Suzy woke up with a slight cold. Probably from last night’s activity. She looked at her alarm clock and cursed. She was late! She hastily brushed her teeth and changed into a more comfortable camp T-shirt Annabeth had given her with black jeans and sneakers. She ran to the dining pavilion. Surprisingly, no one except Mr. D and Chiron was there. She went up to them with an ashamed look on her face. “I am so sorry for being late. I must’ve overslept.” she apologized.

“My child, it’s okay. You’re actually the first one here. The rest of them are still passed out from last night.”Chiron smiled. Then it clicked. She was in such a hurry that she hadn’t really noticed her roommates sleeping. She cursed herself mentally. “Its okay, Suzy. Don’t be hard on yourself. The other idiots wouldn’t even have apologized if they were in your shoes. And besides, it’s good that you’re awake. You can move into the Zeus cabin now. Thalia must’ve left by now.”Dionysus smiled.

She looked puzzled. Then it hit her. Thalia had told her she was leaving tomorrow to join the Hunters in the search of some monster. She nodded. She bowed to them politely and ran off to the Hermes cabin. She got her sleeping bag and she walked to the Zeus cabin.

Her first reaction to her new home was that it looked like a bank. She went inside and saw statues of her father Zeus everywhere.  “Father, no offence but where will I sleep?”She asked mentally.

Then she had seen a door straight down the hallway. She smiled. She walked down the hallway and entered the room. She gasped. The room was huge. The room was bigger than her apartment. And her apartment was big. But she realized there was absolutely no furniture in the room.

She was going to have to ask a Hephaestus kid to make her a picture frame, at least. She was going to put up a picture of her mom and her right above her sleeping bag, for good luck. Just then, she had seen a note. She picked it up and saw it was from Thalia. It read:

Hey, little sister. Going on a trip with the Hunters. It’s Capture the Flag day with Camp Jupiter, right? I think you’ll meet Jason. He’s our brother. Just look for the annoying kid with the blonde hair and blue eyes. He’ll look like us--just an uglier guy version. Give him a bear hug for me.

                                                                                                                        Love, Thalia.

She smiled at the note and went out quickly, ignoring the creepy statues of her father. She went back to the dining pavilion where the campers were now assembled. She almost sat at the Hermes table, and then she had realized she was supposed to sit at the Zeus table alone.

She grumbled as she sat at the Zeus table all alone. She looked over at the Poseidon table. “At least, Lay oppa has Percy.” she thought wistfully. The two seemed to be talking about something.

She then looked over at the Hades table. Kai was all alone. Their eyes met. His intense chocolate brown eyes pierced her blue-gray ones. She literally melted. “He looks a wounded puppy. I just want to give him a hug.” she thought with a smile. “Maybe later, Suzy.” she thought as Mr. D clinked his butter knife against a diet coke can.

She laughed silently at the funny sight. “So…yeah…few of the Camp Jupiter kids are coming here to stay for a week. We’ll begin the day with breakfast and then with capture the flag, okay? They’ll be here any moment.” he yawned lazily. He sat back down. Just then, a gust of wind blew across the pavilion. Everyone looked around and saw that they were here.

Suzy searched for her half-brother who she had never seen before. She remembered Thalia’s clue-blonde hair, blue eyes, looks like them. She finally found him. He was handsome. He was holding hands with a pretty, tomboyish girl who she had seen with Naeun. Then his eyes fell on her face. They seemed to widen.  He immediately let go of the girl’s hand and ran towards Suzy. He seemed to be sweating.

“Oh…my god. Bae Suzy? I-I am s-such a huge fan.” he stammered out. She looked at him with a raised eyebrow and then smiled. “You’re so cute.” she giggled which made him almost faint. She flinched at his sudden action but smiled gently. She helped him sit down and she gave him a bear hug. Jason was on cloud nine. “It’s so nice to finally meet you, brother.” she whispered into his ear.

He immediately froze. He broke away from her hold. “Whoa, back up. Did you say brother?”He asked, praying for the answer to be no. But to his dismay, she nodded. “We’re half-siblings. Then, why do you think I am sitting here at the Zeus table?”She asked. He sighed. She was right. “We’re siblings?”He asked.

“Yup. We look a lot like each other.” she said. He cursed under his breath. But, he came to terms that the biggest celebrity crush he had turned out to be his sister. They talked and found out that they had a lot of common with each other.

They heard laughing over at the Hades table. Kai was laughing with a pretty African-American girl. Who’s Hazel sitting next to?”Jason asked.  She laughed. “Hazel is sitting with my best friend Kai.”She smiled.

-

Kai looked at Suzy. She was talking to some guy who was presumably her brother. But he still felt jealous that she had given him a bear hug. “I want one.” he thought enviously. “Excuse me.” a female voice said softly. Kai looked up. She was a very pretty African-American girl. She had twinkly golden eyes with a mouth that never seemed to stop laughing. He gave her a smile. It was his half-sister from Camp Jupiter. He could tell from her eyes. They had an intense look like his. “Come, sit.”He invited.  She sat down hesitatingly but eased up from his reassuring smile.

“I am Jong-in. But you can call me Kai. What’s your name?” he asked. “I am Hazel. Hazel Lévesque.” the girl said shyly. “Hazel, how old are you? You look my age, but I am asking just in case.” he said goofily. She laughed. “It’s kind of complicated. A long story.” She said sheepishly. “I can take complicated. Give it to me.” he said. She shrugged and told her entire story to him. 

He was dumbfounded but he managed to give a smile. “Oh, cool. A chance to live again. How is it going for you?”He mischievously grinned. “Well, apart from the fact that I almost get killed by monsters every now and then, pretty awesome.” she giggled. They laughed again. “Hey, did you meet Nico?”Hazel asked. “Who?”He asked. “Our brother. The one I told you about?”She raised her eyebrow. “Oh, yeah. Nope.”He chuckled. “You’ll meet him pretty soon. He’s coming here.” she smiled.

“Oh, cool.” he said. Just then, he heard a conversation in Chinese. He looked over at the middle of the pavilion where Lay and some other Asian kid were talking, oblivious of the dumbfounded looks on the people around them. “Who’s that kid?”Kai asked, pointing to the guy. “That’s Frank Zhang.”She smiled. “My boyfriend.” she added, biting her lip. Kai looked at her and then looked at the two who were laughing. He tried to interpret their conversation, although he at Mandarin. Suzy was trying to do the same. They looked at each other and shared a secret smile.

“Kai, who is that? Your girlfriend?”Hazel teased. “I wish, Hazel. I wish.” he said wistfully.

-

Lay twirled his fork as he tried to think up a way to talk to Percy. They got along fairly well, but since they found out that they were brothers, well…that changed everything. He looked around and saw a familiar face. He was shocked. “Zhang Fai!”He called. The puzzled Asian kid looked around. But then he saw Lay and broke out in a huge smile. “Datou. Is that you?”He teased in Mandarin.

“Dude, what is going on? How do you know Frank?”Percy asked. But he was oblivious. He was going to invite him over to his table but then he realized, it was against camp rules, so they met in the middle. The two cousins hugged. “Fai, it’s been so long. How long has it been? 4 years?”Lay asked. Frank nodded. “Tell me about it. Dude, how’s Auntie?”Frank asked. “She’s fine. She is a teacher now.” he smiled. Then he remembered. “Sorry to hear about your mom, Fai.”Lay offered his condolences. The smile fell from Frank’s face.

“Well, at least she died fighting with honor.” he smiled bravely. “So, what are you doing here?”Frank asked, changing the subject. “It turns out that I am a demigod. Son of Poseidon.” he smiled. “Back up. The son of Poseidon? Wait, that means….oh, ew!”Frank wrinkled his nose in disgust. “What? What does it mean?”Lay asked worriedly. Frank told everything thing about the Zhang family’s genealogy. Lay almost fainted. “So, that means…no, it can’t be….oh, yuck.”Lay shivered.

“Let’s change the subject before any one of us faints.”Frank suggested. Lay nodded. “So, anyone in your life?”He asked. Frank smiled and motioned towards Hazel who smiled and waved at them. They waved back.  “What about you, datou?”Frank teased. Lay’s smile fell from his face, thinking about what he had seen Eunji do. Then he thought about Suzy who helped him through. “No, not exactly.” he said. “But there is a chance.” he said, looking at Suzy who was laughing at one of Jason’s cheesy jokes.

“Okay. We’ll talk later when that grouch isn’t there.”Frank said, talking about Dionysus who glowered lazily at them. Lay nodded. They went back to each other’s table.

“Lay, what happened? How do you know Frank?”Percy demanded. “We’re cousins.”Lay said coolly. Percy froze. “So, wait that means…oh, yuck.”Percy grimaced. Lay nodded. “Yup. Long story. I am going to have to ask dad about my...family history.”Lay said carefully. Percy nodded.

After breakfast, all of the campers headed down to the beach.  Chiron stood in front of them. His giganticness still scared the hell out of Suzy, but she knew that he was a good man…or centaur. There were about 60 0f them. They were divided into two teams.

The Zeus, Athena, Ares, Hades, Apollo and Poseidon cabins and their Roman counterparts were at one side and the other team had Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Demeter, Dionysus, Hermes and all of the other minor cabins were on the other side.

In number, although the former was weak, they had the greater advantage, strategy and strength wise. Kai stared at Lay who gave him a gentle smile. Kai immediately felt guilty at his angry thought yesterday. But then, he instantly took it back as Suzy and Lay shared a secret smile. He shook it off as Suzy came up to him and squeezed his hand tightly.

She hugged him. He hugged back. “I love you.” she whispered into his ear. He would’ve melted if she hadn’t held him. Did she say that she loved him? “You’re my greatest friend. No one can replace you and it’s so awesome that we’re cousins.” she added, laughing. His hopes shattered. Suzy loved him alright, but she wasn’t in love with him.

She broke away from the hug and went back to where she was standing which was next to her fellow group captains; Percy and Annabeth.  She had been elected due to her strength. But she had a good rep with everyone in camp, even Clarisse La Rue, considering their history with each other (Clarisse drugged her and Suzy kicked her in wrestling).

Annabeth, who was the best strategist, divided the 30 kids into two teams. Suzy would lead defense with Tao, Krystal, Clarisse, Lay, Ye-rin and Hazel and the others would lead offense. They would place the flag right on Zeus’s topmost rock which had the highest vantage point.

The seven half-bloods beat up everyone from the enemy team when they came near the flag. Suzy sat next to Lay. “Thank you for last night. It meant a lot.”Lay thanked. “It’s okay. I know you would’ve done the same thing if it was Me.” she smiled.  Just then, they heard something- the breaking of a twig. “Guys, did you hear something?”Suzy said. She got up and drew out Lightning Bolt from her hair. The others got out their weapons as well.

No one was there. Just then, they heard a lilting laugh. They looked at the place where they had planted the flag. It was empty. “Hermes is on the enemy side, right?”Suzy asked. They nodded. It then clicked for all of them. Someone from the Hermes cabin had stolen Annabeth’s invisibility cap from her! “I need to go and get that guy.”Suzy said as she ran down and went deep into the woods to find the thief.

Thankfully, the guy didn’t get very far. She body tackled the person who had the flag. She then took off the cap and saw that it was Travis. “Hello, worm. I think that’s our flag.”Suzy said as she got down, getting the flag. He groaned in response. She then turned around and sprinted back to their spot. To her horror, all of them were seriously injured.  They were almost dead. She rushed to the nearest person who was awake which was Tao. “Oppa, who did this to you?”She asked. “I…don’t…know…”he whispered. He out once more.

“Somebody, help!”She yelled but her cry of help was covered by cheers erupting. Their team had won. “I am going to have to do something.” she thought to herself. “Father Zeus, please give me power for what am I about to do.” she prayed to her father.  She then willed all of the electricity in her body and from the sky. Her hands shook with the power of the electricity in them. Her eyes had turned lightning grey like last time when she defeated the Minotaur.

One by one, she resurrected them with the electricity. It took a while but she had done it. All six of them were awake. Yerin, using some of the herbs growing around them, cured their wounds. Suzy smiled weakly at them. She was seriously dizzy.

“W-what h-happened?”Suzy said softly. She knew that she was going to pass out but she held on for the while. “We were waiting for you to come back, and suddenly someone jumped us. It was definitely a girl.”Krystal said. “How do you know?”Suzy asked. “She giggled. Girls giggle all the time.”Yerin said, holding her throbbing shoulder. Just then, their team had come cheering. They stopped in horror at seeing their teammate’s badly wounded faces and bodies.

Kai ran to Suzy and hugged her. “Are you okay?”He asked. “I am fine, oppa. I am just…”she stopped. She fainted in Kai’s arms. “Someone call the doctor!”He yelled as he ran to the infirmary with her slung over his shoulder, the others following them.  He put her down gently. “Suzy-ah, don’t go. You can’t leave me. I….love you.” he begged, whispering in her ear.

He had confessed, although it was unknown to her. But as thunder rumbled across the sky, Kai knew he had made a new enemy of the king of the gods.