Hi, so I know it's been like a month since the last update *sweats nervously* and I do have excuses but you probably don't want to hear them BUT I do have some good news. I hit 50 pages and 20,000 words on this story while writing this chapter! Hooray! Blue cookies for all! (::) (::) (::) (::)
Also I noticed I've been spelling Epilates wrong this whole time so I went back and changed them all (hopefully). Enjoy!

Chapter 14:

Frank POV

I look at my hotel room longingly. A queen sized bed and two singles. A room for a family. I turn around and walk back out, not wanting to reflect on the bad things in my life. I go straight across the hall to Annabeth and Percy's room which mirrors mine, but with Zoë and Bianca sitting of the beds talking it looks...better. It looks right. I sigh, and walk over to where Annabeth, Percy and Nico are standing, talking in hushed tones.

"...could shadow travel." I hear Nico finish.

Annabeth ponders that for a little. "It could work, I guess. But would you be strong enough for all of us?"

He shakes his head.

"What are you talking about?" I ask. I see that Annabeth is so engrossed in her thought she barley acknowledges me. Her grey eyes scan me, as if not seeing me as Frank, but a weapon we can use against the Epilates. She had the same look in her eyes when we were on the Argo II.

"We're just trying to work out a plan of attack," Percy says. "Apparently we can't go in without a plan."

"You can't, Dad," Zoë calls from the bed. "That's not how things work."

Percy rolls his eyes and mutters something that sound like, "Like mother like daughter," but I can't be sure. He turns back to Annabeth.

"They're right Perce," I say. "We can't just barge in there without a plan, especially because they're still holding our kids captive."

Nico nods in agreement, and Percy just mutters something else which doesn't sound like a compliment. "Whatever. I'm going to get Jason."

He leaves, and I turn back to the others. "What've we come up with so far?"

Annabeth tells me a rough version of what she is thinking, and Jason, Thalia, Reyna, Percy and Piper join us halfway through.

"Sounds great, Annabeth," Reyna compliments.

Jason nods, but then tilts his head as though he has just thought of something. "What are we going to do with those three?" he asks, jerking his head towards the bed where Zoë, Bianca and Tom are sitting, trying to cheer each other up.

"Calypso's already offered to stay here with them and Anza," Annabeth tells us. "She'll be fine if any stray monsters stumble upon their scent, but she's never really been the violent type."

"True that," Leo says, entering the room holding Anza, Calypso by his side.

"Now that we're all here," Percy notes, "Let's get on with the planning so we can get out of here and go home."

Annabeth rolls her eyes but obliges. Her, Nico and Jason do most of the planning with occasional input from the rest of us, or Zoë, Bianca or Tom. I don't have ADHD, but at the moment, I'm as hyperactive as Leo and Percy I'm so anxious to get going and see my kids again. I zone out slightly and begin to think of them and Hazel, what they are doing right now, if Will is taking care of her. I'm so caught up in my thoughts I don't hear Annabeth calling my name.

"Frank? Frank! Are you okay?"

I blink a couple of times and turn to her. "S-sorry, I'm a bit distracted."

Her steely gaze softens and she looks apologetic. "Understandable," she says. "I was just asking if you would be okay to be a distraction. If you could transform into an animal that they would recognize, we could get you into the room where the kids are being held- which, is presumably a different storeroom because those three burst a whole in the other one, but that's a different matter all together. Anyway, we'll somehow get you into the room where they are. Hopefully they'll recognize you straight away, and they'll know we're coming, but the Epilates won't know it's you."

"So kinda like a code?" I say.

"Exactly like a code," she confirms.

"Sounds great," I say. "It'll work like a charm."

Annabeth grins, and turns to the others. "Then I think we're sorted."

"Are you sure, Mom?" Zoë asks. "Maybe you should just go over the plan one last time."

Annabeth shoots her a small smile and Percy sits on the bed next to her and squeezes her tightly."We'll be alright, Zo," he comforts her. "It's not like we haven't done things like this before."

Annabeth sits on the other side of her and kisses her forehead. "Stop worrying Zoë, we're going to be okay."

I notice Bianca crawling into Nico's lap and whispering something into his ear. He smiles and whispers something back, while Tom goes over and hugs Jason and Piper so tightly I think they're going to suffocate. Leo cradles his baby lovingly, and I feel another stab of pain, and selfishly wish that Sammy and Em had not been so selfless. Reyna notices my pain, although I thought I was hiding it pretty well. Then again, Reyna and I grew pretty close during our praetorship. (I don't even think that's a word. Oh well, it is now.)

"Hey, spark up," she tells me. "You'll be seeing them soon. All of them."

I smile weakly at her, as Annabeth stands up with tears in her eyes.

"Let's go guys, the sooner we get this done, the better."

We file out slowly, dreading what is to come, hoping it will work out well.

"We're going to smash this guys," Leo says when he comes out the door after a goodbye with Calypso. "I mean, the kids could do it, we can do it, am I right?"

"Yeah guys, let's go!" Percy agrees.

As we reach the hotel lobby Thalia uses the mist to make it look as if there are only a few of us leaving. The mortal's might start asking questions if they see so many people leaving, without their children, at 5 PM at night. We rush across the lobby and walk for a bit. After a while we manage to hail two taxi's and tell them a location about half a mile from where we want to get to. It's too dangerous for the mortals to know.

I don't even register who I get in the cab with, everything is just a blur, and all I can think about is my family. They're okay, they're okay, I tell myself, until it is my mantra for the whole cab ride and the whole walk. When we finally arrive I've almost convinced myself it is true, and as Annabeth quadruple checks that I'm okay with being a distraction I feel a surge of hope which is probably fueled by adrenaline.

"Let's do this," I say, before transforming into a bulldog, something small, but also big enough to be seen by the kids. Annabeth smiles down at me before sneaking over to where Zoë said the room with the whole should be, and I follow. Sure enough, there it is. The kids definitely under exaggerated their escape, the hole is barley big enough for Bianca, the tallest of the three.

"Okay, remember the signal?" Annabeth asks.

I nod my head and let out a small growl.

"Good luck," she whispers. "We'll be right here."

I jump through the hole, and find myself in a tiny, grey, windowless room. There are bloodstains in one of the corners, and old boxes from when it must've been a storeroom for the supermarket in the other. I scan the room for an exit but can't seem to find one, like Tom told us. I transform into a dragon and burst a hole in another wall. I find myself in a corridor and quickly transform back into a bulldog, in case the Epilates heard something and come to investigate. If they do come, hopefully they just think the wall was weakened by the 'spectacular breakout' as Leo calls it.

I wander down the corridor for a bit, trying to work out where they are. I can only imagine what the others are doing right now, especially since I've been taking so long. Percy, Annabeth, Leo and Jason's ADHD will be going crazy. I can basically see the four of them pacing, Leo creating something stupid, Annabeth muttering strategies, Jason tossing his coin and Percy fingering Riptide. Piper will probably be trying to calm them down, but she'll be so worried her charmspeak won't work properly. Reyna, Nico and Thalia will probably be the only ones in their proper positions, so I'm hoping I'm somewhere near one of them when I give the signal. I'm just beginning to give up hope of finding them in time, Annabeth said if I don't find them within ten minutes to come back, because it's too dangerous to be inside, when my supersensitive doggy ears pick up something unmistakable from through the wall to my left.

"Em, we're fine, we're fine, c'mon, wake up," says a desperate voice. "Emily Zhang, if you don't wake up right this instant I'm going to get Luke to splash you."

"Alright, alright," Emily says weakly. "I'm awake."

"Oh, thank Zeus," Sammy replies, sobbing, finally letting go. "Don't ever do that again. I-I thought we'd lost you."

I hear Emily sobbing as well, and if I wasn't in dog form I would definitely be crying myself. I then hear what sounds like Luke offering her some ambrosia.

"Why do you have to be so strong and stubborn," Diana complains, and I suddenly remember my mission and the plan here. I scan the wall to see if I can find out exactly where the room is, and once I have located it, I see a small weakness right in the bottom corner of the room, because the Epilates have once again made the doors magic. I charge directly at the weak spot, hoping all the extra training I've been putting in recently has made not only Frank stronger, but the bulldog stronger. It works, and I wince a bit as I hit the wall, but I burst straight through it, like in the Harry Potter movies (A/N Do you know how much it hurt to write movies? I just thought with his dyslexia it would be hard to read the books) when he is catching the Hogwarts Express. I look around and see shocked looks from all directions. Luke and Diana are leaning against the furthest wall, talking it looks like. Sammy is in the middle of the room, but it looks like he was heading into Emily's corner.

Emily! I hardly noticed her, lying in the corner. They're all bruised and bloody, but Emily looks so much worse. She is thin- more so than the rest of them- and has a black eye and- is that a broken arm? I'm about to ask what happened until I remember I'm in dog form, and I just run over to her and growl.

"Dad!" she finally manages, and it's as if a switch has flicked. Luke and Di struggle to their feet and they all crowd around me.

"What are you doing here?" Sammy and Diana say in unison.

"What's the plan?" Luke asks.

All of a sudden I remember what we discussed and bark three times, just loud enough to be heard outside. I hear a pitter patter of feet and Nico appears in opposite corner of the cell. I quickly transform back to human form and pick up Emily.

"Get Emily out of here first, quickly. before the Epilates hear us!" I say, handing Em to Nico. I kiss her forehead before they disappear and she smiles weakly at me.

"Dad! It's good to see you, but, we've got company," I hear Sammy say behind me.

I quickly turn and see four Epilates facing me, exactly the way Bianca described them.

"Sammy! Your aunts and uncles are waiting outside. Find an animal and smash through the wall. I'll hold them back."

I turn to face the Epilates and pull out my gladius, forgetting that it won't work on them. They just smile at me and lunge towards Diana who is still just about speechless. I channel all my rage and turn into a lion to jump in front of Luke and Di. I let out a roar and edge forwards, ready to pounce. But there are four of them and only one of me, and they're not stupid. They split up, one targeting Sammy, one Diana, and one Luke. I hear Diana cry out in shock, and feel the spray of water that can only have come from Luke. Di finally regains her senses and I hear the crackling of lighting from behind me, and then Nico finally makes his way back into the room.

Instead of grabbing the rest of the kids, like we planned, he sees Sammy in bear form, struggling to break through the wall, so I feel the room get slightly colder as he sends some shadows over to help. There is an almighty BANG! as the wall finally collapses and suddenly Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Piper, Leo, Thalia and Reyna are helping fight. The crackle of lightning gets three times as strong, and the spray of water does as well. Out of the corner of my eye I see Nico disappear with Luke, Sammy and Di, and them reappear alone on the other side of the room, sending waves of shadow as he goes. Reyna is using her spear, but instead of bouncing off the Epilates as my gladius did, hers is cutting straight through them, because her weapon has been enchanted by her mother.

Within no time, the monsters are stuck in a corner, with no way to escape. I turn back into Frank, and take the scene. Suspended over the head of one monster is what looks like a bucket of water without the bucket. If the Epilate moves, Percy lets a bit of water drip onto its head, making a sort of sizzling noise. It must hurt it, because it's working. Next to that, one of the other monsters is being regularly zapped by powerful bolts of lightning, keeping it sorted. The third Epilate is asleep, but in case it wakes up, Leo has surrounded it with fire. The last monster is bleeding Ichor, and is at Reyna's spear point. I was having trouble keeping it under control, so Reyna helped. Suddenly, Annabeth speaks up, startling me out of my thoughts.

"Will they go to Tartarus, do you think?" she asks.

"There's only one way to find out," Percy, Jason, Nico and Thalia say, their voices full of loathing.

"Okay then, on three. One. Two. Three," Annabeth instructs us, and all of a sudden the room is filled with the sizzling sound of water on a hot pan, thunderclaps as loud as a drum, the crackling of a campfire (I thank the gods Hazel still has my charred little stick) and the sound of an Epilate crying out in pain.

"I think they're dead, at least for a little while," Percy grins. "C'mon Wise Girl, I'm going to find Luke."

Thanks for reading!