I yawned when I woke up from my much needed rest at Frank's grandmother's house. I pulled on the pair of clothes Frank had given me. They belonged to his mom too. It was a gray sweater, a pair of ripped skinny jeans, and matching scarf and hat. It was cold in Northern Canada, even in the middle of summer. I had just slipped on my combat boots when I heard an explosion outside.
Quickly, I ran to the window. Smoke was rising from a place in the ground. Great, the laestrygonians found us. Somebody knocked on my door. "Are you decent?" Percy called out.
"You can come in," I called back. The door swung open. Percy was dressed in large, baggy jeans and a t-shirt a few sizes too big for him. They were obviously Frank's. It seemed that for the moment Percy had forgotten he was mad at me.
"C'mon, Nina. We need to get up to the roof. Frank and Hazel are already there. There's a water pipe up there we can use to attack the monsters. Do you have all your things?" I nodded and ran after Percy as he raced down the hall. Percy lead me up the stairs to where Frank and Hazel were standing on top of the roof. Next to them was a water spicket. Percy and I smirked at each other.
I looked over at Frank and Hazel. Frank was shooting random arrows that did different things at the giants while Hazel was yelling insults down at them. I held my hand out and closed my eyes. Concentrating really hard, I clenched my fist. Had my eyes been opened, I would have seen Percy doing the same. Water spurted out of the spicket. A colossal wave ran over the edge of the roof and knocked down the laestrygonians.
"C'mon!" Frank shouted. "There's an airport near by. A plane is waiting there. The pilots a former legionnaire. He's going to take us to Alaska."
"I'll drive!" Percy shouted as we all ran towards Franks garage. I climbed into the passenger seat while Frank, Hazel, and Ella climbed into the back. Percy slammed the gas pedal and we shot out of the garage before the door had fully opened. The car ran over several giants before they had a chance to move. Unfortunately, there were many others.
I looked back to see Frank's house on fire. "Your grandmother's still in their," I gasped.
Frank looked back at his home sadly. He seemed to be staring the roof. "She made it out," he murmured. He looked back to the road. "This left," he said calmly to Percy. I had no idea how he was so calm with his house on fire. Percy made a left and we pulled into the small airport. The giants were right behind us. We opened our doors and started running. We ran to the plane. Frank shoved something into the hands of the man standing outside the plane's door. The man ushered us on as the laestrygonians entered the plane yard.
Percy was nervous about being in the air. I didn't mind it too much, but I was still a little nervous. This wasn't my territory. I didn't belong here. I tried to think back to another time I had been in the air. It must have been a few years ago. I was much younger than I am now. I was in the arms of a blond man. I think it was Apollo. I was falling asleep in his arms. I shook my head. My mind snapped back into the present.
I rubbed the charm bracelet on my wrist. One of the charms caught my eye. It was a two silver sixteenth notes joined together. Tiny clear diamonds were inlaid in the bars that held them together. I thought back to the first instrument I had ever played. It was a rusty flute Percy gave me. I blinked as it appeared in my hands. I brought it up to my lips. A melody ran through my mind. My fingers and lips moved of their own accord as I began to play.
"Stairway to Heaven?" Percy asked. slightly amused. I blushed and laid the flute down in my lap.
"Shut up," I muttered. I jerked as the plane set down.
"I can't go farther than this," the pilot informed us. We all thanked him as we stepped off.
"Um..." Frank groaned. "We have enough for four plane tickets." I looked at Ella. We couldn't bring her along.
"Watch out!" Hazel shrieked.
I screamed as a large mass collided with my back. I rolled over to find a hellhound. I was a little more than shocked when the hellhound began to lick me. A name came to my mind. "Mrs. O'Leary, get off," I laughed. The hellhound jumped off me and began wagging her tail. I laughed and pet her head before letting her go over to Percy.
I was immediately swept into another hug. I laughed and hugged my cyclops brother back. "Hey, Tyson," Percy laughed from over by Mrs. O'Leary. "You think you can do us a favor?"
"What favor, Big Brother?" Tyson asked. Sometimes I forgot how young he was.
"Can you take Ella to San Francisco? She'll be safe with you."
Tyson looked over at Ella. A blush formed on both of their cheeks. Tyson nodded eagerly. Hazel, Frank, Percy, and I all started laughing as Tyson helped Ella on Mrs. O'Leary and they disappeared.
"Our little brother's growing up," I giggled. Percy nodded, trying to stop his laughter.
Less than an hour later, my three companions and I were on a train to Seward, Alaska, Hazels old home. Hazel was leaning against Frank's side as we made our way through the country.
I was awoken by Frank shaking my shoulder. I smiled weakly at him as I sat up groggily. Our quartet quickly made it's way off the train and to Hazel's old house. Inside, there were a bunch of greeting cards. I sat on one with Percy as Frank and Hazel left to go fund new clothes.
Percy and I sat in an awkward silence for awhile. Percy was the one who broke it. "Why?" he asked softly. I almost didn't hear it.
"Why what?" I questioned.
"You left me," Percy snapped. "You left me for your other friends."
My eyes widened. Is this why Percy was so mad at me? Did he feel like I abandoned him? "I didn't mean to make you feel like that, Percy," I whispered. "I had no idea..."
"Save it," Percy growled. He turned around. I felt anger bubbling in my stomach.
"What's gotten into you?" I retorted. "You never used to act like this!" Percy didn't say anything. I gave him up as a lost cause and turned to face the other direction. Frank and Hazel walked in to a very tense atmosphere. Hazel bit her lip and handed me my new clothes. I grabbed them and stormed off behind the curtain. I couldn't believe Percy was being such a baby. He never used to act like that. Normally, he was calm and peaceful. He had never snapped at me like that before. I pulled on the light wash skinny jeans, grey long sleeved t-shirt with Fight Back written across the chest, a sea-green sweatshirt, and a pure white, cable beanie. I stepped out from behind the curtain and shouldered my bag. "I'm ready," I sighed.
Hazel lead us to a small boat. We all climbed in and made our way to Hubbard Glacier. Percy and I used our powers to make the boat go faster. Percy was still refusing to look at me. I just rolled my eyes at his stupidity. Slowly, we made it to the glacier. I decided the best way to get up to the top would be to mist travel. I took Frank and Percy took Hazel. Hazel was still a little wary around me.
We appeared in what can only be called a frozen Camp Jupiter. We made our way to the center of town. There was our target. Thanatos, the god of death, was chained with ice. "Incendio," I hissed, pulling out my wand. A flame shot from my wand and hit the ice shackles. It did nothing to melt them. I looked towards the others for help.
"Only the fire of life can melt the ice," Thanatos said calmly. His black eyes were boring into Frank's warm, brown ones. Frank turned to look pleadingly at Hazel. Hazel sighed but handed him something wrapped in a piece of cloth. Frank threw the cloth to the ground and closed his eyes. The piece of stick that was revealed caught fire. Frank jabbed it at the ice shackle which immediately began to melt. As it was melting, spirits came forth from the icy Camp Jupiter replica. Something much bigger rose from the ground.
I drew my wand. In the other hand I held my knife. Percy and Hazel pulled out their sword and spatha, respectively. We charged the ghosts. Hazel veered off to fight Alcyoneus, who had risen from the ground. I froze some ghosts while slashing through others. Some other ghosts, I set fire to. I was on a roll. I looked to see that Frank had finished melting Thanatos' shackles. The ghosts would officially stay dead. I fought with more energy. We had to win this. We needed to get back to Camp Jupiter. I needed to get back to Apollo. I froze. I had no idea why I just thought I needed to get back to Apollo. I was brought back to reality by Alcyoneus' booming voice yelling at Hazel. Frank ran over to help her.
I ignored the fight going on in between them. I had a feeling they would be alright. Right now I needed to find a way to destroy the rest of these ghosts. With a slash of my hand, Hubbard Glacier began to crumble. The ghosts started to pour into the water. I thought it was a victory until Percy and I began to fall. I grabbed my brother's hand. He pulled me closer to him. "I'm sorry, Nina,'" he shouted over the wind whistling in our ears. "I was an idiot.." I looked down to see us heading towards a jagged rock sticking out of the glacier. I had no time to pull out my wand and save us.
"I know, Percy," I shout back. "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have ignored you the way I did. I realize that I did abandon you for my friends. I'm sorry and I love you,." Instead of responding, Percy pulled me into a tighter hug. I groaned as we hit something solid. I looked down to see a dragon.
"Norberta?" I asked aloud.
Hiya, Nina! Did you miss me?
I laughed and threw my arms around my familiar. It was so good to see her again.
Thank you, Norberta,I whispered through my mind. Norberta dropped Percy and I off near Hazel and Frank. They told us how they defeated Alcyoneus. Apparently, Frank can change his form. Frank turned into a sea lion and dove underwater where a bunch of Imperial Gold weapons had fallen. Hazel used her metal mage powers to raise more weapons from the water. Percy dove down to help Frank while I strapped the weapons to Norberta. When we had recovered the weapons, we all climbed onto Norberta and she flew us towards San Francisco, and Camp Jupiter.