Hi! So, I kind of lied when I said I would beat up Jason a lot in the last chapter or so....

Yeah, this is the chapter where he gets beat up.

Muhahaha.

Yours in fangirlness,

~Alex

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Frank watched unsteadily how Lesley convinced Piper, tricked Jason, and tried to kill Percy.

Man, he wanted to go to hell for not standing up for Hazel, but he was learning so much, and he figered this kind of information could help his friends. Besides, it looked like Jason was going to need him any minute now.

Frank had hitched a ride on one of Jason's crutches, posing as a spider. It was a long way, but luckily Jason had some cash left in his pocket for a quick taxi. But even with that, the sun started setting fast, and Jason would speed up, almost knocking himself down.

Frank didn't know why Jason had given into Lesley's words so quickly at their first meet, but he could understand his excitment for seeing Piper. He had felt that way when he saw Hazel, but a million times worse. He wanted to see her so bad, but he had a dutie. He was on Lesley's track. He was figering things out, and he couldn't risk missing something important.

Don't worry Hazel, I'm coming. Just let me take care of Lesley first.

Frank had deditated himself as an animal spy. He promised himself not to turn into a human until he finally found out what Lesley's game was. And that was exactly what he was going to do.

Which also meant he couldn't turn into a human and tell Jason about Lesley. It would be pointless, for there was nothing much to tell, and it might throw him off track, making him lose his chance to figer out Lesley. All he knew was that Lesley could not be trusted. Not after what she tried to do to his two best friends.

He needed to see whether Lesley had been telling the truth, or had been leading them into a trap. It was impossible to tell.

But Frank had a feeling that he would be responible.

***

Lesley ran as hard as she could. She had way too much to do today. She took about three different shortcuts. She could not risk being late. One minute behing and her whole plan might be ruined.

Luckily, she made it just before Piper did. They were standing in a large field. The moon was rising.

"Lesley, there you are." Piper huffed. "What is it? What did you want to tell me?"

Lesley relaxed her jaw muscles and took a deep breath. That's what they did in her theatre class. 

"It's about... you." Lesley put on her best worried tone. "See, I read a book the other day, and, um..."

Piper nodded, waiting for more. Lesley cursed under her breath. Jason was just a tad too slow. Another minute and everything would go wrong. Her plan had been timed very carefully.

Lesley continued. "It was called 'The Lost Hero', and it looked like, um, you were in it."

Piper knitted her eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"Well, like, you were a character inside the book. So was Jason."

Piper blinked. "I don't understand."

"That's alright, you don't have to..." Lesley murmered under her breath unpateintly.

"What?"

"Well..." They were running out of time. The hellhound could appear anyminute.

Jason jumped out of the bushes. "Pipe-"

The bloodhound came. It was ugly, and terrifying, eyes the color of black blood. Its fur was coated with mud and dirt. Its claws were the size of steak knives.

Lesley smiled, then let it fall to a terrified scream before Piper or Jason noticed. Lesley dashed into the bushes as Piper yelled, "Lesley! Wait!" But Lesley was gone. At least to them.

Lesley snuck around, keeping low so that they couldn't see her through the twigs and leaves of the bushes. She looked and saw a tabby cat standing in her way.

"Shoo," She whispered, pushing the cat away, but it refused to budge.

"Move, you stupid cat!" She pushed him away again, but it sat still.

"Screw it." She picked up the cat by the scruff of it's neck. "You'll be a tasty appetiser for the bloodhound."

***

Lesley threw Frank through the air, but he managed to flip over into a rat and scurrie out of the way. He watched as the horrible bloodhound charged Piper. She jumped to the side, slashing with her knife. Jason tried to step foreward but foregot her was on crutches and fell over. An opening for the bloodhound.

Frank had seen Lesley smile. He had seen how she snuck around behind the bushes, probably watching the show. And he could see her clearly now, directly behind both Jason and Piper. If they would just turn around...

Frank realised what she was doing too late. "Hey!" He yelled, but it came out more as a desperate squeak.

Lesley raised a fallen brick over her head and slammed it on both of Piper's and Jason's heads. They crumbled to the ground, knocked out cold. Apparently the bloodhound had been waiting for this. He started foreward, drooling more and more at every humongous step.

Frank screamed, "No!" And grew into a sturdy lion. He charged the bloodhound.

The bloodhound looked up, surprised at this new fighter, but was quick. It wacked away Frank's claws and gave him a scrape across his jaw. Frank fell from the inpact.

He jumped back on his feet, determined to protect Jason and Piper, and charged the bloodhound again. He managed to give it a well-deserved scar on it's forehead and a deep bite in the paw. The bloodhound howeled in pain.

Frank wasn't done. He tore its ear, ripped open its back skin, until the only thing that remained was a pile of silvery dust. Monster dust.

Frank breathed heavily. He had put up a pretty good fight, he thought to himself as he finally grew into his human form.

He turned to Piper and Jason, who were lying next to each other, breathing softly. Piper had a bad gash on her arm where the bloodhound had scratched her, but besides that, they looked pretty good.

Frank lugged them over his shoulders and looked around for Lesley. She was gone.

Frank started forward to the nearest sign of help. It was a beat-down garage with chipped paint and dosens of cars to the sides. Frank rushed to it, and as he got closer he could read the sign that was placed outside the door:

MARK'S REPAIR SHOP - OPEN ALL HOURS

Sounds promising, Frank thought to himself as he made his way through the door.

***

Leo filed out papers at the front desk while sipping on cold hot chocolate. His dream still bothered him. He couldn't be dreaming - it was too real and vivid even for a vivid dream. So, was it the future? Was he destined to die? Leo wasn't sure. he didn't want to let it get to his head, though. Not on a beautiful day like this.

Mark had been surprised when Leo passed up the day-off. What he really just wanted to do was keep working. He loved this job. Plus, the celestial bronze plate he found? He needed to get working on that, too. But he was okay with extra work.

Leo paid no attention to the bell ringing at the door - he was too wrapped up in his work. The figure walked up to him and stared. Leo ignored it. He was about to look up and say something when Mark walked in.

"Hello, young man, how can we help you?"

"Um, well..." The voice sounded nervous. Leo reconised that voice. He looked up to see who was standing there...

"FRANK!"

Frank whipped around and they looked at each other. "Leo? What are you doing here?"

"Excuse me? I work here, dude. Where have you been?"

Frank looked relieved to see Leo. That was a first. "You won't believe everything that's been going on."

Leo saw the scratch marks on his jaw. "Humor me."

Frank touched them. "Yeah, well... we have a lot to talk about."

Mark stepped up. "You know each other?" He said curiosly.

Frank rubbed his scratch marks. "Um..."

"Yeah, he's a buddy of mine. We got separated a couple days ago. This is Frank." Leo gestered towards Frank. "Frank, this is my boss, Mark."

They shhok hands. Frank smirked. "So you really do have a job, Leo. Fits you."

Leo shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. So what's all the fun that I've been missing out on?"

Frank said, "Its, well..." He rubbed the back of his neck and looked warily at Mark.

Leo got the message. "C'mon, we can talk in the repair room. Mark, can you take my shift?"

"Yup," Mark sat down at the desk just as a customer walked in.

"Hey, Martha." Leo smiled devilishly.

She looked him over and gave her famous smirk. "Working on a Sunday?"

Leo shrugged. "You do what you do. I like my job."

Martha tilted her head. "But its almost ten o'clock."

Leo rubbed his chin. "A lot of work today. That's alright, though."

Martha looked at Frank. "Who's your friend?"

"Oh, this is Frank. Frank, Martha. Martha, Frank."

"Hello, Frank."

"Hi." Frank replyed.

Leo said, "Burn out any new cars, Martha?"

Martha gave him an annoyed scowel, but he knew she was okay with his jokes. "I'd keep my mouth shut if I were you, Mr. Valdez."

"Yes, Ma'am." He gave her a salute and led Frank to another room. They sat down at a table with a box of different donuts.

"So," Leo said to Frank. "Fill me in,"

- - -

As Frank finished explaining his side of the story, Leo pondered what he said.

"Wow, I have been missing all the fun, haven't I? So where did you put Piper and Jason?"

"I left them outside by the door. I didn't want to attract attention, or be accused of anything."

Leo rubbed his chin. "Smart enough. And you know where the others are?"

"Not exactly. Hazel and Percy were in the graveyard when i saw them, and I doubt they're still there. I don't know where they would be going next, though."

Leo nodded. "I might be able to figer that out, though. See, I found this slab of celestial bronze the other day, and I thought I could use it to make an astrolabe, a seeing device. Then we could find our friends."

Frank nodded. "How long will this take to build?"

Leo rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Ah, with all the work I've got, it might take a day or two. At most. I'll get it done."

"Good."

"Uh, why don't you bring in Piper and Jason now? I keep on having this vision that some creepy twelve-year old girl is going to kidnap them. Where did this Lesley go, anyways?"

"I told you, I don't know. But I'll go get Piper and Jason."

A few minutes later Frank came in with two limp bodies over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes. He set them down on the floor beside them.

Leo whistled. "Eeek. They don't look so good."

Frank sighed unhappily. "Well, they did just get attacked by a bloodhound."

Leo knelt down beside Jason. "How'd he break his leg?"

Frank shrugged. "No idea. He was like that when I found him. I don't know where his crutches went."

Leo nodded in approval. "They look alive, I know that much. Look, they've even got matching bumps!"

Frank stared at Leo. "Leo, we need to find our friends."

Leo's grin faded. "Okay. I'll get to work on the astrolabe. You should go back to the graveyard, look around a bit, try to find the others. I'll keep watch over these two."

"Thanks Leo." Frank turned and left Leo to his thoughts.

Leo normally wouldn't particually like having the responsibilaty of watching over two unconsious people, but he knew he had to take it. Leo grabbed the celestial bronze from a different table and pulled out some wires from his tool belt. Leo got to work.  

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God, I am bad a beating up Jason. I just did what fits.

Phew! Finally, an action scene! Kinda... I think it was okay.

This was probably the most fun chapter to write so far, so I really hope it was fun to read! Finally, I made Leo useful in this plot. Thank goodness, I was getting worried.

Please comment and follow!

~Alex