The Half-Blood Magician, ch. 12: I Join a Prank War

I spent a good amount of time at Camp Half-Blood. And one night, I was woken up by muffled screams from the next cabin over. I went outside to see what was up, along with most of the rest of the camp. The noise was coming from the Aphrodite cabin next door. Desighner shoes were flying out the windows, and a could here jumbled phrases:

"Oh no you don't! "

"Give that back!"

"No,I am!"

Two kids from the Hermes cabin, 14-or-15-year-old boys with brown hair that looked close enough to be twins, were standing off to the side, laughing their asses off. Then the noise in cabin 10 stopped abruptly. A dozen teenage girls mobbed the Hermes boys. They didn't stand a chance. I saw one girl with lipstick and-oooh-white face powder. Another shouted-"Incantare:Parva vestimenta!"

Anna shook her head sarcastically. "Boys vs. Aphrodite girls. Who to root for?" She busted out laughing, along with everyone else. Personally, I felt kind of sorry for the boys, but it was funny.

The next morning, I ran into the boys in the woods. I cracked up, and they turned to glare at me. Finally I calmed down enough to say-

"Sorry, it's just, you look so stupid!" I started laughing again.

One of them, who I noticed was slightly taller than his brother, had white powder covering his face and so much red lipstick he looked like a clown. The other one's clothes were way too small, so he looked like a total dork.

"Aphrodite curses?"

They nodded.

"That sucks. What did those girls have against you?"

They got mischevous smiles on their faces.

"Well, we got this mango." Said the taller brother.

"And we spray painted it gold." Said the shorter one.

"And we wrote'for the hottest' on it and threw it in the cabin yesterday evening while they were at archery practice." Said the taller brother.

"And they were fighting, and well, you saw. It was hilarious. But then-"

Both brothers shuddered.

"I didn't know they made permenant make-up. I can't get this stuff off no matter what I try." The taller one said.

"And that new counselor, Silena, cast a spell so that all my clothes are two sizes too small." The shorter one said.

I sighed."I hate Aphrodite girls. What's your names?" I asked.

"I'm Travis." Said the taller brother.

"I'm Connor." Said the shorter brother.

"I'm Stella." I told them both. "So, are you going to get back at them?"

"I've gotta get this stuff off my face first." Travis headed off in the direction of the creek. "And I'm gonna go try to fix my clothes." Connor headed in the direction of the Hermes cabin.

"Just me, then? Alright."

I went spying on the Aphrodite cabin. I used the hieroglyph for hide(L'mun) to eaves drop.

"Can you believe those Hunters?" I heard a girl's voice.

"And that Stella girl. She thinks she's so great just because she magically travel. And her clothes are such a ghastly shade of orange."

It took a lot of willpower not to smack her. But she did give me an idea.

The next morning, just when everyone was waking up, there was once again screaming from cabin 10. Everyone else was already awake (children of Aphrodite tended to sleep late), and gathered around the pink cabin. Aphrodite girls stormed out of the cabin, and there was a collective gasp. All of there silk desighner pajamas had turned a violently bright shade of orange, like they'd been dyed with orange highlighter.

"You!" A pretty Asian girl in pink eyeliner pointed at me.

"You did this!" Her eyes were murderous.

"Now, girls, calm down. It's only one pair of pajamas each." Chiron said.

"No! It's ALL of our clothes!" She screamed back.

"The camp t-shirts were already orange." A son of Aphrodite pointed out.

"But this is such an awful shade! And it's on EVERYTHING!!" she screamed.

"It doesn't go with ANYTHING!" A girl near the back moaned.

At this point, most of the Hunters were cracking up. Even Zoe had cracked a smile. Travis and Connor gave me impressed looks from the Hermes group. I noticed that they hadn't been able to get rid of the Aphrodite curses. Chiron finally got them calmed down, and we proceded to breakfast.

"Epic prank, Stella." Gabby said as soon as we sat down.

"Thanks."

The next day, a few Aphrodite girls approached the Hunters and I at archery practice. They were wearing orange jeans and t-shirts, because they hadn't been able to get any new clothes yet. "Your gonna pay for this." The asian girl said.

"Shut it, Tanaka." Anna said.

"You shut it, Hyde."

Then we all started arguing, then throwing spells. It was not good. We ended up burning down the Aphrodite, Ares, and Demeter cabins. Apollo probably would have gone down to if it wasn't made of metal. No one got hurt, though, and most belongings were salvaged. The Hunters left pretty soon after that, but I stayed behind to help rebuild. Ares got an even uglier red paint job, and a stuffed boar's head above the door instead of crossed spears. Demeter got a roof made of real grass. Aphrodite rebuilt the same way as the first time.

After that, I got ready to leave. I said goodbye to Travis and Connor before I left. "You got rid of the Aphrodite curses!" They were both make-up free with fitting clothes. "Ya, they wore off." Travis said. "It was still worth it, though." Connor said. I nodded. "Well, see you guys. And if you ever need to contact me-"

I handed them each a card with

'Lotus Hotel and Casino

Las Vegas, Nevada'

Written above a Lotus insignia. They both looked at me. "You live in Vegas?" He said it like someone else would say 'Olympus'. "Ya" They looked at me with newfound respect, then walked off toward their cabin. I flashed back to Lotus.

The Half-Blood Magician, ch. 13: We Have Some Unexpected Exits