The Second Jackson- Piper McLean book 1

Boss Battle Part 1

Frank

I unwrapped the firewood and knelt at the feet of Thanatos.

I was aware of Percy standing over me, swinging his sword and yelling in defiance as the ghosts closed in. I wasn't sure where Lani was exactly, just that she was thinning out the ghosts before they could reach me and Percy. I heard the giant bellow and Arion whinny angrily, but I didn't dare look.

My hands trembling, I held my piece of tinder next to the chains on Death's right leg. I thought about flames, and instantly the wood blazed.

Horrible warmth spread through my body. The icy metal began to melt, the flame so bright it was more blinding than the ice.

"Good" Thanatos said. "Very good, Frank Zhang"

I had heard about people's lives flashing before their eyes, but now I experienced that literally. I saw my mother the day she left for Afghanistan. She smiled and hugged me. I breathed in her jasmine scent so I'd never forget it.

'I will always be proud of you Frank' she said. 'Someday you'll travel even farther than I. You'll bring out family full circle. Years from now, our descendants will be telling stories about the hero Frank Zhang, their great- great- great-' She poked me in the belly for old times' sake. It would be the last time I smiled for months.

I saw myself at the picnic bench in Moose Pass, watching the stars and the Northern lights as Hazel snored beside me, Lani saying, 'Frank, you are a leader. We need you'

I saw Percy disappearing into the muskeg, then Hazel diving after him. I remembered how alone I had felt holding on to the bow, even with Lani standing right next to me, how utterly powerless. I had pleaded with the Olympian gods- even Mars- to help my friends but I knew we were beyond the gods' reach.

With a clank the first chain broke. Quickly, I stabbed the firewood at the chain on Death's other leg.

I risked a glance over my shoulder.

Percy was fighting like a whirlwind. In fact... he was a whirlwind. A miniature hurricane of water and ice vapor churned around him as he waded through the enemy, knocking Roman ghosts away, deflecting arrows and spears. Since when did he have that power?

He moved through the enemy lines, and even though he seemed to be leaving me undefended, the enemy was completely focused on Percy. I wasn't sure why- then I saw Percy's goal. One of the black vapory ghosts was wearing the lion's-skin cape of a standard bearer and holding a pole with a golden eagle, icicles frozen to its wings.

The legion's standard.

That's when I caught sight of Lani, she was driving the bearer towards Percy with concentrated, precise bursts of water directed more towards the bearer's hand. I realized she was trying to separate the bearer from the legion's standard.

I watched as Percy plowed through a line of legionnaires, scattering their shields with his personal cyclone. Lani knocked the standard away from the bearer and it flew right through Percy's cyclone to his hand. She knocked down the standard bearer and shared a look with her twin.

"You want it back?" Percy shouted at the ghosts. "Come and get it!"

He drew them away and Lani slashed at stragglers. I couldn't help being awed by their bold strategy. As much as those shades wanted to keep Thanatos chained, they were Roman spirits. Their minds were fuzzy at best, like the ghosts I had seen in Asphodel, but they remembered one thing clearly: they were supposed to protect the eagle.

Still, Percy and Lani couldn't fight off that many enemies forever. Maintaining a storm like that had to be difficult. Despite the cold Percy's face was already beaded with sweat.