Happy Thanksgiving to the Canadians reading this (I know there's at least one)! I wish you pie, turkey and everything you need for another good year. That sounded sappy... So does this:
Disclaimer: It tears my heart like the petals of a rose at the claws of a beast that I do not hold in my hands the rights to Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
Beat that Apollo!
Anyways, it is worth noting that next chapter is the LAST of The Good Bet. Will Travis make it? Will Travis crack like a pinata? Will Travis explode?
I know, you wait, enjoy :D
10
No Snooping
Travis figured that his grandma would approve too much of this whole 'work' thing for it not to impress Katie (it was like extra credit, right?) so he hadn't totally given up on it. Although he did think that it was a bit stupid that he was stuck sweating like a pig in the Camp Store while everyone was hiding inside a cabin from a heat stroke that Mr D thought would be well included in the camp's daily life.
He was rubbing a piece of paper covered in liquid White-out on the counter. The bottle had said 'flammable' on it and Travis wanted to check it out. He knew that because he'd read the small print on the office supplies last time he'd came here. He'd always thought of small print as a waste of ink, but he had a whole new appreciation for it now.
He thought he might be smelling something burn when someone yelled 'TRAVIS!'
He turned around so violently he threw the White-out tube automatically, by instinct. Luckily he missed, or else the IM would've been destroyed. It was Connor and he was in a… Cage?
Oh my god Jiminy Cricket was right- wishing on a star did work.
"Who put you in a cage?" Travis asked.
"That's not important! But, umm, you know the tunnel legend?"
"What tunnel legend?"
"The thing I was talking about the other day."
"Oh, yeah, what about it- oh…"
The hamster started running and Travis' brain started working.
"Really Connor?"
"Yeah, I wanted to leave a mysterious anonymous note on her bunk and junk, cause girls like that or something. Right? So I left 3 hours ago," before everyone went into hiding, Travis noted, "And, umm, turns out- Silena B really did get Beckendorf to board it up. And he threw in some booby traps so I'm in this cage with this clock counting down to doomsday."
"Doomsday? What do you mean doomsday?"
"It says that in one hour and five minutes it's going to zap me!"
"Zap you?"
"Yeah! Like, run electricity through my body in painful fashion! I like my body with no electricity!" Connor said.
"Look at the bright side, maybe your tongue will swell up and then you won't talk. All you'll be able to do is go ah-ba-ba-ba and people will wonder how big the truck that ran you over was." Travis said. But really the hamster was sprinting and the wheels were turning double speed.
Okay, so maybe yesterday Travis had been channelling murder intentions about his brother through his brain. But that was it, wasn't it? Brother.
But running around in secret tunnels that led to other cabins was 'snooping' therefore it wasn't exactly Katie's 'good'. And he wanted Katie's 'good'. He wanted it as much as he'd wanted a brother before he found out what they were.
And Connor was pretty much doomed because Beckendorf had been Styx serious about his booby-traps, so he was going to have to get to the tunnel and rescue the idiot.
"Travis! It's gonna ZAP me!" He panicked.
"I'm coming bro!" Travis said, sprinting over the counter of the Camp Store and sprinting off.
He burst into Cabin 11 and tugged a backpack from under his bed and swung it on his back; picking up a flashlight from a shelf.
"Whoa- Travis touched the prank bag!" Eva said.
"Oh my gods- he's going for it!" Howie said.
"You get 'em Travis!" Someone yelled behind him as he ran out of the cabin like a lunatic.
Those 'secret' tunnels that Connor had heard about? Sorry; but Luke had told him all about them ages ago, and he knew exactly where they were.
He sprinted around the Hephaestus cabin two times looking for a sign of the entrance- and then realised that it was the Apollo cabin and that all he was getting were weird looks.
So instead he sprinted to Cabin 9 and he saw a tarp thrown over the side.
Connor, thank the gods you're such an idiot you don't know how to cover evidence, he said.
He threw the tarp back and dove in the tunnel.
It was pitch black, so he flicked on his flashlight. The walls were plain earth with metal beams holding up the ceiling, and there brackets on the wall to hold a torch. Oh man, if Travis would have known, he'd have brought one. Torches were so much cooler.
He flashed it onto the ground. He could see Connor's tracks- another mistake stupid had made. Oh well- it was good, now if the tunnel forked he could follow his brother's tracks. He didn't know if it would, all Luke had told him was that it was around Cabin 9 and that it was a really cool place to kiss a girl. That seemed ironic right now.
He jogged down the tunnel calling Travis' name.
The tunnel went on forever. The digger had obviously gotten really confused because a tunnel leading from Cabin 8 to 9 shouldn't take this long to jog. It didn't take that long to cross the center green anyways.
Finally he found Connor and he nearly dropped the flashlight when he saw him, because he'd been dreaming of that moment since he was 3 years old and Connor could talk.
Connor was standing in a cage with close together bars looking pathetic(er) (or was it more pathetic? Probably). The door was tied to the wall with heavy chains, with links big enough for Travis to stick 3 fingers in.
There was a clock with red digits that had been counting down time. It was now at 0:24 minutes. There was a battery pack… Thing… on top of each bar with a sticker that showed Zeus and the master bolt, with a horizontal bar going across that said 'Danger: High voltage'.
Gee thanks.
"Hey-Travis!" Connor said when he saw his brother.
"Hey- Stupid!" Travis said, swinging his backpack off his shoulder and dumping it onto the ground. "You really couldn't wait for a group to come here or something? I am going to-"
"Look out!"
The metal beams holding up the ceiling for Travis suddenly swung down and there was a cave-in. Travis hit the deck just in time and kicked his bag forwards so it wouldn't be buried.
"See? Now I'm really going to kill you. No way can we even think about getting out of this now."
"But… Travis your bet with Katie… No snooping, right?"
"Yeah, well…"
"I thought you'd send Chris or someone." Connor said, chocked.
"Which is why you're going to be paying my entry fee to Go Fish for the next 5 summers." Travis said taking chain cutters from his backpack. He dropped them.
"Dude- what the heck, cut the freaking chain!" Connor said.
"Nope," Travis said taking a video camera from his bag, "I need blackmail material."
He pointed the now filming camera at Connor.
"So Connor William Stoll- wait do you have a middle name? Whatever, I honestly couldn't care less. But if I broke the vase from Grandma, who broke the statue thing from Aunt Winifred?"
"Travis." Connor said. The sound came from the bottom of his throat, from where all the deep and threatening sounds came from in movies or something. But Travis couldn't care less. Connie-poo was shorter, and in a cage.
"I am supreme right now Conner, dear. So you tell the camera who broke the statue thing." Connor crossed his arms like he was five.
"Tick tock, tick tock, you're down to 22 minutes Connie-poo."
"I did." Connor muttered.
"Who did?"
"I did."
"Say it louder, will you?"
"I did!" He said. "I broke the stupid statue thing! Travis I am going to-"
"Stay in the cage like a good little boy," Travis said pressing his thumb to the 'stop' button, and slipping the camera back in his backpack, feeling 5% avenged.
He picked up the chain cutters and cut them open so the door would. Sadly, on the other side, it wasn't the same deal. The wall of bars was stuck onto the wall, and the bars were indestructible.
"So… We die?"
"Shut up Connor," Travis said taking a length of rope from his bag. He tied the end to one of the bars with a knot that would've made a girl scout jealous. Or at least made her give him half her cookies.
"Connor come here," Travis said.
"What? Why should- no, uh-uh."
"Yes."
"I just got free from a cage!"
"I'm stuck hauling your butt out of here!"
"I'm recovering from that!"
"I'm still recovering from your birth!"
"I'm younger!"
"I'm older!"
"I'm shorter- your legs are longer you can run better!"
"I just blew a bet to kiss the girl I've wanted to kiss since I'm 14, so get your butt right here right now!"
That's how Connor was stuck running away from the cell bars, tied to it by the waist.
Finally with a POP! the wall popped off its hinges. With a bungee-effect and fall worthy of America's Funniest Home Videos; Connor flew back and landed on top of the bars. With a CRACK worthy of the ER.
"Whoa- you okay?"
"Yeah- my feet crack for the fun of it!" Connor said sarcastically.
"Shut it Connor," Travis said hauling Connor to his feet. "Let's go."
Helping Connor limp, they reached the end of the tunnel which much bickering, threats of abandonment to death by cracked bone, and reminders of the video Travis was going to make twenty million copies of (just in case).
Finally they reached a trap door in the low ceiling.
"I'll get it," Travis said, putting Connor down in a way that was nor delicate nor kind. But Travis figured he had total rights on Connor whether the idiot had a broken foot or not.
He started pushing against the top of it and with a 'POP!' it creaked open a bit.
"Sweet! Pick me up, I'll help you push!" Connor said.
So Travis did and the trap door flew open.
In the middle of the Aphrodite cabin…