Lee Fletcher, asking for dire help!

"Percy, come on! Hurry up!"

Lee Fletcher waved his hand.

The sunlight seemed to shine brighter behind his back, giving off a sense of urgency.

That might have fooled you...if you weren't already so tired, and also if the camper in question didn't have the power to bend light to some degree due to his godly heritage.

"...what do you want, Lee?"

You groaned, tossing a pillow over your face to block out the irritating sunlight.

Unfortunately, the Head Counselor of Apollo's cabin had no intent to let you rest.

"Dude, it's serious! Just splash some water on your head and come to the basketball field!"

You groaned even louder.

To be clear, Basketball was your go-to sport of choice.

But it wasn't as fun to play when your opponents were Children of Apollo, who all had superb skills at aiming hoops even from far away.

"I told you, my powers aren't like instant energy drinks—find someone else to play or..."

"Look, if it were any regular game, then I would agree. But these Hunter chicks are insufferable!"

You slightly raised your head.

"...come again?"

Lee smirked and slapped you on the shoulder.

"That got your attention. There ain't no way we're letting some outsiders take over our court field. See you there!"

And with that, Lee whisked out of your cabin.

"..."

You let out a small sigh.

Lee was right.

Now you were intrigued.

And you knew it was going to be impossible to go back to sleep peacefully now, with your ADHD latched onto the subject.

You splashed a handful of seawater on your face, letting the cool sensation wake you up a bit, and then headed to the basketball court.

Line Break

Things were looking much more serious than you had initially thought.

There were a total of 12 people on the basketball field, facing each other in a 6v6 position.

One side was obviously the Hunters of Artemis, easily distinguishable by their silver jackets and hunting boots.

You recognized Zoë Nightshade and Bianca among them.

Bianca nervously looked between the hunters and campers, clutching a basketball in her arms. On the other hand, Zoë held her chin high and nose even higher as she argued with Lee.

"Hey, look who's here."

Then, an Ares camper tapped Lee on the shoulder and gestured towards you with only slight gratitude on his face.

Lee turned around and smiled broadly as you walked up to him.

"Alright! Now we're talking!"

"What's going on here? Why are you two fighting?"

You asked, glancing between the two supposed leaders of the group.

"Fighting?"

Zoë scoffed.

Her caramel eyes landed on you with a similarly cold gaze she had given you at Westover Hall.

"It's less of an actual combat but more of a...petty squandering."

The Ares camper snarled.

"Oh, I'll show you what actual combat is like, you bi—"

"No."

You pushed him back before he could pull out his sword.

The Ares camper gave you a dirty look and shoved your arm off his shoulder, but didn't pursue either.

Zoë snorted and put away her hunting knives, which vanished into thin air with a small flash of silver light.

You turned your eyes to Lee, hoping for some clarification.

"You said something about the Hunters taking over the basketball court?"

"Yeah!"

Lee waved his arms around, reflecting the sunlight in every direction and making everyone wince just from looking in his direction.

"We were about to play 3:3 when these gals showed up out of nowhere and demanded that we leave, saying that their newest member needed some good practice ground!"

Lee pointed at Bianca, who guiltily stepped back.

Zoë stepped in front of her protectively and scowled back.

"Lady Artemis has ordered us to take one of thy cabins here. We are allowed to use the facilities here as well.

And if thou call any of my sisters gals one more time, vermin, I'll personally make sure that's the last word that comes out of that stinking mouth hole."

Lee's face turned bright red, but instead of retorting back, he just turned to you with a 'see-what-I-mean? ' look on his face.

You could've pointed out that, just because the Hunters were staying in the Artemis Cabin, it didn't mean that they could monopolize the entire court.

However, you had a gut feeling that the Hunters weren't going to simply heed your logic—and besides, you were getting sick and tired of them as well.

For people whom you had only known for a few hours at this point, they were really good at getting on your nerves.

"How about we settle this by six on six? Winner takes all."

Zoë waved her hand.

"What a barefaced provocation."

"Scared?"

You replied.

Zoë narrowed her eyes at you.

"Thou should watch thy mouth, Perseus Jackson."

She looked around at her fellow Hunters, who all nodded eagerly except for Bianca.

Zoë turned back to you and nodded.

"Very well.

But if we win, we'll have our names written over your foreheads."

"Not gonna happen, mate."

Lee smirked.

Soon enough, everyone went into position.

You took place instead of Will Solace, who had been simply dragged out of bed by his half-brother Lee and was very glad that he didn't actually have to play ball.

"Alright then, at the count of three.

One, two...three!"

Will threw the basketball in the air, signaling the beginning of the match.