I didn't really talk to the two new campers much after they arrived. I kept myself busy training. Besides, Luke was always surrounded by girls, including some of my sisters, and I wasn't going to get in the middle of that mess. And wherever Luke was, Annabeth was so I couldn't even talk to her.
It wasn't until Friday, four days after they'd arrived, that I found one of them alone. I was climbing down the rock wall in full lava mode when I saw the seven-year-old looking at me. Her eyes were wide in awe and she clapped when my feet hit the ground. "Cool," she yelled.
I blushed a little. "Thanks. What are you up to?"
She frowned. "I wanted to get away from the mob."
"The mob?"
"Yeah, you know. All the giggly, annoying girls that mob around Luke."
I laughed at that. "Yeah, I think he likes the attention a little too much."
She smiled back at me.
I walked over to the log where I'd stashed my bag and pulled out a towel to wipe the sweat off of me. Annabeth sat and studied me for a minute as I fixed my hair.
"Who's my mom?" she finally asked when I took a gulp from my water bottle.
Water spewed out everywhere and I started coughing. "Wh-what?"
Her grey eyes were wide and innocent. "You said you thought you might know when you found out I'm scared of sp-spiders. So who is it?"
I chewed on my lower lip. She looked so trusting that I wanted to tell her but I knew I couldn't. "I only have a guess, Annabeth. I might be wrong and I don't want to get your hopes up. Besides, it's kinda a rule to let the gods claim their kids."
She crossed her arms over her chest stubbornly. "Well that's stupid," she insisted.
I smiled and wrapped my arms around her tiny body. "I agree. But it's a smart idea not to piss off the gods.
"But hey, enough of the serious stuff. We're playing capture-the-flag after dinner. Aphrodite cabin usually truces with Athena and Apollo but you can join our team if you want."
Her eyes brightened. "Yeah, that sounds awesome."
"I'm warning you though, we haven't won a game in weeks."
"Well then let's change that."
Annabeth stuck with me for the rest of the morning trying to help me recruit for our team. The Ares campers captained the red team and they'd already gotten to Megan in Hermes and Charles Beckendorf from the Hephaestus group. When we got to the Demeter kids they were leaning toward the red team but Annabeth convinced them otherwise. She also got the Dionysus kids on our side.
"You are a genius, kid."
She grinned. "Thanks. So now what?"
The lunch bell sounded through the valley. "Now we eat. If you want you can meet up with me to go over strategy later. Lee Fletcher, the son of Apollo, usually helps but I'm afraid he's all out of ideas."
"I'd love to." We walked into the dining pavilion and she glared at the hoard of girls slowly dispersing from Luke. "Anything to avoid the mob."
I watched as she trudged away toward the overflowing Hermes table. She slid in next to Luke who immediately pulled her into a hug. I felt bad because I knew she didn't belong there. But I was hoping that I could help her get her mom's attention at the game.
Lunch was delicious, of course, but I couldn't even enjoy it. I was too busy thinking about the coming game and Annabeth and, annoyingly, Luke. I couldn't get that cocky smirk of his off my mind our that sweet smile he flashed me on his first day here. Even if I tried to ignore him, Luke Castellon kept invading my thoughts.
I groaned and pushed my plate away and got up. Well I wasn't eating anyway and I needed to blow off some energy. I had just enough time to pulverize one of the training dummies before anyone else got to the arena. I unsheathed my sword, a simple weapon made of Celestial Bronze that had never seen any real battle, and started hacking away at the dummies. It was boring to fight an inanimate object but I didn't want anyone to see me so wound up.
"Hi, Stephanie," Annabeth called as she ran into the arena. Luke followed right behind her and I was thanking the gods that I'd already reduced the dummy to a pile of hay and they hadn't seen my moment of insanity.
"Hey, kiddo. Ready to get to work?"
"Totally! Luke, go away."
"Wait, what? Why?"
"Because you're with the other Hermes kids on the red team. Annabeth hasn't been claimed so she's free to swap teams. Besides, I see all of your admirers coming this way."
Annabeth scrunched up her nose disdainfully and followed me out of the arena until we reached the Pegasus stables. There we sat and I began telling her about the game. "So our biggest advantage is that we have Apollo archers to defend the flag and Athena's kids are pretty good fighters. Dionysus and Demeter are decent but my siblings aren't very good at this stuff at all. I won't lie to you- the red team is good. Ares is the god of war and his kids are definitely soldiers. The children of Hephaestus make seriously cool weapons and stuff and having Hermes cabin gives them numbers. So what do you think we should do?"
Her already large eyes widened. "You're asking my opinion?"
"Yep."
I think my confidence surprised her. She started chewing her lip but looked thoughtful. "Use the Aphrodite kids as a distraction. If they're useless anyway, get them out of the way but use it to our advantage. No offense."
"None taken. Keep going."
"You said Apollo usually defends but what if you change that up? Leave the two D cabins to defend, send the Athena warriors into the heart of the battle while Apollo covers then."
I grinned at her. "And who gets the flag?"
She looked confused again. "Uh, won't you?"
I put on my best dumb blonde look and valley girl accent. "Like, me? Oh, goddess, no. I'm an Aphrodite distraction. It's your plan, you should be the one to win for us. Besides, no one will expect the new seven-year-old. It all sounds good to me. You sure are wise, girl."
We had 10 minutes after dinner to meet up with our teams before the game started. I laid out Annabeth's plan to everyone and they didn't exactly look confident. "Well what have we got to lose?" Aston Lucas, son of Athena said. "Let's at least give the Ares jerks a battle. One thing though, Steph. Don't send her in alone. Watch Annabeth's back. You know if Clarisse is around then things are gonna get nasty."
"No problem."
The horn sounded to begin the game. My brothers and sisters charged the left flank in their bright blue, color coordinated armor. Athena cabin went up the middle and spread out toward the right with the Apollo archers following stealthily behind. Annabeth and I sneaked along the river around the main group of fighters. She stayed quiet and held her dagger loosely in one hand and a shield in the other. I let her lead the way, only steering her occasionally when I knew she was getting off track. It was only a few minutes before we saw Clarisse and a few other Ares campers at the flag fighting a couple of my brothers that had made it this far. They were seriously outnumbered but no one was paying attention when Annabeth crept toward the red flag. I was too busy watching Annabeth's back to watch my own. The tip of a sword pressed into the small of my back and I gasped.
"I figured you'd try something sneaky," Luke said, his warm breath tickling my ear. "With how much you and Annabeth were talking I thought you'd be the one to go after the flag."
"Not me. Her."
I nodded toward where the little girl snatched up the flag. She glanced back at me and her eyes widened. I mouthed run! and she sprinted back towards the river.
Things got really out of hand then. The rest of the red team had noticed her running with their flag and dashed after her. I spun away from Luke and parried with my own blade. I hit him with the flat of my sword and he fell. "Nice try but keep in mind I've been doing this a lot longer." I kicked the back of his head so he was out cold and ran to intercept Clarisse's spear before she impaled Annabeth. I laughed as Annabeth kept running. She leaped over the river, barely managing to escape a sword.
One of the satyrs blew the horn that ended the game and the blue team had giant smiles. Aston and a couple of his siblings lifted up Annabeth who was positively glowing.
Actually, it took a minute to realize she really was glowing. Things got real quiet for a second as everyone stared at the red owl shape lighting the woods above her head. Luke had caught up to us by then and seemed mesmerized by Annabeth's getting claimed. I might have been the only one not shocked in the slightest.
Chiron stared at the symbol for a second before he smiled and announced, "All hail Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena."
I knew it.

Notes

thank you, thank you, thank you, to all of my lovely readers!!! now, how many of you read my first story on here, gods are called myths for a reason? well, i'm thinking of doing a sequel to that one. should i?
give me opinions (on this story too, 'cause i have no idea where its going XD)