoughts about his lack of progress at magic, Harry focused on the here and now. He was ready to draw at a moment's notice.
A team of four charged into the clearing; Harry knew one of them. It was Luke, whom he'd brought to camp. He didn't know the other three but they looked a bit like Luke and Hermes, so the boy assumed they were sons of his as well.
Clarisse let out a whoop and charged the foursome, apparently finding four-on-one fun odds.
Harry grinned, that was such an Ares thing to do. He readied his bow and drew, waiting for a clear shot.
Luke broke off and raced around Clarisse, who was actually holding her own against three older Hermes kids. Harry's vision focused, almost as if the world fell away and the only thing visible was his moving target.
His fingers released the string.
The blunted arrow thwacked Luke right in the throat. He let out an urk, and went down.
For a moment, his heart fell at the sight, fearing that he had seriously injured – or worse, killed – his opponent.
The boy groaned again, one arm moving to his throat. Harry let out a sigh of relief.
Another blunt arrow was already on his string, and he focused on a second Son of Hermes, one of three still fighting Clarisse. The boy had retreated somewhat while still giving the impression of actually being in the fight, and made ready to stab her in the side.
Clarisse let out a joyful yell when the red-glowing tip of her spear skewered one of the boys. Harry resisted the urge to gag or yell, and instead focused on the backstabbing Son of Hermes, hoping that Clarisse would notice him and that he wouldn't have to let out a shot this close to an ally.
She engaged the second boy, ignoring the third who was aiming up for that cheap shot.
Harry loosed the string; the arrow hit its mark.
A second son of Hermes went down with a bruised throat. Clarisse blocked a shot from the opponent she was fighting, glanced at the boy on the ground, noticed his position, and whooped again.
The next moment, the butt of her spear connected with the head of her opponent. Through the helmet, it merely stunned him enough for her to reverse her spear and stab him.
She was still yelling, obviously caught in a mad blood rush, when three Sons of Apollo strode onto the battlefield.
Three Sons of Apollo that he knew well.
Harry, wanting to spare them what happened to the Hermes boys, pitched his voice and threw some magic behind it. "Please drop your weapons and surrender," he declared.
"Hell no!" Clarisse shouted, and seemed like she wanted to charge anyway.
"And what if we don't?" Louis asked, glancing at the four Sons of Hermes groaning on the floor.
"Please drop your weapons and surrender," Harry requested again. "Please do not force me to hurt friends."
Jack and Jim dropped their swords immediately. Louis gave them an ugly look, but Clarisse was grinning and raised her spear. "Wanna dance, Pretty boy?" she asked, waving her spear around.
Louis sighed, and dropped his sword and shield as well. "Fine, we surrender." he looked at the evergreen. "Did you really shoot two guys from over there, Harry? In the throat despite them wearing helmets that should, theoretically, protect them from that very thing?"
"Those helmets are open at the front, and expose the front of their throat," Harry answered, still pitching his voice. The three Sons of Apollo, expert archers thanks to their father, looked from the first Son of Hermes, to the second Son of Hermes, then at the tree.
"You're fucking scary, you know that?" One of the guys – either Jack or Jim – shouted.
"He's fucking awesome is what he is!" Clarisse shouted. "He took out Luke when made a run for it and he took out this jackass who tried to blindside me," she added while giving the groaning boy a kick in the side.
Louis' smile was brittle. He pointed back to where they had come from. "Yes… well… we've surrendered, so we'll just be-" he broke off when an arrow landed with pinpoint accuracy right in front of his right shoe. "Ehm, right by that tree over there," he finished, suddenly pointing to a nearby tree instead.
Clarisse laughed. "You're a coward, but an honest coward," she told him.
Louis gave her a dirty look. "You're lucky you're not on your own."
"Why did you tell us to leave our bows behind again?" Jack – or Jim – asked. "We may as well have tried to shoot Harry out of that tree."
Louis gave him a dirty look, too. "It's winter. There shouldn't be any cover. We would be sitting ducks, trying to draw a bow in a forest you can just see right through. Why or how Harry was able to find the one evergreen tree that would allow him cover, I have no idea."
Clarisse was laughing as the three Sons of Apollo sat down next to the tree Louis had indicated. "We'll just sit here, quietly chatting," Louis told her. "No need to send Scary Harry after us."
The Daughter of Ares gave them all a grin, and then whirled around when another trio of demigods entered the field, one girl and two boys. She engaged with a yell, not wanting to give Harry a chance to talk down any more opponents, and soon was fighting two on one, with the girl trying the same tactic as Luke and making a run for the flag.
She was shorter than the other two, and didn't seem eager to fight, but she was swift of foot. Harry dropped her with a blunt arrow to the throat.
The two demigods fighting Clarisse were both older than her, and seemed to be more concerned with not hurting each other than with hurting Clarisse. Which was something she eagerly exploited as she expertly navigated them in a crossfire situation, where they would be equally likely to hit the other than they were to hit her.
He drew his bow nonetheless, waiting for an opportunity, but it wasn't needed. The first boy went down with a deep cut to his leg, and soon the second had a stab wound in his side.
"Whoop! Bloodshed!" the demigod of Ares yelled, brandishing her spear aloft.
In the distance, the conch horn sounded again. "Hell yeah! We won!" Clarisse shouted. Then her shoulders drooped. "But this means no more bloodshed. Bummer."
Harry grinned as he slid down the trunk of his tree. "At least we won, right? Any fight you can walk away from is a good fight, but any fight you walk away from with a victory is a great one."
Clarisse laughed loudly and clapped him on the back. "Too right, Newbie." She looked at the decoy flag, the one both Luke and the female demigod had been after. "Your decoy's awesome."
Chiron cantered into the clearing, and looked at the groaning demigods on the ground. "It looks like my expertise is needed," he commented dryly, before looking at the flag. "That isn't the camp flag," he noted, eyes narrowing.
"Nope," Harry said, dispelling the illusion. "That is a decoy. The real flag is displayed prominently over there." He pointed to the tall tree, where the real flag was draped over a branch a dozen meters off the ground.
"That..." Chiron said, not knowing what to say, and closing his mouth. He drew a breath. "It is prominently displayed, yes, and that is nice decoy. I don't believe I want to know how you got it up there."
Silena and three boys from Athena's Cabin were carrying Annabeth on their shoulders, Annabeth who was carrying the flag she had captured from the opposing team. They were all whooping and yelling, and Clarisse had no problem joining in the merriment.
"Looks like you guys were busy," Silena commented, letting some boy from Ares cabin take her spot carrying Annabeth, who was blushing and didn't seem all that comfortable with the attention.
"This guy's awesome!" Clarisse pointed at Harry. "Covered my back, stayed out my way, and did that," she said, pointing to the flag up in the tree. "No way was anybody stealing our flag!"
Silena looked at the tree, paled, and looked at Harry. "Were you trying to kill yourself climbing that?" she demanded, pointing at the flag.
The festive demigods grew quiet as they all realized where their flag had been 'prominently' displayed.
Harry shrugged. "It's just a tree," he said, turning, taking a short sprint, and repeating his wall-running trick. This time, he judged the distance correctly and didn't need to throw himself at the branch in order to keep himself from falling. Sitting on the branch, against the trunk, Harry rolled up their flag, and shimmied back down the trunk. He had to admit, shimmying down a tree trunk with a large and heavy flag was a lot more effort than it was worth, in his opinion.
"We never had a chance," Louis muttered. "We surrendered. We sat out most of the game. None of us even knew it was up there, we were all focused on that decoy." He sighed. "You're as bad as the Hunters are. We can't win from them either."
Harry smiled widely. "Artie's Hunters are awesome. Who do you think taught me?"
Chiron had dressed the wounds of the demigods on the ground, and managed to get them back on their feet. Groans shot up from the losers.
"I vote we don't let Harry compete in any more Capture the Flag games," Luke wheezed, his voice hoarse from the damage Harry's arrow had done to his throat.
"I vote we get Harry on our side next time," Louis retorted.
"I rescind my vote, that's a better idea," Luke wheezed.
Suddenly, Annabeth and Silena each had an arm of his, making him blush. "Harry's with us," Annabeth declared, making Silena nod. "We asked him to come and join the game."
"We're friends of Harry's, too," Louis said, pointing to himself and the two Guys. "I bet he'd come if we asked, too."
Harry felt incredibly uncomfortable all of a sudden. He had never been actually wanted like this before, and didn't know how to handle it. He felt awful that Silena and Annabeth seemed to be fighting with the Sons of Hermes over him all of a sudden.
"I don't think I'll be joining every game anyway," Harry said, stalling further argument. "Besides, I'm not really a camper, so I'm not sure if I even should join every game. Also, it seems to me there's an easy solution."
"Which is?" Louis asked, curiously.
"For those games that I do take part in, you just need to make sure you're allied with Athena and Aphrodite Cabin, that way we're all on the same team," he told the Son of Apollo.
"Hell, yeah! Next time you're in, Ares cabin's in, too!" Clarisse shouted.
"You're not even Counselor of Ares Cabin," Luke wheezed at her.
"I'll break his legs if he doesn't follow through," Clarisse said with a shrug. "The punk better listen when I tell him something."
"Er… right," Luke wheezed.
"As entertaining as this was, I do believe that Harry is correct. He is not an official camper, and while we do, on occasion, allow outsiders to join the game, this is primarily a training tool for you, young heroes. While I will not object to him joining the occasional game, please don't count on this being a regular occurrence."
They all nodded obediently, although Clarisse looked mutinous. Then again, Harry thought, she probably always looked that way when she wasn't fighting. She really was like Ares that way.
Ten minutes later, Harry, Annabeth, and Silena were walking on the beach. It had been some time since Harry had seen the ocean, and after dunking his hand in the water and saying hello to Poseidon, he enjoyed the walk. Even if it was winter and the water was freezing.
"I can't believe you did that," Annabeth said, shaking her head.
Harry grinned. "Mister Chiron said that the flag should be prominently displayed, he didn't say it had to be on the ground. It's not my fault nobody ever looks up."
Silena shook her head with a laugh. "I think that's going to be a rule from now on."
The young boy grinned wider. "Just what I always wanted, to have a rule named after me."
"The decoy will likely be a rule, too," Annabeth muttered. "For the next time someone's good at magic."
Harry laughed. "Two rules named after me in my first game. That has to be some kind of record."
Annabeth pouted. "I'm not sure it's one worth celebrating, Harry," she admonished.
"Sure it is. You heard Clarisse, it's awesome," Silena replied, laughing as well. She turned to look at Harry. "How long can you stay? I bet lots of people will want to talk to you over dinner."
Harry's grin dropped; he didn't like crowds and that 'talk' sounded like it wasn't going to be a nice chat, but instead of an ice cold interrogation.
"Not too much longer," he answered. "I have to get home. I adopted a cat some time ago, and I don't want to leave him alone for too long."
"A cat?" Silena asked, surprised.
Harry nodded. "I asked Mister Helios if I could keep him. He's a good kitty, but he has a bit of a temper if you interrupt his naps. Or if his food bowl's empty. Still, he's nice a soft and loves snuggling up at night, so I'm calling it good."
"Sounds like every cat I've ever known," Silena answered. "Well, other than the snuggling part; some cats like that, other don't."
Harry shrugged. "This one does. He loves being petted, too. And get belly rubs. And every now and again, he loves playing, too – he loves chasing stuff. But not for too long, because he needs his sleep," he ended with a laugh.
"Still sounds like every cat I know," Silena said, laughing as well. "I'd love to see him."
Annabeth nodded. "I love animals," she said. "My family always had dogs, but I can appreciate cats, too."
Harry seemed to think of something. "Can you hang on for a few minutes? I have to go check something."
The two girls looked at each other. "Sure?" Annabeth asked.
Harry grinned. "Be right back!" He took off, sprinting back towards camp. The two female demigods, surprised, chased him. They were just in time to see him vanish into the green flames of Hestia's fire-travel.
He was back within five minutes, and literally almost ran them over.
"There you are!" he greeted, smiling widely. "I just asked Mister Helios and he said it was fine."
"Lord Helios said that what was fine?" Annabeth asked, grey eyes narrowing in annoyance over his secrecy.
"How about a sleepover?" Harry asked. "Mister Helios' temple has enough sleeping space; you can have the entire upper floor to yourselves, if you want. That way you can meet Nemmy, and do stuff. I've never had a sleepover, and it sounds like fun."
Silena and Annabeth looked at each other. "Ehm… would Chiron allow that?" Annabeth asked, sounding as if she didn't want to get her hopes up.
"We really should ask, shouldn't we?" Silena asked, sounding as if she just wanted to say 'yes', grab a bag, and jump through the fire.
"We should," Annabeth replied, sounding as if she wanted to do the same thing just as much as Silena.
"Should ask me what?" Chiron asked, clopping up to the trio. "I heard my name, and noted that someone said they should ask me something."
Harry offered a sheepish grin, but was interrupted before he could say anything.
"Oh dear," the centaur said, before anyone had a chance to speak. "Last time I saw that smile, you ended up in the infirmary, and we ended up with the Athena Parthenos. What do you have in mind this time, young Harry?"
Harry's smile turned brittle. He wished Hestia were here to give him a hug of encouragement. He always felt like he could take on the world after a hug from Hestia. "I… eh… invited Annabeth and Silena to have a sleepover?" he half-asked, half-said.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
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