Well, I'm back and for those of you that are wondering, surgery went fine, and I'm totally okay! ;)

Anyway, this is the 12th chapter of The Daughter of the Wind. I hope you all enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own PJaTO. If I did, I would have a writer who would write everything I say when I say it.


The Daughter of the Wind

Chapter 12- Debts Repaid

I walked out of my cabin, slightly shell-shocked by my father's words. I never thought I'd hear him say that. Mostly due to the fact that for most of my life I believed… well, that he was permanently out of it.

Dad… loves me, I thought, trying to take in that fact.

Well, why wouldn't he? I mean, I was his daughter after all. Still…

"Aide!" I heard Travis call as he and Connor came running.

"Aide?" I questioned with a quizzical smirk as they stopped in front of me.

"What? You saved me and my siblings," Travis reminded. "You deserve a nickname,"

I rolled my eyes. "So what's up?"

"We've got a prank," Travis started.

"That we need you for." Connor finished.

Hard to believe they weren't twins.

"A prank?"

"Yep," Thing 1 (Travis) answered.

"And you need me?"

"You're a definite necessity," Thing 2 replied.

"Then, I'm in,"

"Sweet!" They said in unison as they high-fived. I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, we'll meet you at your cabin tonight," Connor informed.

I smiled softly at him. "Cool,"

I was, however, unaware that Travis had caught my sudden excitement and enthusiasm as I looked at Connor.

"Right, well, we'll catch you later, then," Travis said with a wink as he took hold of his brother's collar. "Come on, Connor,"

And I watched amusedly as Connor was dragged away with a confused expression.

I never noticed before, but when gets that cute confused- WOW! I shook my head, trying to shake out the thoughts.

Stupid hormones, I mentally grumbled as I walked off. I had sword training to do.


That night, I made sure to take an extra shower after the 5 hours of swinging and cutting things with my bronze blade. And after that, I brushed through my hair for the umpteenth time, making sure I looked as nice as I had that morning.

Ugh, why am I doing this? I wondered irritably when I threw down my hairbrush after running it through my hair for what had to be the twentieth time. It's just a stupid prank. Nothing more.

The image of the Stoll brothers passed through my mind, one Stoll in particular. I physically shook my head again. I wish that would stop happening!

Knock!

"Aiden," I heard Travis whisper from behind my door.

I strolled to the entrance and opened the doorway to see the two said brothers, waiting for me.

"Come on," Connor instructed as he and his brother crept away from my cabin, staying in the shadows of the night. I quietly followed after them.

Soon, we were in the outskirts of the woods… along with 15 other Hermes kids.

"Uh…" I muttered as I noticed them all.

"What? This is a big prank," Travis reacted.

"We needed the extra bodies," Connor explained.

"No, no, it's fine. You know, as long as we don't get caught," I muttered.

"And there lies the problem," A daughter of Hermes replied.

I remembered her from the capture-the-flag game. She was the one who had asked if I wanted to take a break.

"What do you mean?" I questioned.

"The Harpies." She answered.

We all looked up to see quite a few Harpies walking around. Four or five at least were within 30 feet of us.

"There's no way to get around them. They're running extra shifts because someone was too obvious in stealing the paint," She added before glaring at one of her younger half-brothers.

"Sorry," he squeaked.

The girl rolled her eyes at his apology while I looked back at the Harpies lining the camp grounds.

"I've got an idea," I suggested.

Travis, Connor, and their sister all looked at me, waiting to hear it.

"All of you guys, come with me," I directed as I got up from our hiding spot in the outskirts of the woods.

"Wait a minute! What are you doing?" Travis hissed at me as he tried to pull me back down. "You'll get us all eaten alive!"

I yanked my hand away and looked down at him.

"Trust me, I know what I'm doing," I reassured with a smile.

They all looked rather hesitant, but Connor stood up from the bushes. Travis looked at both of us with a defeated expression before he too followed. Everyone else followed after him, seeing as he was the head counselor and all.

I really hope I know what I'm doing. I thought to myself as we all walked out of the trees and bushes.

When the vicious Harpies saw us, they hissed angrily and bared their claws, ready for dinner. As they all began to swarm, I raised a shaking hand against them.

"S-stop," I ordered, my voice wavering at the monsters. They were a lot scarier up close. "You will not harm us."

The Harpies continued, getting ready to sink their teeth into the kids of Hermes.

Focus, I thought to myself as they began to close in on us. They're not as scary as I think they are. Besides, it was my plan!

Winds around us then abruptly picked up and encircled me and the children of Hermes like a protective barrier.

"I am Aiden Lawrence, Daughter of Aeolus, god and master of winds. Daughter of your master and patron god," I proclaimed with new found confidence. "And I order you not to attack me or the children of Hermes. If you choose to attack anyway, you will be reported to my father immediately,"

I didn't know how I felt about pulling the "Father" card on them, but it seemed to be effective. The Harpies stopped in their tracks and turned to me in awe and hostility. I strengthened the wind a bit more for good measure and I could hear the kids of Hermes in the background playing with the winds they were wrapped in.

"Be gone," I demanded the Harpies.

They obeyed like they were my minions and not my fathers. Some even lightly bowed before leaving. Once they were gone, I turned back to the Hermes kids who were looking at me like I was the warrior that single-handedly ended the Trojan War.

"Damn, Aiden, that was really-" The Daughter of Hermes began.

"Badass is what it was," Travis interrupted excitedly.

I smiled at their compliments before releasing the winds around them.

"Well, the coast is clear and I believe we still have a prank to complete," I reminded.

"Right, everyone, come on," Connor guided. We all quickly hurried after him.

We scurried across campgrounds until we ended up in front of the Ares Cabin.

"So what are we doing here?" I questioned.

"What did you think we stole the paint for?" asked the Daughter of Hermes slyly.

Without warning, all the children of Hermes pulled out cartons of paint. There were an array of colors, but they were all light colors like pink, baby blue, clover green, and periwinkle. The most feminine colors you can think of.

"You're giving the Ares Cabin a paintjob?" I asked through soft laughter.

"It'll be one hell of a prank," Travis replied. "Aide, would you like to join us?"

"Why not?" I replied excitedly as I grabbed a carton of my own.

And for the next hour, we made the Ares cabin our new art project. We painted any girly thoughts we could think of. There were flowers, stars, unicorns. It was hilarious. I laughed as I painted and I was actually surprised that vandalism could make me forget all the worries I used to have.

Once we were done, Travis looked at me with light green paint on his cheek.

"Okay, Aiden, now here comes the part we brought you for," he informed. "We need you to use your powers to dry this whole thing,"

I cracked my knuckles and loosened up my bones before taking a deep breath.

"Alright, everyone back up, and I'd hold on to something if I were you," I ordered. All the Hermes kids complied. "Here goes,"

All winds within at least a mile radius shot straight at the Ares cabin. It was a bit difficult to keep pictures intact when I was air-drying it at 50 mph, but I managed. Meanwhile, the children of Hermes were trying their hardest not to be blown away.

While drying the entire cabin, I glanced over at them. Then I looked over to Travis who was also trying not be caught in the wind.

"Maybe you guys should go back to your cabin," I suggested as I controlled the winds. "I'll finish up here,"

Travis seemed to take my suggestion into consideration before he looked back to the girl from the game yesterday.

"Morgan, take everyone back to the cabin and tell them to get some rest. You're in charge," Travis commanded. "Connor and I will stay with Aiden,"

Morgan, so that was her name. Well, then Morgan nodded, like she'd just been given a direct officer from an army general, before guiding everyone but Connor and Travis back to their cabin.

"You sure you want to stay?" I questioned.

"It was our idea," Connor reminded. "We're staying,"

And for some reason, his nobility made me blush.

Focus, stupid, I mentally reprimanded before focusing back on the paint.

Wind control was getting harder and harder as the seconds went by.

Ever had that feeling when you workout in a gym and your muscles start to feel sore? That's what happened to me except instead of my body, it was my skull.

By the time, I finish and finally let go of the wind, I nearly passed out. Thankfully, Connor and Travis were quick to catch me before I hit the ground.

"Wow!" Travis uttered in surprise.

"Aiden, are you okay?" Connor asked. I had to hold back a smile when I heard the concern in his voice.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," I replied quietly.

"Guys, I think the Ares cabin is waking up," Travis replied urgently.

"What?" I hissed.

"Come on, we have to get out of here. Aiden, can you walk?" He asked me.

I tried to get up to my feet, but my headache only caused me to fall down again into the arms of the Stolls.

"I think that's a 'No'." Connor replied as they set me back down on the ground.

"Alright then you'll have to give her a piggyback ride back to her cabin, Connor,"

Connor nodded in agreement almost instantly, turned around, and got into a squatting position.

"I'll help you up," Travis stated as he helped me get on Connor's back, not that I needed the help at all.

Then, only loud enough for me to hear, Travis mischievously whispered in my ear: "Consider the debt repaid".

I was about to ask him what he meant by that, but Connor was already up and running towards the Aeolus Cabin.

Only then did I realize that I was pressed up on Connor's back. I could feel his warm, muscled back through his Camp Half-blood T-shirt and the smell of whatever aftershave he was wearing flowed into my nose, making my face feel warm. And his hair… it was so soft and it smelled like citrus. Wow…

I felt my heart race as I took in the smell and prayed to the gods that he wouldn't feel it beating on his back. I couldn't deny it anymore. I liked Connor Stoll. I liked him a lot.

Suddenly, Travis's words made sense.

Consider the debt repaid.

This moment definitely paid off for saving his life.

When we stopped, I'll admit I was reluctant to get off, but I knew I had to. I got off of him and got back on my feet. It seems like my headache subsided quite a bit thanks to Connor.

We were now standing in front of my cabin, several hours before the rising sun.

"Well, thanks, for your help and everything," He thanked awkwardly.

"No problem," I shrugged off.

"No, seriously, you were great." He went on. "I mean, the way you used the wind and when you told off those Harpies,"

"I would have never been able to follow through with that idea if it hadn't been for you standing up first," I reminded, hoping the darkness hid my blush.

"I had faith in you." he stated with a soft smile. "Frankly, I don't think you give yourself enough credit. You're really awesome,"

And then, out of completely nowhere, I reach myself up and kissed his cheek. Half a second later, I realized what I was doing and immediately pulled back. Connor's face was blushing wildly, not able to make a response.

"G-goodnight!" I quickly uttered before running inside and closing the door behind.

My heart was pounding loudly at what felt like a thousand heartbeats a second.

What did I just do? I thought frantically as my heart drummed in my chest.


Well that was the 12th chapter of The Daughter of The Wind. I hope you all loved it! Please Review!

Yours truly,

The Victorian