A/N Must update again...

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Zoha Ven: 1. It's okay. :-) 2. Only location #1. 3.-8. Here is the next chapter!

EnigmaticPhoenix (Guest): Rise Of The Guardians. Thanks, and here it is!

Chapter Twelve: Jokes And Riddling Talk

We were walking to the Academy. Why? I wasn't sure. Did we have dragons? Yes. So I wasn't sure how we'd ended up walking. Percy, Annabeth and I were hanging back a bit. I was doing random dance moves and Percy was trying to copy me. Annabeth was simply finding us amusing.

"I swear to the gods, Songbird, does this not look like the whip?" Percy attempted it, and ended up looking like a demented fisherman. Which sort of made sense.

I laughed.

"Nope," I said through my laughter.

"She's right," Annabeth cut in. "You look ridiculous."

Percy trained his baby seal expression on her.

"You're supposed to be on my side, Annabeth," he whined, pouting. Annabeth snorted.

"Not when you're completely wrong."

I laughed.

"Okay, okay, okay, here's another one."

I attempted the flosser and ended up tripping over a rock in the path I hadn't seen. Percy and Annabeth cracked up.

"See, that's what you get for trying to do the flosser while walking," Percy said in between howls of laughter. I pushed my glasses up and scrambled to my feet, chasing after them while they kept walking.

"Okay, then, Jackson, I bet you'd be great at this!" I shouted gleefully. I stopped walking, angled my knees to point to the opposite sides of me, raised my hands in an almost-circle above my head, and shuffled sideways toward them while yelling loudly.

"Be the crab! You are the crab! FEEL THE CRAB IN YOUR THIGHS!"

To put it lightly, they laughed. To put it accurately, they cracked up so bad they were holding each other up and having trouble breathing. Hiccup and the gang looked back to see us like this: Percy and Annabeth laughing and me in a ridiculous position.

"What in Thor's name are you doing?" Snotlout demanded. I turned and shuffled sideways toward him, holding my position.

"Are you disrespecting the crab, Master Jorgenson?"

I must have looked pretty weird, because he quickly shook his head and said, "Nope. Totally not disrespecting the crab. I very much respect the crab."

That made everyone laugh. Hiccup, however only laughed a little before repeating Snotlout's question, albeit in a more polite manner.

"Seriously, what are you doing, Songbird?"

I laughed and dropped the pose.

"Just messing around."

Hiccup shook his head with a smile.

"Well, let's keep going."

"Alright. Hey, guys, come on."

Percy and Annabeth, who'd stopped laughing, nodded and we all continued to the Academy in one group.

"Okay, then." I surveyed my class.

"Tell me, how good are you at lying? One at a time, please."

Tuffnut thrust his hand into the air, yelling.

"Me! Me me me me me me me me me! Pick me!"

I gave him a deadpan stare.

"Okay...Tuffnut."

"Wait, why are you picking me again?"

Everyone rolled their eyes, and I sighed.

"Because you're supposed to tell me a lie and see if I can tell. Go ahead."

"Oh! Okay, I can totally do this!" He thought for about a split second before declaring, "Ruffnut's hair smells like fish!"

Everyone groaned. I face-palmed.

"That's not a lie, Tuff, I can smell it from here."

"Can you? Are you sure that's what it is?"

"Moving on. Who's next?"

Astrid was next. She was good. Total poker face. Fishlegs and Hiccup miserably failed. I knew they were lying easily. How did I know that? Because Fishlegs kept clutching at his fingers and Hiccup fidgeted like mad. Ruffnut was better, but she punctuated the lie with an evil grin. Snotlout was okay, I guess, his lie was in no way convincing however, for the simple reason that everyone knew it was a lie. He said that he hated Astrid with every fiber of his being. Percy and Annabeth did quite well, Percy said that his dog was a poodle and Annabeth said that she'd never been seriously injured in her life.

"Okay," I said. "Looks like we've got some work to do."

For the rest of the morning I instructed them on body language. I'd been a local actress since I was six, so I was reasonably knowledgeable. I helped them with their poker face and keeping panicked emotions suppressed in the moment. I also tried to figure reasonable alibis out for individuals. By the time I was finished, I was happy with their progress. It was about noon, and we were getting ready to go back to the village. Astrid and Fishlegs were going back to their houses to have lunch with their families, and so the rest of us headed back to the Great Hall. Percy rode with Snotlout on Hookfang, Annabeth (misguidedly) got a ride with the twins, and Hiccup gave me a ride.

"That was some impressive teaching," he told me as we were flying back.

"Meh, it was nothing." I shrugged. "I'm just sharing what I know to be effective."

"It was very effective. I don't think I've ever seen Fishlegs so comfortable with lying."

We laughed together and rode in silence for a few minutes.

The silence was broken by my ringtone.

Hold me up against the wall

Give it till I beg give me some more

Make me bleed I like it rough rough rough rough

Push up to my body sink your teeth into my-

I cut it off then as I answered the phone in surprise. I thought communications were down.

"Hello?"

"These Thorstons are insane!" I heard Annabeth's voice yelling through the tiny speaker, followed by a small-ish explosion on the other end of the line.

"Annabeth. Hey. Yeah, they're like that. How did you get this number?"

"I hacked your phone, duh."

"Why would you do that?"

"Well, I didn't trust you at the time! What do I do? Oh, no...don't-"

Another explosion.

"Uh huh. Good luck with the twins."

I hung up before she could answer and chuckled to myself, turning off the sound on my phone. Hiccup gave me a look over his shoulder.

"What was that?"

"The phone, or the ringtone?"

His expression answered the question.

"Well, I'm sure you already know that the phone is an instant communication device, and the song it played is what I put on for my ringtone. A ringtone is something that plays whenever someone is trying to contact you with their phone."

Hiccup blushed.

"Th-that's a song?"

I smirked.

"Yeah, it's called 'Flesh' and it's by Simon Curtis. Why? Did it make you uncomfortable?"

He wouldn't meet my eyes. I couldn't resist laughing. I found that I liked teasing the dude.

"Hey, it's cool, Hiccup. It's just that the place I come from has very...ah...liberal views toward sex and sexuality."

His face turned even redder. He mumbled something incoherently.

I smirked again. "I say liberal because that's the most diplomatic way to put it. I take it Vikings aren't very open about stuff like that?"

"N-no."

"Oh, look, He's stuttering again, Toothless. Isn't it cute?" Toothless looked around at us for a second and laughed at Hiccup's expression.

When we arrived in the Great Hall, Snotlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Percy, and Annabeth were already there. The twins were chortling about something and Annabeth looked rather singed. She leaned over as I sat down and whispered, "remind me to never ride with them again."

I laughed.

"What happened?"

She shuddered and replied, "They decided to do some target practice on the way back. Went into the woods and exploded things."

"Sounds like them."

"How can you be so calm about this? They're worse than the Stolls!"

"True, but I'm pretty sure that they're not as bad as those dwarves Percy and Leo found in...Italy, was it?"

Percy, hearing this, gagged.

"Nope," he said, "the twins are definitely better."

Meanwhile, Snotlout was trying to ask someone a riddle.

"Seriously, I've got a really good one!" He was saying.

I overhear this and took him up on it.

"Okay, let's hear it."

"Really?"

"Go ahead."

He cleared his throat, then leaned forward and said, "Cold as iron, hard as rock. Hungry and greedy, in the earth it is stuck. For when the sun comes shining down, skin, blood, and bone will turn to stone."

I snorted.

"That doesn't even rhyme. And the answer is a troll."

"A troll?!" Tuffnut's head snapped up. "Where?"

"Nowhere, muttonhead." Ruffnut slapped him.

"Guys, not here, please," Hiccup told them.

Snotlout was looking crestfallen.

"How did you know?" He whined. I smirked.

"I know a lot of things. In fact, where I come from I am known as the Riddle Master because of all the riddles I have memorized."

"Really?" Annabeth was interested now. "How many do you know?"

I thought for a moment.

"About thirty-five, give or take a few."

"Really?" Hiccup tapped the table absentmindedly. "How about you ask us one?"

"Alright." I considered. "Okay, I've got one." I leaned forward and the whole table paid strict attention.

"What has roots as nobody sees, is taller than trees, up, up, it goes, and yet never grows?"

"A dragon!" Tuff yelled. Hiccup face palmed while I laughed and Ruffnut slapped her brother.

"A dragon doesn't have roots, genius." Snotlout shook his head. "Is it a tree?"

I shrugged. "Trees grow."

Annabeth gave me a sly look.

"Well..." she tapped her fingers together. "I heard this riddle, so I'm not going to answer it."

"Give me a hint," Percy whispered to her. She shook her head.

Ruffnut seemed lost in thought. Tuffnut was muttering under his breath.

"I know," Ruffnut suddenly said. "Is it a mountain?"

"Yep." I grinned. "How'd you figure that?"

She shrugged. "Well, nobody sees the roots of a mountain, and it never grows, even though it goes very high up."

I nodded.

"It took me about ten seconds to get it the first time I heard it, when I was seven. My mom was very taken aback and thought I had read ahead in the book we were reading. I was just that good. As I got older I just kept on collecting riddles and once a guy called me 'The Riddle Master.' The name stuck."

"So people call you 'The Riddle Master' where you come from?" Hiccup inquired interestedly.

"Not really, it's more like it's the name I leave when I write down my riddles places and leave them."

"Why would you do that?" Snotlout asked. I smiled.

"To drive people crazy, of course."

Our afternoon went on and Astrid and Fishlegs rejoined us in the Academy. We didn't really do much for the rest of the day, just riddled. I am pleased to say I was still the best, and nobody else could even hold a candle to me. Hiccup gave me a pretty good run for my money though. As we went back to Great Hall for tonight's story (and dinner, of course) I felt quite content. Until I saw Snotlout and the twins whispering. Those two were up to no good, I could tell.

A/N Hope you enjoyed!