The Curse of a Broken Heart

Chapter 5

Leo's POV

"Stop," I say drowsily.  "I don't want to go to school, the other kids laugh at me." I say, but I wake to find not somebody who wants to put me in school, but Nyssa.  I groan and she laughs.  What a nice way this is to wake up.

"Where were you last night?" Nyssa questions me, and I frown and turn away from her.

"Dreamland.  I didn't go anywhere." I lie smoothly, and I smile at myself.  But Nyssa yanks my pillow out from under my head.

"I saw you walk out.  Don't lie to me." She threatens, and I grab back my pillow, but prop myself up on my elbows and face her.

"I was at the bunker.  Why do you care?" I look her dead in the eye, hoping to convince her by maintaining eye contact.  I heard that was what you do with girls, don't look away and listen to their problems.  Nyssa didn't want to talk about problems, and that's good, because I don't think I could handle that.

"Sure you were.  Stop lying, Valdez." She says menacingly, and I wave her off. 

"I was at the bunker." I repeated, trying to sound agitated.  "I was tinkering."

"You visit the bunker during the day now, and I wasn't born yesterday.  You haven't tried to sneak out since a bit before you left, why would you go out now?  Especially to the bunker?  Whatever.  All I know is that you woke me up last night when you left." She says, and I know she's irritated with her five-minute lack of sleep.

"You woke me up just now!" I yell, and Nyssa shushes me and gestures to the other sleeping campers.

"Payback." She states simply, and laughs as she sits back in her bed.

"By the way, did you forget about today?" She asks, and my heart leaps.

"What?  Me, forget the quest?  No, I didn't forget.  I'm even packed.  Nyssa, you underestimate me." I lie again, and bite my tongue as punishment.

As I crawl out of bed, I face her again. 

"Never underestimate the Super-Sized McShizzle." I smirk, and she laughs.

"You're not Super-Sized anything!" And with that, she sinks down in her bed, and I know that this conversation is over.

To be honest, I didn't really pack.  But let Nyssa get the better of me?  I don't think so.  I reach under my bed and my fingers fumble a bit before I pull out a black travel-sized bag, and slowly, I begin to take things out of the dark wood dresser and under my bed and put them into the bag.  I just need the essentials; clothes, nectar, ambrosia, etc.  I hoped it didn't have to be a long trip, but just in case, I grabbed a little more ambrosia from the dresser by flipping a secret switch in the back.  A tiny drawer springs out of the side, and I take more ambrosia from it.  I give the secret drawer a little push, and it closes. 

After I'm all packed, I leave a short note for my cabin mates, which includes a detailed drawing of Percy, McKenzie, and myself riding a unicorn.  I tape it to the door, then open it.  I'm greeted with a gust of cool air, and I smile.  The day is clear, the sun is shining, and I might almost get killed again.  It's a perfect day.

I step out of the doorway and set off to find McKenzie and some food.

Percy's POV

"Cannoo pash the shalt?" Leo asks with his mouth full, and I reach my hand across the table to give it to him.  McKenzie, who is sitting across from him, looks kind of disgusted.  I elbow him, and he swallows his food sheepishly. 

The picnic table we sit at is in the forest close the Big House.  We picked there to eat breakfast because we wanted to sit together, to go through our checklists.  We've all packed, and our bags sit by our feet.