Invisible ― Jason Grace

xxii. the battle of camp jupiter

CAMILLA WAS BONE-DRY when they emerged from the water, which was perfect, seeing as the air outside of the water was still chilly. She didn't want to have to deal with pneumonia or hypothermia at the moment.

Her cut had stopped bleeding in the water. According to Percy, it still looked a little gruesome—stark red against her cheek. He explained how water could heal minor wounds for children of Neptune/Poseidon.

As much as she did not like her father, at least he (finally) gave her some convenient powers.

They were standing at the edge of the glacier when Frank and Hazel arrived. Camilla leaned against the legion's standard, which was probably disrespectful, but she was too tired to care. It wasn't like there was anyone from the legion around to yell at her.

"Hey," Percy said as Hazel and Frank ran over to them, like they were just meeting up for a casual lunch.

Camilla waved with a small smile, wary of her cut.

"You're alive!" Frank marveled as Hazel hugged Camilla tightly.

Percy frowned. "The fall? That was nothing. I fell twice that far from the St. Louis Arch."

"You did what?" Hazel asked.

"Never mind. The important thing is—we didn't drown."

"So the prophecy was incomplete!" Hazel grinned. "It probably said something like: The children of Neptune shall drown a whole bunch of ghosts."

Percy shrugged. He looked at Frank like he was miffed. "I got a bone to pick with you, Zhang. You can turn into an eagle? And a bear?"

"And an elephant," Hazel said proudly.

"An elephant?" Camilla asked in wonder.

Percy shook his head in disbelief. "That's your family gift? You can change shape?"

Frank shuffled his feet. "Um... yeah. Periclymenus, my ancestor, the Argonaut—he could do that. He passed down the ability."

"And he got that gift from Poseidon," Percy said. "That's completely unfair. I can't turn into animals."

Frank started at him. "Unfair? You can breathe underwater and blow up glaciers and summon freaking hurricanes—and it's unfair that I can be an elephant?"

Camilla laughed. "He's got a point."

Percy sighed. "Okay. But next time I say you're totally beast—"

"Just shut up," Frank said. "Please."

Percy cracked a smile.

"If you guys are done," Hazel said, "we need to go. Camp Jupiter is under attack. They could use that gold eagle."

Percy nodded. "One thing first, though. Hazel, there's a ton of Imperial gold weapons and armor at the bottom of the bay now, plus a really nice chariot. I'm betting that stuff could come in handy..."

It took them a long time—too long—but they all knew the weapons could make the difference between victory and defeat if they got them back to camp in time.

Hazel used her abilities to levitate some items from the bottom of the sea. Camilla and Percy swam down and brought up more. Even Frank helped by turning into a seal, which was cool, though Percy claimed his breath smelled like fish.

It took all four of them to raise the chariot, but finally they'd managed to haul everything ashore to a black sand beach near the base of the glacier. They couldn't fit everything in the chariot, but they used Frank's rope to strap down most of the gold weapons and the best pieces of armor.