Hey guys. Sorry, I posted a little later than I had planned to; I thought I had said the date was the 14th, and then I figured I'd wait until the weekend. But here's the last chapter containing the results :D
As the sun slowly set across Camp Half-Blood, a low murmuring could be heard across camp.
The place was buzzing with exciting thoughts and questions over which performance could've earned enough votes to win. People thought back to the highlight of the first day, Percy Jackson's 'Swimming in the Deep,' and then to a couple days later when Nico Di Angelo's 'Go to Hell,' rocked the stage. In addition, the campers were still talking about and laughing over the Stoll brothers' performance the previous night – 'Hermes is Gonna Love it.'
As the clocks around camp struck precisely 7:30, the campers filed in the Amphitheater, hurrying to get seats next to their best friends. The twelve Olympian gods (plus Hades) had special seats in the front row where they could see Apollo and the rest of the stage easily. Something box shaped sat in the middle of the stage, a large cloth over it. The kids whispered excitedly, making guesses on what they thought it would be. As the final kids entered the theater, Apollo made his way onstage, all lights except the one on him suddenly switched off. Talking died down as the god took a microphone and greeted everyone.
"Good afternoon Camp Half-Blood! How lovely it is to see you all for the seventh day in a row." he laughed and everyone rolled their eyes. "As everyone should know, tonight is the night when I will be revealing which talented camper won Half-Blood Idol, and will be receiving the ultimate prize." He motioned to the covered box on the stage behind him and people began to chatter excitedly.
"I know, I know…" Apollo laughed, waiting for everyone to quiet down. "But wouldn't you like to hear the results?" People cheered as Apollo motioned for a Satyr to bring him up a notecard. Grover bleated nervously as he clobbered up the steps to clumsily hand Apollo the piece of paper, and then stand beside him. Two words were written on the backside of that card. And when Apollo opened his mouth to read those two words the crowd fell immediately silent.
"The winning act, of Camp Half-Blood Idol, is…" he paused for dramatic effect.
Campers moved to the edges of their seats as the lights dimmed until a single spotlight lit up the sun god. Even the Olympians (plus Hades) were excited to learn which of their children had won the competition. As the dramatic silence stretched even longer, the campers began to wonder whether Apollo had forgotten to finish his sentence.
Suddenly Apollo blurted, "Either Percy, Chris, Rachel, Annabeth, Nico, or the Stolls. Will all of you please make your way up to the stage?"
The crowd cheered as the seven finalists smiled, got up from their seats, and walked onstage. The lights nearly blinded them as they got in a line beside Grover, each of their fingers crossed behind their backs. Anxious expressions filled their faces as Apollo put his card in his back pocket and began to pace in front of the kids, beginning a long speech.
"The children you see on the stage today put forth large amounts of courage and effort to get where they are. Success comes from more than hope; it comes from action, and practice, something that you demigods should know better than others."
A kid in the first row yawned and it began to spread around the room like a disease.
"I am so very proud of each and every one of you who stood on the stage this week and performed your little hearts out. It takes immense determination and pride to join a competition like this, and I think I speak for everyone in this audience when I say-"
"Get on with it!" Hades yelled, "I have dead things to tend to!"
"And, me as well." said Aphrodite. "Though, not the 'dead things' part."
Apollo ignored them and kept on going. "Performing is a wonderful career and I hope all of you, especially my children,' will think seriously about pursuing it. I thoroughly enjoyed watching these campers this whole week, and I know sincerely in my heart that you all enjoyed it-"
"For Pete's sake!" Grover yelled, stalking up to Apollo. He grabbed the microphone out of his hand, tore the notecard out of his pocket and yelled,
"The winner is the Stoll brothers!"
The crowd erupted in cheering as Connor and Travis screamed like Aphrodite girls and jumped up and down, doing a little happy dance. Apollo looked annoyed for a split second before his face expanded into a smile. He took the microphone back from the Satyr and turned to the audience.
"Yes, Grover, I was supposed to say that, but I suppose it doesn't matter. Congratulations Connor and Travis; here is your prize."
He walked over to the covered box, the boys at his heels, and moved his hands in a dramatic flourish before yanking the cover off of the box. The crowd gasped as the prize was revealed.
"Tada!" Apollo cried, motioning to it with wide arms.
The gods all laughed while Chiron did a face palm. "Why me?" he muttered.
The Stolls shrieked and shrieked running over to the cage to greet their new pet.
"You can take him out," Apollo told them, "He's hardly dangerous."
Travis opened the door to the cage while Connor stared excitedly through the bars.
"What is it exactly?" he wondered aloud.
"A flying hippocampus." Percy observed. He pouted. "Lucky."
Travis finally got the door open and he and Connor ran inside to bombard the animal. The other five campers walked dejectedly back to their seats, getting patted on the back by the campers they passed. Connor and Travis (after fighting over who got the front of the animal) had finally gotten up on the hippocampus and were making their way out of the cage to greet the crowd. Everyone was laughing and clapping, even the Ares kids, and Hermes winked at his sons when they grinned at him. Apollo handed Connor (who was in front) the microphone, who waited for the crowd to stop talking before beginning his speech.
"Thank you, everyone. This is honestly a dream come true."
Travis took the mic. "Yeah, what Connor said. Thanks to everyone who voted for us. We're so glad you liked our performance."
"Yeah," said Connor, "And to thank you even more, we have a special surprise for you." He sneered his little son of Hermes sneer and every camper began turning around, looking for a stink bomb or a ketchup balloon cannon. When they found nothing, they turned back to the stage.
"Hey Travis?" Connor wondered, "What time are they gonna blow, again?"
Travis shrugged his shoulders. "I guess we'll just have to see-"
Suddenly a loud boom echoed around the amphitheater walls. Everyone whirled around in their seats as fireworks exploded behind them from the beach. Unlike the ones they had set off during their original performance, these fireworks were huge; expanding over the whole sky like huge rings of multicolored fire. Campers oohed and ahhed as a huge picture of Connor and Travis appeared in the air, quickly followed by a detailed image of Chiron's behind.
"Oh well." he sighed, "I guess I kind of asked for it." At that, Apollo motioned to the kid running the curtains who quickly put on a recorded version of Chiron's 'Whip my Tail.'
Percy had his arm around Annabeth and they were both laughing as they watched the fireworks change shape and color, even as a goofy picture of them exploded into bright green. Beside them, Clarisse and Chris were hand and hand, staring up dazedly at the bright summer sky. Nico was talking to Will Solace, Rachel Dare, and his new Hephaestus friend, while swallowing a sip of Red Bull; and somewhere, off in the distance, two brothers were riding a flying Hippocampus.
The day couldn't have ended better.
Thank you all for reading my fanfiction – I really hope you enjoyed the ending. If you're wondering why the prize was a flying Hippocampus, it's because in the beginning, Clarisse said she was going to sing when Hippocampi flew. So, I guess that means she'll be the next to perform, haha! I'm going to open the poll so people can see the results, but the Stolls beat everyone else by six votes! Thanks again for reading, I hope you check out my other fanfics (Just Another Useless Prince Charming, Kate Pate and Travis, etc.).