Chapter Two
Luke Castellan paced the cabin in the Argo II, where they put him until they figured out what to do with him. He ran his fingers through his hair repeatedly, once a minute at least. His wingspan was large enough to touch the walls and some, so his wings were retracted. The others were all sitting in the dining area, talking in hushed voices. Annabeth was surprisingly quiet at the head of the table as Percy and Jason debated about whether to keep him here.
"We have a quest!" Jason hissed. "The world is at stake, Percy! Not just your friends at the camps! The world!"
"He saved it once!" Percy growled back. "His family died! The least we can do is heal his curse or something!"
"I'm with Jason on this one, Percy," Nico said with a tint of pink in his olive-colored cheeks. "We have more important things to worry about than a fallen angel at the moment."
"C'mon, Jason," Piper McLean pleaded. "We have to help Luke! He was so sad and scared..."
"Pipes, we have to defeat Gaea," Jason said defiantly. "We don't have the time to help him. We wasted enough of it picking them up from Tartarus."
"Excuse me-" Percy started in.
"Jason, that was uncalled for," Hazel said in shock.
"Well, we did," Leo shrugged. "It was long enough to put us way behind schedule and almost breaking my ship."
"Oh, we spent longer thinking you were dead while you were out flirting with a goddess!" Hazel snapped back. "I'm with Percy!"
"Hazel, as Praetor-" Jason started in.
"We're helping him," Annabeth said quietly. She rose from her seat, her jaw set and chin raised. The table became quiet. "We defeat the Archangels, then we continue with the quest. They could be helping Gaea."
"Anna, we can't take that risk," Jason said, his voice raising.
"Don't call me Anna," she said. Her voice was calm and menacing. "It's my quest. You are no longer Praetor, Jason, so it isn't your decision. You helped decide that I was the leader of this quest, so I'm leading it the way that I feel is best. The last I checked, you got Nico and yourself in a tight predicament the last time you made a decision." She looked at Frank, who sat now at the other end of the table. He was leaned against the arm of the chair, biting his thumbnail and looking off into space as if thinking hard. His lips barely moved like he was having a conversation with himself in his head.
"Frank," Annabeth said.
He looked up at her, taking the nail out of his mouth and sitting straighter. "Hm?"
"I'm leaving you to be the final vote. It's Percy, Hazel, Piper, and I voting for helping him and Jason, Nico, and Leo against it. I leave it up to you. I want to hear your reasoning as Praetor." She shot Jason a death glare. Annabeth pulled out her dagger and stabbed it chillingly close to Jason's hand into the wooden table. "So. What's your answer?"
Frank tightened his lips, rubbed his fingertips together, and furrowed his eyebrows. There was a moment of silence as Frank leaned back again, not responding.
"Any day would be nice," Leo said sarcastically. "I need to know where to steer this thing."
"Let me think," Frank said, holding up a hand. He scooted his chair back and walked to the kitchen. The loud clanks of ice was the only noise heard as Frank poured him some ice water. He took a sip, nodded, and then walked back into the dining area.
"We help him."
"Come ON, Frank!" Jason yelled, standing up so fast he flung his chair back. "Think about the big picture! He's already dead-"
"GROVER IS DEAD!" Percy's voice bellowed as he stood up, shoving Jason so hard the son of Jupiter fell back into the wall and made a Jason shaped hole.
Tension was all anyone felt. All the boys were to their feet. Nico stood in front of Jason, his black sword shaking in Percy's direction. Frank had a hand on Percy's shoulder, gripping it enough to tell him to calm down. Leo was pulling Jason out of the sheet rock.
"Grover is dead..." Percy's voice broke. A tear rolled down his face, his lip trembling. "Grover is dead. He's dead, Jason."
Annabeth wrapped her arms around him and he finally broke down, sobbing like a child into her shoulder. Frank gave his shoulder a slight squeeze and then let Annabeth do the comforting. The door swung open and Reyna and Coach Hedge walked into the room, eyes wide. Coach Hedge was brandishing his baseball bat, using it as a cane.
"What in Bacchus's Goblet is going on here!?" he asked, frowning at Percy. "Why is he crying? And why are you covered in sheet rock, Grace?! Ghost Boy, put the sword down! You're scaring yourself!"
"Jason? Are you alright?" Reyna asked. "Was there a fight?"
Everyone was speechless.
"Someone answer me, or all of you Cupcakes are scrubbing the poop deck!" the Satyr snapped, pointing his cane at them.
Annabeth nodded to Hazel. The young girl stood. "We made our decision. We're helping Luke Castellan with his curse."
Frank walked over and took Hazel's hand as he spoke to everyone. "Guys. Please calm down. We'll get this fixed, but I have something I want to run through Hazel first before I suggest it." He looked at Annabeth for permission. She nodded dismissively, holding Percy tightly. They sat on the couch, where he cried in her lap and hit a pillow.
"The rest of you Cupcakes, stay in here with me." Coach Hedge pulled up his red pants as he announced it. "McLean, come here and explain to me what in Hephaestus's blazes are going on here!"
The son of Mars walked to the deck, where he leaned over and looked at the beautiful view of the ocean. Hazel stood next to him, listening quietly for him to speak first. He finally did:
"I had this idea while I was thinking about my answer, that instead of having one leader of the quest, we have three. I was thinking that it would help with the conflict problem and we wouldn't have any more unnecessary holes in the walls. The people I was thinking about picking was Annabeth, Jason, and... well, you."
Hazel was stunned. "No, Frank, listen." She took one of his hands. "Let it be you. You know I don't do well with yelling. You can turn into a bear and break them up. I can't. But I think you're right. It'll be complete chaos if we keep this up. Jason and Annabeth are good leaders. One from each camp, and then a mutual would be better than two Romans and a Greek, but you're a pretty neutral guy." She grinned and pecked his cheek. "It's the best idea we've had this whole quest."
Frank Zhang smiled widely. "Thanks, Hazel. Will you do the honors of helping me tell it?"
"I would be honored."
Grinning, they both walked back into the room, which was stuck in an awkward silence, and told them Frank's plan. Annabeth's jaw dropped.
"That's... That's brilliant, Frank! I can't believe I didn't think of that earlier..."
Percy was all red face and pouted up, but he nodded.
"Hazel and I decided that the three leaders should be Jason, Annabeth, and myself."
Jason sat there, trying to find a loop hole in his plan, but he failed to do so. Coach Hedge, Nico and Reyna weren't part of the seven; Piper didn't like leadership, or arguing with Jason, or going against Annabeth; Leo was too ADHD to do it, and he had repairs to worry about; Percy was too hot-headed and would probably flirt with Annabeth the whole time; and Hazel was better calm so she didn't have cursed jewels everywhere. Matter of fact, that small diamond earring was suspicious...
"Sounds good to me," Jason grumbled. Piper pecked his cheek, which made his grin go loopy. Nico looked away sullen.
Leo dusted himself off. "So where am I steering this bad boy?"
Annabeth poked Percy's ribs. "Us two are going to talk to Luke."
"But it's a three way leadership," Jason said.
"Yes, but me and Percy know Luke."
They began to walk out. Annabeth walked faster than Percy, who turned and flipped Jason the bird as he left. Jason flipped him off as well, but with a grin. He couldn't stay mad at Percy. It was like hating a penguin: you can't.
Grover Underwood sat on the couch, rubbing his hands together nervously. Erin put Kaylee's backpack up while the two-year-old walked over to Grover. She sat down and looked strangely at his hoof and fur-lined ankles. She touched it with the tip of her pointer finger and then frowned as she touched her toes that were open from her sandals.
Kaylee turned to Erin. "Goat!" she called. "Goat!"
Erin chuckled and scooped up the infant. "Yes, sweetie. He's part goat." She sat down in the chair, watching Grover expectantly and holding Kaylee in her lap. The two year old held onto a loose strand of her brown hair. "So, tell me, what are you here to protect me from?"
Grover pulled his tin can out and nibbled on the lid. "Well, you see, there's these things called Archangels. You should know. Luke told me you were religious. There's seven: Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Selaphiel, Raguel/Jegudiel, and Barachiel. They represent the seven days of the week in one religion, but no one knows exactly what they mean. Unfortunately, Michael, the loyal one, decided he was tired of being loyal and wanted to leave the archangels and help mortals. To do that, he needed a replacement."
"So he... He killed Luke..." Erin said, chewing her lip.
"Sorta," Grover said through the mouth full of tin. Kaylee watched with horror. "All he really did was stab him with the angelic blades, manufactured by Hephaestus himself, which since he was dead, did not kill him, but merely changed him."
"So with those blades... Michael could turn anyone he wanted into an archangel?" Erin questioned. Kaylee had popped a pacifier into her mouth and watched Grover strangely as if she wasn't sure of what to make of him.
"No." He shook his head. "There can only be seven Archangels. Even they and their holiness must follow the rules. So now, Michael is roaming the Earth looking for you. And he would've found you already if he knew how to use electronics, or if he was still an angel. He still doesn't understand that you're on Facebook."
"So we're safe here," Erin nervously spoke. "He can't find us."
"He's on his way here now. Gabriel, the Messenger Angel, is helping Michael. He's using him as an experiment, so to speak. Gabriel wants to leave as well. He's helping Michael and seeing how he does in the mortal world so he can be twice as good once he's down here."
Erin bounced Kaylee lightly. "So why does he want me?"
"To force Luke to come to their side." Grover began to pace, as if this topic made him nervous and jittery. "He's resisting the poison, and is refusing to transform. If Michael successfully takes you two to meet Gabriel, they believe that Luke will love you so much that he will agree. Then they'll kill you and wipe his memory."
Erin blinked away tears. "So where is he now?"
"In a holding cell in Heaven. But don't worry, I alerted Zeus and he's doing all he can in his power to keep them off your trail for as long as possible. He doesn't like the archangels ever since Uriel flirted with Hera at one of their meetings." Grover finished off the tin can. "Go get some things packed. We need to leave in ten minutes-"
Kaylee's eyes turned gold. The TV froze, along with all the clocks. The air suddenly became thin.
"What just happened?!" Grover bleated nervously.
"She can't help it," Erin sighed. "She's part Titan. Kronos cursed her when he found out she was... Conceived. Now when she gets the hiccups her eyes turn gold and time freezes."
Kaylee bounced as she hiccupped. Grover walked over and looked out the window. A female jogger was frozen midstride. A car was stopped, the laughing driver stuck in that awkward position. The water coming off the sprinkler in the lawn across the street hovered.
"We need to go," Grover said, gathering up the Barbie back pack. "Now."
"What?! Why?" Erin said loudly. "You said we could-"
"No time!" He threw some snacks and coke cans into a plastic baggie as Erin scooped up the diaper bag, purse, keys, and everything she needed. "They're going to know she's a Titan and -"
The sound of wings beat on the side of the house. Erin's breath quickened as she held the terrified two year old tight.
"Do you have a car?" Grover whispered.
She nodded.
"Good." He swallowed hard. "We're going to need it."