radoddish- trash-talking a god is chaotic and i love it

LovelyAstorxia- three chapters left, not counting this one :) tbh i feel like the ending of this is sad for the characters, but it'll be happier for you guys bc you'll have all the information of what's going on ;)

AyeraeW- get ready for the angst! and i'm glad you're still rooting for rosie&leo!

all about hope- oh no that's awful i'm so sorry! life is fricking complicated rn, all thanks to miss rona

SEASBLU- HAHA i feellll

"I'm going to be sick, I'm going to be sick, I'm going to be sick-"

Only Leo and Jason were on deck. Rosie, Frank, Hazel, Annabeth, Piper, and Percy were below the hatch, ready for their evacuation plan.

"He hasn't even thrown us yet," Frank said, raising his eyebrows.

"I'm nervous, Frank-"

The rest of her sentence was replaced with a scream, as the ship rattled and shot forward at what seemed to be a thousand miles per hour.

She was just about to release a colorful stream of expletives when the hatch burst open. Quickly, the six of them grabbed the guide rope, which was currently attached to the mast. They pulled themselves out onto deck.

"Go!" Leo yelled in a deadly serious tone. "Go, go, go!"

She felt dizzy and nauseated, her muscles tired and aching.

Buford the table scuttled across the deck with hologram Coach, screaming, "LET'S GO! MOVE IT PEOPLE!" The table split into helicopter blades, flying away.

Frank changed form into a gray dragon. Hazel quickly mounted him. Frank grabbed Percy and Annabeth in his front claws, quickly soaring away.

Jason extended both of his hands out to Rosie and Piper.

Jason glanced down, his eyes widening. "Leo, wait!"

Rosie looked down, and understood what he was saying: the ground was getting close, fast.

"Leo, come with us!" she screamed.

"No, no, get out of here!" he yelled.

"Leo!" Piper tried."Please-"

"Save the charmspeak, Pipes! I told you, I've got a plan. Now, shoo!"

The ship was splintering into pieces, and Rosie watched, their home splitting before their eyes.

She looked at Leo one more time, not sure if she would ever see him again.

Jason grabbed their hands, summoning the winds, and shooting them into the sky.

As they plunged down, Rosie feeling sick to her stomach, she could see vast armies of monsters spread across the hill.

"I'm gonna puke!" She screamed as they freefalled.

Two tiny islands of demigods were surrounded by these monsters. At the crest of Half-Blood Hill, gathered at the feet of the Athena Parthenos, was the main force of Camp Half-Blood, along with several of the Roman cohorts.

Frank the dragon reappeared alongside them, passengers still on hand.

"Frank!" Rosie heard Jason yell. "Those three cohorts are in trouble! If they don't merge with the rest of the demigods-"

"On it!" Hazel shouted. "Go, Frank!"

Frank veered sharply to the left, with Annabeth in one claw whooping and yelling, "Let's get 'em!" and Percy in the other claw echoing Rosie's sentiments by screaming, "I hate flying!"

Jason veered right, and Rosie spotted Nico DiAngelo, leading an army of Greeks, slashing through two-headed men. Reyna and Grant stood a few feet away from him, shouting orders and swords drawn.

They landed clumsily to the cheers of demigods around them. Rosie toppled over, falling hard onto Jason. Piper flew into Grant, who steadied her.

He shot her an easy smile. "Quite an entrance there, McLean."

Piper broke out of his grasp, looking flustered and embarrassed. "Right-sorry. Hi."

"It's about time!" Reyna grinned, giving Piper a hug. "Glad you could join us!"

"My bad," Rosie squeaked from on top of Jason. "Are you okay?"

Jason groaned, propping himself up. "Ribs may be broken...but sure."

She helped Jason up, and the two of them joined Piper, Reyna, and Grant.

"Hey, you two," Reyna said, smiling. "Rosie- glad to see you're not dead! We have plenty of barbarians to kill!"

"Those are my favorite words to hear, Reyna," she said with a grin.

Jason had frozen next to Rosie, glancing over at Grant. Grant, always the talker, seemed to be stunned into silence as well.

Finally, Grant extended his hand towards Jason. "Hey, man. It's been a while. I like the glasses- scholarly."

Jason didn't move. He looked down at Grant's hand. Finally, he raced forward, bypassing Grant's hand in favor of a hug.

Grant's eyes went wide, his hand still extended. With only a moment's hesitation, he clapped Jason on the back, wrapping his arms around him fully.

"I always knew those two would make up," Reyna said, rolling her eyes.

"What's their name, though?" Rosie asked the two of them. "Grason? Jant?"

"Glad to see you again, Paprika," Grant said to her, amused. "That's your name, right?"

"Ha ha, Roman Jerk," she shot back.

"It's totally Jant, by the way," Jason piped in.

"Lovely bromance, but can we stay on track, people?" said an exasperated voice.

She knew that voice. Rosie turned around, grinning. "There's my favorite hellman!"

Nico diAngelo gave her his famous, "exasperated with Rosie" scowl. "Hellman? Out of all the nicknames?"

"Hellman's right," Grant said, pointing to Nico. "We gotta get going." He turned to Jason, clasping a hand onto his shoulder. "Dude, I've got a present for you. Follow me."

The two disappeared in the crowd.

Reyna smirked. "I never thought I'd see the day those two would have crazy antics again," she said, shaking her head. "Anyways-" She looked over at Piper. "Shall we?"

Piper grinned. "Barbarians, here we come!"

That left Nico and Rosie, as she was suddenly becoming aware of the two-headed men surrounding them. She went to work with her dagger, stabbing and slicing.

"So, how was traffic?" Nico asked sarcastically, beheading a corpse.

"Ah, you know, the usual."

Nico shook his head. "We thought you were dead, you know- Coach passed out before."

"Well, surprise, Hellman."

"Where's the ship, anyways?"

She looked up, her heart dropping when she saw the inferno ball tumble through the sky- what had been the Argo II.

"Oh, god," Nico muttered, looking at the ship. "Is everyone okay?"

"Leo…" Her voice broke, and she gulped. "He said he had a plan."

Nico nodded. "I'm sure he's fine."

She felt a flash of anger, deciding to use it to her advantage. She charged into battle, fiercely fighting wild centaurs and two-headed men. Monsters kept coming out of nowhere, surging forward in big groups.

Clay humanoids walked forward, looking like evil Playdoh men.

"They're ghosts with earthen shells!" Nico warned. "Don't let them hit you!"

Will Solace, the head of the Apollo cabin, appeared. He shot Rosie a quick smile before going up to Nico, whispering something in his ear.

"Rosie, I have to go!" Nico yelled.

She nodded for him to go off with Will. Soon, she found herself fighting among some members of the Hermes cabin.

Connor Stoll appeared, grinning at her. "Sup, Reiger, how've you been?"

"Eh, same old, same old, how about you?"

Connor dodged an ogre, as Rosie kicked over an evil playdoh man. "Can't complain!"

"CHARGE!"

Rosie turned, seeing the crew of the Caterina running toward the hill, weapons drawn. Jason was at their front, sword drawn as he shouted orders. Ringo had some sort of metal arm contraption, plucking monsters off the ground, throwing them into the sky. Oscar was whooping as he used his wind powers to flip over centaurs. She saw Molly on Clare's back, as Clare shot flaming arrows into the crowd. Grant pulled up the rear, expertly slicing into monsters.

The air next to Rosie shimmered, and CJ appeared, grinning.

She let out a shocked yelp. "Dude! Cool party trick!"

"It's also good for scaring the crap out of people!" He yelled over the battle, disappearing again.

"Repellere equites!" yelled a voice, somewhere downhill. She was almost positive it was Frank.

Centaurs parted in panic as three Roman cohorts charged forward, led by Reyna and Frank. Hazel lingered behind on Arion, beaming. Rosie, too, felt proud of Frank.

"Ave, Praetor Zhang!" Reyna yelled.

"Ave, Praetor Ramirez-Arellano!" Frank said. "Let's do this. Legion, CLOSE RANKS!"

A cheer arose as the five Roman legions and the Caterina Crew came together.

"Legion, cinema formate!" Reyna yelled. "Advance!"

"Party time!" Percy appeared grinning, Annabeth at his side. Behind them stood the other forces of Camp Half-Blood.

Another war cry came from behind her, and inexplicably, she was lifted off the ground, onto someone's shoulder.

"Reiger!" Coach nearly held her upside down. "You had me worried sick!"

"My bad, Coach!" She exclaimed, feeling suddenly dizzy with the blood rushing to her head.

"I'm a father, Reiger! It's a big, healthy BOY!"

"Yes!" she exclaimed happily.

"Excuse me," Rosie paused at the gym door of her new school. "Are you Coach Hedge?"

The burly, grouchy-look man gave her an annoyed look. "What do I look like, a rocket scientist? Who are you?"

"Um...I'm Rosie. Rosie Reiger. It's my first day here."

"Are you sure about that, cupcake?" The coach mocked, placing his hands on his hips.

"Um...yes?"

"Drop and give me twenty."

"What?" she asked. Who did this guy think he was?

"You got a problem? I don't do problems, cupcake."

"It's just...I haven't done anything. Class hasn't even started yet."

"Drop and give me twenty," the coach growled, no ounce of sympathy in his voice. "One day you'll understand."

"Greeks!" Percy yelled. "Let's, um, fight stuff!"

They all screamed at the top of their lungs, charging.

The earth suddenly ripped under her feet, as demigods fell over and monsters slipped.

AWAKE.

That voice boomed all around them, somehow surrounding everyone.

A hundred yards away, over at the crest of the next hill, the ground exploded. Grass and dirt swirled upward like the point of a massive drill. The earth thickened into the figure of a twenty-foot woman- her dress woven from blades of grass, her skin as white as quartz, her hair brown and tangled like tree roots.

Her knees buckled, and she grabbed onto the nearest person, who just happened to be a random, concerned camper.

"Little fools," Gaea the Earth Mother opened her pure green eyes. "The paltry magic of your statue cannot contain me."

"Stand fast!" Piper shouted, her charmspeak comforting. "Greeks and Romans, we can fight her together."

Gaea laughed, spreading her arms. The earth bent toward her. Everyone started sinking into the ground. Rosie, frustrated, cracked open the ground at her feet.

"The whole earth is my body," Gaea boomed. "How could you fight the goddess of-"

BOOM.

In a flash of bronze, Gaea was swept off the hill, snarled in the claws of something. No. It couldn't be…

Festus, with his whole, intact body, arose into the sky, spewing fire triumphantly.

Even with the distance between them, she could see Leo's grin.

"Yo, Freckles!" he yelled down to her. "The fight's up here! Pipes, Jason, come on up, y'all!"