chapter forty-nine

─── frank is actually little red riding hood in disguise

          𝔉rank was right, his grandmother's property was surrounded by a ring of campfires. We were trapped in. He hesitated as he got to the door, key in hand and trembling slightly.

"Hey..." I nudged him, lowering my tone of voice. "What's wrong?"

His eyes flashed for a moment, lips trembling before he swallowed.

"Frank, Ella is nervous." The harpy was rocking back and forth muttering about an elephant as Frank tried to get the key in the lock.

"Deal with that." I gave Hazel a pointed look, turning to place a hand on Frank's shoulders. "Come on, talk to me bud."

"It'll be fine, right?" Frank looked at me. "Just staying together, it'll be fine?"

"It'll be fine." I nodded, trying to reassure him. "We're going to be fine."

He nodded, before pushing the door open. 

The house smelled old, dust caking the shelves and paintings, plates piling up in the kitchen. Frank had hesitated stepping in, but we'd manage to get into the house and close the door behind us. We stopped, staring at a dark fireplace as I grew confused.

"Is that-"

"Yeah." Frank nodded. "That's it."

Great. We were being cryptic now.

"That's what?" They didn't say anything for a moment.

"A fireplace." Frank deadpanned.

"You little s-"

"Let's check upstairs." He cut me off as I muttered the rest of it under my breath as they hurried up the creaking stairs. The pair knew exactly what I was asking of them, and were being deliberately misleading.

Frank showed us his room, showing us his awards and pictures of his mom, though he grew sad at that. I knew the feeling well, missing my own mom more than anything. I wonder if she even knew where I was.

"Your mother?" Hazel was trying to coax him into talking, but Frank wasn't saying much. "She's beautiful, Frank."

He hummed, before shaking his head and stepping away. We followed him quietly as he knocked on another door, opening it and freezing as he did. 

"Mars." Hazel and I peered around his shoulders, though there was no one in the room.

"What do you mean, Mars? Is your grandmother...Is she okay?" His grandmother looked gaunt, frail and on the verge of death.

"You don't see him?" Frank glanced at us.

"See who?" There was no one else here, but Frank was starting to creep me out. Was he seeing ghosts? "Where's Mars?"

Frank clenched his fists, tensing up before he turned back to us.

"It's nothing. Listen, why don't you take the middle bedrooms?"

"Roof." Ella piped up. "Roofs are good for harpies."

"Sure." Frank nodded as I shot Hazel a worried look. "There's probably food in the kitchen. Would you give me a few minutes alone with my grandmother? I think she-"

His voice cracked as I put a hand on Ella's shoulder, pulling her away.

"Of course, Frank. You know where we'll be." Hazel smiled gently, before following me away. the door closed behind us, as Hazel caught up to my side. "This place looks abandoned."

"Yeah." I agreed, opening the cupboard and finding the bare bones of food. "Alright, I can make a quick dish with this. Go and shower. We'll deal with them later." 

Hazel actually did as I asked which was pretty useful, giving me time to cook and sort through the memories with no one hovering over my shoulder and pestering me. Kids were hard work sometimes.

It took me a while to get it all sorted, leaving a plate for Frank just in case as I wrote down my memories on one of the scrap pieces of paper lying around. It wasn't much, the bare bones of my life really, but it was enough for me to have a vague idea of who I was and what I was doing or had been doing before I'd woken up in the woods.

"Your memories?" Hazel reappeared, trying to lean over my shoulder, though I nudged her towards the food. It wasn't that I didn't trust her with them, it was just that I was still trying to work out whether it was true or not, let alone whether anyone else would think it was true. "Thanks, Romy."

"It's alright." I waved her off, scribbling something more down, "and yeah, I think so. Just trying to make sense of it."

"What are you remembering?"

"My mom." I smiled sadly at the thought of her laughter. "My boyfriend."

"The one who got turned into a guinea pig?" Hazel giggled at my nod of agreement. She was trying to hide her laughter, but failed miserably. I couldn't blame her. I thought the situation was a bit funny, what I could remember of it anyway. "What's he called? Is he Roman?"

"I don't think so." I shook my head, reaching up to touch the beads around my neck. He had a necklace like mine, but his had more beads than I did. There must be some place else, somewhere where we were safe together because I knew he wasn't dead. "If he was Roman, I would have found him already."

"I'm sorry you haven't, Romy."

"Not your fault, kid." I took a deep breath, brushing my finger over Luke's name, before folding it and sliding it into my pocket. I patted it softly. He'd be there when I got back, I hoped.

∘☽༓☾∘

"What are you thinking?" Hazel and I had forgone sleep as dawn crept closer. We were both leaning over the parapet of the roof, staring down at the surrounding ogre camps as Ella kept us aware of what was happening below us, having taken up a space in the attic. The ogres were coming into the garden now, throwing the cannon balls in the air and assessing the house. They were growing bold now.

"I think we're screwed." I muttered as Hazel shot me a look.

"You're supposed to be the one with the plan."

"Yeah, I'm struggling with a plan at the moment." I shot back. One of the cannon balls was thrown up too close, as the house shook. I summoned more water, dousing it to put the flames out before they could hit us. Hazel and I winced, as I tried to find a weak spot for them. "You got a plan?"

"No." Hazel shook her head. "I can't find Arion either, so I'm not sure how to get him back."

"Whistle?"

"I actually can't whistle." I hummed, turning to look at her as Hazel nodded. "Yeah, I know. I never learnt."

"It's easy. I'll teach you when we're not about to be killed by ogres." I grinned. before there was the sound of footsteps on the ladder.

"Morning." I turned back to look at Frank, who was pulling himself up. "Beautiful day, huh?"

I doused another cannon ball with water, detonating the sphere in mid air, far enough away from the house. Still, it shook the foundation.

"Are you okay?" Hazel checked. "Why are you smiling?"

"Oh, uh, nothing." Frank managed. "Thanks for whoever made breakfast, and whoever put clothes out and not hating me."

"Why would we hate you?" Hazel stuttered, hands on her hips as I chuckled. 

"Its just...last night, when I summoned the skeleton. I though-" Frank stammered. "I thought that you thought I was repulsive...or something."

"Bud." I turned, both Hazel and I shooting him incredulous looks. "I've got no sanity and Hazel has a horse that only speaks in curse words. I think death skeletons are the least of our worries."

"You said they were evil."

"And then you continued anyway and I decided, you know best. Got to let kids make their own mistakes, first rule of parenting." Frank and Hazel shot me a confused look.

"We were impressed." Hazel turned back to Frank with a shake of her head.

"You were...impressed...by me?" Frank looked stunned.

"It was amazing!" Hazel laughed.

"Honest?"

"Honest." Hazel promised. "But, right now, we have other problems to worry about. Okay?"

We both nodded to the army of ogres, who were getting increasingly bold, shuffling closer and closer to the house. I readied myself.

"I've got one more trick up my sleeve. Your lawn has a sprinkler system. I can blow it and cause some confusion down there, but that's going to ruin the water pressure for the house." I turned to them. "No more hot showers, no more clean water, no more ammunition for me and those cannonballs will go right through the house." 

We all went silent.

"Guys, I've got an escape plan." Frank spoke up, before starting to tell us about the plane waiting at the airfield, and his grandmother's note for the pilot. "He's a legion veteran. He'll help us."

"You've got good connections." I pointed out.

"Arion's not back." Hazel panicked momentarily. "What about your grandmother? We can't just leave her."

"Hazel's right."

"Maybe-Maybe Arion will find us." Frank was avoiding the question, his voice thick with grief. "As for my grandmother...she was pretty clear. She said she'd be okay."

I wanted to delve into that, but there was another matter on my mind. I was starting to remember a conversation with my uncle, on my father's side, with a curse about flying.

"Might need to put it out there, I don't think flying and me is a good combination." I scratched my ear. "My dad's god of the sea, and I think I pissed my uncle off."

"You're going to risk it then and so will I."

"I think it might just be me tha-Wait a second, what's that supposed to mean?" I paused, turning to look at Frank.

"Yeah, we're related." Frank nodded, as my jaw dropped. "We can have a party later."

"Damn, are we siblings?"

"No, more like, distantly related cousins. Couple removed." Frank replied, as I leaned over to pinch his cheek. "Ow, get off!"

"Little Frankie is a child of Neptune. Aww!" He scowled.

"You're deranged."

"We're related. You'll be deranged soon. Good luck for your twenties." I pointed at him, as he scowled.

"You're going to use the fact we're related to hold over me for months now."

"Nah..." He shot me a look as I patted his shoulders. "Years."

Frank pulled a face, as Hazel sighed.

"How are you and Romy related?"

"Periclymenus, ancestor on my mom's side. Argonaut. Grandson of Poseidon." Frank spat out, as I grinned at Frank, who threatened to push me over the roof in response. "Look, it's mad. My family has an ability, supposedly. But I don't know how to use it. If I can't figure it out-"

There was a cheer from below us.

"Zhang! Zhang!" The ogres were waving and laughing up at us as we peered down at them.

"They keep doing that. Why are they yelling your name?" Hazel asked. 

"Never mind." Frank waved us off, in a move that was surprisingly like mine. Gods, the family resemblance was really showing. "Listen, we've got to protect Ella, take her with us."

"Of course." Hazel nodded. "The poor thing needs our help."

"No." Frank shook his head. "I mean yes, but it's not just about that. She recited a prophecy downstairs. I think...I think it was about this quest."

He was holding something back, shooting me a worried look, before relenting and explaining the prophecy to me.

"To the north, beyond the gods, lies the legion's crown. Falling from ice, the daughter of Neptune shall drown." Frank explained as I huffed.

"Look, if I had a time for how many times I was predicted death, I'd probably have a lot of coins." I pulled a face, having some memory of various sentences involving my death. "I think."

"You think?" 

"Anyway, the crown of the legion?"

"That's got to be the eagle." Hazel said as we all hummed in agreement. "And Ella recited something like this once before, in Portland - a line from the old Great Prophecy."

"The what?" Frank asked.

"Tell you later." I shot another cannonball out of the sky, watching it explode in an orange fireball. The ogres clapped, and I bowed before turning back around.

"The thing is, Ella remembers everything she reads." Frank continued to explain. "She said something about the page being burned, like she'd read a damaged text of prophecies."

"Burned books of prophecy? You don't think-but that's impossible." Hazel's eyes went wide as I tried to connect the dots.

"The books Octavian wanted, back at camp?" Hazel and Frank both nodded.

"The lost Sibylline books that outlines the entire destiny of Rome. If Ella actually read a copy somehow, and memorised it-"

"Then she's the most valuable harpy in the world." Frank agreed with Hazel. "No wonder Phineas wanted to capture her."

"Frank Zhang!" An ogre shouted from below us, bigger than everyone else. "Come down, son of Mars! We've been waiting for you. Come be our honoured guest!"

"Why do I get the feeling that 'honoured guest' means the same thing as 'dinner'?" Hazel asked Frank, gripping onto his arm,

"Can you drive, Romy?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Grandmother's car is in the garage. It's an old Cadillac." Frank explained. "The thing is like a tank. If you can get it started-"

"We still have to break through a line of ogres," Hazel pointed out. 

"The sprinkler system," I nodded to myself. "Could use it as a distraction."

"Exactly." Frank agreed. "I'll buy you as much time as I can. Get Ella, and get in the car. I'll try to meet you in the garage but don't wait for me."

I did not like that idea.

"Frank-"

"Give us your answer, Frank Zhang!" The ogre thundered. "Come down and we will spare the others - your friends, your poor old granny. We only want you!"

"They're lying." I muttered.

"Yeah, I kind of got that." Frank agreed. "Go!"

I hesitated, but Hazel grabbed me, dragging me towards the ladder. We both raced through the house, pulling Ella along with us. She yelped, looking between me and Hazel with wide eyes as we searched for the keys in the draw near the door.

"Which key?"

"This one." Hazel threw the key towards me, all three of us rushing into the garage and starting to open the doors.

"Get into the car." Hazel did as she was told, as I pulled the doors open. The house rattled. I looked around, throwing the doors open and hurrying back to the car as the house shook again. I turned the engine on, revving it for a few times as the backdoor was thrown open. Frank dived in, Ella curled up beside him, her head tucked under wings.

"Alright kids, hold on." I grinned, before dropping the hand break and shooting out of the garage. The ogres ran to intercept us, as I searched for the water in the ground. My stomach twisted, breath catching as I groaned in pain. It took me a moment before the the irrigation system exploded. 

I forced the water upwards and out of the soil, sending earth, water and pipe flying into the air, all the while revving the Cadillac faster. We hit the first ogre at forty, disintegrating him on impact. 

By the time the other monsters overcame their confusion, the Cadillac was half a mile away from them.

"I think we're going over the speed limit." Hazel leant towards me, as fireballs landed behind us on the road. I took the turn north, nodding.

"I never get to drive like this at home, it's fun."

"Isn't it?" Hazel and I laughed as Frank shot both of us horrified looks.

"About three miles to go." Frank shook his head, looking back at the forest that was starting to burn from the cannonballs. "You can't miss it."

"How fast can Laistrygonians run?" Hazel questioned, as I put my foot down.

"Let's not find out." I grinned, as the gates of the airfield appeared before them. A private jet idled on the runway as I drove the car over the pothole, flooring the breaks so that we swerved to a stop just inside the gates.

"Get to the plane! They're coming!" Frank drew his bow. The Laistrygonians were closing in at an alarming speed, the first line bursting through the tree line and barrelling towards the jet.

"Come on Ella." Hazel and I helped her out of the car, but as soon as the harpy saw the aeroplane, she began to shriek.

"N-No!" Ella yelped. "No aeroplanes."

"It's okay." Hazel promised. "We'll protect you."

Ella let out a horrible wail as I paused.

"We can't force her."

"No." Frank agreed, as the ogres grew closer.

"She's too valuabl-ooh, that came out wrong." Hazel cut herself off, shaking her head. "That is not what I wanted to say."

"I've got an idea." Something came to mind. Mrs O'Leary. The one that Luke had mentioned was looking for me. If Luke trusted her then surely she could be trusted to look after Ella and get her to Camp Jupiter. "Ella can you hide in the woods? Will you be safe from the ogres?"

"Hide." Ella began to nod. "Safe. Hiding is good for harpies. Ella is quick, and small, and fast."

"Okay." I nodded. "Just stay around this area. I can send a friend to meet you and take you to Camp Jupiter."

Frank notched an arrow.

"A friend?" Frank sounded disbelieving.

"I have friends!" I snapped back, before turning back to Ella. "Would you like that, Ella? Would you like my friend to take you to Camp Jupiter and show you our home?"

"Camp." Ella muttered before beginning to mutter something in Latin. "Wisdom's daughter walks alone, the Mark of Athena burns through Rome."

"Right." I nodded, trying to process everything quickly as the monsters grew closer. "Seems legit, but we'll talk about that later. You'll be safe at camp. All the books and food you want."

"No planes?"

"No planes." I agreed.

"Ella will hide now." And with that, she disappeared.

"I'm going to miss her." Hazel sighed sadly.

"We'll see her again." I promised, Ella's words weighing heavily on my mind. This thing about Athena didn't fill me with confidence in the slightest. 

"Romy, show this to the pilot. Show him your letter from Reyna too! We've got to take off now!" I agreed, taking the letters from Frank as Hazel and I sprinted for the plane. My stomach was queasy, and I wasn't feeling particularly happy about this idea. Planes and I didn't go together well, but I didn't really have a choice.

I took the stairs two at a time as the pilot began to protest. Showing him both letters, I took a deep breath, double checking on Frank, who was holding the ogres off.

"Should we go and help him?" Hazel questioned, as I shook my head.

"Nah, I think he's doing alright." Frank was sent flying at that moment, as I turned around and pretended not to see it. 

"Romy!"

"These seem to be in order."

"Great." I shook the pilot's hand, before turning back and whistling. Frank turned, and I waved my hand as he started to run. I nudged Hazel to sit down, doing the buckle up on my seat as Frank came flying through the door. We began to taxi for the runway, as a memory flashed back to me. I was on another plane, Luke was sitting next to me and I was clinging onto his hand as we headed for the runway.

The pilot pushed the throttle, the plane shooting down the runway and into the air. There was another blast ripping through the runway behind us, as I dug my nails into the seats of the chair. As we levelled out, Frank put his head in his hands and started to cry.

"Senatus Populusque Romanus, my friends. Welcome aboard." The pilot came over the intercom. "Next stop: Anchorage, Alaska."

∘☽༓☾∘

Hiya,

So, here's another chapter of Can't Pretend. Frank is not having a good time, Andi's memories are coming back, Luke's kind of made an appearance and we're having a good time.

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx