Ransom

Chapter 28: Frank Zhang

As they all ate their breakfast in the Mess Hall, there was an eerie silence.

The ship came to a halt and shook slightly. "We're here." Leo said.

Frank swallowed the pancakes in his mouth and rushed to the deck. He looked below and saw his beautiful wife and handsome son waiting anxiously.

Frank took a few steps back. The rest of the crew sauntered into the deck just as Frank started to run. "Frank!" Annabeth called, but she was too late. Frank leapt from the side of the ship and turned into an eagle. He flew below and landed.

Frank turned back to his human form and ran forward. Hr heard footsteps behind him, so guessed that Jason flew down.

Frank ran forward, and his son did the same. Sammy leapt into his arms and started to cry. Hazel came over and joined the hug.

"I missed you so much." She whispered. "Me too, honey." He said. He kissed her forehead and pulled her close, determined not to let her slip out of his grasp again.

"Mommy!" Frank heard Allie yell. Frank set Sammy down and held his hand. His arm was slung across Hazel's shoulders as they watched Allie run towards her parents. The rest of the crew came down at that moment. "Baby!" Piper exclaimed as she held her daughter in her arms.

Jason smiled triumphantly and held his family in a hug. "Sammy!" Luke called as he ran towards Sammy. Sammy let go of his father's hand and ran towards his cousin. Luke enveloped his younger cousin in a hug. Percy, Annabeth, and Leo came over to Hazel and each gave her a hug. "Thank the gods you're alright!" Annabeth exclaimed.

"Annabeth!" Piper called. "Piper!" Annabeth exclaimed as they all ran to hug their friend.

The entire crew stood there and embraced one another.

Frank had felt slightly jealous that the Jackson family didn't experience any turbulence within all of this. He wondered why they weren't affected at all.

Castor looked out of place, and Frank knew what that felt like, some introduced Castor to his family and Piper. "Nice to meet you, I'm glad that you're all alright." Castor said politely.

Frank could see that it killed Castor to say that, for his girlfriend was still trapped.

Frank felt the need to fill them in, so he did. "Well, we have no time to waste. Let's go get Castor's girlfriend and Nico outta there!" Frank exclaimed.

"Girlfriend?!" Piper exclaimed happily. "That's awesome!" She finished. Hazel smiled at Castor and said "Let's go!"

They all unsheathed their weapons and stared at the entrance. "How do we come up with an excuse to get past the guard?" Percy asked.

"I got this." Piper said. Frank smirked. She would charmspeak the Hades out of this guy.

"Hey," Piper said to him as they entered. "What are you doing back here?" the guard asked. He continued with "You don't look dead."

"Yeah, we aren't. But you're gonna let us pass." She said. Her voice was laced with charmspeak so powerful that Frank wanted to do anything to get Piper through. "As you wish." The guard said.

Piper smiled and said "Thank you."

Piper passed the guard and motioned for the rest to follow. Castor stood there, with his mouth opened. "Careful, you could catch flies." Frank said happily. Castor closed his mouth, but wore a frown.

"What?" Frank asked. "Allie always said that." Castor said. Frank sighed and said "Dude, she's not dead."

"She's gonna be if we don't hurry." Castor mumbled. "Then, let's go!" Frank said.

Castor smiled lightly at him for trying to lift his mood, and headed inside.

They all stood silently in the boat that was sailing towards the castle. "Why-" Frank started, but then he saw what they were staring at.

Hades's castle was surrounded by a mix of lightning, ocean water, and bones, all circulating the castle.

"This doesn't look good." Castor said.

The boat landed on the ground. He broke through the group and started to run towards the castle. "Wait!" Frank called as he chased after him. Soon, they were all running towards the castle as if their lives depended on it.

Castor stopped at the door of the castle. Everyone followed suit, breathing heavily. Castor ran quickly for someone who had been trapped in the Underworld for two decades plus.

"How are we going to get inside?" Castor asked. Hazel stepped forward and held her arms up.

She turned the lock until it snapped off, and the door flung opened. "Nice," Castor said with a smile. "Hey, my brothers in there, too. We're gonna get them out." Hazel said with confidence.

The seven plus Castor and their children entered Hades's castle. There was a guard down the hall, minding his own business.

Frank motioned for everybody to follow him down the hall to the left. Everybody did as they were told and stopped when he said "We can't risk him catching us. I'll turn into a fly and give him a surprise attack."

Everybody nodded and Frank turned into a single fly.

He flew with lightning-fast speed towards the guard. He turned back into a human once he was directly behind the guard.

Frank clasped his hand onto the guard's shoulder and said "Boo."

The guard whipped his head around to feel Frank's fist encounter his head.

"Ah!" The guard yelled. Wait...that's not a monster. "Dakota?" He asked. "Zhang?" Dakota asked him.

Frank growled and held Dakota up to the wall with his shirt bunched up in one hand and the other hand held Dakota's hair.

"Where are they?" Frank asked through gritted teeth. "I-I-" Dakota started, and that was when a dagger nearly missed Frank's head. Frank had ducked just in time, so the dagger was embedded into Dakota'a chest.

"AH!" Dakota bellowed. Frank dropped Dakota onto the floor. He turned around and saw an angry looking Drew standing there, a dagger in hand, with a snarl on her face.

She was wearing the same thing as Dakota wore, a black robe with a hood that covered most of their faces, but they were still recognizable with the hoods up.

"Drew," Frank snarled. "Leave him alone!" Drew bellowed as she threw another dagger.

It soared through the air towards Frank's abdomen.

Frank jumped into the air and did a spin, his body in a vertical position. He simultaneously caught the dagger by the handle and landed with his foot atop of Dakota's chest.

Frank held the second dagger over Dakota's throat. "Take one more step and I kill him." Frank said.

"You wouldn't dare." Drew gasped.

Percy came from behind Drew and help Riptide to her throat "Oh, yes he would."

Drew gulped and Percy asked "Where are they?"

"Throne room." Drew said in defeat. Percy let her go, and she collapsed in a heap onto the floor.

Frank stood from his position and walked to Drew. He threw her dagger down in front of her and said "I would leave now if I were you."

Drew nodded, grabbed her dagger, and ran towards Dakota.

Frank followed the others down the hall. "Just up ahead!" Annabeth called.

They ran into the throne room like a stampede.

A woman dressed in all black with an aura of shadows sat on Hades's throne. "Hello," she mused.

Frank's eyes widened in fear as he realized what had happened.

They fell for her trap.

The throne room doors slammed shut and locked and the lights dimmed as the Mistress said "Let's have some fun."

HAHA I LOVE CLIFFIES
I finally put some action in here, but don't worry, there's more where that came from😏
4 votes for the next chapter plz
~camp_hero