Chapter 26- Merida
I wish Jack putting me in bed could've been half as cute as Hiccup taking Rapunzel to bed. I was half asleep on his arm and he used the wind to float me away and gently set me in bed. However, late that night (or possibly very early in the morning) I woke up and saw Jack standing over my bed. When he saw me, he kissed my forehead and I went back to sleep. Close enough. The next thing I knew, I'm waking up when the sun came up, as many of my cabin mates had done. Good thing I woke up when I did, considering who I'm pretending to be the daughter of. Lisa smiled at me, coming over to sit at the foot of my bed. "Isn't the sunrise just one of the coolest things ever? It's so pretty. Then again, I might just like it because of our father. You know?" I nodded; glad Lisa was playing along with us. She and I went to breakfast, sitting in the same spots as last night, waiting on the others. We didn't wait long. Rapunzel and Hiccup arrived together as always, and Jack flew in to sit with me, making me smile. Mitchell and Kaylanasia arrived last of the INVITED group, with Hunter on their heels. Today, Hunter sat in between Kaylanasia and me, smiling his disgusting way at me. I took Jack's hand, purposefully ignoring Hunter and smiling at Jack, who smiled back. I heard him huff in annoyance and I ignored him as we all chatted about last night. "I'm kinda worried about what Pitch said. One of us is going to die. That's terrifying in itself."
Hiccup nodded, gripping Rapunzel tighter when I mentioned it. Mitchell took Kaylanasia's hand and Jack pulled me closer. None of us spoke. Finally, Lisa tried to cool it down. "Well… he didn't specify a date. It's probably time to get you guys into training. I mean…"
Clarrisse spoke from behind me. "Couldn't agree more. But Chiron wants to speak to you five first. And Rachel wants to see you, Rapunzel. Then, Hiccup, you're with me for some sword fighting, Jack with Annabeth for archery, Merida with Piper for Charm Speak because apparently you have the gift hidden inside you, Kaylanasia with Jason for strategy, and, when she's done with Rachel, Rapunzel with Tyson for weights. All of you five, right now, with me. You've got to chat with Chiron. Then you'll go off on your assignments." To Hunter, Mitchell, and Lisa, she added, "I think you two know where you're supposed to be." They nodded. We all got up, going our separate ways, Kaylanasia and Mitchell with a quick kiss goodbye. Soon, we were with Chiron, who was a man in a wheelchair who promptly turned into a centaur. Right. This should be good.
"I'm sure you got Pitch's message last night. We here at Camp Half-Blood will do everything we can. Leo is working with the Hephaestus cabin as we speak on better defense plans. Jason's been… honestly, I don't know what that young man's been planning. His friends from Camp Jupiter are a bit testy on helping us, aside from Hazel and Frank, of course. Especially Octavian. Well, aside from all that, we need your knowledge, especially in the Athena cabin, on your enemies. It'll help us extremely. Many members of the camp have found out about your true heritage, and I'm fine with that, considering what's happened. All in all, please keep us as up-to-date on them as you can, and, for Zeus's sake… PRACTICE YOUR FIGHTING SKILLS!"
We all nodded. Then a girl with bright red hair stepped forward, looking at Rapunzel. "You're with me. I'm Rachel. Oracle mortal at your service." She did an exaggerated bow, and we all smiled a bit. Rapunzel nodded, squeezing Hiccup's hand sadly before leaving with Rachel. Quickly enough, we were all divided up. Piper smiled. "I guess you must be a bit nervous or confused, huh? Charm Speak is typically an Aphrodite thing, and rare where it does exist. I have it naturally, as does Drew. Other than that, I don't know of anyone who can do Charm Speak."
"What is it, exactly?" I asked, confused. She smiled. "Oh. I forgot, sorry. It's basically the ability to control someone's will with your voice. You just have to talk for a long while, is the problem, to get them to warm up." I nodded.
Charm Speak, as I found out, was a lot easier than I thought. I was a natural, as it turns out. Piper smiled. "Wow. You ARE advanced. And you didn't know about it?"
"Didn't even know it existed or what it was, to be downright honest about it. Now that I do, though, I guess it'll be to my advantage."
"Trust me, it will. It's gotten Leo, Jason and I out of some seriously stick situations in the past," Piper explained, and I nodded.