He lowered his head. "Its because we have no other choice." "What?"
"I want to help. You can't do this alone. That's why I'm here, isn't it? To make sure you're not alone?" Not like I have any other purpose.
"Its gonna take loads of work. You don't have to."
I pecked his lips. "Yes, I do."
"Sunshine, as much as I'd love that, I can't let you waste your time at camp."
"Its not wasting my time with you."
He gave up. "Fine. Let me fill you in."
Sponge Bob narrator voice: one filling in later:
It was brilliant. If we had come up with this before the war, we could have saved lives. Octavian. His face, his death, was etched in my memory. How was Will, good natured, smart, and a healer, related to him, a power hungry dumbass ready to kill at the drop of a hat? I mean, I knew they were like one-eighth ichor relatives, given they both have different moms and different forms of Apollo, but still. Was Apollo that varying? Could he really make both of them?
Who cares?
Day after day and night after night were spent filling in his paperwork, discussing ways of making the program more efficient. Chiron had excused us from the camp schedule because we needed as much time as we could get for preparing this. For travel we could get Leo to build a Festus that only flew from camp to camp, on auto pilot so we didn't crash. We would take in all campers, claimed or not, because both camps had a place for them. We would offer classes in the other forms of the gods so the exchangees would have a better idea of what really goes on in the other kind of mythology.
"Who could we get to teach them at Camp Jupiter? Reyna and Frank are praetors, Percy and Annabeth are in college, do you think you could Iris Message Hazel into it?" Will said, chewing on his pen.
"Probably. I can teach them here." I crossed education off our to-do list.
"How long are we estimating time for travel?"
"Well, it's going to be rough at first. Leo said the Festus Jr. won't be ready until mid-September. That means two exchanges we have nothing to transport demigods, and there's no time to do it now."
"I could shadow-travel."
"That would sap your strength and you know it. Twice across the country? I'm not letting you do that."
"What are we gonna do? We have no other options. Besides, Reyna can lend me her strength. She did that when we were shadow-traveling across Europe."
"That doesn't mean you won't fade to shadows. Unless you really want to miss the first three days of your own class because I'm holding you hostage in here," he motioned to the halls of the infirmary, "We can't shadow-travel."
"We can't leave camp borders, monsters will shred us."
"But-"
"Shadow-traveling it is." I crossed travel off our to-do list. "Health insurance. What are we going to do about capture the flag, and them about war games?"
"They get told the rules, but sit out their first game just to really observe. Or get crappy postions, like on the very edge or scouting."
"War games are tough. People get stabbed over there. The Romans go hard. And the Fifth Cohort, which all the exchangees would inevitably get shoved into, always loses."
"Sucks to suck. Cross it off." I obeyed just as the lunch bell rang. "Lunch break."
"We don't get breaks. I'm off to Iris Message Hazel."
"I'm coming."
My cabin doors were left open because since absolutely no one obeyed the rules about romantic couples alone in a cabin together Buford the Table had taken to doing the day job of making sure the rules were followed, and he had become even louder so the entire camp heard him scream "PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!"
"Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, show me Hazel Levesque." I flipped a drachma and it dissolved in midair. All I saw was a bouncy head of hair with golden highlights, and then Hazel turned. Her almond skin was darker than normal, almost chocolate. "Hazel?" She turned.
Her golden eyes lit up at the sight of me. "Nico! Hi! What's up?" Someone off camera said something. "No, Dakota, not you." She turned back to me. "What do you need me for?"
Oh gods, how to explain this? I glanced at Will as if to say "help." He nodded. "Okay, so we-"
"You."
"We wanted to start an exchange program between camps. You know, let Greek campers see how Romans live, and vice versa. Well, that includes educating the new campers on both forms of the gods and goddesses, and we were wondering if you would teach it."
"Sure! I have a free period from 1-2, and the barracks would work nicely."
"You're in?"
"Of course!"
Hullo darlings! Well as it is near the holidays, I find Squidward is my spirit animal.
"Cmon Squidward, write a letter to Santa. What do you have to lose?" "My dignity. My self-respect. My lunch."
I hate the holidays. I'm a total Grinch, and accept it.
Q. Wat do YOU guys (and gals, of course) want for Christmas/Hanukkah/Lurlinemas? (If no one understands what Lurlinemas is Imma get so sad)
A. A keyboard! I need one desperately. Or maybe a better phone. Mine's a piece of schist.
Okie dokie then.
Kisses,
Satan, Lord of Feels.
OH RIGHT I FORGOT: There was this thing I saw that I felt the urgent need to share: (If you all know Superwoman the Youtuber)
"Don't assume that just because I'm angry I'm PMSing because tonight when you're sleeping I will assume you're dead and bury you in the backyard."
Okay. Now I'm done.
