To JasonGraceIsNAPPING- LeLou? There's no LeLou! Mwhahaha!
To RandomFanAuthor- Nooo? The 111 lady said elbow was OK! And everyone's gay now, I'm calling it. You're welcome.
"On the road again!"
"Stop singin'!"
"Cal gets to sing!"
"'Cos she can sing!"
"Hey! I am an amazing singer!"
"I've had more musically talented turds than you!"
"Oh my gods, I'm walking to America!" Calypso decided. They had left France behind almost a month ago. There had tripped around Europe, a bit of sight-seeing and food-stealing. Louisa had a fight with an octopus in an aquarium and they were chased by the local police for three hours. Calypso had busied herself in a selection of libraries they had come across. At first, they didn't know what she was looking for. Louisa pressed Harry Potter on her- "Read these or die!"
"I've never read Harry Potter." Leo admitted.
"What? Dirty muggle!"
"I watched the films!"
"Read the books!"
"You read the books!"
"I have! I think." Louisa floundered. Leo had laughed.
"Harry Potter breaks through amnesia."
"I think I'm a Gryffindor."
"I'm a Ravenclaw."
"Pfft, muggle."
"Fight me."
"I'm trying to read!" Calypso reminded them. This only encouraged them to squish either side of her, reading with her. She sighed. "I just wanted to understand myself a bit more. And there's so much history I've missed on." She explained. "But a lot of these history books are very male-orientated."
"Mm." Leo huffed. "Very white too."
"Why?"
"Assholes." Louisa nodded solemnly. "Read Harry Potter."
"I will after-"
"Now."
They ended up buying all seven books to read on their travels. Calypso would read to them as they flew or settled around a fire come night-time. They were halfway through the fourth book once they left Europe, heading out over the North Atlantic.
"Stay out of the sea, Lou."
"Why?"
"I want to read Harry Potter, not deal with your friends."
"OK. Have ya decided ya house yet?"
"I thought the Sorting Hat picked?"
"It does." Leo agreed. "But we don't have a Sorting Hat."
"So, we get to choose?"
"Yes." Leo grinned. Calypso gasped excitedly, clasping her hands. "The power is yours, Cal. Use it."
They were still flying when the sun began to set. Leo was battling with his collection of maps and listening to Festus whir and crick. How long since they had left Europe? Six hours? Seven? He was desperately trying to find land to, well, land. They were all exhausted and saddle-sore. Calypso was snoring into his shoulder. Louisa was kicking his calf, complaining.
"There ain't anywhere ta go!" She repeated for the umpteenth time. Leo squinted as his map, his nose half an inch from the paper. He summoned a flame to his fingertip as the sky continued to darken. "Valdez!" She chastised, kicking him again. Leo's head snapped round with a grumpy mmph and a pout. "What?" She demanded. "Ain't nowhere ta land, dipshit."
"Well, have you got any bright ideas?"
"Bubble." She grinned, spreading her hands. At his blank look, her smile wilted into a sulk. "Diiiiiveee." She said slowly, motioning with her hands. "'N' I," she tapped herself on the chest, "will make bubble," she drew a sphere with her palms, "that we," she circled them all under her point, "will sleep in." She tucked her hands by her cheek and mimed snoring. Leo stared back with a deadpan look. She dropped her hands to her hips, frowning at him. "You asked."
"We're not going in the sea, Lou."
"You might if ya don't drop that attitude."
"We're not sleeping in a bubble."
"Why not? It's awesome!"
"It's not monster-proof. I'm not waking up to be eaten by Keto's little buddies." Her foot batted into his calf once more and she sighed irritably. Leo faced forward, looming over his maps again. Louisa was quiet, sulkily so, fiddling with the ends of Calypso's hair.
"Lou, help me here." Leo requested, the stars twinkling over them now. "Where are we?" She opened her mouth, tipping her nose up at him. He could already hear the sarcastic comeback, but it never came. "Lou?" Her gaze had fixed on the sky, biting her lip in thought. "You OK?"
"I… I actually know that one."
"What?" He looked up too, expecting some abstract constellation that would undoubtedly be pissed at her and want them dead. Her hand flailed in his face and she gestured to the maps.
"Thirty, thirty-one, seventy-five, twelve."
"I won't lie, you had me in the first half. But it's clear you can't count."
"I will throw you off this dragon." She warned. Festus burred and shuddered, spilling oil from his jaws. Calypso stirred, pressing her face into Leo's back.
"Mmm, you two aren't arguing again, are you?"
"Leo's bein' mean."
"Lou can't count."
"What?"
"Thirty, thirty-one, seventy-five, twelve." Louisa repeated. Calypso rubbed at her eyes with the heel of her hand, yawning. She had Louisa say them again, waking herself up with a deep breath of the night air.
"Leo." She said, squishing the back of his head with her fingers. "Didn't you say she was a natural born sailor?"
"I did, yeah. Why? Mierda!" He swore, making them jump and Calypso smack her hand down on his hair. "Lou! That's latitude and longitude!"
"Huzzah?" Louisa shrugged, too tired for this nonsense.
"You always know where you are on the sea." Leo prompted, half-turning in his seat to keep her attention. "You've got a crazy accurate internal GPS that beat my system on the Argo II."
"Haha." She snorted, blowing a victorious raspberry. Leo shoved the maps at her, drawing a pen from his toolbelt. She frowned at him, then at the assignment. Leo had simply wanted a little mark as to their whereabouts. She drew a hand sticking its middle finger up. "We're above the finger." She grinned.
Leo shook his head, studying the map once more. Calypso peered over his shoulder, wrapping her arms around his middle for warmth.
"We're about an hour away from Miami."
"Home?" Louisa asked hopefully.
"So close." Leo confirmed. Louisa nodded, wiping something from the front of her shirt. She looked back up with a questioning hum. Leo narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her. Calypso mirrored the look a second later. "What?" They chorused.
"Just wanderin' if I should mention the giant whirlpool with teeth up ahead."
"The what?"
"Whirlpool. Big spinny whoosh thing. With teeth."
"With teeth?"
"Uh…" She scratched at her head, grimacing. "Yeah, with teeth. I did say that already, didn't I?"
