Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or The Heroes of Olympus. They belong to Rick Riordan.
When they returned to the infirmary after lunch, Hades and Poseidon were gone. Instead, Chiron greeted them. "I see Miss Levesque has escaped safely. I am glad to see that your journey was successful."
"I just wish we could have done more," Frank said, thinking about Percy.
Chiron smiled sympathetically. "You did what you could and made it back alive. That is what we could have hoped for. Besides," he said with forced cheer, "from what I hear, Percy is beginning to awake on his own. Add that to the fact that three gods are after his possessors, and he will surely break free of Aether's grip."
When he put it that way, Frank felt a little better. The wise centaur clopped out of the infirmary, leaving him with Nico, Hazel, and Annabeth. Hazel had taken a bed next to Nico's, and they were both dozing. The daughter of Athena seemed to be in deep thought.
"You mentioned light spirits," she spoke up, startling him. He had been expecting her to think about Percy. Noticing his confused look, she elaborated, "I'm talking about those beings that glowed. They must be like nature spirits, except exclusive to his domain. Maybe the other Protogenoi have beings that serve each of them."
"You are a most astute child," a man stated from behind them. Frank whirled around, finding a man with a golden afro, thick eyebrows, and shining armor that made him shade his eyes.
"Aether!" Annabeth exclaimed angrily, unstrapping her dagger. This middle-aged guy with the ridiculous afro was Aether?
"Ah, I am so delighted to see you again. Anniebelle, was it?" he said, his eyes riveted on Nico.
"It's Annabeth, and what do you want?" she demanded, holding her dagger threateningly.
Aether stepped closer to the beds, and Frank blocked him. The ancient god narrowed his deep blue eyes at him, and even though Frank felt a cold fear, he refused to give ground. "This is merely a simple visit. You may call it a test of sorts." He gestured to Nico. "So that was the boy whom I originally picked out? I am glad I replaced him with Perseus." Frank wanted to tackle him right there and then and wipe the triumphant smirk of his face, but that probably wouldn't have been a great idea.
The sleeping demigods were beginning to stir, and four light spirits appeared to restrain them, two going for each one. They had humanoid forms and were bathed in luminosity, but he couldn't make out any distinct features. The spirits held hands over the demigods' mouths to muffle their shouts. He and Annabeth moved to help them, but others of the spirit materialized, hijacked his sword, and put Frank in the same position as the other two.
"Let them go!" Annabeth growled, her stormy gray eyes darting between her friends and the god.
Aether flashed an Imperial Gold sword into his hand. "That would defeat the purpose of isolating you," he said condescendingly. "You ARE the leader of this camp as of the moment, are you not? I can kill two birds with one stone by striking you down."
"You would lower our morale," she muttered to herself, but he heard her.
"Of course. I would also prove that your camp is weak. The confusion and panic after your death is a bonus," he replied smoothly. Frank struggled against the spirits' grip, but they wouldn't let go. He needed to help Annabeth!
She got a determined look on her face. "So you, an ancient Primordial, would stoop so low as to attack and murder a seventeen year old girl?" she taunted.
He slashed at her head, but Annabeth ducked and made a jab under his left arm. Hitting only armor, she jumped out of the way of another strike. "Foolish girl," he said smugly, "do you not know what this armor is? This is the second armor of Achilles, the one without any chinks!"
"The only difference being that he wore sandals and you're wearing boots," Annabeth commented flatly, swiping at his neck, the only vulnerable part of his body. "What happened to the first armor?" she gave a barely noticeable nod to Frank, and he realized that she was trying to distract the god.
"He let his friend borrow it during the Trojan War. The Trojans killed him and took the armor," Aether started to lecture. While he spoke, Frank concentrated on the mental image of a small, gray mouse. He felt his body shrink and wriggled out of the surprised spirits' grasp. He landed on all four paws and sprinted toward the towering figure of Aether.
"You dirty little imbecile," the giant roared, "I will crush you!" He slid out of the way as Aether tried to stomp on him. Annabeth quickly scooped him up and launched him at the god's face, and Frank felt a jolt of fear as he sailed through the air. At the last moment, Aether stepped sideways, and Frank closed his eyes, envisioning himself NOT face-planting into the floor. He dropped lithely as a cat and jumped up to the Protogenoi's shoulder. With sharpened claws, he scratched Aether's neck before being shaken off.
Frank enlarged back into a human and looked at Annabeth indignantly. "You threw me!"
She shrugged unapologetically. "You didn't die and even got to scratch him later."
Aether had nasty claw marks on the left side of his neck, which was bleeding ichor profusely. He sent a furious glare in his direction and stumbled, raising his sword. Then the door slammed open, revealing Chiron with his bow. Before an arrow could lodge itself into his head, Aether glowed brightly and disappeared, leaving with a blast that slammed all of the demigods against the wall and made the light spirits vanish.
Frank flinched as his head met brick. He groaned every part of his body feeling sore and dizziness impairing his vision. Trying to ignore the throbbing in his head and trying not to puke his guts out on the carpet, he shut his eyes and hoped that the other three didn't feel as bad as he did.
Chiron to the rescue, huh. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and as always, reviews are greatly appreciated. I have had difficulty trying to wrap up this story and was wondering if you guys have any ideas of what will happen next. So please...review? :)