Hello, and ohmygosh I haven't updated in ages. Ages. And yes, I feel mildly bad about it. But whatever. For some obscure reason I totally forgot Annabeth had a busted leg and can't go to the beach, so just say she was near Mia while she was sleeping and woke her up from there, and she's not on the ship. 'Kay? 'Kay.

Also, massive thanks to KaylaDestroyer for the review!

The spies sat in the cabin in front of Gutt and Soto. The cabin was a smallish room lit with a few flaming torches. The walls were made of ice, cut especially thin in a square on one side to make a window, out of which Mia could see miles and miles of open sea, lit by moonlight. Somewhere in the distance a whale spouted. There was a large wooden table, with the captains on one side, spies on the other. The table was strewn with maps on leaves and a few pears. Mia liked pears. The captains were currently questioning James on what he had learned.

As it turned out, James had way more information than Mia, Adsila or Jackson. He was able to list when the herd would and wouldn't be around, just from talking to them. Mia was mentally scolding herself for not asking questions. She had been raised by the kind of parents that firmly believed children should be seen and not heard, and if possible, not even seen. Parents of prey animals were like that.

"Where is Annabeth? She was supposed to be in charge, if I remember correctly," Soto snarled. He was sitting beside Gutt, doing that thing cats do when they lick their paw and use it as a facecloth. There should be an actual verb for that, thought Mia.

"She sprained her leg," replied James. "She should still be able to fight though; it'll be healed in a week or so."

"Good. Annabeth is a valuable asset to the team. Good fighting skills. However, we will need somebody who can actively interrogate the herd."

Gutt nodded in agreement. "I will think of an additional member while you continue. Jackson, what have you learned?" Jackson decided the floor was absolutely fascinating and stared at it as if it was a masterpiece of art. As far as Mia knew he had spent the day asleep and preying on the occasional chicken. Gutt nodded. "Alright then... Adsila?"

"Well, we know the teenagers spend a lot of time on the beach, so I dunno what you wanna do with them but you could, like, kidnap them, you were planning to do that, right?" Adsila spoke quickly, with quite a lot of commas. Teenagers do that. But still, Mia thought she might have heard some remorse in her friend's voice. Was she regretting this too? She was a pirate, though. She was used to this. Maybe it was just her imagination.

Soto nodded. "Yes. Yes we are. Good job. Mia?"

"I-I was with Adsila the whole time. We learned the same things."

The tiger grunted. "Alright. Try and spread out next time. You'll find out more." Mia nodded, feeling moderately useless. "So," he continued,"We need another spy. Let's see if we have any volunteers, shall we?"

They walked below deck. Almost everyone was awake. Gutt tapped his claws against the wall, making a resounding click noise. Everyone quietened down. "Alright, listen up," began Gutt. "Annabeth is currently injured. She is at the herd's camp, but we need someone else to follow the herd around and get more information. We have learned from James that they all wake up at different times and leave to forage. They arrive back at sunset, also at different times. However, I would like to now the specifics. Would anybody like to volunteer to be the new spy?"

Two hands went up. One was Cleo, a small striped wildcat from the North African region. The other was Roshan. Gutt peered at the others. "Nobody else?" Silence. "Alright then. You two shall fight. Winner spies."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. We don't need to go that far, do we? Cleo can spy." Roshan sat back down. Gutt yanked him back up by the collar of his large black coat.

"No. You volunteered. You will fight the cat."

"And if I don't want to fight the cat?"

"The cat fights you," cut in Cleo, dropping into a crouch, ready to spring and dig her claws into his face.

"Okay, okay!"

Roshan grabbed his spear, which had been sitting next to him. Just as he turned around, Cleo sprang. She was pushed aside by the spear. The tabby fell on her side, winded but not hurt.

She hissed, and, without warning jumped again, this time managing to dig her claws into Roshan's arm. He winced, but didn't falter as he deflected another pounce with the spear. Cleo twisted and landed on her feet. She used her speed to dodge a whack from the spear, running behind Roshan and springing at his back before he could register that she'd moved. She fell off, but not before she could dig her claws into his neck, drawing blood. It trickled into his fur coat. He scowled, tightening his grip on the spear. He swung it to the left. Cleo dodged right, as he had expected. Before she could make another move, he slammed the blunt end of the spear into her head. Cleo flopped onto the ice, knocked out. Roshan had won.

Gutt slowly clapped. "Well done. I must say, I was expecting you to lose that one." He looked around. "Well, we have our new spy. Sonoma, look after Cleo, we'll need her to be in peak condition for the battle. That goes for all of you. I want to see you all training tomorrow." A barely suppressed groan ran around the room, abruptly cut off by Gutt glaring at them.

The spies made their way up to the deck, walking down the gangplank and wading through the water. It was frigid. Mia could feel the cold seeping in, making her feet ache. She was glad to be back on land. They were walking down the sandy trail to the herd's caves when a dirt trail appeared in front of them. A head popped up from the ground, followed by a furry tan body. Louis stared up at the spies.

"Er... Hi. What've you been doing up so late?

Yeah, bad ending, but hey, I got an ending! And a beginning! In fact, I wrote a chapter! So yeah, feedback is great. Review, please?