CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
FINLEY                  BRIGGS

"Hazel." Percy shook her shoulder. "Wake up. We've reached Seattle."

Finn kept kicking Frank with her foot. "Come on, Frankie. Get your ass up.

Hazel sat up groggily, squinting in the morning sunlight. "Frank?"

Frank groaned, rubbing his eyes. "Did we just... was I just—?"

"You both passed out," Percy said. "We don't know why, but Ella told us not to worry about it. She said you were...sharing?"

"Sharing," Ella agreed. She crouched in the stern, preening her wing feathers with her teeth, which didn't look like a very effective form of personal hygiene. She spit out some red fluff. "Sharing is good. No more blackouts. Biggest American blackout, August 14, 2003. Hazel shared. No more blackouts."

Finn shook her head cluelessly. "Yeah, we have no clue what she's talking about. She's been talking like that all night."

Hazel pressed her hand against her coat pocket, then she looked again at Frank. "You were there."

He nodded. He didn't say anything, but Finn could tell that something important had gone on between them. Hazel and Frank's bond seemed to have strengthened throughout the duration of the shared blackout.

Which brought Finn to:

"Wait," she said. "You mean you guys shared a blackout? Don't tell me both of you are going to pass out now on."

"Nope," Ella said. "Nope, nope, nope. No more blackouts. More books for Ella. Books in Seattle."

Finn gazed over the water. They were sailing through a large bay, making their way toward a cluster of downtown buildings. Neighborhoods rolled across a series of hills. From the tallest one rose an odd white tower with a saucer on the top, like an old spaceship.

Percy steered the boat toward the downtown docks. As they got closer, Ella scratched nervously at her nest of books.

Finn started to feel edgy, too. She wasn't sure why. Maybe she needed to lower her alcohol intake. It was a bright, sunny day, and Seattle looked like a beautiful place, with inlets and bridges, wooded islands dotting the bay, and snowcapped mountains rising in the distance. Still, she felt as if she were being watched.

"Um... why are we stopping here?" Hazel asked.

Percy showed them the silver ring on his necklace. "Reyna has a sister here. She asked me to find her and show her this."

"Reyna has a sister?" Frank asked, like the idea terrified him.

"Oh, nah," Finn shook her head adamantly. "We're not meeting a Reyna spawn."

Percy sent her a look. "Reyna thinks her sister could send help for the camp."

"Well, if Reyna thinks so," she muttered spitefully.

"Amazons," Ella muttered. "Amazon country. Hmm. Ella will find libraries instead. Doesn't like Amazons. Fierce. Shields. Swords. Pointy. Ouch."

Frank reached for his spear. "Amazons? Like... female warriors?"

"That would make sense," Hazel said. "If Reyna's sister is also a daughter of Bellona, I can see why she'd join the Amazons. But... is it safe for us to be here?"

"Nope, nope, nope," Ella said. "Get books instead. No Amazons."

"I'm with Ella," Finn nodded rapidly, though doing that made her head hurt.

"We have to try," Percy said. "I promised Reyna. Besides, the Pax isn't doing too great. I've been pushing it pretty hard."

Finn looked down at her feet. Water was leaking between the floorboards. 

"Oh," said Hazel. 

"Yeah," Percy agreed. "We'll either need to fix it or find a new boat. I'm pretty much holding it together with my willpower at this point. Ella, do you have any idea where we can find the Amazons?"

"And, um," Frank said nervously, "they don't, like, kill men on sight, do they?"

Ella glanced at the downtown docks, only a few hundred yards away. "Ella will find friends later. Ella will fly away now."

And she did.

"Well..." Frank picked a single red feather out of the air. "That's encouraging."

They docked at the wharf. They barely had time to unload their supplies before the Pax shuddered and broke into pieces. Most of it sank, leaving only a board with a painted eye and another with the letter P bobbing in the waves.

"Guess we're not fixing it," Hazel said. "What now?"

Percy stared at the steep hills of downtown Seattle. "We hope the Amazons will help."

"If this ends horribly," Finn glared at Percy, "I will never stop saying, 'I told you so.'"

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"I TOLD YOU SO!" Finn screamed over the sound of the whipping wind.

"SHUT UP!" Percy yelled right back.

They were both in a chariot (with Frank) pulled by pegasus that was so fast it bent time and space. Finn had already thrown up three times from the back of the chariot, and Frank had done the same twice. The landscape around them blurred, making Finn's drunken stomach swirl heavily with nausea, and—Yeah. Okay. Now Finn had thrown up four times.

Ella didn't help matters. She kept muttering: "Seven hundred and fifty miles per hour. Eight hundred. Eight hundred and three. Fast. Very fast."

So, yeah. Finn should probably rewind.

They did indeed do exactly what Percy wanted—They found the Amazons (which secretly ran all the Amazon shipping companies), but were quickly taken captive by them. The Amazon at the front desk (a hot, female warrior with the name Kinzie) was extra aggressive with them considering Percy and Frank were in their ranks.

When Kinzie and the other warriors brought the four to Queen Hylla (yes, Queen Hylla), Hylla immediately tried killing Percy. Something about a spa and pirates and Percy making Hylla an exile and prisoner with Reyna.

Finn didn't really know. Percy had too much lore to keep track of.

Luckily Percy showed Hylla the ring Reyna gave him before Hylla actually did kill him. That gave the four the opportunity to explain their side, and express that Camp Jupiter was in severe danger. Finn didn't know if Hylla "calmed down," but she was less murderous, and only went so far as to put Percy and Frank in holding cells while she conversed with Finn and Hazel.

There was something important Finn was probably supposed to remember about a dead-but-also-living daughter of Ares (yes, Ares. The Greek gods were still around, somehow) that was trying to kill Hylla for the spot of Amazonian queen, but Finn was Finn. She didn't pay much attention.

However, Hazel did. She was her usual, sweet self, and it charmed Hylla into actually wanting to assist them. It helped that Hazel was also able to handle the caged horse, because "it was foretold that the most courageous female warrior would someday master Arion and ride him to victory, ushering in a new era of prosperity for the Amazons."

Again. Boring. Finn didn't care. She was just glad Hazel's likeableness had Hylla (and Kinzie, the hot one) planning a staged breakout so that Finn, Hazel, Percy, and Frank could escape.

In the end, it really was all Hazel. She was the one who caused the distraction. She was the one who trapped the Amazon guards with her manipulation of precious stones in the Amazon headquarters. She was the one who led them to the throne room so they could break out Arion.

And, now, she was the one riding Arion far, far away from Amazon captivity.

The horse sped north across Puget Sound, zooming past islands and fishing boats and very surprised pods of whales. Until, suddenly, they crossed into Canada.

The horse rocketed onto dry land. He followed Highway 99 north, running so fast, the cars seemed to be standing still.

Finally, just as they were getting into Vancouver, the chariot wheels began to smoke.

"Hazel!" Frank yelled. "We're breaking up!"

She got the message and pulled the reins. The horse didn't seem happy about it, but he slowed to subsonic as they zipped through the city streets. They crossed the Ironworkers bridge into North Vancouver, and the chariot started to rattle dangerously. At last Arion stopped at the top of a wooded hill. He snorted with satisfaction, as if to say, That's how we run, fools. The smoking chariot collapsed, spilling Finn, Percy, Frank, and Ella onto the wet, mossy ground.

Frank stumbled to his feet. Finn could only make it to her hands and knees, trying to blink the yellow spots out of his eyes. Percy groaned and started unhitching Arion from the ruined chariot. Ella fluttered around in dizzy circles, bonking into the trees and muttering, "Tree. Tree. Tree."

Only Hazel seemed unaffected by the ride. Grinning with pleasure, she slid off the horse's back. "That was fun!"

"Yeah." Finn gagged, then threw up a fifth time. "So much fun."

Arion whinnied.

"He says he needs to eat," Percy translated, because apparently he could speak horse. Son of the sea god thing, or whatever. "No wonder. He probably burned about six million calories."

Hazel studied the ground at her feet and frowned. "I'm not sensing any gold around here... Don't worry, Arion. I'll find you some. In the meantime, why don't you go graze? We'll meet you—"

The horse zipped off, leaving a trail of steam in his wake.

Hazel knit her eyebrows. "Do you think he'll come back?"

"I don't know," Percy said. "He seems kind of... spirited."

Finn hoped the horse would stay away. She didn't say that, of course. Even she could tell Hazel was distressed by the idea of losing her new friend. But Arion scared Finn, and Finn was pretty sure the horse knew it.

Hazel and Percy started salvaging supplies from the chariot wreckage. There had been a few boxes of random Amazon merchandise in the front, and Ella shrieked with delight when she found a shipment of books. She snatched up a copy of The Birds of North America, fluttered to the nearest branch, and began scratching through the pages so fast, Finn wasn't sure if she was reading or shredding.

Frank leaned against a tree, trying to control his vertigo. Finn was trying to work up the strength to stand again. When her vision cleared, she decided to finally take a look around.

To the south, across Vancouver Harbor, the downtown skyline gleamed red in the sunset. To the north, the hills and rain forests of Lynn Canyon Park snaked between the subdivisions of North Vancouver until they gave way to the wilderness. The only noticeable features were a bend in the river and a dead pine tree.

Finn held up a hand, and Frank grasped it. He helped Finn stand up, and didn't let her fall back over when she instantly stumbled.

"I'm practically home," he said. "My grandmother's house is right over there."

Hazel squinted. "How far?"

"Just over the river and through the woods."

Percy raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? To Grandmother's house we go?"

Frank cleared his throat. "Yeah, anyway."

"I feel like Little Red Riding Hood," Finn said. "Into the woods to bring some bread to Granny who is sick in bed."

Percy, Hazel, and Frank stared at her. They blinked.

"Oh, come on," she groaned. "Into the Woods? Nobody?"

"Nobody," Frank deadpanned.

Finn rolled her eyes. "Whatever. There's no appreciation for theater here."

Her friends just ignored her.

"Frank," Hazel clasped her hands in prayer, "please tell me your grandma'll let us spend the night. I know we're on a deadline, but we've got to rest, right? And Arion saved us some time. Maybe we could get an actual cooked meal?"

"And a hot shower?" Finn added.

"And a bed with, like, sheets and a pillow?" Percy pleaded.

They'd been traveling for more than two days without decent food or sleep. Frank's grandmother could give them supplies. Or, Finn hoped more than anything that she would.

"It's worth a try," Frank decided. "To Grandmother's house we go."

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Finn was so distracted by humming Into the Woods, she would have walked right into the ogres' camp. Fortunately Percy pulled her back.

They crouched next to Hazel, Frank, and Ella behind a fallen log and peered into the clearing.

"Bad," Ella murmured. "This is bad for harpies."

It was fully dark now. Around a blazing campfire sat half a dozen shaggy-haired humanoids. Standing up, they probably would've been eight feet tall—tiny compared to the giant Polybotes or even the Cyclopes they'd seen in California, but that didn't make them any less scary. They wore only knee-length surfer shorts. Their skin was sunstroke red—covered with tattoos of dragons, hearts, and bikini-clad women. Hanging from a spit over the fire was a skinned animal, maybe a boar, and the ogres were tearing off chunks of meat with their clawlike fingernails, laughing and talking as they ate, baring pointy teeth. Next to the ogres sat several mesh bags filled with bronze spheres like cannonballs. The spheres must have been hot, because they steamed in the cool evening air.

Two hundred yards beyond the clearing, the lights of the Zhang mansion (yes, a mansion) glowed through the trees. They were so close. Finn wondered if they could sneak around the monsters, but when she looked left and right, she saw more campfires in either direction, as if the ogres had surrounded the property.

"What are these guys?" Finn whispered.

"Canadians," Percy said.

Frank leaned away from him. "Excuse me?"

"Uh, no offense," Percy said. "That's what a friend of mine called them when I fought them before. She said they live in the north, in Canada."

"Yeah, well," Frank grumbled, "we're in Canada. I'm Canadian. But I've never seen those things before."

Ella plucked a feather from her wings and turned it in her fingers. "Laistrygonians," she said. "Cannibals. Northern giants. Sasquatch legend. Yep, yep. They're not birds. Not birds of North America."

"That's what they're called," Percy agreed. "Laistry—uh, whatever Ella said."

Finn sent the dudes an unamused look. "They could be mistaken for Bigfoot. Maybe that's where the legend came from. Ella, you're pretty smart."

"Ella is smart," she agreed. She shyly offered Finn her feather.

"Oh... thanks." She stuck the feather in her pocket, then noticed Percy was holding back a laugh. Her face reddened. "Shut up."

"I didn't say anything," he said.

"Is your memory coming back, Percy?" Hazel asked. "Do you remember how you beat these guys?"

"Sort of," Percy said. "It's still fuzzy. I think I had help. We killed them with Celestial bronze, but that was before... you know."

"Before Death got kidnapped," Hazel said. "So now, they might not die at all."

Percy nodded. "Those bronze cannonballs... those are bad news. I think we used some of them against the giants. They catch fire and blow up."

"If we cause any explosions," Frank said, "the ogres at the other camps will come running. I think they've surrounded the house, which means there could be fifty or sixty of these guys in the woods."

"So, great. It's a trap," Finn nodded.

Hazel looked at Frank with concern. "What about your grandmother? We've got to help her."

Frank looked sick for a moment, but he tried steeling his emotions so as to figure out a solution.

"We need a distraction," he decided. "If we can draw this group into the woods, we might sneak through without alerting the others."

"I wish Arion was here," Hazel said. "I could get the ogres to chase me."

"I bet Percy wishes Arion was here too," Finn snorted. "Arion's his brother, after all. And Sylvie's."

"Stop bringing that up!" Percy protested. Now his face was the red one.

Finn would try explaining Arion's relationship to Percy and Sylvie, but it would just weird you out. Trust her.

"That doesn't matter right now." Frank slipped his spear off his back. "I've got another idea."

"Frank, you can't charge out there!" Hazel said. "That's suicide!"

"I'm not charging," Frank said. "I've got a friend. Just... nobody scream, okay?"

He jabbed the spear into the ground, and the point broke off.

"Oops," Ella said. "No spear point. Nope, nope."

The ground trembled. A skeletal hand broke the surface. Finn cursed and stumbled away, Percy fumbled for his sword, and Hazel made a sound like a cat with a hairball. Ella disappeared and re-materialized at the top of the nearest tree.

"It's okay," Frank promised. "He's under control!"

The skeleton crawled out of the ground. He stood in camouflage and combat boots, translucent gray flesh covering his bones like glowing Jell-O. He turned his ghostly eyes toward Frank, as if he was waiting for orders.

"Frank, that's a spartus," Percy said. "A skeleton warrior. They're evil. They're killers. They're—"

"I know," Frank said bitterly. "But it's a gift from Mars. Right now that's all I've got. Okay, Gray. Your orders: attack that group of ogres. Lead them off to the west, causing a diversion so we can—"

Unfortunately, "Gray" lost interest after the word "ogres." Maybe he only understood simple sentences. He charged toward the ogres' campfire.

"Wait!" Frank said, but it was too late. Gray pulled two of his own ribs from his shirt and ran around the fire, stabbing the ogres in the back with such blinding speed they didn't even have time to yell. Six extremely surprised-looking Laistrygonians fell sideways like a circle of dominoes and crumbled into dust.

Gray stomped around, kicking their ashes apart as they tried to re-form. When he seemed satisfied that they weren't coming back, Gray stood at attention, saluted smartly in Frank's direction, and sank into the forest floor.

Finn stared at Frank. "How—"

"No Laistrygonians." Ella fluttered down and landed next to them. "Six minus six is zero. Spears are good for subtraction. Yep."

It finally dawned on Finn that Frank might actually be cool. She was so astounded by the ability Mars bestowed on him that she couldn't even speak. Only a few days ago, he was a clumsy and shy baby-man. Now he was turning into a real leader.

She would never say that aloud, of course.

"Let's go." Frank glared down at the broken tip of his spear. "My grandmother might be in trouble."

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BAILEY YAPS...

Sorry Amazonians but 3 chapters of contributing nothing to the plot is kind of insane. And I know we all just want to get back to Sylvie so I'm trying to speed things along

And that's what you missed on GLEE!

Boring chapter eh sorry

Did anyone tear up when Finn started talking about her love for theater cause she reminded you so much of Florian. Cause same. Cause Florian Whitlock I miss you. Pouring one out for Florian Whitlock rn.

Florian saying "You guys just can't recognize real talent" and Finley saying "There's no appreciation for theater here" broke my heart a little bit. Florian rise from the dead we miss you

Oh um and I should probably say this now but next chapter has mentions and descriptions of suicide. I'm putting the trigger warning here, so proceed with caution please