ੈ｡ﾟ ･ׂׂ ✩ RED ⌇˚ɞ act iii . . . the dying breaths of hope
· 。ﾟ *. 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 TWENTY-EIGHT, ───── ❛ demigod death drop (round two!) ❜
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IT HAD BEEN nearly three years of being at camp now, and Percy still couldn't ever put his armor on correctly. Whether it was twisted around here or too high there, the kid just never seemed to get it right.
It was after dinner and Quintus had the campers suit up in combat armor like they would for capture the flag, except it was nearly dark out and there wasn't a single flag or smile in sight. Quintus was clad in bronze himself, though it was a little hard to pay any mind to with his pet hellhound, Mrs. O'Leary, bounding in circles around him.
He was talking, but Laurie was hardly listening. She couldn't stop staring at the straps of Percy's armor. Those things were not on correctly.
She was resisting the urge to reach out and fix them when Quintus announced, "You will be in teams of two."
A buzz of chatter immediately followed as everyone starting trying to grab their friends. Laurie and Alec looked at each other and nodded, for it was understood by now that they'd pair up together. Then, Quintus added, "Which have already been chosen!"
A grumble of complaints and groans soon followed. Laurie was pretty sure she heard Travis say in Ancient Greek how he was going to do some profane and unmentionable things.
"Your goal is simple: collect the golden laurels without dying." Quintus explained. "The wreath is wrapped in a silk package, tied to the back of one of the monsters. There are six monsters; each has a silk package. Only one holds the laurels. You must find the wreath before the other teams. And of course . . . you will have to slay the monster to get it, and stay alive."
Again, murmurs arose amongst the campers, this time out of excitement. The task sounded easy enough; this was what they were trained for, right?
"I will now announce your partners." Quintus said. "There will be no trading. No switching. No complaining."
Mrs. O'Leary woofed to back him up. Quintus produced a big scroll from gods-know-where and started reading off the list of names.
Beckendorf was with Silena, which they both looked pretty happy about. Travis and Connor were together, which wasn't much of a surprise considering they did most things together and most of the times, ended up in trouble together. Annabeth was with Katie Gardener, a girl from Demeter.
Clarisse and Lee were together, which would probably be the toughest team to beat so far. Marjorie was paired with Hayden Sloan from Ares, which Alec didn't seem too keen on, even though he was with Drew Tanaka, a gorgeous Aphrodite girl with a knack for dagger combat.
