Chapter 36

Frank's POV

As soon as Percy, Annabeth and Piper left the ship along with the gemini, the argument started.

"Listen, Natalie," Jason started. "I–,"

"Oh please, spare me," she rolled her eyes.

Jason looked at her. "Listen I just sided with Percy because he made a promise to –,"

"To keep me safe, yeah. I know, I was there," Natalie said crossly.

Frank stood beside Hazel, watching them. Leo shifted his gaze to look at each of them simultaneously as they spoke.

"Then you should understand why I vouched for Percy!" Jason told her.

"Yeah, and I'm not a kid, Jason!" Natalie argued back. "I know how to look after myself, you know."

Frank shuddered; this was not going well. They were supposed to fight Gaea today, and here they were, fighting among themselves.

"Listen, I know you do alright, but Percy's your brother and he wants to keep you safe," Jason said with a slightly raised voice.

"Oh great!" Natalie threw up her hands. "Then shut me on the ship and all of you go around saving the world! Keep me safe!"

Jason frantically waved his hands, trying to explain, "Look, he promised Ben, okay, and he had to keep it."

Natalie folded her arms. "And does that promise need to be completed by risking the world? And that still doesn't contradict the fact that I can look after myself!"

"Oh, it's not going well," Hazel muttered to him.

Frank remembered what Mars had said. You'll keep them together, kid.

"Guys, guys," he intervened. "Let's just not fight, okay, yeah?"

"Yeah, well I'm not the one who's responsible, am I?" Natalie said.

"Oh, so it's my fault now!" Jason retaliated.

"Hey, hey, listen, both of you," he said in a raised voice. "The only thing that'll put Gaea in a more advantageous situation is us fighting among each other. We can't do that. We have to stay united if we want to win, and Gaea wants to break that unity!"

They both stared at him, silent. He felt sheepish; it was as if they were waiting for the lecture to go on.

"I don't wanna lecture you both, okay? But I'm just saying that we all did what we thought was the best and even though we're trying to save the world," he looked at Natalie, "we look after each other."

"Frank's right," Hazel came in, and he was thankful she did. "We have to trust in each other, and we have to stop arguing over the decisions already made."

Natalie sighed. Finally she looked at Jason and said, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have argued."

"I'm sorry too," Jason apologized.

"Yeah, brilliant," Leo said. "Now should we get back to work? We need to keep watch for Annabeth's signal. Man, I hope that flare works."

"Wait," Frank said. "What d'you mean you hope? You're not sure it's gonna work?"

"I'm 99.99% sure."

"Yeah, Leo," Hazel laughed. "Stop giving us mini heart-attacks."

Frank stared at Leo. Of course, he was trying to ignore the fact that he was planning to die today. Frank was so guilty that he was simply letting Leo do that. That he was a part of that plan.

This is the only way, guys, Leo had said. You gotta trust me on this.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Natalie said.

Frank turned around. And then he saw what Natalie had seen. An army of monsters was marching towards the ship, banners raised high, cheering and hooting. Leading the vanguard was…

"Ma Gasket," Leo and Jason said together.

"I hate that cyclops," Natalie groaned.

Ma Gasket, carrying a huge spear that looked as if it could pierce the hull of Argo II easily, led the group along with her cyclops children. Following them were numerous centaurs, bows slung on their back. A few of them wielded wicked-looking swords in both hands, and brandished it towards them. Behind them were numerous other monsters : Earthborn, gemini, dracanae, hellhounds, empousai…the list just kept going on and on.

"Looks like they've sent half their army for us," Hazel muttered, cursing under the breath.

"Okay," Leo said, moving backward, but not taking his eyes off the huge monster army. "I'm gonna go and man the ballista, but you guys will have to make sure they don't reach here by ground."

"Or air," he added, pointing to a number of Griffins that were flying towards their ship.

"We're heavily outnumbered. Emphasis on heavily," Natalie told them.

"We need to take out those griffins first but then they would simply attack on the ground. The ballista can't hold them forever." Jason asked.

"There's a way," Natalie said.

"What?" Frank asked.

"Spolia Opima," she said simply. "I'll go and challenge Ma Gasket in a one on one battle. She won't be able to refuse in front of that army she's got."

Jason raised his eyebrows. "Are you serious? Spolia Opima hasn't happened since what – the last few centuries?"

"That's the only way we've got," Frank told Jason, pointing to the huge army."

Jason looked conflicted.

"Oh please, not that 'need to protect you thing again!" Natalie told him. "You don't think I can take a cyclops by myself? Besides, we're on the harbour, the sea os right here. That puts me in a more advantageous position."

Jason grinned. "Alright, but don't finish her off too early. Hold her off till we get through the griffins."

Natalie smiled. "Go," she said, climbing off the ladder and stepping onto the ground.

"C'mon," Jason said to him and Hazel. "Let's do some griffin-hunting."

"Hey!" Leo yelled from behind. "When do I fire the ballista?"

"When Natalie's done with Ma Gasket!" Frank yelled back, before willing himself to turn into a dragon. He gestured Hazel to get on his back, winked at Jason, and flew off towards the approaching griffins.

He blew fire around them and blowtorched the front group, with Hazel slashing any of them that got close. Jason flew around here and there, slashing and stabbing at any monster that came in the radius of his sword. Frank had to admit, he was a pretty good swordsman. Perhaps the best at camp, along with Natalie and Reyna. Jason fought like he was born to hold a sword, which he probably was, being a demigod. Between blowroching griffins and ripping them with his claws, he occasionally glanced at Natalie, to see how the fight was going.

She had turned her sword into a spear, which was a good decision as Ma Gasket's spear looked pretty deadly, so putting herself at a distance with its point was the best option. Besides, a sword would have been more useful in aggressive combat, but since she was buying time, going with the spear was pretty fine. He looked back in the sky. Jason was now riding on his ventus, Tempest. Electricity cackled around him. Occasionally, he would raise his sword into air and bring it down, and several bolts of lightning would vaporize griffins instantly. He could hear cussing from below, sometimes from Natalie, and sometimes from the cyclops. The army below cheered and hooted at the two fighting.

Finally, the last bunch of griffins was left, who hesitated to attack them.

"Tempest," Jason spoke to his horse. "Get them."

He jumped off the ventus, said good job to him, and flew down the ground. Frank followed, landing on the ground, as Hazel jumped off his back. He changed his form back to human, though his mouth tasted ashen after blowing all the fire that he had.

As soon as Natalie saw them, she looked at the cyclops fighting her.

"Time's up, Ma," she said to her. She spun her spear, knocking the cyclops' spear off her hand, and tried to stab the cyclops. She grabbed the spear by her hands, and started bending it.

"Oh no," Hazel said. "We have to do something."

"We can't," Frank said, worried. "She opted Spolia Opima. Either she wins or she dies."

Natalie quickly turned her spear into a sword again. She charged at Ma Gasket, who perhaps, was confused for a split second before leaning away. Natalie quickly turned mid fight, slashing at her abdomen from the side. Ma Gasket howled, she grabbed Natalie and pinned her to the ground, leaning above her.

"Now I'll have your head, demigod," she said. She knocked Natalie's sword off her hand and picked it up.

"Killed by your own sword," Ma Gasket sneered. She rose above, preparing to stab.

"We have to do something!" Hazel yelled.

"We can't," Frank cried desperately.

Just as Ma Gasket would have struck her, she rolled off, pulled out a hunting knife from her boots and stabbed her in the back. Ma Gasket gasped, realizing what had happened. Before she could attack again, she was already a pile of dust. Hazel had her eyes closed.

"Hey, Hazel, look," he shook her. She slowly opened her eyes. Her expression changed from scared to relieved so fast and she ran off to Natalie.

"Gods, what a show off," Jason smirked.

"Hey, you need some entertainment in your life, right," Natalie grinned.

"Wait, you knew she would do that?" he asked Jason.

"Well, I knew Ma Gasket won't be able to kill her," he shrugged. "She might be the leader of the cyclops, but she's too slow."

Frank heard growls. He turned to see the monster army, who were no longer cheering. They were looking at them with a glint of hunger.

"Okay how did you say we were gonna get past them again?" Hazel asked Jason.

"I didn't."

"Hey Leo!" Frank yelled. "How's it going with the ballista?"

The monsters were staring at them, perhaps waiting for them to make the first move. The centaurs jeered and nocked arrows. The cyclops hefted their clubs higher.

"Fire, baby!" Leo yelled, and everything went nuts. Frank had not been a part of such chaos, at least, not yet. The monsters charged at them with blinding speed. Soon they were overwhelmed among the horde. Just as things couldn't have gotten worse, a flare shot up in the sky, several miles away from them.

"Annabeth's signal!" Natalie yelled.

"Leo, get the ship in the air!" Jason yelled between breaths, slashing and stabbing any monster that came into his range. Hazel whistled; Arion zipped past in a flash, stomping over a few monsters as he stopped by Hazel, who quickly boarded him. Frank turned into an elephant. He would need some strength to fight down the cyclops. Natalie was fighting swiftly on the ground, her weapons changing like fluid. One second it was a sword, then a spear, then a dagger, and again it was a sword. Meanwhile, the Argo II behind them gave a mighty lurch as it started to rise.

"Guys, those hounds are trying to get above!" Leo yelled, as hellhounds made their way to jump aboard the ship.

"A little busy over here!" Hazel yelled, turning a cyclops into dust as easily as one cuts a slice of butter.

A flare shot up again. Annabeth and the others must be in serious trouble, he thought. But so were they.

"Leo," Jason yelled, as Leo frantically tried to summon fireballs to knock the hounds of the constantly rising Argo II. "Leave us and go! Go help them!"

"But–,"

"This is more important than us, Leo! LEAVE! GO!"

Frank changed back into a dragon, roaring fire at the crowd of monsters, but they simply seemed to be never-ending. The four of them were pushed back into a circle now. The monsters stopped. A centaur stepped forward.

"Now we've got you cornered, demigods," he spat. "And we'll present you to the Earth Mother."

"No," Hazel said. "We're Romans. We don't give in. We win or die."

"Aut vincere aut mori," Natalie said.

"If death's what you want," the centaur sneered. "You'll get it. Charge!"

Frank braced himself for the army of monsters to overwhelm them. Just then, out of nowhere, balls of fire rained from the sky. They struck every monster in the vicinity, except them.

Frank looked at Leo. Surely, this was some weapon Leo had installed and not told them about it? But Leo was desperately trying to lower the ship amidst the fire-rain, looking just as surprised as they were.

Suddenly, a huge ball of fire fell right in front of him. Too late, he realized what was happening, but a part of it relieved him.

The flames died, and before him stood his father, the god of war, Mars.

"Hey kid," he waved.

Argo II hovered above the ground. Leo ran towards them, standing beside Hazel. All of a sudden, everyone kneeled down, their sword point touching the ground.

"Lord Mars," Jason said.

Frank bent down awkwardly too. Sure, the god in front of him was his father, but he was still a god. In fact, he was more of a god than his father.

"Kids," Mars corrected, looking at Hazel, Natalie, Jason and Leo, who were kneeling down. Leo had nothing to point down to the ground, so he simply kept his hands in the position, holding an imaginary sword.

"You can stand up!" Mars said, flashing them a grin which showed his very white teeth. All of them stood up awkwardly.

"Dad – wh – what are – are you doing…here?" he stammered.

"Not much time to tell you everything. But I'll give you the gist; the gods will be reaching here," he checked his watch. "In around ten minutes. We just had a meeting and we're gonna help you with the giants, nothing more, nothing less."

"And also," he added. "I'm not actually present here, this is just an apparition. Right now, I'm at Olympus gearing up for the assault, and if you don't believe it, you can stick your hand right up my form, though I wouldn't appreciate it."

He paused at the gaping looks on their faces. Then, as if nothing had happened, he continued, "And the most important part, I'm not physically present here because, as I just told you, we agreed to help only with the giants, nothing more, nothing less. So it'd be best if you do not mention this little scene and run off to help your friends. See you in a few minutes."

Mars erupted in flames, right at the spot where he had been standing. All around them, silence was back again, and the ground was covered with monster dust and burn marks.

"That was," Natalie said. "Weird."

"Weird sums it up," Jason said.

Frank simply shrugged, embarrassed.

"Well," Leo said, brushing the soot of his hair. "Annabeth has already fired the flare twice, so if we're done here, we might as well go and help them."

Jason cursed. "You're right, let's go."

And so, they went off straight to the ship, heading straight on to face the giants, and their mother.

"I just hope the helping-with-the-giants think wasn't a big joke," Frank muttered to himself, bracing himself for the battle about to come.