Well, look what we have here! A chapter! Whoopee! It's a little shorter than I'd like it to be, but I really hope you guys like this! Enjoy!

Chapter 1

The week started out normal enough for Freddie Knox. Well, as normal as it could get for a teenage demigod. He went through his daily training and classes (only skipping what he deemed invaluable) and finally made it to Friday without getting in major trouble (if you don't count painting the Ares cabin pink).

Camp wasn't boring, of course, but rather a routine to him now that he's been here for four years. He wished there was something that would break him out of this routine. Oh, I know! A prank! He thought. That's perfect! After capture the flag tonight, I'll play the perfect prank! What he didn't realize, though, was that he would never get to complete this prank.

Freddie gently patted his messily spiked brown hair to see if it was still standing (luckily, it was), then made his way to the mess hall for dinner.

When he got there, everyone was in a hype. He couldn't blame them; pretty much everyone looked forward to capture the flag. The only reason why Freddie wasn't as big of a fan is that it involves teamwork and he'd rather work alone.

Freddie squeezed onto a bench at the Hermes table next to two of his sisters, Samantha and Maia.

"Hola, Fredricko!" Samantha called, her gray beanie tilting back on her head. She pushed it back down, a little annoyed.

"My name's Freddie," he told her for the millionth time (he was really getting tired of telling this to her). "And I'm British, not Spanish."

Sammy waved it away. "Yeah, yeah. Same difference."

Dinner ended fairly quickly, but that was expected. Time always seemed to fly when you're excited about something.

When the conch horn sounded, everyone stood up hastily. On one side of the pavilion, Taylor Watson and a couple of her siblings from the Athena cabin bolted in carrying a huge gray banner painted with an olive branch and an owl. This was odd behavior for Taylor, though. She usually kept to herself and hated being in the spotlight. Capture the flag was an exception, though (especially when they're up against the Ares cabin). Taylor brushed a strand of her curly red hair from her face as she stood the flag next to her.

On the other side of the dining hall, Herman Faletta and a few of his buddies raced in. Taylor loathed Herman (he liked to be called Faletta, but she didn't really care). She hated bullies (people always pushed her around at school for being a know-it-all), and Herman was no exception. He always acted like he was perfect; he even looked kind of perfect with his brown buzz cut, ripped muscles, and strong features.

A loud clack echoed around the hall, snapping everyone's attention to the front of the room.

"Heroes!" Chiron (yes, the centaur that taught Heracles, etc.) called. "You know the rules! The creek is the boundary. You can use the whole forest. The flag must be visible with at most two guards. All magical items are allowed. Absolutely no killing or maiming. I will be referee and medic. Arm yourselves!" He spread his arms and the tables were piled with equipment.

Taylor grabbed her armor and started to strap it to her slim body. Then she grabbed a helmet with a blue horsehair plume and a shield and headed off toward the south woods with the rest of the campers on her team.

As Freddie was walking to his position on the left flank, he went over the teams in his head. On the blue team, Athena had allied with the Hermes, Apollo, and Hephaestus cabins along with the Aphrodite cabin and some of the minor cabins.

The Ares cabin was working with Dionysus, Hecate, Demeter, Nemesis amongst others. Dionysus' kids were actually pretty athletic. The Hecate cabin has a way with spells and magical stuff so they'd be something to look out for. Demeter's cabin is pretty outdoorsy. The Nemesis kids were going to be a problem. They're tough and never to be messed with (unless you want your bed full of spiders).

He made it to his position as border patrol, alone. It was a hot, muggy summer night so Freddie was sweating by the time he made it there. The dimming light of the sunset shone through the thick foliage.

A long a way off, the conch horn blew. Freddie walked a little ways ahead until the creek was a few yards behind him. It was glistening golden in the light of the setting sun. Off to his right, he could hear the clanging of metal on metal.

All of a sudden, a couple of angry Ares campers, by the looks of them, charged out of the trees ahead of Freddie. Freddie stumbled backwards in surprise, clutching one of his daggers in each hand.

One of the campers sneered. "You're dead, Knox!"

The other one cheered. "Yeah! It took all day to repaint our cabin because of you!"

Crap, Freddie thought, I totally forgot about that! They're going to kill me!

The sons of Ares came at Freddie together, unlike all of those cheesy fight scenes in movies. They both brought their swords down on him at the same time. Freddie sidestepped one and its tip dug into the dirt. He caught the other with the hilt of his right dagger. Freddie's arm felt like it was being ripped out of its socket from the force of the blade on his knife. Freddie pushed out with his dagger and both weapons went flying.

"Gah!" The guy yelled. "You'll pay!"

Freddie smirked. "I'd like to see you try!"

Just then, out of nowhere, a sword slammed into Freddie's helmet, knocking it off. His mouth opened in shock as he spun a full 180 degrees and face planted in the dirt. Behind him, the two campers where laughing and yelling taunts. Freddie's mouth filled with dirt and leaves.

Yuck, he thought, why on Earth did my mouth have to be open?

Freddie pushed himself up on his hands and knees and tried to spit out whatever was in his mouth. He plucked half of a blue flower from his mouth and threw it on the ground, disgusted. He had no idea where the other half of the flower went, but he didn't really care.

The two Ares kids were still chuckling behind him. Freddie figured that he had the element of surprise on his side right now. He braced himself, then pushed up from the ground and spun in the air to face the campers. Not wasting a second, Freddie kicked the weaponless one in the chest, sending him tumbling to the ground. Using his free hand, Freddie pinned the other kid's sword hand behind his back, making him drop the weapon and grunt in pain. He pushed the kid to the ground.

Freddie suddenly stumbled, black spots danced in his vision. The whole forest seemed to tilt and the trees seemed to sway to an unknown beat. He fell to his knees again, his head throbbing with an oncoming headache. He clutched his stomach and squeezed his eyes shut. Beads of sweat trickled down his neck like they were racing. He could hear footsteps fading away quickly.

Freddie vaguely wondered why two Ares kids (for crying out loud) were running away.

Now, Freddie's breaths were coming in short rasps. He thought it could be his asthma acting up, but he doubted it seeing as he hadn't been very physically active in the last hour. Flopping on his back, he grabbed his head and groaned, his headache was getting progressively worse. Shouldn't help be on the way?

Now his stomach and face seemed to be on fire. Freddie twisted on his side, clutching his abdomen. What the bloody hell was going on?

Off in the distance, Freddie heard a muffled clopping sound along with loads of footsteps. He couldn't make out individual people; his vision was spinning too much.

Suddenly, Chiron's face appeared above Freddie's along with a few others.

"We need to get him to the infirmary," Chiron said to a kid near him, "and fast. We need a healer from Apollo, too. Hurry!" The kid ran off. "Get a stretcher over here!"

Two other kids ran up and set the stretcher beside Freddie then proceeded to move him onto it.

By now, the burning in Freddie's face and stomach had subsided, but was replaced with an uncomfortable numbness in his face and mouth. He literally could not feel a thing there.

As Freddie was being carried out of the woods on a stretcher, he began to lose consciousness.

"Chiron!" The kid carrying the back of the stretcher shouted. "We're losing him!"

"Let him be," Chiron said calmly, "he needs his sleep."

And with that, Freddie drifted off into the land of nothing, his head swimming with questions.

What'd you think? I'm super curious to know how it's going so far! (And take it easy on me, please. That was my first fight-ish scene) Feel free to leave suggestions and constructive criticism! Please favorite, follow, and review! (I don't know when my next update will be because I'm gonna be at camp soon so I don't know)

~soccerfreak6424