fake | tratie | EDITING |

| nine |

Campers gathered behind Travis and me, eyeing the target we'd set up and the stack of arrows an Apollo kid brought out to ensure there was enough. Connor was elected the officiant of the contest, and Miranda volunteered to be crowd control so that nobody got in the line of fire.

Now that people were around, and Travis was talking smack while giving me a dazzling smile, and Miranda called me an idiot for doing this, I felt a little more on edge. I shouldn't have agreed to this - I was so stupid. Travis would easily beat me in an archery tournament, I sucked at aiming. I was way better at throwing knives.

And aside from getting my butt whooped, I'd also have a prank to deal with.

Great.

Connor stalked up to us, putting his hands on his hips. "So whoever gets the first bullseye wins the chance to prank their opponent. You'll fire at alternating times, so I can tell who got the point. We'll flip a coin to see who goes first. The prize of pranking the other includes no holding back. The one rule is that there aren't any rules. Capiche?"

Travis held out his hand. "Capiche."

"Ditto." I clasped his hand and shook it firmly.

Connor took a drachma and held it up. "Katie, heads or Pegasus?"

"Hey, how come I don't get to pick?" Travis huffed.

"Because you're my brother. Katie, your choice?"

I stuck my tongue out at Travis before tapping my chin. "Hmmm.... heads."

Connor tossed the coin in the air, catching it and slapping it on the back of his hand. He peeked at it and whistled. "Katie, you're up."

I stepped up to the center of the lane with my bow in hand, and observed the batch of arrows in the quiver. I picked the most evenly balanced, and strung it on my bow. Spreading my feet and facing to the side, I aimed at the target and drew a deep breath. I had to win, because who knew what Travis would do if he won?

The campers around went silent. You could hear a pin drop, which didn't exactly calm my nerves. All eyes on my arrow, I bit my lip and let the string go.

Connor yelled, "Inside the third ring!"

Why did I suck at archery?

Travis snickered as he snatched the bow from my hands, but I scoffed. "That was my warm up shot. I'm only giving you a fair chance before I beat you."

"Alright, sure thing." He stalked up to his mark, selected an arrow, and strung it deftly.

I definitely wasn't checking him out, but his biceps popped when he drew his bow. I totally didn't notice, though.

With lips tightened and stance rigid, Travis held his arm steady and shot.

"Outside the seventh ring." Connor rolled his eyes. "Is that the best you've got, dude?"

I chuckled as we switched places. "Warm up shot, eh?"

He shrugged. "Guess so."

We went back and forth, slowly inching closer to the bright red center of the target. Demigods came and left as they gained and lost interest, and Chiron filtered in and out to check in and make sure nobody was killing anyone. A half hour passed when I finally hit.

"...I'm gonna have to look at that one." Connor slid over to the target, examined my arrow, and shook his head. "Sorry, it's just outside."

"What? No way!"

"Ha!" Travis pointed, laying a hand on my shoulder. "Better luck next go, Kates."

"Lemme look." I stride up to the target with Travis following close behind. Sure enough, my arrow was nearly outside the ring.

"So sorry, Katie-kat." Travis put an arm around me and have me a side-hug.

I crossed my arms and frowned as I watched him take his mark and aim nonchalantly. He knit his brow in concentration, but when he fired, it dove straight into the ground to the side of the target.

Laughing, I threw my hands up. "You know what? Have another try. That was too pathetic to count."

He grinned and picked up another arrow. "Whatever you want, Katie-kat."

It took him five milliseconds to string and shoot again, and I almost started making fun of him for making the same mistake twice, but then I looked at the target.

"Bullseye!" Connor yelled.

Oh, no.

Travis turned and beamed at me, digging under my skin and pressing just the right buttons. I couldn't believe I'd been dumb enough to let him take another shot. I was so confident he wouldn't make it that it hadn't even crossed my mind...

"Well, Kates, you may wanna watch your back. I'm the prank king, and I'm not about to take it easy on you just because you're my girlfriend." He winked, making my head explode.

I marched up to him and jabbed a finger into his chest. "You'd better watch it, too, Stoll. There was never any mention of the loser not getting back at the winner."

He squinted and cane closer to me. "You wouldn't dare." A glimmer shone in his eyes, a mischievous glint flashing across his blue irises.

I smiled sweetly and boldly pecked a kiss on his cheek. "See ya around, Trav."

And with that, I turned on my heels and left the arena with a crumbling confidence and sudden fear of what I'd gotten myself into.

+ + +

Okay, so this one's really short. A filler chapter. Sorry for the long wait, my dog got hurt and I've been taking care of her. (I've also had writer's block shhhh) Hopefully the next chapter will be longer!

- mckenna