“Hey, can you and Greyson check everyone’s marks are there before the meeting? We can’t be too careful with what we’re divulging.” I glance at the buffet line.
My stomach rumbles again and Thad laughs. “I should have known better than to get between you and food. I’ll go get Greyson and we can set up a spot to check them.”
“Very funny. My stomach is a menace, I know.” I roll my eyes.
We make our way to the buffet and fill several plates before sitting with the others. Dax won’t meet my gaze but that’s fine. I’m not sure I’m ready to forgive him yet. He’s an ass.
“Do you guys have the battle plans? What are you doing to reinforce the defenses?” I ask with the fork halfway to my mouth.
Draven sits forward. “I have a group of my siblings who are some of our best magic users reinforcing the wards. They won’t hold indefinitely but you guys will have a warning system in place to tell you when they attack.”
“That’s a good start.” I nod.
“If I didn’t have to be on the mission with you guys, I would do it myself, but they are going to need round the clock maintenance to stay secure.” Draven runs a hand through his hair.
“You don’t have to come with us, Draven. We can do this on our own.” I shovel eggs into my mouth.
“No, I do have to. The other guys are needed here so someone has to protect you girls.” He shakes his head.
“Did he really just say that?” Raven whispers to me.
“Yeah, the likelihood is that we will be protecting him,” I scoff.
“We’re the badasses here, Draven. I’m pretty sure we can protect ourselves.” Raven throws a hunk of bread at him.
“Fine, I’ll protect Kira.” He takes a bite out of the bread Raven just threw.
Jayden cuts off any more bickering. “Kira, did you talk to Ben about reinforcements or traps?”
“Yeah, he’s been working with Claud around the clock to get things in place. I told him that he’s to report to you on all things reinforcements for the academy.” Kira nods.
“So, really the only thing left to discuss is the battle assignments.” I take a bite of bacon.
“Sara and Jackson have been assessing everyone and putting them in groups,” Dax says.
“Did they give you their findings?” I ask.
“What does it matter?” Dax slams his fist on the table. “We don’t know when the damn battle is going to be. We just know the queen will hit us here and no amount of extra wards or planning is going to give us enough time to get into position.”
“Easy there, asshole.” Jayden leans forward. “You’re not taking this shit out on her or anyone else.”
“How are you not pissed about this? They’re going on a mission without us,” Dax snarls.
“Do you want to be the reason we lose? You’re a son of Ares; you live for winning battles. This is what we need to do to win and minimize casualties. So stop fucking whining about it and give me the damn recommendations.”
“Fine,” Dax grumbles.
He pulls a piece of paper out of his back pocket and hands it to me. It has names on it and ranks, everything we would need to decide who goes where.
“They worked out the zones on the map?” I ask.
“Yeah, we figure the queen will send the monsters in as the first line of attack. If we set traps meant to kill them, they will stumble into them because most don’t have a lot of brain power.” Jayden sips his orange juice.
“True. Whatever demigod forces they have with them will be more cautious and easily slip between the traps.”
“Any Athena and Apollo demigods they have fighting for them won’t be too much of an issue, but I don’t want casualties on either side.” Jayden shakes his head.
“Agreed. Employ less than lethal methods on the other demigods. Some could be controlled by the queen, but we won’t be able to tell that. Monsters need to be turned to dust.” I sit back in my chair.
