A/N Hi! Sorry about not writing Monday, I couldn't get to a computer...and then yesterday we went to the zoo with our cousins (who just happen to include twins). The twins DROVE ME INSANE. They are two years old, a boy and a girl, and they are the type to throw fits over the smallest thing. And their favorite thing to do? Run. Away. In opposite directions. I was responsible for them. Have YOU ever tried chasing around two two-year olds? It's NOT fun. They cried when we left the leopard cubs, they cried when we saw the camels, they cried when it was time to leave the seal tank, they cried when they threw their snacks away, they cried when we learned that the polar bear exhibit was closed for feeding time, they cried when I tried to pick them up, they cried when I tried to hold their hands, they cried when they got off the carousel, and they cried when I stopped them from running away with their own stroller. Gah...

Anyway, I had a really weird dream that I'm only sharing because it involves what I'm writing about, and I think it might be inspiration for a chapter yet to come...maybe. So in the dream I was trying to convince Hiccup that he was a genius. And I was sadly failing. It took a while, but I finally got him to say that he might be a genius, and then, because he was shorter than me and because I think in the dream I thought of him as a brother, I put my arm around his shoulders and he put his arm around my waist and then I woke up. (Drat...)

I SAW THE FIRST NINE EPISODES OF RTTE SEASON 3! WHOO! I nearly cried during the first one (who knew Hiccup could be so dark!?)And then my brother insisted on watching more without me...So now he's dropping tons of spoilers and totally untrue spoilers (such as, Toothless was killed, I mean, really?)

Review Replies:

Zoha Ven: He really is, isn't he? Thank you!

Chapter Seven:

The twins were really starting to get on my nerves. Everyone else had accepted the "soap that is for your teeth that is also colored blue and that also tastes good" explanation without question (except for Fishlegs, who wanted to know what was in it). But Ruffnut and Tuffnut? Oh, no, they were still convinced I was a witch. They were washing Barf and Belch and kept glancing over at me and muttering.

Oh, did I mention it was dragon bath day?

Yep.

Hookfang was really unhappy. He kept trying to run away, but the gates of the Academy were closed for that very reason. He kept crawling around in circles while Snotlout chased him with a scrub brush and a bucket of soap and water.

Meatlug was really enjoying herself. Fishlegs was washing her with boiling hot and then freezing cold water, oiling her claws, brushing her teeth, stuff like that. Occasionally she would roll over and pass gas (at which juncture everyone covered their noses and complained) but other than that she just lay on the ground and wiggled.

Stormfly was happy, too. She was such a picky dragon that she wouldn't even let Astrid wash her, so Astrid just filled up a big tub with soap and water, put in a really big rag, almost a towel, and let Stormfly wash herself.

Barf and Belch were completely indifferent to the situation of being bathed.

And Toothless...well, I was learning how to wash a dragon. Percy and Annabeth were watching me, having passed on learning how to wash a dragon, Hiccup was teaching me, and Toothless..well. Toothless was picky, too. He had to be washed in an exact order, otherwise he would get really upset.

So anyway, I was scrubbing away at a particularly sticky bit of mud between his claws, and I guess I must have done something wrong, because when I reached for the bucket next, it was gone.

"Toothless?"

I looked up at his face. He had the bucket handle in his mouth.

"Toothless, can I have the bucket back?"

"Duck!" Hiccup shouted.

I ducked. The twins shrieked, "Where? Where?"

Toothless flung the bucket at where my head had been a moment before. But because my head wasn't there anymore, he hit Snotlout in the chest. Snotlout stumbled back with a big wet spot on his shirt, tripped over Meatlug's foot, and knocked into Fishlegs. Fishlegs, taken off guard, tripped backwards and fell onto Hookfang's tail. Hookfang let out a big burst of fire. The fire singed Stormfly's newly polished chest scales, and she screeched angrily and whipped out her tail, accidentally hitting both Barf and Belch in the face. They growled and swiped at her, but ended up tripping Astrid, who had tried to run to Stormfly's side.

We ended up with a dragon fight. The only non-participants were Meatlug, who lay oblivious in the middle of the Academy floor, and Toothless, who was watching the fight, extremely amused. We finally managed to stop the fight, and I kept apologizing, but Hiccup just laughed and said it was actually Toothless's fault, Snotlout sighed and said I was too beautiful to be responsible (and then I punched him in the gut), Fishlegs said it was no problem, Astrid said she would pay money to see that again, and the twins were laughing too hard to care.

I climbed up to the stands (or the bleachers, or the benches, whatever they are) around the Academy and sat with Percy and Annabeth while the dragons were re-washed (all but Hookfang, who spent the time trying to run away). Percy was still chortling and Annabeth had tears of laughter in her eyes.

"That..was...HILARIOUS!" Percy said. Annabeth nodded, trying to keep a straight face.

"Guys, it was an accident," I said, but I was smiling. A thought occurred to me and I pulled out my phone. I scrolled through my texts. My mom had sent One-hundred-and-fifty-two texts. My dad had sent eighty. My brother had sent twenty-two. My grandma had sent sixty-four. I tried responding, but it wouldn't work. I had no service. Then I checked my email. I had exactly six-hundred-and-twenty-three new emails. I couldn't send emails either. I tried going to . It worked.

Huh, I thought. So I can receive messages but not send them, and I have Internet?

I tried going to other sites. They all worked.

Internet, but not communication. I can live with that.

I felt so guilty, though. My grandma had seemed so worried. My mom and dad had seemed mad. My brother seemed hungry (as usual). He wanted me to bring him back some New York pizza.

I sighed and shut off the phone.

"So you figured it out, too?" Annabeth asked.

"What?" I asked, looking up from the blank screen.

She looked at me sympathetically.

"No communication. You can't call anybody either. I've tried."

I nodded glumly.

"Yeah. I miss home."

"Me too."

"Me three," Percy chimed in.

We laughed.

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The rest of the day passed without incident. Well, any major incidents, at least. Snotlout ended up in the harbor because Hookfang was angry that Snotlout had finally bathed him, but nobody counted that as a major incident. I took to the kitchens in the Great Hall that evening and made a huge, gigantic pan of scrambled eggs with dill for the dinner of the dragon riders, Percy, Annabeth and me, and they all raved over it. I was very pleased. See, dill has a flavor in eggs, but not on potatoes. My mom had taught me that a long time ago. Only use dill on potatoes for decoration.

Anyway, as soon as dinner was over, Percy, Annabeth and I played Rock, Paper, Scissors to decide who would tell a story tonight. Annabeth won, even though Percy had cheated in the first couple rounds by using his finger gun. We said that we'd make him tell the story every night for a week if he cheated again, and he had laughingly agreed.

Annabeth told the story of Snow White And The Seven Dwarves (no, not the Disney version) and was very well received by the Vikings. They had never heard such a story before, and they LOVED it. There was a bit of gagging from the younger children at the whole "true love's kiss breaks the spell" bit, but other than that, Annabeth was a success.

That night I had a dream. It was really strange, because I knew I was dreaming, and I also knew I couldn't wake up until the person I was dreaming about let me. The problem was, I couldn't see their face, or hear their voice.

DREAM

I was standing in a cave. It was dark, and damp, and when I held out my lamp, things scuttled away into the darkness.

"Hello?" I called. "Where am I?"

No response except a low hiss. Now I felt scared.

"Show yourself!" I called out.

A figure stepped out into the edge of the light. They were wreathed in shadowy robes, and their face was masked. Bright green eyes shone out from the eyeholes of the mask.

"Hiccup?" I asked.

The figure shook its head, and I could see its mouth moving, but I couldn't hear the words. It stopped, frustrated, and I noticed that it was tall, and had black hair.

"Who are you?" I asked.

It pointed to the wall. I turned to the wall, but there was nothing on it. I turned back to the person.

"What-" but the person was gone. I looked back at the wall. Now there were words on it. Words written in blood. Some were fragmented, but others were whole.

Her bones...ever...Heart's Blood...Lover...back...time of time, from time, returning, across the centuries, to save her from burning...missed...The Mist...One moon from home...Staying forever...sacrifice...going home...mask, love, hate, stone.

Beneath the words, there was a diagram that was covered in dust.

I turned and left the cave, looking for the person with green eyes. I didn't get far before I heard a dragon's growl and looked straight into the angry eyes of a Changewing. It shot acid at my eyes...

DREAM

I woke with a start, panting, sure that the Changewing had just burned my eyes out. Late morning sunlight was streaming in the window. I collapsed back onto my pillow with a groan. Percy and Annabeth were gone, their beds neatly made up (although Percy's was sloppier) and I could smell food. The door suddenly flew open and I was assaulted by a few thousand pounds of black scales pouncing on me and licking my face.

"Gah!...Toothless! Why!? You only do this to Hiccup!"

The Night Fury ignored me and licked my face until it was soaked with fish-smelling drool. Then he slid off the bed, sat primly on the floor, and fixed me with a look that said, get up. Breakfast is ready.

I groaned, got up, found a towel, and toweled off my face before marching into the Great Hall, over to the table where the Dragon Riders and demigods were sitting, flung the towel into Hiccup's face, and said, "If you wanted to wake me up, Haddock, you should have tried something other than sending your dragon to lick me awake!"

Hiccup looked at me with a wounded expression, while everyone else was busy cracking up.

"Leave him alone," Astrid sniggered. "I told Toothless to wake you up."

I stood there with my hair in a rats nest, with my brain still moving sluggishly, and mumbled, "Okay. I'll be right back." And went off to brush my hair. When I got back, Toothless was under the table (well, as much of him as could fit) and was trying to steal table scraps.

I slid onto a bench next to Ruffnut, who was feeding Toothless tiny pieces of fish.

Astrid was saying to Snotlout, "Yes, of course I can take any challenge."

"Oh, really, Astrid?" I chimed in.

She turned to me. "Yes," she said defiantly. "Any challenge."

I let a slow, wicked smile spread across my face. "Okay. I'll take you up on that." I stood up.

I cleared my throat and said in a voice so loud every head in the Hall turned,

"I, Songbird of Seattle, challenge you, Astrid Hofferson, to a dance-off. Winner takes all prestige and honor afforded to the victor. Do you accept?"

Astrid stood up and faced me. "Is it a fight to the death?" She asked, equally loudly.

"No," I replied. "It is a fight to the playlist."

"I accept. Name the time and place."

"Noon, in the Plaza. No holds, no bars, dirty tricks expected."

"What weapons do I need?"

"None at all."

"Done."

She walked away, and I sat down smiling.

"What's a dance off?" Hiccup asked.

"You'll see," I responded.

Percy smirked at me and Annabeth shook her head in a teasing way.

I thought it was a good thing I'd packed my Bluetooth speaker for my trip to New York.