It was the day before April Fools. Chiron had made the standard 'please don't take things too far' speech, and the Stoll brothers had made the standard decision to completely ignore it. They were buzzing with excitement. Tomorrow was the day that all of their planning would be so, so worth it. Soon they could bask in the hilarity of the chaotic chain reaction that was about to begin...
"It's quiet. Too quiet. I don't like it." muttered Annabeth the next morning. It was true. Despite it being April 1st, the sun was shining, birds were singing, and no one was screaming in fear or anger, at least not in earshot. Something was definitely not right. This was Camp Half-Blood they were talking about, after all.
Percy tried to keep things upbeat. "Well, after the thing with the drakon last year, I think everyone's giving pranking a break."
Chewing her lip, Annabeth simply looked uneasy and said, "You're probably right, Seaweed Brain."
The awkward silence between them was quickly broken. A thunderous bellow, louder than an angry Cyclops, ripped through the air. Clarisse - along with several of her siblings - had apparently woken to find their sleeping bags filled with beetles, because hundreds of the insects were writhing in their hair, on their pyjamas, and most likely in places that Annabeth didn't even want to consider. Talk about having ants in your pants. In the background, some more Ares children were angrily waving their weapons, which had been 'improved' with glitter, ribbons, and My Little Pony stickers.
"Gods," sighed Annabeth, "it's going to be a long day." Percy replied with a frustrated groan.
From the Aphrodite cabin came horrible screams. Immediately, Percy and Annabeth rushed over to help. The door groaned painfully as Percy eased it open...
"MY HAIR!" shrieked Silena Beauregard. Annabeth gasped. Instead of her usual dark, glossy curls, Silena's hair had been replaced with a frizzy explosion of clashing red and green stripes. The other cabin members had suffered a similar fate; Percy spotted one camper with neon blue hair that stood straight up, as if they went around sticking their fingers in electric sockets for fun. His laugh was cut short by Annabeth stamping on his foot. Shocked as they were, the pair tried to cheer the cabin up as best they could. It didn't work. Unfortunately, Percy and Annabeth had to cut short their counselling. Beckendorf was calling for them. The Poseidon cabin had flooded.
"Really? Really? Who came up with that one?" yelled Percy, directing the water in a stream towards the canoe lake. He stared at the sodden wreckage of his cabin, which looked like the aftermath of a hurricane and reeked like a wet hellhound. Sadly, Percy had first-hand experience of how that smelt.
Annabeth was calmer about the situation. "Interesting how every cabin gets a prank suited to them. Whoever did this must be pretty smart-" adding, at a glare from Percy, "-but also a complete idiot." Percy grumbled some stronger words in Ancient Greek, earning him a smirk. They hadn't got much time to talk, however, because the faint shouts in the distance were getting louder. They sprinted off again.
After wrangling rogue robots from the Hephaestus cabin, drying out the Athena cabin's soaked books with a hairdryer borrowed from Silena Beauregard - "I won't need it anymore, not if I'm like... this!" - and finding the iPod hidden in the Apollo cabin which switched between playing 'Never Gonna Give You Up' and the soundtrack to Shrek, Annabeth and Percy were exhausted. They hadn't even managed to help all the cabins. Hermes's children were still running around screaming. Percy didn't want to know what about. As for the Demeter cabin... well, how would you feel if you woke up covered in poison ivy?
Suddenly, a horn sounded. It was time for an emergency camp meeting. All the campers gathered round the campfire with bitter expressions; smouldering a sour green, the flames were low. To Percy's amusement, (and Annabeth's, although she had the sense not to let it show) the Aphrodite cabin still resembled a flock of brightly coloured, electrocuted parrots. Dripping with wine, Castor and Pollux were given a wide berth. No one really wanted to ask what had happened. Whatever it was, it was clear that the twins didn't have the ability to stay dry from alcohol like Percy could with water.
Dazedly, Chiron asked the question that had been on all their minds. "Who could possibly have done this?"
Connor and Travis chose that exact moment to walk in. They were completely unharmed. Although they were fighting hard to conceal their glee, there was an aura of smugness around them that even the most naïve camper could pick up. Heads began to turn towards them, one by one. Now every camper had their eyes trained on the duo, who were shuffling their feet and grinning nervously. The campfire blazed with blood-red anger. In unison, the camp roared: "STOLLS!"
As furious demigods descended upon them like a swarm of wasps, the brothers knew there was only one thing for them to do... They bolted. The early afternoon sun shone cheerily down on a scene of scrambling chaos; the hunt was on and the hounds would never give up on their prey. This would be a revenge to remember.
Author's note: Just a silly one shot about what goes down on April Fools Day with the Stolls around :P I shudder to think of all the other pranks that must've happened at Camp Half-Blood, and don't even get me started on Camp Jupiter! Octavian seems like the kind of person to say "It's just a prank, bro!"
