~The Forest~

‘Frank!’ Hazel shouted, her voice becoming hoarser by the minute. ‘Frank, come back!’

She sat down hard on a rock and began to cry, her sobs echoing off the trees, seeming unusually loud in the quiet of the night. Annabeth sat down next to Hazel and put her arm around her. Hazel collapsed against the daughter of Athena, burying her head in her shoulder.

‘We’ll find him,’ Annabeth promised. ‘Don’t worry.’

A rustle of leaves made them both jerk up, only to fall back in disappointment when the shapes of Jason and Percy moved into view.

Percy shook his head sadly, ‘No sign of him.’

Hazel fell back against Annabeth. Across the clearing, Piper slammed her fist against a tree, ignoring the angry chirps of the dryad that poked her head out of the bark. Piper just growled and the tree nymph melted back into the bark looking scared.

‘This is all my fault,’ Piper yelled, tears streaking her face as she pounded the tree wildly. ‘I should never have told Frank to do that. I don’t know what got into me. This is all my fault.’

She hefted her fist back for another go at the tree, but Jason grabbed her wrist as she drew it back.

‘Hey, look at me. Look at me!’ Piper struggled against Jason but he held her shoulders and shook her sharply, forcing her to look him in the eye. ‘This isn’t your fault, okay? Frank wouldn’t have just bolted. I think something spooked him.’

‘What could’ve spooked Frank?’ Percy muttered. ‘The big guy can take on a giant.’

Hazel shook her head, her cries stifled for the moment, ‘Maybe it was something about being a rabbit? Maybe his instinct was to run first, think later.’

‘You don’t have the same thought processes when you’re in a different form,’ Percy reasoned. ‘Trust me, I’ve spent my fair share of time as an animal.’

Annabeth cracked a smile, ‘You made a cute guinea pig.’

Percy scowled, ‘I thought we agreed never to speak of that.’

‘You brought it up,’ Annabeth shrugged. ‘So maybe something did scare Frank. But how can we figure out what?’

‘I have an inkling,’ Piper said weakly. ‘Check this out.’

She held up a folded piece of paper and every face fell, pale and weary.

‘You’re kidding?’ Percy nearly pleaded. ‘Right?’

Piper shook her head with a sigh, ‘Afraid not. It just appeared right in front of me. There was a cloud of black dust and then poof! This appeared.’

Piper handed to Annabeth who took it shakily. Opening the note, she looked over it slowly before her mouth fell open and she just stared.

‘Annabeth?’ Percy asked carefully. ‘What does the riddle say?’

‘It’s not a riddle,’ she whispered, a smile slowly forming. ‘Look!’

She turned the paper over and showed the group, their mouths falling opening in sync as they, too, stared.

‘It’s a map!’ Jason exclaimed. ‘Of camp!’

‘But look here,’ Annabeth said, pointing. ‘There’s a little glowing dot, and it’s moving, but not very fast.’

‘You think it could be Frank?’ Hazel asked hopefully.

‘Could be,’ Annabeth agreed. ‘Right now it’s the only lead we’ve got. By the looks of it, he’s headed towards camp borders.’

‘But he’s a rabbit!’ Piper cried. ‘He’d have no chance up against a monster out there. We have to find him before he gets himself killed!’

Frank was terrified, to say the least. He had no idea where he was going, only that as long it was away from that horrible voice, he was going to be okay.

He bounded around the forest wildly, ricocheting off trees and rocks. The feeling of everything looming above him, huge and so much bigger than him, was scary. He just kept going, trying to get use to the sensation of hopping.

A tree suddenly appeared from the darkness and Frank failed to hit the brakes on time, crashing into the bark and tumbling off a ridge, down into a stream. Frank squeaked in terror as he hit the cool water. His large feet began kicking as he attempted to swim to the surface. When the current finally drifted him to the bank, he climbed out of the stream, shook himself off and took off again.

Frank kept bounding, never pausing for a moment, terrified that the figure would catch him. Trees flashed by, no more than clumps of green. He kept going for what felt to be forever, until he burst free of the forest and came face to face with a road.

Frank tried to draw in on himself. The forest looked huge, but it had nothing on the open highway. Cautiously, he jumped up the pavement and nuzzled it with his nose.

A bright, yellow light appeared from the gloom and blinded him. He jumped back and tumbled over himself, hitting his head on rock and falling into a black blur.

Frank woke up to a furry brown face right in the middle of his view.

Startled, his feet went crazy, trying to find a grip on the ground, but he slipped over. Looking down, he found the ground covered in wood shavings. He glanced up at the other face and was suddenly looking in the eyes of a chocolate brown bunny, it’s ears flopped over sadly.

Frank felt panic sip through him, followed by a burst of adrenalin. His head jerked around, registering many other animals, from dogs to cats to birds to reptiles. His eyes flicked from one side to another until he spotted it; the door. It was right next to a barrel with contents Frank couldn’t see.

He bolted for the door, his white rabbit feet loping along. He was getting closer and closer.

Bang.

Frank’s head exploded in a burst of pain and he fell back on the shaving covered ground. The brown bunny hopped over, followed by two others; one spotted white and caramel, the other pure black. Their noses twitched like they were laughing at him, and half of Frank realized he was being made fun of by a group of sad looking rabbits.

The other half realized that he was trapped in a glass tank inside a pet shop.