Chapter V : Jason

Something is wrong.

It is unusually quiet. It was almost never quiet on the Argo II. There was always some sort of chaos aboard the ship. Hazel is inhaling and exhaling, trying to relax. Frank is at her shoulder, comforting her.

Leo is slapping his ear and muttering something about girls and their high-pitched voices, due to Hazel's continuous screams during the 'Piper scene'. Besides all of that, it is still quiet.

"I'm going to eat some cake," Leo mumbles, walking into the hall room. Frank turns back to Hazel, rolling his eyes. Typical Leo.

"You okay, Jason?" Hazel breaks the silence between the three of them. Jason nods. "Just a little shaken up, I suppose."

Frank pats him on the back. "We're all shaken up, mate."

Jason gives him an awkward look. He blushes. "What? Never heard a Chinese guy in an Australian accent?"

Hazel laughs. "Never in my entire life."

Jason smiles slightly. "I'm hungry, aren't you?"

Frank nods. "Finally, someone gets me," he says. "I'm starving."

"So," Leo says, munching on his piece of cake. "What's the plan?"

"Plan for what, exactly?" Frank says, eating his pizza scrumptiously.

Leo puts his hands up in the air. "Oh, I don't know, maybe for what we're going to do after we leave Crete?"

"Oh," Jason says, drinking his pumpkin juice. "We'll discuss the whole thing when the entire crew is here, but right now, we have to focus getting through the Mediterranean."

"So after Percy and the others come back, we'll continue our way through the Mediterranean and into the Aegean Sea," Hazel sets her spatha on the table.

Jason nods. "That's basically it."

Hazel looks at her watch. "They should be here by now. I doubt it they've run into a monster." She looks around nervously.

Leo chokes on his glass of juice. "Doubt it? When has a monster ever been doubted?"

"Leo does have a point," Jason says. "They could be in trouble."

"We can't just jump off the ship," Frank stares at his apple pie. "We don't have Percy."

A pang of jealousy washes over Jason. Percy. He is probably the most important member of the crew. Without him, they would never survive in the sea. It is almost always when Percy saved the day. He saved Piper, not Jason. He was the one who survived in Tartarus, not Jason. He always volunteered for the most dangerous jobs.

Hazel sighs. "I just hope they're okay."

"Ah c'mon Hazel, relax. They'll be fine," Leo says putting his arms on the back of his head and starts eating his fifth piece of cake.

Hazel looks at him with narrowed eyes.

Frank frowns. But before he can say anything, the ship rumbles. And there follows a loud crash. Jason gets up and runs downstairs. The dining hall is a mess. The table is upside down, all the plates were broken. Sitting in the middle of a once used to be dining hall is a couple of mischevious looking creatures with pointed ears.

Leo, Hazel and Frank rush into the hall. Leo's glare is murderous. "Jason, that was my food they destroyed. I am going to kill them!"

"Shut up Leo," Hazel yells. "Those are kobaloi."

Surprisingly Leo shuts up. Jason asks Hazel, "What are their strengths?"

"Cleverness, wit."

"Oh that is just perfect," Frank empathizes.

Hazel sighs. "Unfortunately, they are very unnoticable and naughty, so be careful."

Leo snorts. "Sounds like the Baloney Dwarves."

Frank frowns. "Bologna."

"That's not the point! They're attacking our ship!" Hazel exclaims.

"Okay, okay. Let's go kick some kobaloney butt."

Hazel races after the first one. It disappears and stands at the other end of the room. Hazel stares with her mouth open. "Was that disappearing skills or superhuman speed?"

She doesn't receive an answer. Jason is too busy chasing another one and Frank and Leo are tackling another. Or trying to anyways.

Jason is getting seriously tired of them. They are small but immensely fast. Jason is exhausted. The dwarf is on the other side of the room. Jason flings his sword like a boomerang. It flies and misses . It doesn't even return to Jason since it isn't programmed to work the that way. But Jason is concentrating the table next to him. As he expected, the dwarf appears right there. Jason cups him in his hands. "Ha! Got you!"

He calls out to Hazel who is darting from side to side, her hair flying in her face. "They only move from side to side." She nods and throws her spatha while watching the place next to her. As predicted, the dwarf shows up right there and Hazel lunges at it. The third one who is trying to avoid Frank and Leo is watching them intently, that he didn't notice Leo catch him from behind.

All of them climb up on deck with their newly captured prisoners. "If you tell us any information about Gaia, we'll let you go. Or..." Frank slices the air in front of his throat.

"Never!" The first one's voice is screechy and high."Gaia is coming. She will wreck you all. It would be better if you gave your selves up. We'd rather die than betray Her"

The other two are quiet until the third starts whimpering. "That's so cute! Can't we let them go? Leo says with eyes fixed on them.

"Don't be silly Leo," Hazel replies. "Kolaboi are dangerous. They pretend to act all cute and sad just to trick you. Just let one go and they'll run as far as they can. Besides didn't they ruin you food?"

That slaps Leo out of his gaze. "Can we toss them off the ship?"