chapter forty-eight

─── i start to remember my boyfriend's bad jokes

          ℑ was incredibly close to kissing the ground when the wheels of the chariot fell off, but I wasn't that desperate just yet. Not because I was sick, none of the sort, but if I had to watch Frank be sick for a third time, I was going to throw him over the side of the chariot.

Me and vomit wasn't a good combination.

It didn't help that Ella was documenting our speed and seemingly egging Arion on, and this was a horse that really didn't need to be told to go faster. 

We had crossed into Canada pretty quickly, heading north at an astonishing speed. It was only when we were getting into Vancouver that the chariot wheels started to smoke. I guess they could only hold out for so long.

"Hazel! We're breaking up!" Frank had managed to regain himself, even if he looked incredibly green. I fought a gag at the smell of vomit, shivering. We began to slow, as Arion's voice filtered back into my head, now that I could hear him.

-not my fault that the chariot's weak. Bet it was the stupid mortals. We crossed the bridge, after zipping through the city streets, and Arion began to prance. I'm too fast for these fools. That's how we do it. Stupid Amazons.

"You need to wash your mouth out." I stumbled off the chariot, pointing at the horse who scoffed, and shook his head. Ella was flying in circles, Frank was leaning against a tree as I managed to untangle the horse from it's harness.

"That was so much fun!" Hazel jumped down. "Did you see? Did you see?"

"Not really, Hazel, the wind was too much but I know you were incredible." 

"So much fun." Frank whimpered, swallowing back his nausea. 

I'm hungry, let me eat or I'll eat you.

"Gods above, he says he needs to eat." I shot the horse a look. "No wonder. He probably burned about six million calories."

Hazel studied the ground at her feet, scowling.

"I'm not sensing any gold around here..." She trailed off, before looking over at the horse apologetically. "Don't worry, Arion. I'll find you some. In the meantime, why don't you graze?"

Do I look like some stupid grass eater?

"Yes. You're a horse." I spat as the horse shot me a glare, before snorting and aiming to bite me. He missed, heading off to eat as Hazel knitted her eyebrows together.

"Do you think he'll come back?"

"I don't know." I shrugged. "He doesn't really speak a lot."

 I began to help Hazel salvage supplies from the chariot wreckage. There'd been a few boxes of random Amazon merchandise in the front, causing Ella to shriek with delight at the shipment of books. She fluttered off to a nearby tree, giggling as she read through the book with a grin.

"I'm practically home." Frank piped up. "My grandmother's house is right over there."

"How far?" Hazel squinted as all of us turned to look at where Frank was looking.

"Just over the river and through the woods." 

"Seriously?" I turned to him, pulling a face. "To Grandmother's house, should we go?"

"Alright Yoda, anyway." Frank rolled his eyes, as Hazel began to plead. She was putting her newly learned skill of gaslighting and puppy eyes to good use.

"Frank, please tell me she'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?" She shot me a look to drag me into this.

"And a hot shower?" That sounded really good right about now, because my hair was starting to feel like hay again and I didn't need Arion trying to take a chunk out of it or something. "And a bed with sheets and a pillow instead of, you know, a chariot?"

Frank pulled a face.

"It's worth a try." Hazel and I high fived. "To Grandmother's house we go."

∘☽༓☾∘

Frank almost walked right into the ogres' camp as I grabbed the back of his shirt, yanking it backwards. Me and Hazel shoved him behind a log with Ella, all of us looking into the clearing.

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

It was pitch black, and a blazing camp fire illuminated half a dozen humanoids. They were close to eight feet tall, tiny compared to the giant, but they were still terrifying. They tore into chunks of meat, shredding it with their fingers as they showed each other their tattoos, cackling and baring their teeth. Mesh bags filled with bronze cannonball like spehers that steamed in the evening air. 

Beyond that were lights of a house, and Frank tensed beside it.

"What are these guys?" He whispered, as something came back to me. Luke and I were laughing, in an alleyway. There were another two people there, but he was looking at me, with a glint in his eyes, and lip curling into a smirk.

"Canadians." Frank turned to me as I fought a giggle. 

"Excuse me?" I could almost see me and Luke laughing in the alley. The smaller girl was there, shooting us an exasperated look and my brother too. He looked a bit confused.

"I think I've fought them before. Luke joked, said they were Canadians." I muttered, reaching up to touch my camp necklace as I thought.

"We're in Canada. I'm Canadian, but I've never seen those things before."

"Laistrygonians." Ella pulled a feather from her wings, turning it between her fingers. "Cannibals. Northern giants. Not birds of North America."

"Yeah, that." I agreed, pointing at Ella as Frank scowled. "You're really smart, Ella."

"Ella is smart." She shyly agreed, before offering Frank her feather.

"Oh...thanks." Frank took it, pocketing it as Ella giggled. Hazel and I shot each other a look, as the thoughts of a list came to me. 

"So, your memory is coming back?" Hazel whispered as I hummed. "Do you remember how you beat these guys?"

"Sort of." I was in a gymnasium, having to dodge the cannonballs as quickly as possible. Someone was with me, throwing them back though I didn't know how. There was an explosion, and Luke was there. He punched someone, and there was the girl with her dagger, stabbing one of them. "I had help. We killed them with Celestial bronze, but that was before Death got kidnapped."

"So, they might not die at all." Hazel sighed as I nodded along.

"Those bronze cannonballs are bad news. I think we used some of them against the giants. They catch fire and blow up." I pointed out as Frank seemed to grow uneasy.

"If we cause any explosions, there could be more ogres at other camps, they could come running." Frank motioned to the lights in the distance. "They will have surrounded the house, which means what, fifty or sixty of these guys in the woods and my grandmother-"

"It's a trap." Hazel continued as Frank trailed off. "We've got to help your grandmother."

"Agreed." I nodded, pushing Luke to the back of my brain as I thought. "If we know it's a trap, then we can mitigate it Frank."

"We need a distraction." His eyes flashed, a calculating look appearing and one that I was well familiar with. I'd seen it on Annabeth's face often enough. 

Annabeth.

I leant back as Frank started to go over the plan.

I remembered her name now. With her name came flashes of her; her laughter, her grin, her annoyed huff when Luke or I had to correct her homework. I remembered her. 

"I've got another idea." Frank nudged me, bringing me back to the present as I stored her name away with Luke, Tyson, Grover and my mom. 

"Frank, you can't charge out there." Hazel hissed. "That's suicide! Tell him, Romy."

"I'm not charging, honest." Frank turned to look at me as I held my hands up in surrender. "I've got a friend. Just...nobody scream, okay?"

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

"Oops." Ella whispered. "No spear point. Nope. Nope."

The ground trembled and a skeletal hand broke the surface. I drew Riptide in an instance, Hazel choking on her spit. Ella had just disappeared entirely.

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

"I didn't know zombie creation was your area of expertise." I hissed as the skeleton pulled itself free, dressed in combat boots and camouflage. He turned his ghostly eyes towards Frank, awaiting orders. "Frank, now I hate to be the voice of reason and we know that I have limited sanity, but buddy, bud, this is an evil, killer skeleton warrior."

"I know." Frank huffed.

"Alright, that's my speech done." I nodded, as Hazel shot me a look.

"He's a gift, from Mars. Right now, that's all I've got." Frank turned back to the skeleton. "Grey, your orders. Attack the group of ogres. Lead them off to the west, causing a diversion-"

The skeleton rushed off, as Frank yelped. Hazel and I sidled up to him.

"That went well." We watched as the skeleton charged into the camp, stabbing the ogres in the back with blinding speed. Six extremely surprised looking giants fell sideways, crumbling into dust as the skeleton stomped around, kicking their ashes as they tried to reform. Only when he was satisfied, did he salute and disintegrate. "How-I'm not even going to ask."

I walked into the clearing, hands in the air.

At this point, nothing surprised me anymore.

∘☽༓☾∘

Hiya,

So, Luke and Annabeth make an appearance for some memories. We've got some others coming up soon, but I'm excited to see more of them in the memories and we've got to Frank's grandmother's house! 

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx