Chapter Text
At dinner, I sat with Travis, Connor, and Nico. I eyed the other tables. Most were empty. They were all labeled with numbers. Thalia sat at one. Percy sat at three. Two girls sat at four. A bigger group—maybe ten or eleven—sat at five. Around five sat at six. Will, Kylie, and a few other people sat at seven. Around six people sat at nine. A few people were at ten. I was at eleven. And two kids sat at twelve. The hunters were nowhere to be seen.
It was pretty quiet. Nico was rambling about his mythomagic cards and wow! Gods are real! And I was definitely tuning him out. The kid was bright, but I was still thinking. When people walked over to the fire, Travis explained how we make offerings to the gods for every meal.
I walked over and spooned some mashed potatoes, thinking of how dumb this was. Dad, if you can hear me, I don’t know. Maybe tell me who you are? That would be nice. Thanks.
I hoped he wouldn't pick up on my blatant passive-aggressive-ness.
When we were done, Chiron, the camp activities director (or so I was told) showed. Oh my god, was that a horse behind him? No. Connor informed me he’s a centaur. Ah, makes total sense.
“A toast to the gods!” he yelled. “And, it seems we have two new campers. Nico di Angelo and Leo Valdez! Treat them nicely.”
I smiled and felt my body heat go up a little bit when everyone’s head turned to me.
“And now, to formally welcome the Hunters of Artemis to camp, we will be hosting a game of Capture the Flag. Anyone who wants to join, meet up near the woods in fifteen minutes. You will be going against the Hunters.
Nico, Travis, and Connor successfully convinced me to join. I, very begrudgingly, put on the weird helmet (did it seriously have to have a red mohawk on top?) and a chestplate. It felt out of place, but I managed to not fall or embarrass myself in some other way.
Someone handed me a sword, and Connor showed me how to hold it. Then Travis yelled at him for holding it wrong, and I was just confused. What did capture the flag have to do with armor and swords? Nico had no clue either.
Anyways, somehow we made it with the other people. It was a bunch of boys fighting, along with girls yelling at them to shut up, the older guy who had been at table nine, a few girls who were yelling about how the hunters would pay for not loving, Percy, Thalia, Travis and Connor (currently trying to steal stuff from the girls), and me and Nico. We were definitely going to lose.
Chiron joined us. “Heroes! You know the rules! The creek is the boundary line. The Red team—Camp Half-Blood—shall take the west woods. Hunters of Artemis—Blue team—shall take east woods. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. No intentional maiming, please! All magic items are allowed. To your positions!”
We all gathered up. Thalia took charge, telling everyone where to go. She assigned me defense, pretty close to the flag. I was surprised. They were trusting me with protecting it? Then again, Percy was nearby. We took off together, and when we had to separate, he told me good luck. Also that some of the greatest heroes get their start in capture the flag. Whatever that meant.
I sat in the shadows near the flag. My eyes searched the undergrowth. I was clenching my sword like my life depended on it, but I knew if it came to it, I would never use it. It felt heavy, weird in my hands. Instead, I focused on sticks and plastic rods nearby. I fiddled with them, and then realized what I was making. My hands were going faster than my brain. It was a small slingshot, and I took a rock. I attempted to use it. It barely worked. I narrowed my eyes, and then froze.
I heard a twig snap, then yells. At least five girls—Zoe included—were running towards us. Most of them got caught fighting someone from camp, and then Zoe managed to break free and run towards the flag. I saw people running towards us. I tweaked the slingshot while I was running, took my sword, put the sheath over it, and used my newly improved slingshot to catapult towards Zoe.
The sheathed sword flipped midair, end over end, and hit her hard in the shoulder. Not enough to permanently injure, but she rolled, and ended up clutching her shoulder.
She looked at me. Instead of those cold, calculating eyes, I saw impressed ones.
Everyone froze, looking at me. The leaves around me were dimly lit in a red light. “What?” Then I looked up, and ducked. “What’s that?”
Chiron came from the distant woods. “Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus. God of blacksmiths and fire.”
Above me was a large hammer hologram, glowing red and blazing with fire. God of fire. Of course.
I looked up. Everyone was looking at me, and I cringed away. Then they began battling again. Zoe rushed forward for the flag, but after my clever (was it really?) move, someone knew to stop her. Percy rushed into battle, and I backed away. I shot rocks at random hunters with my slingshot, but that was it.
Capture the flag was over quickly. We still lost, but everyone was asking me how I thought of that so quickly. My best response had to be I don’t know. Though technically, it was also the only thing I said.
Some dude—my big brother?—showed me to the Hephaestus cabin. Cabin nine. It was awesome. It reminded me of my mother’s old mechanics shop, but then when I thought of that, I just wanted to curl in a ball. Instead, I listened to the guy.
His name was Charles Beckendorf, but he told me to call him Beckendorf. He was head counselor. And that was pretty much it.
“How about I give you this place? Bunk 2-A. Been empty awhile, but it’s just the same as all the other ones.” Inside was a bed, a work desk full of old blueprints, and a bunch of other tools.
“Wow!” I commented.
“You know what’s even cooler?” He flipped a lever next to the bed, and we dropped down. Inside was the room of my dreams. A full mechanics palace. Everything you could want to build—boom, it was there. Blueprints covered the desk, each one cooler than the last. The bed had a hidden compartment underneath complete with a bean bag, a mini fridge, and a TV.
“This. Is. Awesome.”
Beckendorf laughed. “Yeah, I guess it is.”
We flipped back up to the normal room. “So, our dad’s… god of fire and blacksmiths? So you’re all mechanics? Any fire people?”
Beckendorf, phew, did not act like that was a weird question. “No, no fire people. I think there was one, like, hundreds of years ago, but that was then.”
“Aww man, I was hoping I’d randomly get the power to blow stuff up!” Actually, I could do that, and I really did not want to. Having fire powers was… honestly terrible. I’m glad I’m the only one who has to deal with it.
“Me too, me too,” Beckendorf laughed. “Come on, let me show you where our siblings are.”