Footsteps pounded up the stairs as Annabeth, Piper, Frank, and Hazel ran out onto the deck, with Jason on their heels. Ignoring her worry about Percy and Leo going on their own (the two practically shared one brain cell whenever they were together), Annabeth tied her hair up into a messy ponytail. She had four kids to lead, she didn't need to waste precious time thinking about her Seaweed Brain when she could be taking charge. She was way past 'proving myself to the gods and my mother'. She did that when she survived Tartarus. For now, Annabeth was going to lead the way for everyone else.

"Um, Annabeth?" Piper said, "What do we do now? Sorry, you started spacing out."

Cheeks flushing with embarrassment, Annabeth shook her head, "Right. Okay gang, so first thing's first-"

"Uh, there's some horse-chickens flying at us!" Frank yelled, taking a cautious step back as he pointed to the upper right."

"Hippalectryons," Jason corrected him.

"Of course there are," she muttered, figuring those were the creatures that damaged the ship in the first place and put them in this mess. "Jason and Frank, I want you to fly up there and try to get as many as you can away from the ship. Girls, we're going to stay here and keep them from doing anything worse to the ship."

Everyone nodded in agreement before dispersing. Annabeth darted to her left as she raised her sword. She gritted her teeth as she swung, just managing to dig into the creature's feathers. She remembered seeing some of these at Triple-G Ranch. It felt like forever ago.

"They're an endangered species. Do not kill them!" she ordered.

"How are we supposed to fight them without killing them?" Piper cried, "I don't speak chicken, I can't charm them away!"

"Figure it out!"


Thanks to everyone who posted reviews, faved, or followed this! It means the world to me 3

Anyway, I know this chapter didn't have like, any Leo in it, so I'm sorry to disappoint, but obviously I'm going to get to the good Leo angst soon. This was just a short chapter to cover what everyone else is thinking about and up to while Leo & Percy ran off to do their own thing.

Note about hippalectryons, though. Sometimes they'll be spelled as hippalektryons. The only difference is that ones the Roman version of the name and one's Greek. Just so you know I'm not randomly misspelling it.

Again, thanks! Sorry this author's note ended up being really long lol. I hope everyone reading has a wonderful day! 33 -Apollo