Katie had never seen a child of the Big Three. In fact, not a lot of people at Camp had ever seen one. Never in the last hundred years at camp has that powerful of a demigod been a camper. There was the camper Thalia, she was a daughter of Zeus, but she had turned into a tree before actually making it to Camp, so technically she was not a camper. The only people who had ever known her were Annabeth, Luke and Grover. Children of the Big Three were said to be more powerful than any other demigods. This was a scary thought for the small Katie Gardner. When campers found out about her powers, she was considered to be the most powerful that the Demeter Cabin had seen in a while. She knew how terrified some were of others who had power. And she had power of plants! A child of the Big Three, Zeus, Poseidon, Hades: control over air, sea, and the dead. That sort of power was crazy. It was no question why they had made an oath. But now that oath was broken.
Poseidon had broken that oath. And now Percy Jackson stood in front of them.
Everyone watched him in amazement. They had tried to solve the mystery of his father all week but no one had expected this. With all the chaos happening on Olympus already with the theft a child of the Big Three was fueling the flame.
After the eventful game of Capture the Flag, campers returned wordlessly to their cabins. Not another whisper was spoken all night. The only noise was that of the echo of the crashing waves along Long Island Sound.
The morning came and Percy Jackson was moved into Cabin Three. The demigods watched out the windows of their cabins as Chiron led the boy from Cabin Eleven, at one end of the courtyard, to Cabin Three on the other side. It should have been a crime how Percy Jackson was treated after that fateful night. It seemed no one wanted to press their luck by standing in a ten foot radius of him. Most people were scared that another monster would somehow manage to break through the Camp half-Blood borders again if Percy stayed here. The only people who seemed to be okay with Percy were Luke and Annabeth. They had already known a powerful demigod, Thalia. Luke trained with Percy in the sword arena. They were the best at the camp. Annabeth taught Percy Greek. She never had a problem with the real teaching but she always seemed to be preoccupied in her thoughts. Not uncommon for the daughter of Athena.
Another two day past and the worst storm yet was brewing. It came in the middle of the night, thunder clapped and the shingles on the cabins shook with it. There was no rain, yet. You could see it coming. Over the Sound the clouds had turned a deep, dark and inky, blue-grey color and the weather temperature had gone down a steep fifteen degrees in one night. That was the morning Percy Jackson was summoned into the Big House.
No one knew what was going to happen to the new guy, but he wasn't supposed to be alive so any result would be dire.
He was in the Big house for only an hour and a half, but to the demigods secretly watching it seemed like all day. Soon he came out with Grover and Annabeth on either side of him. Annabeth seemed pleased for the first time in weeks. She nearly skipped down the hill to her Cabin. Grover sauntered off into forest. And Percy walked solemnly to his Cabin. Normal Camp activities were in full swing, so of course, as Camp regulations go, they gossiped.
"Do you think they're going to kick him out?", "Why was Annabeth there?", "He was Grover's kid, they always have the worst luck.", "Percy stopped at the camp store, said he was going on a quest.", "What?! He's going to be eaten alive.", "Better go say our goodbyes now.".
If Percy was being allowed out of Camp after a week of training, on a quest no less, things must have been bad. No one had been on a quest since Luke came back. His return shook up the demigods and the counselors so much that no one has been given a prophecy since.
Katie and Will had gotten back into their usual routine of sitting together during free period, just as they had last summer. With the storm looming over head both were terrified of sitting down on the beach. They knew the storm would not hurt them but just as a precaution the sat on one of the benches around the hearth in the middle of the courtyard. The hearth was always lit in honor of the gods.. The day was gloomy but not cold so the fire was not necessary for heat nor did it give any off. Will and Katie sat down and soon after were joined by Jake Mason and Kayla Soare, they're other friends, who sat on the bench just opposite theirs. Not usually ones for gossip, the group brought together pieces of information that they knew to try and figure out what on Earth was happening.
"I heard they got a quest," Kayla offered. Her eyes sparkled with excitement as she sat on the edge of her seat.
"Then it should be no surprise that Annabeth's with him," said Will. "She's been dying to get out of her and test herself. I know I want to."
"How could Chiron let him leave? He's going to get hurt. All of them are," worried Katie. She sat Indian style to the left Will on the small seat.
"Chiron cares about the campers," Will assured her. "He wouldn't let them leave unless he knew they'd be okay."
"Oooo-r" a voice came from Katie's left, "he's desperate." The voice was no other than that of Travis Stoll. Katie's body went rigid. They had not seen each other since that night in the woods. They had been in a rather awkward position and Katie still had not resolved those feelings.
As if sensing her discomfort, of course he sat next to her, pushing Will to the edge of the seat. Travis put his arm on the back of the seat, around Katie. He put his feet up on the edge of the hearth. His brother was nowhere to be seen. Not wanting Travis or anyone else n the area to figure out the mental debate she was having about her feelings, Katie put on a brave face and decided to treat Travis as the usual annoying prick that he is.
Will, who had been pushed off the seat, went to sit on the bench between the two that were already in use, spoke first.
"What do you know about this Stoll?" he asked.
"Well, my sources told me-"
"You mean you and your brother spied?" spit out Jake, who was maybe the one person who disliked the Stoll's more than Katie.
"Why do you always have to assume the worst Jake?" Travis mocked. "Anyway, I know what is really going on. This whole thing started on the Winter Solstice. Remember? We heard the Thunder, and everything has been so messed up since then. We heard about the theft and no one really knew what it was stolen. . . "Everyone nodded. "It was Zeus' lightning bolt. The Master bolt? You know the one you always see on the old Greek Vases and scrolls and all that other junk."
"Are you serious, Stoll? Something like that can't just be stolen." Kayla's eyes were wide.
"Would I lie to you, Soare? Of course, this is for real! And now Percy Jackson is on a quest to get the bolt back. The only problem is Zeus thinks he stole it!"
"That's ridiculous!" Katie shouted, astonished.
"I know! We all know that I am the best Demigod thief and I wasn't even an option for possible suspects!" Katie elbowed him in the ribs. He groaned in response and removed his arm from its placement on the bench. "Hades, Kates! I was only joking."
"You can't joke about something like that. Percy Jackson is being accused of something he obviously couldn't have done and now his life is in danger."
"Sorry-sorry, shouldn't have said anything."
As they were talking, a group started to converge on Half-Blood Hill. They saw Percy Jackson walk out of his cabin, passed where they sat. Annabeth was being escorted to the Hill by the rest of her cabin. The camp van had been brought out. The trio was leaving and this was the goodbye precession.
"C'mon I wanna watch!" Kayla jumped up. Will followed behind her out of the circle. Jake and Katie stood up at the same time ready to follow. Travis stood up and to a place between them. He guided Katie away from Jake. The son of Hephaestus looked as though he was going to follow but stayed on the path he was on.
"How come the new kid gets all the fun?" Travis joked.
"Are you a little jealous, Travis?"
"Maybe I am," he told her. this was not the answer Katie was expecting from the usually 'too cool for school' Travis Stoll.
"Why does everyone want to go test themselves? Isn't it enough just to train? Last I heard life threatening situations were never fun!" Katie was flabbergasted. She worried about all the campers constantly. People were always getting hurt. She knew because she would bring flowers to the infirmary.
"What? You never wonder if this training at camp is really worth it. If you're any good in the real world?" Katie shook her head.
"No, not really, I'm usually trying to save myself from you and your brother and stupid pranks." He just laughed.
"Not me. I've been her just as long as Annabeth, I know what she is feeling. The need to get out. It's like being on house arrest, being stuck here."
"I think you just like the rush of causing trouble," Katie suggested. They had made it to the edge of the group of demigods now.
"My dad is the god of thieves and my mom was a police officer, trouble is in my blood." He shrugged.
"Was?" Katie asked referring to the mention of his mother. Travis and Connor did not have a family to live with over the year, that's why they lived at camp. Travis had mentioned family problems before to her, but never went into too many details.
"Yeah, she was a cop," he looked Katie in the eye when he spoke. Katie could tell something bad had happened. She wanted to apologize for asking but before she could he was walking away. She wanted to follow but her feet were planted to the ground. Unable to move she stared after him. Travis didn't want to talk about it. He would tell her if he really wanted to. Right?
They waved goodbye to the trio and shouted out advice and 'good lucks'. And with that they were gone.
Ten days.
That's all they had. Ten days to get to the underworld.
At camp, the daily activities went on as usual but everyone was worried about the young group of demigods that went on such a daring quest. The only information received on their location was from the local news station. The campers had heard about the incident at the St. Louis Arch. It was amazing to see that they had gone so far but terrifying to hear what was happening to them.
Katie had meet up with Travis again over the course of those days. She scolded him for ruining her strawberries when the Hermes Cabin was helping out in the fields. She yelled at him and his brother for messing around when they painted the porch of the Demeter Cabin Pink. But that was it. She never got to apologize for what was said.
On the tenth day of their absence, the summer solstice, a calm frustration flooded the camp. This was the last day of the quest. They would either fail or succeed tonight. Usually, camp would celebrate this day by having a free training day followed by a bonfire at night. Today was no different. Demigods meandered around picking training activities to do with their friends. You couldn't miss the nervous edge in crowds. No one had heard a placement on the trio since the accident in St. Louis. And tension was rising.
There was still no word of them by the time of the campfire that night. Chiron watched from the outskirts of the bonfire. He didn't seem at all worried that Camp was still missing three campers. Apollo Cabin led the sing along. The Solstice was a celebration so the Campfire went longer than usual. Second by second. Campers tried to look happy. By the end of the night everyone should have been in high spirits. But everyone was thinking about the threats of war looming over their heads, they couldn't celebrate. Not until their friends were back.
There is a tradition that when someone returns from a quest alive they be treated as heroes to a feast.
This was no different when Percy, Annabeth and Grover returned to Camp Half-Blood. They returned the day after the Solstice. There was a collective sigh of relief when they crossed that boundary line and strutted into the dining pavilion during lunch. Their return rejuvenated the camp in an instant. Even Clarisse and the Ares Cabin, who had been worried about the three (though they refused to admit it), joined in the cheers.
Training for the rest of the day was cancelled. And the feast was just as good as legends told the campers. Percy and Annabeth wore laurel wreaths, created between the teamwork of the Aphrodite and Demeter Cabins, to a feast of gargantuan proportions. It would have feed three entire cities and still had leftovers for a month. They then got to lead the procession down to the bonfire where they got to burn their burial shrouds. Apollo Cabin led the sing-along again but this was now backed with much more enthusiasm from the demigods than the night before. S'mores were handed out to the campers and extras seemed to be stashed in the back pockets of the Hermes siblings.
After that night, the rest of the summer was pretty boring for the young Katie Gardner.
Not even the fourth of July fireworks extravaganza lived up to that celebration. Katie decided she was going to spend the day hanging out with her cabin for the usual competitions. They didn't win much more than the foot race and that was only because Katie caused some roots to mysteriously sprout up from the ground and trip a very angry Michael Yew. She spent the rest of her night with Will, Kayla, and Jake. Unlike the previous year, there was no surprise appearance from the Stoll brothers. Katie could only explain it as one word.
Relaxing.
Of course she knew they were up to something and that she would not be free from them for long but the night was still peaceful. Or as peaceful as a beach full of kids could be on the fourth of July.
Over the summer, Katie also received more and more letters from her dad. None of these she returned. None of these she opened. She did not want to listen to the pleas. Katie had a new family at Camp and was too stubborn to go back. By the end of the season she still had not answered one of them. a simple paragraph would be sent to North Carolina stating that she would not be returning would be all they get. And by the last day of the summer session she still had not sent it. It was tucked in her journal. Stowed away in her bedside table.
Katie thought about them on that last day of the summer while walking around the fields. She thought of what her father would look like right now. How her step-mom would react. How her half-siblings were doing and if they still thought about her at all. What if she ever did decide to go back? Katie didn't think she ever could face it, but what if? She was reaching the end of the row of strawberries when she heard something approaching. Instinctively she reached for dunamis, who was, as usual, attached to her hip. She heard a curse and felt a hand on her back. In one swift movement she turned around towards the assailant and put her pointed her dagger at his throat.
"Travis!" she yelled. "By now you should know better than to sneak up on a person unarmed. What do you want?" He was gasping for breath trying to return his heart rate to normal. The brown mess of hair on his head was windblown backwards from running and his fist was clutched to his chest.
"Why are all you Demeter kids so crazy?" Travis asked. Katie shrugged.
"It's a talent. Now what do you want?"
"Here," he grunted, pulling out a piece of paper out of his back pocket. It was a letter from the Big House. Katie had received the same one last year. All it said was the directions she needed to take to inform the counselors of her plans for the year. Katie took the paper and pocketed it.
"Thanks," she told him. She looked back at the boy who was still groaning. Something had happened to his hand and he was intent on holding it to his torso. "Now, what did you do?"
Embarrassed, Travis looked down at the ground and held up his hands a little too innocently. His entire left hand was covered in small yet prominent thorns. Katie shook her head and tried not to laugh.
"C'mon," she told him with a nod of her head.
They headed to the end of the field to the garage sized shed that held all the gardening tools and supplies. He followed her willingly not exactly sure what she was going to do. They made their way inside and to the back. The back wall had a counter top with an industrial sized sink. Behind it were windows that faced out into the forest. Above those windows were shelves of flower pots that looked like they would fall any minute. The entire room was filled with shelving like a gardening store but in some odd way felt cozy.
Katie brought a stool up to the edge of the counter in front of the sink. With her back to the windows she used her arms to hoist herself up onto the concrete slab. She sat Indian style facing the sink.
"Well, c'mon," Katie laughed. "I can't get those thorns out with you standing way back there."
Travis, who up to this moment did not know what Katie was planning, stepped out of the shadows of the walls and sat on the stool. He rested his arm against the edge of the sink and placed his left hand in the center. Katie turned on the cold water. Travis winced at the sensation of the water hitting his prickled hand.
"Don't be such a baby," she reprimanded him. "Here." Katie grabbed his left hand and gently placed it under the running water. She used her fingertips to softly push out the thorns. Both sides enjoyed the contact much more than they would like to admit. Completely aware of his eyes on her face, she didn't look at him.
"Why are you being so nice to me?" he asked her. The truth was it just seemed like the right thing to do for Katie.
"You know you're not so bad when you're not being an absolute jerk?"
"Oh, thanks." He answered sarcastically.
"I'm serious; if you didn't mess around with me so much I might actually like you."
"Wow, did Katie Gard-"
Knowing exactly where this was going, and trying to stop the blush from extending past her neck, Katie cut him off.
"I can't get them out they're too small, I'm going to have to grow them," she looked up to see the suddenly slacked face of Travis and laughed. "Don't be scared. Just bit bigger. Look I'm even holding your hand."
Knowing she would need to be gentle. She put all her concentration on them palm of Travis' hand. Her left hand holding from below and the fingertips of her right resting on top she sent her power into his palm. The small thorns slowly enlarged. Then the hand between her two was gone.
"Damn it, Katie!" Travis screamed. He stumbled backwards off the stool. His left hand clutched tightly again to his chest. Katie moved sideways so her feet dangled off the edge of the countertop. "I change my mind I don't want the thorns out."
"I told you, don't be such a baby. Now come over here." she waved her hand towards herself. He slowly began to move toward her. Travis hesitated but eventually gave over his hand again. "If you don't like the pain maybe you should stop messing around. How'd you do this to yourself anyways?"
"You think I did this to myself! This is from your cabin. I was trying to find you to give you that letter and a thorn-bush monster attacked me!" Katie stifled laughter.
"Wait! The thorn-bush is in front of the windows. Why were you climbing in the window?" Katie's face filled with shock and fear. She dropped his hand into the sink while he continued the story.
"I was making my usual rounds with the deliveries and I came up on your cabin. I was going to give it to your cabin mates but the only person there was Jaz."
"So?"
"She's scary. . . I didn't want to talk to her. she was messing around in that notebook of hers and I thought I would be nice and not distract her. So I went to the window. I'm usually too stealthy to be caught, but she caught me midway through the window. I tried to jump back out and landed on the thorns. That sister of yours is pure evil because she sent those thorns on me like the hounds. I couldn't even explain myself to her. They just kept sinking into my skin. So I ran for it. I knew there was only one other place you would be so I came to the fields. All of you Demeter kids are crazy. Was it necessary to send killer plants? I can take it from you but not when someone has such a sadistic smile on their face. I truly think she found enjoyment from my pain."
You'd be surprised, Katie thought.
"Well, that's Jaz for you," she looked down to the badly hurt hand again. "Is she really that scary though?"
"I can only think of one thing scarier."
"What? A manitcore? Clarisse with Lamer?" Katie giggled. She knew the Stoll's had many bad encounters with the weapon.
"You."
Katie could feel her face start to burn. She hadn't been expecting that answer. Never at camp was she good at the training activities nor did she want to be. Being a death machine like some kids there were striving for was never her goal. Instead of looking up she focused her eyes on his hand. The thorns were now large enough to be taken out with her fingers.
"Good." She told him. With a quick pull of her fingers, out came one of the thorns followed by a girlish screech.
"I'm never underestimating the power of plants again. Why is such a small prick so painful!?"
"Just don't think about the pain." She said it as if it was simple.
After a two more winces of pain on Travis' part, he spoke up.
"So . . . are you going home for the winter?"
Katie pulled out another thorn rather harshly at his words.
"You know I'm not."
"Yeah, I know. You're too stubborn to forgive." Another harsh thorn pulled.
"Maybe, I just can't face the people who didn't love me."
"They do. You just can't see what's right in front of you."
"They left me here!"
"You don't let yourself forgive them. Maybe if you did . . . I know if I had the chance to . . ."
The pair didn't talk for another five minutes. Travis stared idly out the window while Katie bent over working to heal his hand. When she was finished, the thorns lay in a small pile next to her leg. Travis' hand was red but free of thorns.
"There you go," Katie told him. She handed over his hand and turned on the cold water for him to wash it out. Katie jumped off the counter and rested her back against it. Travis took his eyes off the woods and looked at her.
"Thank you," he said. He ran his hands under the water to try and shake out the sting.
"Go to Will. He'll wrap up you r hand so it doesn't get infected."
"Why do I think that Willie would be more likely to help if you were with me?" he asked. Katie allowed herself to laugh. There was no getting by the fact that Will had a hard time trusting Travis. Travis chuckled as well.
"Katie, do you see that?"
"See what?"
"Right in front of you . . ."
Travis! I don't want to talk about my family anymore-"
"Not that, that!" Travis pointed out the window. Emerging from the forest was the body of a boy. He was being carried by two struggling nymphs. "Is that Percy?"
"OH MY GODS!" Katie screamed.
Travis and Katie ran to the front of the shed and out the door. Travis made his way over to the now green Percy Jackson. Katie ran across the clearing to the archery range. There she found Chiron and the Apollo campers. It was good fortune that they were all in the same place. Between gulps of air and hand gestures she informed them of the situation. The group took off at lightning speed to where Travis and Percy were.
Katie sat anxiously on the edge of the steps to the Demeter Cabin. After finding Percy, all the campers were sent to their cabins until further notice. Nobody was fooling around with pit scorpions.
This time in the small room gave the Demeter siblings time to say they're goodbyes. The triplets were already gone and on their way back to Texas or wherever the Hades they were from. They never talked to Katie much so she never knew much more than their names. The winter arrangements for the Cabin would be taking a one eighty from the previous year. Jaz would be following in Olivia's footsteps and going off to school she would be leaving in the next week but after hearing the news Riley was anxious for her to leave so he could take control. He would be staying all year, or most of the year. His Father was on a large photo shoot for National Geographic, touring the unexplored and underprivileged destinations around the world. Being in a new country every week was a lot of moving around and Riley really just wanted to stay in one place for longer than three months. Of course they would be meeting up for holidays and Riley would travel then, but for now he was fine where he was.
Jaz and Riley were inside to collect some of Jaz's things into boxes when Katie stepped out.
She was watching the clouds when she suddenly saw movement out of the corner of her eye.
She saw the bodies of Connor and Travis Stoll sneaking behind the Athena Cabin. Curiosity won over Chiron's orders and she followed them. She followed them up until they rounded the corner at the Big House, then she lost them. but they did not lose her. from behind the pair snuck up on either side.
"If you're going to sneak around after us, Gardner, you're going to have to be quieter than that, " Connor told her.
"What are you guys doing?" she asked them.
"Follow us."
Katie obeyed. She followed the two to the side of the building. They ducked down to not be seen through the windows. Katie knew what was on the other side of those window panes. It was the large room where she spent her first night at camp. The infirmary. Some careless person had decided to leave the window open. This was a bad choice on their part because it allowed Travis, Connor and Katie to hear what was going on inside.
From hearing the voices, Katie knew Percy was inside with Chiron and Annabeth. The three mischief-makers paid attention to the entire story from Percy's point of view of what happened earlier that day. When they found out the truth they were astonished. Luke had been the cause of the mess! Everything went back to him. This was a giant blow to Travis and Connor who had always looked up to their older brother. And then to hear he was starting a war with Kronos? The storm that had begun to develop at the beginning of summer was his entire fault and it wasn't over. A war was brewing now.
The three sat in a stunned silence not moving. They heard Chiron leave and then Annabeth. Connor was the first to get up. He looked at the other two like he wanted to speak but couldn't he ran off towards the cabins. Katie couldn't take her eyes of Travis' hand. It was bandaged now. He took her advice. Then Travis broke the silence.
"You might have some explaining to do. I told Willie that I saved your life. and I fell on the thorns trying to do it. And you were so happy that you agreed to marry me. So being your best friend, it was his duty to help me out."
Katie tried to laugh but it came out as a choke.
"Is there really going to be a war?" she asked him.
"I guess so. . ." he told her sincerely. "Does it change your mind at all? The war? Do you want to leave here yet?"
The girl looked astonished. Her jaw dropped with a loud pop.
"No way! I can't leave all of humanity to be saved by you. No, I'm not going anywhere. Not when there is a war starting."
Yell at me all you want. I know its been a while and I am in trouble. I have been busy busy busy lately.
Anyway, how did this chapter go? I was going to post it yesterday but then came bak to Tratie-fy it. and added a lot of more moments. were they too much? tell m what you think . . .