"Al, come here for a sec!" Leo yelled at me. I walked over to him, grumbling.
"Yes, I know I said I'd help you, Leo, but this is too much! I'm literally running foot-on for you, whenever! It's two in the morning, for God's sake!"
"When did that ever stop me?" Leo grinned impishly. I rolled my eyes.
"Never, yes I know, but we have a counciler's meeting today, and I, for one, don't want to fall asleep at a ping pong table, even if you do!"
"K fine, you go."
"Not without you. I'm never trusting you again, not after that Christmas incident."
It was seven in the morning, and I had to drink about nine cups of coffee to keep me awake just for the meeting. If I'd had the energy, I would've worried about my patients at my infirmary shift, but right now, I didn't even have the energy to tell the difference between salt and sugar. My half conscious brain decided it would be funny to mistake the cocoa powder and the pepper too, so when I sat down next to Will at the Apollo table, I had the world's first savoury cup of coffee. But guess what? I didn't have the energy to deal with that either, so I decided to just put up with it. Surprisingly enough, it got me through the morning.
"I suppose you all know why I have gathered you today."
No-one was listening.
Chiron banged his hoof on the table. We all sat up(except Clovis, which wasn't a surprise. What was surprising though was that Butch had managed to get eleven pencils in his nostrils this time!).
"I will repeat again, I assume you all know why I have called you all here."
He looked around, and judging from our black expressions, he sighed.
"Why do I ever trust you to send out the summons, Travis? Honestly, I thought maybe because you are the son of the messenger god, but never mind." Giving Travis one final death stare, he continued. "It has been five months since Leo set out with his cabin to start the Argo- where is Leo?"
I opened my mouth to tell Chiron that he was probably asleep, but Chiron held up his hand. "Alexandra, I think I understand. Very well, you shall simply have to relay to him the events of this meeting later."
I nodded my head, not bothering to tell him that I wasn't sure if I could stay awake too.
"Very well then, as we have that sorted, there's no point dilly-dallying. We have a deadline. In one month, the Argo II must be in sailing condition, or else we cannot hope to prevent Gaia from rising. Myself and the Council of Cloven Elders have agreed that it is too much responsibility for one cabin alone to hold, not to mention my own worries about their mental health, so we have decided that from now, everyone in camp shall help, including the satyrs. Non-essential training, such as canoeing, and foot-racing shall be called off until further notice, to allow for extra time to be dedicated to the ship. Today is also the last capture the flag, as we shall use that time as well to help with the ship."
My ears perked up at the mention of Capture the flag. Maybe I could finally get Leo to join? I started thinking of a bunch of debates that would get him in the game.
"Very well. The council is adjourned."
"Hey, Leo."
"Mmm, yeah?"
"Capture the flag."
"What about it?"
"I want you to join the game today. It's our last game before we set sail. C'mon, Leo, it's called fun!"
"Yeah, after Clarisse and her cronies decide to pick on me again." Leo stated. "Besides, I need to work on the ship."
"Leo, you think about the ship far too much. Seriously, relax for a bit. Oi Nyssa!" I yelled. The daughter of Hepheastus looked up.
"Yeah, Alex?"
"Try and convince Leo to come to capture the flag, please!"
Nyssa sighed. "I would, but there's just too much work that needs to be done on the ship!"
"Oh yeah, I forgot!" I said. "Chiron said this is the last game until the ship sails, because after that, everyone's going to be pitching in to help! So you can spare one evening now."
"Oh, well, that changes things!" Nyssa grinned. "C'mon, Leo, join in!"
Leo grumbled. "Ok fine. But you're responsible for my body, Al."
"Sure thing," I smiled. Oh boy was I going to teach Leo a lot. His first ever capture the flag game!
And maybe his last..., a voice said in my head.
Shut up, I told it back. We will succeed.
Mother Earth says different.
Hey everyone!
Yes I know I'm fickle minded, sue me. But I felt like continuing this story, and so I have.
Capture the flag next chapter! Also I know this chapter's short, but it's going to take some time to get back into the flow of writing, and I'm also going to have to start preparing for GCSE's soon, so I will be busy, not to mention that I've taken the overwhelming task of watching all 720 episodes of Naruto on my back! So yeah, slow and steady wins the race!(Though who I'm competing against is a mystery!)
Yours,
MilkandCheez
