20. Giddy-up

“What!?” I gasped. “She’s blind?”

They all nodded.

That couldn’t be right. I checked in with Tea.

‘Is Annabeth blind?’ I demanded. ‘What happened? I thought we were going to slowly improve her sight. Even with healing her whole body, it still shouldn’t have done this.’

‘I’m afraid it’s true,’ Tea said apologetically. ‘Your magic on its own would have healed her slowly, just like we intended. However, her sonic magic has massively sped up the process.’

Damn. I knew healing wasn’t an exact science, and I already knew mixing magics caused unpredictable results, but I wasn’t expecting anything like this.

‘Do you know when she’s going to get her sight back?’ I asked.

‘I’m sorry, but I can no longer accurately predict the changes that are happening with her,’ Tea said. ‘It took you weeks to get your sight back, but you started with massive facial damage. Annabeth’s eyes were fine when you started, so the time for healing should be much shorter. If I had to guess, I’d say she won’t have her sight for at least two days, but it might be longer than that.’

Two days!?

Double damn!

The next round started tomorrow. This changed everything.

“Tock,” I said out loud, “can a team member skip a round of the tournament and join in on the following round?”

“I’m afraid not,” he replied. “If Annabeth doesn’t compete in the next quest, then she is out for good. It’s actually worse than that. Annabeth has to actively take part in the round in some fashion in order to move on. She can’t just hide somewhere while you complete the quest.”

Well, that sucked big donkey dicks. A simple request by Annabeth was turning into an enormous handicap.

I looked at the others, and they seemed as worried as I was. This was going to be impossible.

Annabeth wasn’t concerned at all though, as she was still tripping on the healing mushrooms. She stared into space and hummed happily.

“I’m sure we can figure this out,” Sandy said, taking charge. “Let’s head back to our suite, and we can regroup there.”

That ended up being more of a challenge than we expected. Annabeth couldn’t walk for any distance without her sight to orient her. Even with help, she moved slowly and tripped constantly.

John solved the problem by picking her up and carrying her through the hallways. Annabeth thought it was a grand adventure and laughed and smiled the whole way. I was glad she was flying rainbow airlines, as I knew from experience that losing your natural sight can rock your world. It was going to be even worse for her, as she didn’t have any other sort of sensing ability to fall back on. At least I’d had my magic sight.

We arrived back at the suite, and it quickly became clear that losing her sight was even worse than I’d thought. She couldn’t move around the space at all. She might have been okay if she’d been at home where she knew where everything was, but this suite was all new to her. Plus, she wasn’t in the right mental space to figure anything out.

There was no way we could leave her on her own, so we decided to have a sleepover and turn the main room into an enormous bedroom. We gathered up blankets and pillows and camped out. It was actually rather fun, and certainly more relaxing than running around the Palace.

Our furry companions loved it too. Bermuda’s cheerful face said there was nothing better than curling up in a blanket. He snuggled close to me as Mr. Tubbles sampled the room. He laid on different blankets like he was a connoisseur of textiles and only the best would do.

I was pretty certain where he was going to end up, and sure enough, he finally decided that Tyler’s blanket was the best. Specifically, the part of the blanket that was on his lap. Tyler and I grinned at his antics as he haughtily ignored us and looked away.

Annabeth hummed through most of the setup, and then she started singing. We all joined in, especially when I saw it was stirring her magic and seemed to aid the healing process. It wasn’t a lot, but it was better than nothing.

Just like at karaoke, Annabeth sang the lead and John sang bass. Sandy and Tyler sang backup and filled in the middle. I floated around the edges and had a fun time, but once again, I had the feeling that there was something else here. Something worth exploring.

We sang whatever Annabeth wanted, which was a mix of broadway, pop, and country. She even sang some really old songs that I’d never heard before. The rest of the crew knew them, though, and seemed delighted to sing them again. I just hummed along and joined in as best as I could.

It wasn’t until we started on the song “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” that it clicked. She wasn’t singing the original U2 version. She was singing the Peter Hollens version, where the choir backed him up. In his version, they had gone all out and wailed in emphasis and ecstasy to every line he’d sung.

That’s what Annabeth’s magic was pulling me towards. I was a wailer.

I would never have tried this in front of everyone at karaoke, but I was in a safe space. It was just our crew, and nobody was going to judge me. Well, John and Tyler would certainly tease me a bit, but they wouldn’t judge me.

I let my voice soar, and it just clicked. This is what I was meant to do.

Annabeth’s magic pulled me along, and I slotted into the arrangement like the missing piece. I wailed. I cried. I ad-libbed and ran up and down the musical scale. The drama of it all made my gay heart happy.

Fortunately, Annabeth’s magic kept me from crashing. Nobody wanted to sound like a bird that’s gotten stepped on.

The others looked surprised at first, but then I got nods and smiles, and they seemed to lean into their parts even more. I know I was biased, but we sounded amazing. I couldn’t believe we sounded that good.

Actually, I couldn’t believe I sounded that good. When Tea had made me over, it had blown me away by how fast and strong my movements were and how well I could see. Now, I marveled at how good my voice was. I could hit any note I wanted, and it felt easy.

I sent Tea a quick ‘Thank you!’ Sure, things had gotten out of hand with Annabeth’s sight, but he was a huge part of why I was alive and successful today. I didn’t want him to forget that.

We sang some more, and I realized I could hear the magic in our voices. It wasn’t focused on anything, and it wasn’t much, but it was certainly there.

‘Since you and Annabeth are sworn to each other, it seems like her magic is enhancing your musical abilities,’ my Analytical Side noted. ‘Which makes me wonder why she isn’t benefiting from our magic sight abilities. If she could see magically right now, it would make this whole situation much better.’

‘For sure,’ I agreed. ‘When we aren’t singing and while she’s still feeling good, I’m going to see if I can get her to discover some sort of sight ability. She’s convinced she can’t see magically, but she has to have some sort of capacity, even if it’s terrible.’

I got my chance when we took a break for supper. Going to the buffet didn’t seem like a good idea, so Sandy looked into getting room service. The price for getting our meal delivered was just insane.

Tock came to our rescue when he offered to take us to the grocery store that was available to the staff of the Palace. They obviously didn’t pay the sky-high prices that were charged to the guests.

Sandy, John, and Tyler left to go shopping, and I stayed with Annabeth. While they were gone, I tried everything I could to get Annabeth to see magically. I thought she might be able to see my magical creatures, so I had my Surfers fly in front of her. No luck.

Annabeth had seen my magic inside me back in Otugh’s warehouse, so she should be able to see me now. No such luck.

I then tried to get her to see the magic rope from Indifies’ basement. Again, no luck.

It was like she had a mental block somehow. She was in a great mood and I presented all my tests like we were playing a game, so it wasn’t like she was being stubborn or resisting her talents. It was like her sight just wasn’t there.

The whole thing was baffling.

I switched tactics and tried to get her to develop some sort of echolocation. That worked a lot better, although she could only locate large objects like a couch or a person. Even then, their exact location was fuzzy. At least it was something, and hopefully, she”d get better at it the more she used it.

Sandy and the boys returned from their shopping expedition with all the basic food groups. We had enough bread and fixings to make hundreds of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We also had lots of bagels and cream cheese, along with two whole watermelons and several cantaloupes.

It wasn”t the buffet, but it was enough food to satisfy our hungry crew. It was also the type of food that Annabeth could eat easily. She could hold on to a sandwich and chow down. Something like mashed potatoes and gravy on a plate was beyond her at this point.

I caught everyone up on what we had tried, and Annabeth demonstrated her echolocation skills. Everyone was impressed and thought it was neat. They all agreed that Annabeth should have some sort of magical sight, but nobody had any good ideas of how to bring it out.

We ate, strategized, and eventually went back to singing. We even sang songs about healing and tried to direct our energies towards Annabeth. Tea said that wasn”t helping, so we just went back to singing regular songs.

As the night wore on, I started getting depressed. How on Earth was I going to complete this next round? It was already difficult enough with only two people on a team. Now I had to do it all on my own and somehow keep Annabeth safe as well. The evaluation today had shown I was more powerful than I thought, but this entire mission now seemed impossible.

Now that the teams knew they got points for taking out other mages, the player-versus-player aspect of the tournament was going to speed up. There would be no more Mr. Nice Guy. Without her sight, Annabeth was going to be a sitting duck. She was a bunch of juicy points just waiting for someone to take her out. How was I going to keep her safe?

I kept up my cheerful exterior as the night wound down, but inside, I was really struggling. I didn’t want the Bank to win, and I didn’t want to do this tournament on my own.

I guess I didn’t look as cheerful as I thought, as Tyler finally announced we needed some alone time and he picked me up and carried me into our bedroom.

“Let’s get into bed, and you can tell me all about it,” Tyler said soothingly. Between one blink and the next, he was naked and ready to snuggle. I had on my super suit and I wasn’t good at manipulating it yet, so taking off my clothes was a bit more difficult. The Bank Crystal solved the problem by condensing the entire suit down to a large bracer on my left forearm.

Now that I was mostly naked, we climbed into bed and burrowed under the covers. I thought it was weird that I had this hunky man in bed with me and I didn’t want sex. I didn’t know that was possible. Instead, I just wanted to hide in a safe spot for a few hours and shut out the world and all my responsibilities.

Tyler was the perfect supportive boyfriend as we wrapped our arms around each other and held each other tight.

“Now, tell me what’s going on,” he said, and I did.

I’m normally an optimistic person, so it felt strange to voice how I felt like everything was going to go wrong. I started out with stumbling phrases and incomplete thoughts, but finally the words poured out. Tyler just listened, caressed my body, and made soothing noises. He didn’t try to cheer me up or tell me I was wrong. Instead, he just listened, nodded, and kissed me in support.

I felt like I was vomiting words and emotions, but Tyler just took it all in stride. It was crazy, because I wasn’t talking to convey an idea like I normally did. This time I was talking to get all the emotions out.

It felt like now I’d started, I couldn’t stop. I’d already repeated myself once and started on my third round when I interrupted myself by moaning on his shoulder.

Wait.

Why was I moaning?

Ohhh. Somewhere in my linguistic waterfall, Tyler’s hand had slipped south of the border and started stroking my happy burrito. His skillful movements had gone unnoticed in my emotional whirlwind, and now I was right on the edge of spilling my tequila.

With a casual swirl of his hand, Tyler sent me over the edge. I felt like I was plunging down a rollercoaster as a white hot orgasm exploded, shaking my world. The shockwave tingles spread through me, and I got goosebumps on goosebumps as I spasmed. I groaned from the pit of my stomach as a volcano of boy juice gushed out of me.

It felt like the orgasm to end all orgasms and, for a moment, I thought I’d never stop cumming. When I finally reached the end, I still didn’t stop shaking as Tyler never stopped stroking. I was suddenly sensitive as hell, and his every touch was shooting off fireworks.

Tyler just put our dicks together and kept on working his magic. The feeling of his passionate love baton pressed against mine was heaven, and I clung to him in sensory overload.

“You were saying?” Tyler queried, and I tried to gather my thoughts.

I got out a few words before he started nibbling on my neck, which gave me goosebumps all over again. I moaned more than I spoke, and finally he kissed me hard as his dick pulsed and gave up its own treasure.

I had just cum, but our dicks were connected and the intensity of his rapture pushed me over the edge too. Instead of feeling relief, I was suddenly so horny I couldn’t stand it.

“Fuck me already,” I gasped, and that is just what he did. He rolled me onto my back, spread my legs, and slowly assumed my favorite position. The anticipation was killing me!

“Ready?” he teased.

“Yes! Yes! For God’s sake, yes!” I gasped.

The feeling of him sliding slowly inside me was pure bliss. I arched my hips to make sure I took every part of him as he pushed hard to give me everything he had. I moaned in pure joy and clung to his muscular back as he slowly pulled out, then gave it all to me again.

What followed was a thorough dicking as he pounded the stress and worry out of me. He took care of the stress from the front, then rolled me over and pounded out my worries from the back. Then he rolled me on my side and did this whole one leg up, one leg down sort of thing. I felt like I was in a fancy porn movie, but I didn’t care as I was finally getting to spend some quality time with my boyfriend.

He came—I came—then we both came together. Afterwards, we took a break and got up, got some water, and laid down to cuddle a bit more. Somehow things heated up again, and he buttered my biscuit one more time. When we settled down this time, I felt at peace. My supernatural body was fully relaxed and ready to snuggle. I laid my head on his chest, and he wrapped his powerful arms around me. I could hear his steady heartbeat as I rose and fell with his breathing. Best of all, his musty scent hung in the air, and every breath said he was mine.

“We need to go back soon,” Tyler finally murmured. “It’s not fair to leave Sandy and John to take care of Annabeth on their own.”

“I know,” I replied softly. I thought I’d be sleepy, but I wasn’t. I was relaxed and tranquil, but I wasn’t ready to call it a night yet.

“There is one thing I’ve wanted to ask you,” I said finally.

Tyler was pretty relaxed too, so he just gave me a squeeze to let me know it was okay to keep going.

“I love having you here with me,” I said. “This has already been a crazy adventure, and it’s only going to get even more exciting. I just wanted to know, though, is it safe for you to be outside of the House?”

I waited, but Tyler didn’t say anything.

“When Sandy and I were talking to the Grand Matron at the Gathering, she said it was dangerous for you to be around regular mages. If they ever found out who you were, they would hunt you down and kill you. Or they would try to capture you for what you could do.”

“She’s not wrong,” Tyler agreed. I waited to see if he would say more, but he stayed silent. Finally, I kept going.

“Plus, there’s the mysterious organization you escaped from. Won’t they still be looking for you?”

Tyler gave a long sigh.

“You’re right that I’m at a higher level of danger when I’m outside the House. That’s true for all of us. I’ve asked myself the same question—why did I come with you? I guess it comes down to a few reasons. The main one is that I wanted to be here to watch your back.”

He paused thoughtfully.

“Sandy is the leader of our group, and she’s seen a lot of battles before. So it’s not like she’s a spring chicken when it comes to the supernatural world. However, she hasn’t really seen the nasty side of being a young mage. She hasn’t been preyed on like I have, and as a result, she still trusts people and believes in them.

“That’s a wonderful quality to have in a leader, but it opens her up to being hustled and cheated. I know you’ve been through a lot too, but you still haven’t seen the depths of depravity to which mages will go to get what they want.

“So I’m mainly here to watch out for danger—the kind that I think only I will recognize. Sandy can organize and lead us. You and Annabeth need to have your heads in the tournament. John and I have talked about this, and both of us are watching and supporting. If someone seriously threatens us, we’ll be there.”

He fell silent again, and I gave him a squeeze. I loved that he was watching out for me. I felt safer knowing he was here.

“Thank you,” I said sincerely. Then we snuggled for a moment in easy silence.

“So, what was your other reason for coming?” I asked.

“That one’s much more selfish,” he laughed. “I guess I just wanted to test myself and see how I would do in the real world now that I”m much older. Would anyone recognize what I was? Would anyone recognize who I was? This tournament isn’t very long, and it’s only for younger mages, so it’s an ideal event to experiment with.”

“It looks like it’s working so far,” I said.

“Yes,” he agreed. “I’m very happy with how it’s going. It’s been many years since I entered the House, and I hadn’t realized just how much I’d grown. When I arrived, my magic used to pull at everyone. If a mage passed by, they would feel the touch of what I could do and know immediately I was an incubus.

“Now, I have so much more control. Other than that slip up in the hallway, I don’t think anyone has given me a second glance. In some ways, this whole concept of Paths has been a real boon. It used to be that mages all felt similar, so I stood out. Now, I’ve felt all kinds of flavors of magic—including nature paths, animal paths, earth, wind, fire, water, and flavors that I have no clue what they could be.

“Most mages love sex, of course, so I’ve also felt lots of Paths that try to mimic what I can do as an incubus. As it stands right now, even if a mage felt my touch, they would probably just think I was a master of some sort of sex path.”

“So you’re like a water elemental hiding in the rain,” I said.

“Exactly!” Tyler agreed.

“Well, that makes me feel a lot better,” I said happily. We snuggled together for a moment in silence.

“What about this organization you escaped from?” I finally asked. “Won’t they be looking for you?”

He didn’t say anything, so I kept going.

“I know the supernatural world is built on magic, but the mundane world has gotten really good with technology, and a lot of that has to do with surveillance and finding people. There are cameras everywhere these days. If they have a lot of money and resources, I bet they could use an AI to scan billions of images to find the people that are of interest to them.”

“You’re right,” Tyler agreed. “I see the news too, and I know what’s possible.”

He gave a long sigh.

“That’s why I changed the way I look,” he said. Then he gave me an anxious squeeze. He seemed nervous.

“Really?” I asked. “You can do that?”

“Yes,” he replied. “It took me years to figure it out and almost as long to actually make the changes stick. It isn’t something simple I can do overnight.”

“So you’re not a shape changer?” I asked lightly. Tyler was nervous about this for some reason.

“Not like you see in the movies,” he laughed. “I’m no Mystique, although it would be really neat to have her powers.”

“So, what did you used to look like?” I asked.

“Well…” he paused for a long time. “I used to be shorter and much paler. I had blue eyes, light brown hair, and enormous feet.”

“What??” I exclaimed. I propped myself up on my elbow and took a good look at him.

“My eyes were closer together,” he continued. “My chin stuck out too far, and my nose was too big.”

“What??” I exclaimed again.

I couldn’t imagine it. Tyler was just—Tyler—to me. I loved his warm chocolate eyes, his mocha tan, and the way he was slightly taller than me.

“That’s just crazy,” I said. Then I kissed him. He still seemed nervous for some reason. “How did you manage to change all this?” I gestured at his magnificent body.

“I sort of did it in the same way that Annabeth remade her home,” he explained. “I took bits and pieces of people I admired and incorporated them into my look.”

“That makes sense,” I said, “but how did you actually do it?”

“It’s a long process,” he said. “The overall secret is that you have to absolutely see and feel yourself to be a new person. You have to think it, feel it, believe it. Every moment of every day.

“I’d figured out how to heal really quickly, so I used that to my advantage. I convinced myself the old features were the damaged ones and the new features were the ones I needed to heal.

“I started out small, of course, and gradually made bigger and bigger alterations. Once I had everything the way I wanted, I still spent years affirming to myself that this was my final form.”

“So, it was sort of like having braces,” I said. Tyler gave me a questioning look. “They take something that is solid and immovable, like teeth, and gradually straighten them over time. Once all the teeth are lined up, it still takes a lot of support to make sure they don”t move again.”

“Oh. Now I see what you mean,” Tyler said. “It’s exactly like that. Only over your whole body.”

We got quiet again.

“Are you upset?” he asked.

“No!” I exclaimed, surprised. “Why on Earth would I be mad?”

“Well,” he said, “I wasn’t born like this. If you could see me at my Waker Moment, I looked very different from what I do now. I was afraid you’d think that I was trying to deceive you—or something like that.”

“What? No!” I exclaimed again. “I don’t think that at all. People change their appearances all the time.”

I paused thoughtfully.

“You haven’t changed as much as you could either. You haven’t grown horns or fur or done any of the crazy stuff we’ve seen the older mages in the hallways do. Plus, it makes perfect sense why you would modify your looks. You are trying to hide after all.”

I snuggled back down again, and Tyler held me tight. He seemed a lot more relaxed now.

“I have a question, though,” I said, finally. “Do you feel different now?”

He nodded. “I feel like I’ve had three different lives. I had my mundane life, which was all about growing up and being normal. Then there was the first part of my supernatural life, where I was at the mercy of everyone else. When I escaped and changed my body, I realized this was a good time to change everything about myself. It was time to be reborn—to start fresh.

“I changed my name, my appearance, and my entire attitude. In my second life, I was driven, selfish, and ruthless. I had to be to survive. I don’t think you would have liked me at all back then.”

“Maybe,” I replied. “But maybe not. I know what it’s like to try to survive, so who knows. Maybe we would have hit it off and tried to survive together.”

“Maybe,” Tyler shrugged, but he didn’t sound convinced.

“Either way, I really like this person you’ve become,” I said. “It seems like we all go through different stages in life, and I very much enjoy being with this version of Tyler.”

“This version enjoys being with you too,” Tyler replied and gave me a big squeeze. “Now, if you’re ready, we need to get back and join the others.”

“I’m ready,” I replied, and gave him a long kiss before getting to my feet.

I visited my Freshness Fountain and ordered up a full body refresh (vanilla bean scent this time) before letting my Super Suit snap back into position. It was still in the form from this morning, so I changed it into a pair of blue and green plaid pajamas. Then, just for fun, I added little squares that said ‘I (heart) Tyler.’

They were adorable.

Tyler just laughed and did his magic clothing thing too. He transformed into matching PJ’s, except his said ‘I (heart) Jason.’

My gay heart gave a happy squee. My boyfriend was so awesome.

When we got back to the living room, everyone was already sleeping. We snuggled in with the cats, and it wasn’t long before we were asleep too.

I woke up in the middle of the night and felt something was amiss. Annabeth was lying there quietly, but I could feel through our connection that she was awake and freaking out. I wiggled out of our makeshift bed and crawled into hers.

I wrapped my arms around her, and the tears finally flowed. She bawled into my chest as quietly as possible, while I made soothing noises and gave her sympathetic pats. Clearly, the feel-good mushrooms had run their course, and now she was feeling the full effect of losing her vision.

“I know what it’s like to be blind,” I said as her tears ran out. “It feels like the whole world is closing in on you.”

“I didn’t think it would be this bad,” she said. “I feel like I’m stuck in a cave and I can’t get out. I never thought of myself as claustrophobic, but this is just awful. Plus, we have the tournament tomorrow. How am I going to survive that?”

“We will figure it out,” I replied soothingly. “We aren’t out of the tournament yet.”

It was interesting being on the other side of an emotional conversation, especially since it had been me feeling lost and discouraged only a few hours ago. I channeled Tyler and just listened and sympathized. I didn’t try to come up with a plan or fix the problem. At least, not yet. For now, she needed to get all her emotions out.

We whispered as quietly as possible to let everyone else sleep, and eventually, Annabeth got all the emotional gunk out of her system.

“Thank you for listening, Jason,” Annabeth said tiredly. “You really are a wonderful friend. I couldn’t imagine trying to do this with anyone else.”

“You’re very welcome,” I replied. “Tyler listened to me have a melt down only a few hours ago, so I can completely sympathize with how you feel. I’m glad you’re my best friend, too. You’ve made this whole supernatural experience so much easier to handle. I love you very much, and I know we are going to get through this together.”

I gave her a warm squeeze and waited for her to respond. When I got nothing back, I checked and she had already fallen asleep. That was okay, as sleep was probably the best medicine right now. I stayed there for a while longer to make sure she wouldn’t wake up again and then went back to Tyler.

I curled up with him and was ready to drift off myself, but Bermuda decided he needed some affection from his favorite supernatural. I gave him belly rubs, a facial, and more than a few kisses. He loved it and purred so loudly I thought we might wake everyone. We received a glare from Mr. Tubbles, but finally he came over and got some lovin’ himself.

Eventually, our two furry companions settled down again, and I let my eyes close. My last thought was that today had gone nothing like I had thought it would. At least my life wasn’t boring.

I awoke the next morning to the sound of rain lashing against the windows. The sky was gray and stormy, and it looked bleak and nasty outside. Hopefully, that wasn’t an omen for how the day was going to go.

It seemed like everyone woke up with their game faces on, and the morning mood felt serious. Annabeth, who was our usual ray of sunshine, was quiet and seemed to be trying hard to keep it together.

Because of the mood, we all got showered, dressed, and ready to go really quickly. Annabeth skipped the shower for obvious reasons and just used her freshness charm. Getting dressed for the two of us was really simple now, and I set our Super Suits to black with a dark gray pattern. Once Annabeth had her vision back, we’d figure out a better team look.

“Before we leave, I think this would be a good time to practice how we’re going to get around in the tournament,” Annabeth spoke up.

“That sounds good,” I replied. “What did you have in mind?”

I’d already thought about this and had been trying to come up with a workable solution myself. Without a visual orientation, there was no way Annabeth could run, or even walk quickly. Holding onto me would help, but I’d probably be fighting at least part of the time and that would leave her stranded. Her echolocation was helpful, but she’d been using it a lot this morning and it seemed like she still had to move slowly and cautiously.

“I was hoping that you could carry me piggyback,” she said. “I thought that we could use the magic rope from Indifies to create a harness so my weight was better distributed across your shoulders and around your waist. Sort of like I was a big backpack.”

“That’s a great idea!” I said enthusiastically. “Let’s give it a shot.”

I was relieved that we were getting beyond the emotional impact of her temporary blindness and into the problem-solving phase. That’s where I felt the most comfortable.

We tried just doing a regular piggyback first, and I was surprised at how good it felt. Annabeth didn’t seem that heavy at all. I was definitely strong enough to carry her around.

Making the harness with the magic rope was a lot more complicated than we’d first thought. Apparently, there is a lot of skill and technology that goes into making backpacks. We tried a few configurations, but nothing worked. Even John, who I would have thought would have had the most old-world-carry-stuff-around experience of any of us, couldn”t come up with something that was comfortable and stable.

Annabeth finally solved the problem by communicating to the rope what she wanted and letting it do its own thing. It grew until it had doubled its length and then snaked around my body and hers. It used knots I’d never seen before, and when it was done, the setup was perfect.

Annabeth still had her legs wrapped around my waist, but her arms were now free to shoot spells or defend herself. Her weight was distributed nicely across my shoulders and waist, and it really felt like she was a backpack.

We went out into the hallway to see how it felt when we were actually moving and found it worked rather well. My center of gravity differed from where it usually was, but I quickly got used to it.

“Let”s kick this into high gear,” Annabeth said and gave me a swat on the butt. “Giddy-up!”

I laughed and threw my hands up like a horse rearing back. Then I gave a neigh that sounded more like a goat and took off running. It felt wonderful to laugh and let loose.

We were on the tenth floor in the residential section of the Palace, so there was almost nobody in the hallway. That meant I could cut loose and really run at top speed. Annabeth whooped at the joy of it all and threw her hands in the air. The wind whipped through my hair, and I started punching the air as I ran. Suddenly, the tournament felt doable. This was so different from my previous image of trying to sneak about and keep Annabeth safe.

I wanted to see how it felt to fight, so I stopped running and began pigeon-stepping while blocking and attacking. With the new rope harness, it certainly felt possible. I quickly realized I needed to be careful how I dodged, as it might get me out of danger but put Annabeth in the path of getting hit. While we were joined like this, I needed for blocking to be my first option.

Annabeth fired up two shillelaghs and assisted me by whacking my imaginary foes. She whacked me a few times too, but we quickly learned how to work together. She didn’t summon Ms. Sword, as I didn’t want her to accidentally cut off my arm. That wouldn’t be good at all.

Annabeth also fired up her shield charm, and I was surprised to find it covered both of us. I guess it thought we were some sort of weird four-armed, two-headed person. I wondered if I could do the same for her.

‘Red,’ I called, ‘can you cover Annabeth with your Hex Network as well?’

‘Of course!’ he replied with his usual enthusiasm. ‘It will only work while you’re touching, as it needs your magic as a power source. But as long as you are connected like this, it shouldn’t be a problem.’

‘Excellent! Thank you,’ I said and let him get to work. That made me feel much better, as Red and all his fellow hexagons were a powerful shield. They could spread both hostile magic and blunt force across their surface, which allowed me to absorb powerful attacks. Annabeth’s shield charm was a good defense, and she powered it with her own magic which made it a lot better, but it still wasn’t at the level of what Red could offer.

“You both look competent from this perspective,” Tyler spoke up. “How is it feeling on your side?”

“It feels great to me,” Annabeth said. “I can sense how Jason’s moving with my legs, and that makes it much easier to shift my weight with him. In a strange way, it’s almost like riding a horse. I don’t know how much use I’m going to be on attacking, but if Jason gets in close, I might be able to get a few hits in. What do you think, Jason?”

“Well, last night I was a neigh-sayer,” I quipped. “But now we’ve been horsing around, I feel like I’m galloping along.”

Annabeth just groaned.

“That’s good to know,” Tyler said seriously. “And it’s also good to know your humor is coming back. I was afraid you were still reining it in.”

The pun was awful, but he deadpanned the delivery so well it was actually funny, and we all laughed.

“You know how Jason is,” John added. “He won’t stay down in the dumps furlong.”

We all groaned, and Sandy waved her hands in the air like he’d wafted a hot fart.

“Boys! Boys!” she admonished. “If you’re good enough to pun, then you’re good enough to head to breakfast.”

“Agreed,” Annabeth said. “To breakfast, my fine steed. Giddy-up!”

I chuckled and made ‘clop-clop’ sounds as we headed down the hall. “I sort of feel like I’m in a Monty Python skit,” I said loudly over my shoulder so Annabeth could hear. She just laughed. “Just as long as we don’t run across the knights that say ‘Ni!’ We don’t have time to search for a shrubbery.”

“Can you imagine the Path of Ni?” I asked. “What would that even look like?”

We continued to bat silly ideas back and forth all the way to the buffet. Both of us intentionally didn’t get serious or talk about the tournament. This was our bonding time, and in a weird way, we were supporting and encouraging each other like only best friends could.