We won.
We won Capture the Flag. The Fifth Cohort won. Do you know how impossible that is? Capture the Flag was one of the most difficult games in Camp Jupiter being the Fifth Cohort, and we won. I was over-joyed. Blood rushed everywhere inside my body. Out in the distance everyone was congratulating Frank, Hazel, and the new kid Percy. I've got to admit, he's the best thing that happened to the Fifth Cohort ever since, well... let's face it. He was the best since we lost the Eagle.
The next thing that happened was one of the worst.
I felt a sharp tip gently touch my back. It pushed harder and harder into me. Something inside me snapped, like a bone that was probably my rib. The item that ran halfway through my body pierced its way into my lungs. Suddenly I needed air. My head fell back, my eyes grew wide as my mouth hung open. The blade, I realized, was a spear. I felt like I was drowning. Water filled my lungs. No, it wasn't water. The liquid that started dominating my lungs was my very own blood. The spear dug deeper into me.
My eyes began to blur. Patches of white and black appeared here and there. My head became awfully light, like a balloon filled with helium ready to float away. I tried grabbing whoever was behind me but I knew it was too late. Whoever it was couldn't wait any longer and decided to end me right there. He pierced my heart. I was conscious enough to feel every bit of agonizing pain. A sledgehammer coming into impact with your body a thousand times, a chariot weighing a million pounds running over you a million times, fire eating away your flesh slowly, a Minotaur running its horns into you billions of times, honestly all those combined wouldn't even begin to really describe the pain.
Then it stopped and all I could see was black. I was dead.
For a moment I felt nothing, but I knew it was cold. I heard nothing, but I knew there were screams. I saw nothing, but I knew there were people around me. Slowly, I was able to open my eyes. Blotches of white still appeared from time to time. My head still felt light and so did the rest of my body. Maybe I wasn't dead. When my vision cleared, I was standing inside a small shop. Looking around, it looked like it sold really expensive suits for men.
To the opposite of me across the room was an elevator. Above it were the letters DOA. The carpet on the floor and the walls were a steel gray. Black leather furniture was placed in random places. To the right was a man with chocolate-colored skin in tortoise-shell shades and a silk bleached-blond Italian suit that matched his hair. People were here, although, they didn't seem quite... human. They looked like our Lyres.
The man approached me. "Hello there, girl." I looked at him, puzzled. He had a British accent. "Hello." I said back, looking around the room. The elevator suddenly opened. Was I imagining things or is that a river at the other side? I approached it slowly, reaching my hand out. Stop it, I scolded myself. So I did. As I was about to turn around, the man was beside me. He smiled. "You're next in line, girl." I looked at the river, then back at him. I pointed to myself, looking skeptically, "Me?"
He grinned, showing his perfectly white teeth, "Yes, you. Although, you need to pay me." I crossed my brows and searched for my pockets. I had no money. "Just a drachma will do, girl." I stared at him blankly. "What's a drachma?" I said, and he just smiled. I looked around to ask one of the people here if they had a drachma, whatever that was.
The exit caught my eye. "Is the door open?" I asked. He shrugged and said, "My, my. I do believe it is," he leans in closer to me, "but don't tell the others." I looked at the steel grey carpet and worn out walls, at the black leather furniture, and at the man.
Then I made my way to the door, back to Camp Jupiter, where everybody was surrounding me.
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