Ch. 9- Night Talks
Hiccup POV
We had called a meeting at the roof. The word 'we' meaning 'Me, Merida and Rapunzel'. Not Jack, since he had gone off with the Careers. Plech. Just thinking about it leaves a nasty taste in my mouth.
I was the first to arrive. Early. Then Rapunzel, who was right on time, as usual. Then Merida, who was ten minutes late.
"Sorry ah'm late! So, what'ar we talkin' abou'?"
"Jack!" I exclaim, exasperated. "He joined the Careers, and we have to talk."
"Bu' why? The bloody betrayin' lowlander for some unexplained reason went off, and joined the Careers! What is there to talk abou'?"
"Because," Rapunzel starts, "It doesn't seem like Jack, from what we've heard of him."
"Normally, I would say the Punze is just seeing the best in him, 'cause she could actually see something in Snotlout at first, but in this case, she's right. It's not like him." I say.
Merida huffs. "Well, we just talked abou' it. Now can we sleep? One o' us hasn't trained for more than a day yet."
And after that short conversation, we split to make the trek back to our rooms.
Percy POV
My alarm went off at 12:30 pm, the time I arranged with Jack. I could tell that this was a big secret, so he trusted me a lot. I felt kind of happy. Even though he was supposed to be my enemy, I liked him. Pfff, I guess I have a habit of befriending people I'm not supposed too.
Me and my friend Thalia, who had been in the games with me, had discovered that there was a secret garden that connected all the District's buildings. It had been boarded off, so we probably weren't supposed to be there, but it made for a good meeting place with Jack. There weren't even surveillance cameras there! Those Capitol people are dumber than they think and we're smarter than they think. Heh.
Jack was already there when I arrived. Wow. I knew he was fast, but I assumed he would have taken more time to find the boards and break them.
"Hey." He nods in response. "So, what is this big secret?"
He hesitates, then says, "You've gotta keep this secret, promise?"
"Promise."
Then, he did the most childish but most satisfying thing ever. He held out his pinky. I held out mine with a smile. And we shook on it in the way of the kids we no longer physically were.
"So, this girl, Merida… she volunteered in place of my sister, Emma. Emma's only 12, and I thought we were okay. But then I was pulled, and even though it hurt to leave her, it was a chance to pay Merida back.
"I made a plan. I was hoping to become a Career, so I can secretly sneak off food and weapons. But I can't tell them, because acting just won't be as convincing as the real feelings. It hurts, but I can do this. There's more competition, so we need an insider. But I didn't know I was good enough to actually seem like a Career or have one's favor to help bet inside."
I flinched. I didn't like the label 'Career'. "That's a good plan," I said. "A plan worthy of Athena."
"Who's Athena?"
"You don't know who Athena is? She's the Ancient Greek goddess of wisdom and battle strategy. I don't know why, but all District 4s are taught about Ancient Greek mythology."
"That's pretty cool! What are some others?"
"Well, there's my favorite, Posiedon…"
And we spent the rest of the night talking about the Greek legends, just like me and my friends used to do back at home. Like true friends.
I'm sorry. I couldn't help but add PJ in there. :)