Chapter Text
Since the day Katie Gardner met Travis Stoll, she swore she hated him. She’d been 10 years old, staying in the Hermes cabin. He was a year older than her, and had a mischievous smile. They had given her her own bunk, which she was trying to organize, especially trying to fit all her potted plants on the small ledge above her bed, when he spoke to her the first time.
“Hey newbie.” He sat straight down on her bed, “Katie right?” She nodded.
He picked up her stuffed bunny and examined it closely, causing her to blush bright pink. The bunny had been a gift from her gran, she’d had it since she was a baby, and she wasn’t prepared to part with it now, even if she was already 10.
“Cute bunny, people around here have sticky fingers, god of thieves you know, might want to watch it closely.” She figured it was him that had the sticky fingers, she said nothing though, Katie had never been much of a talker, especially to boys that touched her stuff.
“Are you gonna be here year round?” She nodded again, more focused on her plants. “Me and my brother are here year round too, our mom kinda sucks, plus being at camp is better than having to go to mortal school.”
“ Do you have any siblings?” Katie shook her head, “Mortal I mean, me and my brother are kinda an anomaly.”
“I’m Travis, by the way, I’m 12.” He put the bunny back down, putting her full attention on her, “Why do you have so many plants? They might not do well in here, might have to get the Demeter girls to help keep them from dying. They like helping though, they’re pretty nice. They don’t like me and Connor though. They say we talk too much and that we trample their strawberries.”
Katie put her full attention on him, how in the world did he talk so much. Katie rarely had that much to say, especially to new people, but the boy didn’t seem to have that many issues.
“Do you talk?” He asked finally, after a short beat, Katie nodded again, then spoke quietly.
“Yeah, sometimes.” She responded, “But not in new places as much.”
“So you’re just shy.” He said, sounding more excited than he should. “Oh you’ll get over that quick here, especially in this cabin if you end up staying here for a while.”
“We’ll see.” was all she said.
Across the Cabin, someone called to get his attention, drawing his focus away from her. Katie smiled a little, even though she moved from across the country, if people at camp were as weirdly friendly as he was, maybe being here wouldn’t be as scary as she thought.
“I gotta go,” He said, returning his attention to her, “See you around newbie.” He gave her bunny a final tap on the head, and then he was gone.
Katie got used to camp very quickly. She found it super easy to make friends, especially in the Hermes Cabin. Travis was still strangely friendly, along with his younger brother, Connor who was just as strange as he was. There was also Lou Ellen, who’s mom was Hecate, who Katie got along with so well it felt like breathing. Everything at camp was way better than she ever thought it would be, she was having the time of her life. But then, 3 days in, her bunny went missing.
“I haven’t seen it,” Lou Ellen promised, watching Katie tear apart her bunk, “Maybe you left it in your suitcase?”
“No,” Katie said, taking shirts out of her drawers haphazardly, “She was on my bed on my first day when I was talking to-”
Katie stopped. “Cute bunny, people around here have sticky fingers, god of thieves you know, might want to watch it closely.” She’d had the bunny when she was talking to Travis. She shoved the shirts back into their drawer with an UGH, and pushed past Lou Elle.
“Talking to who!?” the shorter girl asked, trailing after Katie.
“Travis.” Katie said, “I was talking to Travis on my first day.” She tried to ignore the look of dread that spread across Lou Ellen’s face.
As friendly as the Stolls had been since she got to camp, their reputation preseeded them. Katie knew just how sneaky the brothers could be, though she had yet to be a victim of their antics. She feared that that day had come.
“Where’s Travis?” Katie demanded, cornering Conner at his bunk.
“I am Travis.” He lied. Everyone said they were hard to tell apart but Katie didn’t get that, Travis had more freckles.
“No you’re not, where is he!” She took a step closer to him, backing him into the wall.
“Dining pavilion.” Connor was smiling, “He has something for you.”
Without another word, Katie turned and stormed out of her cabin, vaguely aware that almost everyone followed her out.
Blind rage wasn’t exactly the feeling that best described what Katie was feeling, but anger and annoyance coursed through her. Her temper caused her pace to quicken as she stormed through camp, other cabins began to follow.
The anger fizzled to embarrassment as the dining pavilion came into view. Travis was sitting criss-cross on the Hermes table, patiently waiting for the audience that was rapidly approaching. There, hanging over his head, was a bedsheet with “WELCOME TO CAMP NEWBIE!!” written in big ugly handwriting, her bunny tied by its ears to the bottom.
Katie blushed a deep red, finally aware of all the people that were crowding around her.
“I told you, Newbie, you should've kept an eye on your bunny.” He jumped off the table and made his way toward her.
“Those Hermes kids just have the stickiest fingers.” Travis was standing next to her in the grass now.
“You leave my stuff alone, Stoll.” She was in his face, trying to make herself taller and more intimidating.
He had the audacity to pat her on the head, using the 2 heads taller that he was to his advantage. Which made Katie madder, this stupid camp boy thought just because she was new he could walk all over her. There wasn’t much she could do though, other than vow to get revenge. People were giggling around her, she wasn’t sure if it was at her or at Travis and his antics but it fueled her anger.
There was a strange cooling feeling in her stomach, tugging her gut. The giggles quickly turned to gasps as the grass around Travis’ feet grew and wrapped around his shoes. Katie took several steps back, wanting to stay away from the strangeness. Travis was panicking, trying to quickly move his feet, but it was no use, the grass was turning to hard roots, anchoring the boy to the ground. The cooling feeling got bigger, spreading up and through her fingers.
“Katie stop!” He demanded, sounding more and more scared as the roots rose above his knees.
It was only then she realized what was happening, fear ripped through her, she didn’t know how to make it stop.
“I don’t know how!” Katie was shaking, the cold feeling growing colder. The roots kept growing.
A flash of green light made everyone gasp. A glowing emblem appeared over Katie’s head, the smell of plants and bread filled the pavilion.
“Katie Gardner,” Chiron announced, seemingly coming out of nowhere, “welcome daughter of Demeter.