#chapter:six

He couldn’t be much older than Gavin with dark hair and glasses perched on his nose. In the ground beside him were the three prongs of a trident, the handle sticking up toward the sky. The boy was chewing the inside of his cheek as he wrestled the straps into place. He only noticed their approach at the last second. “Caleb! What’s up?” He tugged at the chest piece one last time before letting it thump against his chest.

“Ray, I want you to meet Gavin. He’s a mean shot with an arrow.”

“Aren’t all of Apollo’s children or is that an elaborate conspiracy?” Ray arched an eyebrow, a sly smile stretching across his face.

Caleb scrunched up his face and stuck out his tongue. “Don’t turn into Matt on me.” He teased, pulling a few arrows out of the quiver strapped to his back and weighing them in his hands. “Ryan told me to pair the two of you up,” He said, his hand slapping roughly onto Gavin’s shoulder. “Ray here is a child of Poseidon, he has some pretty nasty water powers. And these are for you Gavin.” He offered the arrows he held in his hand.

Gavin took them cautiously, half-expecting them to explode. Caleb had already played that trick on him earlier in the week. During practice, he handed over an arrow that when Gavin hit the target, exploded into a thousand pieces. Just thinking about it made his cheek sting with the invisible cut the shrapnel had given him.

“These don’t explode.” Caleb huffed and rolled his eyes, as if reading Gavin’s mind. “They launch a net, can trap about four or five campers in a go. You and Ray are going to be a distraction, try to lure away as many of the other team as you can and trap them.”

“Sounds good to me!” Ray barked enthusiastically, pulling his trident out of the ground with a flourish. The movement caused Gavin to stumble backward as the razor sharp tips breezed inches away from his chest plate. “The other cabins won’t know what hit them.”

Gavin sighed and shoved the new arrows into his quiver, a heavy dread in his chest. All around him the campers were almost finished dressing in their thick armor, chatting eagerly with heat-flushed faces about strategy and tactics. Ryan, the head of Hermes cabin, was directing his campers, which were numerous, into position. In the back of the group, Gavin noticed the tattooed kid Geoffrey. They hadn’t spoken since they both arrived in Camp Half Blood and Gavin was ushered to Apollo cabin after being claimed. He wondered how the other new camper was getting along.

“Hey, Gavin, ready to go?” Ray snapped Gavin back to the present with a nudge in the shoulder.

Gavin sighed heavily, the knot in his stomach growing tighter. “Yeah, I guess so.”

Ray led Gavin to a spot along the stream that marked the boundary between their team’s territory, and the other team, which was spearheaded by Ares cabin. At first, it was only them in the eerie quiet. At the water’s edge, Ray stripped off his boots and socks, storing them under a tree. “Be ready to grab those for me if I say so. The forest isn’t exactly a place to run barefoot.”

‘Then why did you take off your shoes?’ Gavin was going to ask when Ray waded about ankle-deep into the water, standing at the halfway point in the stream. With a look of deep concentration, he raised his hands and with it a wave of water moved with the motion. The water flew up toward the sky in thick mist, completely obscuring the other side of the stream.

“Be ready when the first wave of campers arrives. You are going to shoot one of those arrows into the spray and surprise those fuckers.” Ray punched the air enthusiastically, a wave of water following the path of his arms, effectively drenching the child of Poseidon. Beads of water pooled on the lenses of his glasses, making his eyes match his crazy smile.

The sound of a conch echoed through the silent trees, and it was answered with the roar of camper’s voices as the game was launched into action. Ray readied his trident at his side and Gavin’s hands shook as he pulled the first net-enabled arrow from his quiver.

In the shadows, Gavin would spot flashes of blue plumes as his teammates made their way to the stream, starting the offense. Then, it wasn’t long until the first collection of red plumes appeared out of the trees.

Ray’s arms were a blur as he sent the first wall of water into the air, scattering the Ares players with a wild scream, but they weren’t fast enough. Gavin positioned the arrow and let it fly into the spray. There was a loud click and several muffled thumps as campers were thrown to the ground. The mist cleared with the breeze and the net had captured four campers that squirmed underneath the weight.

“Hell yes!” Ray scrambled back onto the shore, panting with a manic grin stretched across his face. “Come on Gavin,” He whacked Gavin on the shoulder, jarring him out of his surprised stupor. “We need to help cover other parts of the stream.”

The campers underneath the net continued to struggle away from its grip, but it was useless. Even a girl from Ares attempted to cut away at the rope with the dagger in her hand, but it was useless. The net held strong.

With boots pulled on haphazardly, Ray scrambled along the bank, glancing over his shoulder in an almost constant motion to be certain that Gavin was still there.

Adrenaline pumped through his veins after that shot. It was exhilarating just to hit a target when it mattered. Gavin’s heart hammered against his chest, however this time it was for the thrill of the game, and bloody hell was it fun.

The scene repeated itself two more times. A group of campers would come rushing near the stream, Ray would create a wall of water, and Gavin took them out with a net arrow. The third group had even included two campers from their first attempt. Gavin was nearly in stitches as they screamed in unrestrained frustration at being trapped for a second time.

Ray ran ahead again, his boots splashing in the shallows. The trident spun in his hand, unable to keep his fingers still. Gavin didn’t blame him; he could hardly allow his heart to rest. This was the most fun he had had in a long time. “I hope our team grabs the flag soon,” Ray said breathlessly, finally slowing at a new portion of the stream. He threw off his boots, tugging off his socks in a flurry. “This is fucking exhausting.”

“No kidding,” Gavin panted, bent over his knees. Sweat dripped down his neck and face, becoming droplets on the front of his chest plate. “Maybe can you splash me a bit, that might help.”

Ray laughed as was about oblige when there was the sound of numerous footsteps. “It will have to be after we deal with them.” He dropped his voice to a whisper, readying his hands for another wave of water. The group came charging out of the trees, spears already raised, obviously prepared for what was about to happen.

“I think they’ve caught onto us.” Ray said, almost gleefully as he raised a wave bigger than any before. He was about to send it crashing onto the group of furious campers when there was a sharp crack, lighting up the trees for miles. The thunderous clap that accompanied it shook the ground and Gavin covered his ears. Ray’s wave froze in midair then came crashing down around them, soaking them both to the bone. Gavin shot a panicked look at Ray; this wasn’t part of the game, was it?

All color had disappeared from Ray’s face, a genuine look of fear in his eyes. His jaw clenched and then he was a blur of movement as he dashed past the other team and into the forest toward the rising column of smoke. His trident had fallen out of his hands and glimmered at the bottom of the stream.