NEVER BE THE SAME . . . percy jackson

fifty one: the escape plan.

AFTER A HASTY breakfast that Brooklyn was still eating, scrambling across the house to find clothes, and getting ready, she made it up to the roof, and Frank wasn't even awake yet. She'd seen him through a crack in the door to his Grandmother's bedroom. So she talked to Percy and Hazel while they fended off the ogres with Brooklyn's wind powers and a hose that Percy had found on the roof, blasting water at them while they played cards.

"What are you two even playing?" Hazel asked as she came close to them in order to patrol her part of the house.

"Spoons," Percy responded, picking up the spoon, which made Brooklyn throw her cards down on the roof angrily. "Except we only have one spoon, 'cause we're playing with two people, but—"

"You two-faced motherfucker," she scoffed, leaning over to smack him. "I swear to—"

Suddenly, she heard the telltale sign of a cannonball flying toward them, and he, without looking, summoned a jet of water to detonate the sphere. Unluckily, the debris set a few of the cards on fire and turned it to ashes.

"You BURNED MY FUCKING CARDS?" Brooklyn sprung to her feet, facing the ogres down below. "YOU FUCKER!"

She summoned a lightning bolt that struck straight into a monster, creating a hole in the ground and cleaving the monster in half, turning one half into dust that was quickly starting to reform.

"Morning!" Percy said loudly, drawing her attention away from the ogres. "Beautiful day, huh?"

Brooklyn looked over her shoulder to see Frank close the trapdoor that led down to the attic. He was wearing a green shirt and cargo pants — not her style, but he could pull it off. She guessed.

"It would be better if it was storming," she grumbled, sitting back down on the roof and gathering the rest of the cards. "It'd be fitting for the occasion. Rest in peace, my poor cards."

"Are you okay?" Hazel asked Frank as she walked over. "Why are you smiling?"

"Oh, uh, nothing," he lost the dopey smile. "Thanks for breakfast. And the clothes. And . . . not hating me."

He got actual breakfast? Brooklyn internally scoffed, taking an aggressive bite out of her third protein bar. Unfair.

Hazel looked baffled. "Why would I hate you?"

"It's just . . . last night," Frank 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 stared at her. "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."

Frank nodded. "Guys, I've got an escape plan." He told them about a plane waiting at the airfield, and his grandmother's note for the pilot. "He's a legion veteran. He'll help us."