Daughter of the Sea || HoO

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Tori had trouble falling asleep.

Coach Hedge spent the first hour after curfew doing his nightly duty, walking up and down the passageway yelling, "Lights out! Settle down! Try to sneak out, and I'll smack you back to Long Island!"

He banged his baseball bat against a cabin door whenever he heard a noise, shouting at everyone to go to sleep, which made it impossible for anyone to go to sleep. Tori figured this was the most fun the satyr had had since he'd pretended to be a gym teacher at the Wilderness School.

She stared at the bronze beams on the ceiling. Her cabin was pretty cozy. Leo had programmed their quarters to adjust automatically to the occupant's preferred temperature, so it was never too cold or too hot. The mattress and the pillows were stuffed with pegasus feathers (no pegasi were harmed in the making of these products, Leo had assured her), so they were über-comfortable. A bronze lantern hung from the ceiling, glowing at whatever brightness Tori wished. Her walls were covered in sea glass, making a mosaic like art pieces on the wall. And in the corner of her room, she had a small desk covered with framed pictures.  

Tori had so many things on her mind, she thought she'd never sleep. But there was something peaceful about the rocking of the boat and the drone of the aerial oars as they scooped through the sky.

Finally her eyelids got heavy, and she drifted off. It seemed like only a few seconds had passed before she woke to the breakfast bell. "Yo, little mermaid!" Leo knocked on her door. "We're landing!" 

"Landing?" She sat up groggily.

Leo opened her door and poked his head in. He had his handover his eyes, which would've been a nice gesture if he hadn't been peeking through his fingers. "You decent?"

"Leo!"

"Sorry." He grinned. "Hey, nice jammies. Didn't know you were a Packers fan."

Tori looked down at the oversized dark green Green Bay Packers hoodie she was wearing. "I'm not. I'm pretty sure I stole this hoodie from Travis like two years ago, and Hades knows who he stole it from originally."

"Anyway, we're setting down a few miles outside Topeka, as requested. And, um..." He glanced out in the passageway, then leaned inside again. "Thanks for not hating me, about blowing up the Romans yesterday."   

Tori rubbed her eyes. The feast in New Rome had been only yesterday? "That's okay, Leo. You weren't in control of yourself."

 "Yeah, but still...you didn't have to stick up for me."

"Are you kidding? You're like the annoying little brother I never had. Of course I'll stick up for you, fire fingers. Plus, I'm still trying to charm my way into being your prom date."

"Uh...thanks? And are you still on the prom date thing?"

"You were willing to take a psychotic snow lady to prom, but not me." 

From above, Coach Hedge yelled, "Thar she blows! Kansas,ahoy!"

"Holy Hephaestus," Leo muttered. "He really needs to work on his shipspeak. I'd better get above deck." 

By the time Tori had showered, changed, and grabbed a bagel from the mess hall, she could hear the ship's landing gear extending. She climbed on deck and joined the others as the Argo II settled in the middle of a field of sunflowers. The oars retracted. The gangplank lowered itself.

Percy was the first to notice her, and smiled  warmly at her. He was wearing faded jeans and a fresh orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt, as if he'd never been away from the Greek side. This made Tori smile. The new clothes had probably helped his mood—and of course the fact that he was standing at the rail with his arm around Annabeth.