Stoll Her Heart: Tratie's Story

9. The Cutest Couple of the Year Needs Our Help

Chapter 9

Katie's pov

Days pass, everything seems to have returned to normal. The snow had melted over the nights and campers were again doing their daily chores as well as training programs. Even I'm getting over the recent events. I'm was not fully over everything though. I wonder all the time about what Travis had said. "Just remember, it does help to tell someone about it. It doesn't solve all the problems but you start to know you're not alone in it, " Was that true? "You didn't know, like I didn't know about your roses" This was what made me feel guilty about not telling him anything. I had replied, "I'll get back to you on that". Is he expecting me to tell him for my benefits? It's clear he cares but I'm honestly feeling afraid. Should I tell him?

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Travis' pov

"As I'm sure you all know, tonight we will be playing a fine old game of our favorite: Capture the Flag!" Chiron announces at the end of dinner, being followed by the arousing cheers of campers galore. I join in with everyone at the Hermes table, we are ready to win this time, again! We all head over to the armory to gear up for the game. We each get our own sword and shield, as well as a helmet with either a red or blue plume. Tonight, Hermes is on red with Athena, Apollo, Dionysus, and Demeter. It's a good team, I think we have a good chance of victory.
The teams head out to each position. I think back to our last capture the flag game where I got Katie back for putting the canaries all through the Hermes cabin and on me and Connor. Kinda lame now that I think of it but it's the principle of the thing, ya know? This time, there will be no vengeful actions, hopefully. Hermes and Demeter are on the same team so we will be working with each other this time, not against.
My position in the game is to lurk in the middle of our wooded area. When I see an offender from the opposing team, bam! I'll hit 'em with a good trick, maybe scare them with some Greek Fire, or something. Connor will be with me, as well as some of our buddies from Hermes. Only the best pranksters take this job.
A bit behind us is a mix of Demeter and Athena campers who are ready to ambush the attackers who might slip through our masterful defenses. If they are lucky enough to get past us, their luck definitely won't last to get them through the Athena campers, who already have plans pertaining to any possible situation.
Finally the game begins. Annabeth and Percy swiftly run by us, working with some other Athena campers on offense. The two were instrumental in their team winning last time, hopefully they can pull off another win this time. Percy and Annabeth make an unstoppable pair, the perfect team. No wonder the two together is thought of as Camp Half Bloods "Cutest Couple of the Year". We'll have to prank them soon for some fun.
While our team goes for a quick attack, the opposing side seems to want to wait a while before penetrating our borders. Each of us here is anxiously awaiting enemies' arrival so we can use our new sick pranks.
We're considering sending a flare of whoopie cushion rockets across the woods to provoke the enemies when the first at takers appear. They're all from Ares, the cabin that doesn't seem to have any sense of humor when it comes to our jokes. I'm with Leelan and Marco, some of my Hermes friends, when they arrive. We holler over to Connor, who's with Kathleen and Danny, to make them aware of our attack. They watch their wing of the border for more people heading closer. There are five Ares coming at us, Leelan quickly unleashes his whoopie cushion rockets, which were ready to go, straight at them. They're mostly harmless to them except for one attacker, who gets three of them straight at unfortunate parts. He retreats and claims he'll be back in a second. Probably not likely. That leaves four of them. Each of us gets to battle one and for the remaining kid, Marco occupies with a net of sharp gummy bears that jut out when they're touched. I'm not even sure how that one came to be.
Battling my opposer, half with swordsmanship the other half with New Years firecrackers, I look over for a second to see that Connor and his group are busy with more campers. They have two Ares and three Hephaestus to deal with. That's a little more difficult than what we have to deal with. I hope Connor's ok, even though things are still a little awkward between us.
After some more firecrackers and some needle work, Leelan, Marco, and I manage to capture the Ares attackers and put them in our custody. The last one has already surrendered to the devil gummy bears. Kathleen and Danny rush to where we are keeping them with two more Ares.
When they see me, Kathleen calls, "Travis! We got these two, but the three Hephaestus got by! Connor is still at the border but there's no one else coming, the Hephaestus are their offensive team!"
"Three of them? For now just let the further back defense try, they'll stop 'em." I respond, confident in our team. I don't see how the Athena kids could mess up, especially with the help of some Demeter campers. I wonder how our own offensive team is doing, led by Percy and Annabeth.
I leave them there, going to catch up with Connor. "Hey, how's things going over here?" I ask, almost hoping that there's someone to fight off.
"I have no idea what else they're planning, they can't be that confident in these three Hephaestus kids," he says nervously, observing the woods. It's getting dark, so shadows stretch around the damp forest floor and up surrounding trees. There's a thick canopy of leaves above our heads with only some gaps to see stars through. Peering through the trunks of trees, all we see is darkness and more foliage, no orange shirts or helmet plumes. If there were more coming, we would be able to hear the snaps and crunches of sticks and leaves under their feet on their way over here, I know we are loud.
Just as we were waiting, a lurch of Aphrodite campers burst into our area. That seems strange, they usually just stand around and wait for the game to end. Everyone is launched into combat, and I defeat my opponent easily. More come, they're systematically coming just to make us keep fending them off. I realize that they want us to become distracted by these low-grade swordsmen. It's just a distraction to keep us away from their real offensive team, and I turn around to see that more Hephaestus kids snuck past us as we were distracted by our own combat.
I call to my allies here, using the cattle call that Hermes used when he captured Apollos cows. Pretty clever idea actually, but that's not the point now. The call's purpose is to tell everyone with discretion that I found a trick, and am going to deal with it. That way, the other side won't know that we figured them out.
Before I go, I rush over to Connor. I see he's panicked and out of firecrackers and whoopie cushions. He is down to only his sword, which he is falling behind on a little. I quickly pop a firecracker on each side of his opposer and he falls over, giving Connor and I the chance to capture him into our side.
"Hey, thanks bro!", Connor says with a grin. He takes the extra supplies I hand him gratefully.
"No problem- gotta go!" I respond while heading back.
"Good luck, just make sure they're good, you're the best we've got!" he calls, and I give him a backwards thumbs up. We're still good brothers, no matter what happened in the past.
I backtrack closer to where our flag is kept. Throughout, I pass campers dueling each other and wonder if any got to the flag. As I pass, each duel seems evenly matched. I can hear the clash of each sword and shouts from camper to camper. The trees darken everything so I can't see who is who often, I see occasional familiar faces, like Clovis and Miranda, dueling. The damp leaves and sticks littered across the forest floor make a rhythmic crunching sound that follows the steady beat of my footsteps.
From behind me, I hear a voice, "There he is! Travis!". I turn around to see Percy and Annabeth running towards me. Their armor is still all intact, their orange camp tshirts standing out behind it. They haven't been in conflict on the other side yet. I wonder what they need me for.
When they reach me, Percy explains, "Hey man- we went out to their side but they have a trickier setup than we thought. It's all the work of the Hephaestus kids. We couldn't get through with just us and Malcom, so Annabeth thought we should come back here and get some back up, you know, as she would say, specialized assets with valuable preeminence. Now, don't ask me what preeminence is, but-"
"Shut up Seaweed Brain," Annabeth cuts in lightheartedly. Clearly Percy is used to this, when Annabeth is in charge of a plan, she gets right on the job. "What he means is that we need a couple people with specific skills to get us all in there to the flag. We decided that we need a Hermes camper and a Demeter camper. Naturally we headed straight for one of you Stolls. Would you be willing to come with us on offense this time?" With the offer, I can't decide. I've never been on offense before, I always stay back and defend our flag with tricks. Annabeth is guilting me into it with her logic and calculating stare, waiting for an answer. What really convinces me is Percy's pleading sea green eyes, knowing that I can help them get through the strategy.
"Sure I will! I definitely have plenty to trick them with," I answer, hoping for some new excitement.
"Great. Now we just have to get a Demeter camper, maybe Collin or Katie, to help us too. Their owner will help trip up the guards and get us the flag," Annabeth asserts, heading closer to the flag to find more Demeter kids. Percy and I follow, sharing a look of understanding about her battle-mode. Of all people, Percy understands.
When we are close to the flag, I spot Katie passing over a Hephaestus kid to a Dionysus camper to capture the enemy for a while. "How about Katie?" I suggest. "She's right there".
"Yeah, she's good. Head counselor of Demeter, right?" Percy agrees as we wind through the looming trees to the slight green clearing where they are.
When we reach her, Percy and Annabeth explain their situation as they explained to me. She looks unsure whether or not she wanted to do this or not. She glances over at me and then replies, "Fine, I'll go with you. Are you sure you want me to come though?"
"Why wouldn't we?" Percy replies.
"Ah, you can do it, Katie. I've seen you in your garden, you have all the powers to help," I add, seeming to boost her confidence a little. We head off toward the border and join Malcom at a thick oak tree where there's a map of the woods.
Annabeth and Malcom explain the plan to me and Katie of how we will reach their flag with Percy occasionally adding a sarcastic comment. He mimes our planned actions behind the two serious Athena strategists over-dramatically, lightening to mood.
When they are finished, Annabeth glances back and rolls her eyes, knowing what Percy was doing the whole time. Percy grins saying, "You gotta admit, that was pretty good parrying when I'm not even fighting anyone." I laugh, and even Annabeth acknowledges Percy's amusement. "Nice job, Seaweed Brain, you wanna medal?"
"A medal would actually be great, except then I would have to get one for everything else, like, I dunno, defeating a Titan Lord, traveling to the underworld at 12, surviving the Sea of Monsters, do I need to go on?" Percy quips, a happy glint in his eye.
"Yeah, except that I did all that with you," Annabeth replies, laughing as we head off across the border. "Let's go guys, we have a flag to capture".

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