Chapter Text
Katie:
Hating Travis Stoll was never truly what I wanted. That first day we met, he had seemed kind despite the mischievous grin he always wore. In fact, I remember thinking that we would be great friends as he showed me around camp smiling and telling me how I would fit right into their crazy family. Unfortunately, that is the last positive memory I have of Travis Stoll. I was claimed that first night, and ever since, a constant barrage of pranks, insults, and lack of human or godly decency was all that Travis and his little brother Connor had shown me and my cabin. Which is how we ended up here…me with a bloody fist, and Travis Stoll with a broken nose and 2 missing teeth.
“I know it was wrong but I don't care!” I was basically yelling at this point. “He's had it coming for years and I'm not sorry.”
“Are you quite finished?” Chiron's question had a steely edge and came out as barely more than a whisper.
“Yes.” I squeaked out.
“Good. Whether or not Travis deserved to be hit, and believe me miss Gardner there are many here at camp that agree with what you did, this behavior is not and will not be tolerated at camp.” Chiron explained, his voice filling with the slightest bit of exasperation. “You and young Mr. Stoll do not have to be friends, but the goal of this camp is to train you to survive the evil that seeks to harm you, not to help you beat up your fellow campers.”
“I understand Chiron.” I replied, embarrassed by my actions. “I apologize for the trouble I've caused.”
“All is forgiven Katie, but you will have extra dish duty for this week.” He said gently as I nodded. “Now go, you still have training to do!”
And just like that I slipped out of the Big House and back into the sunlit valley of Camp Half-Blood. I paused on the porch to look across the camp, the cabins glittering in the sunlight straight ahead. To my left I saw my favorite place at camp, the strawberry fields where I spent my afternoons caring for the plants I held so dear. Beyond them sat the pegasi stables, forge, armory, sword fighting arena, and eventually the woods. No matter what happened with Travis Stoll, this was my home and I thought it was absolutely stunning. The warm sun spread across my body as I walked across camp towards the sword fighting arena; today was the least favorite of the activity days for the Demeter cabin and this was why. Swords and plants don't particularly mix well and it often showed as most other cabins refused to be our partners in training due to how unskilled and frankly uncoordinated we were. Unluckily for me, that meant that our partners for today would be the Hermes cabin…led by one very bandaged and angry looking Travis Stoll.
Despite my hatred for him, Travis physically was viewed as very attractive by most of the camp, myself included. His hair was a tousled mess of brown curls that gained an auburn hue in the summer months and often found its way into his eyes. Overall, he had sharp features to match a toned but lanky body that had slowly begun to fill in more as he grew up. His eyes were a sparkling blue that mesmerized people (I had caught many an aphrodite girl drooling at his eyes in the past and to be honest I couldn't blame them), they were the kind of blue that reminds you of the sunset touching the ocean: deep, glittering, and beckoning for you to dive in and explore a world of wonder unlike any you had ever known. Add those to his patented smile that could make Apollo jealous, and you got a son of Hermes that girls would fight over to ask to the end of summer fireworks.
He wasn't smiling today (you know, with the missing teeth and whatnot). As I entered the arena, he had just finished explaining that the groups would be splitting into pairs and working on feints. My eyes caught his for a brief second and for the first time ever, I saw thunderclouds brewing across his ocean. Even Percy Jackson wouldn't want to swim in that sea.
“Alright everyone, break into your assigned groups and begin.” Travis called before walking to a space away from the other campers. I looked around for Connor Stoll, my usual partner, only to find him preparing to spar with my sister Miranda. She made eye contact with me, mouthed an ‘I'm sorry’ and tilted her head in Travis’ direction. With a sigh of exasperation, I walked my way towards my inevitable fate.
Travis had walked to the complete opposite end of the arena, separating us from the rest of the class by almost a football field and a half’s worth of distance. With no one lining the horseshoe shaped stands, I began to feel very small and isolated as I walked across the dirt floor, dust spraying with each step. He didn't say a word to me, instead opting to pick up his sword and watch me like a lion watches a gazelle. I shuddered at the thought and pulled out my own weapon: a sword about 3 feet long with an extended wooden grip and a very non greek curved blade. Probably closer to a scimitar than anything else, it sprang to life from a flower charm bracelet my mom, Demeter, had given me. Campers generally hated sparring with me because with my unusual sword and lack of skill came an unusual and oftentimes wild style of fighting. But Travis’ eyes betrayed no such apprehension as he began his attack almost instantly.
I lifted my blade to block his overhand blow and staggered backwards, my feet not set and ready for the fight. We were supposed to be practicing feints, not full on sparring, but Travis clearly had other ideas. He gave me no room to breathe as he advanced with a lunge and then a horizontal backhand slash that I narrowly avoided. His sword was a blur in my eyes and it took all my strength and reflexes to not get skewered. I fought and dodged, aiming to stay away from the walls, but no matter what I did, Travis pressed me further and further backwards with a series of slashes and thrusts. By the time my back bumped into Miranda mid spar, I already had a cut on my cheek and left arm.
“Ow! Hey watch it you two!” Miranda exclaimed.
But I didn't hear her or register the fact that Travis had backed me across half the arena already and wasn't letting up. I realized that I couldn't keep this up, Travis was dipping his sword in and out of my defenses at will, toying with me as he lunged and then spun into a kick that sent me tumbling across the dirt. This was bad. I knew I wasn't a better swordsman than Travis, not by a mile, and I also knew we weren't supposed to truly hurt each other in training. But I saw no joy, no mischief, no hesitation behind those eyes as Travis walked towards me, sword in hand. So, naturally, I cheated. I used my powers to bring out vines from the dirt that tangled around Travis’ legs and slowed him down.
Using this moment to regain my bearings, I saw that we had fought across the arena all the way to the middle of the other campers. I caught some glances from the people around me, but couldn’t dwell on it as I saw Travis snap the last vine on his legs. In my mind I knew that I couldn’t keep up this kind of fighting, Travis would overwhelm me soon. With that in mind, I charged him. I reached him with a jumping overhand blow that he blocked with a grunt. I hit the ground and swept my sword in a low arc forcing him backwards with a stumble. As I followed up with a thrust, I caught a glimpse of genuine shock in Travis’ eyes before they hardened again.
Unfortunately, that was as far as I got. Travis deflected my thrust and swung his sword backhand towards my exposed shoulder. In a desperate move, I rolled forward. It would’ve been a good move if Travis had finished his strike, but instead I turned to fight and found the tip of a sword at my neck: Travis had done a feint with his initial blow and in turn I had left myself completely exposed. I was beaten, and he knew it.
“Fun’s over Gardner.” Travis sneered with eyes that could turn Medusa to stone. He knelt next to me, never removing his sword from my neck.
“So what’ll it be? Apologize for this morning or end up in the infirmary, your choice.” His voice, a whisper of serrated steel that cut through my gut like a knife through steak. I was scared. I had never seen this side of Travis, no one had. But resolve filled my gut and I knew that no matter what he said, I would never apologize for injuries he had deserved.
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned from you Travis, it's that sorry is for suckers.” I bit back with an edge to my voice that surprised even me.
“Heh.” He smiled slightly at me. “Have it your way Gardner.”
Then everything went black.
Loud arguing snapped me awake. As everything came back into focus, I realized that I was in the infirmary. And that my head hurt like Cerberus was chasing a bone around in it. Ow. Slowly, I refocused on the voices and realized that a couple beds over Travis and Connor Stoll were fighting.
“What were you thinking?” Connor exclaimed, hands waving with frustration. “I know you were mad, but sending Gardner to the infirmary? Surely you can’t think this was the right decision.”
“Connor, I'm missing teeth! And it's her fault.” Travis spat back. “Maybe I took it a bit too far, but she had it coming, even you can see that.”
“I’m not agreeing with what she did, but that doesn’t mean…” Connor trailed off as he caught me looking at them. He looked down and then back at his brother. “I’m leaving, fix this.”
Travis turned to look at me and his eyes softened. There was no more storm, for once, the ocean in his eyes was calm. He walked over to my cot and sat on its edge.
“Hey Gardner.” He said softly
“Hey Stoll.” I replied quietly. “We really got into it this time huh?”
“Yea.” He laughs gently before becoming more serious. “Why did you punch me Katie?”
He never uses my first name. Not once since that first day. I took a moment to recover before thinking about an answer to his question.
“Cause you always prank me.” I looked away from his eyes. “I…I’m sick of it. So I punched you because to be quite frank, you deserve it. You can’t just harass me every day for years and not expect me to eventually do something about it.”
“That…That's fair.” He sounded like he wanted to say more but hesitated and looked away. “I should go. Chiron said he’d have Will bring you dinner.”
“Thanks.” I replied. And just like that, Travis Stoll was gone.
I didn’t know what to make of the interaction as I ate my dinner in the infirmary that evening. Will Solace, the Apollo cabin's best medic despite his young age, told me that after dinner I could go back to my cabin and would be okay with some rest and ambrosia. As I walked into the cabin that night, I met the eyes of my cabin mates, the kids I was responsible for, and I saw pride in their eyes. That night I decided that I would no longer let anyone push me or my cabin around, let alone Travis and Connor Stoll.
Strangely, the next morning did not bring about more pranks from the Hermes cabin. I went about my day as normal and actually enjoyed it. A couple of people, mostly girls from the Athena and Aphrodite cabins, came up to me and told me they thought that I was awesome for putting Travis Stoll on his ass. That boosted my spirits quite a bit. As free time came around, I found myself back in the arena practicing my swordplay. Sweat stained my skin as I cut and thrust at the dummy. My swings eventually became slow and labored, but even still I continued. Part way through I felt eyes on me, but every time I looked around I was alone.
Dinner came and went and I called it a night early, physically exhausted. I quietly prayed to my mother that tomorrow would be another prank free day. Travis Stoll had other plans.
I woke up at my normal time and got dressed. One of my responsibilities as head counselor for the Demeter cabin was doing the morning plant care; so I stepped outside into the morning sun and my jaw dropped.
“STOLLLLSSS!” I screamed with all the anger I could muster.
Travis and Connor Stoll came strolling out of their cabin with devious smiles on their faces. If I wasn’t so angry I would’ve laughed at the two missing teeth in Travis’ smile. They got to about 10 feet away before stopping, clearly having learned their lesson from our last encounter.
“Morning Gardner.” Travis said happily.
“What the hell is this!” I yelled back, pointing towards my cabin roof.
“Uhm… It appears to be chocolate bunnies. Hard to tell with how melted they are but I think that was what they are or were.” Travis explained with a laugh.
I wasn’t laughing. All I wanted was to wrap them up in thorns, but I remembered my conversation with Chiron. With an exasperated sigh I turned on my heel and marched back into my cabin. The Stolls would regret this, it would just have to wait until tonight at capture the flag. The rest of the day went relatively smoothly. The Demeter cabin, after cleaning up our roof, picked strawberries for most of the day in preparation for our next inventory check. Afterwards, in my free time, I returned to the arena. This time I was not alone as I came upon Percy Jackson hacking away at a training dummy with his sword riptide.
As I set my water and towel down, Percy met my eyes and smiled, stopping his exercise.
“Hey Katie!” He called, walking over to where I was standing.
“Hey Percy.” I replied. Percy and I were not close friends, but we talked on occasion, mostly adjacent to his not-girlfriend (sure we all believe that) and one of my close friends: Annabeth Chase.
“What brings you to the arena?” Percy asked. “I mean no offense, but seeing a child of Demeter in the arena during free time is like seeing Clarisse be nice to people.”
“Hah.” I smiled. “ You aren’t wrong, but lately I’ve been feeling inadequate in my swordplay. After all, I can't go to war unprepared…”
I trailed off knowing that I had stepped into a sore subject. Percy turned 16 at the end of this summer, and while we were all playing our part in preparing for a war we felt was inevitable, we all saw the sadness that crossed Percy’s face when it was mentioned outside of meetings.
“Sorry Percy, I didn't mean to bring it up.” I continued.
“Hey, it's alright.” He responded gently. Suddenly his sea green eyes lit up. “Do you want some help in training?”
“I’d really appreciate that, Percy, let's do it!” I thanked him.
We took our places, and after Percy had watched me against the dummy for a bit, he stepped in to fix some clear issues in my technique.. After a little bit more time with the dummy, we decided to do some light sparring.
“So what is the real reason you want to be better at sword fighting?” Percy asked, seeing through my earlier half lie about the war.
“I mean, I do want to be better prepared for the war…” I said thrusting at Percy, but he sidestepped with ease. “But the bigger reason is more petty. I want to beat the Hades out of Travis Stoll.”
Percy laughed at that.
“I like that. The whole camp heard about what went down between you two so I get it. But keep in mind, Travis is maybe the second best swordsman at camp, so be careful.” Percy warned. He didn’t say who the best swordsman at camp was, he didn’t have to. It was basically an unspoken rule that after Luke Castellan turned traitor that no one could match Percy with a sword. He never bragged about it or even claimed it, but he and everyone else knew it was true.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” I said as Percy disarmed me for the 3rd time in a row. As I bent down to pick it up, the conch sounded for dinner. “Thanks for the help Percy.”
“Anytime Katie.” He smiled.
We walked to the pavilion, and mentally I began to prepare for tonight’s game of capture the flag.
Capture the flag was always a chaotic affair. This week the teams were pretty well balanced. Demeter was with Ares, Aphrodite, and Apollo, while Athena fielded Hermes, Hephaestus, and Percy as the sole member of the Poseidon cabin. Clarisse had come up with a pretty solid plan, but to be honest, all of us were terrified of whatever Annabeth may have cooked up this week. It is one thing to face the Athena campers in a game of strategy, it is an entirely different thing to face them with Percy Jackson as well. And the Athena cabin always paired up with Percy Jackson. Per usual, my siblings and I were positioned on defense, with Miranda, our little sister Taya, and I guarding the flag. As the horn sounded, our forces charged, leaving just the Demeter cabin and a few Apollo archers on our side of the river.
A few minutes in, the brush around our flag broke to reveal trouble. Travis and Connor Stoll walked towards us, confidence written across their faces.
“Just give us the flag and you can go back to planting roses or whatever it is you do.” Connor chirped as the two brothers circled in opposite directions. I liked Connor more than Travis, but he was still an arrogant jerk at times.
“What, scared to fight some Demeter kids Connor?” Miranda retorted, a smile pulling at the corners of her lips. Travis and I just stared at each other as I mirrored his circling movements. Taya stood as still as a rock, her 9 year old hands clutching a sword too big for her frame.
“Your funeral.” Connor finally said, jabbing his blade at Miranda. She blocked and pushed him away. We made eye contact and came to an understanding; we would not lose.
“Taya, whatever happens, do your best to keep anyone that comes from getting the flag.” I told my sister. “Mir and I will handle these two.”
All Travis did was laugh at that. I felt my anger rising. Anger for all the times we were overlooked and disrespected, anger for those damn chocolate bunnies, and anger at Travis for knocking me out. So, throwing away all care or plan, I charged him. I led with a backhand horizontal sweep of my blade. He backstepped to avoid it and thrust his sword back in with impossible speed. I managed to twist away before coming around with an overhead blow. Our blades locked and I saw that mischievous twinkle that I hated in his eyes.
“I think that bruise on your forehead might be your best feature.” Travis quipped.
“I was just about to say the same thing about your missing teeth.” I replied. “Really adds a certain charm.”
“How ‘bout we get you a matching pair?”
“I think I’ll pass.” We broke apart and kept dueling. Much to my own pride, Travis never found an opening in my defenses and I even gained ground.
We fought our way through the forest, both too locked into this battle to notice the things happening around us. I was vaguely aware that Connor and Miranda were still fighting and that I was getting further and further away from my own flag, but I didn't care. As we approached the river, Travis feinted a forehand blow towards my head and tried to sweep my feet. I jumped and twisted into a kick that landed solidly on his chest, spilling him into the river.
“Aww Travis, if you wanted me to teach you how to swim all you had to do was ask.” I teased as he pulled himself back to his feet.
“What and spend more time with everyone at camp's least favorite person? No thanks.” he shot back, raising his sword. I knew it wasn't true, but his words stung and my anger took over. I stepped into the river and we began our duel once more. Travis must have noticed that his words got to me as he kept yelling out insults.
“What’s it like Gardner, being the laughing stock of camp? Not even the Hephaestus kids want to hang out with you, and they're just as boring and ugly as you. But then again, at least they're useful. ”
I was truly upset at this point and lost my balance. I lunged and Travis with one swift move had disarmed me and pushed me onto my back in the river. He lowered his blade to my neck.
“Well this is familiar isn’t it?” He mocked me. “I’m starting to think you like it when I beat you up.”
I glared daggers at him instead of responding for a few seconds before the river burst into hollering. Percy came sprinting out of the woods with our flag and crossed the river to win the game. I didn’t care about that. As the blue team celebrated, Travis turned away from me and all I could see was red.
“Stoll.” I said with an edge to my voice that Hephaestus would deem worthy. As he turned around I climbed to my feet. “Don’t ever call me ugly or useless ever again.”
I felt a tug in my gut and the underbrush exploded with thorny vines that snaked around Travis’ arms and legs, hoisting him off the ground. I brought him a few inches away from me and for the first time ever, I saw fear in his eyes. He tried to laugh it off
“Very funny Gardner, but the game is over.”
“Oh I know.” I said. “But I don’t care. You have treated me like dirt for too long, now you're gonna wish you hadn't.”
More and more vines circled around Travis, slowly cocooning him in my power. I knew people were watching, I just didn't care.
“Katie that is enough!” Chiron’s voice snapped me out of it. I looked in horror at what I was doing to Travis.
“Please.” He pleaded with terror in his voice.
I dropped him and he fell to his knees, blood seeping into the river from countless cuts. Eyes filled with horror met mine as I scanned the crowd, even Percy and Annabeth looked afraid. I had shown them all that I was a monster. Tears started to well in my eyes and I did the only thing I could think of: I ran.
My ears rang as I sprinted through the forest and past the big house. I didn’t know where I was going and I didn’t care; I had messed up and there was no coming back from that. Gods I hated Travis Stoll and the way he got under my skin. Why couldn’t he just leave me alone. As I let my frustration at the elder Stoll brother manifest in my thoughts, I let the tears flow freely as I ran, unable to see where I was going. Eventually I gave up on running and fell to my knees and bawled. It was only when I wiped my tears away that I realized I had run all the way to Thalia’s Pine. I stared up at the tree and Peleus the dragon that slept around it. Staring up at the pine I felt small…so incredibly small. And I began to cry again.
After a while I heard footsteps behind me, slowly and gently walking up.
“Go away Mir.” I said softly, my voice trembling. “I just want to be left alone.”
“I, uh, I’m not Miranda.” Said a voice that jolted me back to reality. I turned slowly, eyes bloodshot, to see Travis Stoll standing near me. He had changed out of his armor but still wore the orange camp shirt that now boasted tears from my thorns. His arms and legs were covered with cuts: my doing.
“Why are you here Stoll?” I asked.
He sat down next to me and looked at his hands like they were the most interesting things in the world.
“Do you remember how we first met?” He questioned.
I did. Travis and Connor had been on guard duty when I crossed the threshold into camp 7 years ago, a pack of Stymphalian birds chasing me. Travis had shielded me from some of their feathers and let me lean on him as I limped to the big house with my injured leg.
“Yea, I do. You saved my life.” I whispered, shocked by the memory.
“Heh, yea I supposed I did. But that’s not why I asked.” Travis replied, twisting a blade of grass in his fingers now. “I asked because I think about that day a lot. Look, Katie, I know we aren’t friends. But I want you to know, I don’t believe a word of what I said back there. You aren’t ugly or useless or a joke.”
“Then why did you say I was?” I prodded, scared of the answer.
“Because I…well, I don’t know.” He wouldn’t meet my eyes.
“Travis. I don’t know why you are doing this.” I replied slowly. “Hades, I don’t know why you do anything, but if you really don’t believe those things you said, can you just leave me alone? Like no pranks, no rude remarks, nothing. We aren’t friends and to be honest, I’m not sure we ever will be. But if you ever want to get to that point, please just leave me alone.”
“Uh, yea…” Travis leaned in and wiped a tear away from my cheek. I thought he was going to say something, but instead he just got up and walked off.