I sat down on the bench so heavily I was scared it'd break underneath me. After sparring and training all day, every day for the past week, I was sure I couldn't be more drained than right now, but so far I had always been proven wrong, come a new day.

What spare time I did get, was filled mostly with reading book after book. Reading school books had never worked for me, but this was different. It was a part of my new life that I had been dropped into the very middle of, and one thing I hated more than anything else was being unprepared.

After the first few days had passed, and my wounds had finally healed, both from the drakon attack and from Toby cutting and stabbing me during the fight in the arena, Sophia had started talking to me once more. It had mostly been ordering me around while smacking me with her sword every time I opened my guard too much, but just yesterday she had finally laughed near me once again, which I considered a success.

As for Toby, there had been no trouble with him or his gang since. In fact, nobody had had any trouble with them.

I could thank the fact that they had disappeared after that.

Gone without a trace.

Even with the story of my fight with Toby spreading around camp like wildfire, I had managed to make a fair few friends. Sam and Bruce were both more than happy to teach me how to fight, and though I was nowhere near their level, having more than one bruise and cut to show for that, I had managed to reach a point where almost everyone that didn't have any war god in them was on the same level as me.

On Wednesday, when Jenny had thrashed me in a matter of a few seconds, it had pretty much destroyed most of my confidence. Only when I was told just how long she's been learning to fight for and remembering that Athena was a goddess of war as well, did I regain some of that lost confidence.

John was taking me through archery and its finer workings whenever he had the time... So basically every day. Two days ago, I had managed to finally hit my first real bullseye, a new milestone I could feel excited for. Tony had tried teaching me a tiny bit about nature magic, and while making medicine out of assorted plants was cool, I couldn't for the life of me remember each and every plant and how to identify them. Adding into the mix that there were some incredibly poisonous ones that looked similar to the herbs I actually needed, I realised this might not be made for me.

Once singing was added into the mix, I noped out. I liked music, but it didn't like me back enough to actually give me any real skills with instruments or my own voice.

Meanwhile, Rob had forged me gear a million times better than what I had been given before. Everything was perfectly weighted, and they fitted me like a charm. All it took was half a day of standing around, getting every little part of my body measured by a guy who smelled of burnt hair and machine oil.

My father, on the contrary, was still doing fuck all. At this point, I was searching for signs in everything, but the only thing that was even remotely close to giving away who he was was the sacrificial brazier's flame turning black for a split-second each time I scraped my sacrifice into it. Those who hadn't seen it the first time had definitely noticed it by now, and now watching me scrape my food into the flames was the new pre-meal program. Neither Sophia nor Chiron had any idea of what it could mean, which only made me feel even more annoyed.

What I was certain about was that a Greek god was my father. While I didn't have dyslexia, which seemed to help everyone else understand greek letters just fine, it was getting easier to decipher what the Latin alphabet equivalent of the Greek letters was. Once that was done and I could pronounce the word, the meaning popped into my head like I had known it all my life.

My gaze rested on Tony, currently in the process of chewing on a coke can beside me, staring blankly before himself. It had freaked me out the first time he had stuffed his face with aluminium cans, but now it would be stranger not seeing him do it. How he didn't cut his mouth on those tiny metal shards, I wasn't sure, nor did I understand what was so tasty about them in the first place.

The bearded son of Ares, who was now nearly finished with his steak, had told me to keep my weapons and armour on me after today's training session came to a close. Why I had to do that, I hadn't got an answer when I had asked him, but the fact that almost everyone else was dressed similarly in battle regalia helped soothe my nerves that this wasn't some Hermes cabin prank.

Minutes passed by slowly, filled with the din that normally accompanied every dinner, until finally, Chiron stood up, and the pavilion fell silent.

"Thank you! My dear campers, I wish to announce today's event!"

Words were instantly exchanged between the occupants of most tables, which coming from two hundred different people, was loud enough to drown out whatever Chiron was going to say.

Bruce cupped his hands around his mouth.

"LISTEN!"

Silence once again fell, and Chiron gave a small smirk of thanks.

"So, as we all know, on a Friday, every two weeks, we've got a special program after dinner... Capture the-"

The cheering started before he could finish, though I managed to read the last word off of his lips.

Flag.

"Calm down, calm down please!" Chiron shouted above the noise. Slowly, everyone did just that, me being the only one who hadn't joined in with making noise, not counting Tony and the others sitting at the camp director's table, "Since we're near the end of dinner, I'm more than happily announce that we'll be meeting at the creek, just where it enters the forest. Bring all your gear there and remember to join the right team. No magical item is excluded, everything is in play. Twenty minutes, and we're starting!"

"What are the teams?" Someone shouted from the Ares table.

"There are two teams, as is normal. Team one is led by the Athena cabin-"

Cheers went up, while others groaned.

"They're very good at strategy stuff, especially with Sophia at their forefront. Gives them an easy instant win," Tony muttered.

"What's so good about going up against them then?"

"The challenge of trying to defeat them. Last I heard the other team isn't all that weak either, so it'll be an interesting game... For you, I mean. Not as interesting to watch."

"-and team two is lead by Ares cabin!" More battle cries went up, "Now... The cabins in team one are as follows: Athena, Demeter, Dionysus, Poseidon, Hecate, Apollo, Tyche, Hephaestus and Iris."

As each cabin's name was called out, hoots and cheers came from the table in question.

"That is a tough team..." Tony whispered, and even with my limited knowledge of each one of them, I knew that what he was saying was true.

Athena was the strategy one, the smartasses with blond hair and grey eyes, while Demeter planted stuff. Both of those cabins easily had twenty members each, Sophia being the leader of Athena, while Elizabeth Klinger, otherwise known as Lizzy, or the girl who I had mistaken for the similarly-named daughter of Ares, was the counsellor for Demeter.

Dionysus, the wine dude's kids, wasn't so lucky in terms of numbers. Four of them altogether and all of them unique.

Felix always looked a bit giddy, and he smelled like a pub even on his better days. Being the son of the party god, it wasn't even all that unexpected of him to be that way. Next came Jim Selby and Anton Guillot, who had such a bond that would they not have had different last names, I would've called them brothers on their mother's side as well as their father's. They were regularly the cupbearers in the sword pit, and I had seen them run track at least a dozen times, sprinting across the field like few others could, even managing to beat the dryads.

They were like twins, both had the same brown eyes, blond hair, and red-coloured nose, making them look like they were either constantly sick or cosplaying Santa's head reindeer. The only large difference between the two was Anton's french accent, the guy having been born in Québec City. I had had the luck to witness a heated argument between a child of Aphrodite and the french child of Dionysus about three days ago, both of them gesticulating wildly and throwing threats at each other in a language nobody else around them understood.

The final kid there was Jacob Korr. I hadn't really managed to talk to him over the course of the week, but he seemed just a tad bit strange, always wearing long clothes and gloves. When I had asked John about him, he had told me to drop the topic without any further explanation.

Poseidon cabin only had Nico, who was treated like a little brother by some, and as a minor annoyance by others. I couldn't help but join the group of the former, but he was rarely taken seriously.

That all changed during duels though. A little water, and he was almost unstoppable with a sword, even managing to end a fight against Bruce with a stalemate, the one and only time I had seen them fight one another.

Apollo cabin came as the biggest surprise when I had heard just how few of them there were. With Toby and his gang gone, they were down to three members. John was definitely the jack of all trades among their group, the others, Darryl Irving and Tiffany Parker, coming in as close seconds to their counsellor in archery, while Darryl was also pretty good at music.

Hephaestus kids were built like tanks, thanks to working in the forges for most of the day, every day. They sported a nice sixteen members and they were some of the best craftsmen I had ever seen, not to mention they were fairly decent in any fight, always having a new gadget to test. The time I had spent outside the forge while Robert had measured me made me realise just how hard their job actually was. The heat from inside had dried my skin like I was an apricot left out to perish in the searing summer sun, and that had all happened while I was nowhere near the actual flames.

I had met the entire Iris cabin back during the tour, and the fact that their godly parent was the goddess of the rainbow fooled me no longer. While their fighting skills weren't the best, they rode the pegasi like true masters, and even while dipping and swerving, they could still fire their bows and thrust with long spears, hitting their targets more times than not. Hecate's six members all looked like they had just escaped out of some television show about witches, each of them sporting long, black hair and eerie green eyes. Bob Kranit was their counsellor, a lanky guy who had recently turned twenty, his face rarely wearing anything other than a scowl. Most of his cabinmates were similar, except Des, who was exceptionally cheerful each time we met, also sporting some new, never before seen style of hair.

Tyche was one of the smallest cabins after Poseidon's, three campers calling the cabin their home. Just as I could've expected, them being the children of the goddess of luck and all that, they all possessed obscene amounts of luck that always put them at an unfair advantage.

They stumble during sparring?

Of course, my shoes are suddenly untied, and I trip myself over as I move in for the win, finding myself under their blade before I can stand back up.

Or the time when I was about to win a bet against Clover, the cabin counsellor, in archery? The wind blew my last arrow so far to the side that I nearly managed to hit my opponent's target.

I mean, fuck, the counsellor's name was Clover... I had no chance to begin with.

That isn't to say that they never lost a bet, but it wasn't the most common of occurrences. Playing any game of chance with them was out of the question, especially with money added into the mix. That was a surefire way of losing your life savings to them.

"As for team two-" Chiron continued, "Every other cabin has decided to join forces under the Ares cabin's banner!"

This time, the cheers were louder than the boos, but the noise was quickly replaced by the rattling of the tables as people stood up, most of them finished with their dinner.

Whatever this was going to be, though its name didn't leave too many questions in me, it was going to be a big fight. The entirety of the Ares and Hermes cabin alone had more members than the whole of team one... Probably why Nike cabin had decided to join them, rather than Sophia and her group.

The children of the war god were hot-headed idiots, who ran on pure testosterone, making prime bully material. Though Bruce didn't normally show that side of himself, at least not while fighting me, seeing him duel with the poor Hermes counsellor, George Thornton, you realized just how fucked you were if you went up against him. His brothers and sisters were no different to him, only they failed to hide what Bruce tried his best to. You could spot them in a crowd easily enough, the body of a quarterback paired with their distinct sneer was a dead giveaway.

Then there were the Hermes kids. While it's still a mystery who exactly it was, someone from that cabin was playing pranks on me. It wasn't too hard to figure out which cabin it had been in the first place, because they had left a business card on my pillow.

A fucking business card.

If I had to lay on one more cactus hidden under my bed covers again, I'd go ballistic. The first time I had laughed at it a bit before I learned to lock my door. When it had happened five more times, through a locked door and later, padlocks and a door barricade, it had provoked a far different reaction from me.

As I followed the others towards the forest and strode down the steps of the pavilion, I watched Ralph Fireta loudly boast about already being the winners of the game.

Pretentious prick.

His face was infinitely stuck in the expression someone made when they smelled some god-awful smell, and if anything it made him even more unbearable to be around.

The counsellor of Nike cabin was no different to his three other cabinmates, all of them being some of the most annoying bitches I had ever had the displeasure to meet. Arrogant, annoying... And they'd not settle for anything worse than first place. They'd get that position, or die trying.

Fighting them was the opposite of fun. I was yet to defeat any of them thanks to the fact that no matter how many times I knocked them down, they'd get back up again, talking crap through it all.

"You looking forward to it?" Tony asked out of the blue, shaking me from my train of thought.

"Not sure yet. Don't know what to expect really, so there's not much to look forward to... I'm not even sure which team I'm supposed to be on."

"Fair enough." He shrugged, and we trudged onwards. The laughing and jeering of campers, the clanking of equipment and Tony chewing on yet another can was the only thing that filled the silence between us. A minute or two, and I could see the crowd of campers gathering around a stream.

Someone slapped me hard on the back of the thigh, with something that was definitely not a hand, and I yelped.

"Your straps aren't tight enough," Sophia told me.

My head spun around to glare at the daughter of Athena, "Fucking hell..." I rubbed the spot, "Could you do that again please, it felt-"

She slapped my thigh again with the flat of her sword, so fast that I didn't even have time to react, swallowing the yelp of pain.

"You'll be with team one, meaning you listen to our plan, and follow my orders exactly how I stated them. We're against many more demigods than we have, so if you fuck this up in some way, I won't go easy on you next week during training."

"Have you been going easy on me thus far?" I felt the place of the sword slaps burning like hell, "Not to mention you don't seem to understand sarcasm. What the hell are you slapping me with your sword for?!"

"Gets you used to the notion of pain a bit... Also, it's supposed to bring you good luck."

"Really?"

"No." She smirked, "Now tighten that strap then join us."

I did as told with a sigh, the daughter of Athena nodding as she assessed my armour one last time, then she jogged ahead.

"She likes you, dude." Tony chuckled.

"Don't even start,"

"Tough love is the best most can get from her, she's not all that touchy-feely so don't go expecting too many hugs."

"Well, if you must know, that's probably been the friendliest she's been to me this week."

"See, she's coming around." He laughed, elbowing my side.

The two teams stood on opposite banks, staring down at each other, many of the demigods already wearing coloured sashes. Joining the Athena cabin's side, I watched as the Boreas twins played around with the water, turning it into ice to stop the Aphrodite kids from looking at themselves in the reflection.

Barnabas and Sebastian de Laurentis were a strange pair, the only members of the Boreas cabin, which even during the hot summer days was covered in icicles. With white hair and white irises to go along with it, their skin was scarily pale, and no matter how long they duelled under the sun, their skin tone remained unchanged.

Simply looking at them made you feel cold, and standing beside them was akin to stepping into a walk-in freezer. Sometimes it was comfortable to have a walking, talking pair of air conditioners near you, other times it was quite the opposite when the temperature suddenly dropped by thirty degrees.

Twenty minutes passed quickly, a few campers trickling in throughout it, while I looked over the teams. Everyone was dressed in heavy armour and looked like they knew how to use their weapons, but the fact that there was easily double the number of campers facing us was the most unsettling detail.

Chiron clip-clopped in front of us and cleared his throat. Two dozen satyrs, Tony among them, Samuel and a bored-looking Julia stood either side of the centaur.

The teams fell silent.

"Now then... The rules are as follows! This creek is the boundary line, carrying the banner of the enemy team over it will grant you victory. The entire forest is fair game, save for the shrine building, but dryads will warn you when you get close. As always, monsters are still a threat inside, so other than watching out for attacking opponents, monsters also have a chance of causing problems."

"Monsters?" I whispered over to John.

"Listen, or you won't understand how to play." He replied.

"With a flip of this drachma, we'll decide which team can choose their side! Parthenon is team one, Athena's Owl is team two." A coin the size of a large cookie flew into the air, flipping many times over before the camp director caught it and slapped it onto the top of his other hand, "Parthenon! Team one, what do you choose?"

"Zeus' Fist," Sophia replied while team two groaned.

"Very well! The flags must be placed somewhere that is easy to see and reach, and only two guards may stand near it, minimum ten yards from the flag. Onto the gear. All items, be they magical or not, are free to use. These sashes-" He held up one of many that Samuel carried in his hands, "-are to remain tied around your body throughout the entire game. Red is team one, blue is team two... Killing and maiming, as always, is not allowed. Cuts, of course, can happen, but anything that is seen as a prominent rule break will result in the loss of dessert for one week for the individual, and depending on the severity, further punishments might be applied. If you wish to incapacitate a player, disarm them, and bring them over here. Bounding and gagging them is forbidden! I'll serve as the referee and medic, the latter of which the satyrs will help me with. If any rule breaks happen, the dryads of the forest will inform us and will take control of the situation. The moment the horn is blown-" The centaur pointed at Sam once again, who lifted up a horn, "-both teams will have fifteen minutes to set up everything on their side of the creek. A second horn will signal when that time is over and the game begins."

Chiron nodded, seeing no hands in the air, waiting to ask a question. Looking at the instructor pointedly, Samuel lifted the horn to his lips and blew into it.

"GOOD GAME!" Sam roared, but it was quickly lost in the metallic clanging of swords banged against shields.

"AFTER ME!" Sophia ordered, running into the forest, the entire team in tow, continuing to rhythmically bash their equipment together. I couldn't help but join in, feeling the rush of excitement of being in my first real fight.

Terrifying and exciting.

We ran deeper and deeper into the forest, Sophia stopping four of us after the first few minutes, while the others continued onwards.

"John, Nico, Rob and Daniel, you four are on guard duty."

"Didn't they say only two people can guard the flag?" I asked.

"The others know what I'm talking about, they'll explain it to you. Here John, the flag." Sophia threw the Son of Apollo a bit of cloth rolled around a stick, "Now go, we don't have long to prepare."

"Follow me guys," John took command, and we ran after him.

"So what's happening?" I asked, looking between the three demigods I was running through the foliage with.

"Two of us will be the actual guards, while the other two will be close enough to help if the need arises."

"I'm guessing you guys have your roles already?"

Nico and Rob nodded.

"You'll be with me, Dan... Ah, here we are."

The trees opened up to a clearing, the middle of which was decorated with a pile of rocks.

"What is this?"

"Zeus' Fist. Nico and Rob, you two know where to go, I'll bring Dan up to date."

They both nodded and ran in seemingly random directions, soon disappearing from sight.

"We have a few minutes, so ask away."

"What is this place, what is my job and where did those two go?"

John smiled, "As I said, this is Zeus' Fist. Most think it's cursed because Kampê died here during the Battle of the Labyrinth."

I opened my mouth to ask who the hell that was, but John held up a hand.

"Ask Sophia about the Battle of the Labyrinth later, all that matters is the curse part is bull, and Sophia sees this place for what it really is. A good place to defend... Nico ran towards a small body of water we discovered a few weeks ago that is both in a strategic place and is close enough for him to give us all the help we need, and Rob is standing guard on one of the main flanking paths they can use to get here. He'll hold out easily enough on his own, especially with his traps, so no worries there. Finally, your job will be a simple one. Lay here, covered in mud and leaves, and wait for my signal from that tree over there."

He pointed at one that I lost sight of the moment I looked away. In the distance, a horn was sounded, and I felt my heart begin to pound.

"How will I know what the signal is?"

"Listen for something that sounds like an owl. Hopefully, I haven't forgotten how to mimic it. You hear it, and you're gonna be ready for anything. The moment you spot the enemy getting too close for comfort, you jump up and unsheathe your blade. I'll support you from the tree with arrows."

"Wait you can shoot-"

"Yes, They've got blunt tips. Now-" He grabbed a handful of mud, and slapped it on my breastplate, "Help me cover everything that shines, to not give away your position. It'll most probably rain, which is good for Nico, not so good for your disguise so we pray to the gods that it doesn't wash off too fast. Whatever the case, once you're on the ground, don't move until you hear the signal. Even if there are ants nibbling on your crotch, you stay as still as a statue... I'm giving you a big job, one that if you fuck up, Sophia'll give me the cold shoulder for weeks on end, though she'll probably kill you during training the next time you meet her in the arena."

I laughed, but it died in my throat. I wasn't sure if John was joking about that last part or not.

The horn blew a few minutes later, and our hands sped up with piling on the mud. Five minutes after the game had started, I looked down at myself and saw only irregular mounds of dark brown, as heavy as the armour it covered.

"Come on, lay down, and I'll kick some leaves onto you. Hopefully, that'll be able to hide you more."

"How the fuck am I supposed to jump up at the sound of attackers if the mud weighs more than I do?"

"You'll do fine, just remember that your shield has now doubled in weight, so be careful or you'll strain your wrist."

"Thanks, I guess..."

I did as told and laid down. Soon enough, most of my vision was covered up by what I assumed was years of fallen leaves. The fact that I now knew each tree was essentially a Dryad brought up images that I didn't really want to have in my head, so I tried finding other things to think of. Yesterday's training... What I had read after lunch...

The son of Apollo gave me a thumbs up, before he ran out of sight, the clattering of stones signalling that the flag had been placed. Once again he passed in front of my field of view, disappearing among the trees.

One branch cracked under him, then we were silent. Only the sound of the distant clashing of weapons and random battle cries kept me on edge, though it wasn't like I needed help staying awake. The mud was cold and incredibly wet, and my knee was starting to itch.

As I sighed, the first drop of rain pattered down, causing my leaves to rustle a bit.

This just wasn't going to be my day, was it?