Hello, faithful readers! Thank you so much for bearing with me, but unfortunately, it's only gonna get rougher from here. I have school starting soon and I have a ton of after school-stuff including clubs and lessons, as well as all of my basic subjects being Pre-AP. Unfortunately that means a whole lotta homework. I'm also going to update this only every other week, so the weeks in between I will update A Whole New World Of Death. So sorry for the inconvenience, and please forgive me if I miss a week! I will do my best to update as often as I can!

Thanks to thedauntlessamity for continued support! Cookies for you! (::)(::)(::)

CH.8: Frozen

Annabeth

I groaned as Blackjack pulled up after defrosting. the wind whistled in my ears and the pressure shoved in on my ears as we ascended. We finally leveled out and I breathed a sigh of relief as I popped my ears. The god Hephaestus was levitating next to Festus and seemed to be explaining something important. "-your only chance to save Leo." :What's our only chance to save him?" I asked. Percy faced me and replied,"Lord Hephaestus created a device to battle the forces of frozen evil." Jason and Calypso stifled laughs, and Clarisse smirked. "Come on, punk, is this really the best time to be cracking jokes?" the daughter of Ares challenged. Percy rolled his eyes. "Sorry to interrupt your little jokefest, but can we get back to the quest?" I interrupted.

Hephaestus nodded in my direction. "Well said, young lady. Now, the Freeze Blaster will shoot heat- a plume of fire, to be specific- at whatever it is pointed at. The colder gods and goddesses despise heat and will escape at first sight of it." The god of fire drifted over to Festus and stroked his metal snout. "Now, get going. As I said, the relic is located in Kirtland, Ohio. Remember to put on the fireproof cloaks. I also engineered them to be mostly resistant to cold as well. When you arrive in Quebec, do everything in your power to get past Khione. Disable her, if possible. I'm not sure what kind of monsters she has working for her, but you can be sure they're under her complete control. You also need to know where Leo is. Find out as soon as possible."

Everyone nodded in agreement. As I did so, a glitter caught my eye. I glanced up and saw a perfect ball of gleaming ice hovering right next to me. Wondering what it did, I reached up and stretched out my fingers. Suddenly, I heard a shriek. "NO, DON'T TOUCH THAT!" screeched Hephaestus. But it was too late. My fingers brushed the frozen surface. In an instant, my body froze in place and my vision turned blue.

Jason

"NO!" wailed Percy. Festus squeaked in alarm as Percy lunged for Annabeth, but she touched the frozen sphere. Annabeth's skin crackled and froze as she instantly became an ice statue. The sphere let loose a flurry of ice shards and two struck Percy and Blackjack in the head and chest. Piper let loose a shriek and Percy jumped. He slid backwards, hands clutching his chest and head, bumping against Piper, who slid into me. Eyes scrunched closed in pain, the son of Poseidon groaned. His eyes snapped open, but they were no longer sea green. They were icy blue. He jumped onto Blackjack, whose normally jet black eyes glittered snow white, clutching Annabeth the statue and whispered into the pegasus's ear. Blackjack jetted off as the rest of us watched in horror.

"Well, don't just hover here, catch him!" cried Hephaestus. Those words snapped us out of our trance and the dragons and one remaining pegasus zoomed off after them.

I caught sight of Blackjack streaking up to the low gray clouds that hung a little bit above us.. "There!" I cried. "In the clouds!" We shot up and began to close the gap. Suddenly, Percy and Blackjack plummeted down in a dive. Blackjack's tail whistled out behind him, and I recoiled in shock as I caught a glance of a streak of white in the plume of midnight black. I squinted at his neck and went numb as a flash of snowy white appeared on his oil colored mane. Percy's head bobbed alongside his pegasus's neck, and my heart went to my shoes as I saw his wild black hair sliced down the middle with a stripe of ice white. I screamed,"Look at their hair! Some of it's white!" My friends' reactions were no less than despairing as they saw that I was right.

As Festus tucked into a dive to follow the two escapees, plus one ice statue, we broke through the clouds and found ourselves over a city. As we neared the ground, a passing sign told me we were in Rochester, New York. We still needed to go further southwest, but Percy and Blackjack turned north as that thought ran through my head. Hazel had noticed too, and yelled,"We need to get the Freeze Blaster! If Percy is still part of the quest, he'll come back to us!" We all hollered back in agreement, and turned our rides to the southwest.

So, Percy and Blackjack have deserted the quest! Where do you think they're going? What are they going to do? How will the rest of the demigods cope without Annabeth and Percy? How will Annabeth return to normal? All will be revealed! Tell me what you think when you review!
Did you catch the Frozen references? I tried to make it obvious!