XLI

Frank

(A/N: Chapter 41. Enjoy! Oh, jeez, I'm going to have to man-mode this. I'm SO behind. I know you guys will be on the sidelines, cheering me on, and I hope that I will not disappoint. Let's hope that I can get through this! In fact, I should probably get back to writing. So please, Read and Review! (Even if all you have to say are negative things. Because it helps me get better! Anyways, enjoy.)

Frank watched as Mount Diablo receded in the distance. Arion weaved between the cars, heading straight for Camp Jupiter. The wind whipped through Frank's hair, which had gotten longer over the last month. Arion's hooves left a smoky trail behind him, sending plumes of smoke into the sky.

"What do you think we'll do when we get there?" Hazel asked. "If Polybotes is going to suck the history out of Camp Jupiter, what about all the legionnaires and the people in New Rome?"

"I don't know," Frank replied, "But if they're not evacuated and Polybotes reaches the Camp, there's no telling what could happen. We need to get there, get everyone out, and defeat the giant. Who will be most likely weakening our ties to Rome."

They ran straight through the Caldecott Tunnel and appeared at the Camp. The lake glimmered in the afternoon sun, and the Little Tiber ran smoothly through the valley. Arion zoomed straight over it, and stopped them on the edge of the Pomerian Line. Terminus was nowhere to be seen-he must have been carried away.

Frank slipped off Arion. He'd never thought he'd be so happy to step on land. Arion might have been relatively safe, but Frank didn't like it. He'd nearly gotten sick from the speed. He'd had to put his head forward to avoid getting whiplash. Supersonic horse is not the best way to travel.

They walked towards the city. Strangely, it was completely silent. By now, the city would have been bustling with life, with vendors yelling to grab attention and children playing at the fountains.

Frank and Hazel walked through the desolate city, trying to find even the slightest hint that there was someone there. But they couldn't. The bread was moldy, the fountains had been turned off, and one of the statues was missing from the main square.

Wait…

Frank turned around to the pedestal where the statue had once been standing on. He still remembered it- it had been a majestic lion, roaring in defiance at the world.

"Where's the statue of the lion?" he asked Hazel. "Shouldn't it be right there?" he pointed.

Hazel gasped. "Wait. Remember how Alabaster said Polybotes was marching towards the camp, in order to suck the Roman-ness out of it?"

"Yeah." He responded.

"Well, what if… he's already here?" she said. There was a moment of silence. Then Frank spoke up.

"I think I know where he might be."

He ran straight towards temple hill. If Polybotes was going to easily destroy Rome's history, it would be the easiest place to do so. It had all the temples for all the Roman gods. It was the place where all the Romans would worship their gods. He basically had all the history of the Roman Empire at his fingertips!

He cleared the summit, and immediately, he was shocked by the color of the landscape. The entire picture of Temple Hill was slowly disappearing, and the grass was slowly being leached of its color. Everything on the hill was slowly turning gray. Frank looked beside him. A flower had gotten completely leeched of its color, and it was now wilting. In a few seconds, it turned to dust.

Frank looked at Hazel, who stared back at him. Then, he looked at his hands. The color of his flesh was slowly draining as well. They were connected to the root of Rome, Frank realized- and he needed to stop Polybotes before he destroyed the modern world forever.

"Hazel," he said grimly, "We need to go. Now."

Her expression showed him just how shocked she was. "But-but there isn't a single god near here!"

"We have no choice!" Frank yelled as quietly as possible. "We need to at least stop Polybotes from sucking out the history of Rome!"

He peered out over the edge of the ridge. Right there, in the middle of the square, was Polybotes. He had giant bronze pipes protruding out of his back, which stabbed straight into the ground, causing tiny fracture lines to appear around him. He was sitting on a giant golden throne, which Frank later realized was from the temple of Jupiter.

The pipes were probably about a foot in diameter, which might have seemed big, but they looked tiny compared to him. The ends were essentially wired into his skin. Tiny bronze lines appeared around the ends. A vacuum cleaner-like bag was strapped to his back. If Frank didn't know better, and if Polybotes had been smaller, he would have thought that Polybotes was the new psycho cleaner in town.

Frank turned into an eagle and soared up high. Through his intensely magnified vision, he could see every wrinkle on the giant's skin. The bronze pipes didn't look exactly like Celestial Bronze, he realized. He could recognize it anywhere, but this metal looked like it had lost some of its luster. Either way, he was going to have to Cut The Tube™.

A random thought: making all of his wild adventures into mobile games would be extremely profitable in the near future.

He dived down towards Polybotes, who was wincing in pain, and yet at the same time, roaring in triumphant laughter. But as Frank neared the giant's arm, he spotted him. His eyes twitched, and immediately, a giant weight came crashing down on him, sending him plummeting to the ground. The crushing blow transformed him back into a human.

Polybotes stood up from the throne, treating his hands carefully. Frank winced. It must have been horrible, having to wire bronze into yourself. "Hello, Frank Zhang. I see you have come. Now, unfortunately, we do not take lightly to uninvited guests." a scream from Hazel, and a cyclops brought her up the hill, all tied up. But strangely, not gagged. Thinking about Hazel's newfound power, Frank had an idea. But it wouldn't be the right time.

The harpy above him, which was what had smacked him down, cawed in triumph. The cyclops came over to Frank and tied him up with some pretty solid rope, and disarmed him. Frank felt that it was kind of unnecessary, since all his arrows had been used up during the fight with Enceladus, but fair enough. The bow did give him a good morale boost, so perhaps that was why Polybotes had decided to disarm him.

Or maybe he was just thinking too much.

Anyways, he was close enough to Hazel to hear her whisper, "Incantare: Solveris Ligat." Frank could kind of translate it into Latin- Incantation: Loose Binds. Immediately, he could feel his bonds loosen.

Polybotes raised his hands slowly, like a snail proclaiming his unquestionable power. "I seem to have caught two demigods." he said, with a Joker-like grin on his face. "Mother will be pleased! One boy, one girl. Tyron, summon the hellhound."

The cyclops who had done the binds bowed, and walked off. Seconds later, he came back with a hellhound. He whispered in its ear, and it snarled, looking at them. It bounded towards them and lowered its head, opening its jaws.

Hazel mouthed, now!

Frank sprang loose of his binds, snapping the ropes in the process. He turned into an eagle once more, and soared into the clouds. Falling back down to earth, he turned into an elephant on impact, trying to deliver as much force as possible on the pipe.

Big mistake.

It was a powerful blow- not even he could stay conscious. Strangely, his elephant body didn't seem to be bleeding. Which was a good thing, but rather strange. But with the last few rays of his vision, he could see that it hadn't worked. The pipes were too strong. Then, he blacked out.