As I was jogging home I pondered my encounter with Nico earlier that day. Why had he been so speechless as I'd presented my potato farm idea to him?
After about two whole minutes of the jog, I had to stop to catch my breath.
"Yesssss! New record!" shouted as I fist-bumped the sky.
I heard hushed snickers from the bush beside me and jumped a little.
"Who's there?" I pulled a potato from my hoodie pocket and aimed it at the bush, ready to chuck it with full force at any moment.
Two extremely tall redhead twins who looked about my age arose with their hands in the air.
"Don't shoot," one of them requested with a fearful look.
I lowered the potato. "You think it's funny that I can't run, don't you?"
They looked at each other. "Well...yeah. I mean...we saw you start just down the street not two minutes ago. Even George here can run for longer than that," replied the other twin.
"Shut up, Fred. You can't even go for a quarter of a mile."
Fred rolled his eyes. "Anyway...want some candy?" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of purple taffy. He offered it to me.
"Yay, candy!" I shrieked in an unintentionally high-pitched tone of voice. I grabbed the taffy, unwrapped it with expert precision, and popped it into my mouth.
Fred and George got uncomfortably close to my face and stared into my soul as I chewed, wide-eyed like owls.
"I have no idea who you guys are...but I do love me some candy," I said.
"How is it? Do you like it?" Fred interrogated.
To express my considerably pleased feelings for this phenomenal candy, I proceeded to do a happy dance. Now, I'm no dancer, to say the least-yet, I continued to dance, and I could not stop. First it was the all-infamous sprinkler, then the deep-sea diver, then the cha-cha slide. I think I even attempted to do the tango...partnerless.
"Um...why is this happening?" I wondered as I commenced with the Macarena.
They guffawed and then shouted in unison, "It works!"
"What do you mean, 'it works'?" I asked.
George gave a sly smile. "It's dancing taffy-our latest design. Our plan is to sneak a piece to You-Know-Who somehow, and then when he eats it, he won't be able to stop dancing. It will be a hilarious picture, you know...imagine the darkest wizard of all time, doing lame dances as he runs about doing evil. I think it will lighten people's moods a bit."
Before I could ask how to stop dancing, they both scampered off. I observed as they traveled down the street, and even saw Fred give up after about six blocks. Then they just disappeared into the thin air. How peculiar.
As I slipped into the pancake dance, a brilliant idea hatched within my mind: perhaps I could use this curse to my advantage. I could show off my new dancing skills to Annabeth. Maybe I could finally convince her that I have mad talent in every area, and not just in swimming alone.
So, I started to jive my way back towards Annabeth's dorm.