IX
Frank
Frank was dreaming.
He'd been paid visits from a shadowy figure for the past three days, telling him about things that weren't very comforting.
And he was back.
"You have arrived once again." The shadowy figure, wearing a Greek Chiton, knelt in front of him. He was made out of pure darkness, with what looked like ram's horns on his head. "You will need to master your skill. The skill of shape-shifting will be needed in your final battle."
"But-" Frank interrupted.
"Silence." The figure cut him off. For the last couple of visits, he'd always cut Frank off from objecting to what he said. "You and your girlfriend Hazel will have to face enemies-powerful enemies. Only when you master your skill will you be able to defeat them."
"But-"
"You know better than to argue, Frank Zhang." He told him. "You need to practice. WAKE UP!"
Frank got out of bed. It was midnight. The crew had been using a couple of trees in the forest as their makeshift beds, stringing hammocks using some rope. It wasn't the most comfortable, considering the crew had only been able to put up three, and they had been taking turns. Frank had been sleeping on the ground for the last two nights, and truth be told, he wasn't exactly happy. Every night, he'd have ants crawling into his shirt, and he was sure he'd seen a spider or two once. There was a giant rock where he put his legs, and the best they could do for a mattress was a giant sheet of all the crew's clothes stuck together.
The Argo II had been banged up pretty badly during the storm. The crew had fixed most of the deck two days ago, but for the control wiring, Leo had insisted that he had to do it himself. "You'll mess most of it up." He'd said. "Trust me. I'm better off doing it on my own. If you guys messed up the soldering… well, that would suck."
Frank looked at the almost completed ship, the celestial bronze hull gleaming in the moonlight. They'd lost about five days so far, and it was now the 25th of July. Just six more days until Gaia awoke. Just six more days to rescue the world from total oblivion.
Frank knew that there was a giant problem- Mount Olympus was being pulled down, while Gaia was planning to use two of them as a sacrifice to wake her up-on the feast of Fortuna, 1st of August. Frank wasn't so sure why Leo had said it would take longer to walk than to sail, considering that he was sure it wouldn't have taken them six days to complete. They were on a tight schedule right on the get-go, so early in the quest.
One thing was definitely strange. Gaia had been surprisingly quiet for the past week. Barely any monsters had attacked. After closing the Doors of Death, Frank wasn't sure why they weren't on the Monster Radar. After all, they had basically done the equivalent of destroying the Empire State Building in the monster world.
Frank sighed. He had to focus on the trees. Train, the goat-man had said.
Just as he had done every night for the past four nights, Frank transformed into a bear, and lumbered through the forest.
The leaves whipped past his face. He'd been going through the woods at night, murdering any monsters that stood in his way.
He sniffed the air, and suddenly his senses went on red-alert. About a hundred yards away, a giant pack of wolves was on the move. He sniffed harder, and immediately, a picture jumped into his head.
Lycaon. The wolf that had tried to murder Jason, Piper and Leo on their first quest.
Frank made a beeline for their camp.
"GUYS!" Frank yelled, as he transformed back, awakening everyone. "WOLVES!"
Leo sat straight up, his eyes opened wide. "Wha-" he said, and fell back onto his hammock. Unfortunately, he'd unbalanced it, and it tipped over, depositing him on the floor.
"Ow!" he yelled. He got up, brushed himself off, and looked at Frank, annoyed. "Can you just let me get some sleep?" he muttered.
"WOLVES are coming!" Frank yelled. He wasn't sure if Leo had gotten the message yet.
Right when he heard the word wolves, Leo snapped straight into red alert mode. "On it!" he yelled. He pulled a tiny gong out of his tool belt, and started banging it. "WAKE UP!" he yelled. Pretty soon, everyone was awake.
Suddenly, shadows crossed the clearing.
"They're here." Frank said. "I'll fight them off, bide some time. Leo, get everyone up!"
"On it!" he yelled, tossing swords and daggers into everybody's laps.
Frank morphed into a bear, and charged.
Outside, Frank saw the most ridiculously average collection of wolf monsters he had ever seen. They looked like average wolves, with the pack leader on wearing a crown. That was literally it. The first time, Lycaon had apparently been as tall as a horse, but this time he was about a fifth of that size.
Frank Zhang, out of the way. The wolf spoke telepathically, snarling. We come here to collect two of you. One boy and one girl. That stupid son of Poseidon and the daughter of Athena.
Percy and Annabeth, Frank thought.
He snarled in reply, raking his claws through the wolf. Unfortunately, he didn't even flinch.
I am only hurt by silver or fire, neither of which you have in large quantities. Lycaon made a very bad attempt to laugh. It resulted in something that sounded like a cross between a fake fart and a very high-pitched whine.
One hope left, he thought. They had silver weapons (basically a very small dagger), and if the others brought it out, the wolves were toast.
Only things got more complicated. Just as Leo started to exit the tiny alcove of trees, saying, "Cool. I got them all up!", a giant fist made of trees, soil and anything near it rose up out of the ground, grabbing everyone still inside.