Amaurosis

VI: No Bed?

Only one thousand, seven hundred, and seventy-two miles to go, the voices cheered.

Seven hours and twenty-five minutes by flying pirate ship. Gaia Maps even mapped out the distance that would take the shortest time, spitting out a turn left in two hundred feet every now and again.

I've been on this ship, the Argo II as I recall, for at least fifteen minutes. That is fifteen minutes too long. My patience, now nonexistent, has already gone down the drain in such a short time, all thanks to Leo. Our voyage started with a simple question as we sat huddled in the "Captain's Quarters", as Leo prefers to call it: Who wants to listen to some music?

At the time, we thought it was a good idea, lifting some stress, and everyone who has ever lived knows that demigods have tons and tons of that. So much that we try to sell it on e-Hermes. Five dollars, no tax, plus shipping and handling. Actually, let's make it free of charge. Please, just take it! We beg of you! We will pay you!

As requested, Leo switched on his MP3 player and ballads blasted through the speakers in every corner of the room. However, none of us knew Leo's taste in music, and none of us knew how much we would regret it. The first one on his list began to play, and Leo did not hesitate to sing along.

"There's a fire burning in my heart, reaching a fever pitch, and it's bringing me out the dark." His body was spasming as his hands gripped the Wii remotes. In any other circumstance, I would have thought he was convulsing in pain like my eyes were-- even his voice resembled the croak of a dying orca whale--, but according to him, he was, and I quote, "Showing off my rockin' awesome dance moves."

Yeah, right.

"My gods, Leo," Piper whined, filing her claws-- I mean nails. Whoops. "I hate this song."

Leo groaned. "Fine. Be like that." He leaned in to whisper to Festus, "Haters gonna hate." He clicked the next song, rather proud of himself, but it was not much of an upgrade. "I used to bite my tongue and hold my breath, scared to rock the boat and make a mess. So I sat quietly, agreed politely."

That was the moment when I vowed I will learn the magic behind ignoring the son of Hephaestus, a valuable habit to master.

He screamed at the top of his lungs and swung his arms around, "I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter dancing through the fire, 'cause I am a champion, and you're gonna hear me roar louder, louder than the Nemean Lion Percy defeated a couple years ago..."

"Leo!" Hazel shouted, her ears finally having endured enough. "That is so not the correct lyrics!" At least someone said it. Now I don't look too bad.

"Yeah, man. Pick a new one. Sorry, dude, but you can't do that. It just isn't right," Jason said, his tone caramelized compared to Hazel's outburst. He whispered to Piper beside him with a frown, "No one talks about the monsters I defeat."

"Ugh, fine." Once again, Leo changed the song, skipping to the next on the playlist, and his singing only seemed to grow worse. And louder. "My songs know what you did in the dark!"

He spun around from manning the wheel and smiled at us like a child ready to throw a water balloon at their parent, knowing they would surely get in trouble. His cheeks reddened and puffed, hitting the bottoms of his eyelids, and he bit his bottom lip to contain his laughter.

Leo was about to burst.

Hands ignited, the flames reaching an extraordinary feat of five feet high, legs apart, Leo yelled to the sky, "So light em' up, up, up! Light em' up, up, up! Light em' up, up, up! I'm on FIRE!"

I was beginning to see a pattern here.

"Yeah, so this is fun and all, not really, but I think I'm just going to clock out," I said, slowly backing out of the room before getting ready to jet down the hall. "See you tomorrow."