The big house was not a generally fun place but it definitely didn't get better when you were you being scolded.

"Travis, we usually look past your insane pranks but you could've seriously injured one of the Apollo children and you broke an offering bowl!" Chiron went on and on.

" I could have, but I saved her! And I tried to save the bowl too..."

"It doesn't matter, Travis. You better hope Apollo , or his kids, or at least the poor girl you almost killed! forgive you. Or you'll be on Pegasus stable duty for six months."

I gagged," Got it, Chiron."

"Good! Now I suggest you go visit Alyssa in the infirmary. It's the least you could do."

I nodded," Will do."

I had really done it this time. As I walked to the infirmary I started thinking about what Connor had been going on about. Obviously, since he had started dating Katie, I had definitely gotten worse at pranks and selling. Maybe he was the brains behind our biggest schemes. If I had nothing else, what was I going to do? I knew I couldn't do this forever but, what else could I do?

Walking into the infirmary, I ran into Will.

"What are you doing here, Stoll?"

"Chiron said I should come check on Alyssa. I mean no harm."

"You said you meant no harm last night too but my sister could have died."

I stared at the floor,"Yeah, I know, and I'm really sorry. I'm being completely serious though, I'm only here to check on her. No pranks, no selling, nothing."

"...alright Stoll, but if she tells me you did anything, you're dead."

I nodded and gulped, remembering when he picked me up the night before.

He pushed past me and I walked through the infirmary until I found Alyssa sitting up in one of the beds.

"Hey Travis, what's up?" She smiled at me.

Not exactly what I was expecting considered she was here because of me.

"Hey, how're you feeling?"

She shrugged,"I'm alright. I have quite the rash on my arms and legs from exposure but that's about it ! Oh and thanks for the Dr Pepper." She nudged her head towards an empty bottle soda bottle next to a note that read,'Sorry about last night. I know it's your favorite so I hope it helps- Travis.'

"But I d- you're welcome, I guess. I really am sorry about last night."

She sat up and shook her head,"Travis, it's alright. I'm fine. And if you had just used liquid craft glue instead, that prank would've been genius."

I nodded, staring down at the floor,"Don't know why I didn't do that in the first place.." The more I thought about last night and just how much danger I had put someone in, the more interested I became in the patterns on the wood.

She started getting up,"They said I'm fine and can head out whenever I'm ready." She started walking towards me," and even though you did cause it in the first place...Thanks for saving me." Then she stood on her toes and pressed her lips against my cheek before heading towards the infirmary doors.

I stared at her, mostly in shock, as she walked out.

"Oh and Travis?" She turned back to look at me.

"Um, yeah Alyssa?"

"You might have had a little bit of a set back with this one but I completely understand what you were doing. And I accept your declaration of a prank war. It is so on." And then she left.

"What in all of Hades just happened?"

I heard Connor's voice from behind me "I think she kissed you. And she took your prank fail as a challenge to a prank war...but she definitely kissed you."

I whipped around, slightly startled,"It was just like a cheek kiss though. It's probably part of her war tactics... were you spying on me?"

Connor shrugged," No, were you doing things worth spying on? And really I was just here to see how she was doing. But you know maybe she likes you."

I rolled my eyes,"There you go again with this girlfriend shit."

"Hey I didn't say anything about dating her. All I said was maybe she likes you. And really I don't know. Maybe you're right and she just wants complete and utter prank annihilation."

"What else would it be? I almost got her killed; I doubt she likes me after that... Oh, random question did you send her a dr pepper as an apology from me?"

He shook his head,"Nah, that wasn't me. But whoever did probably saved your ass. She definitely seems to have forgiven you."

I nodded,"Yeah, one less person to convince. If they don't forgive me, I'm on stable duty."

Connor shuddered,"Gross... Well good luck with that. My punishment is helping them find items to forge a new offering bowl."

"Why'd you get an easy one!"

"The prank was your brain child remember!" He laughed, walking out of the infirmary.

I sighed and shook my head,"Guess this is a war now..."

The next couple days actually passed by pretty uneventful. I had convinced most of the Apollo kids to forgive me, narrowly escaping stable duty. The only one who really hadn't forgiven me was Will. Every time he looked at me he looked as if he was gonna tear off my head. I guess I could understand, I was making being the head of the Apollo cabin kinda difficult, but still.

I was to trying catch up on some sleep when I was awoken by something hitting me in the face.

I signed,"Alright, guys I'm all for playing ball in the cabin but I'm trying to sleep." I complained before throwing the yellow plastic ball in the direction I assumed it had come from and laying back down... But then I was immediately hit with two more. "Guys! Come on! Just go outside!"

"Travis it's really not us!" My siblings chorused.

"If it's not you guys than where is it coming from? Hm?"

As I said that a face popped into the window, Alyssa's face. Her eyes widened as she saw me but then she yelled," NOW!"

Red, blue, yellow, and green plastic balls began filling the cabin.

"Are you kidding?!" Candace yelled.

I laughed,"oh right! We've been challenged to a prank war!"

I could vaguely see the Apollo kids through the window as they kept throwing more and more balls into the cabin. Slowly, while also deflecting balls away with my hand, I made my over to the window. They were all standing within reach from the window, laughing as they turned my cabin into a giant ball pit.

"Hey Apollo kids!" They jumped, turning to face me.

"Hey Travis!" Alyssa smirked,"what's up?"

"I was just thinking, how can I repay you guys from giving us this amazing ball pit that will never get cleaned up! And then it hit me, the pit is fine! Why don't you join us!" I shouted, leaning out the window, grabbing Alyssa's hands and pulling her inside.

She screamed being pulled in and when she fell into the pit with me. After that, there were Apollo kids tumbling in through the window one after another. That's when an all out ball pit fight broke out. Throwing, pushing, a giant plastic battle royale.

"Nice try, Alyssa. This is more of a party than a prank,"I laughed.

She ducked,avoiding a red ball to the head,"But isn't that the best part of a good prank? Both the pranker and the pranked having fun and laughing about it?"

I had never really thought about pranks that way. I usually just pulled pranks that were funny to me and never really asked if the people being pranked were going to enjoy it. Nine times out of ten they didn't and they were more annoyed or mad about it than anything else.

"I-I guess your right!"

She smiled,"Your move Stoll! Your move! Better be good!"

She was right. I now had a new outlook on how pranks could work and my mind was running wild. My next prank was going to be a great one. And it was gonna be fun for both the pranking cabin and the cabin being pranked.


"Travis, have you lost your mind? I thought we agreed pumping anything to the Apollo cabin is a bad idea!" Candace was shouting at me about my plans for the next prank.

"Okay we agreed maple syrup was a bad idea. Now water is a different story and we're not really pumping the water into the cabin, were pumping it into the mat." I grinned as I explained how this prank was going to be leaps and bounds better than the last.

"Which you're going to roll through the window of the cabin and out their front door?"

"Exactly."

"You really have lost it."

"Not at all! It's gonna be fun! Alyssa said that the best pranks are ones that are fun for everyone involved. We'll have a good laugh and everyone will enjoy it!"

Andrew stared at me in disbelief,"You're taking prank advice from a child of Apollo. Not just any child of Apollo but her?"

"You know very well why he's taking her advice,"Connor added his two cents from his bunk above mine.

"Because it's genius? She has a point, why wouldn't pranks be enjoyable for both parties? " I was already becoming agitated.

"Or it's because you like her," Candace giggled.

"I do not, I barely know her."

"That may be true, but you like how she does the one thing you know you're good at, pranking. " Connor jumped down from his bunk.

"That doesn't mean anything beside the fact that she's good at pranks."

"She acts like you. And you like it."

"I do not!"

"Fine! So defensive," Connor snickered at me.

"You're a douche, you know that?"

"Just telling you the truth. And I'm not, I think I'd know since I do have a girlfriend."

" That just means you're whipped," I argued.

"Means I'm happy, Travis."

"Oh stuff it, Alyssa's just good at pranks and that's cool. About time I had a worthy opponent for a prank war"

"If you say so Travis, if you say so."