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“You’re going down!” Thalia shouted across the green as campers scuttled to the armory and Hunters checked their quivers and bows. Capture the Flag was tonight, and both teams were ready to go all-out, though Chiron had sternly reminded the Hunters not to maim or kill after past incidents.
“You wish!” Percy called back with a grin. This one made him look particularly mischievous, and Thalia could almost taste the salt on the breeze. “You’re facing me and Annabeth.”
Annabeth stood next to Percy, her sleeves rolled up over her shoulders, and Thalia saw a non-zero amount of the younger campers fawning and/or experiencing sexuality crises as Annabeth crossed her drakon bone sword with Riptide.
“Show-offs,” Thalia grumbled, but her smile betrayed her.
Percy and Annabeth high-fived, and Thalia could admit that the combined Chase-Jackson strategic powerhouse was daunting. It had won them the war against the Titans and gotten them through Tartarus alive.
And yet, the Hunters had an unbroken Capture the Flag victory streak under Zoë, and Thalia could hardly be the lieutenant to let that streak end. Last time, she and Percy had fought, their desire to lead causing everything to blow up. Now, Thalia knew that sometimes, the true path to leadership was knowing when to step back and lean on others.
She missed Reyna desperately, but a week visiting Hylla was the least Thalia and Artemis would grant her after the chaos and loss of the past few years.
Thalia gathered the rest of her girls in a huddle and turned to their best strategist. “Alana, what do you have for us?”
The nymph grinned and unfolded a map of the forest. “Annabeth is a fearsome adversary, and Percy will likely be her favored attacker or defender. In order to protect our flag, we will need to take full advantage of the terrain. I propose we set up here, near the Council of Cloven Elders’s ring. The glade is naturally raised, making a sneak attack unlikely. It is also far from any water, which would disadvantage the son of the sea, if he is attacking.”
Alana went on to explain the rest of the plan and traps for various contingencies. Thalia felt her cocky grin widening. Her friends were going down. Hard.
…
Thalia stood with five other girls, her back to the silver flag of Artemis.
Another six of her Hunters fanned out across their neck of the woods while the last group advanced across the creek into enemy territory. Some of them would approach directly in case Percy guarded the border, others were taking the long route.
Thalia reached out with her senses, trying to feel for any changes in the air currents around their base. It was a newer trick she had been working to hone—one that her friends at Camp didn’t yet know about.
Thalia waited, her eyes on the forest, but her focus on the rustle of leaves overhead, the displacement of a hare hopping, the ripple of air, moving around everything within fifty yards. She waited, the air currents ready to betray the use of Annabeth’s invisibility cap.
Odds were, Annabeth had left Percy at the flag or the creek, and she would be attacking herself.
Thalia had her bow ready, an arrow nocked and waiting.
They had already captured five children of Hermes in various nets and traps, but Thalia knew the cavalry was coming.
Her hunters shifted. She felt them breathe and move, and then—there!
Thalia let her arrow fly, but her invisible prey was quick, deflecting with ease. The arrow sliced in two, and its halves ricocheted off the trees. Baring her teeth in a grin, Thalia sent another arrow flying, and her Hunters were quick to follow.
Annabeth had gotten good with that sword. She deflected every projectile and kept advancing. Thalia gave an amused huff. “Still relying on your cap? Alright. Let’s see how you like this.”
She drew her hunting daggers, letting the bow vanish back into moonlight.
Annabeth was unmatched with a dagger but the slicing in the air indicated she was using a her sword tonight. Thalia let electricity pool along the edges of her blades, sparks glinting off the celestial bronze.
Annabeth didn’t respond, but Thalia felt the sharp inhale. She felt the pause. And then Annabeth charged.
She was good. Thalia barely managed to block most of the blows, even with the air currents giving her a winning hand. Electricity arced, and Thalia felt Annabeth dodging, knowing that the electricity would knock her out of the game. She was good. But Annabeth wasn’t cocky enough to charge their base alone.
Where were the other Campers on offense? Surely the Stolls, Alice, Julia, and Noah weren’t it.
“Eyes peeled!” Thalia barked. “I’ve got Annie.”
“Do you?” Annabeth asked, but her voice came from somewhere above.
Thalia gaped, her knives still locked with a long blade. She threw the swordsman back and glanced up at the tree-line, where Annabeth sat with Meg on the bough of an ancient oak. The daughter of Demeter was so rarely at Camp that Thalia’s jaw dropped.
Talk about an unfair advantage in a forest! Annabeth kept finding new ways to impress and aggravate Thalia.
The Hunters launched their arrows together, but Meg gave a wicked grin and waved a hand, blocking the hail of silver with a leafy barrier.
The air moved around her, and Thalia barely managed to block the sword aimed at her shoulder.
She glanced back towards her invisible opponent. “Percy?” she wondered.
“Nope,” said an equally familiar voice. “He’s keeping your hunters busy at the creek.”
“When did you even get here, di Angelo?” Thalia complained. “You weren’t at dinner!”
Nico laughed wickedly as they dueled. “Are you sure about that?”
Then, Thalia remembered the odd gap at the Apollo table next to Will, and she growled, “Annabeth, you fucking bitch! You’re not supposed to use magic items before the game!”
Annabeth laughed in triumph. “There aren’t any rules against it,” she taunted, and Thalia would have tried to shoot her out of the tree herself if not for Nico’s continued attacks.
“Well, we’re leaving now. Bye,” said Meg, and then, in a flash of foliage, they were gone.
Several hunters cursed in a handful of languages.
Nico pushed Thalia off balance when she roared in outrage.
“See ya.”
She felt him running towards the shadows, and she snarled in frustration, throwing her knife. Nico dodged, taking off the Yankees cap just long enough to grin and flip her off before he vanished.
Seconds later the conch horn sounded, and Thalia sheathed her knives, cursing.
They had lost the game, but Thalia wasn’t going to give up. They were here for another week.
When Reyna rejoined them, there would be a reckoning in the rematch.
If anyone could match Annabeth’s martial prowess, it was the former Roman praetor.
Shaking her head, Thalia laughed. “Pack it in, ladies. Let’s get ready for some gloating.”
They groaned, but Thalia could hear the admiration in it. A good game was a good game, and Annabeth had certainly played them.