Originally Published June 8th, 2015

Title: Hecate's Revenge.

Genre: Fanfiction—Camp Half-Blood Chronicles (CHBC)

Note: All Latin used in here was from Google Translate, so it may not be correct since Google Translate isn't exactly stable... :/

Lou Ellen was not having a good day. She had spent the last hour and a half annotating The Odyssey (gag) and now she was forced to spend her free period working on Incantations (blech). Everyone in the Hecate cabin was sitting in a circle right outside their cabin. Every other day they were forced to work on their Incantations, for magic needed much practice to master. Their cabin leader, Miles Garland, was the only one in their cabin who had fully mastered the art of Incantations enough to teach it to his younger siblings.

Miles was standing in the middle of the circle holding an old book. "Okay guys, so today we'll start simple, I understand you all just had an energy-consuming session of Mythology." Everyone groaned at the memory of Mythology that day. There was no way Lou Ellen had a bigger headache in her life. "The Incantation I have for you today is the manipulation of plants." Miles pointed to the small potted leaf jade plant that was right next to a celestial bronze dagger and yelled, "Incantare: Dominatus foliorum!" The jade plant began to glow a light green, and purple orbs of light began to surround the plant. Everyone stared in awe at the unusual light show.

"Yeah, it glows," a girl sitting next to Lou Ellen shouted. "So what?"

"Well Lori, if you would let me talk, then you would know." Miles turned back to the plant. "Jube: Apprehendite pugione!" Lou Ellen watched in astonishment as the jade plant began to move to the dagger. Its little leaves acted as fingers, involuntarily grasping for the dagger. The stems of the plant finally wrapped itself around the dagger, and the plant stood upright again with the dagger pointed in front of it. While everyone was soaking in what just happened, Miles went to grab a neat by dummy that was used for practice in the arena and put it in front of the plant.

Lori leaned over next to Lou Ellen and whispered, "I already have my next prank in mind to get back at that pesky daughter of Demeter." Recently Lori and Katie Gardner were in a quarrel, and Lori was not very fond of the outcome. Ever since then, Lori has been plotting revenge.

Lou Ellen rolled her eyes, "Let me guess, you're teaming up with the Stolls?"

Lori, who had recently came to Camp Half-blood, was one of the best prankers around besides Connor and Travis Stoll. The three of them would team up and pull pranks on a bunch of people.

Lori smirked, "That's the thing, my plan is double revenge, on Katie, and those twisted brothers."

"Oh, that's right, the Stolls decided to go solo last week and prank you." Lou Ellen chuckled at the memory of Lori waking up to being smothered in feathers and syrup. Like everyone else, Lou Ellen wondered where the two brothers got all their supplies from. They'd probably say, 'The mysteries of the best pranks shall be kept a secret,' or something sappy like that.

"I'll show those two trouble makers who's boss," Lori muttered under her breath as Miles passed out some plants and daggers to everyone so they could test their Incantation. The jade plant in front of Lou Ellen danced in the wind as if it were mocking her. Lori smiled slyly as she whispered, "Incantare: Dominatus foliorum." The jade plant in front of Lori began to  glow the same light green it glew with Miles plant and purple orbs began to fly around it.

Lou Ellen looked at her plant and yelled, "Incantare: Dominatus foliorum!" The jade plant began to glow, but to Lou Ellen's misfortune, it glew a musty yellow before dimming down and wilting.  Next to her, Lori had already enchanted her plant to grab the dagger. Lou Ellen groaned in frustration, why did Lori and Miles make it look so easy? Why isn't the Incantation working for her? She's doing exactly what Miles and Lori is doing, so why isn't her plant doing the same?

"I'm so done with these stupid Incantations!" Lou Ellen kicked the dead plant in frustration. Miles glanced over in her direction to see where the crashing sound (the plant pot broke) came from.

"I don't think the Demeter cabin is going to be too happy about that," Miles pointed out Lou Ellen's dead and smashed plant. Everyone stared at the dead plant in silence before cracking up. Lou Ellen felt rage flush up her face. She kicked the plant one more time, imagining it was Miles' face (she was currently angry with him at the moment) and stormed off, the laughs of her siblings trailing behind her.

~°~

Skateboarding was the one thing that could clear Lou Ellen's mind. Unfortunately there was no room to skateboard at camp, so her skateboard was sitting by her bed in her cabin collecting dust. So Lou Ellen resolved to the next best solution: art.

A peaceful silence greeted Lou Ellen as she step into the cabin she was just in merely hours before. Technically Lou Ellen was allowed to be there since this was her free period, but all children of Hecate were required to work on their Incantations during free period (a rule made by none other than Miles). She knew that once she got back to her cabin Miles would have her head, but she didn't care.

Five minutes later Lou Ellen had gathered all of her watercolors and had her sketchpad in front of her. She stared at the blank page for a few good minutes now, with no inspiration yet. Oh no, Lou Ellen worried. This can not be happening, not another artist block! She felt her hands tensing up, this always happened when she had an artist block. Images of scarlet colored leaves and yellowing grass rolled through her head, but she promised herself she would not paint another autumn painting until she was fifty-seven years old (she had painted enough autumn-themed painting that she could give one to every orphanage in the country and still have plenty left over). She looked underneath the table and stared at her black vans (white was too mainstream, and got dirty way too quickly), then it hit her. Why had she not thought of this earlier?

Before she knew it, her hands were flying across her sketchpad, leaving pencil etchings in the way she wanted to. Eraser pieces covered her paper in the time it took her to say 'Incantare'. Soon enough she brought out her watercolors to add more beauty to her sketch. Carefully dipping her brush in a cup of water, she brought her sketch to life, adding splotches of color where needed. Lou Ellen had no other thought in her mind besides the image she wanted to put down on paper. She could vaguely feel her mouth curl upwards, but she wasn't focused on that. Finally, with a last smudge of pine green, Lou Ellen looked back and admired her work.

"Could you paint me one of those, Elle?" A voice asked right behind her. Lou Ellen jumped backward right into the owner of the voice: Cecil.

Lou Ellen sighed in relief, "Oh gods Cecil, you scared me." Knowing that it was just Cecil and not some a ax murderer, Lou Ellen's heart rate went back to normal and she began to pack up her art supplies.

"So, what's up, Elle?" Cecil awkwardly began to help Lou Ellen clean up her art supplies (awkwardly because he didn't know where anything went).

Lou Ellen began washing off her brushes, "Well, I failed at Incantations today. Again." She dumped her dirty paint water into the sink and placed the newly washed brushes in the paint brush drawer. "I swear, it's like my mom hates me."

"Oh come on Elle, I'm sure she doesn't hate you," Cecil comforted as he handed Lou Ellen her sketchpad. "Maybe slightly annoyed, but not hate."

"Shut up!" Lou Ellen playfully pushed Cecil out the door of the Arts and Crafts cabin. Then she felt a rumble in her stomach. "Oh my gods, I can't wait to eat food!"

Cecil nervously scratched the back of his head, "Yeah, about that... Dinner's already over."

Lou Ellen stopped walking, causing Cecil to bump into her. She turned around, "WHAT?"

Cecil gave her a sorry smile, "And campfire activities."

Lou Ellen felt her stomach grumbled again. Had she really been painting for two hours and not know it? She was about to yell at Cecil for not getting her earlier but she stopped herself; it wasn't Cecil's fault, it was her own fault for storming off during Incantations and lose track of time.

"Hey, you didn't think I would let you go to bed on an empty stomach now would you?" Cecil brought out two poppy muffins from his jacket pocket and handed them to her.

"Oh my gods, Cecil, how'd you get these?" Lou Ellen asked as she sunk her teeth into the deliciousness that was poppy seed muffin (her favorite).

Cecil smirked, "I would tell you, but then you would the Secret of Hermes, and only children of Hermes can know that."

"Seems like what everyone's been wondering," Lou Ellen replied.

"Well, better head back to my cabin, it's getting late." Cecil began to walk towards cabin eleven. "See ya later, Elle!"

Lou Ellen smiled as she rolled her eyes and went back to her own cabin. By the time she got there everyone was asleep except for her bunk mate, Lori.

"So, how was your date," Lori teased as Lou Ellen walked in the door.

Lou Ellen rolled her eyes once again as she went to the bathroom to change, "It wasn't a date!" Lou Ellen quickly changed into her pajamas before leaving the bathroom. Once she was in front of her bed, she put her clothes in a trunk that was right beside her bed.

Lori rose her eyebrow in question, "Oh really?"

"Really Lori, we're just friends." Lou Ellen literally jumped into bed (sideways because it was a bunk bed and she had the bottom bunk). "Besides, why are you so obsessed with Cecil and I being together anyway?"

Lou Ellen heard a shift in the bed above her, "No reason..." Then silence. Lou Ellen closed her eyes so she could finally get some sleep.

~°~

"LOU ELLEN, QUICK HEY UP, GAEA CAME BACK TO LIFE!" Lou Ellen suddenly lurched forward and bumped her head against the top of the bed. When she saw the rest of the cabin was asleep and no threat of the world ending, she relaxed, and the pain of her head finally hit her.

"Um, OW!" Lou Ellen screamed as she rubbed her head. Lori was hanging upside-down from the bed above, with her choppy-dyed-deep red hair hanging down from her head.

"C'mon Lou, it's time to get up!" Lori did a weird back-flip type-thing and landed on the ground perfectly on her feet. "We've got some pranking to do, eh?" Lori tip-toed across the room quietly to receive her backpack.

Lou Ellen groaned, "And why am I helping you?"

Lori stuffed a jade plant in her bag, "Because I don't like pranking alone. Besides," Lori turned around to face Lou Ellen, "if you help me, I'll make sure your little date with Cecil stays a secret."

Lou Ellen thought her eyes would roll out of her head if she had to roll them one more time. "I told you, we're just friends."

"Not what the love expert says!" Lori sang in a sing-song voice.

Lou Ellen scoffed, "Love expert my—" she glanced down at her watch, "di Immortales, why are you waking up at the three in the morning for the prank?"

Lori gave Lou Ellen a smile that made her glad she wasn't the one being pranked, "The Devil's Hour, my friend."

So, how was it? Would you read on? Do you wonder what their prank is? Who's the love expert? And why can't Lou Ellen cast Incantations? All these questions and many more will be answered in the rest of this book, for this is only the beginning. Please tell me what you think, for I will only continue if this receives positive feedback and I know people will read it. Anyway, BYERSIEBYES!!!

Stay Perky,

 With Love, Pacific Green Sea Turtles, and Fluffy Pies,

~Chilea, daughter of Demeter and legacy of Apollo.❀ ☼