All's Fair In Love And War

Goofing Off

I tiptoed through the huge building. We had decided that life was boring and that we should do something childish for fun, so Nico had shadow traveled a group of us to one of the houses that Venus liked to use for different things involving the show. Venus had, of course, found out when we accidentally tripped the security alarm, but was fine with it, going to ask the other contestants and people if they wanted to come play with us. 

Yes, I said play. We're being childish, remember? It was my idea and most of the group was surprised that 'stiff and proper' Reyna could have fun.

Right now we were playing indoor cops and robbers, since it was raining really hard outside.

I was a cop this time, Jason, Bianca and Piper being my partners. The total amount of people we had to stop came up to 13, Leo, Hazel, Nico, Percy, Rachel, Lou, Gwen, Malcolm, Frank, Will, Lee, Michael, Travis and Conner. Thalia had basically bit Venus' head off when she suggested the daughter of Zeus join in. Calypso had been nowhere to be found, Annabeth had acted snooty when invited, which wasn't my idea, by the way, and no one had been able to locate Castor either.

I heard footsteps coming down the hallway, heading my way. We had quickly made a rule of no powers after Jason had bowled Nico over with wind and sprinted for safety during the first round.

Before I could hide to see who was coming, the person rounded the corner.

Percy froze, his eyes widening when he saw me. I had purposely been prowling the back hallways of the house, and honestly had started to wonder if anyone knew about them. It seemed Percy did.

"I don't think so." I told him, smirking.

Percy's eyes flicked behind me as if he was gauging the distance to the foyer, where the safety object, a giant fountain shaped like a clam around the bottom, was.

"Schist!" He sprinted back the way he came, deciding that he wouldn't make it.

"Oh no you don't!" I chased after him.

We could hear other people running around the house as we wove through the halls of what could only be considered a mansion. At one point I heard Gwen scream something that sounded to be along the lines of 'Get off me you overgrown puppy dog!'

"Get back here Jackson!" I bellowed.

"Nope nope nope nope nope!" Percy kept up a continuous stream of refusal as he turned the corner sharply.

I followed right behind him, not hearing his shout of surprise and warning.

My foot hit the twist in the carpet and I went flying forward with a scream, falling headfirst down a flight of stairs.

"Holy Styx!" Strong arms grabbed me out of the air, the person pulling me tight to them and keeping me from hitting the marble steps.

"Reyna, are you okay?" Percy's voice rumbled in his chest, which my ear was pressed to.

I could feel myself shaking, but nodded anyway. "T-Thanks."

"I tried to warn you." He said apologetically. I nodded, swallowing hard.

Percy let go of me and I sat down on the steps, taking deep breaths.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Percy crouched in front of me. I nodded again, staring into his eyes.

"You don't look okay." He frowned, this cute little wrinkle forming between his eyebrows th- maybe I did hit my head, why else would I be thinking about this?

"I'm fine." I muttered, feeling myself start to get red.

"What happened?" Jason's voice sounded from the top of the stairs.

"I took the corner too fast and didn't warn her about the twisted rug or the stairwell in time." Percy explained. "She almost took a one-way trip downstairs."

"Well good on you for catching her." Piper said, her bare feet slapping on the marble as she walked down to crouch next to me. "C'mon, Reyna."

I stood slowly, my head still spinning a little from the adrenaline.

"Anyone else to catch?" I asked when I finally had my bearings.

"No. Lou and Rachel both got there before we could get them. Last I saw Bianca, she was chasing Nico around the third floor." Piper smiled.

"Alright, guess we'll have to start a new round then." I took a step and winced. 

"Reyna?" Percy had seen my expression. "Are you okay?"

"My ankle hurts, that's all. It's not major, I can still walk on it." To prove my point, I moved down a few steps, wincing at the pain, but knowing I could get through it. "See?"

"Well I don't think we should risk it." Before I could protest, Jason had scooped me up and taken off, soaring down the open stairwell and towards the main foyer.

"PUT ME DOWN!" I shrieked, doing my best to keep from looking down.

"Stop squirming or I might, just not the way you want!" He yelled back.

I stopped moving, but when he set me down in the foyer, I slapped him over the head, hard. "I told you I was fine."

"I know, but if you possibly sprained your ankle I wasn't going to chance it."

"She sprained her ankle?" Nico turned around, frowning.

"No!" I exclaimed, exasperated. "I am fine and if one of you insists on inspecting my leg I will kick you in the face to show you just how not-hurt I am."

[A/N yay, near death experiences!]