Yay! New chapter! I worked really hard on this one. Does Travis's story sound believable? I hope so.

Camp Half-Blood had been thrown into a complete panic.

Why?

A camper was missing.

Or, to be more exact, a certain Stoll was missing.

And Connor was the only one freaking out more than Katie Gardener, even though she hid her worry well. On the outside, as she grabbed flashlights from the Big House along with the other cabin leaders, she was just another camper concerned for another. On the inside, though, she was a girl frantic to find her…friend.

Because that's all Travis was.

A friend.

It was the middle of her third year at Camp Half-Blood, and their new savior, Percy Jackson, and a couple of other campers had disappeared out of nowhere to go find his satyr, Grover, leaving the camp in a state of distress with a new lunatic for an activities director. But the only reason she dared to call the freak a lunatic, even in her mind, was what he'd said when Connor had come running, saying his brother was missing.

That it was all right, because there was one less brat to worry about.

Katie didn't even think Dionysus could be that cold.

The remaining cabin leaders had pestered him nonstop until he finally agreed to let them search the woods for the Stoll, but by then it had been dark. Better for the monsters to find you, my dear, sneered the sick little voice in the back of her mind as she walked towards the dark, looming trees, flashlight gripped tightly in one hand.

Shut up, conscience, she snapped mentally, and turned the flashlight on before stepping into the trees. She knew Beckendorf, Clarisse, Connor, and a few others were behind her, but she still felt oddly alone in the dark woods, like easy prey. It chilled her to the bone and, only a few steps in, she wanted to turn back around and run to her cabin.

But then she remembered Travis was out there somewhere (possibly) in those dark, spooky trees, all alone.

And without further thought of turning back, Katie quickened her pace.

"Should we yell for him?" whispered Silena from somewhere behind her.

"What if we call the monsters right to us?" whimpered a Dionysus kid.

"It'll take forever to find him if we don't call him," reasoned the Athena stand-in (Malcolm, was it?). "And we don't wanna be stuck out here all night."

"Gods, my brother's an idiot," muttered Connor, but he kept his eyes trained on the trees for any sign of said idiotic brother.

Katie moved her light in a wide arc around them, looking for any movement, footprints, an actual person, but saw nothing. So she took a deep breath and yelled, "Travis!"

Half of the kids behind her flinched at her loud, resounding voice, but she ignored them and shouted out again, "Travis Stoll! Where are you?"

After a minute or two, the others started shouting with her. "Travis! Where'd you go? You idiot, show yourself!" (The last line coming from Clarisse, of course).

"Are you sure he's even in the woods?" asked Beckendof after about ten minutes with no sign of the Hermes kid.

"Where else would he be?" countered Malcolm. "I know he's not dumb enough to walk out of camp with Thalia's tree being all screwy."

Katie nearly snorted, wondering if he'd actually met Travis. But she kept silent, walking on, beaming her flashlight in circles to look for him. She was so going to kill him when they found him.

For being an idiot and coming out here in the first place.

For scaring his brother like that.

For scaring her.

And they would find him. No monster would touch him. Because, if she knew him (and she did), if any monster got close he'd probably attempt to spray paint it pink and they would all start avoiding him. She could almost see it- them walking through these woods and finding Travis spray painting some poor creature pink…

"Katie! Are you listening?"

Katie blinked and turned to look at Malcolm, who was giving her an annoyed look. "Sorry. What were you saying?"

"I was saying we should probably split up. We can cover more ground that way, find him quicker, and be back at camp before morning."

The Dionysus kid looked a little pale at this suggestion, but Katie nodded, as if her opinion mattered and she was in charge of this little search party. "Sounds good." Then she pointed to a section of the woods off to her left. "I'll go this way, okay?"

Malcolm just nodded and started handing out directions to the others as Katie turned her back on the little group and started her trek through her section of the woods. Soon the Athena kid's voice faded into the sounds of the forest nightlife and Katie could think and look in peace, though her heart still pounded nervously in her chest at the thought that Travis might really be being attacked by some monster…

She quickly banished the thought before opening her mouth and bellowing, "Travis! Travis, where are you?" She had a vague feeling of déjà vu, remembering all the times she screamed his name in some fit of rage over another prank he'd pulled. Gods, she take him being annoying over gone any day. It left some strange feeling of emptiness in her chest, though she didn't know why since all he did was annoy the crap out of her. But she knew she wanted him back.

"Travis!" she yelled again.

Suddenly a twig snapped behind her. Katie's heart raced with the fear it'd be a monster behind her as she whirled to face whatever was there. She held up her flashlight like a hammer of sorts, ready to knock the snot out of anything that came at her…until she saw the shaggy brown hair.

Katie lowered the flashlight. "Travis?"

He had his arms thrown up over his face, like he'd thought she'd hit him (which she probably would have if she hadn't been so startled at actually finding him). His hair was messy with leaves and small twigs hanging from it, and he was dirty, like he'd been rolling in the grass. As she pointed the light at him, she noticed something else- tracks down the dust on his face.

Travis Stoll had been out here crying.

"Travis?" Katie's voice had softened from loud shock to a quiet, concerned whisper.

Travis lowered his arms, and she noticed him trying to discreetly rub the wetness from his red eyes as he moved his arms down to his sides. "W-What are you doing out here?" he said, stammering in a hoarse voice.

"Looking for you," she replied. "Connor's worried sick!"

"I'm fine."

"Well, I know that now."

They stood there, just staring at each other for a while. Katie remembered her second week at camp, when Travis had comforted her when she had cried. Maybe this was some divine force saying it was time to return the favor.

"What's wrong?"

The question hung in the air, and, for a minute, Katie was sure she had entered uncharted territory, a place in Travis Stoll that no one, save his brother, had ever ventured before. He just stared at her, red eyes narrowed, fingers twitching like he either wanted to punch her for asking or pop his knuckles, a nervous habit he'd picked up from hours of stalking her. She stared right back, but her gaze held no indecisiveness. She wanted to help, to be a shoulder to cry on, because he'd been that to her when he'd barely known her. She didn't like it when he was sad, even if she wanted to slap him silly most of the time. The world was much better when he smiled, in her opinion, but she'd never assess why she felt that way.

So she waited as he waged an inner war with himself, unsure of whether to let her in or keep her firmly locked out.

Suddenly Travis's shoulders sagged and he suddenly looked like a small child and nowhere near his real fifteen years. He closed his eyes, leaned back against one of the surrounding trees, and slid down it till he was sitting in the grass, his knees pulled up against his chest and making him look even younger. "My mom," he moaned so softly Katie barely heard him.

She sat down beside him, crossing her legs under her. "What about your mom?"

"She wants us to come home during the school year."

"But wouldn't it be nice to visit your mom?"

Travis sighed, opening his eyes to glance over at her. "Connor and I are year-rounders for a reason, Katie."

Katie paused, unsure how far she should push into this topic. Then she decided to risk it. "Why are you year-rounders?" she asked softly.

Travis tensed at the question. He went quiet and, for a second, Katie thought he wouldn't answer. So she tried a different way to coax an answer from him.

"I swear on the River Styx that if you answer I will never tell another soul."

Silence.

Then Travis whispered, "She didn't love us. She would…leave for parties and dates and leave Connor and I home by ourselves as babies. It's a miracle we didn't break something or get ourselves killed." He laughed bitterly. "Because you know how us Stolls are, eh?"

Katie didn't say anything.

Travis continued, "She thought we were burdens, told us we were little devils, that she wished we hadn't been born at all. She would tell us that. Connor would cry for hours afterwards. She'd just tell him to shut up, that she was trying to talk on the phone. Eventually child services came and got us when we were about ten, but we'd already been attacked by so many monsters and created such a big reputation as being troublemakers that no one would take us into foster care, let alone adopt us. So we were stuck in an orphanage until a satyr found us and took us…here. We never went back."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled StickyNote. "Then today this letter comes saying she wants us to come home and that she's become a better mother, that she really loves us." He made a face. "But she sends this news on a freaking StickyNote." He balled the yellow paper in his fist and hurled it as far away as he could. "I will not go back there," he declared with certainty.

But Katie noticed how his voice shook.

Travis really wanted his mother to just love him, whether he'd admit it or not.

So when she saw his shoulders begin to tremble again, Katie just reached over and took his hand. It was a bold move, but he gripped her hand back tightly, like it was the only thing keeping him on this earth. Silently, tears streaked down his cheeks, and Katie silently held his hand, knowing very well how much a human presence provided comfort.

Because he'd provided the same for her.

After a few minutes, Travis wordlessly got to his feet, still clutching Katie's hand, and helped her to her feet. They silently headed back towards camp, Travis wiping his eyes the whole way so he wouldn't look like he'd been crying. He never released her hand until they just stepped out of the trees, meeting the group of gathered cabin leaders in the designated area. Connor instantly began telling Travis what an idiot he was, but anyone with eyes could see the evident relief on his face. Everyone grumbled irritably at him for worrying them, but patted him on the back as he walked past.

When the search party's number dwindled down to three, it was just Connor, Travis, and Katie standing in the grass outside the woods. Connor started heading back, occasionally glancing over his shoulder for his brother. Katie realized that they were all each other really had. So, without really thinking, Katie stood up on her tiptoes and said in Travis's ear, "Don't worry, Travis. You and Connor won't be alone anymore."

Before he could say anything, Katie walked away.

As she tucked herself into her bunk's blankets later, the last thing she remembered thinking before she fell asleep was, I found one of the pieces to the puzzle of Travis Stoll.