Secrets

Steve and Fruit
Have you ever wondered why Steve has a weird obsession with fruit-related pranks? Well, now the reason behind Steve's strange antics has come to light!

Apparently, Steve loves playing fruit pranks because his mother owned a fruit orchard. Before Steve came to camp, his mother was killed in a car accident, so his fruit pranks are a sort of tribute to her.

Encounter with the Hunters
This is a short story about what would happen if Hazel and Cat ran into the Hunters of Artemis.

Hazel's POV

Whatever you do, don't agree to go along with the camp Strawberry truck. Nothing good will ever come out of it.

It was just a month after Jack's death, but it felt like it was just yesterday. I really needed to get my mind off of things, so when Chiron offered this chance, I sprang at the opportunity and went along for the ride.

I was sitting in between two massive crates filled with the delicious fruit, right next to some daughter of Hecate. I didn't really know her very well, and wasn't ready to start a conversation.

"Man, this ride is really bumpy." The girl exclaimed.

I looked up from my hands to get a closer look at her. She had slightly pale skin, which was fairly unusual at camp. Her hair was straight, black, and had aquamarine tips. Her eyes were a deep blue.

I nodded, and then went back to staring at my hands.

"We're coming up to our first stop." The driver called. When the truck stopped, I opened the back of the vehicle and hopped down.

The three of us pulled out about one-sixth of the strawberries. "You girls wait out here while I take these in to the restaurant." The driver said while hoisting a crate.

I leaned back against the white strawberry truck and closed my eyes.

"Are you all right?" The girl asked.

I opened my eyes. "Yeah." My voice held no enthusiasm.

"She speaks!" She raised her arms in a celebratory fashion. I just closed my eyes again.

Suddenly, I heard a noise that sounded like a dog growling, just 100 times louder. My eyes flew open to find a very large wolf landing on top of a car.

The girl cursed. "Really?!? A Lycanthrope?!?"

"What the Hades is that thing?!?" I shouted over the ruckus.

"Just the Greek version of a werewolf." The girl answered.

It was my turn to curse.

"We have to get it away from the mortals!" The girl shouted. My arm reached around my back, seeking for an arrow, but then I realized that I had left it back at camp.

"How?" I asked. "We don't have weapons!"

The girl smiled. "I have magic."

"Ok. Would fire work?" The girl shot me a confused look. She must not have heard yet.

We both raced closer to the beast. I quickly shot a burst of fire towards it, which might have been a bad idea. As soon as it turned towards us, I felt a wave of exhaustion wash over me. I really hadn't used my fire since the battle with the skeletons, and I was still recovering from that.

"Nice!" The girl called as we dashed towards the woods.

"Thanks." I breathed heavily, trying to make my legs go faster. "I'm Hazel, by the way."

"Cat." She answered. "Daughter of Hecate. You're Apollo, right?"

"Yeah. Now, we'd better stop talking unless we want to become dog food."

We ran in silence until we reached the woods. The Lycanthrope was still hot on our trail.

Suddenly, Cat turned around and stretched one hand out. A giant canyon stretched out between the us and the monster.

I was positive that there'd by one more Lycanthrope in Tartarus,

Chapter 8.5
Pnut9282 Wrote this and decided to post it here. Whoop. It's Hazel Anderson's POV through the dance.

Chapter 8…POINT FIVE

Hazel’s POV

Adam and Jason seemed to be having a good time.

I surely wasn’t.

Even in the large crowd, I couldn’t shake the awkward feeling that everyone was staring at me. My two companions cut through the mass of people easily, but even while walking in their wake, I was bumped around like a ping-pong ball. I wished that Cat was with us. She had always gotten me through these dances, but my friend had disappeared with Ty earlier in the evening.

We finally reached an island in the sea of teenagers- the snack table.

“I have to admit- this is a pretty cool dance!” Jason chirped while munching on a sugar cookie.

“Ooh, remember the one in eighth grade with the-“ Adam started.

“Balloons and the eggs? Of course I remember!”

Jason launched into a long winded story that I didn’t really pay much attention to. I kept glancing over my shoulder, longing to head down to the beach.

My thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of Cliff. She looked striking in a midnight blue dress that set off her auburn blonde hair and orange tips. She wore strapped sandals on her feet and generally looked fantastic.

“Hey guys! Enjoying the dance?” She asked while mainly facing Jason.

The guys gave enthusiastic replies and I managed a half-hearted “Yeah”.

Cliff led Jason back onto the dance floor, leaving Adam and I in an awkward silence.

“So…” Adam started. “What do you usually do at these dances?”

“Normally Cat and I either sneak off to my cabin or we stand here and try to get through the night without killing anyone.”

“Ah.” Adam awkwardly rocked from one foot to the other.

I looked over my shoulder again. Why did the stupid dance have to be tonight?

Suddenly, Adam grabbed my wrist. I jumped. His hand was freezing. “Come on,” he said while dragging me towards the dance floor. “I’m getting you to have fun if it kills me.”

“Oh, it might…” I muttered. My attempts to wrench my arm out of his grip were futile. I closed my eyes, focusing on my wrist heating up. Unfortunately, that caused me to bump into several campers and lose my concentration.

By then we had made it to the center of the mob. He had just let go of my (now) numb wrist when everyone suddenly got quiet.

Chiron (who usually kept to the Big House during the dances) was walking through the crowd towards us.

“You three had better come with me.” Chiron’s voice was somber.

As I looked to my right to find Jason, my heart started pounding. Cat had been missing….Chiron’s ominous tone…was she hurt? I couldn’t have Cat die. Especially not tonight…when four years ago…

And then we were in the Big House.

“What’s going on?” Adam asked.

“I don’t know how to say this, but…”

Here it comes.

“It’s snowing in Arizona.”

Well, I wasn’t expecting that.

“Really?” I tried to leave the relief out of my voice.

Chiron nodded. “And I have a suspicion that it may have something to do with your friend Cat. I will have to look into the matter, but for now, could you three find her and talk about this?”

“Sure.” Jason sounded a little shaken. “Let’s go.”

22:15, July 15, 2015 (UTC)22:15, July 15, 2015 (UTC)22:15, July 15, 2015 (UTC)22:15, July 15, 2015 (UTC)22:15, July 15, 2015 (UTC)22:15, July 15, 2015 (UTC)22:15, July 15, 2015 (UTC)22:15, July 15, 2015 (UTC)22:15, July 15, 2015 (UTC)22:15, July 15, 2015 (UTC)22:15, July 15, 2015 (UTC)22:15, July 15, 2015 (UTC)WriterBucketList (talk) 22:15, July 15, 2015 (UTC)

“This isn’t like her.”

We were avoiding the dance area, making our way towards the woods.

“What do you mean?”

I mean that Cat’s powers have malfunctioned before, but nothing this big. And nothing 3,000 miles away.”

“So you’re saying that she’s not the one making it snow?”

“No, I’m sure that something’s wrong, and it’s her powers that are doing it. I’m just saying that it’s not her fault. She’s not doing it intentionally.”

We finally ran up to Cat who was conversing with Ty by a tree. I prepared a cheerful tone.

“Guess what?” I asked.

“What?” Ty responded.

“It’s snowing!” Jason chirped. I internally facepalmed.

Cat looked at us like we were crazy. “Hazel, Jason, Adam. I think that there was something in the punch,” Cat said.

“No. You don’t understand-“ I started.

“I understand perfectly that it is not.” Cat’s voice started to rise.

“It’s snowing in Arizona!” Adam yelled, throwing his hands up.

“Arizona. As in you’re-going-to-get-your-feet-burned-off-if-you-come-here-in-the-middle-of-summer Arizona?” Ty blanched.

“Yes.” Jason drew the word out.

We just stood there for a couple minutes. Music pounded out of the nearby speakers, punctuated by the hubbub of the dance. Cat started singing quietly. I recognized the song- Home by Daughtry.

Finally, the song ended. A couple of Aphrodite cabin members had drifted over and joined us. I sighed and decided to address the elephant in the room.

“Cat?” I whispered.

“Yes?” She replied.

“Why is it snowing?”

All eyes were on Cat. She let out a short sigh.

“I don’t know,” She finally responded.

“Really? Cat. Seriously?” An Aphrodite cabin member exclaimed. This was not going in the direction that I hoped it would.

Cat shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe. I could be out of control. Sometimes they work without my knowing. Maybe the snow is a sign. Maybe,” Cat finished.

“Maybe, you should try to control it,” Another Aphrodite cabin member said. I started to get angry. Who were these girls to tell Cat what to do?

Then it all went downhill.

The world suddenly got brighter. I glanced towards the source of the light.

It was…the sun?

Uh oh.

“Cat!” A camper screamed. Seriously? Cat is kind of unpredictable, but this was not her fault.

Cat looked up, anger and hurt brewing in her now deep-blue eyes. She turned and started to leave. I quickly grabbed her wrist, wanting to comfort her, defend her, something.

Then I was flat on my back five feet from where I had just been a second ago.

“She can shield, can’t she?” Jason questioned. I nodded in response, still in shock as Adam helped me up.

Cat hurt me…

When I looked up, she was gone. Ty started walking off in her direction, but stopped when Abby started speaking.

“She’s gone but the snow is still here. Why did she do that?” The girl complained.

Suddenly, Abby was on the ground, a shadowy creature pinning her down. I drew in a quick breath. Was it…

Then I noticed the thing had been summoned by Ty.

Thank you, Ty!

He quickly jerked his hand back and disappeared. Once he was gone, I started to pace, my fingers rubbing my temples and my eyes squeezed shut.

“Are you okay?” Jason questioned.

“Fine,” I shot back. “Just trying to process all this-“

I was interrupted by Abby. “What about me? I was just attacked by that…” She spluttered. “Thing over there!”

“Yes, you were.” I stormed over to the girl. “And in my opinion, you deserve much worse.”

Adam and Jason stepped away in shock, but Abby stood her ground.

“I’m not the one who’s making it snow in Arizona,” she scoffed.

“Do you think she wants that to happen? It’s not her fault! Especially not the sun. That’s on my Dad. And why do you have to make her feel so bad about it?” I shouted.

Abby was aghast. “She just hurt you. Why are you defending her?”

“Because I know Cat, and you clearly don’t.” I stormed off.

My feet automatically steered towards the Fireworks beach. Adam and Jason quickly caught up with me.

“I don’t know if I should be scared or impressed,” Adam exclaimed.

“Sorry about that.” I let out a breath. “They were really getting on my nerves. I swear, Cliff is the only one in that cabin who I can tolerate.

“So, what now?” Jason asked.

“You guys go find Chiron. I’ll look for Cat and Ty,” I answered, turning around and jogging towards the beach.

Two shapes in the distant water proved my theory. Cat and Ty were definitely out there.

Then I looked to the side. I was here. Nobody knew. I could just sit here for a while. I could still…

Adam and Jason ran up to me. “Chiron’s evacuating everyone into their cabins. He’ll be here in a sec,” Adam said.

I noticed that Cat and Ty were coming out of the water, both grinning and chatting.

I drew in a big breath to speak, but my tone came out a lot sharper then I wanted it to. “When you both are done with the small talk, Chiron would like to talk to us.”

Cat quickly turned towards me. “Hazel! I’m so, so sorry. You know I wouldn’t hurt you intentionally right?” She rushed.

“I’m okay Cat. Really.” I smiled. Cat returned with a larger one.

“I believe the time to apologize is behind us now.” Chiron galloped towards us, “It appears this is not anyone’s fault. The gods have grown weaker. No time to waste. The quest has begun. Pack your stuff. Quickly now.”

I hurriedly dashed to the Apollo cabin. My siblings were buzzing worriedly, all still dressed in their formal wear. I ignored their panicked questions and grabbed my bow, sheath, sword, and backpack. I stopped to glance at the photograph of the strawberry fields and sighed. Not tonight.

My feet pounded across the eerily empty clearing towards the Big House, where I met up with Cat.

Neither one of us glanced towards the other for a couple of seconds. Then Cat suddenly spoke.

“Are we good?”

I smiled, and this time it was sincere. “Yeah. We’re good.”

Ty soon joined us, followed by Adam and Jason. Chiron galloped towards us.

“Split up. You will find your enemy somewhere near Olympus. Check other big places, attractions. Try to fix them and help as much as you can. When the sun sets on the fifteenth day, gog to Mount Olympus. Then it won’t be too late.”

“So we just go all the way ‘cross the states then come back here?” Jason complained. Chiron nodded.

“I call Hazel!” Adam yelled. Seriously?

“So do I,” Jason said hastily.

Cat raised her eyebrows. “Someone’s popular.” I shot her a desperate look.

“I’ll go with you,” Ty told Cat.

“Okay,” She affirmed.

“Go,” Chiron encouraged. We all sat in silence for a couple seconds. Then Ty put his hand in the middle.

“Come on,” he coaxed. I put my hand in on top of the boys’ hands.

“Cat.” I smiled. She sighed and reluctantly put her hand on mine.

“Team something!” Ty shouted as we all raised our hands in unison.

And then I was walking away from my home off to some crazy quest with two boys I hardly knew.

But I didn’t look back.