Hey guys this is KeeponReadin' please enjoy the story!
1) I do not own PJatO, me and Rick Riordan are in no way related
2) This takes place a little bit before The Dove that Softened the Skull... for those of you who haven't read that one then this takes place after Gaea's defeat
3) Also, I just discovered the amazingness of the "Insert Horizontal Line" feature... I feel kind of dumb for not discovering it earlier...
4) Behold Chapter 1!
Pieces of the Puzzle:
Chapter 1:
Among Thieves:
I was caught red-handed. That wasn't the bad part though, I'd been caught plenty of times but those times I'd had Travis to back me up. This time I was all on my own and I was definitely screwed. First of all, it is a very common misconception to think children of Aphrodite are dumb. Well, actually they are dumb but only when they want to be. When they want to be clever and hang you from a tree by your ankle there's absolutely no way in the world to stop them. I of course being Connor Stoll found this out the hard way.
Unfortunately for me my brother, Travis, has just figured out that girls don't have cooties after all and is totally crazy over Katie Gardner. So while he's off "serenading" some farmer I'm stuck with taking care of the Hermes Cabin and running the family business. The "family business" would be making sure that the Ares Cabin is painted a new shade of pink every time they repaint it, regularly replacing the Aphrodite Cabin's supply of mascara with Sharpie marker ink, getting the Hypnos Cabin all jacked up on coffee, rewriting the Apollo Cabin's poems and songs to something to do with bathrooms or bodily functions (preferably both), and getting into as much trouble as possible without getting thrown out of Camp. The Hermes Cabin also runs the official Camp Half-Blood Black Market, which smuggles in any regularly "outlawed" items into Camp at fairly reasonable prices. So ultimately the predicament I'm in with the Aphrodite Cabin is Travis's fault. Not that they'd believe me since I was the one they found putting glue on their hairbrushes.
"Connor," Drew's voice was like snake's venom, "we both know that you're guilty for most of the pranks that are pulled on us. And you're also the one hanging by your ankle in a tree so it stands to reason for me to get a little revenge for the sake of the Aphrodite Cabin."
"Shit," I gulped. She paced back and forth, I was seriously thinking about committing suicide. Everyone knows that Drew is pure evil; there's just no other way to describe her. She has the personality of Medusa but looks like Aphrodite. "After you kill me and dance on my grave could you tell my brother he's an asshole for me?"
"Oh, I wasn't going to kill you, I just wanted a favor," the word favor was absolutely drenched in charm speak.
"Really big shit," I stretched out the word really until it sounded like there were a million E's in it. I looked at her and she looked at me, although my vision was starting to get blurry because of the blood rushing to my head. Finally, I gave in, "What is it?"
"Well," her eyes softened a bit as she looked at the ground, "everyone in Camp hates me… I don't blame them. I've acted like a total jerk ever since I first got here and now… and now I really regret it because I'm not really the person everyone thinks I am."
Ouch. Now I feel like a jerk. "Hey, Drew," I spoke in a calm, caring voice… n-not because I like her or anything it's just I'm kind of hanging from a tree… yeah that's it. She looked up at me, "If you could, uh, cut me down I could help you."
"Oh, yeah sorry about that…" she brought out a knife and cut me down. I fell to the grass with a loud thud. She kneeled down beside me, "I'm sorry are you okay?"
"Yeah… I'm okay just lost a couple hundred brain cells," I rubbed the back of my head. I had a crazy headache so I rested my head on the tree for support. Drew sat beside me and looked at me with… wait what? Real concern in her eyes… wow…
"Connor, do you need to go to the infirmary? I could run down there and get some ambrosia really quick if you needed me to or-,"
"Drew," I said putting a hand on her shoulder to keep her from standing. "I'm okay… it's just a bump." All this seriousness was starting to get to me so I put on my signature mischievous grin, "Now about that favor…"
She returned my smile, "Yeah, I was wondering if I could maybe help you with some of the pranks you pull on other cabins?"
"Actually, I think I have an opening for the Partner in Crime position, are you interested?"
"Sure."
"Good, have your resume ready by tomorrow and I'll see if I can squeeze you in for an interview."
"Or…" she said with an equally mischievous grin, "we could mess with your brother and Katie."
"Drew, this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
I was having a hard time straining my laughter as my brother drank his orange juice that I had just recently pumped full of laxatives while he was staring at Katie. I grinned at Drew across the Mess Hall to let her know that I had just set Operation Brown Roses in motion. Now it was her turn to set up the Katie side of Travis and Katie's "date". As breakfast came to an end Drew approached Katie while I observed from a bush. "Katie, I overheard Travis saying something about wanting to meet you at the Lake before rock climbing… the way he said it, it sounded like it might be something important," Katie took the bait all thanks to Drew's acting skills. After Katie headed off towards the Lake Drew came over to my bush. I jumped up and high fived her.
"Great job, now all we have to do is harvest the fruits of our labor," I smiled ear to ear; this was the greatest prank ever.
"Thanks, you did a really good job of slipping Travis the laxatives." She laughed before saying, "He never saw it coming!"
"Yeah, come on we have to get to the Lake and find a good place to hide," I was ecstatic; nothing like a job well done. Drew and I jogged to the Lake and found a couple of bushes off to the side of the Lake to hide behind. We crouched behind cover and waited for Travis and Katie to show up. They arrived in a couple of minutes and talked for a while before Travis's eyes got as wide as plates.
"K-Katie, wait here I'll be right back," Drew and I doubled over laughing as quietly as we could while Travis ran like a chicken with his head cut off to the neatest restroom. Katie looked a mixture of confusion and worry as she waited for my brother, who would probably never return from his trip to the bathroom.
"Drew," I whispered in her ear, "if my brother doesn't come out of the bathroom in an hour I'll go check on him… in the meantime we should probably start working on his shroud."
Drew laughed at my joke, "Nah, he should be fine… you know, after he poops his guts out."
"Once he figures out I did it I'm a dead man."
"He'd have to kill me first it was my idea."
"Don't worry about it I'll take the heat."
Drew grinned slyly, "Why would I let you take all the credit?"
I mirrored her grin, "You wouldn't, but it was a nice try though right?" We sat there in comfortable silence watching Katie get slowly more worried. "You think we should tell her?"
She shrugged. "Yeah, it would be mean to let her sit there all day." I got up and offered Drew my hand to help her up; she took it and I released it after helping her up. We walked over to where Katie was sitting and explained the whole situation. She laughed along with us and got up and went to rock climbing.
"Whew! I figured she'd be mad," Drew was about to respond when I heard a noise that sounded like a herd of angry buffalo: my brother. I looked at him and then at Drew, "Well Drew, it was nice doing business with you, see you!" I ran like a mad man with my brother hot on my trail yelling combinations of curse words that even Ares would frown upon.
"Connor I'm going to kill you!" He roared.
As I ran for my life I muttered, "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, and really stinky shit." Travis eventually caught up with me and we both bent over panting for breath.
When Travis had finally gotten enough air to talk he said, "Does 'honor among thieves' mean nothing to you?"
"You totally neglect your little brother for a girl and you have the guts to ask me that?" I gasped out the words in disbelief; if my brother thought that I was being dishonorable then he must be a downright disgrace.
Travis's facial expression changed from pure rage to one of more understanding and brotherly love, "Connor… I was acting like an ass wasn't I? I'm sorry I blew you off for Katie…"
"It's okay, bro. Just don't let it happen again." I smiled and hugged my brother… hey; maybe girls weren't so bad after all?
Me and my fancy Horizontal Lines... anyways thanks for reading please review to let me know what you think!