Chapter 21 - The Ring of Time
published: Wednesday, 17 April 2019

"και τους τουριστικούς χώρους?" Leo asked the stall vendor.

The vendor pointed to the right, then to the left. "Τα ερείπια του ναού του Απόλλωνα είναι εκεί, από το μοναστήρ."

Frank rapped his foot impatiently as they exchanged a few more phrases in Greek. It seemed that Leo had told a joke, making the vendor laugh.

"Εύχομαι περισσότεροι τουρίστες ήταν σαν εσένα," the vendor chuckled as he handed Leo a complimentary hot dog.

Leo winked at him. "Ω, δεν υπάρχει κανένας σαν εμένα." He turned around and walked towards Frank.

"Have a nice chat?" Frank frowned.

Leo shrugged. "Sorry, man. Not my fault that you were born a Roman." He held out his hand. "Hot dog?"

Frank rolled his eyes. "What did he say?"

"The ruins of Apollo's temple are that way." Leo gestured as he took a massive bite out of his hot dog.

Frank ran his thumb over the Sight ring that sat on his left ring finger. This was the second ring they were to retrieve for Mnemosyne.

Since the ring had appeared in a place of relevance in Greek mythology, the demigods had begun a journey of all the tourist sites of the Greek islands.

Frank and Leo — the delegated explorers — hiked up the hill under the sweltering heat.

Even Leo, who could withstand unbearably high temperatures, was slightly dizzy from the heat.

"Why does it have to be summer?" Frank grumbled. "Why couldn't Tartarus have decided to attack in spring?"

"And in Maine," Leo groaned. "Or Florida."

"C'mon," Frank said desperately, beckoning half-heartedly for Leo to follow him. He squinted to see the temple ruins against the blinding sunlight. "Almost there."

"Why is there always a hill?" Leo whined as he stumbled after Frank.

Both of them stopped once they reached the summit, panting breathlessly.

Leo sat down on the grass and lay down, spreading his limbs to get the most of the short-lived cool breeze.

Frank scanned the area as he caught his breath. Tourists were milling about, snapping pictures and admiring the remains of Apollo's temple. It was mainly a pile of rocks, with only one wall fully maintained.

"We should start searching inside," Frank said glumly. "Then we can leave."

"Enjoy the view, Frank," Leo insisted. He opened his eyes, raising a hand to block off the sunlight. The temple lay on a barren plain surrounded by the sea. "How often are we going to be on the Greek islands?"

"I'm never coming back," Frank declared. "Every time we come to Greece, someone is trying to take over the world. Whether it's the Earth or a pit of darkness..."

"Frank," Leo said sharply. His gaze had caught on an insect that was crawling down his sleeve.

It had feelers that twitched rapidly, six legs, and a red abdomen that resembled that of a beetle. The weirdest thing was that the insect's beady eyes seemed to be staring at him.

Leo let out a yell of pain as razor-sharp teeth suddenly shot out of the insect's mouth, and sank deep into his arm.

"Ow!" Leo leaped to his feet in horror as he swatted the insect off. "What in the—"

The insect fell off and Leo inspected his arm. For such a small thing, it left a big bite. The area surrounding it was swelling with redness, and blood oozed out of the cut.

Leo felt a wave of dizziness wash over him. "Poison," he said faintly as he stared blankly at the bite. Leo slowly looked down to see a whole flurry of identical insects, swarming along the ground, running onto his shoes and trying to reach his bare legs.

"Monster insects!" Frank shouted as hundreds of them started crawling out from the ground and surrounding him.

A flame appeared in Leo's palm, and he shot a ring of fire into the ground, searing a whole row of insects.

Tourists around them were starting to pay attention to the commotion, and strange glances were thrown their way.

"Get off! Get off!" Frank yelled, shaking his legs rapidly.

More and more insects seemed to miraculously appear as of from nowhere, and began feasting on the two demigods. Leo wished he had Annabeth to tell them what kind of monsters they were.

With a loud roar, Frank suddenly transformed into a lion. He trampled across the grass, crushing insects as he went, and swiping them off him with his claws.

But then they got in his mane, and Frank was forced to turn into something else.

Leo, meanwhile, had resorted to fire to get them off. He shot fireballs at the insects and burned them into the ground.

But some of them got through, and Leo was quickly bleeding all over. "What are these?" he yelped in pain. "Cannibal insects?"

Frank has turned into a vulture and was soaring overhead in an attempt to shake the bugs off. He let out a screech before making land again and morphing into a snake.

On the other side of the hill, Leo began to realise that fire might not have been a good idea. The small patches of weeds had caught fire, effectively spreading the flames across the landscape.

Tourists backed away in a panic from the fire, although they didn't seem to notice the flesh-eating insects launching attacks.

"Uh, Frank?" Leo called out frantically. "Some help?" Fire burned all around him, roasting insects left and right. But he could only start fires, not stop them.

A deafening trumpeting noise made Leo instinctively wince and cover his ears. His eyes widened as he saw a gigantic grey elephant stampeding across the hill towards him.

"That's—that's an elephant!" one of the mortals screamed, sending everyone into a flurry of panic.

Someone was yelling into a phone, probably to the fire department.

Frank the elephant lifted up his trunk and sprayed a fountain of water across the hill. Leo figures he must've sucked up some of the seawater.

The monster-insect-hybrids hung from Frank's wrinkled animal hide, biting into it and drawing blood.

"Frank, distract them!" Leo shouted, an idea popping into his head.

Frank trumpeted again, more exasperatedly this time, as if to say, What do you think I've been doing?

Leo sprinted away from the insect infestation and crawled into the temple ruins. Ignoring the jutting rocks digging into his knees, Leo scrabbled among the ground, sifting through the gravel and crumbling rock.

Amongst the dust, Leo's fingers brushed again something cold — metal.

"Yes," he hissed triumphantly as he pulled out the ring.

The word 'χρόνος' was inscribed on the band. Ancient Greek for 'time'.

Leo slipped it onto his finger and pulled himself out of the temple.

Almost instantly, he was mobbed by the insects, weighing him down such that he fell into the ground.

"Gah!" Leo spluttered as he felt the insects running along his arms and legs and t-shirt. "Frank, follow me!" he shouted as an idea popped into his head.

Leo took off in a mad sprint down the hill, towards the edge of the cliff and the water below. He tried his best to shake off the insects as he ran by flailing is arms wildly.

When Leo reached the edge, he took a flying jump off the cliff.

The next few seconds of free-fall struck terror into his heart. Then he landed in the water with an enormous splash, sending water flying in all directions.

Leo took a gulp of breath and stayed underwater for a few seconds, squeezing his eyes shut. He felt the insects unlatch from his skin and clothes from a lack of oxygen.

When his lungs began to burn, Leo burst through the surface, gasping for breath. The saltwater made the bites on his skin sting.

"Frank!" Leo hollered, spitting salty water out of his mouth. He teased the water as his gaze snapped from side to side.

Frank surfaced on his right — as a dolphin, this time. He let out a chittering noise, which Leo took as his signal to hop on.

As Leo struggled to get his leg over Frank's back, he glanced behind at the island.

The insects had formed long chains that allowed them to float on the water like a raft. They were nothing if not innovative, Leo decided.

Leo patted Frank on the side, urging him to start swimming.

It took them a few minutes to completely circle the island, but the Argo II soon came into sight.

Leo waved to some tourists who did double takes upon seeing him riding a dolphin.

The gangplank lowered to reveal Jason standing at the edge with an expression of disbelief, and Hazel behind him who laughed at the absurdity of the situation.

She pulled Leo up by the arms and gasped. "Leo, your arms!"

"Explain later," Leo said dismissively. He stumbled forward onto the deck, the insect poison starting to affect his mind as the adrenaline wore off.

He collapsed on the couch in exhaustion as Hazel ran downstairs to the infirmary to grab their first-aid kit.

Out of the corner of his eye, Leo saw Jason supporting Frank, who had passed out from his consecutive transformations.

"Festus," Leo called, and was met with various creaks and squeaks. "Sail for Limnos."

There was the rolling of chain as the anchor was lifted and the bow of the ship was steered in another direction. Festus let out a stream of smoke as the Argo II turned away from Anafi's harbour and started towards their next destination.

^^^^^

A pair of arms enveloped Piper in a hug from behind. She leaned back against Jason with a laugh. "Hey."

He kissed her on the cheek and released her from his embrace. "You okay?"

Piper smiled. "Never better. I slept for fourteen hours last night — I haven't slept that much since I was a baby." She glanced up at him. "How're Leo and Frank?"

Jason shrugged. "They'll live. They were attacked by flesh-eating insects — some kind of monster that only resides on Anafi. I guess they were the first demigods on the island in a while."

"Do they have the ring?"

Jason nodded, pulling out a metal band from his pocket. "Leo actually said to give to you for safe-keeping."

Piper hesitantly took the ring from Jason's palm and slipped it onto her left hand. "Which ring is it?"

"Time," Jason explained. "Leo found it in the ruins of Apollo's temple." He studied her face. "Are you sure you're okay? You've been pretty quiet recently."

Piper shook her head dismissively. "I'm fine, really. Just...in thought." She leaned against the railing such that she was facing him. "I'm due to give birth in a few weeks Jason. We don't even know what we're going to name him, who to make the godparents..."

"Okay, okay," Jason interrupted, holding her by the shoulders. "Calm down, Pipes. Why don't we take it one problem at a time?"

She nodded slowly. "Okay, names."

"Matthew," Jason suggested.

Piper wrinkled her nose. "Too modern. Finn?"

Jason snorted. "As in Huckleberry?" He thought for a moment. "Ben."

Piper pulled a face. "Too plain."

"What about Thomas?" he tried again.

"The train?" Piper said incredulously.

Jason let out a laugh. "Okay, okay, I see your point. What about..." He paused. "Jasper?"

Piper opened her mouth, ready to give an excuse, when she realised that Jasper wasn't too bad a name. "I'll think about it," she said at last. "What about godparents?"

Jason hesitated. "Well, Leo is my best friend, but so are all the others...who do we choose?"

Piper gave him a strange look. "Leo. One hundred percent Leo," she said with absolute certainty.

Jason ran a hand through his hair awkwardly. "The others won't be hurt?"

Piper waved a hand dismissively. "We can take turns. Besides, Percy and Annabeth will probably have, like, eight kids, so we'll all get to be godparents at some point."

Jason laughed, slipping his hand in hers. "I like the idea of Leo being responsible for a baby. He'll be amazing."

Piper could barely hide her excitement. This is real, she though dizzily. They were really having a baby. "When should we tell him?"

"Later," Jason promised. "After Hazel's patched him up a little more. I mean, this is huge."

Piper stared out into the ocean. "Can you believe it? Next month we'll have a baby. An actual baby."

Jason kissed her softly. "I love you so much," he whispered.

Piper smiled. "I love you too."