The Pumpkin Duel Camp Half-Blood — Late Afternoon

The Apollo cabin had declared a “friendly” pumpkin-carving contest. Friendly was a lie.

Will Solace took one look at the stack of fat orange pumpkins and the gleam in your eye, and he knew trouble. “You’re going down,” he said, brandishing a carving knife like it was a sword. You raised an eyebrow, twirling your own knife. “Oh, you wish. Prepare to be schooled in pumpkin artistry.”

The first five minutes were polite. Cut here. Carve there. Laugh a little.

Then the puns started.

“You’re looking a little gourd today,” Will said, smirking. “Oh really? You’re about to get squashed,” you shot back, carving with exaggerated flair.

By minute ten, everyone else had stopped watching. The Aphrodite cabin was rolling their eyes. Grover had retreated to the sidelines. Percy was laughing too hard to be useful.

And then the enchanted knives kicked in.

Sparks flew, pumpkin guts floated in midair, and somehow the pumpkins started… talking.

“Hi there, cutie,” one said, voice high and flirty, turning to wink at Will. “Hey, you!” another grinned at you. “Nice… work.”

Will groaned. “I… I call this a medical emergency.” You laughed so hard your pumpkin almost got away from you. “This is amazing! Look at them—flirting already!”

By the end of the contest, the pumpkins were alive, chatty, and honestly a little smug. You and Will were covered in pumpkin seeds, glowing from laughter, and completely ignoring the other Apollo kids trying to figure out what had gone wrong.

“Next year,” Will said between breaths, “we just… paint them.”

You shook your head. “No way. The duel continues.”

Somewhere in the distance, a pumpkin winked at Grover. He squealed. The chaos of Camp Half-Blood Halloween continued as perfectly as it ever could.