Wildfires, Heroes of Olympus ₂

023, circle small but all y'all crazy

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
FINLEY                        BRIGGS

It shouldn't be surprising that, after her reminiscent nightmare, Finn couldn't get back to sleep last night.

When the sun began peeking into the sky, Finn officially gave up and started getting ready. It was sort of boring waiting for everyone else to wake up, but she was also a teenager with ADHD, so it was pretty easy to keep herself occupied. Eating, drinking, more drinking, meeting Frank's grandmother, drinking again.

Then Percy and Hazel woke up around the same time, deciding to let Frank rest for a little longer. Being here clearly put him through a lot, and his grandmother seemed to be going through even more, so it was the least they could do for him. Hazel even made breakfast for Frank's grandmother (although Finn had a feeling that had a lot more to do with "pleasing the fam" than anything).

Afterwards, Finn, Percy, and Hazel were sent to the attack.

It was an interesting demand, but they finally saw the reasoning when they climbed above the top floor of the Frank mansion.

The attic was full of weapons. The Zhang family had collected enough ancient armaments to supply an armory. Shields, spears, and quivers of arrows hung along one wall—almost as many as in the Camp Jupiter armory. At the back window, a scorpion crossbow was mounted and loaded, ready for action. At the front window stood something that looked like a machine gun with a cluster of barrels.

Unfortunately, it wasn't a gun. Or a rocket launcher. It was actually just a potato launcher, so Finn didn't touch it.

"I don't think there's much for us in here," said Hazel. "We already have our own weapons."

Finn nodded. "We should go up to the roof. That way we can watch the Lais... the Lacietrojans...? No. Uh, the ogre things."

"Nope, nope," said a voice from the corner. "Ella doesn't like ogres. Potatoes."

The harpy had made a nest for herself between two old steamer trunks. She was sitting in a pile of Chinese scrolls, reading seven or eight at once.

"Ella," Percy said, "you can stay in here while we go scout on the roof. When Frank comes up here, could you tell him where we are? His grandmother said she would send him up here, too."

Ella ruffled her wings gratefully. "Yep, yep," she said. "Ella doesn't like ogres. Ella likes her word nest. Ella will tell Frank where his friends are. They are Ella's friends, too."

"Sure we are, Ella," Finn agreed. She rubbed a tired hand along her face, then signaled for her friends (Percy and Hazel, at least) to follow her up onto the roof.

Down in the yard, the ogres were milling around, shoving each other, occasionally yelling at the house, and throwing bronze cannonballs that exploded in midair. It made the house shake, and Finn had to grip the edge of the roof so she didn't fall over and/or get egregiously nauseous.