~The Mess Hall~

‘Come on, Frank. For me?’

‘Not a chance, Piper.’

The daughter of Aphrodite turned on the big eyes, looking up under her lashes at the son of Mars, ‘Pretty please?’

Frank crossed his arms and shook his head, ‘No is no, Piper.’

Piper sighed in defeat, ‘Fine.’ She winked at him. ‘For now.’

Frank groaned as she walked away to join Jason and Thalia by the brazier. He was nearly 107% sure she was going to use charmspeak on him in front of the entire camp when everyone came down for breakfast. He glanced around and got ready to make a break for the waffles, scoop some into the fire and run back to the Roman cabin.

‘Ready,’ he whispered to himself, ‘Set.’

‘Go!’

‘Ahhh!’

Frank tripped over a loose pavement and landed face first against the ground. He heard laughing off to his left and spotted Piper, Thalia and Jason cracking up against the brazier. He rolled over and glared at Connor, and Travis laughing behind him.

‘Thanks,’ Frank muttered sarcastically. ‘Because I definitely needed that.’

‘Told you he needed it,’ Connor snickered to Travis.

Frank sighed as he stood and shoved Connor lightly into his brother.

‘Hey,’ Connor complained. ‘What were you racing for anyway?’

‘Uh, the waffles,’ Frank admitted awkwardly.

‘Why?’ Travis asked confusedly.

‘I think Piper wants to charmspeak me in front of the camp,’ Frank whispered. ‘Because I told her no.’

‘Told her “no” to what?’ Travis pried. ‘Come on, man, the suspense is killing me!’

‘She wanted me to turn into a rabbit,’ Frank mumbled. ‘And I told her there was no way I was going to shift into a bunny.’

‘Dude, you should totally do that,’ Connor said in mock earnestness.

‘Dude, I should totally not,’ Frank scowled. ‘Why would I torture myself by turning into a rabbit?’

‘The whole camp would go gaga over an adorable little bunny,’ Travis pointed out. ‘The Aphrodite cabin would go nuts!’

‘That’s exactly what I don’t want,’ Frank sighed. ‘First I got Piper on my case, now you two?’

The Stolls shrugged, ‘That’s what you get for coming to us.’

‘I didn’t.’

‘Serves you right,’ Connor winked at him. ‘Later.’

Frank sat down at the nearest table and face planted hard onto the wooden surface.

‘How much brain damage are you looking for?’ Percy asked, sidling up to the son of Mars with an arm tight around Annabeth.

‘Enough to make me forget who I am,’ Frank grumbled.

‘Not an experience I’d recommend,’ Percy shivered.

‘What’s wrong, Frank?’ Annabeth inquired gently. ‘Is everything alright?’

Frank grimaced, ‘Piper wants me to turn into a rabbit in front of the camp.’

‘W-why would she want th-that?’ Percy laughed.

Annabeth elbowed him in the stomach and he bent double, coughing. Frank hid a smile.

‘For Easter,’ he explained. ‘She came to me with a whole speech about being festive.’

‘Easter,’ Percy moaned. ‘Right.’

Annabeth sighed, ‘Come on, Percy, you’re fine.’

‘You try punching yourself in the gut, Annabeth,’ Percy said. ‘See just how much it hurts. You have a bony elbow.’

Annabeth raised an eyebrow.

‘I’m going to get another punch in the gut later, aren’t I?’ Annabeth nodded and Percy sighed.

‘Oh, the romance,’ Frank smiled dryly.

‘We have our own way of doing things,’ Annabeth shrugged.

‘That’s one way of putting it,’ Percy grumbled.

Across the Mess Hall, Hazel ran in, shouting for Frank. She finally spotted them over at the table and hurried to join them, a grin plastered across her face.

‘Frank,’ she huffed breathlessly. ‘Piper just told me.’

Frank’s face could not have looked more ridiculous, like he’d eaten a mixture of lemon juice and out of date milk. Nevertheless, he managed a sigh and a slight smile, ‘Told you what?’

‘Your little surprise for the camp, silly,’ Hazel laughed and nudged him. ‘You know, the bunny thing.’

Frank groaned as Piper entered the Mess Hall from the direction Hazel had come from, Jason in tow. The daughter of Aphrodite smiled, attempting to look innocent and sweet in a pale pink dress with silver ballet flats.

Annabeth frowned, ‘Weren’t you wearing jeans and a camp shirt before? Why’d you change?’

‘No reason,’ Piper dismissed breezily, swaying back and forth on her heels.

‘Because charmspeak works better when you’re rocking your Aphrodite side?’ Percy guessed.

‘Huh,’ Piper looked down like she was seeing her outfit for the first time. ‘Wow, you’re right. What a coincidence.’

Frank tried to disappear below the table, but Jason grabbed the back of his shirt as he slipped under.

‘Hey, buddy, where are you off to in such a hurry?’ Jason said slyly.

‘Away from here,’ Frank grumbled. ‘Are you all in on this?’

Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Hazel and Piper nodded, identical grins on every face. Frank buried hi head in his arms and slumped over the table.

‘Come on, Frank,’ Hazel prodded.

‘I won’t do it,’ his muffled voice said. ‘You can’t make me.’

‘We can’t,’ Percy agreed. ‘But Piper can.’

‘Frank,’ Piper intoned magically, charmspeak tumbling over her words and making them impossible to ignore. ‘Frank, could you please shift into a bunny rabbit for Easter?’

Frank shut his eyes tight and tried to block out her words, focusing everything in him on rejecting the charmspeak, ‘No, I … won’t.’

Piper frowned and poured a little more into her magic, ‘Frank, could you pretty please with ambrosia on top turn into a bunny  for Easter for the campers? They’ll love it so much.’

Frank groaned and held his head, but then his shoulders dropped and he fell forward until his head lightly bumped the table, ‘Okay.’

‘Really?’ Piper gasped, clapping her hands together. ‘Will you really do it?’

‘You didn’t give me much choice,’ Frank grumbled. ‘But yes, I’ll do it. But it’s never to be spoken of again. And no one tells Leo when he gets back.’

‘Don’t worry,’ Percy flashed one of his trademark troublemaker smiles. ‘Your secret’s safe with us.’

‘But for now,’ Piper pat his head like he was already a furry little critter. ‘You’re going to make a great bunny.’