***Welcome to my version of Blood of Olympus! Obviously, Rick Riordan's actual book is going to be a thousand times better, but while waiting for it to come out, I decided to write this story for fun. Each chapter is narrated by one of the Seven and the story will be about 46 chapters long in total. This first chapter is told from Frank's point-of-view. Chapter Two will feature Percy and will be up next Wednesday, 3/19/14. Hope you enjoy!***

I. FRANK

Frank was tired of hearing voices. First it had been his dad, the Roman war god Mars, arguing with his own Greek alter-ego, Ares. But since yesterday when Frank had received his battlefield promotion to praetor and led an army of ghosts to victory (yeah, his life was weird), the war god had pretty much shut up. Which would have been great if there hadn't been a new voice in Frank's head, one which he had first heard whispering to him from a tunnel within the House of Hades.

"I await you in Pylos."

That was all it said, over and over again. Between that, his nightmares, and the general stress of being under constant attack, Frank was afraid he was starting to go crazy.

After the last few weeks, he should have been used to the monster attacks, which had increased ever since Frank and his friends, the seven demigods of the current Great Prophecy, had entered the Mediterranean in their magical flying warship, the Argo II. But Greece had Italy beat on the sheer volume of monsters that seemed to have a personal vendetta against the Argo II. Maybe because Greece was the original birthplace of the gods, and therefore the monsters, but since they'd left Epirus, it seemed like they were always fighting something. So when the alarm bells went off again, Frank was more resigned than afraid.

"I await you in Pylos."

"Shut up," he told the voice as he left his cabin, grabbing his bow and arrows on the way.

He ran into Piper and Annabeth coming out of the mess hall. They must have been getting breakfast, judging by the half-eaten bagel in Annabeth's hand. She was pale and a little too thin after her time in Tartarus, but overall Frank thought she and Percy were doing pretty well for two people who had just survived the worst part of the Underworld.

"All hands on deck?" she asked as Frank reached them.

"Sounds like it," he said.

Piper rolled her eyes. Frank noticed she had braided her hair without any feathers this morning; maybe because that was one less distraction in a fight. "These monsters need to get a life," she said.

"I think they prefer messing up our lives," Frank muttered.

As they reached the stairs, the ship tilted hard to port, throwing all three of them against the wall. There was a roar, a snap, a massive THUD, then a chorus of yells, punctuated by some pretty creative cussing Frank thought was coming from Leo. Frank exchanged nervous looks with Piper and Annabeth, then the three of them charged up the stairs. They froze at the top, though, as they took in the horrible sight of the monster that was attacking the ship.

A massive sea serpent was towering over the Argo II.

After the skolopendra and the giant turtle, Frank should have been used to nightmare monsters rising out of the ocean, but the sight of this one turned his knees to jelly. Its scales were bright, poisonous orange and encrusted with barnacles, like armor. Its mouth, lined with saber-like fangs, was big enough to eat half the ship, and crew, in one bite. Frank guessed that the only reason it hadn't already devoured them was because the serpent was distracted by Jason, who was flying around its head and trying to stab it. On deck, Percy and Hazel were attacking the monster between its barnacle armor, while Leo was running around the helm, his hands flying over the controls. The main mast and parts of the railing were missing, either bitten off or smashed by the monster.

As Frank, Annabeth, and Piper stood frozen at the top of the stairs, Percy summoned a wave, trying to push the Argo II away from the sea serpent, but the monster had curled its tail around the underside of the ship, holding them neatly in place while it attacked. It roared as the ship slammed into it. The serpent's tail swept over their heads, chopping the foresail in half and sending it flying over Festus's head, into the sea.

"I am sick of replacing the masts," Leo yelled. "Stop destroying my ship, you stupid snake!"
Festus roared and blew fire at the serpent's tail, leaving a ten-foot long scorch mark. The monster roared again and lunged at the dragon's head but Jason dove and plunged his sword into its left eye. The sea serpent whipped around so fast it yanked Jason's sword out of his hand and probably would have eaten him, too, if he hadn't dodged out of the way at the last second. The monster roared in pain, shaking its head to try and get the Imperial gold blade out of its eye, its whole body thrashing and sending massive waves in every direction. The ship would have been swamped if Percy hadn't deflected the waves back at the serpent.

Percy finally noticed the three of them just standing there, gaping. "A little help here?" he said between gritted teeth.

Frank shook himself out of his daze and reached for his bow. He nocked an arrow and sent it flying toward the serpent's other eye, but the monster was thrashing around so much, he missed. Annabeth and Piper drew their swords and ran to the other side of the ship, hacking at the serpent's tail, the way Percy and Hazel were attacking the body.

"Leo, get us in the air!" Hazel called as she sank her blade into the monster's body. Green ooze poured from the wound, but it didn't seem to bother the serpent. Up above, Jason had managed to retrieve his sword and added an extra kick at the monster's injured eye for good measure.

"I'm trying!" Leo yelled, banging a Wii remote against the Archimedes sphere. "The oars and the stabilizers are all out of whack again. It's going to take a minute."

"We don't have a minute," Percy said. He was thin and pale, like Annabeth, and right now his face was beaded with sweat from trying to keep the waves from flooding the ship. "We're going to sink in about thirty seconds. We need to find a way to get rid of this thing."

"It's the Ketos," Annabeth called as she dodged the monster's flailing fish tail. "Poseidon sent it to kill Andromeda after her mother bragged that she was more beautiful than Aphrodite."

"Great history lesson," Leo grumbled. "But how do we kill it?"

All of them hit the deck as the serpent's tail swept over their heads again. Green blood from its ruined eye spattered the deck, sizzling against the wood.

"Perseus, the original Perseus, turned it to stone using Medusa's head," Annabeth said as they got back to their feet and resumed trying to stab the stupid thing.

"Too bad we're a little short on Medusa heads at the moment," Percy said. The ship tilted violently as the monster struck it from below, sending the crew rolling across the deck. Hazel screamed as she fell through a hole in the broken railing, but Percy lunged and grabbed her. He managed to pull her back on deck, but he must have lost his focus on holding back the sea because a massive wave crashed onto the deck, nearly sweeping Piper and Annabeth overboard. Up above, Jason yelled in frustration and attacked the monster's head again, trying to blind it, but the serpent was too quick.

Frank shot another arrow at the monster, this time aiming for its mouth. He hit his target, but the monster didn't seem to care; in comparison to the serpent, the arrow was smaller than a toothpick. Frank'e eyes swept the deck. They needed a new strategy, and fast, before they drowned or became snake chow. At the prow, Festus roared again, managing to incinerate the corner of the serpent's fish-tail.

Fire.

Frank's plan came together in a second. Fire, he thought. That's ironic.

"We need fire!" he shouted. "Annabeth, Piper, get to the ballistae—use the flaming arrows! Leo, we'll need you and Festus. Percy, get ready to use the waves to push the ship as far away from this thing as you can!" To Frank's surprise, none of them looked shocked at his taking charge; they all did as he said. Annabeth and Piper ran for the ballistae, Leo typed in a couple of commands and started to smolder, and Percy nodded, closing his eyes and focusing on the waves.

Hazel looked at Frank. "What about us?" she asked.

"I need you to come with me and tell Jason to use lightning. We're going to see if we can fry this thing."

"Okay, but how—?"

Frank concentrated. He'd done this twice before. He pictured it in his mind, a massive, fire-breathing, flying dragon. His body expanded, getting heavier, his neck stretched, he felt fangs creep down over his lips. In a few seconds, he had become a giant lizard, wings furled against his sides.

Hazel was staring at him, her mouth open. Frank crouched lower and jerked his head, indicating that she should get on. She grinned, then climbed up his foreleg and onto his back. "Let's do this," she said.

Frank leapt into the air and unfurled his wings. Within a few seconds, he was level with the sea serpent's head.

"What the—?" Jason almost fell out of the air as Dragon Frank flew up next to him.

"We're going to try and torch this thing," Hazel called from Frank's back. "Can you hit it with some lightning?"
Jason grinned. "Gladly."

Frank flew down so that he was about at the serpent's middle.

Hazel raised her voice. "On three! One—two—three!"

Yells rang out around the monster. Festus roared and blew fire, while at the helm Leo sent a volley of fireballs at the monster from his hands. The monster's lower half was enveloped in green flames as Piper and Annabeth fired the ballistae. A flash of light lit the sky as lightning arced off Jason's blade straight down into the serpent's skull. Waves were rising, pushing the Argo II forward, out of the loop of the serpent's body. With a rush of satisfaction that his plan was working, Frank unhinged his jaw, opening his dragon's snout as wide as it would go. There was a rush of heat in his throat, then a plume of fire burst out of his mouth, searing the sea serpent.

Blackened, burning, and still sizzling with electricity, the monster gave a final roar before collapsing back into the depths of the Ionian Sea.

Frank landed on the deck with a thud. Hazel slid off and he changed into himself again. As soon as he was human, she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him.

"That was amazing!" she said.

"Good plan, man," Jason said, still grinning as he landed next to Frank and Hazel. "I thought we were in some serious trouble that time."

"Yeah, three cheers for Zhang's 'burn everything' strategy," Leo said from the helm where he was checking different monitors. "But we actually are in serious trouble. That thing wrecked the ship. We need to do some major repairs, plus replace both masts." He looked up at the others. "I hate to say this, but we're going to have to get back on land, or at least over it, and get some supplies."

"Cause our trips ashore have worked out so well," Frank said.

"I know, but I don't think we have a choice," Leo said. He hit a few buttons on the Archimedes sphere and clicked the "A" button on his Wii controller. A 3-D holographic image of the ship popped up, complete with little flashing red lights that Frank figured were alerting Leo to leaks or cracks in the hall. Where the masts should have been were two massive, blinking exclamation points. "We can still sail like this, but we're not going anywhere fast. Which is a problem since we need to make it to Athens in, what is it now?"

"Thirteen days," Piper said as she, Annabeth, and Percy joined the rest of the crew at the helm. "Today's July nineteenth."

"Okay, well, if we want to make it to Athens in thirteen days, we need to fix the ship." Leo twitched his Wii controller and the holograph of the Argo II was replaced by a map of Greece. "And we can't fly, so we're going to have to find a town with a port."

Frank studied the map. A dot showed the Argo II, about twenty miles off the coast. The nearest town was a place called Preveza. Frank pointed to it. "How about there? It's close."

Leo examined the map. "That works. Set course for Preveza!"

"Um, you're the navigator," Hazel pointed out.

"Just checking to see if you were paying attention," Leo said with a grin. Frank started to roll his eyes, but just then another dot on the map caught his eye.

Pylos.

Frank's stomach clenched. He could hear the voice again.

"I await you in Pylos."

But it was at least a hundred miles down the coast, way too far for what they needed right now, which was a quick pit-stop to fix the ship. However, it was on their way to Athens. An idea started to form in the back of his head, but Frank decided to wait to mention it. First things first, they needed to stop in Preveza, hopefully without any mishaps. Right, because that usually happened.

"We should be there in a couple hours," Leo was saying. "Unless, Percy, maybe you can help speed us along?"

Percy looked worn out from the fight with the sea serpent and summoning the waves to get them away from it, but he said, "I can try." After a second, though, his knees buckled and he would have hit the deck if Annabeth and Jason hadn't caught him. His face was green, but Frank was pretty sure the son of Poseidon didn't get seasick. "Sorry, guys. I don't think—I can't manage it right now."

"It's fine," Piper said quickly. "You already helped get us away from the sea serpent and kept the waves from sinking the ship."

"Yeah," Frank added. "That's probably enough for one day."

Annabeth shot them both a grateful look. "Come on, Seaweed Brain," she said, sliding an arm around his waist, "let's get you downstairs. Jason, can you give me a hand?"

"Sure," Jason said. The three of them made their way below decks. A few seconds later, as a particularly large wave rocked the ship, Hazel turned the same green as Percy and excused herself to run back to her cabin. Frank's heart twisted. He wished he could help her, but there wasn't anything he could do against motion sickness. Healing wasn't a gift of Mars.

"Looks like we've got guard duty," Piper said, leaning against the railing. "So what all do we need when we get to Preveza, Repair Boy?"

"Watch it, Beauty Queen," Leo said as he fiddled with the controls and brought the diagram of the Argo II back up again. Frank didn't understand every aspect of the diagram, but he was pretty sure that many flashing red lights were typically a bad sign. "The main thing is wood for the masts. And I could use some more Celestial bronze to repair the hull. Hopefully Percy'll be better in a bit, 'cause no one else can repair those cracks on the outside." He looked at Frank. "Unless you can turn into an octopus or something?"

"Never tried." Frank didn't think Leo was making fun of him, and even if he was, if Frank could turn into an octopus, they could get the repairs done sooner and he could propose his Pylos idea. So he concentrated hard, trying to picture the octopi he had seen swimming along the bottom of the tank at the aquarium in Atlanta, before that experience turned into a disaster.

Don't think about koi, he told himself fiercely.

An instant later, Frank was sitting on the deck, but he felt different, more wiggly. Also, his arms seemed to be missing. But as he twisted, Frank realized they had just relocated down to his hips, which were no longer actually there. He had become a pink blob with eight long, tentacled legs. He felt fairly pleased with himself. He wasn't always able to turn into animals he wasn't really familiar with (like when he'd unsuccessfully tried to become a rhino in Venice), but so far, sea creatures seemed to come easily. He wondered if that was because of his family's Poseidon ancestry.

After a few seconds, though, Frank noticed he was having trouble breathing.

Oh no, he thought. Octopi were ocean animals; they could be on land for about as long as humans could hold their breath under water. And Frank had never been really great at holding his breath. He started to panic, but considering Piper and Leo didn't look too concerned, his panic must not have shown on his octopus face.

Just relax, he told himself. You are not going to die as an octopus. That would be totally humiliating. He forced himself to focus on becoming human again.

A moment later, he was back to himself. He took a deep breath of the salty sea air.

"Man, that's awesome," Leo said, grinning at him. "You can use four hammers at once!"

"Why not eight?" Frank asked, glad that they didn't seem to realize he had just been panicking. It was embarrassing to forget something as basic as "ocean creatures can't breathe out of the water."

"Because the other four legs are going to be holding the nails," Leo said.

"Oh, right."

"That almost sounds like it should be a joke," Piper said. "But there's no punchline."

"How about this? Knock knock," Leo said. When neither of them answered, he wiggled his eyebrows. "Oh come on, it'll be funny. Knock knock?"

Piper rolled her eyes. "Who's there?"

"Octopus.

"Octopus who?"
"BAM!" Leo yelled and both Piper and Frank jumped. "You just got octo-punched!"

Frank groaned as Leo grinned maniacally and Piper just shook her head. "That was terrible," Frank said.

"Never open the door to an octopus," Leo replied. A small light on the control panel lit up and started blinking frantically, making a whistling noise. The grin slid off Leo's face. "Uh-oh."

"What now?" Piper asked, leaning over his shoulder to look at the alarm.

"Um, minor leak may have just turned major," Leo said. He glanced at Frank. "So, theoretically, if I gave you a hammer and some bronze—?"

Frank sighed. "Just let me get in the water first this time."