Tidal Wave (Luke Castellan)

The Sign

How did I end up being the chaperone for archery? There were plenty of Apollo children around who actually knew how to shoot a bow and arrow. And yet somehow I got put on duty. Maybe this was Chiron punishing me for talking to Percy last night. But how would he have known? Chiron has his ways. And Argus exists and he literally had eyes all over his body. Who knew what sort of stuff that dude saw.

I walked out to the range and saw some of the campers already practicing. They all turned and stared when they saw me.

"Carry on," I said, "I'm just here to chaperone for a while."

Thankfully nobody commented and they continued on shooting. My main job was to make sure everyone was being safe and not pointing arrows at each other. Apparently there had been a rise of that within the last few weeks. I suspected the Ares cabin was the culprit, but Chiron told me not to stereotype.

About an hour into my watch, two familiar faces walked down.

"Cass, what are you doing here?" Luke asked in surprise.

"Chaperoning," I gave him a grim smile.

"Why do they have you of all people doing that? You're terrible at archery."

"Beats me. Have me on the rock climbing wall or canoeing and I'd be happy. Put me on archery, I'm just trying to make sure nobody's eye gets poked out. What're you two doing here?"

Luke put his hands on Percy's shoulders, "We're trying to find out what Percy is good at. That might give us a hint at who his godly parent is."

He's good at blowing up toilets. That's a clue right there.

"Well, step on up kid. Let's see what you've got."

Luke helped Percy gear up as I watched everyone else to make sure they were still being safe. Luckily we'd had enough campers filter through here that Luke was able to find the right size for everything. As they ran through the instructions, I made sure that the targets in front of and to the sides of where Percy would be shooting were clear. I'd seen enough of these talent tryouts to know that the arrow could go flying anywhere. I looked over to see Percy knock back there arrow... and then everything went flying. Everyone at the range hit the deck to avoid being hit.

Percy sat up from where he'd fallen, "Should I try again?"

"No!" Everyone yelled.

Luke and I looked at each other, "Definitely not a child of Apollo."

"You think?"

The two left soon after that. All of the demigods left looked a little shaken after that experience.

"Come on buttercups, keep on shooting," I called out.

~ ~ ~

A few days later, it was time for Capture the Flag. I'd kept up with Luke and Percy throughout their adventures to find what Percy was good at. Unsurprisingly, sword fighting came easily to him. Canoeing did too, which got me even more curious. There was more and more evidence gathering of who Percy's father could be and it wasn't good. I knew Annabeth had a similar thought as I did about this. Luke still had no idea though. He kept asking me about it but I just teased him and continued on. I had a feeling that he'd know soon enough. There was no way Percy would go much longer without being claimed.

"So, kid. Are you ready for Capture the Flag?" I asked as I approached Percy on Friday night. All the tables had been cleared away and we were waiting for the representatives from Athena and Ares to arrive.

"Um, I guess. Someone told me that people die during this game. Is that true?"

I flinched, remembering one of the first Capture the Flags I'd done with Luke and Annabeth, "Not often, but sometimes. Don't worry about it though. I'm sure you'll be fine. From what I've heard, you're a natural fighter."