Weight of the World: Chapter Six

Fish out of Water
Roman Bolek,  Cabin #17

7:30pm, Camp Half Blood

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A small group of campers traverses through the woods. Not only is it very dark, being February, but the cold stings like an electric shock. The campers are fitted in fine, decorated armors depending on their cabin. Leading the pack was a young man of about 16 or 17, wearing an old fashioned battle helmet. His armor was, by far, the cleanest and the most intricate. On his arm was a young lady, 15 or 16, with deep red hair and armor black as night.

"Roman, it's too c-c-cold to be going by the ocean. C-can't we just stay with the rest of the t-t-team?" Her teeth chattered and she pulled herself closer into his arm. He groaned and raised a hand to his face, massaging the bridge of his nose through the opening.

"Myra, it doesn't matter how cold it is. At least it isn't snowing. Be thankful." She nodded but held his arm close anyway.

Their goal was to sneak around enemy lines by the ocean and ambush the flag guards so they could get the flag and, therefore, the glory. As a son of Nike, that was all Roman cared about.

This week, the teams were organised by evens and odds. That meant that his team was comprised of the children of Zeus, Poseidon, Ares, Apollo, Hephaestus, Hermes, Hades, Hypnos, Nike and Tyche.

Having the Big Three was a blessing this time around - the usual set up had 2/3 on the opposing team. Ares was a big plus too. Hephaestus kids were generally helpful in making defense mechanisms for the creek and such, and the Apollo and Hermes children were fast and worked as good diversions - until they got caught and sent to jail, anyway.

Meanwhile, Hypnos and Tyche lacked the competitive spark Roman needed. Behind him, a Hypnos camper was actually laying passed out in a red wagon assembed by - you guess it - a Hephaestus boy. That wasn't his fault though, his father was the god of sleep. He also suffered from narcolepsy, but that was another story.

And the Tyche cabin were caught making bets earlier and voted that, despite having Big Three influence, we would still lose, and preferred to stay back and watch from the sidelines. And by sidelines, that meant leaving their armor near the flags and crawling into bushes or trees with their weapons. Sometimes that came in handy though, admittedly, and clumsy people would trip over their spears and what-not.

Behind Roman and Myra was their on-board Hephaestus attendant, Suzzanne, who was a bit burly and rough around the edges but one of the quietest and sweetest people you could meet. She gingerly tapped Roman on the shoulder and gestured to the boy asleep in the wagon.

"Is he trying to project himself again?" She whispered, jamming a finger at his chest. Myra stepped back and knelt down next to the boy, touching his chest for a better reading, and nodded.

"I'll wake him up." She stepped back a bit and urged the others too as well. Her arms rose as though she were resting them on a table. With a strangled laugh she shoved her palms doward to the earth. The other two group members watched in horror as a slab of rock shot the wagon, and the boy, out and into the sky.

"Dude, Myra!?" Roman yelled, throwing his hands out in disbelief. "You can't just throw the fatty into the air because he was napping! He has a medical condition!"

"It'll wake him up though." She shrugged, still laughing. Suzzanne was incapacitated with her own laughter, grabbing her stomach and coughing.

"That's going to give away our location." Roman said blankly to no one in particular, given up with his team.

Meanwhile, they had all turned and watched as the wagon hit the ocean first, and finally when the Hypnos boy began his descent toward the sea. Myra gave a satirical salute and hummed TAPS as he bravely fell to the ocean.

Suddenly, with a burst of force like a bomb, the water beneath him exploded. Another figure had just been blown out from the ocean and was on a collission course with the boy who flew.

And they collided in a maneouver that looked painful before falling back into the ocean like two rocks. Suzzanne and Myra let out startled screams of surprise, while Roman began stripping his armor. With two loud plunks, they splashed into the water with dead excess weight.

Roman was first into the water, completely stripped of his armor, laden only in a Camp Half Blood sweatshirt and jeans. Next came Suzzanne, who wasn't wearing too much armor in the first place, in only her flannel pajama pants and t-shirt. They swam out into the middle of the visible ocean and began dipping under, opening their eyes, trying to see the mysterious object or their fellow camper.

In the meantime, the game was in ceasefire. Campers from all around the forest hurried to the lakeshore, including their field medic and referee, Chiron. He oversaw the two campers swimming out into the brine and stopped any of the others from joining them, however he did allow them to drop their armor and weapons. This was a serious enough case that the game had to be stopped.

The waves were high from the speedy and long-distance crash, but the two in the water perservered.

"I got one!" Suzzanne cried after a few minutes are searching. She threw the girl on her back and used her remaining strength to reach land, trudging through the sandy sludge to the beach. Immediately, Chiron's medical staff - AKA a few of Apollo's children, shoved her out of the way and thre the girl to the beach, checking her vitals and pumping water out of her lungs.

And according to them, she was not looking good. At the velocity she was moving at, she had likely swallowed liters of sea water. The others were on their toes. The only other Hypnos camper began crying. No one wanted to tell her that her brother may be lost at sea, and she was enveloped in a tight hug by Myra, who cried silently out of guilt. This was her fault for trying to be funny and impress her serious boyfriend, and it backfired heavily.

Suddenly, out of the water rose Roman. Thrown over his shoulder, the gangly limbs of the camper nearly everyone knew as Fatty despite him being rather lanky as far as things went. The campers cheered as he hurried from the water and threw him down in the circle of medical staff.

"Stop trying to help her, fix your friend!"

"You know we have to treat them equally, and we've deduced that the young lady has much more water in her-"

"Help him. Now." A few of the campers scooted over and began pressing his chest, listening to his heart and pulse. Mere seconds later they announced that he would be just fine, and Myra and the boy's younger sister embraced even tighter.

Meanwhile, Chiron ushered Suzzanne and Roman off to the side.

"You know I don't like you near the ocean at night." He said simply, folding his arms.

"But it wasn't forbidden." Roman retorted, crossing his arms in a mocking manner. "And if we hadn't, that girl wouldn't have been saved."

"The one you should be yelling at is Myra, Chiron. She threw Leon into the lake with her crazy earth powers." Suzzanne continued, throwing her hands up. "It's because of her that they're both in danger."

"Don't drag Myra in this, Suzy." Roman growled, facing her. "She didn't know this was going to happen."

"She threw him into the lake, Roman!"

"Stop, you two." Chiron boldly cut in, grabbing their shoulders. "Listen to me. I'm not placing the blame on any of you, I just want to know why this happened and who that young lady is."

"We don't know who she is." Suzzanne sighed, placing her head in her hands. "When Leon was falling she....she just.....erupted. Out of the ocean. Slammed right into him, and then they both fell back in."

"I see." Chiron nodded. "Thank you for being honest. We don't recognize the girl, but the outfit she's wearing appears to be a type of clothing worn often in Atlantis. It's the very same fabric used to make Queen Amphitrite's robes." Roman and Suzzanne nodded grimly, pondering over who the girl couldbe. From behind Chiron, one of the children called.

"Chiron!" She yelled. "She's waking up! Hurry!"