The Worst Game of Capture the Flag Ever
Percy had been through enough Capture the Flag games to know that this one might have easily been the worst.
Getting attacked by Clarisse, jumped by a hellhound, and then claimed, all in the time frame of less than five minutes? A memorable moment, sure, but he wasn’t complaining. The time he and Thalia tried to kill each other? Okay, that was a little scary, but they’d made up since then. Saving Beckendorf from the Myrmekes? Difficult, but by this point, he’d faced way worse.
But being kidnapped by a glowing net mid-game? Absolutely not.
It was August 17th, nearly two weeks after the end of the Giant War, and Percy was finally having some hopes that things would go back to normal (or about as normal as the life of a demigod could be). He and Annabeth were going to go to New York to finish their senior years, and after that, head to college in New Rome together. It was a small victory, but after everything they’d been through, Percy couldn’t help but feel like things were taking a step in the right direction.
Naturally, that was when everything went wrong.
Not long after the Romans packed up and headed back to Camp Jupiter, the Hunters of Artemis arrived. Their visit was unexpected, but as a ruffled Thalia had explained, Artemis had been called to Olympus for an urgent matter, and the Hunters decided to come to Camp Half-Blood in her absence. "We wanted to make sure everything was okay," Thalia added as everyone gathered in the rec room for an impromptu meeting. "We didn't hear from you guys after San Juan, and, well..."
She didn't have to finish her sentence. Everyone had a pretty good idea that what she'd meant to say was, We figured that Dirt Lady killed you guys and destroyed the camp, sorry!
After a quick catch-up over the fates of Gaea and the Giants, the Hunters integrated into the daily life of Camp Half-Blood as if they'd always been there. They helped where they could, held archery contests with the Apollo kids, and contributed to the general chaos that Camp Half-Blood was built on. One night, Percy noticed that Thalia had abandoned her spot with the Hunters in favour of sitting at the Zeus table with Jason. Catching up on years of brother-sister bonding, no doubt.
Then came the dreaded game of Capture the Flag. Hunters against campers, as per tradition. Even though Camp Half-Blood had a losing streak of 57 games, energy was running high as they dispersed into the woods, as per Annabeth’s orders.
Percy, who had been in charge of guarding their flag, was about to go to his position when he felt a hand snag at his elbow. He turned and found Annabeth stopping him, a spark in her stormy eyes, accentuated by the sharp lines of her plumed helmet.
Her sharp eyes flickered over his face, and Percy’s heart might’ve stopped beating. Then she smiled, the corner of her mouth quirking upwards, and Percy’s heart definitely stopped beating. Her grip on his arm tightened ever so slightly as she spoke, her voice teasing, “Don’t make us lose, Seaweed Brain.”
Percy could’ve died happy, right there and then. Instead, he forced himself to stop staring at her and actually respond, unable to stop the crooked grin from forming on his face. “Anything for you, Wise Girl.”
And since it probably would have been inappropriate to drop everything and just start kissing right there and then, the two separated, heading to their respective posts. Still, Percy couldn’t keep the stupid grin off his face as he made his way to the flag.
The conch shell sounded, echoing through the vast forest and into the night sky. Percy staggered through the woods until he came upon the small clearing where the flag stood, tall and proud, glittering with the symbol of Athena. And next to it stood the last person Percy would’ve expected.
Nico’s Stygian iron sword seemed to drain the clearing of whatever little light filtered through the leaves. His eyes were nothing but dark-circled spheres of night under his slightly too-big helmet, locking in on Percy as soon as he stepped into the clearing.
Percy froze. He hadn’t spoken to Nico, since, well… since he’d confessed that he used to have a crush on him. Not that Percy cared- why would he? He just figured it was a little difficult to act normal while Nico was still staring at him as if he was debating on whether or not to skewer him.
“So,” Percy said finally, breaking the tense silence that had fallen over them, “Annabeth put you on guard duty, too?”
Nico paused, then slowly relaxed. “Uh, yeah.”
Percy nodded, noting that although things still were incredibly awkward, there was a significantly less amount of tension lingering in the air. He took his stance opposite to Nico, standing on one side of the flag while Nico stood at the other, and uncapped Riptide. The gleaming bronze instantly lit up the space that Nico’s sword had previously been sucking the life out of.
The two of them fell into silence, surveying the forest around them as they waited for an attack. Once or twice, there was a loud cry and the two tensed, but the sound quickly faded away and there was not a single rustle in the bushes surrounding them. Percy wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but he soon found himself feeling restless.
Fiddling with the straps of his armour, he glanced towards Nico, whose posture was just as tense as it had been.. Five, ten minutes ago? Percy wasn’t sure. Either way, something about the way Nico held himself worried Percy.
“You alright?” There was an odd quality to his voice as it pierced the heavy blanket of silence surrounding them. Nico flinched, as if he’d forgotten Percy was there, turning to stare at him with a furrow in his brow. He opened his mouth as if to speak, and then hesitated.
“Something’s wrong,” Nico warned, his eyes flitting around the clearing almost nervously. “I don’t know what exactly, but-”
The words had barely left his mouth before something fell from the trees, wrapping itself around Percy and knocking him to the floor. He’d just barely processed that he’d been taken down by a net, of all things, before something else fell from the tree cover and landed before them.
Standing to her full height from a crouch with her spear in hand was Thalia Grace, her knees stained with dirt and a triumphant look on her face, as if she’d already won.
Percy opened his mouth, probably to say something petty and/or sarcastic, but he was cut off when Nico stepped forward, practically melting out of the shadows, drawing all of Thalia’s attention to him instead.
Thalia simply raised her brows, seemingly unimpressed. “Really, Death Breath? You know there’s no chance of winning against the Hunters, right?”
Nico’s eyes flashed dangerously. Whether it was because of the offensive nickname or her lack of faith in Camp Half-Blood, Percy didn’t know. “I wouldn’t sound so sure if I were you, Pine Tree,” Nico shot back, fixing his stance as he got ready to fight.
Thalia narrowed her eyes at him, her grip on her spear tightening. The tension in the air was electrifying- quite literally, considering sparks were flying out of Thalia’s hair and zapping nearby bugs. The ground beneath Nico shook ever so slightly, as if he were warning Thalia what would happen if she struck first.
While the two of them were having their epic showdown, Percy was struggling to free himself from the net Thalia had trapped him under in the first place. He was so deeply entangled that he could barely tell where it started and where it ended, and he was pretty sure that a particularly tight knot was cutting off blood flow to his left leg.
And since that clearly wasn’t difficult enough, the net started to glow as well. Typical.
At first, Percy thought the dull light was coming from Riptide, which was still in his hand as he hacked uselessly at the net surrounding him. But the light quickly grew brighter, enveloping him as if he were on fire, and Percy’s heart leaped to his throat.
”Guys?” He called out, trying to keep the note of panic out of his voice as he struggled even harder against his restraints. But the net held on fast, light growing ever brighter still, as if it was tightening the more he fought against it. “Guys, I could use some help here!”
The light was so bright now that a searing white took up most of Percy’s vision, making it difficult for him to see what was going on. He could just barely make out Thalia and Nico’s silhouettes as they rushed forward, their panicked voices seeming muffled as they tried to make sense of the situation.
”What’s going on?” Thalia cried, yanking a rope seemingly at random to free Percy. As soon as her fingers made contact with the thread, it wrapped around her hand, tangling itself over her wrist and forearm as it yanked her closer.
Beside her, Nico tried to wear away the net with his sword, with no such luck. The Stygian iron was quickly overwhelmed by the light, and Nico’s eyes widened with panic as ropes wound themselves along his sword, creeping up to his hand.
Entangled in the middle of the net, Percy could no longer see or hear anything. Blood roared in his ears, heart pounding a million beats per minute, but he could feel himself fading away, as if all his molecules were unwinding themselves and floating away.
The light soon captured Nico and Thalia as well, blinding them until the only thing they were aware of were themselves, the rush of blood through their bodies and the feeling of fear creeping through their bones. The light burned brighter, brighter, enveloping the clearing like a fire-
And then, all at once, it was over.
The light died away abruptly. Left behind in its wake was a perfectly ordinary net, a pen, a spear, and a sword.