Young Writers Society

"Hey, I never said I was a bad leader," Puck replied, indignant. "I can lead just fine - and the angering the gods thing was while ago. Gods just hold grudges for ridiculously long amounts of time."

"I'm sayin' ya can lead from the back, but I don't want ya ta lead from the front," Kendrik growled.

Kynan nodded. "Ethan is the most polite person in the group, even if he's not quite sure how to deal with his strength, and I'm pretty sure he also has the least enemies out of anyone here, so it might be safest to put him in the front."

"Ethan's also the one with untested abilities and amnesia," Puck pointed out.

"An' I'm bettin' he ain't crossed any gods," Kendrik said.

"You don't know that for certain," Puck said. Struck suddenly by a burst of inspiration, he added, "You don't even know if his real name's Ethan. He might just think his name is Ethan."

Kendrik snorted. "'s still a better name than Puck," he said. "An' I'm feelin' like not a whole lot of people get on gods' nerves, so I'm pretty sure it's safer ta say he ain't."

"Puck's a perfectly good name," he replied, indignant.

"Ya know what that rhymes with, don't'cha?" Kendrik said.

Ethan stared at the two people just discussing him and his name and lack of memory right in front of him. It was soooo rude, but at least they weren't completely dissing him? He frowned.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, c'mon now. Let's not...fight?" he said, stepping between them. He looked from Puck to Kendrick and back. "So what, I don't remember much...but c'mon, I'm not lying. My name really is Ethan!" He dug into a pocket and produced a wallet, flipping it open to show them his driver's license. "See? Ethan Kinnear! I wasn't lying!"

Puck shrugged. "Driver's licenses can lie," he said. "It's not hard to forge one."

All it took was a few phrases, and he was holding one in his hand that said, "Harry Potter" on it with a picture of a young Daniel Radcliffe.

Kendrik crouched down, squinting as he looked from one driver's license to the other. "I can't read either of 'em," he finally said, focusing on Kynan, who'd been doing the same thing. Kynan shook his head, which made Kendrik feel a little better - Kynan could read, so Kendrik had a plausible defense that wasn't about not being able to read in general. Rising back up, Kendrik poked Puck's shoulder. "But I'm guessin' the only person lookin' to forge one is an a****** like yerself, and that ain't Ethan."

Ethan glanced between them and rolled his eyes. "Gee, thanks," he muttered and tucked the license back into his wallet. "You're both impossible...and kinda remind me of my boyfriend, oddly enough." He paused and frowned deeply. "I wish Nich were here. He'd probably know what to do..."

As he trailed off, there was another almighty crash from somewhere deep in the bowels of the ship. Ethan flinched.

"Uh, we...should probably really check on that, huh?"

"We probably should," Puck agreed. He wanted to continue arguing his point about Ethan possibly being someone other than what it said on his driver's license, but Puck let the conversation shift instead. "But I'm staying in the front, and you can't do anything to stop that."

Grabbing Kynan by the shoulder, Kendrik pulled him to the back of the group. "Then I an't trustin' ya with keepin' me or my brother safe," he said. "We'll go with ya, but don't be surprised if we don't hang 'round when we run into whatever's down there."

"Suit yourself," Puck said with a shrug. "Ethan, you want to stay up front?"