Was up? Chapter four is here(mon). Thanks for the reviews. Sorry for the lateness. Enjoy. Longest chapter yet!
Disclaimer:
Me: I own one copy of the lost hero, one copy of the son of neptune and one copy of the mark of athena. I don't own the rights to heroes of olympus, I don't own the rights to Percy Jackson, heck, I don't even own the computer I'm typing on. I'm not Rick. Happy?
Rick:*Nods*Yes
IV
Frank
Frank was extremely worried. Two of his friends were in Tartarus (and even though he refused to think about it, they were probably dead), Nico was half-dead from his little fortnight in Tartarus, Piper's back was a mess of flesh and blood, and to make matters even worse, Hazel was hardly talking to him at all. Ever since Nico, who creeped Frank out, got on the ship, she had been strangely silent. The card game had been an exception. Most of the time, Hazel hung out with Nico. If he hadn't been Hazel's brother, Frank would have felt jealous.
He walked from the infirmary into his room. He had his bow and a quiver full of arrows leaning on the wall. Not quite sure of what to do, he picked up the bow and started to pluck the string. It was barely five minutes before Leo's voice blared through the speakers, announcing that they were about to land.
He stood up and opened the door, and saw Hazel waiting for him.
"Um, hi." he said stupidly. "Are you going up?" He mentally face-palmed himself.
"Yeah," replied Hazel. "Look, I'm sorry about not talking to you. Its just, with Percy and Annabeth gone, it feels like there's something missing, and there is of course. And Nico is the only one who knows anything about the House of Hades, and what Percy and Annabeth are going through, and how we can do anything about it." She paused.
"And?" asked Frank.
"And I'm scared for you." She replied. She looked down.
"Why?" he asked.
"Because, Frank Zhang, your life depends on a piece of fire wood!" She looked up, angry tears pooling in her eyes. "I don't want to lose you," she whispered. " I'm sorry, that sounds so selfish. But I couldn't stand it. You're all I've got left." She wiped her eyes with her sleeve.
What she said surprised him, because he had been feeling exactly the same. Hazel really was all he had left. He had lost his mother and his grandmother, Percy- who was his best friend-was in Tartarus, his house had burned down, he had even lost his place in the legion when he left for Rome on the Argo II. He wanted to tell her that, but suddenly he remembered something.
"Mars. He talked to me about that."
"When did you talk to Mars?" She asked, sounding surprised.
"At my house, remember our trip to Alaska?"
"How could I forget."
"Well, anyways," he paused, unsure of whether to continue. "He said something about sacrifice, and this old Chinese proverb: eat bitter, taste sweet. He explained that it meant that if I did the hard thing, the difficult thing, there would the best results. I think we should go up- the others will be waiting."
"Right," said Hazel. She wouldn't meet his eyes.
They walked up the stairs, an awkward silence hanging in the air. When they reached the deck, everybody but Piper and Nico (who were still in the infirmary) were staring over the edge of the ship. Frank joined them, and found himself looking at an amazing scenery.
The sky was a deep blue, completely cloudless. Below them, canyons covered in grass and low shrubs stretched out for a few hundred yards, then slowly the ground became flatter, and the few trees became more frequent. They were all quiet for a minute then Jason told them all to come to the lounge, which was sort of the dining room, war room, and tv room all rolled up in one.
Once they all sat down at the table, Leo jumped to the point.
"Do we have any tacos?"
"Valdez, this is serious!" Yelled coach Hedge. "We don't have time to mess around."
"Thank you coach," said Jason. "For finally saying something worth listening to."
"No problem, Jason. But we don't have any tacos, do we?"
"Coach!"
"Okay, okay fine. I'm hungry, killing monsters gives me an appetite." Frank cleared his throat loudly.
"So, when will you guys stop fighting over whether or not we have any tacos?" Frank asked.
"When I find out if we have any!" Coach Hedge yelled.
"Will you guys ever shut up!"Hazel exclaimed. "You're all acting like three year olds!"
"Okay, back to business. First off: the prophecy." Said Jason.
"Shouldn't we wait for Piper and Nico?" asked Frank. "They're in this to."
"Did someone call me?" Nico appeared on the threshold, looking pail but at least standing. He came gothe table and sat down next to Hazel.
"Okay now all we need is Piper." Stated Leo.
"Yeah, but she's passed out in the infirmary." Said Jason.
"Whatever, we can tell her everything later. Let's get started already!" Frank complained.
"Okay, the Prophecy. We all know it:
Seven half-bloods shall answer the call, that's Percy, Annabeth, Hazel, Frank, Piper, Leo and me. Clear?" Started Jason. "Then it was to storm or fire, the world must fall,"
"The world must fall, I don't like the sound of that." Leo commented.
"Yeah, Leo's right. That doesn't sound too good. So then we have an oath to make with a final breath. Anybody made any big promises lately?" Asked Jason. Everybody shook their heads.
"So lastly, and foes bear arms to the Doors of Death."
"Guys, about the Doors of Death," said Nico. Everyone stared at him. "Um, well I'm not sure about the exact location, but they're somewhere in the south of Epirus."
"Then where are we going?" Frank wondered.
"We're landing near Parga." Replied Nico.
"But I thought you knew were it was, didn't you say you ' sensed death'." Hazel asked.
" Yeah, I can sense death around here. The House of Hades is so powerful that it emits death in a, like, ten mile radius."
"Wen you sat that you sense death," Leo said. "Can you smell it or-" Nico cut him off.
"No Leo, I can not smell death. It's more like a sixth sense."
"So when will we be landing?" Jason asked.
"In about," Leo checked his watch. "Five minutes, so get ready kids, uncle Leo's bringing you on a field trip."
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They landed in a green forest about a half mile up from the city, were they could see the whole city of Parga. It was built on the side of the ocean, on the rock surrounding the sea, so it sloped downhill. The houses were all painted in bright colors and the ocean was a forget-me-not blue.
"This is amazing!"Exclaimed Hazel as she got off the ship. Leo, coach Hedge and Nico were already down, admiring the scenery. Frank and Hazel were making there way down the rope ladder, and Jason was helping Piper down (after a half hour of rest and some Ambrosia and Nectar, she was back to normal).
When they all got down, they started walking down hill to the city. The sun was burning, the ground was steep and rocky, and the trees were swarming with mosquitoes. Pretty soon they became very sweaty, itchy, hungry demigods. Coach Hedge on the other hand, was swinging this baseball bat around and telling them to hurry up.
"It's not our fault we don't have hooves!" Complained Nico.
"Hey guys look, a path." Yelled Leo. "We must be almost there!" Sure enough, after just a few minutes, the forest opened, giving them an incredible view of Parga. They continued down a stone stair case, and found themselves in the middle of the city. There were stores all around them, with tourists shopping in them.
"Oh, that shirt is cute!" Frank tuned around to see Piper slap her hands to her mouth. Jason looked at her wide eyed.
"Who are you and what have you done with Piper McLean?"
Pipe smiled. "Sorry, my mom was probably messing with me. Although, that shirt is kind of nice." Jason rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, okay, whatever. But I suggest we save the world first. Then we can go shopping."
"And eat, I'm starving!" Said Coach. "Do we have any money?" Everybody checked there pockets. In the end they had: Two Canadian dollars, a golden drachma, and a paper clip.
"Great, we don't have any money," mumbled Frank. "Now what are we supposed to do?" Leo gve him and evil grin.
"I think I have an idea." Leo explained his idea, which consisted of Frank turning into a monkey and doing tricks to collect money.
"And if that doesn't work?"Asked Frank.
"Then we get you to turn into a friendly panda bear and give people hugs." Leo replied. Frank gulped, and glanced at Hazel she looked as surprised as Frank felt.
"Is there no getting out of this?" He asked Leo.
"Nope." And with that Frank tuned into a Tamarin and climbed onto Hazel's shoulder.
Half an hour later they earned almost sixty euros and Frank was ready to murder a certain Leo Valdez. He had jumped around acting all cute and cuddly, and letting little children pat his head. By the time they got enough money for the seven of them, he was certainly not feeling very cute or cuddly. Immediately after Leo said they had enough, he changed back (no mortals were looking) and punched Leo in the gut.
"What the heck? What was that for?" Leo wheezed.
"For making me turn into a monkey," Frank replied simply.
"Well we've got enough money," Said Piper. "So let's eat!" They walked around a bit trying to find a good restaurant.
"How about in here?" Asked Nico, as he gesture to fairly nice looking restaurant. They all agreed and went in. The waiter said something in Greek, but as he saw the strange look on there faces he switched to English.
"May I help you today?" He asked.
"Yes, we're seven." Jason replied. The waiter took them to a long table, and went to go get water. The restaurant was nearly empty except for a lady with long brownish hair eating some fish and a middle aged man with big ears and a balding head sitting next to the window.
"I thought you could speak Greek." Frank said to Piper.
"Yeah, ancient Greek."
The lady at the other table look up from her fish. She seemed to be listing to there conversation.
"So, what now?" Asked Leo, bringing him out of his thoughts. "Maybe we can find a lead, like a friendly god or spirit that is insane enough to try and help us." The woman at the other table stood up urgently, but before he could point it out, he felt hands close around his shoulders. He yelped and jumped out of his seat. The man who had been sitting at the window was standing behind him with the money in his hand. He gave Frank an mischievous smile and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
The lady that had stood of earlier walked over to their table.
"Fallow me." She whispered. Frank exchanged a glance with Hazel. She looked at Jason, who frowned and then stood up. Piper hesitantly followed him and the rest got up too. She walked quickly out of town and towards the stone stair case they had come down earlier.
"I don't want to be rude of anything, but who the heck are you?" Leo asked the lady.
"You're being watched, go back to your ship with and fallow me." She said, not answering his question.
"Who are you?"Leo repeated more forcefully. She turned around facing them.
"I am Calypso."
Okay there we go. Got that done with. I'm sorry for not updating in like, forever but NOW I'VE GOT ALMOST THE WHOLE STOY PLANNED OUT. And I'm really sorry that it took a long time to update I've just been so busy. Ever feel like the home work never ends? Well that's what I feel like now :( But I took the opportunity to write this just for you guys.
So R&R please! |:{) === Behold the Mexican mustache!
Oh and quotes:
"You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching,
Love like you'll never be hurt,
Sing like there's nobody listening,
And live like it's heaven on earth."
― William W. Purkey
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe."
― Albert Einstein
Bye then!