Hi guys! Thanks for all the reviews! I'm a new author here so I didn't really expect much views. Thanks!

5: Power play

In the woods, at night

Percy POV:

Chiron hammered his hoof on the raised platform.

"Heroes!" he announced,"You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!"

Charles led me over to a table filled with armour, weapons and two flags.

"Can you explain this to me again?" I ask.

Charles huffed,"The Hermes, Apollo, Hephaestus and Demeter cabins, our team, have allied themselves against the Athena, Ares, Dionysus, Poseidon and Aphrodite cabins, our enemy. The rest, well, you heard Chiron. Here pick a weapon and some armour."

I look over them while Charles fits himself out. When he is done, he turns to me.

"Hurry up! We don't have much time," he urges me.

"Don't worry," I say.

I snap my fingers and my Celestial Bronze armour with veins of Imperial Gold appears on me with my night black cape and hood. I think about my two swords, Flame and Tongue and they appear in my hands. I sheath them and check my bandolier for throwing knifes and quiver for arrows. All full.

"A-are those made of what I think they are?" Charles stutters.

"If you're thinking Ginted Gold, then you would be correct," I answer,"let's go."

10 minutes later

Percy POV:

As the newbie, I'm assigned the safety of the flag along with Charles. He takes one side of the tree, I take the other. Yes, the flag is high up in the tree's branches thanks to a surefooted Hermes child. It's a huge tree - ten metres thick and in it's own clearing. Suddenly, I hear a 'thump' from the other side of the tree and I race over to investigate. I get there in time to noticed two things: Charles, unconscious, being dragged into the tree line by two bulky teenagers and an invisible person standing behind me, swiping a knife at my neck - a killing blow. I duck under the blade and punch the person's stomach, then use the power of Hades to create nails made of shadow to pin the person to the tree. I sense her hat is the point of invisibility. I whip it off to reveal Annabeth who screams. Her two buddies race in to catch me.

I flip one into the other and they lie, groaning in a heap on the floor. I unpin Annabeth and throw her onto them, then create a prison of air that will hold for a minute or forever, depending on how long I feel like it which, for now is until the end of the game. Quickly casting a impenetrable dome of shadows around the flag tree, I go into the trees to find Charles. I find tracks of three people: there must have been two others ready to take Charles from the two thugs who were now trapped in an air bubble. Turning into mist to move faster and more efficiently, I followed them to a clearing where the enemy's flag and prisoners were kept together. Stupid, I thought.

The flag on top of a pile of boulders. I use my powers over air to fly and grab the flag. The two guards rush at me but I send a fireball at each of them. Then, I run over to where my teammates were kept. I blind the guards temporarily, using my powers over light and knock all of them out with a few well-placed punches and kicks.

"Come on, let's go," I tell my teammates.

The seventeen of them get up and follow me to the border running as fast as I could which is very fast, thanks to my blessing from Hermes. There are three guards on the way to the creek. I shadow-travel past them and continue on. At the creek, Jack stands with the leader of the Ares cabin.

"You won't get past us now, punk," the Ares girl says.

I keep running and when I reach them, perform a double front flip. I notice the water in the creek rising a few, measly feet, just enough to stop me. Then I see Jack straining, his face red with exertion and almost laugh. I turn the water into a nice ramp and slide down in the classic surfer stance. I smirk. Bet you a hundred drachma that Olympus is in uproar right now.

On Olympus, before the game starts...

3rd person POV:

"Taking all bets, taking all bets!" Apollo and Hermes called out to the crowd, always there to take the money. Poseidon stepped forwards.

"What's this all about, lads?"

"Oh, hi Uncle P," they chorused,"we're taking bets on the weekly Capture-the-Flag game at Camp Half-Blood."

"Oh, ok, I'll back my child today. It'll show your boasting father his children's place compared to mine."

Apollo and Hermes started protesting.

"Oh, alright, his mortal children. What's the odds?"

"Right now, it's one and a half drachma for your kid's team and two and quarter for our kids' teams," they told him brightly.

"Alright, I'll put five hundred drachma on my kid's team," Poseidon told them, counting out the coins.

"Not even going to check who's new?" the brothers teased.

"Well, tell me about it."

"Well, there's a new kid called Norman. Little bro D swears he's got a really powerful aura, but hidden. Apparently, one the way to camp, there were two hell hounds waiting in the bushes and he just got two knives out and threw them and killed the hellhounds. Then, he beat up two-thirds of the Ares cabin like nothing, in under two minutes and made the others piss themselves and run away. His biggest achievement today? This Norman kid, he beat Dionysus in pinochle - his own game! That's why the Big House got blown today."

"So who's team is he on?" Poseidon prompted.

"Ours."

"Still, it's worth considering," Hermes pleaded.

"Nah, it would be like betraying my son. I couldn't do that to him. He's my baby boy."

"Well, for your team, your son getting the flag is on a drachma and three quarters and the other one is Athena's kid - Annabeth - on three drachmas."

Poseidon smiled. Athena would be getting a mouthful that his child had better odds than hers.

"Alright, I'll put another five hundred drachmas on my kid."

Olympian Arena

Hera POV:

The Capture-the-Flag game had started. Hestia and I had put three thousand drachma each on my adopted son, who's odds were one drachma for five. We would be rich women tonight. In fact, watching Percy was my real motive to come tonight. Usually, I just stayed at my palace with Hestia sometimes coming over to hear me complain about Zeus. Today Apollo was commentator.

"Hello and welcome gods and goddesses to the seven hundred and twenty-ninth Capture-the-Flag game at Camp Half-Blood," he announced.

Zeus leaned over to me.

"You know, sad as it is," he confided in me,"I placed my bet on Poseidon's kid's team."

"Then your going to loose a lot of money." I replied smugly.

"I doubt it."

"Fine, let's make a deal. If my team wins you do whatever I say for a week. If you win, I won't complain about your next ten children or harm or kill them," I said - it was an offer he couldn't refuse.

"Deal."

"Swear it on the Styx," I told him.

"Alright. I swear on the River Styx to honour the terms of the deal that I have made with my wife," he swore and I nodded, not waiting for the thunder because there were so many oaths being made on the Styx at the moment. No god wants to lose out on a way to make money, even if they don't need it.

"Okay, people, today on the red team," Apollo announced, an image with players names and faces appeared on the previously blank screen behind him,"we have Hermes, Apollo, Hephaestus and Demeter cabins against the Athena, Ares, Dionysus, Poseidon and Aphrodite cabins who are the blue team who is currently tipped to win. Today we will see Poseidon's kid, Jack, in action for the first time, which was a big turner."

There were some groans and suspicious looks. I guess not many approved of Poseidon breaking the oath. In fact, Zeus thought that Jack may have stolen his missing lightning bolt. Luckily, my husband and Poseidon had made an agreement not to fight while the game was on to ensure the arena was not trashed.

"Whoa, wait there peeps. For the red team, we have a dark horse here. A young boy called Norman who stumbled into camp only this morning -"

I smirked. I highly doubt Percy would have 'stumbled' into camp. I smiled at Hestia who was sitting opposite me.

"- after defeating two hellhounds easily. So he'll be one to watch out for."

Many gods gasped at this and went over the Hermes, trying to change their bets, who said,"Sorry mates, what's beg is what's bet, no revoking now. Most of you guys swore on the Styx!"

The game switched to the red team's flag where Percy was standing, as a guard. They switched to a Hephaestus kid. Since it is a form of entertainment, we can see invisible figures like the one who just knock the Hephaestus kid out.

Oh, it looks like the blue team wants a quick win, going straight for the flag!

Two Ares kids came to drag the boy away. Percy appeared, seeing Charles being pulled away. Annabeth went for a swipe at the neck.

That looks dirty! That looks lethal! It's cheating!

Percy ducked at the last second, dispatches Annabeth by pinning her to the tree with shadow nails and engages the two Ares kids leaving them groaning, one on top of the other, on the ground, groaning. Then, he unpinned Annabeth and chucked her on the pile. He waved his hand over them, creating an air barrier, I knew, then walked away. Some gods laughed at him leaving three potential flag stealers loose but then stopped as they saw that the three imprisoned heroes could not move out of a certain area.

Hades! They're stuck! Using air to trap them is a clever trick but this leaves us wondering - who is this kid? Zeus have you broken your oath again?

My husband shook his head.

Tsk, tsk, we all know the truth, right folks?

Suddenly the screen went fizzed out and went black for a few seconds until we suddenly saw an impenetrable dome of black shadows covering the clearing with the flag.

Whoa, back up here peeps, who is this wonder kid? He's already displayed the power of two gods. I think we should just be quiet and watch.

And indeed, we watched as 'Norman' turned into mist to track his teammate. Using fireballs at the flag guards. Blinding the prisoner guards with the light of Apollo and then ran so fast none but his Hermes teammates could keep up with. Shadow-travelling through the three creek guards and then his athletic flip over the Poseidon brat. And finally, his classic ice-slide move. So cool and smooth it made many of the goddesses swoon. The red team had won.

Everyone sat in their seats stunned. I nodded at Hestia who smiled. We got up and walked to Hermes.

"Money, please."

Back at Camp Half-Blood

Percy POV:

Chiron galloped forward and I made the creek ice so that he could cross easily.

"That was -" he began, but suddenly all the campers gasped.

I looked up and saw the ghostly image of a peacock above my head with a flame on my right shoulder.

"Campers, I present you Norman Wight -" Chiron began.

"Adopted," I put in, not wanting to cause confusion on Olympus.

"Oh, um, yes - adopted son of Hera and Champion of Hestia," he completed, looking baffled.

The campers started muttering and looking fearfully up at me. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.