stollen things || c. stoll

5.2 ~ We Should Get Some Vans That Have Real Seating

The next morning, I woke up early. Like, before curfew was over early. I figured I'd spend the next hour before I could go out cleaning the cabin. We'd consistently gotten twos and threes for inspection for the last few days, so I wanted to try for at least a four.

I had most of our stuff tidied and cleaned, then headed outside to fix our flowers and roof. Some Hermes kid had picked flowers from the roof to give to his girlfriend. I wasn't impressed, because it was my job to go fix them in the morning anyway. The clock struck six, so I decided to go for a jog. I didn't have anything else to do.

When I was finished, my whole cabin was awake and getting dressed. We headed to breakfast and sat down, laughing quietly. I was glad to have a small amount of joy amongst the grief of the past week.

After breakfast, Annabeth and Percy came around and gave us a four. Thanks to me, of course. I met Connor outside his cabin and we sat on the porch to enjoy the sun for a few quiet minutes before training began. We got no quiet minutes.

A fight had broken out between the Apollo cabin and the Ares cabin. The Apollo kids had the chariot they'd gotten from Kronos and were flying over the Ares cabin, dropping firebombs. The roof was on fire, and the naiads were desperately trying to extinguish it. They were throwing curses back and forth at each other, and the Ares kids were speaking in rhyme. That was going to get old fast.

We tried to ignore it, but they were being quite loud. I took Connors hand and led him behind the Hermes cabin to get a little bit farther from the commotion.

"So, where are you for training today?" I asked him, laying my arms over his shoulders. He kissed the tip of my nose and smiled.

"Sword fighting, with a few guys from my cabin. You going to us?"

"I've signed up to help Michael run Archery," I said. "Yours could use work, if you want to come on over before lunch."

"Not sure if Michael would like that. For such a small guy, he can hold a lot of rage if you're not listening to him."

"Don't be mean, it's not his fault. I'm sure you were short once." I joked.

"Pssh. Nonsense. I've always been this tall. 6 feet tall, reigning over the rest of you." He straightened his posture.

"Stoll, you're 5'10"."

"Am not!!"

I kissed his cheek and left without responding, grinning back at him.

•

After lunch, it was time to burn Beckendorf's shroud. The shroud was made of metal links and curled into golden smoke as it burned. Connor, Travis, and I stood behind Silena. We tried to comfort her, but Clarisse wasn't letting anyone come close. We each managed to get in a shoulder rub or a squeezed hand. Percy came up to say a few words to her, then started an argument with Clarisse. The brothers and I got a few minutes of silent hugging and crying with Silena before she ran off again.

"So. What next?" Travis asked quietly. It was just the three of us. There wasn't must room for fun this coming week. The war was about to begin within the next few days. Which was depressing, considering the Stolls rely on fun to live.

Neither Connor nor I had anything to say. Of course we still snuck out after curfew, but it wasn't the same without Beckendorf or Silena. Sneaking out that night was not a good idea. I got little to no sleep that night, and the next day in late morning Annabeth received a dreadful phone call.

As soon as she'd received the message, the alarm spread through camp. It was a Sunday, so I had slept in along with many of my siblings. I rushed out of my cabin, still in my pajamas, to see everyone in about the same situation as me. I rushed back inside and shook my siblings awake. We got dressed quickly in mortal clothes and ran to the armory. I was constantly doing head counts as we got prepared. Strapping on my armor over my black camouflage tank top, I tried to keep my hands from shaking. The hot August weather kept me from layering too much and left me vulnerable to injury. I'd settled on long pants, at least.

I strapped my bow to my back, my sword to my hip, and my dagger to my thigh. I helped my younger siblings into their battle armor. It was hard to keep the tears back. They were too young for this. It was too soon after losing my other younger siblings the previous year.

We distributed a small lunch after we piled into the vans. I was in the back of a van with no seating, packed with praying children. Some of them were silently crying, but the older ones of us kept it together enough to lead an example, no matter how nauseous I was from the ride. I was sitting next to Michael Yew, who was gripping his bow like his life depended on it. And it did.

When we were all out of the vans, we were met by Percy. He seemed different somehow. Older. "Okay. Like I told Annabeth over the phone, something bad is going to happen by tonight. Some kind of trap. We've got to get an audience with Zeus and convince him to defend the city. Remember, we can't take no for an answer. Let's go."

I stayed next to Madge the whole time as Percy negotiated with the security guard of the Empire State Building. We decided to take two trips up the elevator. I pushed through the crowd, sudden panic rising in my throat. I searched for Connor, and grasped his hand tight when I found him. We got onto the second elevator ride and stood in silence with our fellow demigods as we rose to Mount Olympus.

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