Travis watched as Katie walked up to the box and dropped her name in.

"Caw, caw!" He yelled. As he had hoped, the signal alerted Conner. It also, luckily, caused everyone to look at him, so no one noticed when Conner crept up to the box and pulled Katie's name out.

Camp Half-Blood was having a Secret Santa. Travis thought that it would be a lot of fun to be Katie Gardener's secret Santa (only for pranks, of course!) but he couldn't do that if Katie's real Secret Santa showed up and ruined it all.

He wasn't the only one that had rigged it, though. He knew for a fact that Charles Beckendorf had done the same for Silena Beauregard and he also knew that the Ares cabin was planning to send the Athena cabin spiders.

When Conner snuck over and gave him the paper, he unrolled it eagerly.

"Katie Gardner." He said, satisfied. "Likes plants, strawberries, and the beach. Dislikes... Pranks."

Travis scratched his head. "Hmm."

***

Katie Gardner furrowed her brow as she unfolded her paper.

"Conner Stoll." She groaned. Her sister Eva patted her on the back.

"You can think of something!" She said encouragingly. "What does he like?"

"Pranks, things that make loud noises, and fish and chips."

"You could get him fireworks!"

"I don't think Chiron would be very happy if he found out," Katie said doubtfully.

Eva shrugged. "Just an idea. You can do it, Katie! And remember, if you get him a prank, at least you'll recognize it. Like, if you get him a trick pen, you'll know what the pen looks like."

"I never thought of that," Katie said. "Thanks, Eva!"

***

Travis eagerly dug into his first gift. He hoped this one was a good one, but even if it was crummy, there were still two more to go. Next to him, Conner eagerly threw wrapping paper and ribbons into the air.

"What?" Travis said in dismay, opening the box.

"What?" Conner asked. "What is it?"

Travis scowled, holding up a pink tutu.

Conner dissolved in giggles, displaying a large box of fireworks. Travis smacked his back angrily. "Shut up."

The rule at camp was you had to bring your gifts to dinner. And, if you got clothing, you had to wear it. If not, you simply didn't come to dinner.

The trouble was, Travis was starving.

And the Aphrodite cabin had baked cookies, too. So he was definitely going.

"Wait until you see what I got for Katie."

***

Katie Gardner looked at her reflection and screamed.

"No no no no! I'm not going!"

"You have to!" Insisted Marco.

"Yeah," agreed Ingrid. They were the two youngest campers.

"You're our counselor!" They stared up with her with big, pleading eyes. Both were scared to death of the entire Ares cabin, the Hermes cabin, and Drew from the Aphrodite cabin.

Katie sighed. She didn't want to make them go alone. "Alright, alright."

They hugged her and, for a moment, Katie didn't regret her decision.

***

When Katie entered the dining hall, she felt like turning and running away. Many of the campers had on ridiculous outfits- Piper McClean was wearing a top hat, Travis Stoll was wearing a pink tutu, and Percy Jackson was dressed as pizza.

She, though, looked the worst. She was wearing a neon green bathing suit, an 80s poodle skirt, and crocs. Worst of all was the hat. It has mistletoe dangling off of it in every direction so everyone kept at least five feet between Katie and themselves.

She sighed, going to sit down. Suddenly, Travis Stoll was pushed into her.

"Nope!" She blurted out. "Not happening, no way!"

"Look, Katie, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to trip!"

He looked so upset that she felt bad for snapping at him.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have-"

He swooped in and kissed her before running.

"TRAVIS STOLL!"

***

Katie flopped down on her bed angrily. Her second present was a bust too. A bright blue bottle sat on the floor.

Its label read "plant killer."

She swiped at it with her foot, knocking it over.

"Come on, Katie." Roxanne coaxed. "It's only a joke."

Katie looked down. "I know. But since it's not safe to leave camp now, none of us are going to see our families for Christmas. And before he died my dad used to give us three joke presents and three real presents. The next year my stepmother and I decided not to do the same thing. My little brother wanted to, but it just made me want to cry. So getting them now feels like a slap in the face."

Roxanne came to her bed and held her hand. "I know. I'm sorry. I'll stay back from dinner tonight if you want."

"That's okay," Katie said.

"No, I'm staying."

"Me too!" Declared Ingrid, popping her head out of the bathroom. Emma pulled the curtain from around her bed.

"Let's make cookies!"

"Yeah, I have wheat growing in one of the showers!" Said Roxanne. "We can harvest that!"

"I have a cocoa bean tree on the roof," Tommy spoke up shyly from where he was neatly folding his socks.

"And I have thirteen types of nuts under my bed!" Declared Emma.

"Ooh, what kinds?"

"Macadamia, almond, peanut, cashew, walnut..."

***

"And now I feel really bad," said Travis, finishing telling Conner what he had overheard while he was spying on the Demeter cabin.

Conner shrugged. "What can you do? You can't take those two gifts back."

"I know." Travis agreed. "I'll think of something."

"Hey, guess what," Conner said. "You know those fireworks I got? They're silent fireworks! You can't hear a thing!"

Travis shrugged. "Your secret Santa must be a bit anti-prank."

"You think?" Asked Conner. He held up the camouflage shirt he had gotten and started to shake it. Immediately, it lit up with bright neon orange lights.

Travis began to laugh. "Fancy running away in that?"

"Ha ha," Conner scoffed. "Very funny." Travis stood up and began to walk away. "Hey, where are you going?"

"I'm going to make things right with Katie."

***

Katie pushed away her last gift. "I'm not opening it." She said stubbornly.

"C'mon." Eva nudged her. "You want me to check what it is first?"

Katie nodded, looking away. "But if it's a prank, I don't want to know."

Eva gingerly removed the bright green paper. "Oh wow, Katie!" She said. "Look!"

Katie trusted Eva. She peered over Eva's shoulder and saw a truly beautiful bracelet. It was silver and had delicate little charms. In fact, it was exactly the bracelet Katie would have wanted. It wasn't too tight or too loose and it wasn't jangly.

Katie examined the little charms happily. There was a little flower, of course, and a watering can. But it was some of the other charms that told Katie that it had come from someone who knew her very well.

There was a strawberry charm because Katie loved her strawberries and never let anyone touch them. There was a rainbow charm with an addition sign from the time Katie had accidentally sent an Iris message from math class. (Chiron had come all the way to Denver to put a very, very strong mist on the mortals.) There was also a feather, which Katie suspected was representing the camp musical. They had done Seussical, and Katie was a bird. The only thing that made it worth it was when the Stoll brothers had also been chosen as birds, and someone had ordered all pink feathers.

But there was one charm that made her pause. She had been riding home from the water park and the entire van had been asleep, excluding her and Travis Stoll. She had been furious at him for drenching her at the Tidal pool. On the way back, she had glared at him, but he had only grinned and given her a pack of m&ms.

And her last charm was an m&m.

"We need to find out who this is!" Francine said.

"That's okay," said Katie. She moved to the door. "I'm going to go take a walk."

***

A loud pounding was heard on the door of the Hermes cabin. "Travis!" A voice yelled. "Travis!"

He opened the door to see Katie Gardener. "Yes, Katie my sweet?"

"I know it was you."

"Oh. Listen, I'm sorry for the pranks, I really am."

"Travis, I'm not angry." She said.

"You're not?" He was surprised.

"No, of course not! I love the bracelet." She displayed a dazzling silver bracelet.

"Oh, right!" He said, scratching his head. "Uh, glad you like it."

"I do." She said.

"Great!" Swiftly, he kissed her and closed the door before she could react. "Conner!" He called.

"Yes?"

"Did you get Katie a bracelet?"

"You were going to give her a rubber duck. I thought I should step in."

Travis faced his brother. "You!" He began. "Are the best brother that anyone could ever have."

Conner grinned. "No prob."

"So, can you tell me what get her for Valentine's Day?"

Conner held up a remote. "Try the home shopping channel. It works wonders."

Travis eagerly flicked the tv on.

Sale! Said the Man on the tv. Cranes and wrecking balls are now on sale! Great for demolitions! Stronger than any other on the market! Miley Cyrus not included!

"Conner!" Travis said. "Conner, I know what I'm getting Katie for her birthday!"