Yay! I'm back! (Good thing I didn't make any promises, huh?) This is to answer a question by one of my reviewers… trustingHim17. Anywho, thanks for still being there for me guys, even if I've been a terrible updater. Things should get better once school starts, because I'll be on a real schedule.
Also, the Katie/Percy romance story has the most votes. POLL IS CLOSING. And, just because the poll is closed doesn't mean the story will come out soon. I'm sorry, but I will not overload myself.
Warning: mention of drugs—just slight. You'll see.
I DO NOT OWN.
Better
Katie felt really guilty—like, seriously guilty.
It was that time again, the time where she was at one of her favorite places ever. The season was summer, and Katie Gardner, Daughter of Demeter, was unpacking her things in her cabin. Now, even if she loved this place like her garden, she still thought it could be better. Way better.
But that would involve bringing Perseus Jackson, her best friend, to Camp Half-Blood.
This was the beginning of Katie's second year at camp, and the guilt eating at her heart wasn't as severe as it had been the year previous, since at least this year the trip to Long Island had been planned. It still hurt no matter what she told herself, however, and, though she would never—and she means never ever—admit it to Percy, Katie missed him. She missed all their crazy adventures and even the moments where she was positive she was about to die. Yes, being a demigod was dangerous, but it was nothing compared to being partners with a world-wide—yes, somehow, Percy managed to annoy people across the world; it is still a mystery to Katie—criminal.
And, to make everything ten times harder, Percy was actually trying to do good things, instead of attempting to pluck every nerve of FBI agents and whatnot! It had started right before Katie had been found by a monster and brought to Camp Half-Blood: Percy had been giving to charity. Sort of.
What he really did was take money from people and then send it to charities of all kinds. His logic was that, if he only took five to twenty dollars, nobody would notice or care too much if they did. So, Percy would make a flexible plan: "borrow without permission" five dollars from twenty wealthy looking people on the streets, "borrow without permission" ten to fifteen dollars from seven banks, and then "borrow without permission" twenty dollars from five stores or restaurants. At the end of the day, he could turn in 300 big ones to charities. Then, of course, Percy would take the extra and give it to his mom without her knowledge.
It was a twisted way of being good, but it was the best Katie had ever seen on a giant scale. Usually his acts of kindness consisted of being there for someone in need or not pounding an annoying person to a pulp.
Katie sighed quietly as she placed another pair of shorts in her drawer. She had missed the majority of it, though, because she spent her summer at camp. When she had called him her first day, Percy had been, to put it nicely, upset and maybe a bit angry at the extreme change of plans, but he had let it go and allowed her a summer—the first one in years—without him.
So, now, here she is, unpacking for an entire three months of planting, acting like the perfect child of Demeter, and pretending she didn't have the abilities or guts to beat the living snot out of the Stolls.
Truthfully, that was the second suckiest thing about Camp Half-Blood, besides not having Percy around twenty-four/seven.
Katie Gardner pretended; she didn't show her full potential.
She had no idea why she simply decided that—hey, I'm cool with not doing stupid awesome things like throwing knifes; I'll just stay in the strawberry fields with my pacifist siblings.
When Katie had learned of the world of gods, she had had a difficult time figuring out her mother. Sure, she loved gardening, but she also had an IQ equal, if not higher, than half of the Athena cabin; she knew how to use weapons of all kinds. But, of course, there was the mild streak of violence and the love for a good fight. And who could forget her eleventh birthday! Arrested for thievery. Or maybe there was a goddess of following stupid reckless people, so you do stupid reckless things.
But she was claimed by the cereal goddess, which she was fine with. She got pacifist siblings, which was totally cool with her.
And everyone expected Katie Gardner, the newbie, to love the idea of "other" pacifist. Everyone else expected her to be exactly like all her other siblings.
Maybe that's why she molded herself to be so quiet.
Maybe that's why she never questioned the Athena cabin.
Maybe that's why she ignored her urge to wield a weapon.
Maybe that's why Katie Gardner pretended to be Little Miss Perfect.
Katie snorted quietly as she closed her drawers. If only everyone could get another glimpse at the truly crazy chick she was. The first one was obviously not enough. Most people at camp forgot.
Except for Clarisse la Rue and her posse. Yeah, they wouldn't forget the time a simple, tiny, meek Daughter of Demeter smashed all their faces on the toilet bowls when they tried to dunk her head into that nasty water.
Katie laughed at the memory and walked out to the strawberry fields.
Yep. That was definitely a memorable failure.
0o0o0o0o0o
Katie froze at the news.
For a reason unknown to her siblings, at the murmur of the new demigod, the one who had killed the Minotaur, she had become stiff. Katie felt her stomach churn: she knew—knew better than the back of her own hand—only one person, one idiotic, reckless, boy, who could have that stupid luck.
Only one untrained child that could fight that well and live.
Apparently, without her knowing, that untrained child was a demigod.
Katie turned ever so slowly to her gossiping siblings sitting on the bunk below hers. "This kid," she began, her voice harder than usually, "what's his name?"
"Uh… Percy Jackson, I think. He's in the infirmary though, so no one got a good look at him," one of her brothers replied, his eye peering at Katie through squinting eyes. "Why do you want to know? You were never one to care about gossip."
For a moment, the hidden, criminal hardened Katie came out: "What does it matter to ya?" she snapped. "I wanna know some'in', I wanna know some'in'."
They small group jumped back from the outburst. "Sorry for questioning," her brother tried to apologize.
Katie bit her lip. "Naw, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled like that." She waved them off and shouldered her way out of the cabin, heading to the Big House.
On the way, Katie—of course, because her good luck didn't really exist—ran into the Stolls. "Hey, Kit-Kat!" Travis shouted, which was strange because they were less than three feet away from each other; that's Travis for you.
She rolled her eyes. "Go away, Stoll." Keep it short, don't give them anything to provoke their teasing, she told herself. Keep calm and don't kill them.
"Katie, I'm hurt. Why not so nice today? Did something happen?" Connor placed a hand over his heart, as if he were really in pain.
She grit out from between her teeth, "I am not in the mood for your shenanigans right now."
Travis suddenly grinned, and a mischievous gleam lit his eyes. "You're going to see the newbie—Percy Jackson, right? You want to meet the one." He poked her mockingly, and it took all of Katie's newfound willpower not to make the guy eat three pounds of dirt right then and there.
"I just want to see him. I think it would be nice to meet the new guy before everyone glares at him for doing what he did." She stalked off again, but the Stolls persistently followed right behind her.
They continued to mock her, but she ignored their words, not speaking until they were right before the door leading inside the Big House: "Ya know," she drawled, "you two should meet him, too. I mean, he is unclaimed, right? Wouldn't that put him in… your cabin?" She grinned and was about to twist the doorknob, when it was flung open by Annabeth.
Startled, Annabeth reached instinctively for her dagger. "What are you doing here?" she questioned, her hand relaxing from its death grip on the weapon.
Katie smiled a sickly sweet smile, moving a bit closer so she could peer above Annabeth's shoulder. "I wanted to see the new camper," she chirped, sending a glare at the surprised Stolls way. "I heard he was here. Can I come in?"
Annabeth blocked her off, slamming the door behind her. "No," she said bluntly. "Chiron said no visitors."
Katie's smile melted off her face, leaving a blank, emotionless mask. Then she grinned again, but this was what she called the Aphrodite grin. "You just don't want us to see him," she drawled, "because you think he's cute." She poked the surprised Daughter of Athena. "You like him," she teased.
Annabeth blushed furiously. "I do not!" she protested. "I don't even know him, so how could I like him?"
Katie shrugged. "I dunno, but that's just how love works."
"I am not in love!"
"Okay"—Katie flipped her hair over her shoulder as she turned away—"whatever you say, Annabeth." She took a step away from the door, smirk forming on her face as she heard the smallest twist of the doorknob; Katie knew this would work—Percy did it on her all the time.
"Fine!" Annabeth shouted, shoving open the door. "You can go see him."
"Great!" Katie twirled around, grinning like she had done nothing wrong, and skipped happily into the room where Percy laid on a cot. She turned to see Annabeth grumbling to herself and the Stolls gaping like fish out of water. "Are you guys coming?" Katie called.
Travis blinked. "Yeah," he muttered. "Yeah, we're coming." He stepped into the room, followed by his brother and Annabeth.
"So, this is the new kid?" Connor asked, pointing at Percy.
"Yes. He'll probably be staying in your cabin when he wakes up," Annabeth answered briskly, glaring at Kate.
"Will he wake up soon?"
"Maybe."
After that, Katie began tuning them out, instead staring at Percy to make sure he was okay. Nothing seemed to be wrong, but… it could be on the insides, like when he died… She shook those thoughts away, blurting out, "What's wrong with him?"
Annabeth furrowed her brows, before she nodded in understanding. "He simply drained himself."
"Really? Doing what?"
Annabeth shrugged uncomfortably. "Well—well he just lost his mother"—Katie flinched inwardly at that; wonderful Ms. Jackson was gone?—"and fought the Minotaur—"
"But wouldn't he have woken up already? I mean, what he did was amazing and everything, but the nectar and ambrosia should have healed him. Right?" Katie squinted her eyes at Annabeth and tried not to look at the sleeping form of Percy Jackson—she knew if she looked at him, Katie would slap him silly for doing something so stupid.
"Possibly," Annabeth said stiffly. "But that's beside the point. The point is, you've now seen him, so you all can go." She waved to the door, and Travis and Connor immediately slipped out.
Katie lingered for a bit, eyes sliding over to her best friend for one last glance.
For some weird reason, her gut was telling her to just leave—don't say anything about knowing him.
And for some weird reason, she listened.
0o0o0o0o0o
Katie sat under a large, towering tree in the woods.
Why? Well, that was the best part to her. When Percy had woken up, she had somehow managed to get a moment alone with him, and they both agreed to meet up in the woods.
The worst part? Percy wasn't armed, so he had to use some sort of trick to be allowed in to the woods. And that was only if he managed to slip past the campers and satyrs who constantly kept watch on him.
But this is Perseus freaking Jackson.
Katie wouldn't doubt him.
Not even waiting for more than five minutes—four minutes and forty-seven seconds according to Percy—she watched as the "criminal mastermind" stepped in the small opening. "What's up, Butterfly?" he greeted, smiling cockily at her scowl.
She gave a strained smile. "The sky." She pointed, as if to prove her point.
"Oh, ha ha, Gardner. That's positively hilarious." He rolled his eyes and plopped down next to Katie.
"Thank you!"
Percy rolled his shoulders, almost like he was doing that annoying shrugging thing again. "So… this is where you've been going to for the past two summers," he said slowly, gazing at a tree nymph that had popped out of a juniper tree.
"Yeah," she drawled, shifting at the awkwardness that had settled over them. This had never happened before; they were usually so comfortable around each other.
They sat in silence, unspoken words tingling on their tongues.
One minute passed.
Two minutes.
Three.
"So what took you so long to heal, Mister Almighty?" Katie stared at Percy expectantly, knowing full well that he knew exactly what had caused the delay.
This time, he did shrug. But then he smiled that lop-sided smile, a glint in his sea-green eyes. "My eyes," he replied, the smile inching just a bit wider.
"What? Your eyes? What do they have to do with anything?" she asked, peering at them in the day-time sun. They did seem a bit different… more focused, brighter…
"The nectar and ambrosia is for healing, right?" Percy continued, raising his left eye brow.
That nagging feeling tugged at the back of her mind—it was so annoying, and yet so helpful in a way.
Katie gulped. No way, she thought. No way something like that can happen.
It was thought that Percy would never see in the first place.
Now here he was basically telling her that they were even better.
"The nectar and ambrosia targeted your eyes!" squealed Katie, her smile reaching from ear to ear. "You can see!"
Percy chuckled. "I could see before."
"Yeah! But now you can see even better! Without those contacts you were so bent on getting!" Katie jumped up in joy.
"Hey! I liked those contacts."
"Only because they weren't those glasses," she pointed out.
He grumbled under his breath, but said nothing to prove her wrong.
She laughed out loud and threw her hands up in the air, and then Katie pulled Percy to his feet and dragged him even deeper into the woods.
"What are we doing?" he asked warily, as if he did not already know.
"Exploring," she simply stated. "I mean, why not make the best of our luck while we have it?"
0o0o0o0o0o
Katie made her way to their special spot in the woods.
While exploring during their first official meeting in Camp Half-Blood, the duo had trekked to an area near the very end of the woods; there, Percy had spotted a bunch of tree limbs—large and thick—almost stacked on top of each other below the perfect spot for a tree house. Now, Katie never had nor made a tree house before, but she figured it was worth a shot. So, every day, during their free time, they would hike to the back of the woods by following their own little trail: small strawberry stains that would make a big, star-shaped splotch on specific trees. Only if a person were really looking would they see these spots.
Over the days—sometimes spent together, sometimes not—the tree house had formed. It was a dark shade of brown, the wood was rough from lack of sandpaper, the roof was only made from weaved together leaves, and there was only one entrance—a medium-sized window that they would jump through, like it was a hula-hoop, after climbing up the tree next to the actual tree holding the tree house—but Katie loved it.
She loved it so much.
It made everything so much… better.
She and Percy would sometimes meet there when they had the time, and they would just talk and talk and talk. Percy even told her what his plan for being good would have been if it hadn't been for the sudden thrust into the world of gods: getting rid of addicts. His goal was to somehow get as many drug addicts and alcohol addicts to stop being, well, addicted. Katie didn't know how he would accomplish this, but apparently, he had been testing his "antidote" on Smelly Gabe and his poker buddies.
*"Take the thing people are addicted to," he had said, "and make it so it still has the same taste, but also make it so that the brain doesn't send as much dopamine—or whatever the brain is sending out—out. Slowly, as the people continue to do what they are addicted to, my antidote will make it so that the brain would eventually stop giving what people want completely, thus stopping the addicted part. The only thing that will keep the people doing drugs and alcohol and all that other junk would be because they want to or just out of habit."
Well, it went something like that; there was also a lot of other scientific stuff though. Katie really didn't understand. Of course, she suspected it would go like that as soon as the words "I did some research" came out of Percy's mouth.
Katie stood in front of the tree house, hands on hips. She could tell Percy was in it from the sounds similar to a lumbering elephant coming from it, but she wanted to wait.
To think.
Percy had just been claimed as a son of Poseidon—the only one because of the oath the God of the Seas had made after World War II—but it was still a surprise to Katie. Sure, she had the feeling that he was a child of some water god or goddess after Percy crowned Clarisse la Rue with the tittle of Goddess of the Toilets, him being the God of Toilets. And sure, he did always—always—seem happier around water.
But he also always seemed happier compared to the first years Katie knew him.
Shaking the thoughts away, Katie climbed up the tree next to the tree house. It didn't matter, at least not yet. Percy was at camp, and she was no longer lonely; Percy's eye sight had actually improved even more; they had their own little tree house; and Percy was… nice-ish.
Everything was simply… better.
Yeah. Things were better.
And Katie liked it that way.
Uhg… I really don't like this chapter. It just didn't come out right. (A review would help with this doubt.) Anyway, yes, they are demigods.
Next chapter: Katie Gardner's birthday! Yay!
*I HAVE NO IDEA IF THIS WOULD WORK. I am a thirteen year-old girl who likes science videos. It doesn't mean it's correct. DO NOT GO OUT AND TRY THIS.
Maybe I should put a warning on my summary: Do not try the shenanigans that these two do. They are fictional characters with unbelievable stupidity and luck.
Sorry to all those waiting for updates on my other stories. Trust me, I'm working on them.
~XxxXGreek GeekXxxX