Home Chapter 3
After a few moments of hesitation Travis rose from his chair and followed Katie through the screen door and into the sun filled kitchen. Katie was standing at the sink, running the faucet and doing her best to rid his camp shirt of blood.
Just as Travis pulled up a bar stool and took a seat at the counter, Katie poured an enormous amount of soap onto the now soaked fabric, and tiny bubbles filled the air above the sink and floated towards Travis.
Popping each one that wafted before his face he was momentarily distracted and didn't notice Katie watching him.
"So where's your bother then? Putting itching powder in my sheets?" He looked up at the sound of her voice but by that time she had already returned her gaze to the job at hand.
"This was more of a solo journey actually. Cons still back at camp, helping out you know. "Katie nodded.
"How is everything? When I left they were still trying to hoist the new roof onto the Hephaestus cabin."
"It's good. Practically done, you'll be pleased to hear that the grass on your roof is growing at a wonderful pace. Should be good and fluffy for this year's Easter egg hunt." Katie rolled her eyes and flicked a hand full of bubbles over the counter and into Travis face. He laughed wiping the suds off his checks.
"How long have you been home then?" Katie's face fell slightly.
"Not too long, I just hadn't seen my family in so long, it just wasn't safe before. But my mother gave me a gift after the war, a reward of sorts. The vines in front of the house are enchanted; they prevent anyone with evil intentions from stepping onto the property. They have a habit of jumping on anyone though. They let go of course, as soon as they realise the mail man isn't a demon." She laughed slightly.
"I've had some experience with them." Travis joked holding up his still swollen wrists.
"At least you know I won't slit your throat in your sleep." He said. She smiled at that, turning away from him and slipping into the hall. She returned a few minutes later, the sound of the washing machine whirling in the back ground.
"Would you like something to eat? It looks like you've been on the run from the police." She joked, not waiting for his answer and moving towards the fridge and pulling out a variety of items. She placed a can of coke in front of him which he immediately cracked open, thanking her before taking a long swig. The goblets at camp would fill up with whatever the holder was craving but it never could get the taste of canned sodas quite right, the same was fountain drinks just didn't quite capture the true taste.
While Travis downed his coke in a few gulps, Katie was hard at work constructing two sandwiches out of what appeared to be the entire contents of the families' fridge. A few moments later she had slid the sandwich onto the plate, along with a handful of chips from a bag on the counter and set it down in front of Travis, before happily biting into her own.
"Don't get used to this." Katie said between bites of her own sandwich.
"I'm not usually this accommodating. You just look like you're about to pass out." Travis let out a laugh.
"Well I did lose about a litre of blood back there, thanks to a certain someone." Katie snorted.
"Shut up and eat your lunch." He did so happily, munching on his chips and enjoying the first meal that wasn't out of a vending machine in days.
"So how is your family then?" Katie swallowed hard, looking down at the remnants of her sandwich and stayed silent.
"I mean you came here to see them right?" She let out a short laugh, but her eyes stayed just as sad as before.
"Yeah I did, it just so happens that they aren't here. There's some big gardening festival in Belgium, they all went, my dad, Penny, my little brothers. All gone by the time I got here. I would have called ahead but I didn't think it was safe."
"Do they even know you're here?" He asked
"No, I found their travel itineraries on the computer, but I don't really have any way of getting a hold of them. Not that it would matter, it's not like they would just fly back from the other side of the world because I'm home from summer camp." Travis looked at his hands. He had seen his own mother less than a year ago, when he and Connor had taken a train back to New Mexico, in fact he saw her about the same amount as he had when they had been in bordering school.
"But they'll know I was here. The attacking front gate is one thing. But I basically overhauled the whole garden. It was sad really how much he had let it go. Gods what my mother would have said if she was there. Probably regrets giving him that fertilizer now." Travis looked at her with a puzzled expression and she explained.
"My father was a gardener for some important family up in New Jersey when he and my mother met. He was far simpler then, very humble or so I'm told. Anyway after I was born, my mother gave him a special fertilizer as a gift. He built an empire around it and spends far more time in an office building then actually in the soil now." She bent down and scratched behind the ears of one of the biggest dogs who had been leaning on her side almost the whole conservation.
"So you did all that?" He asked, gesturing at the back garden where several varieties of fruit trees and plants filled the space.
"Yep!" she said proudly,
"You should have seen the look on the guys face at the flower shop when I asked him to order some of the seeds. Went on and on about how it was impossible for them to grow in this climate, and Seattle got far too much rain for them to survive. Argued with him for a good 20 minutes just to get him to place the order." He liked watching talk about this kind of stuff. She got so excited and passionate about it, even if it was something as simple as ordering seeds.
"Mind if I get a closer look?" He asked rising from his chair and scooting the stool back under the counter. Her smile brightened again as she walked around the counter and lead the way out into the garden.
She talked animatedly about each different plant and tree they passed. Travis listened quietly nodded and smiling to himself. They stopped under a large apple tree which had produced bright red perfectly shaped apples.
"I really wish Chiron would let me start growing other things at camp. But he insists that it would draw too much attention to us, and he's probably right, but just look at these!" she said reaching above her head and into her tip toes, placing her hand on Travis shoulder and snatching an apple from one of the lowest branches . She landed lightly back on her flat feet, and taking a bight before bringing the apple up to Travis face
"Try it!" Travis took Katie's wrist in one hand and taking the apple out of her grip and bringing it to his lips. He took a bight of the apple. It was incredibly, and reminded him of the way the strawberries back at camp were always almost unreasonable perfect.
"Good right?" Katie asked eagerly.
"Amazing" he answered.
"But not quite done." She said snatching the apple back from him and staring at it intently. Travis watched in amazement as the two bites taken out of the apple regrew themselves and it regained it perfect shape.
"Would you mind giving me a hand?" She asked gesturing to the tree above them. Confused Travis nodded, un sure of what to do. Katie raised her foot in the air, and understanding what he was supposed to do, and made a step with his hands, and pushed Katie upwards as she jumped toward the closest, yet still very high up branch. To his amazement the apple reattached itself to the branch. Katie landed a few feet from him, stumbling on a root of the tree and falling towards him.
He reached out and caught her before she could hit the ground. He helped her to her feet, and they stood a few inches from each other. Suddenly Travis felt something tickle his ankles, he looked down to see the grass around their feet was growing at a rapid pace.
"Sorry." Katie said quickly.
"It does that when I'm nervous."
"Nervous Gardener? " Travis asked stepped closer, and before giving her the chance to answer or back away he bent down and caught her lips in his.