❝In a fight, they're lethal. Around each other, they melt❞
"I'm fine." I said, trying to hide the frown and tears that threatened to spill.
Percy looked at me once.
"I'm not going anywhere, unless you tell me what's wrong," he declared and I would h...
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"WHAT... ?" PERCY RUBBED his eyes. "Oh, we just fell asleep."
Frank swallowed. He was dressed in running shoes, dark cargo pants, and a Vancouver Winter Olympics T-shirt with his Roman centurion badge pinned to the neck (which seemed either sad or hopeful to me, now that we were renegades). Frank averted his eyes as if the sight of us together might burn him.
"Everyone thinks you've been kidnapped," he said. "We've been scouring the ship. When Coach Hedge finds out—oh, gods, you've been here all night?"
"Frank!" My ears were as red as strawberries. "We just came down here to talk. We fell asleep. Accidentally. That's it."
"Kissed a couple of times," Percy said.
I glared at him. "Not helping!"
"We'd better..." Frank pointed to the stable doors. "Uh, we're supposed to meet for breakfast. Would you explain what you did—I mean didn't do? I mean... I really don't want that faun—I mean satyr—to kill me."
Frank ran.
When everyone finally gathered in the mess hall, it wasn't quite as bad as Frank had feared. Jason and Piper were mostly relieved. Leo couldn't stop grinning and muttering, "Classic. Classic." Only Hazel seemed scandalized, maybe because she was from the 1940s. She kept fanning her face and wouldn't meet my eyes.
Naturally, Coach Hedge went ballistic; but I found it hard to take the satyr seriously since he was barely five feet tall.
"Never in my life!" Coach bellowed, waving his bat and knocking over a plate of apples. "Against the rules! Irresponsible!"
"Coach," I said, still blushing beat red, "it was an accident. We were talking, and we fell asleep."
"Besides," Percy said, "you're starting to sound like Terminus."
Hedge narrowed his eyes. "Is that an insult, Jackson? 'Cause I'll—I'll terminus you, buddy!"
Percy tried not to laugh. "It won't happen again, Coach. I promise. Now, don't we have other things to discuss?"
Hedge fumed. "Fine! But I'm watching you, Jackson. And you, Nova di Angelo, I thought you had more sense—"
Jason cleared his throat. "So grab some food, everybody. Let's get started."
The meeting was like a war council with donuts. Then again, back at Camp Half-Blood we used to have our most serious discussions around the Ping-Pong table in the rec room with crackers and Cheez Whiz, so I felt right at home.
Percy told us about his dream—the twin giants planning a reception for them in an underground parking lot with rocket launchers; Nico and Caelan trapped in a bronze jar, slowly dying from asphyxiation with pomegranate seeds at his feet.
