chapter seventeen; Crack the Code
JINX DIDN'T know how Hazel did it.
She stared at them and said, "I'll be back soon. Give me ten minutes. If you don't hear from me by then...Never mind. I'll be fine. Just try not to kill each other while I'm down there."
Then Hazel dropped into the small squared hole. Leo and Frank tried their best to block the hole and Hazel falling in from other's views by standing side by side and covering it. They attempted to look casual, but Jinx found herself wanting to laugh at the ridiculous height difference between the two.
Jinx could never do what Hazel did. She hated being underground in a giant building that is not exactly surpassing every safety test.
Frank gave a cautious glance towards Jinx and that was enough to have her scurry away and admire something different. She could tell that he still didn't trust her, and he obviously had something secretive to tell Leo that he didn't want Jinx hearing. It was best that she moved away for a bit.
Jinx leaned to look at a statue closer, faking interest to fit in with the crowd. She yawned, patting her mouth lightly.
"This looks old." She muttered to herself.
She turned to look at another statue, but saw Frank and Leo frantically waving her over and then pointing behind her. Jinx looked behind herself and tried to see what they were seeing. She couldn't focus when both boys were trying to get her attention.
Jinx made eye contact with three angry Americans that she obviously hadn't noticed before. She made her way to the boys, gesturing behind her, "who-?"
"Eidolons!" Frank said in a tone that suggested they should run at that very moment.
But Jinx felt entranced with their beautiful golden eyes. It's not something you see every day, she wanted to take a moment to admire it.
"They can't fit down the hole," Leo said more to himself than the others.
"Underground is sounding really good." Frank agreed.
Jinx opened her mouth to protest. She really couldn't do that. Not when she was already so iffy about the entire operation. They weren't even supposed to be doing any type of recon.
But Jinx blinked and Frank was a snake, slithering inside of the squared hole, and Leo was pushing her in when the so-called Eidolons started chanting "Valdez! Kill Valdez!"
Jinx had to agree that it was a good reason to run away.
As soon as they were in, or rather under, the hatch to the hole latched closed.
She stayed on the ground, facing the crumbling ceiling. "Friends of yours?"
"Yeah, I usually make it my own personal goal to make friends with spirits who want to kill me." Leo said sarcastically, "sleepovers are always interesting."
Frank, human again, offered her his hand and she took it. "What now?"
Jinx shrugged. She didn't want to be down here in the first place. That's why she was so fine with Hazel taking one for the team.
"Don't freak out." Leo started, "but I'm going to summon a little fire, just so we can see."
She didn't know why he had to warn them, Jinx preferred to be able to see. But Frank nodded and said his thanks.
"Well, it only goes in one direction."
"Let's find Hazel."
Jinx looking longingly at the closed hatch. She missed the fresh air.
Then they started to make their way down the path, the only path. Leo was the first one to go, his index finger lit up with their only source of light. Jinx took the middle, she said it was the safer one. Enemies would always go for the first guy or the last one, so she was okay in the middle.
One thing that Jinx hated more than her demigod life was the silence. When she was ready to take naps, silence was an enjoyable thing, but walking in the quiet not knowing if a monster will appear and eat you... it's not that appealing.
"Let's get down to business," Jinx lightly sang. "To defeat the Huns."
Leo made the sound effect.
"Did they send me daughters, when I asked, for sons?"
Frank looked down at them, "is that Mulan?" Jinx nodded. "Why are you singing that?"
"Why not?" Leo asked.
"It's a good song." Jinx added.
"Very catchy."
Frank sighed, attempting to ignore them when they continued to sing Disney songs to pass the time. Except, he did have a hard time not singing Zero to Hero from Hercules.
They ceased singing when Jinx commented that she couldn't remember the rest of the lyrics of A Whole New World. Leo got offended and stopped talking to her, saying, "when you learn the rest of the lyrics we can talk again.", and "it's an iconic song. How do you not remember how it goes?"
Leo turned the corner and they encountered a focused Hazel, looking intensely at a door.
"Hey." Leo greeted when she didn't notice their arrival.
In a blink of an eye, Hazel drew her spatha and pointed it at him. That's when Jinx was overjoyed because she was in the middle. She could've had her eye popped out. Luckily for Leo, the blade was too long to be in any actual use in their small space.
"What are you guys doing here?" She asked.
Jinx snorted, pointing at Leo. "It was all this guy's fault. I don't know what happened, but he angered tourists."
"We ran into some angry tourists." He shrugged, telling her the story of what had happened.
"I hate eidolons. I thought Piper made them promise to stay away." Hazel said.
"So, you guys have had run-ins with these spirit things?"
At that moment, Jinx had a thought. Could she freeze ghostly beings?
"Yeah," Frank said, lost in thought. "Piper made them promise to stay off the ship and not possess any of us. But if they followed us, and used other bodies to attack us, then they're not technically breaking their vow...."
"Eidolons who are also lawyers. Now I really want to kill them." Leo muttered angrily.
"Okay, forget them for now," Hazel said. "This door is giving me fits. Leo, can you try your skill with the lock?"
Leo cracked his knuckles, stepping forward. "Stand aside for the master, please."
Jinx would never understand the way Leo's mind works, the way it processes different information.
"These letters are Greek."
She watched him trace the wall with his hands.
"Well, lots of Romans spoke Greek."
"Can you speak Greek?" Jinx asked. She was genuinely curious.
Hazel and Frank shook their heads.
"This workmanship...no offense to you Camp Jupiter types, but this is too complicated to be Roman."
"Leo," Jinx said cautiously. She didn't know if he was aware of it, but he was insulting them.
"I said no offense." He whispered back to her, shrugging.
"Whereas you Greeks just love making things complicated." Frank retorted.
Jinx was not interested in getting into fights with monsters, and was less interested in fighting among each other.
"Hey," Leo protested. "All I'm saying is this machinery is delicate, sophisticated. It reminds me of..."
Leo stared at the sphere and Jinx got a feeling that he was figuring out how to solve their door problem.
"It's a more advanced sort of lock," he decided. "You line up the symbols on the different rings in the right order, and that opens the door."
"But what's the right order?"
Hazel asked the golden question. If they could get the right order they could get in, maybe even find a way out of this underground tunnel. Jinx couldn't help the small smile that appeared on her lips. She couldn't wait until Leo figured it out. Until he cracked the code to what she thought could be their freedom.
(we stan leo and jinx being a chaotic duo to frank)