ONE LAST TIME . . . heroes of olympus

34

SADLY, KAT HAD to go to the councilors meeting the next day because she was senior counselor. Why her siblings elected her to be it, it was probably because she was the most capable.

She hated it, though. She might be the most capable, but it's hard to live up to Luke's reputation. Even if he was incredibly evil and shit, it was another thing she had to live up to. And she hated that with a burning passion. But she's gotten used to that weight on her shoulders, now. Even though she could be a better head counselor. She didn't take this job expecting to not prank people.

Surprisingly, she didn't arrive last, which is a serious improvement for her. She went to sit in the spot next to Leo, fist bumping Clarisse, who had her boots on the table, on the way. She noticed that someone had brought Seymour the leopard head in from the living room and hung him on the wall. Every once in a while, a counselor would toss him a Snausage. She snagged a plate of nachos, a soda, and a couple of Snausages and sat down. Immediately, Will grabbed her arm and frowned.

"Kat, why don't you have these healed yet?" he asked, immediately fishing a medkit from fucking nowhere.

". . . shit," she simply said in response, and he rolled his eyes and started dabbing nectar and ointment on her.

"Kitty Kat," Leo hissed, and she turned to him and hummed in response, keeping her arm out for Will. "This is weird."

She snorted. "You're a head counselor now, luchik. You have new responsibilities now, like sitting at a ping pong table for a meeting."

Leo's eyes lit up. "Are there ping pong balls here?"

Kat fished around for one, and she found one, throwing it at him. "Knock yourself out."

He yelped and didn't catch it. Idiot.

They continued bouncing it over to each other as Will meticulously healed all of Kat's scrapes and burns. While she was waiting, she noticed certain things: Clovis from Hypnos cabin was snoring in the corner while Butch from Iris cabin was seeing how many pencils he could fit in Clovis's nostrils, Lou Ellen from Hecate cabin was playing "got-your-nose" with Miranda Gardiner from Demeter, except that Lou Ellen really had magically disconnected Miranda's nose, and Miranda was trying to get it back, Rachel Dare, the oracle, sat next to Chiron at the head of the table wearing her Clarion Academy school uniform dress, Annabeth was sitting nearby in armor over her camp clothes with her knife at her side and her blond hair pulled back in a ponytail.

Kat was almost glad when Jason and Piper came in. She was sorta bored of bouncing the ping pong ball back and forth to Leo while Will healed her other arm, her face, and her neck, but it's not like she would've said anything about it.

"Let's come to order," Chiron said. "Lou Ellen, please give Miranda her nose back. Kat, if you'd kindly stop bouncing the ping pong ball to Leo, and Butch, I think twenty pencils is really too many for any human nostril. Thank you. Now, as you can see, Kat, Jason, Piper, and Leo have returned successfully . . . more or less. Some of you have heard parts of their story, but I will let them fill you in."

Kat frowned. "Didn't mama give my report to you? I saw her type it."

Chiron sighed. "Just explain, Katerina."

Kat rolled her eyes, but she explained the quest for what seemed like the millionth time. Jason, Piper, and Leo chimed in from time to time, filling in the details she forgot. Which were a lot.

It only took a few minutes, which was surprising considering she'd taken about two hours to explain two days ago. The silence was heavy, and for so many ADHD demigods to sit still listening for that long, Kat knew the story must have sounded pretty wild. Jason chimed in, ending with Hera's visit right before the meeting.