He pulled down the ladder to the roof.
“Morning,” Percy said grimly. “Beautiful day, huh?” He wore the same clothes as the day before—jeans, his purple T-shirt, and Polartec jacket—but they’d obviously been freshly washed. He held his sword in one hand and a garden hose in the other. Why there was a garden hose on the roof, Frank wasn’t sure, but every time the giants sent up a cannonball, Percy summoned a high-powered blast of water and detonated the sphere in midair. Then Frank remembered—his family was descended from Poseidon, too. Grandmother had said their house had been attacked before. Maybe they had put a hose up here for just that reason.
Hazel patrolled the widow’s walk between the two attic gables. She looked so good, it made Frank’s chest hurt. She wore jeans, a cream-colored jacket, and a white shirt that made her skin look as warm as cocoa. Her curly hair fell around her shoulders. When she came close, Frank could smell jasmine shampoo.
She gripped her sword. When she glanced at Frank, her eyes flashed with concern. “Are you okay?” she asked. “Why are you smiling?”
“Oh, uh, nothing,” he managed. “Thanks for breakfast. And the clothes. And…not hating me.”
Hazel looked baffled. “Why would I hate you?”
Frank’s face burned. He wished he’d kept his mouth shut, but it was too late now. Don’t let her get away, his grandmother had said. You need strong women.
“It’s just…last night,” he stammered. “When I summoned the skeleton. I thought…I thought that you thought…I was repulsive ... or something.”
Hazel raised her eyebrows. She shook her head in dismay. “Frank, maybe I was surprised. Maybe I was scared of that thing. But repulsed? The way you commanded it, so confident and everything—like, Oh, by the way, guys, I have this all-powerful spartus we can use. I couldn’t believe it. I wasn’t repulsed, Frank. I was impressed.”
Frank wasn’t sure he’d heard her right. “You were…impressed ... by me?”
Percy laughed. “Dude, it was pretty amazing.”
“Honest?” Frank asked.
“Honest,” Hazel promised. “But right now, we have other problems to worry about. Okay?”
She gestured at the army of ogres, who were getting increasingly bold, shuffling closer and closer to the house.
Percy readied the garden hose. “I’ve got one more trick up my sleeve. Your lawn has a sprinkler system. I can blow it up and cause some confusion down there, but that’ll destroy your water pressure. No pressure, no hose, and those cannonballs are going to plow right into the house.”
Hazel’s praise was still ringing in Frank’s ears, making it difficult to think. Dozens of ogres were camped on his lawn, waiting to tear him apart, and Frank could barely control the urge to grin.
Hazel didn’t hate him. She was impressed.
He forced himself to concentrate. He remembered what his grandmother had told him about the nature of his gift, and how he had to leave her here to die.
You’ve got a role to play, Mars had said.
Frank couldn’t believe he was Juno’s secret weapon, or that this big Prophecy of the Seven depended on him. But Hazel and Percy were counting on him. He had to do his best.
He thought about that weird partial prophecy Ella had recited in the attic, about the son of Neptune drowning.
You don’t understand her true value, Phineas had told them in Portland. The old blind man had thought that controlling Ella would make him a king.
All these puzzle pieces swirled around in Frank’s mind. He got the feeling that when they finally connected, they would create a picture he didn’t like.
“Guys, I’ve got an escape plan.” He told his friends about the plane waiting at the airfield, and his grandmother’s note for the pilot. “He’s a legion veteran. He’ll help us.”
“But Arion’s not back,” Hazel said. “And what about your grandmother? We can’t just leave her.”
Frank choked back a sob. “Maybe—maybe Arion will find us. As for my grandmother…she was pretty clear. She said she’d be okay.”
It wasn’t exactly the truth, but it was as much as Frank could manage.
“There’s another problem,” Percy said. “I’m not good with air travel. It’s dangerous for a son of Neptune.”
“You’ll have to risk it.…and so will I,” Frank said. “By the way, we’re related.” Percy almost stumbled off the roof. “What?”
Frank gave them the five-second version: “Periclymenus.
Ancestor on my mom’s side. Argonaut. Grandson of Poseidon.”
Hazel’s mouth fell open. “You’re a—a descendant of Neptune? Frank, that’s—”
“Crazy? Yeah. And there’s this ability my family has, supposedly. But I don’t know how to use it. If I can’t figure it out—”
Another massive cheer went up from the Laistrygonians. Frank realized they were staring up at him, pointing and waving and laughing. They had spotted their breakfast.
“Zhang!” they yelled. “Zhang!”