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Drew Tanaka hated capture the flag.
Everybody at Camp Half-Blood tended to love the game—it gave them a chance to show off what they’d been learning all summer. The Ares kids got to brawl, the Hephaestus kids got to throw their inventions around with reckless abandon, and the Big Three kids got to go buck wild.
But for people like Drew, who didn’t particularly like weapons or bugs or dirt, it pretty much sucked. Tonight she got lumped into a group with loser twelve-year-olds and tasked with guarding the flag, which was the shittiest job ever.
“Where’s your sword, Tanaka?” asked Clarisse La Rue, the burly eldest daughter of Ares.
“Over there,” Drew said, motioning to the longsword which was currently lying on a large rock.
“Have you considered picking it up?” Clarisse snapped. “How are you going to defend the flag from our enemies if your sword is way over there?”
“First of all,” Drew started, enjoying the way Clarisse’s anger sparked her own. “They aren’t our enemies, they’re the people who’ve been pranking us all summer. Second of all, how could I possibly do a better job defending our flag than George here? He’s all the defense we need, don’t you think?”
She motioned to the young boy, George, who had been claimed by Apollo three weeks ago. George was about four feet tall, sunburnt beyond recognition, and a yapper. In the three weeks since he’d arrived at camp, Drew had only heard him stop talking for a total of thirty minutes.
George, unaware of Drew’s sarcasm, grinned up at the older demigods with a fire in his eyes.
“Yeah!” he said, swinging his bow through the open air. “I’ve got ‘em, don’t worry!”
“Ares give me strength,” Clarisse muttered under her breath, loud enough for everyone in the vicinity to hear. She spared Drew one last withering look before jogging over to her girlfriend, Drew’s sister Silena. They spoke quietly amongst themselves, Clarisse clearly expressing her disdain for Drew.
Drew just snorted and leaned up against a tree to examine her nails. She didn’t need this right now. She would have skipped the game altogether if allowed, but Chiron made it explicitly clear that participation was mandatory. Anyone who skipped without reason—the reason being an injury or something Chiron-approved—would be stuck with Pegasus stable duty.
Drew had seen enough of that damned stable in her years here at camp. She had no desire to test her luck again.
“Drew,” Silena called, walking closer. Clarisse remained behind, her face all red and blotchy with anger. “Clarisse says you’re not even trying—what’s up?”
Drew settled her gaze on her older sister. Well, half-sister. They were only a few years apart; Silena was twenty, now, and would be moving back to Manhattan at the end of the week to go back to college. She tended to spend a lot of her time in the mortal world, now. Guess that’s what happens when you betray your entire family and camp—you can’t stomach being around them for very long.
“I don’t see what the big deal is,” Drew grumbled. “Annabeth is on the other team, so they’re obviously going to win.”
“Fair enough,” Silena snorted, hiding a smile behind her hand so her girlfriend wouldn’t see it. “But we might as well try.”
Drew considered saying something really, really mean right then. How dare Silena stand there and lecture her on teamwork? Silena was the one who’d worked with Kronos. Silena was the one who betrayed all of them.
Sure, it was years ago and everyone had forgiven her by now, but… but sisters didn’t forget that sort of thing. Drew logically knew Silena had tried to back out, had tried to get away from Luke Castellan’s manipulations, but… it was still hard to look her in the eyes, sometimes.
The words were on the tip of Drew’s tongue. All she had to do was follow through, say them, and wound Silena. She knew it would hurt. She knew how to target those insecurities in her sister—she knew just what to say to make Silena feel like shit.
But Silena was smiling at her. That soft smile that made her eyes crinkle. The smile that had only come around when she and Clarisse started dating a few months ago. Silena wasn’t perfect, and Drew knew it was unfair to hold her sister to such high standards.
She also knew Silena had paid a great price for her treachery. She’d lost her boyfriend, Charles Beckendorf, on a mission a few years ago. And Drew knew Silena would never do something to purposefully harm someone she cared about—all those mistakes she’d made with Luke were just that. Mistakes. And she’d paid the price for them.
“Fine,” Drew snapped. “Tell your bitchy butch to shut up and leave me alone. I promise to guard the flag and all that, blah, blah, blah.”
Silena beamed and pulled Drew into a quick, tight hug. “Thanks, sis,” she said. “She’s been coming up with this whole big strategy to confuse Annabeth and avoid Nyssa’s traps, you know. She really thinks this might be the summer we beat them.”
“Yeah, right,” Drew snorted. She didn’t dare make a comment about Nyssa Barrera—not after the disastrous conversation they’d had last week. Silena would surely see right through her if she did, so Drew stayed silent.
Silena pranced back over to her girlfriend with a winning smile. Clarisse calmed down immediately, offering Silena a smile before she turned her head and nodded to Drew.
Drew stoically nodded back, saluted the daughter of Ares, and then promptly rolled her eyes.
The game started five minutes later. With a smirk and a raised spear, Clarisse darted off into the woods, probably to go fuck up some Athena kids. Silena led a group of fighters in the opposite direction; they were supposed to be the distraction. Or something. Nobody bothered telling Drew the plan.
Now that there were only five of them left to guard the flag—Drew, Travis, George, and two twelve-year-olds—Drew slumped back against her tree and watched her surroundings.
Her mind, rather unhelpfully, wandered back to that conversation with Nyssa Barrera last week.
She’d been trying to flirt with the idiotic daughter of Hephaestus. As a child of Aphrodite, you’d think that would come a little bit easier to Drew Tanaka. But no. She either comes off as a bitch or an imbecile—and Nyssa Barrera has had the unfortunate luck to experience both. Last week she'd gathered up all her courage and asked Nyssa out; she'd asked her to come to the strawberry fields late at night and 'hang out.' Nyssa never showed.
Luckily, a rustle in the bushes distracted Drew from her thoughts. She stood up a little straighter, reaching for that sword she’d set down half an hour ago.
“Two in the woods, headed towards us,” Travis called from a few yards away. “How do you want to handle it?”
It took Drew a moment to realize he was asking her.
“Just because my sister is dating an Ares kid doesn’t mean I know jack-shit about this sort of thing!” Drew snapped.
“That’s not why—” Travis rolled his eyes. “You’ve fought in two wars you dumbass!”
Oh, well, that was technically true. Drew had fought in her fair share of wars, most recently the Battle of Manhattan and the Giant War.
“I wasn’t, like, strategizing in those!” Drew grumbled.
“For fuck’s sake,” Travis muttered. He gripped his sword and slipped into the foliage, probably to try and sneak up on the unsuspecting enemies.
Right. Okay. She might not have been much of a strategist, but Drew Tanaka wasn’t dumb. She wasn’t some silly bimbo; she had stereotypes to disprove and people to piss off. And one thing about Drew Tanaka? She knew how to piss people off.
“George,” she whispered. “I want you to go stand directly in front of the flag and guard it with your life, okay?”
“Okay!” he jogged toward the flag, unaware he was now bait.
Drew relayed a quick plan to the other two demigods present, then did her best to disappear into the forestry around the flag. She lay in wait for a few minutes, aware the others were likely doing the same. And then—there they were.
It wasn’t Annabeth or Percy, like Drew had suspected. It was Nyssa Barrera and Katie Gardner.
Drew watched them approach, sizing up the situation. There didn’t appear to be anyone else with them. Just the two girls. Katie was armed with a sword, Nyssa with a spear, and both girls had backpacks on.
Drew smirked.
She knew better than to underestimate the two. Katie had powerful control over plants; she could turn this entire forest into a weapon. And Nyssa might not look like a warrior, but she was clever. Who knew what sort of gadgets and traps she had on her?
The girls caught sight of George and shared a quick, confused look. Then Nyssa grinned and approached him, spear in hand.
“Hey, kid, sorry about this—”
Drew and her teammates closed in around Katie and Nyssa, encircling them. Nyssa’s eyebrows shot up and her smile faltered as she realized the trap. Katie harrumphed.
“Hey, Barrera,” Drew called, batting her eyelashes at the girl. “Get lost on your way to the forges?”
Nyssa eyed the demigods and their weapons, a frown coming to her normally-pleasant face. Nyssa was shorter than her, but broader and more muscular. She had tanned skin, curly brown hair, and biceps that bulged beneath her CHB shirt. She wore a simple red bandana to hold her hair out of her face.
Nyssa’s lips curled into a smile when she saw Drew, which made something inside of Drew light up like a Christmas tree.
“Hey, Drew,” Nyssa said softly. “Who left you in charge? They were practically begging us to come steal the flag from you.”
Drew shrugged and twirled her sword through the air—she might not be the best sword-fighter, but she knew how to make it look cool.
“Bold words from someone who’s surrounded,” Drew teased.
Unfortunately, Nyssa didn’t look remotely worried. “Surrounded? I don’t think so.”
Drew eyed the others; one, two, three, and four if you counted George, which Drew did not. Still, they outnumbered Katie and Nyssa. If Travis would just show up, they wouldn’t even need to fight it out…
Before she could say anything else, Drew was swept off her feet by Nyssa Barrera.
Literally.
Nyssa threw her spear at Drew’s feet, which seemed stupid since it left her weaponless and Drew unharmed. In a split second, though, celestial bronze strings flew out from the end of the spear, wrapping around Drew’s legs and forcing her to the ground.
Drew shrieked as she hit the ground, as she felt her body become immobilized by the bronze ropes. A similar trap had been hurled at the others, leaving all four of them bound on the ground.
Great. Clarisse was never going to forgive her for this.
Nyssa and Katie, who were grinning and chuckling, approached the flag.
“Wait, wait!” Drew called. “You don’t want to go up there, trust me!”
Katie rolled her eyes and pushed forward, but Nyssa hesitated. She eyed the flag, then Drew. “Why not?”
“Nyssa, come on, don’t listen to her! She can use charmspeak!” Katie grumbled, halfway up the hill to the flag.
Nyssa kneeled down next to Drew and pushed a few strands of hair out of her face, which was a kind gesture that made Drew’s insides tangle.
“Don’t go up there,” Drew said, still not allowing the charmspeak into her voice. “It’s a trap.”
“Who’s waiting for us up there?” Nyssa asked, rocking back on her haunches. “Your sister? The Stolls? Gods, it’s not Clarisse, is it?”
Drew’s mind spun with possibilities—what to say, what to say, what to say. Only, now that she had Nyssa’s attention, she wasn’t entirely sure she wanted it. Nyssa was attentive; she never half-assed anything. Even now, as she kneeled in the dirt to talk to Drew, she gave Drew her entire focus. Drew shuddered, her mind rather unhelpfully going blank.
Nyssa's muscular arms were smudged with soot and dirt, probably from her hot-as-balls forge. Drew had tried to visit her there last week, but the fires had made her sweat so profusely she’d had to leave after five minutes of idle chatter.
“Why didn’t you come to the strawberry fields on Friday?” Drew asked.
“That’s not—are you stalling?” Nyssa asked.
“No,” Drew said. “Just curious. I thought… well, I thought you wanted to come. And hang out with me.”
She sounded so pathetic right now. If any of her siblings were here to hear this, she’d have to kill them. Thankfully, the only creature around to witness her pathetic pining was a lizard on the tree next to her.
“I did,” Nyssa said. “I still do. I had a late night in the forges on Friday, plus I figured you’d be busy with the others, so I went to bed. I didn’t think it would be a big deal.”
“What others?” Drew scoffed. “I was waiting there for you for an hour before I realized you weren’t coming.”
“Wait,” Nyssa said, her eyes widening. She laughed, “Wait, what? I thought… you said… you said you wanted me to come chill at a party. I figured that meant other people were there.”
“Well. There weren’t,” Drew muttered, rolling her eyes. “You know, Barrera, when a hot girl asks you to hang out at a party it’s usually not because the hot girl wants to spend the night with other people.”
This was ridiculous. Drew never should have brought this up. What was she thinking? That Nyssa would confess some deep, hidden feelings and they’d walk out of the forest hand in hand? Drew wasn’t even sure if Nyssa was gay— though, if a straight girl wore as many cargo pants as Nyssa did, that would be astounding—and she was much less sure if Nyssa was even interested in her.
“You…” Nyssa trailed off.
Drew wriggled around on the ground, trying to find a comfortable position while being tied up by bronze wires. Newsflash: she didn’t find one.
“You know what? It doesn’t even matter,” Drew snapped. She was a daughter of Aphrodite, for goodness sake. She didn't need to sit here and pine after someone. She wasn't made to sit around and feel bad for herself; she could force herself to get over this. “That was last week. I’m over it. Now, why don’t you untie me, hmm? I know you really want to.”
The charmspeak rolled off her tongue easily. She could feel the magic in the air; the heaviness of her words, her intentions.
Nyssa blinked down at her confusedly.
“Untie me,” Drew repeated, forcing even more power into her charmspeak. “Please.”
Still, Nyssa didn’t move. She just stared at Drew, mouth parted. Beyond her, Katie was almost at the top of the hill, the flag within reaching distance. Ugh, where the hell was Travis?
“Nyssa,” Drew grit the word out, forcing herself to meet Barrera’s gaze. “You really want to untie me, don’t you?”
She could see the magic settle over Nyssa. The daughter of Hephaestus sighed happily, her eyes fluttering shut before she said—“No, not really.”
“You—wait, what?” Drew cut herself off, stumped. “What the hell?”
Nyssa grinned and reached a hand up to her ear. She tapped twice, and that’s when Drew noticed the earplugs. They were orange and roughly the shape of an Airpod (stupid mortals and their cool technology).
“You like ‘em?” Nyssa asked. “They’re my newest model. Anti-magic noise-cancelling earplugs. Still working on a more concise name, but… turns out they work! They allow me to hear regular noises and conversations, but the beauty of the creation is they block out magic! No charmspeak for me.”
Nyssa was grinning—that massive, arrogant grin that Drew had only glimpsed a few times before. Nyssa wasn’t flashy or outgoing; she tended to stick to her cabin, her forges, and her friends. On rare occasions, though, when she accomplished a particularly hard assignment or worked through a problem…she lit up like the sunrise.
Drew’s heart stuttered in her chest, annoyingly.
“Ugh, screw you,” Drew muttered, thudding her head against the dirty ground. “Why’d you let me sit here and keep trying? Rude.”
Nyssa shrugged, her grin only growing wider. “Had to keep testing them, just to be sure.”
“Asshole.”
“...besides, I like listening to you talk.”
Drew’s eyes snapped back to Nyssa’s face, which was quickly turning a bright shade of red. Nyssa cleared her throat and dared a glance at Katie, who was attempting to remove the flag from its place atop the hill.
George and the other demigods were still wriggling on the ground some yards away, attempting to free themselves from their bonds to no avail.
Nyssa looked back down at Drew and said, “I wanted to come, you know. To the party. I wanted to hang out with you—I wasn’t lying about that. I just sort of assumed you… had other people you’d want to hang out with more.”
“Well, you assumed wrong.”
Nyssa chuckled, “I won’t make that mistake again, I promise.”
“Who said you’re getting another chance?” Drew snapped, though there was no malice behind the words.
Nyssa’s eyes glittered as she gazed at Drew. “Good point, I guess. Do I? Get another chance?”
Drew pretended to think it over for a while, which drew a huff of laughter out of Nyssa. When she finally looked back up into Nyssa’s eyes, her heart was thundering in her chest.
“Yes, fine, I guess you can have another chance,” Drew sighed.
“Great,” Nyssa beamed. “And… are there going to be other people at this hangout, or just us?”
“Hmm…” Drew mused. “Depends on whether or not you untie me.”
“Not happening, I’m afraid. Annabeth has threatened to maim anyone who ruins her plan.”
“Sounds about right,” Drew harrumphed. Then, “It’ll be just us at this hypothetical future hangout. If that’s… if that’s something you’d be okay with…”
Nyssa’s smile was impossibly wide. And beautiful. It caused butterflies to erupt in Drew’s stomach; made her palms sweaty; made her want to giggle a little bit. Ew. Drew still had no idea why this weird, nerdy, soot-covered girl had such a hold on her. She didn’t know why or how it had happened, only that it had.
“I’d like that a lot,” Nyssa said. “But just so we’re perfectly clear and there’s no room for miscommunication this time… is this a date, Drew?”
“If you want it to be.”
“I definitely want it to be,” Nyssa said evenly. “Do you?”
“Yes.”
“See, why couldn’t you just say that the first time?” Nyssa teased. “Could have saved us so much time!”
Drew frowned up at her. “You know what? Never mind. Let me out of these—I’m going to kick your ass.”
Nyssa laughed and finally rose to her feet, “Oh no, Tanaka. It’s a date. It’s happening. No going back now.“
“Awww, that’s so sweet! Are you guys going on a date?”
Silena stepped out of the shadows, sword in hand. Drew grinned; she'd been counting on this. Nyssa looked surprised, her eyes darting from Drew to Silena to Katie, who had the flag in her hands. Nyssa subtly braced her knees, preparing herself to start sprinting.
“Oh no, I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” came a new voice. Clarisse stepped out from behind a tree, the other team’s flag in her hand. She pointed her spear at Nyssa, then at Katie. “Drop it.”
There were only a few people at Camp Half-Blood stubborn and stupid enough to fight Clarisse; Nyssa and Katie weren’t among them. Katie sighed dramatically and dropped the flag to the ground. Nyssa swore under her breath and pressed a button on her wristwatch, which immediately freed Drew and the others from their binds.
Silena and Clarisse beamed at Drew as she rose to her feet, but Drew only had eyes for Nyssa.
As their team began to celebrate, hooting and hollering and rubbing it in Katie’s face, Drew approached Nyssa.
“You were stalling,” Nyssa mused, eyeing Drew.
“Maybe,” Drew admitted. “We still on for that date, or are you going to be a sore loser?”
Nyssa tossed her head back and laughed. When she looked back at Drew, her eyes were sparkling. Drew sat down on the boulder next to her, bumping her shoulder into Nyssa’s.
Nyssa carefully reached out and took Drew’s hand into her own. Nyssa’s hands were rough and calloused from years in the forges, but Drew didn’t mind. (She was pretty sure she had a lotion to help with that in her cabin.)
Nyssa interlaced their fingers and squeezed her hand. “Yeah, we’re still on.”