I know it hasn't been long since I last updated, but I couldn't resist. So tonight you'll get a double whammy. Hopefully this will make up the extremely long time it took for me to get that gruniper one-shot up.

Anyway, here's another Tratie moment, this time in the POV of Katie.

What a Wonderful World

It was the first day of camp. The sun was peering through the clouds after a night of summer rain and was encasing the entire valley in its magnificent rays. Birds whistled gaily in welcome to the summer campers as they made their way across the border. Peleus the dragon was purring softly, joining the birds in welcome. And the scent of rain was still hanging in the wind, making Katie Gardner stop on Half-Blood Hill and look down at the sight below her.

There were the cabins slowly filling up with campers, the strawberry fields waiting for her gentle hand, and the forest waving slightly in the breeze despite the protesting calls of its inhabitants. In the distance, the sound looked peaceful as it brushed against the beach. There was no two ways about it… this was a scene that was pure magic in itself.

With a smile on her face, Katie made her way down to the cabins to drop off her bags. Along the way, she met up with Percy and Annabeth who were busy talking with Chiron about getting Jason, Hazel and Frank away from Camp Jupiter. Despite the battle with the Roman demigods, those two, as well as Piper and Leo, had remained strong with the other three. At the time, no one knew how things were going to turn out between the two camps. But Annabeth had sorted things out just fine… that is after the whole trip to Tartarus thing (but that is a whole different story). Chiron and Percy both greeted her warmly, as they always did, but it was Annabeth who Katie found wrapped around her neck the only way a friend knew how.

After that meeting, Katie seemed to run into everyone. There was Nyssa trying to get Leo and Jake out some form of trouble with one of the mechanical bulls. In fact you could hear Nyssa yelling all the way from the Big House at Leo trying to get him to listen to reason and not torch the automaton. Drew, who had gotten surprisingly nicer since Piper took over the Aphrodite cabin, was working with some of her siblings in making sure Hera's temple was as clean as it could possibly get. Clarisse was being Clarisse and heading down to the Arena with a couple of her newer siblings, no doubt giving them the Ares initiation ceremony. It was funny how the Ares cabin fought with their newer, younger siblings and the rest of the camp got to meet the toilet from the other end.

But what seemed to get Katie more was when she noticed Travis and Connor Stoll in the arts and craft area… alone. If that didn't scream suspicious, she didn't know what did. But she ignored it and continued on to her cabin where the rest of her siblings were waiting to greet her. She had heard from Miranda that they had gotten a new brother during the winter and she couldn't wait to meet twelve year old Zachary Sawyer. But, of course, it was the twins who were the first to greet her back to camp.

" Katie!" Robyn and Fern Darling screamed for the entire cabin to hear as soon as she walked over the threshold.

" Hey, guys." Katie called, somehow managing to juggle two bags and hug little Melisa Clemens when she came running up to her. " Have the flowers bloomed yet?"

" Yes, yes, yes!" Melisa exclaimed excitedly. " Come and see!"

What could Katie do when she had an excited seven year old practically jumping up and down in front of her, wanting to show her the flowers that the two of them had planted the year before? After putting her bags on her bunk, she allowed Melisa to drag her out the door again and over to where the two girls had made a small flowerbed along the side of the cabin. The flowerbed itself was parted in threes with white Cherokee roses, red roses and yellow daffodils. And the surprising thing about those flowers was that it was Travis who Melisa had gone to in order to get the bulbs. Now all three types of flowers were blooming like nothing before, and bringing an obvious smile to those who saw them.

" Wow." Was all Katie could say to the excited girl who now had a massive grin on her face.

Once Melisa had had enough of Katie looking at the flowers, the seven year old shooed her off to go sort out her things. Katie didn't mind, though. She had got to see her little sister happy and that was all that counted. By the time she had finished unpacking, her brothers Thomas Patterson and Zachary Sawyer returned from the canoe lake.

Thomas had filed out now that he was sixteen. And his dark Australian Aboriginal skin and black hair seemed to shine in the sun. But it was his Australian accent which seemed to get the girls' attention. There was more than one girl that Katie knew about who had him in their sights. Zachary, though, looked more like a child of Apollo than a child of Demeter. He had blue eyes and light blond hair. But there was something about his face that told Katie that he definite had a touch for phytology.

" And that is how you dunk an Apollo and a Hermes team." Thomas was saying.

" What did you do this time?" Miranda asked, returning from a trip to the bathroom.

" We, as in Zach and I, did nothing. It was Jasper and Ryan. They were being themselves and ended up in the canoe lake with their canoe upside down."

" And how did they get that way?"

" Um… they were being themselves?"

" I think the answer to that question is that you were being yourself, Tom." Katie said.

" Katie! Hey! Didn't know you were back yet. Zachy, this is our summer cabin leader. Katie, Zachary. I'll let you two get acquainted while I go see what Jasper and Ryan are up to." With that change of subject, Thomas was out the door.

The rest of the day seemed to go by in a normal fashion. Miranda updated Katie on everything that had been happening during the school terms, and Thomas tried to avoid his siblings for the rest of the day. In fact, the last time Katie saw him before dinner, he was talking with Piper for some unknown reason. But when Miranda asked Katie if she had seen the Stoll brothers, Katie instantly began to get suspicious. If they were evading people, it was usually because they were planning another prank… and that was 99% of the time.

Of course, ever since then, Katie had been on her guard. Like every other year that she had arrived at camp for Summer Session, she had been the first victim of the Stolls' prank year list. And she did not want this to be just like the other years. The problem was it was turning out to be exactly like every other year. Come dinner time, though, the Stolls were sitting harmlessly at their table and enjoying their meat pie slices that Thomas had made earlier that day; Travis sneaking glances at her whenever he thought that no one was looking.

But things turned peaceful again during dinner. Stories were traded amongst friends during dinner and campfire, as were photos, if it were possible. The Apollo cabin had decided to make that night a sort of talent night because there were quite a few campers missing from their benches, Thomas included. Katie quickly discovered why her brother was absent from his place at the Demeter bench when he walked out on stage wearing nothing but a loin cloth and a lot of paint (mostly white and yellow) and carrying a painted log.

" Dude! Put some clothes on!" One of the Aphrodite boys called up to him.

" This is traditional Australian Aboriginal attire, thank you very much. In fact, if my grandpa saw me like this he'd probably die of a heart attack because I would have finally embraced my heritage." Thomas called back, surprisingly looking pleased with himself.

He then proceeded to give a detailed story about how the Australian Aboriginal Dreamtime began. Then he planted himself on the stage floor, brought the painted log (which he called a didgeridoo) to his lips and played. It turned out that the song he was playing was actually that same story that he had been telling. When asked by a daughter of Apollo if she could play it, he turned it down saying that 'it was traditionally a man's sacred instrument and no woman was ever allowed to play one'.

Miranda and Lou Ellen also did a combined talent, showing off each other's talents as easily as making something magical happen from a bunch of flowers that had randomly appeared in Miranda's hand even though she was holding a rock. Tyson, gods bless him, attempted to tell the story of how he and Percy had met. His storytelling was so cute that no one could help but smile at the end of it. Even Coach Hedge had entered the talent show, telling his version of what had happened during the Giant War. There were a lot of 'Die's and 'Take that's and Chuck Norris round house kicks. Piper and Leo had to drag him off the stage before he did something that resulted in someone going to the infirmary.

By the end of the night, Katie had completely forgotten that the Stolls would be out to prank her sometime before midnight (they had this annoying habit that they had to prank her the same day that she arrived at camp) and was thinking that the day had turned out quite normal considering they were in a camp for demigods. It could probably be considered wonderful, with how things had turned out. Feeling happy, she led her siblings back to the cabin so that they could get ready for bed.

" I think it turned out pretty good." Thomas said as they entered the cabin.

He was referring to the party crashers that were Zachary, Ryan and Jasper. Apparently it was planned to 'steal' Griffin's talent time with random nonsense. The result was that the son of Hermes ended up pulling out his sabre and was chasing Ryan around the stage while Zachary and Jasper hid under their benches. It was one of the highlights of the night because, believe it or not, he had been trying to impress Andi Prince from Apollo.

" Says you." Zachary grumbled.

" Hey, I was helping! Who do you think was making all that ruckus backstage?"

" Why are you suddenly out to get Griffin Lowe?" Katyana asked as she watched Thomas start trying to write a letter to his grandfather back in Australia.

" Because that's what friends do."

" In other words, he pranked the lot of them-" Robyn started.

" –And this is their pay back." Fern finished.

" You do realise that's creepy the way you do that, right?" Zachary said after a few minutes.

" You get used to it." Miranda replied with a smile.

" Okay, enough chitter-chatter. We've got a seven year old here that desperately needs to get some sleep." Katie said, hurrying an already yawning Melisa into the bathroom to get ready for bed.

While her siblings were talking, she had gotten Melisa's bed ready for her. Now all that was needed was the seven year old herself. Unfortunately, as Katie was getting her own bed ready, that was when the Stolls struck. You could practically hear them snickering all the way down the other end of the common green. What made her scream worse was that it was the one thing that neither she nor Miranda could stand. A snake. And there it was, coiled up under her covers. The result was that both Katie and Miranda found themselves cowering behind Thomas who just so happened to be on the top bunk furthest away from the snake.

" Crikey, mates. What's going on this time?" He asked, looking at the line that now graced his page.

For a reply, Katie just pointed at her bed.

" It's just a toy." Zachary said, picking up the snake and waving it around by its tail.

" Don't do that!" Miranda hissed.

" Katie." Katyana said as soothingly as she could. " You've been pranked."

There they were. The three words that Katie had hoped she wouldn't get to hear that day ever since she got out of the taxi. Suddenly, that wonderful day that Katie had been having turned out to be not so wonderful. And there were only two people who could have done something like that. Thomas and Miranda had just enough time to cover their ears before she blew.

" STOLL!"

Okay, I think it is safer to say who I don't own. Those people being anyone you recognise from the PJO/HOO series. Zachary, Katyana, Thomas, Ryan, Griffin, Jasper, Andi, Melisa and the Darling twins are all my own characters. Besides, I think you're getting tired of reading the disclaimer, am I right?

Anyway, I hope I got everyone in character. And I hope you enjoyed this.

This was inspired by Louis Armstrong's 'What A Wonderful World'