stollen things || c. stoll

2.7 ~ First Name Basis

Percy and Annabeth returned with a mostly unharmed Grover Underwood. They also returned with the actual Golden Fleece. When they placed it on the tree, it healed it. Too well. Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus, popped out of it and was very very important. And also kind of a bitch. She didn't think much of us Demeter kids, but she had definite trauma so I let it slide.

Grover and I actually grew quite close when he came back. We spent a lot of time in the fields, and I even met his nymph girlfriend. He was one of the only satyrs to have been able to actually score a dryad, and I thought that was pretty cool. You had to have serious game to get a dryad to fall for you.

I also spent most of July worrying about junior year. Katie assured me that it wouldn't be any worse than sophomore year, but then again she was a prodigy at everything she did. Connor told me the opposite. He said it would be Hell and he also didn't give me any advice or tell me Hey, Callaghan. Good luck in the worst year of high school!! Not that I was bothered. Travis, who had graduated the previous spring, told me that I would live and if there were any monster attacks at all to come to camp. We were all worried about the inevitable upcoming war, so most of my friends decided that with one monster attack we'd come straight back.

It was a very sad August, because many of the Senior Counselors were graduating and leaving. This included Katie. She said she would come back to camp on her breaks from college, but not during the summers. So we had our giant end-of-season bonfire and received our beads: a little image of the Golden Fleece.

The best part? Tantalus was an early sleeper. The campfire ran late into the night, and afterwards the campers went to bed. Or so most thought. Some Apollo and Hermes kids had set up a smaller fire deeper into the North Woods. A mostly exclusive fire at that.

I went back to the cabin with everyone else just like planned, and got in bed. I stayed awake, laying down until I heard most of the younger campers slowed breathing. I slowly got up, slipped on my shoes, and snuck out the door. Staying hidden in the shadows of the porch, I peered out to see if any harpies were waiting nearby to eat us. So far, so good.

I slipped behind Hera's honorary cabin and rushed off to the woods. Once I was in the cover of the trees, I slowed down. I could easily have the trees cover and hide me in case the Harpies showed up.

I didn't see any lights anywhere, so I thought I might have gotten lost. I considered climbing a tree to check, but that was too risky. I decided to try and use the earth to feel where the most vibrations were. East. I knew I wasn't going the right way. I turned to start that way when I was suddenly picked up off the ground. My shriek was muffled by a hand.

"You know, for someone with the plants and earth on her side, you're pretty loud."

I looked up to meet the bright blue eyes of my not-so-mystery captor.

"Stoll, if you don't put me down-"

He had already started running to the clearing where the fire was set up. I could do nothing but hold onto his neck as he took me to the fire.

"You can put me down now, Connor-"

"Connor?" He grinned.

"S-Stoll. You can put me down now, Stoll." I cursed myself.

"If I didn't know any better, Maddy, I'd say you're warming up to me."

"I am not." I huffed.

We reached the clearing, and he set me down. "We've arrived!" He announced. "Let's start this party, shall we?"

Cups of soda were handed around, and everyone sat around the fire, thinking back on this summer and those of previous years. There was laughing, there were some tears, and there were lots and lots of stories.

The guests included much of Hermes, most of Apollo, almost all of Aphrodite and Hephaestus, both of Dionysus' sons, basically every last-year camper, and just me from my cabin. A large portion of the campers, but all the older ones. We sang some more well-wishing songs for the graduates while still trying to keep our voices down, which brought out louder laughter. I kept an 'eye' on the movement around us to make sure that no one was coming to eat us.

I felt an arm toss over my shoulder. "Don't you know anything about personal space bubbles?" I muttered.

"So, you're not staying all year round?" Connor whispered to me, ignoring my comment.

"Aw, don't tell me that the Connor Stoll is going to miss me. I'm so touched." I laughed lightly at his pout. "But no, I'm not staying. I have to go back to boarding school."

"Can I get a goodbye kiss?" He said, wearing his crooked grin again.

Placing a gentle hand on his chin, I touched our noses together. "Not this year, Stoll."

"Are you guys gonna do it or do we have to lock you in the stables together?" A voice called out.

"Very funny," I rolled my eyes, and realized that I was still holding Connors face, mere inches away from him. Apparently he noticed this too, because we both stepped away at the same time, faces bright red.

Boyfriend.

"Right, well, I'm gonna head back to my cabin. Some footsteps are coming towards here and they're getting pretty close." I turned on my heel and walked in the direction away from where the vibrations were coming. I got almost far enough out of earshot, but I did hear one last Stoll brother conversation of the year.

"How does she do that?"

"She's amazing."

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short chappie xx i am SO tired guys you don't even know also how are you all? i'm ever so thankful that you guys are enjoying this

i'm going up like a hundred views every couple days ?? y'all are so good to me

also i don't really proofread these chapters so if you see a wild mistake please let me know so that i can fix it