Shattered |Leo Valdez|

Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

Erikka's P.o.v.

"Rise and shine, Rookie!" The scream startled me so much that I fell off of the bunk bed and landed on my caboose. Laughter sounded from above me as I looked up into the faces of Connor and Travis Stoll. Rubbing my left hip, I took Travis' outstretched hand.

With a huff, I said, "You two suck. Is sleeping illegal?" Connor dramatically placed his hand to his chest.

"Moi? Suck? Never! And sleeping-" he began.

"Is only illegal when it's eight 'o clock on a Friday." Travis finished for his brother. I rolled my eyes and grabbed a t-shirt from under the bed.

I looked at them and yawned. "What's so special about Friday mornings?" Travis looked at me with an appalled expression on his face.

As dramatic as Connor, he placed the back of his hand to his forehead. "Did you hear her, Con? What's so special about Friday mornings?" He fluttered his brown eyes while wrinkling his nose. "Please explain, dear brother. My fragile heart can't take it."

My smile matched Connors as he began to explain. "Well, besides being home to thieves and travelers, Hermes also raises a lovely amount of procrastinators. So, on Friday mornings, we find people who can tolerate us and we train with them until it's time for capture the flag. Normally, Anna and Katie take us in because Anna is fabulous and Katie oooobviously has the hots for Trav." He winked at his 'passed out' brother who glared back at him before going back to fake fainting.

"Ok, so if they normally take you guys-I'm sorry, us- in, then why wake up so early?" I said, walking into the bathroom to brush my teeth. Apparently I was the last one up and out since the rest of the cabin was gone. My guess was breakfast, but who knows?

Connor gave me a 'duh' expression. "So we can train with them, know their skills, and get placed as offense or defense. Except, we may have pranced then both yesterday and now neither one is letting us join." I nodded, pretending I understood while I let an image of an inflated George Clooney head bobble on top of a baby's shoulders entertain me.

Don't judge.

"Ok, breakfast time." That got my attention. Once we arrived at the mess hall, I sat by Travis and Lisa. We got up and did the offering again, except this time eyes followed me like demons in the shadows. I knew what they were waiting for. Apparently the last time someone wasn't claimed at the camp fire, they were claimed at the next offering. So as I slid my portion of oatmeal into the flames, the room fell silent. I continued back to my seat and a collective sigh rang out. "Well," Brian said, sliding into the seat in front of me. "That was a bust. Maybe they don't like your offerings? I mean chicken and oatmeal? Is that the best you can do?" I threw my piece of toast at his stupid face, which he caught in his mouth unfortunately. After gulping it down he replied, "Thank you, ma'am. That was much easier than stealing it considering I'm probably the first Hermes kid who can't steal anything worth crap."

I chugged down some milk and wiped my lip with the back of my arm. "Well that's good, because why would you steal something that was only worth crap?" He chuckled and we finished eating, small talk and banter getting thrown in at random points.

After breakfast, the twins led us to a place where a class seemed to be in session. "-you see, after the gods learned that he had tried to feed them his own- Noah! Don't you dare pour your water bottle on her! Do you want me to tell our mother?" A pretty blonde girl with her hair in a pony tail and intense, stormy grey eyes was taking. I think she was supposed to be the teacher because she was the only one there that was taking authority.

The kid in the back slowly brought his water bottle down: his face red and his eyes wide like a deer caught in headlights. I chuckled and Connor nudged me. "Quiet, the 'master' is about to use his magic. And when he fails, I get to try." I stifled my laugh with a cough.