“Hey. Hey!”

No one was paying attention. Euterpe, standing behind the podium, drummed her fingers on the edge. All of a sudden, storm clouds appeared in the auditorium, lightning flashing and thunder rolling. A slight downpour erupted on the heads ofthe Mischief Makers, causing them to get quiet.

“Ahem. Now that I have your attention-” Euterpe paused and rolled her eyes as a paper airplane flew by her head. “I don’t have to do this, you know.”

Tern, the amazon who had thrown the plane, looked at her boots, avoiding Euterpe’s glaring stare.

“As I was saying, I’d like to welcome you all to the first meeting ever of the Mischief Makers. At this time, I have a few positions to announce. I am, of course, the Queen Mischief Maker, since this is my idea.” No one could fault that logic, and so Euterpe continued. “Thalia,” she said, and waited for the Muse to approach the stage.

“Earlier in the week, I had given you a title. I feel that it is inadequate for a Muse of your stature, and so, until something better comes along, you will hereby be known as the Mischief Making Muse.” Euterpe winked, and all activity froze. Euterpe turned towards the direction of the general audience, and said “I just love alliteration, don’t you?” She turned back towards the meeting, and winked again. Thalia clapped,liking her present title a lot better than the dumb one Euterpe had come up with first.

As Thalia walked back towards her seat, Euterpe called Tern up to the stage. “Tern, for your unfresh hooliing ideas and your ability to be very mean, you will hereby be known as.... the Rotten Mischief Maker.” Tern looked less than pleased, and about to argue, when she caught Euterpe’s stern glare and raised eyebrow in challenge. Tern quickly closed her mouth, smiled, and walked back off the stage.

Tern turned back to go to her seat, as Euterpe called the next vic-, er.. Mischief Maker. “Medea! Get up here,” she said tersely. Medea walked up to the podium only after placing a potted plant down in her chair. “Because of the..esteem I hold you in, you are being given two titles today.”

“Hey,” yelled Tern. “I want two ti-” Tern broke off again at the glare from Euterpe.

Euterpe cleared her throat and continued. “For your tendency to disappear, you will be known as the Disappearing Mischief Maker. And for your intense obsession with a certain..... man creature,” Euterpe paused while Tern and the other respectable Amazons groaned. “You will also be known as the Protector of Case.”

Medea scowled. “I thank you for this dubious honor,” she said, before turning back to her seat.

“Um.... for right now, that is all the titles I have to announce, other than the other ones I had already announced, because I have not received any more Ultimate Hoolie submissions. But I would like to do a quick roll call-”

“Shouldn’t you have done this before, Euterpe,” asked Thalia.

Euterpe took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and said between closed teeth “Hm. Thalia, if you want to be our fearless leader, tough! You may run your M&M’s club one way, but this is my club, and if I wanna have a roll call after all important business, then by Hades I will.” Looking down at her paper, Euterpe called out names.“Well, we all know Thalia’s here,” causing the other Muse to roll her eyes, “Pelee?”

“Here,” said the amazon, aiming a spit wad at her sister Tern.

“Mimma?”

“Here,” she replied, attempting to get out of the way of Pelee.

“Rhiannon?”

No answer.

“Rhiannon?”

Still no answer. “Well, I guess Rhia-”

“WAIT!” yelled the mare goddess throwing the doors open. She ran to the nearest available seat, sat down, and calmly said “Present.”

Euterpe shot her a look, before continuing.”Since I noticed you weren’t here earlier, and since you didn’t turn your Ultimate Hoolie in until the last minute... I dub thee the Late and Quoting Mischief Maker.”

Rhiannon stared at the Muse in disbelief. “That is such a lame title.”

Euterpe smiled, almost evilly. “Well you could be the Fried Mischief Maker,” shesaid, wiggling her fingers so that little jolts of electricity shot out. Rhiannon shook her head and sat down. Euterpe continued down the list. “Silver?”

“Hmm... oh here,” Silver replied, concentrating more on her rubber band gun than on the meeting.

“We know Tern’s here... Ellista?”

“How many times do I have to tell you? It’s Lissy! L-i-s-s-y. Lissy.”

“Whatever. Aura? Aura? AURA?”

No answer whatsoever, except for Tern’s explanation. “I think she’s still unpacking.”

“Oh. Okay... Vanessa?”

Vanessa raised her hand, unable to speak because of all the marshmallows she had stuffed in her mouth at Tern’s prodding.

“Medea?” No answer, save for some muted mumbling.

“Medea? MEDEA!!”

“GET THEE TO A NUNNERY!”

“What? Wait.... why are you holding that plant,” asked Euterpe, staring at her sister.

Medea glanced nervously at the plant she held in one hand, and the book she held in the other. “Um... see.. Fern here... he likes Shakespeare. And I was kinda doing the skull thing from Hamlet....”

“Medea... the skull scene and the nunnery scene are at two ends of the book!”

Medea looked slightly confused. “So?”

Euterpe blew a lock of hair out of her face, and read the last name off the list.“Young Xena?”

“Present and not talking to plants.”

“Well, since almost everyone’s here, except for Aura, and almost everyone was on time....” she pointedly said, “we’ll get on with the festivities.”

Suddenly, the vents started oozing with blue, pink, and yellow icing, dropping in great big globs on the hapless Mischief Makers. Euterpe turned and magically raised the giant layer cake she had made and flipped it onto her club members. Wiping her hands in happiness, Euterpe was about to disappear when she remembered something. *Dear me* she thought *you can’t have celebration cake without the ice cream.* A collective scream reverberated through the walls as Neapolitan ice cream splashed down on the already dirty Mischief Makers. “That’s better,” she said, and winked out of the room.