"This is getting annoying," Piper grunted, swinging her dagger pitifully at one of the hippalektryons.
"At least nobody's being possessed today!" Frank argued, always the optimistic one.
Piper rolled her multi-colored eyes. "Thank the gods! It's just a normal fight to the death, not one that involves being possessed-"
"Less talking, more fighting!" Annabeth shouted, charging in front of Piper to stop one of the hippalectryon claws from disarming the girl.
As the fight continued and the hippalektryons slowly retreated, Piper realized the ship was losing altitude.
The engine room hallway door swung open and Percy and Leo stumbled out urgently. Leo's eyes were a little shinier than usual, like he'd been crying. Piper shrugged it off. He normally looked like that anyway. Besides, last time she asked him about it, he said the fumes from his machine work just made his eyes water. "Like onions except not." he had told her.
"We gotta get out of here!" Percy yelled, his teenage voice cracking slightly, "Ship's gonna crash!"
Everyone froze in shock. The last hippalectryon zoomed away, covered in Frank's arrows.
"What?" Hazel shouted, "Where do we go?"
Piper exhaled deeply, hoping that her Aphrodite charm would help calm everyone down - including herself. "They're a forest below us. The hippalektryons won't attack us 'cause it's not out in the open. We can go there for now."
She gave Annabeth an unsure glance. The tall blonde nodded confidently.
The Argo II tilted in the sky, the falling speed increasing. Everyone's hair flapped wildly in the wind, except Frank's short buzz cut.
Jason, with no hesitation, started to hover above the ground and lifted up a blushing Piper. Frank morphed into his familiar dragon shape and grunted for Hazel and Annabeth to hitch a ride.
"We'll come back for you two next," Jason said, nodding to Percy and Leo. Frank-dragon smiled in agreement, but it ended up looking more like he was baring his fangs.
Percy shrugged, "Take your time, then. It's not like we're going to crash anytime soon."
The guys took the hint and flew away quickly.
Piper clung anxiously to Jason. This wasn't like the Grand Canyon where they were gently going up. The wind was already fierce, falling didn't help either, and it stung her cheeks as they flew quickly. At least Hazel and Piper could use Frank's wing size to shield themselves from the worst of the chilly wind. Piper longed to yell at Jason to slow down, but she knew he was just worried about getting back to Leo and Percy before it was too late.
