chapter fourty-three

─── how to capture a harpy; a step by step guide

          𝔍ust for good measure, and because I thought this man was actually psychotic, I stole his food. I didn't tell him that I was going to do it, and then continued to ignore all of his yells and protests.

Gods, I hated men, specifically this man.

"Come on guys." I slipped through the cracks of the food trucks. Hazel and Frank were pacing on the outskirts of the food truck site, anxiety palpable in the air. At my words, both of them spun to face me, eyes wide.

"What-"

"What happened?"

"What did he say?"

They both spoke over each other as I tried to work out what to say or do in this situation. It's not like I could tell them that we needed to capture a harpy and give her to a guy who wanted to commit a couple of war crimes. Tilting my head back, I left the rain drip down my face, before everything went quiet once more.

"That man needs to die, again." Hazel ground out. I couldn't tell whether she was blinking back tears or whether she was plotting murder. She was retwisting her hair over and over again, scowling. How everything was happening, her reaction and Phineas' words, I was starting to connect some dots. The way Hazel avoided talking about her past, the way Nico di Angelo was so secretive, cautious and consistently lying to me. But Hazel was a good kid, she was kind and she deserved to grow up in a world that wasn't about to be destroyed.

"We'll get him." I promised her, squeezing her shoulder. "He's nothing like you, Hazel."

"You don't know the whole story." Hazel shook her head, swiping at her eyes quickly. "I should have been sent to Punishment. I-I'm just as bad-"

"No you're not!" Frank balled his fists, eyes hard as he looked around. "You're a good person! A great person. You don't deserve any of this."

"Frank-" Hazel took a deep breath. "I-I don't..."

Frank pulled his spear off his back, as if ready to march back over to Phineas, until I grabbed the back of his shirt and hauled him back.

"Let me do it. Let me go and intimidate that old man, scare him."

"I'm not getting you arrested for assaulting the elderly." I stopped him. "I love the enthusiasm, but Phineas cannot and will not be scared into cooperating. You have two more uses of the spear, don't waste them on him."

"I guess..." Frank sighed. I wasn't sure what the seer had meant about Frank's family history, the burnt stick controlling his life or his great-grandfather destroying camp, but it had shaken Frank up.

"Right, we've got to go and find the red-feathered harpy." I tried to distract them. "She went that way. Let's see if we can get her to talk to us."

"You're going to do what he said?"

"It's a peace offering, I need the other harpies to stop stealing this stuff, alright?" I lead them down the street, unwrapping the food that I'd stolen so that the steam wafted into the air. Frank and Hazel had their weapons out, the harpies fluttering after us, perched on trees and mailboxes. I wonder if the mortals thought that they were just really large pigeons.

I continued to move through the streets, before finally spotting the red-feathered harpy. She was circling above a stretch of parkland that ran for several blocks. 

"Come on, let's sit here." I directed them to sit on a bench beneath a bronze sculpture of an elephant that I thought might bring them comfort.

"Looks like Hannibal." Hazel muttered.

"Except it's Chinese." Frank and Hazel both looked upset, arms folded as I looked around for the harpy. "My grandmother has one of those. I mean, hers isn't twelve feet tall. But, she imports stuff from China. We're Chinese."

I pulled a face, before patting him on the back as he put his head in his hands.

"Can I die from embarrassment now?"

"Could be worse." I stifled a laughter, trying not to make him feel worse as Frank went red up to his ear. "Let's see if we can make friends with the harpy, yeah?"

Both of my quest mates hummed in agreement. I wafted the smell upwards, trying not to let my own stomach rumble in an embarrassing sort of way.

"We won't hurt you." I called, looking up at the red-feathered harpy that was hovering around. "We just want to talk. Thai noodles for a chance to talk, okay?"

The harpy streaked down in a flash of red, landing on the elephant statue. She was painfully thin, her legs like sticks and her face sunken in. 

"Cheese?" The harpy muttered, looking sideways. "Ella doesn't like cheese."

"Your name is Ella?" I hesitated, my eyebrows furrowing.

"Ella. Aella. Harpy, in Englih. In Latin." Ella whispered, fiddling with her hands as she talked quickly. She barely made eye contact. "Ella doesn't like cheese."

She lunged forward, snatching the food from my hand as the three of us stared at where it had once been.

"She's fast." Hazel whispered. Ella sniffed he burrito, nibbling at the edge as if to test whether it was real. She shuddered from head to toe, as if this was the first food she'd had in days.

"Cinnamon is good." Ella pronounced, looking a little happier. "Good for harpies. Yum." 

She started to eat, but the bigger harpies swooped down, stealing her food before she could take a few bites of it.

"No!" Ella yelped, trying to hide under her wings as the harpies pummelled at her to get the food. "No, no, n-n-no."

"Hey! Stop it!" I yelled, as we ran to help. The biggest one had taken the harpy, leading the others away from Ella, who lay whimpering on top of the elephant head. I climbed onto Frank's shoulder, helping Hazel onto my shoulders as she tapped Ella's foot.

"I'm so sorry." Hazel looked sorry. "Are you okay?"

Ella was trembling, I could see that now, scratches on her back that were still bleeding where Phineas had hit her with the weed whacker. She picked at her feathers, pulling out tufts of plumage.

"Small Ella." She stuttered angrily. "W-weak Ella. No cinnamon for Ella. Only cheese."

Frank and I glared at the other burritos, who were sitting in the tree, tearing the burrito to shreds. I understood their anger, their pain, but it should never come at the harm of others.

"We'll get you something else." Frank promised, still standing strong despite carrying mine and Hazel's weight.

"Ella." I tapped Hazel's leg, getting her to nudge the harpy gently. "We want to be your friends. We can get you more food, but-"

"Friends." Ella perked up. "TV show, ten seasons, 1994 to 2004." 

She glanced down at me, before looking up at the clouds.

"A half-blood of the eldest gods, shall reach twenty-one against all odds. Twenty-one. You're twenty-one." She went off onto a ramble about cooking books, my ears ringing. I felt dizzy, like I'd just resurfaced after a long time under water.

"Ella, back up a second, what was that you said?" I helped Hazel down, dropping off of Frank's shoulders as well as we stared at Ella in confusion. 

"Bacon?" She blinked at me a few times. "Butter."

"No, before that. Those lines, I know those lines." I rubbed at my forehead. Hazel shivered beside me.

"It does sound familiar, like I don't know, like a prophecy." Hazel mumbled. "Maybe it's something Phineas said?"

At the name Phineas, Ella squawked in terror and flew away.

"Wait!" Hazel called. "I didn't mean-Oh gods, I'm so stupid."

"It's alright." Frank calmed her. "Look."

Ella wasn't moving so quickly now. She was at the top of a three-storey building, scuttling out of sight over the roof as I rubbed my head. I needed to get some pain medication, because I now had a splitting headache. Stupid memories.

"Think that's her nest?" Frank and Hazel turned to me as I shrugged.

"I don't know." I pulled my water out, taking a few gulps to try and clear the pain up. "County Library. Let's see if it's open."

We jogged in, finding that it was in fact open and deserted as I looked around. I wasn't sure how I felt about libraries, not reading a lot but I knew that Luke was revising for finan-Ooh, ooh, that was new. I came to a screeching stop, turning around to look at the books on economics.

"Romy?"

"That's new." I spun back around, looking back at the economics books as I thought over it. Economics...economics...economics, Luke was studying economics at... "And it's gone."

"Romy?" Hazel asked gently, as I contemplated slamming my head into a brick wall. I was so annoyed, these gaps in my memories were like that final missing piece of a puzzle that ruined it in the process.

"I'm fine." I waved them off, groaning, before standing back up. "Just got dizzy for a moment. Let's find a way to the roof."

It took us another few moments to find the roof, but we got our first piece of luck when we found that it was propped open with a copy of War and Peace. Outside, Ella was huddled in a nest of books, under a makeshift carboard shelter that was looking a little worse for wear.

"Hey..." I called softly, approaching slowly as I crouched down ahead of her. She was muttering to herself, pulling at her feathers as if trying to rip them out. "Sorry we scared you. I don't have much food, but I have-"

Ella lunged forwards, almost knocking me into Frank. She took the pack of jelly beans from my hands, before sniffing it and throwing it away.

"Not my-" I stopped myself, crying internally at the loss of the sweets as Frank patted my back sympathetically. No more artificial sugars for me.

"Not from his table. Ella cannot eat. Sad." Ella whispered as I nodded. Sad, it was very sad. My jelly beans were gone.

"There has to be a way for you to get food not from his table." Hazel suggested.

"Photosynthesis." Ella muttered, fiddling with her hair. "Noun. Biology. The synthesis of complex organic materials. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was-"

"What is she saying?" Frank whispered, as Hazel came closer to listen to my answer. I stared at the mounds of books, that all looked old and water filled. 

"She's quoting books." I pointed out. A bad feeling was starting to form in my stomach. If she could quote books, what else could she quote. "Ella, have you read all of these?"

"More." Ella nodded, blinking owlishly at me. "More downstairs. Words. Words calm Ella down. Words, lots of words."

I grabbed the nearest book, flicking it open to find it was something about horse racing.

"Ella, what's the third paragraph on page 62?"

"Secretariat." Ella almost cut me off with how quickly she began to talk. Her eyes lit up, her mouth pulling up into a grin. "Favoured three two in the 1973 Kentucky Derby, finished at standing track record of one fifty-nine and two fifths."

I closed the book.

"Word for word."

"That's amazing." Hazel grinned, both her and Frank praising Ella as I shook my head.

"It's not. Not if it means what I think it means." They both looked at me, as if questioning why I was always such a bundle of joy to have on quests. "Ela, we're going to find a way to break the curse. Would you like that?"

"That's not possible."

"For me, it is." I grinned. "Look, I'm going to say his name. You don't have to run, we're going to save you from the curse. We just need to find a way to beat Phineas."

I thought she might bolt, but instead she curled in further on herself, shaking her head.

"No, no Phineas. Ella is quick, too quick for him." She muttered, tugging on her hair. "But he wants to ch-chain Ella. He hurts Ella."

"Frank has first aid supplies. Can he help you with that?" Ella paused, before nodding as Frank unscrewed his thermos full of nectar. He was explaining softly, talking about the healing properties as he carefully poured it on her back. The wounds started to close as Frank grinned.

"That's better."

"Phineas is bad." Ella insisted, staring at me.

"I know." I agreed. "I won't let him hurt you again. We won't let him hurt you again. We just need to find a way to trick him though. You must know him better than anybody. Is there anyway to trick him?"

"N-no." Ella mumbled, shaking once more. "Tricks are for kids. Tricks are for dogs. 50 Tricks to-"

"Okay Ella." Hazel spoke in a voice that sounded like one you used to calm horses. "What about weaknesses?"

"Blind. He's blind." I hummed.

"Right, besides that?"

"Chance." Ella perked up. "Games of chance. Two to one. Bad odds. Call or fold."

"You mean he's a gambler?" My spirits lifted.

"Phineas sees big things. Prophecies, fates, god stuff. Not small stuff." Ella continued, as a plan started to form in my head. "Random. Exciting. And he's blind."

Frank shot me a look.

"Any idea what she means?" I grinned, nodding my head.

"I understand." Ella nodded along to my words, before going back to avoiding eye contact. "Phineas sees the future, the important events but he can't see small things, like random occurrences and things of chance, so gambling is exciting for him. If we, say, tempt him into a bet..."

Hazel caught on first.

"You mean if he loses, he has to tell us where Thanatos is." I hummed. "But what do we have to wager? What kind of game do we play?"

"Something simple, life and death, two choices." I muttered. "The prize has to be something Phineas wants, besides Ella and war crimes. That's off the table."

"Sight." Ella piped up. "Sight is good for blind men. His patron, she cannot heal, she wants him dependent on her."

"Well, this is going to be fun." I turned to Frank, who was shaking his head. "Oh yes. Give me that gorgon blood."

"This is a terrible idea." Frank pointed out. "The wrong one, one of us dies."

"Frank, I hate to tell you think, but I've got the survival ability of the cockroach. Pretty sure people keep saying that about me-"

"Don't you still have amnesia." Frank pointed out, though I ignored him.

"-And the Fates and I go way back. Don't worry about a little pesky dying thing, I've got a plan." I grinned as Hazel reluctantly nodded along. Frank looked unamused.

"You see, every time you grin like that, I lose five years of my life expectancy."

∘☽༓☾∘

Hiya,

So Frank and Andi are just chaotic siblings tbh, I love that Andi is just crazy for the most parts and little Luke snippets, though I'm trying to get him to come back sooner. Ella's such a sweetheart, I love it,

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx