A/N: I like to talk to myself. That's what I'm doing here, in this Author's Note. No one has read this, clearly. So why I even bother is beyond me.
Version 3 of this chapter. I had one sentence with seven actions. Seven. It's gone now, don't worry. Thanks again to my reviewer!
What I was expecting the prank to be was the Hermes cabin dying everyone's jeans pink. They hadn't done that in a while, and I saw one of them with a bottle of something, something I had assumed was pink dye. What I was not expecting was for the cabin to be filled with spiders.
So what happened?
The cabin was filled with spiders. Not just any spiders, but big, hairy spiders. So when some of the group went back to the cabin after lunch, they came out screaming. Everyone else went to take a look.
I opened the door, and stepped inside one step. Then I noticed all of the spiders, and ran away. All children of Athena were naturally scared of spiders, because spiders were out to get them. It's true. A long time ago, my mum turned a woman into a spider, and even now her descendants were out to get us.
"There's spiders in there all right," I said to everyone else who were waiting outside.
"How many?" Amy asked.
"Lots. Lots and lots of them," I answered.
"Where?" Amy said.
"In the cabin," I said, in the tone of voice I used to say 'duh'.
"Whereabouts in the cabin?" Amy asked, sounding annoyed.
"All over the floor," I said.
"I have an idea," Mark cut in, "We smoke them out."
The ensuing silence was as thick as Ares.
"You're saying we should set the cabin on fire?" Amy said.
"Yes," Mark said, "Why not?"
"All of our stuff's in there!" I exclaimed.
"And our beds," Martin (who I hadn't seen since Capture the Flag on Friday) said.
"And my perfume," Violet, one of my half-sisters said.
Everyone started to chip in.
"No, I don't mean normal fire," Mark said, then mumbled, "Idiots."
I decided to let the insult slide, and no one else had heard it.
"What kind of fire are you on about?" Amy asked.
"Magic fire," Mark said, "Get the Hecate kids to do it."
Spiders swarmed out of the cabin like they were running from Zeus himself. A few of them were lit up by mesmerising blue and green flames, turning their relatively small bodies to piles of smoking ash. Three children of Hecate stood a few meters away, their fingers dancing as they chanted in ancient Greek.
It was a beautiful sight to behold, dozens of our arch-enemies incinerated by the power of fire. Of course, it became a lot less beautiful to me when I realised me and my fellow children of Athena had paid for it by taking over all of the Hecate cabin's stable cleaning duties for the next month.
It was still damn satisfying to see the eight-legged terrors burn, though.
Once the spiders were exterminated and "thank you"s said, I noticed a group of Hermes children headed towards the lake. My mind whirred and I hatched a plan to get revenge on them. Tammy joined up to the plan straight away, and Mark joined after Tammy and I successfully persuaded him.
First we went to the Harpies' kitchens. Tammy distracted the Harpy cooks while Mark kept a look out. I snuck in through a window. I tiptoed my way around the rear of the room, and came to the cupboard labelled 'cake ingredients'. I tugged it open, and looked around inside. After a brief look through the cupboard, I found what I was looking for, yellow food dye. I took five packets and started to creep back out.
"Stop!" one of the Harpies shouted before swooping towards me.
'Damn it!' I cursed mentally.
The Harpy got close, so I dropped all the food dye packs but one. I took aim with the one pack I didn't drop, and threw it at the Harpy's face. I missed, but it still hit the Harpy's chest. An explosion of yellow powder burst into being, the yellow cloud obscuring the Harpy for a moment. She stalled in the air, then fell onto one of the worksurfaces. She landed on a blueberry pie, which exploded from the impact.
"Ha!" I shouted.
I scooped up the four remaining packs, then sprinted for the window I came in through. I hurled the dye through as I approached. I then clambered onto the worksurface and vaulted through the window. A small dust cloud was kicked up by my heavy landing on the dirt outside.
There was a crashing sound from inside, then the sound of dozens of glasses shattering at once. A Harpy screeched something obscene. A second later, Tammy dove through the window, covered in milk. Mark slammed the window shut before the Harpies could fly through it.
Due to a gory incident a couple of years ago, the inner handles on the windows and door had been remove. That way, the Harpies couldn't leave without someone letting them. Consequently, they couldn't chase me and my fellow pranksters.
After that, we headed back to the Athena cabin to change into swimming clothes. Tammy had a quick shower to clean the milk off of her. Once everyone was ready, we put the food dye in a bag with towels and headed down to the lake.
I pulled my swimming goggles over my head, wincing as they tugged at my hair, which was probably in need of a cut. My partners in crime did the same, and we all took a pack of food dye. Mark took the fourth.
"Everyone ready?" I asked.
"You bet. Oh, this is going to be so, so funny. This is going to be the best prank the camp has ever seen," Tammy said.
Mark's response was shorter, "Yes."
I dove into the water and took a look around. Percy Jackson was sitting at the bottom of the lake. A few campers I didn't know were playing water volleyball. Another group was playing Marco Polo. Half a dozen canoes were sailing around. A couple of pegasi riders were circling overhead. The Hermes cabin swimmers were maybe ten meters away from me. I started swimming towards them, going underwater three meters or so from them. I positioned myself underneath them. My heart raced as tore open the food dye pack in synchronisation with my two half-siblings. The dye was released as I started to speed away.
Two meters away I surfaced for breath, and swam as quick as I could a few more meters away. I turned around and mimed shock. What at? At what looked like one of Hermes' children taking a huge piss. Tammy pointed and shouted out, and soon the entire lake was laughing at (or being grossed out by) the Hermes campers. Even people on the banks of the lake and the Naiads were getting involved.
Meanwhile, Mark, Tammy and I were lying on the banks of the lake laughing our heads off. That prank could not have gone better. The Hermes campers were as red as tomatoes, possibly even redder. Although they all knew they hadn't done it, they each suspected their nearby half-siblings. The whole group was getting the blame.
I hadn't felt that proud of myself for a long time before.
A while later, I was walking through the woods, looking for a monster to fight. While doing so, I ran into Edward, son of Deimos, or possibly Phobos. One of the fear gods. Edward and I... well, we didn't exactly get along.
"What are you doing out here?" Edward asked.
"I could ask you the same question," I said.
"Just answer me, pussy," Edward said.
"What's in it for me?" I said.
"Not getting your face bashed in," Edward threatened.
"You don't scare me," I said defiantly.
His eyes flashed crimson red, and icy cold fear burst into my veins. I struggled to look away, trying to break eye contact. I tried to think how to defend myself from his powers. Then, an idea struck me. I pulled my swimming goggles from my pocket, (having stuck them there after my prank earlier), and put them on.
"You look stupid with that on," Edward snarled, "And without it."
"Well, the doctor slapped your mother when you were born," I said.
He had a large, red nose, and a wide face with low cheekbones and a high jaw.
"What did you just say about my mother?" Edward shouted.
"I said that the ugly bitch was punished for making something as hideous as you," I replied, realising too late I had hit a nerve.
Edward lunged at me, fist clenched, and I side-stepped. He was overextend, so I shoved him and he staggered off to the side. He attacked me again, going for a left hook. I ducked under the blow. I could hear the air moving above my head. He grabbed my arm, and I thrusted forwards, kneeing him where it hurts. A cry of pain rang through the forest.
"Back off, dipsh-" I started, but was cut off by a fist to the nose.
I staggered away, crimson blood trickling from my nose. Edward swung another punch, catching me in the gut. I gasped and doubled over in pain. Edward pinned me in a chokehold. I could barely breathe. Darkness pressed at the edges of my vision.
"Sorry," I croaked.
Edward released me with a push, and stalked off into the darkness. I laid on the ground for a minute, getting my breath back as I watched the afternoon sky.
I decided I was no longer in the mood to fight monsters, and set off back. That's when I discovered I had lost all sense of direction. I had no idea which way I had to go to get out of the woods and back into camp.
Two, or maybe even three hours of wandering later, I finally got back to camp. It was getting dark, and I was exhausted from everything that had happened in the day, so I headed straight to my cabin. I showered, relaxing as the warm water poured down on me. I loved the feeling of it running over my body and dripping to the shower floor. It was pure bliss.
After my shower, I dried myself off quickly. I donned my bedclothes with just as much speed, and climbed into my bunkbed. A minute later I was asleep.