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,” Frank said, “where are the others?”
“Roof. ” She glanced upward, then returned to her reading, alternately picking at her feathers and turning pages. “Roof. Ogre-watching. Ella doesn’t like ogres. Potatoes. ”
“Potatoes?” Frank didn’t understand until he swiveled the machine gun around. Its eight barrels were loaded with spuds. At the base of the gun, a basket was filled with more edible ammunition.
He looked out the window—the same window his mom had watched him from when he had met the bear. 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.
“They have cannonballs,” Frank said. “And we have a potato gun. ”
“Starch,” Ella said thoughtfully. “Starch is bad for ogres. ”
The house shook from another explosion. Frank needed to reach the roof and see how Percy and Hazel were doing, but he felt bad leaving Ella alone.
He knelt next to her, careful not to get too close. “Ella, it’s not safe here with the ogres. We’re going to be flying to Alaska soon. Will you come with us?”
Ella twitched uncomfortably. “Alaska. Six hundred twenty-six thousand, four hundred twenty-five square miles.
State mammal: the moose. ”
Suddenly she switched to Latin, which Frank could just barely follow thanks to his classes at Camp Jupiter:
“To the north, beyond the gods, lies the legion’s crown. Falling from ice, the son of Neptune shall drown—” She stopped and scratched her disheveled red hair. “Hmm. Burned. The rest is burned. ”
Frank could hardly breathe. “Ella, was…was that a prophecy? Where did you read that?”
“Moose,” Ella said, savoring the word. “Moose. Moose. Moose. ”
The house shook again. Dust rained down from the rafters. Outside, an ogre bellowed, “Frank Zhang! Show yourself!”
“Nope,” Ella said. “Frank shouldn’t. Nope. ”
“Just…stay
here, okay?” Frank said. “I’ve got to go help Hazel and Percy. ”
He pulled down the ladder to the roof.
“Morning,” Percy said grimly. “Beautiful day, huh?” He wore the same clothes as the day before—jeans, his purple T-shirt, and Polartec jacket—but they’d obviously been freshly washed. He held his sword in one hand and a garden hose in the other. Why there was a garden hose on the roof, Frank wasn’t sure, but every time the giants sent up a cannonball, Percy summoned a high-powered blast of water and detonated the sphere in midair. Then Frank remembered—his family was descended from Poseidon, too. Grandmother had said their house had been attacked before. Maybe they had put a hose up here for just that reason.
Hazel patrolled the widow’s walk between the two attic gables. She looked so good, it made Frank’s chest hurt. She wore jeans, a cream-colored jacket, and a white shirt that made her skin look as warm as cocoa. Her curly hair fell around her shoulders. When she came close, Frank could smell jasmine shampoo.
She gripped her sword. When she glanced at Frank, her eyes flashed with concern. “Are you okay?” she asked. “Why are you smiling?”
“Oh, uh, nothing,” he managed. “Thanks for breakfast. And the clothes. And…not hating me. ”
Hazel looked baffled. “Why would I hate you?”
Frank’s face burned. He wished he’d kept his mouth shut, but it was too late now. Don’t let her get away, his grandmother had said. You need strong women.
“It’s just…last night,” he 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 wasn’t sure he’d heard her right. “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. ”
Hazel’s praise was still ringing in Frank’s ears, making it difficult to think. Dozens of ogres were camped on his lawn, waiting to tear him apart, and Frank could barely control the urge to grin.
Hazel didn’t hate him. She was impressed.