Perseus Jackson: Titan of The Hunt

CH8: In Memoriam

(Frank)

I had just been returning to the ship when the lightning had struck me. The shock of the blow caused me to lose all sensation in my body, so I didn't even feel when I hit the oars. I was far too busy trying to regain some feeling in my enormous body and control my descent, however my wings refused to respond as I continued to tumble end over end. With each revolution the earth continued to grow larger as if to greet me.

Slowly feeling returned to my body and I could feel that one of my wings was in ruins, the thin membrane stretching across it was badly tattered from when I had hit the Argo II's oars. Making me realize that the form was going to be useless, which was a shame. I was starting to like it and it would have been great to use in the coming fight. However, my immediate concern was my diminishing energy as I continued to lose blood from the wing forcing me to change quickly or not at all.

I chose a golden eagle for its great eyesight and the wingspan would help me glide to the ground without wasting too much energy.

When I had finished changing, I was only a few hundred feet off the ground, I looked up hoping to see the Argo II beginning to descend, instead I was greeted by a sight that horrified me. The ship was leering to one side and seemed to be in a rapid descent but there was no sign of my friends on the deck or any sign of them escaping into the air. As the ship continued to descend, I noticed something in the distance. There were the figures of several giants throwing boulders at the ship trying to crush it, most missing harmlessly or bouncing off the hull plates leaving dents in the once magnificent ship. I finally noticed some movement on the lower hull cargo bay doors as they began to open, I expected to see my friends using the emergency parachutes or something like that.

I was not however expecting the sight of a several ton statue falling from the heavens. With what was obviously a horse stuck to the side by lengths of rope and chain. Just before another bolt of lightning rose from amongst the giants ranks and hitting the boat amidship, causing a chain reaction as the once proud vessel broke in half at the point of impact and the ship exploded showering the area in debris.

I looked back from the fallen wreckage to the statue, I was amazed to see that parachutes had deployed above it. With the increased eyesight this form provided I focused clearer on the descending effigy; I began to make out smaller figures holding onto it which I guessed were my friends.

I decided to ignore my injuries for the moment and fly towards them in case they needed help. As I got closer, I noticed something truly worrying. I could only see seven humanoid figures around the statue, and one seriously upset looking horse which meant someone was not there.

I was hoping it was Jason making his own way, but he was next to Piper flying alongside fastening a strap the had come loose if the blond hair was anything to go by, which meant someone had not made it aboard the impromptu escape craft.

(Annabeth)

I had just finished securing myself with Percy's help when he began to strap himself in. However, before he was finished, he had seemingly noticed something and quickly reversing his actions. I could not believe what the seaweed brain was doing, we were running out of time, but then again Percy had always done things like this. Rashly with little thought and we had always made it however even this was going to be too close. I watched Percy cross the deck before reaching down and grabbing something from behind a crate. Which I recognized as a familiar golden ball of fur and he turned back only to fall when the deck was struck by something.

I was about to shout for him to hurry when the support cradle above us began to groan and deform under the stress. I could only hope it lasted long enough for him to get back when another blow struck the ship. With that impact, one end of the cradle collapsed, and we began to fall through the keel. I only had time to shout his name before we were gone and into freefall.