Long time no see? Come on, I was gone for less than a week! Thanks for all the favs and follows, though!
Here is... CHAPTER 11!
Frank
Frank was the last one out of the room, and he forcefully slammed the door behind him. Lyssa wailed and a loud snap told the demigods that the Furores were gone. Another snap, and they saw the white smoke fade away into nothingness. Lyssa was gone, at least from her physical form.
We did it, Frank thought in a stupefied daze. We really did it! But of course Lyssa had to interrupt and burst his bubble.
"You may have won the battle, but the war is still mine!" roared Lyssa. But despite her confident words, Frank noted that she didn't dare appear in her physical form. Or perhaps she was too weak to do so. "The next duel today shall be even more painful because of this! I will even swear on the Styx to make it so!" An ominous rumble of distant, slightly muffled thunder shook the ship, and Hazel clutched Frank for balance. He steadied her, but his mind was elsewhere, racing along at speeds that even the easygoing Canadian police could not simply ignore.
She swore on the Styx… and the duel could be any time today. Including the next duel, there's only 4 more duels, and three more days to escape after today. We need to form a plan, and fast. Aloud he just said, "We should… uh…" Frank couldn't think of a good excuse quickly enough, and he shot a panicked glance at Annabeth.
"We should finish that truth-or-dare game we started yesterday!" Leo jumped in. "Let's go to your cabin, Annabeth. All the... stuff… is set up there!" Frank smiled gratefully at the son of Hephaestus, but couldn't help wondering: truth or dare?!
"Okay, Frank, truth or dare?" Leo grinned.
"Uh… wasn't that just a cover?" Frank questioned, tilting his head. It was hard to tell with Leo.
"Leo!" Annabeth glared at Leo, who promptly hid behind Jason, who didn't even seem to notice. "Alright, let's get down to business now. That was pretty successful for our first try—" (Cue Leo and Piper high-fiving) "—But for the plan to work, we need to get Lyssa to appear more often, and preferably in a different form than the giant shadow. We can't exactly capture a shadow in a trap…"
"So basically we need to get her even angrier?" Piper asked doubtfully, leaning forward.
"Or…" Nico played absently with his hair. "Lyssa is the spirit of fury, madness, and stuff like that. So she would hate—"
"Peacefulness, happiness, and logic!" Annabeth started scribbling something down madly onto a notepad. "And obviously her Furores will be, well, similar to Lyssa, so we can apply the same strategy to the Furores!"
"Obviously?" someone asked. Annabeth ignored the person.
"What if we can convince the Furores to help us instead of Lyssa?" Frank said, just as Annabeth mused:
"They would be a great asset, and we could get their attention by being peaceful and logical and all that…" Frank blushed. He was sure that someone was going to make some sort of comment. Surprisingly, no one did, except Hazel, who mouthed War gods' kids to a faintly amused Nico. "I don't think the Furores are very devoted to Lyssa. I tried to tempt them with Happy Meals, and if Lyssa hadn't interfered, I think they might've actually helped us," the daughter of Athena explained. Frank opened his mouth to say something. "Don't ask about the Happy Meals." Frank closed his mouth. Hazel giggled.
After some more planning, the group decided that they would apply the same strategy that Leo and Piper used to coerce Lyssa to appear, and they would attempt to win over the Furores while Lyssa was distracted by something. Then, they would capture Lyssa in some sort of trap. Annabeth promised she would "figure something out" by the next day.
But strangely enough, Frank noticed that Percy and Jason were both unusually silent. Frank glanced to Percy first. Sure, he'd gotten to know Jason better. But Frank could gauge what Percy was thinking more easily. Percy was an open book. Well, usually…
The son of the sea was resting his chin on one hand, staring off into the distance at… nothing in particular. His face was blank, devoid of any emotion. That's odd, Frank thought. He shifted slightly to glance at Jason. The former praetor was repeatedly tracing letters on his leg. Frank tried to decipher the Latin quickly enough to catch up to Jason's furious writing, without much success. L something, s, and then a. Lyssa? Jason started a new word, and then another. They didn't make much sense, or maybe Frank just read them wrong. Sacrifice, Piper, danger, goddess, help, form, secret, and shape? The words made zero sense to Frank. Did I read them wrong? He wondered. Frank didn't have dyslexia, unlike most demigods (He got lactose intolerance instead. Yay.), but Jason had been writing the letters seriously quickly. Frank didn't even think Jason knew he was writing them. I'll talk to Percy and Jason later.
IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT: "Training room! NOW!" Frank woke with a start and tried to jump out of his bed, but realized he couldn't move. He transformed into some large bird of prey during the night, and now his feet (talons?) were clamped tightly to the headboard of the bed. Come on! Stupid talons! Then he fell onto the bed, changing fluidly to a human again. He pulled on sneakers, an SPQR shirt, and olive-green cargo shorts, and headed out into the hallway, blinking in an effort to stay awake. Hazel, Nico, and Jason emerged from their cabins as well. Hazel was obviously only half-awake, based on her stumbling around like she was half-drunk (Frank knew only because of the time Dakota had found a secret stash of prohibited booze in some old crate.), so Frank supported her, and Nico was… well, Nico. But Jason worried Frank. He didn't appear to have slept at all. After the fight, Frank decided. Just then, the rest of the demigods—Percy, Annabeth, Piper, and Leo—trudged out of their cabins (in Leo's case, the engine room), too, with varying degrees of bedhead.
"Let's go," Percy mumbled resignedly, rubbing his eyes. Silently, they followed him to the training room.
Click. The door swung shut as Piper, the last to enter, came in. There was no bragging done by Lyssa this time; no grand announcement of the two fighters. Annabeth just became surrounded by the Furores with no ceremony. Percy started forward angrily, but flew back against the wall roughly. And then… Hazel!
Frank charged to her without thinking, but Lyssa's wind of madness blew him back on the wall. His shoulder crunched against it sickeningly. He tried to clutch it, but it hurt too much. Frank couldn't look at Hazel or the others, who were already on the wall, based on two or three yelps of pain that stopped abruptly. He shut his eyes. Frank didn't want too—couldn't—wouldn't—see this fight. Please, let our plan work, so they don't have to fight! Frank prayed silently, squeezing his eyes shut. But he could hear Lyssa's oath playing in his brain on repeat, taunting him. The next duel shall be even more painful… I swear on the Styx to make it so! Then the sounds began.
Screams. Yells. Cries of pain. A thump. An accusation. Hazel screaming. Annabeth screaming. The clash of daggers. Loud panting. Running footsteps. Lyssa laughing. Another yell. A shrieking match. More thuds—two in succession. A barrage of what sounded like rocks being thrown. Whistles in the air—swords. More heavy footsteps. Then, a sickening crunch. Silence. The silence was worse than the screaming. Frank clenched his jaw shut.
Frank wouldn't open his eyes. He wouldn't give Lyssa the satisfaction of that. He wouldn't.
But the silence continued. Dread settled in the pit of Frank's stomach. He counted the seconds. Fifty-seven, fifty-eight, fifty-nine, sixty. Sixty-one… he swallowed anxiously. Sixty-two, sixty-three, sixty-four, sixty-five. Was Hazel all right? Was Annabeth okay? What was happening? Sixty-six, sixty-seven, sixty-eight, sixty-nine, seventy. He couldn't stand it anymore. Frank opened his eyes.
At first Frank thought he was hallucinating. He blinked. Nope. He blinked again. Same thing. He decided he wasn't hallucinating. But it made no sense. Annabeth and Hazel were shouting—at each other or Lyssa, Frank couldn't tell. But that wasn't the bizarre part. That was the fact that nothing was coming out of their mouths. Frank shook his head, trying to clear it. Still the same thing. Did Lyssa block the other demigods' hearing of the fight, too? But that made no sense. Piper's eyes were wide as she stared at the fight, and she was watching intently. But Nico—what was wrong with him?
The son of Hades was groping the air with his somehow freed hands. Almost like he couldn't see anything. Like he couldn't see anything… and Frank couldn't hear anything…
Frank looked around wildly. Leo—holy Mars! He was kicking his feet—Lyssa must have freed those—against the wall, trying reach his hands. His arms wouldn't work! Piper—she was fine a minute ago. No longer, there seemed to be something wrong with her mouth. Can't speak, guessed Frank. The odd thing was that Jason and Percy seemed fine. Just then, Frank felt a vibration from the wall. Everyone else were all listening intently. Lyssa's talking! He realized with horror. The Furores dispersed. Jason and Percy jumped off the wall and helped everyone else off (Leo and Nico tripped over each other). And the only thing Frank could think was, Lyssa makes good on her promises. And he wasn't sure why, but he felt uneasy about that.
Ooh... We know about Jason, but Percy? Has Lyssa gotten to him too? Only the next chapters will tell...
