Chapter 50

They were nearing the entrance of the garden again, and Piper was debating if they should turn to keep walking or if she should make the decision to go back to the castle. Conversation had fizzled out again, and she honestly couldn't tell if Annabeth was enjoying the walk or just staying because she felt like she should. Piper was pretty sure it was the former, but not positive.

She had just made the decision that it was probably best to keep Annabeth at least a little distracted and keep walking, when she heard someone around the corner. A second later, Percy was walking towards them, breaking into a grin.

Relief passed through Piper, who hadn't really realize how worried she was until it was gone. Letting out a breath, she found herself smiling as well, but Percy wasn't looking at her.

Glancing over she saw that Annabeth's face had relaxed, the thoughtful expression that had been there the whole day replaced with one of relief. She looked at him for just a moment, before she had walked forward and pulled him into a hug. There was slight surprise, then a soft smile replaced the grin Percy had been wearing and he hugged her back.

"Where the hell have you been?" Despite the obvious attempt to be teasing, Annabeth's voice was softer than usual, the relief clear in her voice. Piper couldn't help but smile as she watched them.

"Mostly sitting around in the dungeon waiting for something to happen," Percy replied, but he was still smiling even as he said it "It's a sort of long story."

Annabeth pulled away and there was a shift from relief back to concern "The dungeon? So you were caught? The king found out?"

"He found out that I've been sneaking out of the castle, yeah, but not about trying to help Leo," Percy assured, the smile never wavering as he stepped back "Don't worry. He yelled, but other than that he didn't do anything."

"I'm sorry," Piper finally spoke up, stepping slightly forward "Leo and Jason didn't even end up using that gate to get out. They snuck out through the forge, so distracting the guard ended up being pointless, and brought your trips into town to the king's attention."

"It's alright," Percy shrugged, seeming completely unconcerned "Like I said, he didn't do much other than yell, and we actually end up talking about some things that probably should have been addressed a while ago."

Annabeth looked over at him curiously, but didn't press. Instead she just nodded and took another step back, "We should go back to your room. Jason is waiting there- we can piece together most of what happened last night."

Piper nodded in agreement. Though her curiosity at the actual events of the night before was likely nothing compared to Annabeth's, who was both a more curious person in general and had a vested interest in how well the plan had gone, she was still curious "Frank and Hazel are both busy, but I know what happened on Hazel's end of things, and I'm sure Jason has at least some information on Frank."

"Alright," Percy agreed, nodding and smiling at each of them in turn, before turning to lead the way back out of the garden and towards the castle.


"What are you doing in here at this time of day?" Hazel asked, moving to lean against the door of the stall that Frank was currently standing in. She had visited him a few times in the stable since coming to the castle, but this was the first time she had ever seen him actually cleaning out a stall. This was particularly obvious since all of the horses were out being exercised, leaving him as the only person there.

Frank looked up with surprise, before smiling when he saw Hazel. He moved to set the pitchfork he had been using against the wall, "What does it look like I'm doing? Someone has to clean out the stalls while the horses are being exercised."

"Right, but aren't you usually out there helping exercise them rather than being stuck in here cleaning?" Hazel asked in confusion, leaning on the door as she did so.

"Usually," Frank agreed, nodding a bit at that "But I'm on probation because of last night. I technically didn't get permission to take the horses, which wouldn't be a big deal except for them getting 'stolen'. The king is putting pressure for something to be done, so here I am. I'm sure it'll blow over in a couple of days."

"Oh-" Hazel sighed a bit as she heard that, glancing around for a second, not sure what to say.

"It's okay," Frank assured, smiling at her and shrugging, "It's really not that big of a deal. So I'm stuck in here for a few days. At least the plan more or less worked. Plus, my boss calmed down a lot when Jason returned with the 'found' horses. It'll be back to normal in a few days. They can't afford to keep me in here forever."

"Still, I know how much you like being around the horses."

Frank just shrugged again, speaking before Hazel could really fully process the thoughts she was having "I'm still around the horses, just in a slightly less fun way."

"You risked a lot, especially helping even after you knew the guards were out and about and you were more likely to get caught." Hazel looked over at him with a mix of curiosity and admiration. This was a side of Frank she had never had the opportunity to see before. Had never really thought about before "And you don't even like him that much."

"It doesn't really matter what I personally thought about him," Frank replied simply, as if it weren't that important "He didn't deserve what was happening to him, he wasn't a bad guy, even if I had some issues with his work ethic. It wasn't fair and I was in a position to do something about it, so it was my responsibility to."

He said it all almost nonchalantly. As if he really hadn't done anything special, anything more than anyone else would do. He had just done the right thing, no need to be thanked for or make a big deal out of it. Frank honestly believed that.

Hazel couldn't help but smile as she looked over at him for a long moment before speaking "Thank you."

"You don't have to thank me," Frank walked over to the door of the stall now as well, leaning on the wall closer to her rather than on the opposite side of the stall "I was just doing the same thing anyone else would have."

"You're wrong, most people wouldn't have helped, especially not when things got more dangerous," Hazel replied, tilting her head up slightly so she could continue to look him in the eye as she spoke "You're a good man, Frank Zhang."

Frank just shrugged, and though he was trying to play it off as no big deal, Hazel could see the smile he had been giving her grow bigger at her words. After a second he raised an eyebrow at her "Good enough to take you on another small outing when I'm allowed to borrow the horses again?"

That hadn't been why he'd done any of this. Frank's reaction before made it clear that he really had helped because he thought it was the right thing to do, not to try and win her over. This was just a cheesy way of asking her to go riding with him again, since the opportunity had presented itself, it hadn't been the ending plan.

Hazel smiled as she looked up at him "I would like that."