~Millie’s House~

‘More tea, Captain Cuddles?’

Frank, of course, didn’t respond, but the little girl pretended to pour  some tea from the her toy kettle into the little plastic cup that sat in front of Frank. He sniffed at the empty cup and stuck his head inside as if he was drinking out of it. Millie loved it when he pretended.

The girl adjusted the position of the stuffed monkey sitting across from her, ‘Mr Monkey, no slouching at the dinner table. Honestly, you’re so silly.’

Frank admired the girl in ways he couldn’t really understand. She sounded out big words like she’d been working hard on pronouncing them, stressing each syllable very clearly. She tried to sound grown up and she had such an innocent look on her face. Frank didn’t understand how anyone could not like her.

Millie tilted her head to the side like she was listening, ‘What’s that Mr Monkey? You want a biscuit? Okay!’

She grabbed a plastic biscuit from the plate in the middle of the little wooden table and put it on the placemat in front of the monkey. She smiled happily and busied herself with a blue plastic knife and some toy bread, pretending to butter it.

‘You know, I don’t think I’m strange,’ Millie said seriously. ‘Lots of people can’t read. Mommy says lots of people can’t read. And lots of people like flowers.’

Frank liked to listen to Millie’s voice. It was soft and sweet, like the flowers she talked so much about. He hated the fact he wanted to leave. But then again, he didn’t want to leave.

‘The other kids at day-care laugh at me, but it’s okay because Mrs Langston makes them stop. She says I can be normal if I try hard.’

Normal; not a word in my vocabulary, Frank thought bitterly. I’m a demigod turned rabbit sitting at a tea party with a lonely little girl waiting for my friends to find me and take me back to camp while I break this little girl’s heart.

‘It’s nearly nighty night time, Captain Cuddles. Your first night here! It’s a special night.’

Frank wanted to scream. It wasn’t fair! Why did he have to make the difficult decision; go home to his friends and break Millie’s heart, or stay as a bunny forever and never go home, but make one little girl very happy. What kind of choice was that?

Frank almost didn’t want his friends to rescue him.

~In The Air~

‘We’re almost there,’ Leo announced, stirring Annabeth from a short nap against Percy’s chest.

‘Mm, was I out long?’ Annabeth yawned.

‘Not long,’ Percy assured. ‘But Leo said we’re almost there.’

‘What are we even going to do when we get there?’ Piper asked the group. ‘We doubt we can simply knock on the door and say, “Hi. That rabbit is really our friend, Frank. Could we have him back?” They’ll either call the straightjacket patrol or slam the door in our face.’

Nico nodded, ‘She’s right. We need a plan.’

‘It’s nearly night,’ Jason pointed out. ‘Maybe we could sneak in and find him while they’re asleep.’

‘We’re going to kidnap Frank?’ Leo laughed. ‘Man, this is the best day ever.’

‘More like bunny-nap,’ Annabeth mused. ‘But has anyone considered the fact that a little girl brought Frank? What happens when she wakes up and he's gone?’

‘We can write a note,’ Leo suggested. ‘From Frank. “Dear kid, I’m really sorry but I had to run away. Nothing personal. Love Frank.” That works.’

‘Yeah, that’ll totally work,’ Hazel said sarcastically. ‘While Leo’s idea is genius, I think we need another approach.’

‘There may be something I can do,’ Calypso put in. ‘Being the daughter of a titan does have certain perks and powers. I could conjure up a replacement rabbit.’

‘That’s perfect,’ Annabeth said.

‘I’d have to see Frank first,’ Calypso continued. ‘I need to see what he looks like to create a duplicate. Which means sneaking in.’

‘I’m putting us down in that park,’ Leo pointed to a large vacant field. ‘The house is just beside it. Let’s hope the Mist makes us look like a flock of pigeons.’

There were a few half-hearted chuckles at Leo’s half-hearted attempt at humour. Festus swooped down on the park, metallic wings spread wide, and landed gently on the grass. The demigods slipped off his back one by one, stretching legs and complaining about their saddle sores.

‘Okay,’ Piper grabbed a notebook from her back pocket. ‘Time to get real. We’re going to need a real plan to find Frank and get this replacement in. This isn’t something we can go into blindly.’

‘What do we got?’ Leo put out to the group.

Annabeth pointed at a large, very beautiful white house just beside the park, right next to them, ‘That’s where Frank is. See the back window overlooking the garden? It’s got pink curtains, and I’d bet a hundred drachma that’s the kids room.’

‘Looks easy enough to get to,’ Jason shrugged.

Piper swatted his shoulder, ‘For you, perhaps. You can fly.’

‘Yes,’ Annabeth muttered. ‘He can.’

‘You’re coming up with something, aren’t you?’ Nico said. ‘Whenever you start muttering to yourself, it means you’re coming up with something.’

‘Muttering? I’m not muttering,’ Annabeth said, before going back to her muttering. Percy rolled his eyes.

Jason frowned, ‘Considering she just took into account the fact I can fly, I’m think I can safely assume I have a part in this plan.’

‘Yes, you most certainly do,’ Annabeth mumbled, jotting something down in Piper’s notebook before glancing back at the house, muttering once again.

Jason sighed as Leo, Piper and Hazel chuckled. Calypso frowned and looked to Nico who shrugged.

‘Hey, Wise Girl?’ Percy waved a hand in front of her face. ‘Annabeth?’

‘Hmm?’ Annabeth looked at Percy as if realizing he was there for the first time.

‘Mind filling us in on this plan of yours?’ Percy asked slowly.

Annabeth blinked as if registering his words gradually, ‘Oh. Oh, yeah, right. The plan.’ She gathered them around and showed them the notebook. ‘This is what we’re going to do.’