𝐅𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒 - jason grace

16. A GREEK CAMP? CALLED IT!

𝐌𝐀𝐈𝐀, 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐘, 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐇𝐀𝐙𝐄𝐋 ran for the ladder. It took them a while, but the trio managed to convince Ella to get down from the attic and get in the car with them. Now, all that was left was Frank Zhang.

Maia, very gracefully (not!), dove into the passenger's seat next to Percy. He turned on the car, the engine roaring almost as loud as Maia's heartbeat, which she could practically hear as if it was at full volume, blasting on a speaker right next to her ear.

"Maia." Percy said.

"I'll try." She answered, knowing what he was going to ask.

"What?" Hazel asked.

They spotted Frank rushing through the staircase.

"Get in!" Percy yelled.

Frank dived in the back next to Hazel. Ella was curled up next to them, her head tucked under her wings, muttering, "Yikes. Yikes. Yikes."

Percy gunned the engine. They shot out of the garage before it was fully open, leaving a Cadillac-shaped hole of splintered wood.

The ogres ran to intercept, but Percy shouted at the top of his lungs, and the irrigation system exploded. A hundred geysers shot into the air along with clods of earth, pieces of pipe and very heavy sprinkler heads. To give a little boat to this chaos, Maia was able to concentrate enough energy onto the smaller things around the ogres, cannons fell apart and one or two ogres tripped up a bit, so they had a bit more time to escape.

The Cadillac was going about forty when they hit the first ogre, who disintegrated on impact. By the time the other monsters overcame their confusion, the Cadillac was half a mile down the road. Flaming cannonballs burst behind them.

Maia didn't even want to look back. They drove through the woods and headed north.

"About three miles!" Frank said. "You can't miss it!"

Behind them, more explosions ripped through the forest. Smoke boiled into the sky.

"How fast can Laistrygonians run?" Hazel asked.

"Let's not find out," Percy said.

The gates of the airfield appeared before them – only a few hundred yards away. A private jet idled on the runway. Its stairs were down.

The Cadillac hit a pothole and went airborne. Maia could've sworn she was flying out of her seat. When the wheels touched the ground, Percy floored the brakes, and they swerved to a stop just inside the gates.

Frank climbed out and drew his bow. "Get to the plane! They're coming!"

The Laistrygonians were closing in with alarming speed. The first line of ogres burst out of the woods and barrelled towards the airfield – five hundred yards away, four hundred yards ...

Percy and Hazel managed to get Ella out of the Cadillac, but as soon as the harpy saw the airplane, she began to shriek.

"N-n-no!" she yelped. "Fly with wings! N-n-no airplanes."

Me too, Ella, Maia thought.

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

Ella made a horrible, painful wail like she was being burned.

Percy held up his hands in exasperation. "What do we do? We can't force her."

"No," Frank agreed. The ogres were three hundred yards out.

"She's too valuable to leave behind," Hazel said. Then she winced at her own words. "Gods, I'm sorry, Ella. I sound as bad as Phineas. You're a living thing, not a treasure."