Chapter 8: We Capture The Flag

Dear Journal,

The next few days, everything started to feel normal, even though I was getting lessons from satyrs, nymphs and a centaur. Each morning, Annabeth taught me everything about Ancient Greece and we talked about the Gods and Goddesses in the present tense, which was kind of weird for me. I discovered Annabeth was right about my dyslexia and that ancient Greek wasn't that hard for me to read. At least it's not harder than English. The rest of the day, I'd go do different outdoor activities, looking for something I was good at. Chiron tried to teach me Archery, but it didn't turn out so well. I also did foot racing, not good enough. I was horrible at everything even at wrestling, every time I got on the mat, Clarisse would pulverize me. But there was one thing I was good at and it was canoeing it was the only thing I did well in. I knew the senior campers and counselors were watching trying to find out who my dad is, but they were having a hard time finding out who my dad was.

I kind of liking camp, I felt I was at home. I got used to everything, such as the morning fog over the beach, the smell of hot strawberry fields in the afternoon, even the weird noises of monsters in the woods at night. Every dinner, I would scrape my into the fire and feel the connection between me and my father. All the time I would feel nothing, just that warm feeling I'd always have, like the memory of his smile. I tried not to think about my mom but I kept wondering, if gods and monsters are real then there must be a way to bring her back from the underworld.
Thursday afternoon, three days after I'd arrived at Camp Half-Blood, I had my first sword fighting lesson. We started with basic stabbing and slashing, using some straw stuffed dummies in Greek armor. I thought I did okay, at least I did what I was supposed to do. The only problem was that I couldn't find a blade that felt right in my hands. Either they were too heavy or too light, or too long. Then we moved on to dueling in pairs. Luke announced that he would be my partner since it was my first time. After he called for the break, I was soaked in sweat.

Friday afternoon, I was sitting with Grover at the lake, resting from a near-death experience on the climbing wall. Then we sat on the pier, watching the naiads do underwater basket weaving. Then I asked him about the conversation with Mr.D. He said "Fine, just great" Then I asked him about the four empty cabins. He said " Number eight is for Artemis, number two is for Hera and the others are Zeus and Poseidon, but Hades doesn't have a cabin here." "But Zeus and Poseidon have a bazillion kids, why don't the cabins have anybody in them?" Then Grover said that, in the world war 2 it was a war between the sons of Hades and the sons of Zeus and Poseidon. Then when it ended, they made an oath of not having an affair with mortal women. But Zeus couldn't help himself, so when his child was born, a little girl named Thalia. So when Hades knew that his brother had broken the promise, he started tormenting Thalia and she was so close to making it here at camp.

That night after dinner, there was a lot of excitement than usual. It was now time to play capture the flag. When the plates were cleared away, the conch horn blew and we all stood at our tables. Annabeth and Clarisse were the two leaders, Ares and Athena. The teams were announced. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins. Ares had allied themselves with everybody else, Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus.Then Chiron announced the rules and we had all our weapons ready. Then Annabeth told me to watch out for Clarisse's spear, so I kept that in mind. Then the conch horn blew and I heard all the metal hitting each other. When I was walking slowly, I knew that something was stalking me or following me, so I raised my shield and Clarisse came out of nowhere and said "Cream the Punk!" I managed to dodge the first kid's swing, but they were not as stupid as the minotaur. They all surrounded me and I looked at Clarisse's spear it was actually an electric one. Then two guys brought me somewhere with the team, and Clarisse cut me right in the ribs. I felt dizzy seeing my own blood, but it was good that I was wearing armor because I would be dead. Then they pushed me into the creek and I landed with a splash, I thought I was going to die., but then something happened, the water seemed to wake me up to my senses. As soon as I stood up I started fighting back until Clarisse was the only one left. And I smacked her between the eyes with a sword butt and sent her down the creek. Then I heard yelling and I saw Luke racing toward the boundary line with the red team's banner lifted high. The other team tried to catch up but it was too late. The game had ended, we won. I was about to join the celebration when Annabeth's voice said "Not bad, hero." Then she noticed my sword cut and she said "How did you get the cut?" I was about to tell her but then the wound started going away. Then I heard another growl just like the Minotaur's and there it was staring at me, so I ran as fast as I can but the hound caught up to me and ripping my body. Then the monster died right at my feet. Annabeth said that I had a wound so she told me to go to the water and called Chiron to watch. Instantly I felt better all the wounds on my body was all gone. Then Chiron announced "It has now been determined." Percy is the son of the sea god, Poseidon.