"Morning," Percy greeted as Frank rose up the ladder and onto the roof.
"Beautiful day, huh?", He held his sword in one hand and a garden hose in the other.
"Hope youre up for some giant fighting," Valen said, twirling his sword absentmindedly.
Hazel patrolled the widow's walk between the two attic gables.
When she glanced at Frank, her eyes flashed with concern. "Are you okay?" she asked. "Why are you smiling?"
"Oh, uh, nothing," he managed. "Thanks for breakfast. And the clothes."
"It was the least I could do," She said, somewhat flustered.
The house suddenly shook again as a cannonball exploded mere meters from the mansion.
"So, whats our plan?" Valen asked, having stopped playing with his sword, "I mean I could just shadow travel us far enough that the giants won't follow, but I don't want to use too much of my energy before we fight Alcyoneus."
Frank took a deep breath in, "I've got a plan,"
He explained about the pilot waiting for them at the airfield, and the note his grandmother had given him. "He's a legion veteran. He'll help us."
"But Arion's not back," Hazel said. "And what about your grandmother? We can't just leave her."
Frank choked back a sob. "Maybe—maybe Arion will find us. As for my grandmother…she was pretty clear. She said she'd be okay."
Valen patted his back, "Don't worry, shes still got a while left to live. She won't die today."
Frank looked at him like a kicked puppy, "You say so?"
He nodded, "The aura of death around her isn't that strong yet, she has some time left."
"Thank you," He said, grateful for the knowledge that his grandmother would live to see another day.
"There's another problem," Percy said. "I'm not good with air travel. It's dangerous for a son of Neptune."
"You'll have to risk it.…and so will I," Frank said. "By the way, we're related."
Percy almost stumbled off the roof. "What?"
"Periclymenus. Ancestor on my mom's side. Argonaut. Grandson of Poseidon.", Frank said, giving them the brief version of his family history.
Hazel's mouth fell open. "You're a—a descendant of Neptune? Frank, that's—"
"Crazy? Yeah. And there's this ability my family has, supposedly. But I don't know how to use it. If I can't figure it out—"
Another massive cheer went up from the Laistrygonians. They were staring up at Frank, pointing and waving and laughing. They had spotted their breakfast.
"Zhang!" they yelled. "Zhang!"
Hazel stepped closer to him. "They keep doing that. Why are they yelling your name?"
"Probably cause they want to eat him," Valen offered dryly.
"Never mind," Frank said. "Listen, we've got to protect Ella, take her with us."
"Of course," Hazel said. "The poor thing needs our help."
"No," Frank said. "I mean yes, but it's not just that. She recited a prophecy downstairs. I think…I think it was about this quest."
"To the north, beyond the gods, lies the legion's crown. Falling from ice, the son of Neptune shall drown." He recited, "She stopped there, as if she didn't remember the rest."
Percy's jaw tightened. "I don't know how a son of Neptune can drown. I can breathe underwater. But the crown of the legion—"
"That's got to be the eagle," Hazel said.
"Could she be an oracle?" Valen said, "First the old great prophecy, now this."
Percy shook his head, "That prophecy has passed, remember? An oracle wouldn't recite a prophecy that has already been fulfilled."
"You have a point," He said, "Maybe she heard an oracle say those lines and remembered them?"
"That…could be possible."
"The thing is," Frank said, "Ella remembers everything she reads. She said something about the page being burned, like she'd read adamaged text of prophecies."
Hazel's eyes widened. "Burned books of prophecy? You don't think—but that's impossible!"
"The books Octavian wanted, back at camp?" Percy guessed.
Hazel whistled under her breath. "The lost Sibylline books that outlined the entire destiny of Rome. If Ella actually read a copy somehow, and memorized it—"
"Then she's the most valuable harpy in the world," Frank said. "No wonder Phineas wanted to capture her."
"Well, there goes all our speculation," Valen muttered, "Regardless, we need to make sure Octavian never catches hold of her."
Frank nodded, "He'd do anything to get her."
"Frank Zhang!" an ogre shouted from below. He was bigger than the rest, wearing a lion's cape like a Roman standard bearer and a plastic bib with a lobster on it. "Come down, son of Mars! We've been waiting for you. Come, be our honored guest!"
Hazel gripped Frank's arm. "Why do I get the feeling that 'honored guest' means the same thing as 'dinner'?"
"Probably because it does," Valen said dryly.
He glanced between Valen and Percy, "Can either of you drive."
"Not really, I could wing it though?" Valen replied.
"I can. Why?"
"Grandmother's car is in the garage. It's an old Cadillac. The thing is like a tank. If you can get it started—"
"We'll still have to break through a line of ogres," Hazel said.
"The sprinkler system," Percy said. "Use it as a distraction?"
"Exactly," Frank said. "I'll buy you as much time as I can. Get Ella, and get in the car. I'll try to meet you in the garage, but don't wait for me."
Percy frowned. "Frank—"
"I'll stay with him, I can shadow travel us to the car if needed." Valen said, shooting down Franks look of protest with a glare.
"Give us your answer, Frank Zhang!" the ogre yelled up. "Come down, and we will spare the others—your friends, your poor old granny. We only want you!"
"They're lying," Percy muttered.
"No shit sherlock," Valen said, "Now go, let us handle these."
Reluctantly, they ran for the ladder, leaving the two of them alone.
Frank tried to control the beating of his heart. He grinned and yelled, "Hey, down there! Who's hungry?" The ogres cheered as Frank paced along the widow's walk and waved like a rock star.
He closed his eyes, trying to focus on the power both Mars and his grandmother had mentioned that he had. He imagined himself as a fire-breathing dragon. He strained and clenched his fist and thought about dragons so hard, beads of sweat popped up on his forehead.
"Uh, Frank?" Valen said, waving in front of his face, "You good?"
Frank sighed, nodding, "I'm alright." He sounded disappointed.
The ogres started to become restless. The cheering turned to catcalls. A few Laistrygonians hefted their cannonballs.
"Hold on!" Frank yelled. "You don't want to char me, do you? I won't taste very good that way."
"Come down!" they yelled. "Hungry!"
"Do you promise to spare my friends?" Frank asked. "Do you swear on the River Styx?" The ogres laughed. One threw a cannonball that arced over their heads and blew up the chimney.
By some miracle, Frank wasn't hit with shrapnel. "I'll take that as a no," he muttered. Then he shouted down: "Okay, fine! You win! I'll be right down. Wait there!"
The ogres cheered, but their leader in the lion's-skin cape scowled suspiciously. Frank hurried down into the attic, while Valen stayed up.
He raised his arms, and the shrapnel rose from around him, crudely shaped into spikes. He flicked his hand, and the shrapnel spikes shot down, skewering six of the laistrygonians. But just as they had begun turning to dust, their wounds closed, and they grinned up at him. He could now kill them, and they knew it.
As if on cue, eight projectiles shot out of the attic, blasting the lead orge in the chest, propelling him backward with such force that he crashed into a stack of bronze cannonballs, which promptly exploded, leaving a smoking crater in the yard.
"How the hell did he do that?" Valen muttered in exasperation as he raced into the attic, where Frank had returned to peppering the giants with arrows.
Valen grabbed a normal-looking quiver off the wall and pulled out the arrows, discarding the quiver. He ignited a couple of them with hellfire and handed them to Frank, "Those should keep them down for a while.
Frank flinched, leaning away from him. His eyes trembled as he stared into the reddish black flames.
"Are you alright?" Valen asked.
He shook his head, "Yeah, just…just don't bring that near me please."
He raised an eyebrow, before struggling and hurling the arrows down at the arrows by hand. Each arrow spread the hellfire in an area as it hit, any ogre who was unfortunate enough to be caught in it was engulfed by the hellish flames.
Unfortunately, the ogres recovered quickly. They began throwing cannonballs—dozens at a time. The whole house groaned under the impact. Valen grabbed Franks arm and shadow travelled them to the ground floor, even as Frank called for his grandmother.
The base of the staircase was a smoking crater. They stumbled through the kitchen, and burst into the garage. The Cadillac's headlights were on. The engine was running and the garage door was opening.
"Get in!" Percy yelled.
Frank dove in the back next to Hazel.
Ella was curled up in the front, her head tucked under her wings, muttering, "Yikes. Yikes. Yikes."
Valen climbed atop the roof of the car. "Drive, get out of here." He yelled, grabbing onto the roof with one hand.
Percy gunned the engine. They shot out of the garage, the door barely missing Valens head. He raised his free hand and sent blast after blast of hellfire or lightning to the approaching ogres. At the same time, the irrigation system exploded. A hundred geysers shot into the air along with clods of dirt, pieces of pipe, and very heavy sprinkler heads.
By the time the other monsters overcame their confusion, the Cadillac was half a mile down the road. Flaming cannonballs burst behind them.
As they drove through the woods, Valen hung from the side of the car and peered into the driver seat.
"How far is it?" He asked.
"About three miles!" Frank said. "You can't miss it!"
Behind them, more explosions ripped through the forest. Smoke boiled into the sky.
"How fast can Laistrygonians run?" Hazel asked.
"Let's not find out," Percy said.
The gates of the airfield appeared before them—only a few hundred yards away. A private jet idled on the runway. Its stairs were down.
The Cadillac hit a pothole and went airborne. When the wheels touched the ground, Valen almost lost his grip on the car, but managed to stay on it as it swerved to a stop just inside the gates.
Frank climbed out and drew his bow. "Get to the plane! They're coming!"
The Laistrygonians were closing in with alarming speed. The first line of ogres burst out of the woods and barreled toward the airfield—five hundred yards away, four hundred yards...
Percy and Hazel managed to get Ella out of the Cadillac, but as soon as the harpy saw the airplane, she began to shriek.
"N-n-no!" she yelped. "Fly with wings! N-n-no airplanes."
"It's okay," Hazel promised. "We'll protect you!"
Ella made a horrible, painful wail like she was being burned.
Percy held up his hands in exasperation. "What do we do? We can't force her."
"We can't leave her here either," Valen said.
"No," Frank agreed. The ogres were three hundred yards out.
"She's too valuable to leave behind," Hazel said. Then she winced at her own words. "Gods, I'm sorry, Ella. I sound as bad as Phineas. You're a living thing, not a treasure."
"No planes. N-n-no planes." Ella was hyperventilating.
The ogres were almost in throwing distance.
Valen grit his teeth, and waved his arm violently. A wall of hellfire rose between them, stopping the giants from coming across. The look of fear returned on Frank's face, and he stumbled back a few steps.
"I've bought us some time, but they'll break through sooner or later." He said, keeping his arm raised.
Percy's eyes lit up. "I've got an idea. Ella, can you hide in the woods? Will you be safe from the ogres?"
"Hide," she agreed. "Safe. Hiding is good for harpies. Ella is quick. And small. And fast."
"Okay," Percy said. "Just stay around this area. I can send a friend to meet you and take you to Camp Jupiter."
Frank unslung his bow and nocked an arrow. "A friend?"
Percy waved his hand in a tell you later gesture. "Ella, would you like that? Would you like my friend to take you to Camp Jupiter and show you our home?"
"Camp," Ella muttered. Then in Latin: "'Wisdom's daughter walks alone, the Mark of Athena burns through Rome.'"
"Uh, right," Percy said. "That sounds important, but we can talk about that later. You'll be safe at camp. All the books and food you want."
"No planes," she insisted.
"No planes," Percy agreed.
"Ella will hide now." Just like that, she was gone—a red streak disappearing into the woods.
"I'll miss her," Hazel said sadly.
"We'll see her again," Percy promised, but he frowned uneasily, bothered by the lines of prophecy Ella had just said.
"Maybe chat later?" Valen snarked, "Unless you'd rather be ogre food."
An explosion sent the airfield's gate spinning into the air.
Frank tossed his grandmother's letter to Percy. "Show that to the pilot! Show him your letter from Reyna too! We've got to take off now."
Percy nodded. He and Hazel ran for the plane.
"Go with them Frank," Valen said, "I'll hold them back."
"But-"
"I can shadow travel away if I need to," He said, "Now go."
Frank nodded, running back into the plane.
Valen sighed, glaring ahead, "Alright, let's hope this works."
Erebus? He called out, Can you hear me?
It took a while to receive his reply, but it came garbled as if something was interfering.
No…cannot...prime…memories…
He cursed under his breath, cutting off the flow of mana into the wall of fire. The ogres began crossing as soon as the fire began dying down. He raised the Cadillac and hurled it at them, along with a couple of vials of greek fire from his ring just to be safe.
The car went up in a maelstorm of green fire and shrapnel.
"Valen!" Percy yelled, "Get in, we're about to take off."
He nodded and rushed back just as the stairs began closing.
The pilot must've understood the situation just fine. There was no safety announcement, no pre-flight drink, and no waiting for clearance. He pushed the throttle, and the plane shot down the runway. Another blast ripped through the runway behind them, but then they were in the air.
Valen sighed, slumping down on one of the seats, tired. He glanced down at the airstrip, which looked like a dozen meteors had crashed into it. In the distance, Franks house was nothing more than a pyre of flames. He stared at it grimly, it reminded him too much of his own house. He could hear Frank crying on the other side.
The plane banked to the left.
Over the intercom, the pilot's voice said, "Senatus Populusque Romanus, my friends. Welcome aboard. Next stop: Anchorage, Alaska."
"She's not dead," Valen said after a while.
Frank suddenly looked up from his arms, "Are you sure?"
He nodded, "When someone dies, I can generally feel it. I didn't sense her dying back there."
Frank looked visibly relieved, but his mood remained somber. He refused to explain exactly what his "family gift" was, but as they flew north, he did tell them about his conversation with Mars the night before. He explained the prophecy Juno had issued when he was a baby—about his life being tied to a piece of firewood, and how he had asked Hazel to keep it for him.
"Ah, so that's why you're so averse to my flames." Valen realized.
Frank nodded, "Yeah, I didn't want to offend you, so I didn't say anything…"
"I'll keep that in mind next time I use those flames." Valen said, "You don't need to be afraid of me."
Frank nodded thankfully.
"Frank," Percy said, "I'm proud to be related to you."
Frank's ears turned red. "Juno has some sort of plan for us, about the Prophecy of Seven."
"Yeah," Percy grumbled. "I didn't like her as Hera. I don't like her any better as Juno."
"Different names, same old annoying goddess." Valen muttered from beside him.
The sky rumbled distantly.
"You know I'm right Zeus." Valen retorted, and the thunder died down.
Hazel tucked her feet underneath her. She studied Percy and Valen intently.
"You are Greek demigods aren't you?" She asked.
Valen tensed for a moment, before relaxing. "Yeah," He said, "I'm a son of Hades, not Pluto. And Percy is a son of Posiedon, not Neptune."
Percy gripped his leather necklace. "I started to remember in Portland, after the gorgon's blood. It's been coming back to me slowly since then. There's another camp—Camp Half-Blood."
"It's at long island," Valen said, reminiscing of the time he spent there.
Hazel and Frank stared at him as though he'd slipped into another language.
"Another camp," Hazel repeated. "A Greek camp? Gods, if Octavian found out—"
"He'd declare war," Frank said. "He's always been sure the Greeks were out there, plotting against us. He thought Percy was a spy."
"That's why Juno sent me," Percy said. "Uh, I mean, not to spy. I think it was some kind of exchange. Your friend Jason—I think he was sent to my camp. In my dreams, I saw a demigod that might have been him. He was working with some other demigods on this flying warship. I think they're coming to Camp Jupiter to help."
"You're right," Valen said, "Jason is at Camp Half-Blood. I was on a quest with him and two other demigods."
Frank tapped nervously on the back of his seat. "Mars said Juno wants to unite the Greeks and Romans to fight Gaea. But, jeez—Greeks and Romans have a long history of bad blood."
Hazel took a deep breath. "That's probably why the gods have kept us apart this long. If a Greek warship appeared in the sky above CampJupiter, and Reyna didn't know it was friendly—"
"Yeah," Percy agreed. "We've got to be careful how we explain this but when we get back."
"If we get back," Frank said.
"We will," Valen said, "You three are part of the Seven, you're needed for the prophecy."
"What about you?" Frank asked, "Are you not part of it?"
He shook his head, "No, I'm involved in something else." He stared at the mark on his forearm. "I need to regain all my memories, only then can I…"
"Which reminds me," He said, turning to the others, "Do any of you find it strange that I started regaining my memories the moment I stepped out of camp?"
"You think someone was stopping you from remembering?" Frank said.
"But who would do that?" Hazel said, "Do you think Octavian-"
"No," He said, "Octavian could not have done it. It'd have to be someone powerful enough in mind magic, something Octavian is not."
Percy frowned, "But who else could do it?"
"I don't know," He said, "But if I don't regain my memories on this quest, something tells me that I never will."
Percy grabbed his shoulder, "We will get our memories back on this quest."
"I hope so," He sighed, changing the topic "What do we do now?"
"I've got to contact a friend—to keep my promise to Ella." Percy said.
"How?" Frank said. "One of those Iris-messages?"
"Still not working," Percy said sadly. "I tried it last night at your grandmother's house. No luck. Maybe it's because my memories are still jumbled. Or the gods aren't allowing a connection. I'm hoping I can contact my friend in my dreams."
Another bump of turbulence made him grab his seat. Below them, snowcapped mountains broke through a blanket of clouds.
"I'm not sure I can sleep," Percy said. "But I need to try. We can't leave Ella by herself with those ogres around."
"Yeah," Frank said. "We've still got hours to fly. Take the couch, man."
Percy nodded gratefully and slowly stretched out on the couch, falling asleep almost instantly.
"I have to ask," Hazel said, staring at Valen, "Is Nico…?"
He stared back at her for a few seconds, before answering, "Yes, the two of us got to Camp Half-Blood at the same time, along with Bianca."
"Nico's sister," she said, "He never talks about her."
"To be fair he doesn't talk much in general." He said, chuckling slightly, "Do you want to talk about her?"
"About all of you," She said, "If you don't mind."
"Yeah, sure, we have time." He said, leaning forward. "You can listen in too Frank, I don't mind." He said, noticing Frank about to stand up. He looked at him sheepishly before relaxing.
And so he began his tale of how he arrived at Camp Half-Blood with two of his half siblings, and what followed in the years after.
.
.
.
Valen was telling them of the fight against Kronos when Percy awoke. "The three of us kept Kronos from moving and…and…"
He furrowed his brows, that part of his memory was blank. How had they killed the Titan lord?
"Annabeth stabbed him at his achillles heel," Percy said, startling everyone.
Valen frowned, focusing on his memory as it began clearing. He blinked in surprise, he remembered how Luke had died and Kronos' essence spread ever so thin.
"How long was I out?" Percy asked.
Frank stood in the aisle, wrapping his spear and new bow in his ski bag. "A few hours," he said. "We're almost there."
Valen glanced out the window. A glittering inlet of the sea snaked between snowy mountains. In the distance, a city was carved out of the wilderness, surrounded by lush green forests on one side and icy black beaches on the other.
"Welcome to Alaska," Hazel said. "We're beyond the help of the gods."
The pilot said the plane couldn't wait for them, understandably so. As they took a taxi into downtown Anchorage, Percy told the others about his dreams, about how the giants army had almost reached the camp, and about Tyson.
Frank choked when he heard about Tyson. "You have a half-brother who's a Cyclops?"
"Ah right, I forgot to tell you guys about him," Valen muttered under his breath.
"Sure," Percy said. "Which makes him your great-great-great—"
"Please." Frank covered his ears. "Enough."
"As long as he can get Ella to camp," Hazel said. "I'm worried about her."
"I doubt Octavian could do anything to Ella with Tyson around," Valen said.
Percy nodded. He was still thinking about the lines of prophecy the harpy had recited—about the son of Neptune drowning, and the mark of Athena burning through Rome.
The taxi turned on Highway One and took them north toward downtown. It was late afternoon, but the sun was still high in the sky.
"I can't believe how much this place has grown," Hazel muttered.
The taxi driver grinned in the rearview mirror. "Been a long time since you visited, miss?"
"About seventy years," Hazel said.
The driver looked at her funny, before rolling up the glass partition.
"Yeah, lets avoid dropping any metaphorical bombs on mortals while we're here," Valen whispered, "The mist is weak here."
"Sorry," She said, blushing in embarrassment.
"It's alright, no harm done."
According to Hazel, almost none of the buildings were the same, but she pointed out features of the landscape: the vast forests ringing the city, the cold, gray waters of Cook Inlet tracing the north edge of town, and the Chugach Mountains rising grayish-blue in the distance, capped with snow even in June. The town itself had a weather-beaten look to it, with closed stores, rusted-out cars, and worn apartment complexes lining the road, but it was still beautiful. Lakes and huge stretches of woods cut through the middle. The arctic sky was an amazing combination of turquoise and gold.
Then there were the giants. Dozens of bright-blue men, each thirty feet tall with gray frosty hair, were wading through the forests, fishing in the bay, and striding across the mountains. The mortals didn't seem to notice them. The taxi passed within a few yards of one who was sitting at the edge of a lake washing his feet, but the driver didn't panic.
Frank pointed at one of the giants, "Are those the, uh, hyperbored giants you mentioned?"
"Hyperboreans," He corrected, "We fought them during the invasion of Manhattan."
Percy nodded, "Yeah. But these guys look…I don't know, peaceful."
"They usually are," Hazel agreed. "I remember them. They're everywhere in Alaska, like bears."
"Bears?" Frank said nervously.
"The giants are invisible to mortals," Hazel said. "They never bothered me, though one almost stepped on me by accident once."
The taxi kept driving. None of the giants paid them any attention. One stood right at the intersection of Northern Lights Road, straddling the highway, and they drove between his legs. The Hyperborean was cradling a Native American totem pole wrapped in furs, humming to it like a baby. If the guy hadn't been the size of a building, he would've been almost cute.
The taxi drove through downtown, past a bunch of tourists' shops advertising furs, Native American art, and gold.
As the driver turned and headed toward the seashore, Hazel knocked on the glass partition. "Here is good. Can you let us out?"
They paid the driver and stepped onto Fourth Street. Compared to Vancouver, downtown Anchorage was tiny—more like a college campus than a city, but Hazel looked amazed.
"It's huge," she said. "That—that's where the Gitchell Hotel used to be. My mom and I stayed there our first week in Alaska. And they've moved City Hall. It used to be there."
She led them in a daze for a few blocks. They didn't really have a plan beyond finding the fastest way to the Hubbard Glacier.
Percy sniffed the air, and turned towards the beach.
"Food," he said. "Come on."
They found a café right by the beach. It was bustling with people, but they scored a table at the window and perused the menus.
Frank whooped with delight. "Twenty-four-hour breakfast!"
"It's, like, dinnertime," Percy said, though he couldn't tell from looking outside. The sun was so high, it could've been noon.
"I'll take whatever I can get to be honest." Valen said.
"I love breakfast," Frank said. "I'd eat breakfast, breakfast, and breakfast if I could. Though, um, I'm sure the food here isn't as good as Hazel's."
Hazel elbowed him, but her smile was playful.
Percy smiled sadly at them, before shaking his head. Valen patted his shoulder in sympathy.
"You know," Percy said, "breakfast sounds great."
They all ordered massive plates of eggs, pancakes, and reindeer sausage, though Frank looked a little worried about the reindeer. "You think it's okay that we're eating Rudolph?"
"Dude," Percy said, "I could eat Prancer and Blitzen, too. I'm hungry."
"As long as its not poisonous, or human meat, I'm down." Valen said, he didn't have the luxury to be picky most of his life.
Between bites of blueberry pancake, Hazel drew a squiggly curve and an X on her napkin. "So this is what I'm thinking. We're here." She tapped X. "Anchorage."
"It looks like a seagull's face," Percy said. "And we're the eye."
Hazel glared at him. "It's a map, Percy. Anchorage is at the top of this sliver of ocean, Cook Inlet. There's a big peninsula of land below us, and my old home town, Seward, is at the bottom of the peninsula, here."
She drew another X at the base of the seagull's throat. "That's the closest town to the Hubbard Glacier. We could go around by sea, I guess, but it would take forever. We don't have that kind of time."
Frank polished off the last of his Rudolph. "But land is dangerous," he said. "Land means Gaea."
Hazel nodded. "I don't see that we've got much choice, though. We could have asked our pilot to fly us down, but I don't know…his plane might be too big for the little Seward airport. And if we chartered another plane—"
"No more planes," Percy said. "Please."
Hazel held up her hand in a placating gesture. "It's okay. There's a train that goes from here to Seward. We might be able to catch one tonight. It only takes a couple of hours."
She drew a dotted line between the two X's.
"You just cut off the seagull's head," Percy noted.
Hazel sighed. "It's the train line. Look, from Seward, the Hubbard Glacier is down here somewhere."
She tapped the lower right corner of her napkin. "That's where Alcyoneus is."
"How far is it from Seward to the glacier?" Valen asked.
Hazel furrowed her brows, "I don't know, a few hundred miles?"
He rubbed his chin, "I could shadow travel us there."
"But wouldn't that exhaust you?" Frank asked.
Valen nodded, "It would, but we're out of options now."
"Not really," Hazel said, "It's accessible by boat or plane."
"Boat," Percy said immediately.
"Fine," Hazel said. "It shouldn't be too far from Seward. If we can get to Seward safely."
Across the street, a frosty black sand beach led down to the sea, which was as smooth as steel. A Hyperborean giant lumbered across the street. Nobody in the café noticed. The giant stepped into the bay, cracking the ice under his sandals, and thrust his hands in the water. He brought out a killer whale in one fist. Apparently, that wasn't what he wanted, because he threw the whale back and kept wading.
"Alright let's get moving," Valen said, standing up, "We don't have long."