Travis Stoll and the gardener - Katie Gardner and the idiot

Chapter 8

Alright, so before you read, just know that this chapter is going to be super short and pointless. I don't have any main points in the story completely figured out yet. So, this'll have to do.

Here goes:

Katie

Gods, Katie couldn't do this.

Too many things were going through her head.

She didn't even know what those things were. Her brain just felt...full.

The quest had happened so fast. One day she was just tending to her roses, hating the Stoll brothers, then the next thing she knew, she was battling a half naked old woman and being friendly with the Stoll brothers!

It was like a dream Katie had after she had loads of chocolate. (Chocolate gave her wacky dreams).

Plus, there was something totally strange going on with her stomach. There were moments when she'd feel just normal, then there were times when her stomach would...it was weird to describe. She kind of liked the way it felt, though.

Whatever.

The boys wanted to drop into some prank store to take a little break from the quest and yeah, it kind of helped.

Katie needed a break from the demigod world.

But after they went 'shopping', it was back to work.

They managed to grab a ride from someone heading towards Maryland. The guy was kind of strange, but seemed nice. His name was Thor.

Katie had never been good at memorizing the states, but she new that Maryland was above Virginia so that was good thing. They just had to get through Maryland and half of Virginia, then they would be in Richmond, Virginia. Home of the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens (aka their doom).

As they were in Thor's car, Katie got onto her phone (that she rarely used) and researched 'Hesperides'. She wanted to know what Hesperides actually were.

She was glad she looked it up. The Hesperides seemed to be normal women. Not horrific monsters like Katie had imagined.

She nudged Travis who was in the seat next to her, while Connor was up front with Thor.

"Apparently, these are the Hesperides that guard the garden," she told him.

Travis looked impressed. "That shouldn't be too hard."

"Hopefully."

Travis grinned. "I can just shmooze them with my good looks."

"If that's the case, we're in trouble," Katie grumbled.

Travis put his hands to his heart. "Ouch, my flower, that hurts."

Katie felt her cheeks get red. "You're still calling me that?"

"Yeah, I kind of like it. Sounds like one of those nicknames in those sappy love stories."

Katie smirked. "Oh? So you think we're living a love story?"

That got him. He nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "No. That's-that's not what I meant. I--"

"Whoops," Katie interrupted, her smirk getting bigger. "You're slipping up, Travis."

Travis sighed and looked at her for a moment. "You have that affect on me, my flower."

Katie just rolled her eyes. "You're an idiot."

"Do I hear wedding bells?" Connor chimed from the front.

"No!" Katie and Travis said at once.

Quietly, Thor mumbled. "I think I do."