Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson

"Wow this is so cool!" 12 year old Katie Gardner said. She had just been whisked away from her afterschool band practice when the conductor turned into a hellhound and tried to eat her. Apparently, her school's janitor, Mr. Glen, was a satyr, so he saved her and brought her to Camp Half Blood, tuba and all. She found out that she was a demigod and was being given the tour of camp by another demigod named Emily.

"Yup, that's the climbing wall. If you're not fast enough, lava explodes from the top!" Emily said enthusiastically.

"Lava?"

"Of course! A little challenge never hurt anyone," Emily said. The two walked over to the cabins.

"These are the cabins. You stay in your parent's cabin. I'm a daughter of Ares so I stay in cabin five," Emily said pointing toward the cabin with the barbed wire and the horrible paint job.

"That looks like a scary place to live," Katie said. Emily laughed.

"Not really, I find it a lot more appealing than the Aphrodite cabin," she said.

"So where do I stay?" Katie asked looking around.

"Well, we don't know who your godly parent is since you just got here. It might be a while since you're claimed so I guess you'll have to go to cabin eleven," Emily said walking towards a cabin with peeling brown paint and a caduceus over the door. Katie followed lugging her tuba along with her.

"What's cabin eleven?"

"Hermes cabin. Hermes is the god of messengers, travelers and thieves so he pretty much lets everyone stay there," Emily said. She walked up the steps and opened the door, dragging Katie along with her.

"Luke! We've got another one!" Emily shouted trying to get Luke's attention over the chaos of the Hermes cabin. A tall, handsome boy walked over. He smiled a welcoming smile.

"Hi there! I'm Luke! Welcome to the Hermes cabin!" Suddenly all of the chaos stopped and the campers started whispering to each other about the newcomer.

"Another one?"

"She's cute!"

"Undetermined or determined?"

"Undetermined," Emily said. A wave to groans flooded the cabin. Katie tried not to feel hurt.

"Hey now! No need to be disappointed! I'm sure…" Luke stopped and looked at Katie.

"Katie," she said.

"Right! I'm sure Katie will be a great addition to the Hermes cabin!" Luke said trying to sound upbeat. A few campers simply shrugged then they returned to what they were doing before she arrived.

"Well, I've got to go. Good luck, Katie. Bye, Luke," Emily said walking out to the cabin.

"Here," Luke said taking her tuba and leading Katie over to an empty space on the floor, "You can stay right here."

"On the floor?" she asked confused.

"Yeah, we don't have any bunks left and it's getting kind of crowded so some of the campers just have to stick with the floor," he explained. Katie nodded and sat down on her space.

"Make yourself cozy. In about five minutes we're all going to head off to the arena, ok?" Katie nodded and Luke walked away to end a fight between some of the other campers. Katie sighed and started fiddling with the hem of her shirt.

"Sup newbie!" An obnoxious voice cried out. Katie looked up and a boy about her age with curly brown hair and blue eyes stared down at her. She stood up, trying to talk face to face but he was still two inches taller than her.

"Who are you?" she asked, annoyance rang clear in her voice. She didn't mean to be so cold but something about this boy just rubbed her the wrong way. The boy flinched at her tone but quickly recovered and his smirk reappeared on his face.

"Travis Stoll, son of Hermes, at your service," he said bowing mockingly. Katie started laughing.

"Ha ha ha. Your name is pretty ironic isn't it? Stoll and stole! You know, since your dad is the god of thieves," she said laughing. Travis had heard that joke plenty of time, and didn't find anything funny about it but something inside him just wanted to satisfy this girl so he laughed with her.

"Yeah, I guess it's pretty funny," he said laughing along with her. Just then another camper walked up to Katie.

"Travis, who's this?" he asked. Katie was beyond confused.

"You have a twin?" she asked. Travis groaned.

"No! We just look alike! I'm older! I'm a year older! We are just brothers! I'm so sick of everyone thinking we're twins!" he said agitated. The other boy laughed at his brother's annoyance.

"I'm Connor," he said shaking Katie hand.

"Katie," she said.

"Line up campers! Also remember to bring your weapons!" Luke called out from the doorway. A rush of campers ran to their spots, whether on the floor or on a bunk, and started rummaging through their things. Katie turned to the brothers.

"Weapons?"

"Yup, we're going to sword fighting," Connor said.

"But- I don't have a weapon, or any training!" Katie said. Her stomach churned.

"Hey, it's cool, I'm sure Luke will go easy on you," Travis said putting a hand on her shoulder trying to comfort her. She shrugged his hand off and walked into the line.

They walked over to the arena and immediately people started forming pairs and started sparring with one another. Katie walked over to Luke.

"Hey, Luke?" she said trying to get his attention.

"Hmm?"

"I don't have a weapon," she said.

"Huh, I guess you don't. That's a problem. Don't worry, we'll fix that!" He walked over to a closet in the back of the arena and took out a sword.

"This is celestial bronze. It can only harm monsters and half bloods. Not mortals. We demigods are more vulnerable because we can be harmed by both steel and celestial bronze," he said handing her the sword. She gingerly held it in her hands. Luke laughed.

"Don't worry! All you have to do is learn how to fight and you'll be ok!" he said reassuring her. She nodded, still very cautious.

"Okay! Has everyone found a partner? Connor, you spar with me. Travis, you can spar with Katie," Luke said. Katie walked over to Travis.

"Hey partner!" he said. He swung his sword back and forth and in circles as if to taunt her. Katie bristled.

"Let's get this over with," she growled more eager than ever.

"Wow, feisty!" Travis said readying himself. Katie awkwardly held her sword up, uncertain. Travis laughed and Katie glared. She swung out at him but he quickly deflected it. Her grip on her sword faltered and it came clattering to the ground. Katie was about to bend over and pick it up but Travis's sword was pointing at her throat. She gulped.

"I win," he said mockingly.

"Shut up," she growled. He laughed and lowered his sword. Embarrassed, she picked up her sword and faced him again.

"Again? Wow Katie, you're persistent!" Travis said. Katie rolled her eyes and gingerly lifted up her sword.

"You know you have to tighten your grip more or else the slightest bit of movement will knock your sword out of your hand," Travis said. Katie's grip tightened choking the hilt. Her knuckles turned white. Travis put his sword in its sheath. He walked over to her and put his hand over hers. He slowly pried her fingers off of the hilt and loosened her grip, but not enough to make the sword fall out of her hand.

"There," he said. They both looked at each other. They were dangerously close. Katie's breathing quickened but she quickly snapped out of it. She put a hand on his chest and with all of her strength; she pushed him back, waking him up in the process. He stumbled back and caught his footing before he could fall flat on the ground. She held up her sword threateningly.

"Let's do this," she said.

Travis walked into the mess hall pavilion along with his siblings and slowly sat down at the Hermes table. He didn't realize how strong that Katie was until it was too late. A dryad came over and offered him a plate of grapes. He was about to reach over and take the plate, but his arms, now covered in bruises, couldn't move any higher than right below his shoulders. The dryad gave him a strange look then gave the grapes to another Hermes kid. He sighed and slowly lowered his stiff arms.

"Man you look like you got beat real bad!" Connor said sitting down next to him.

"Yeah, Katie is definitely much stronger than she looks," he said. A dryad set a bowl of mashed potatoes down on the table.

"Hey Connor. Can you pass me those mashed potatoes?" Travis asked.

"I could," he said but he didn't do anything and started spooning some potatoes onto his plate.

"If my arms didn't hurt so much, I would be choking you right now," Travis said. Connor laughed.

Katie skipped over to the Hermes table, all washed up and changed into a new Camp Half Blood T-shirt. She sat down on the opposite end of the table from the two brothers. A girl, Wendy, sat down next to her.

"So, I saw you kick Travis's butt in sword fighting today," Wendy said. Katie laughed.

"Yup," she said laughing. She reached over and grabbed some grapes. A dryad handed her a plate of olive pizza.

"Thanks," she told the dryad.

"So, what is it with you and Travis anyway?" Wendy asked.

"What do you mean?" she asked popping a grape in her mouth.

"I mean, do you have a thing for him?" Katie started choking.

"What?" she asked weakly. Wendy smiled knowingly.

"I mean, you two were pretty close in the arena, is there something going on?" she asked.

"NO!" Katie said quickly. The entire Hermes cabin looked at her, including Travis. She slowly shrunk back into her seat.

"There is nothing going on between me and Travis," she whispered to Wendy. Wendy shook her head and started laughing in amusement.

"Whatever you say."

"What was that all about?" Connor asked. Travis shrugged and continued trying to take a bite out of his pizza.

"So, what is it with you and Katie?" Connor asked. Travis smirked.

"Well, as usual, the ladies can't stay away from me," he said. Connor rolled his eyes.

"Not that. It's just, she's acting as if you punched her grandmother in the face," Connor said. Travis shrugged.

"Did you do anything?" he asked. Travis shook his head no.

"She's definitely different," Connor said eating a grape. Travis nodded.

"You have no idea," he said.

After they finished eating, they all headed out to the amphitheater and had the sing-a-long. The fires rose higher than ever and everyone was having a great time. After the campfire, everyone headed back to their cabins to wash up and go to bed. The Hermes kids entered the cabin and some immediately started fighting over the bathroom. Katie sat down in her little square and watched in amusement as everyone tried to do everything they needed to before lights out.

"Hey Katie," she heard Travis say. She looked up and saw him hold a bunch of random things in his arms.

"Travis? What's this?" she asked. He set the things down in her square.

"They're for you," he said, "Just a few things I thought you might need, like a sleeping bag, some more clothes, and some toiletries." She smiled.

"Thanks, but where did you get all of this stuff?" she asked. He shrugged.

"Let's just say that there may be a few things missing from the camp store," he said. She hit him on the arm.

"Ow!"

"Don't tell me you stole those things!" she said scolding him.

"Geez Katie, I bought them, chill out!" he said.

"Oh, sorry," she said.

"No problem. Oh and to set the record straight, I did buy those," he said walking away. Once she was out of earshot, he said, "No I did not."

Katie woke up to the sound of screaming. She quickly got up to see what the heck was going on. She only saw a camper with shaving cream in her hair and Travis and Connor Stoll practically on the floor from laughing so hard. She rolled her eyes.

So immature, she thought. She got out of her sleeping bag and grabbed another Camp Half Blood T-shirt and some jeans. We went into the bathroom, got changed, brushed her teeth, fixed her hair, and washed her face. By the time she left the bathroom there was an enormously long line for the bathroom.

"That took a long time!" a girl said and she shoved past Katie and into the bathroom.

"Sorry," Katie muttered walking to Wendy.

"Next time, be faster in the bathroom. There are so many people in this cabin so we have to be quick in bathroom time," Wendy said.

"Sorry, I didn't know," Katie said. Wendy shrugged.

"It's not a big deal. I made the same mistake on my first day," she said.

Eventually everyone in the Hermes cabin was ready so they all headed out to breakfast. By the time they got to the mess hall pavilion, every other cabin was there besides them.

"Oops," Katie muttered. They all sat down and they were given pancakes and hash browns by the dryads. Everyone lined up and gave some of their food to the gods. When Katie sat back down, she immediately started devouring her food. Travis went over and sat down next to her.

"Dang Katie. If you attacked the way you're attacking those pancakes, you would be able to take down an entire army of monsters," he said. She punched him in his still sore shoulder. He winced but tried not to show that he was in pain.

Breakfast went by and the Hermes cabin went to the pegasus stables. When they arrived there was an instructor named Silena, the daughter of Aphrodite. She was patient and kind especially when Katie screwed up really badly and almost fell off the the pegasus, when it was in the air. Silena was nice. Travis on the other hand, was not. He would laugh every time she almost on pegasus poo and he would snicker after all of her failed attempts to get on the pegasus. Katie was loosing her patience.

"Hey Travis, if you think that this is so easy, why don't you try it?" she asked him.

"Fine, I will!" He walked over to the pegasus named Guido and hopped on. She watched as he was lifted into the sky and she glared at him every time he looked down at her as if to say, I told you so! She grumpily started to go to another pegasus when she slipped on some hay and fell down, hurting her ankle in the process.

Travis looked down once more to gloat at Katie but he saw her clutching her ankle, clearly in pain. He then instructed Guido to the ground and ran over to Katie.

"Katie! Are you ok?" he asked.

"Shut up, Travis," she said wincing slightly. He smiled. She was definitely fine. He helped her up and helped her walk a bit before she could walk on her own. After Katie went over to talk to Wendy, Travis went over to Connor.

"You care about her," Connor accused.

"What?" Travis asked.

"You. Care. About. Katie." Connor said. Travis shook his head. He was just being friendly, wasn't he?

After the pegasus stables, they went to archery, then lunch. After lunch, they had free time and Katie decided to go on a walk. She somehow ended up in the strawberry fields so she had to walk all of the way back to the Hermes cabin. After free time, they had canoeing, and arts and crafts. Finally they went to dinner to go eat.

After dinner everyone went to the campfire where the Apollo campers were leading the sing-a-long. Katie sat down on the Hermes bench and Wendy sat down next to her. Travis and Connor sat down next to their other siblings. The fire rose higher as everyone was having a great time. Travis often caught himself watching Katie. He couldn't help but notice that she liked her marshmallows burnt to the crisp, when she sang, her D was a bit sharp, and when she smiled, a cute little dimple appeared on her right cheek. He didn't know why, but he just wanted to talk to her so he grabbed his bag of marshmallows and walked towards Katie.

"Hey Katie," he said. She took a bite out of her s'more and waved 'hi'. He couldn't help but notice that she got some chocolate on the side of her mouth.

"I came here to see if you needed some more marshmallows!" Travis said trying to look for some material to make a conversation. Katie looked around then held up her half full bag of marshmallows.

"I think we're good," she said. Well that didn't work, Travis thought.

"Oh… ok," he said awkwardly walking back over to his seat. Katie just shrugged to Wendy and laughed. Travis sighed. He continued watching Katie having fun and singing along with the Apollo campers. He then noticed that the grass suddenly looked greener where she was. She continued laughing and having fun, not noticing. Travis's eyes widened when a few flowers popped up around her feet.

Suddenly a gasp fell through the amphitheatre. Katie turned to Wendy in confusion.

"What's going on?" she asked. Wendy didn't say anything but pointed at the air above Katie's head. Katie looked up and jumped to her feet in surprise.

"Oh my Zeus!" she cried. Thunder rumbled from above. There was an image of wheat made from a green mist floating above her head. She looked around at all of the campers, confused. She turned to Chiron.

"Demeter," said Chiron, "Goddess of harvest and agriculture. Hail Katie Gardner, Daughter of the Earth Goddess."

Travis was shocked. He watched Katie as she walked over to the Demeter bench and watched her make new friends. After sing-a-long was over, and when they were supposed to leave for their cabins, Travis went over to talk to Katie.

"So, you're a daughter of Demeter," he said.

"Yup," she nodded.

"So I guess you won't be staying with us anymore…" he said. She nodded.

"Yeah, I move into the Demeter cabin tonight."

"Y-You won't forget your friends in the Hermes cabin, will you?" he asked awkwardly. She rolled her eyes.

"Yes, I won't forget about Wendy," she said. His heart fell into his stomach.

"And… I won't forget about you," she said. He looked up and smiled.

"Thanks," he said. She opened her mouth to say more but her siblings called out to her to go to bed.

"Well, I've got to go," she said. He nodded.

"Bye."

"Bye, Travis," she said and ran over to her siblings. Travis smiled and began walking over to his cabin.

"This is the beginning of something beautiful," he thought to himself. Turns out, he was right.

I hope you liked Something Beautiful! REVIEW!

~ xhiddendreamx