Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Chapter 28

A believable lie... Travis knew he could pull it off along with his brother, who seemed deep in thought about something. He nudged Connor.

"Believable lie," Travis muttered. "Got any ideas?"

Connor shook his head. "I'm still thinking."

Travis nodded slowly, and trudged up the steps to the Big House. Suddenly he got it. He nudged Connor again and grinned, making sure that Chiron couldn't see the grin. His brother grinned as well, and relaxed as they sat down. When the older Stoll got ideas, it usually worked.

"Would you care to explain why you wanted to go outside camp? You know you need permission," Chiron spoke, looking them all in the eye.

Travis nodded. "I wanted to go for a walk."

"A walk?" Chiron repeated, and waited to see what excuse they had now.

"Yes," Travis nodded again before continuing. "A walk. I was going for a walk while closing my eyes. But then I opened my eyes, saw Peleus, and then his eyes opened. And then you saw Connor, who was trying to find me."

"You were going for a walk while closing your eyes?"

There was a silence that held up for a long time.

"Travis does that sometimes," Connor finally piped up, adding to the conversation. "Walk while closing his eyes."

Travis shot his brother a grateful look. "It's my form of mediation you see, kind of like sleepwalking, except I'm awake. It's what me and Connor call WakeWalking."

"I see. Well that's not the main reason I called you here actually." Chiron sighed before continuing. "The prankster."

Millions of curses sprang into Connor's mind that Travis had told him. The same thing happened to the older brother. But they both kept their cool, pretending they weren't the target.

"It has been happening for quite some time now," Chiron continued. "And I was wondering... Do you two know anything about it?"

The Stolls shook their heads, lying that they didn't do it.

"No," Travis lied.

"Another thing," Chiron spoke. "Would you like to do a job for me?"

"What job?"

"You've heard of the saying, 'it takes a thief to catch a thief?' Well your job is to try and catch the prankster. Like the saying. Except now it's 'it takes two pranksters to catch one.' What do you say?"

"We'd be delighted!"

Chiron nodded, unsure of himself bust recovered quickly enough. If anyone could do the job better, it wouldn't be them. He could have asked any other Hermes camper, but these were the best pranksters. He sighed. He sounded like he was hiring assassins to kill someone.

"Dismissed," Chiron finally said after some thought.

The Stolls got up and left the Big House in victory.

"Yes!" Connor shouted.

"We didn't get in trouble,

Because we didn't mumble!" Travis yelled.

Two hunters were walking past when they heard it.

"That doesn't make any sense," one of the hunters spoke, confused.

"Boys usually aren't," the other hunter replied, pulling her friend away from the 'plague.'

The Stolls both ignored the two hunters at that comment. But they did stop singing the song, since it actually didn't make any sense at all. But seeing as the two brothers usually didn't make any sense, it was unusual.

"We could get the equipment at the arts and crafts area you know," Connor spoke once they reached their cabin.

"I know," Travis replied. "That's why we're going to take a little detour, go backwards, turn a left, and then sneak in the arts and crafts area..."

Connor grinned at his big brother. Travis returned the grin, and together they took the detour, grinning at anyone who looked in their direction. Which was basically almost everyone. They never got tired from grinning those face splitting grins that could make their face sore.

Once they got to the arts and crafts area, they both looked around to see if anyone was looking. Almost everyone was.

"Windows," Travis said, and Connor got the message immediately.

They split up, and each found a window. Connor couldn't help laughing at a joke in his mind. He had to tell Travis this one, he knew.

"Travis," Connor spoke in between laughter. "Imagine if Mr. D tried to fit in the window."

Travis didn't see the joke at first. But then the scene played out in his mind: Mr. D, trying to fit in through the windows. He would get stuck in one, and then... What was the reason? Chocolate bars, he thought with a grin. He wanted to have chocolate bars, but couldn't fit in the windows so then... It was a story with no ending, but he laughed all the same.

"Let's go look for our supplies now," Travis suggested when he looked at the time.

Connor nodded, and they each went in another direction. The younger Stoll went right, while the older Stolls went left.

Travis was having a hard time trying not to make a lot of noise. He had to get a lot of paper. Any paper. Construction paper of all kinds stood out in front of him. He glanced at all of them before taking the most obvious colors first: pink, red, and white.

Once Travis got the most obvious colors out, he took three of each color in the storage. They had at least thousands more. Three papers wouldn't be missing unless Chiron decided it was a great idea to count up all the papers every night. He took out a few pink poster words to make the posters, but he was planning on actually going out of camp and buying some of the extra stuff.

The next stop was the paint. Travis went to the next section and saw a whole line of paints there. He took out a large pink can, but then he hit something. He heard a pretty loud thud and looked over on the floor.

There, still spilling out, was a can of white paint. It had dropped to the floor and the lid had come off. So now, the entire floor was white. Travis cursed out loud. Things that little kids shouldn't hear. Connor looked over, saw the mess, and stood beside his older brother.

"What are you going to do?" Connor asked Travis.

"Blame it on someone else?" Travis suggested.

"I don't think you should blame a camper."

Travis stared at Connor. His younger brother stared back. Finally he sighed.

"Let's just clear it up," Travis sighed.

Connor handed Travis a wet towel, and then began to walk away to find his equipment. The older Stolls didn't say anything; he knew it was his mess. Sighing again, he started to wipe up all the paint in a hurry.

Connor walked back to his section, and started to rummage around in cupboards and wardrobes to try and find what he needed. Spray paint was what most cops hated to see in the city. Except today or tomorrow, the hunters were going to hate it even more. A mischievous grin entered his face as he finally saw what he needed. He took out a whole box and chose the colors he needed while putting the others back.

The last thing Connor looked for was a camera. A normal, regular camera that had no extra features. Then he began thinking. If we ask the Aphrodite campers for their clothes, why not their cameras? He looked over at Travis who had finished up cleaning up the mess.

"Travis, I have an idea," Connor whispered to his brother.

Travis looked interested. "Go on."

"Well since we're asking clothes from the Aphrodite cabin why not ask for cameras as well? I bet they have tons of guy pictures."

Travis brightened up. "That's true. Or else it would look pretty awkward if we had a camera and made pictures of guys."

Connor nodded in return. "I just hope that the Aphrodite campers won't get suspicious if they see their stuff in the Artemis cabin..."

"I don't think so."

But Travis still looked doubtful. Connor joined him, but then heard a noise. The sound of someone opening a door. The Stoll's eyes both widened and they rushed to get their things.

"Hurry up!" Travis hissed to his brother.

"I am!" Connor replied, getting his stuff and throwing it out the window.

Connor went out the window first. He threw out all the stuff he needed, climbed it, and then jumped out, doing a roll along the way.

Travis had less luck than Connor. He had more stuff to get, and he had paper. And it was fragile. He had to delay the person opening the door. Thinking quickly, he put a chair that was near the door fall. He placed it before the door, and hurried to get out.

Connor was waiting for his brother when he saw a bucket of paint being thrown at him. He caught it and set it on the ground.

"Catch all of them," Travis told Connor.

Connor nodded, and knew he would need some rest after this. His stomach was hurting every time a can was thrown at full force. He received paper as well. Dozens or more paper flew at him like a flurry of owls attacking him from every angle. He set each color in a pile so quick, that only children of Hermes could see and do it.

And finally, Travis climbed out the window and dropped on the floor with a thud. Connor could see the door finally open, and was surprised to see that Annabeth hadn't used her dagger to unlock the door.

The Stolls didn't have any time to think anymore. They had to get back to their cabin before someone spotted them. The conch horn blew for dinner. The two brothers grinned at the same time. Time to run. They hauled their stolen goods and Connor took some of Travis's stuff since he only had a few things to carry.

"Here's how it goes," Travis whispered. "I'll go first at super speed, you wait here. Then you go, when you see a blur. When everything's done, don't come back. I'll carry the last goods don't worry."

And with those words said, Travis picked up as much as he could carry and ran towards his cabin. While he was running, Connor began packing his stuff. He saw a blur and then he ran.

The system worked pretty well. Apart from the fact that the Stolls collapsed on their beds before crawling like crippled zombies towards dinner. When they arrived, campers turned to stare. But as tired as they were, they still had enough energy to wave at everyone.

They basically, climbed up their chairs, took their food and for once, threw their food from their table at the fire. The food actually hit the fire, and some people shook their heads in amusement. Chiron sighed while the Stolls bit into their food hungrily.

A/N: Sorry to anyone, but I'm not doing the minor god cabins. Thank you for all the new ideas, I'll mention it next chapter at the right time. However for the switching bodies one, yes this is a prank story but I don't think I could pull it off. It would be complicated, but thanks for the suggestion. Thanks for all the other support!