Warriors of Wisdom

Chapter Twelve

The few hours that I got some shuteye were dreamless, which I was thankful for. I woke to the sound of a loud banging. I woke up lazily and rubbed my eyes. I squinted at where the noise was coming from. Amelie had large cymbals in her hands and was banging them to wake us up. The boys were starting to stir.

"Oh come on!" Alex yawned. "Why would you keep a pair of cymbals in your tent?"
   
"Dunno. You never know when this'll come in handy." She placed them down on a chair and walked over to the kitchen. "So, breakfast is on me. We eat, we get ready, then I'll take you somewhere so that you can get transportation to Los Angeles."
   
"Why can't you just take us there with your awesome Hunter powers?" Hayden groaned.

"Can't. Orders from Artemis. I'm not allowed to leave within a twenty mile radius of Chicago until I reach my goal or I get further instructions." Amelie yawned and took out some toaster waffles and bagels and started to make them. We all sat up in our beds and faced each other.

"What do we do now Callisto?" Alex asked.

"Same answer it's always been, Love Child. I don't know."

Alex pointed at me, a confused look dawning on his face. "Did she just call me Love Child?"

Hayden shrugged. "She's giving us nicknames now apparently. I'm Sunshine Boy. She's Owl Girl."

"When did you find out that she gave you that nickname?" Alex questioned, raking his hand through his blonde hair.

"Since last night when we--" Hayden stopped. "Since yesterday. You didn't hear it when she called me that. You were probably doing something else." I mouthed thank you to him. Hayden jumped out of his bunk. "Well, I'm going to help Amelie make breakfast. Probably won't appreciate help from a boy, but I'll see what I can do." He smiled and walked over to the kitchen.

Alex walked over and sat next to me on my bed. "Hayden's a nice guy." he said as he pointed at Hayden, who was now setting the table.

"Yeah," I grinned. "I guess he is."
   
"So," he chuckled. "What did you guys talk about last night?" He smirked at me, and I just stared at him with my jaw dropped.

"How did you know about that?"

"I can tell when people are lying. I heard Hayden's unfinished sentence."

I blushed. "Just strategy. That's all."

"Mmm. Gotcha. See, Hayden will probably kill me when he finds out that I told you, but Hayden likes you. Like, like likes you." I stared at him again. I couldn't believe what he was saying.

"You're joking."

"Why would I be? A child of Aphrodite never lies about love."

"How could you possibly know that?"

"Hey, I'm a son of Aphrodite, goddess of love." he emphasized the word love. "I can tell when someone likes someone. The way they look at the person, the way they act around them, that sorta thing. Hayden's got a thing for you."

"But we literally just met a few days ago. How does he know what I'm really like?"

"Who knows? And maybe after awhile, you might, well," He smiled and made a motion with his fingers. He separated his index fingers and brought them together. I didn't know what his message was at first, but then it dawned on me: you might feel the same way.

"This conversation is getting way too weird for me." My cheeks felt like they were burning, but I didn't know why.

"Alright. Let's eat." We both went over to the table where Hayden and Amelie were already placing our breakfast. We sat down and started to put food on our plates. Hayden's mouth was already stuffed with part of his bagel.