FRANK UNWRAPPED THE FIREWOOD and knelt at the feet of
Thanatos.
He was aware of Percy standing over him, swinging his
sword and yelling in defiance as the ghosts closed in. He
heard the giant bellow and Arion whinny angrily, but he
didn’t dare look.
His hands trembling, he held his piece of tinder next to
the chains on Death’s right leg. He thought about flames,
and instantly the wood blazed.
Horrible warmth spread through Frank’s body. The icy
metal began to melt, the flame so bright it was more
blinding than the ice.
‘Good,’ Thanatos said. ‘Very good, Frank Zhang.’
Frank had heard about people’s lives flashing before
their eyes, but now he experienced it literally. He saw his
mother the day she left for Afghanistan. She smiled and
hugged him. He tried to breath in her jasmine scent so
he’d never forget it.
I will always be proud of you, Frank, she said. Some
day, you’ll travel even further than I. You’ll bring our family
full circle. Years from now, our descendants will be telling
stories about the hero Frank Zhang, their great-greatgreat-
– She poked him in the belly for old times’ sake. It
would be the last time Frank smiled for months.
He saw himself at the picnic bench in Moose Pass,
watching the stars and the northern lights as Hazel snored
softly beside him, Percy saying, Frank, you are a leader.
We need you.
He saw Percy disappearing into the muskeg, then
Hazel diving after him. Frank remembered how alone he
had felt holding on to the bow, how utterly powerless. He
had pleaded with the Olympian gods – even Mars – to
help his friends, but he knew they were beyond the gods’
reach.
With a clank, the first chain broke. Quickly, Frank
stabbed the firewood at the chain on Death’s other leg.
He risked a glance over his shoulder.
Percy was fighting like a whirlwind. In fact … he was a
whirlwind. A miniature hurricane of water and ice vapour
churned around him as he waded through the enemy,
knocking Roman ghosts away, deflecting arrows and
spears. Since when did he have that power?
He moved through the enemy lines, and even though
he seemed to be leaving Frank undefended, the enemy
was completely focused on Percy. Frank wasn’t sure why –
then he saw Percy’s goal. One of the black vapoury ghosts
was wearing the lion-skin cape of a standard bearer and
holding a pole with a golden eagle, icicles frozen to its
wings.
The legion’s standard.
Frank watched as Percy ploughed through a line of
legionnaires, scattering their shields with his personal
cyclone. He knocked down the standard bearer and
grabbed the eagle.
‘You want it back?’ he shouted at the ghosts. ‘Come and
get it!’
He drew them away, and Frank couldn’t help being
awed by his bold strategy. As much as those shades
wanted to keep Thanatos chained, they were Roman
spirits. Their minds were fuzzy at best, like the ghosts
Frank had seen in Asphodel, but they remembered one
thing clearly: they were supposed to protect their eagle.
Still, Percy couldn’t fight off that many enemies forever.
Maintaining a storm like that had to be difficult. Despite
the cold, his face was already beaded with sweat.
Frank looked for Hazel. He couldn’t see her or the giant.
‘Watch your fire, boy,’ Death warned. ‘You don’t have
any to waste.’
Frank cursed. He’d got so distracted, he hadn’t noticed
the second chain had melted.
He moved his fire to the shackles on the god’s right
hand. The piece of tinder was almost half gone now. Frank
started to shiver. More images flashed through his mind.
He saw Mars sitting at his grandmother’s bedside, looking
at Frank with those nuclear-explosion eyes: You’re Juno’s
secret weapon. Have you figured out your gift yet?
He heard his mother say: You can be anything.
Then he saw Grandmother’s stern face, her skin as thin
as rice paper, her white hair spread across her pillow. Yes,
Fai Zhang. Your mother was not simply boosting your
self-esteem. She was telling you the literal truth.
He thought of the grizzly bear his mother had
intercepted at the edge of the woods. He thought of the
large black bird circling over the flames of their family
mansion.
The third chain snapped. Frank thrust the tinder at the
last shackle. His body was racked with pain. Yellow
splotches danced in his eyes.
He saw Percy at the end of the Via Principalis, holding
off the army of ghosts. He’d overturned the chariot and
destroyed several buildings, but every time he threw off a
wave of attackers in his hurricane, the ghosts simply got
up and charged again. Every time Percy slashed one of
them down with his sword, the ghost re-formed
immediately. Percy had backed up almost as far as he
could go. Behind him was the side gate of the camp and,
about twenty feet beyond that, the edge of the glacier.
As for Hazel, she and Alcyoneus had managed to
destroy most of the barracks in their battle. Now they were
fighting in the wreckage at the main gate. Arion was
playing a dangerous game of tag, charging around the
giant while Alyconeus swiped at them with his staff,
knocking over walls and cleaving massive chasms in the
ice. Only Arion’s speed kept them alive.
Finally, Death’s last chain snapped. With a desperate
yelp, Frank jabbed his firewood into a pile of snow and
extinguished the flame. His pain faded. He was still alive.
But when he took out the piece of tinder it was no more
than a stub, smaller than a candy bar.
Thanatos raised his arms.
‘Free,’ he said with satisfaction.
‘Great.’ Frank blinked the spots from his eyes. ‘Then do
something!’
Thanatos gave him a calm smile. ‘Do something? Of
course. I will watch. Those who die in this battle will stay
dead.’
‘Thanks,’ Frank muttered, slipping his firewood into his
coat. ‘Very helpful.’
‘You’re most welcome,’ Thanatos said agreeably.
‘Percy!’ Frank yelled. ‘They can die now!’
Percy nodded understanding, but he looked worn out.
His hurricane was slowing down. His strikes were getting
slower. The entire ghostly army had him surrounded,
gradually forcing him towards the edge of the glacier.
Frank drew his bow to help. Then he dropped it. Normal
arrows from a hunting store in Seward wouldn’t do any
good. Frank would have to use his gift.
He thought he understood his powers at last.
Something about watching the firewood burn, smelling the
acrid smoke of his own life, had made him feel strangely
confident.
Is it fair your life burns so short and bright? Death had
asked.
‘No such thing as fair,’ Frank told himself. ‘If I’m going to
burn, it might as well be bright.’
He took one step towards Percy. Then, from across the
camp, Hazel yelled in pain. Arion screamed as the giant
got a lucky shot. His staff sent horse and rider tumbling
over the ice, crashing into the ramparts.
‘Hazel!’ Frank glanced back at Percy, wishing he had
his spear. If he could just summon Grey … but he couldn’t
be in two places at once.
‘Go help her!’ Percy yelled, holding the golden eagle
aloft. ‘I’ve got these guys!’
Percy didn’t have them. Frank knew that. The son of
Poseidon was about to be overwhelmed, but Frank ran to
Hazel’s aid.
She was half-buried in a collapsed pile of snow-bricks.
Arion stood over her, trying to protect her, rearing and
swatting at the giant with his front hooves.
The giant laughed. ‘Hello, little pony. You want to play?’
Alcyoneus raised his icy staff.
Frank was too far away to help … but he imagined
himself rushing forward, his feet leaving the ground.
Be anything.
He remembered the bald eagles they’d seen on the
train ride. His body became smaller and lighter. His arms
stretched into wings, and his sight became a thousand
times sharper. He soared upward, then dived at the giant
with his talons extended, his razor-sharp claws raking
across the giant’s eyes.
Alcyoneus bellowed in pain. He staggered backwards
as Frank landed in front of Hazel and returned to his
normal form.
‘Frank …’ She stared at him in amazement, a cap of
snow dripping off her head. ‘What just … how did – ?’
‘Fool!’ Alcyoneus shouted. His face was slashed, black
oil dripping into his eyes instead of blood, but the wounds
were already closing. ‘I am immortal in my homeland,
Frank Zhang! And thanks to your friend Hazel, my new
homeland is Alaska. You cannot kill me here!’
‘We’ll see,’ Frank said. Power coursed through his arms
and legs. ‘Hazel, get back on your horse.’
The giant charged, and Frank charged to meet him. He
remembered the bear he’d met face to face when he was a
child. As he ran, his body became heavier, thicker,
rippling with muscles. He crashed into the giant as a fullgrown
grizzly, a thousand pounds of pure force. He was
still small compared to Alcyoneus, but he slammed into
the giant with such momentum that Alcyoneus toppled
into an icy watchtower that collapsed on top of him.
Frank sprang at the giant’s head. A swipe of his claw
was like a heavyweight fighter swinging a chain saw. Frank
bashed the giant’s face back and forth until his metallic
features began to dent.
‘Urgg,’ the giant mumbled in a stupor.
Frank changed to his regular form. His backpack was
still with him. He grabbed the rope he’d bought in Seward,
quickly made a noose and fastened it round the giant’s
scaly dragon foot.
‘Hazel, here!’ He tossed her the other end of the rope.
‘I’ve got an idea, but we’ll have to –’
‘Kill – uh – you – uh …’ Alcyoneus muttered.
Frank ran to the giant’s head, picked up the nearest
heavy object he could find – a legion shield – and
slammed it into the giant’s nose.
The giant said, ‘Urgg.’
Frank looked back at Hazel. ‘How far can Arion pull this
guy?’
Hazel just stared at him. ‘You – you were a bird. Then a
bear. And –’
‘I’ll explain later,’ Frank said. ‘We need to drag this guy
inland, as fast and far as we can.’
‘But Percy!’ Hazel said.
Frank cursed. How could he have forgotten?
Through the ruins of the camp, he saw Percy with his
back to the edge of the cliff. His hurricane was gone. He
held Riptide in one hand and the legion’s golden eagle in
the other. The entire army of shades edged forward, their
weapons bristling.
‘Percy!’ Frank yelled.
Percy glanced over. He saw the fallen giant and
seemed to understand what was happening. He yelled
something that was lost in the wind, probably: Go!
Then he slammed Riptide into the ice at his feet. The
entire glacier shuddered. Ghosts fell to their knees.
Behind Percy, a wave surged up from the bay – a wall of
grey water even taller than the glacier. Water shot from the
chasms and crevices in the ice. As the wave hit, the back
half of the camp crumbled. The entire edge of the glacier
peeled away, cascading into the void – carrying buildings,
ghosts and Percy Jackson over the edge.
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