The House of Hades (The Heros of Olympus, Book 4)

FRANK DIDN’T NOTICE THAT HE WAS GLOWING. Later Jason told him that the blessing of Mars had shrouded him in red light, like it had in Venice. Javelins couldn’t touch him. Rocks somehow got deflected. Even with an arrow sticking out of his left biceps, Frank had never felt so full of energy.

The first Cyclops he met went down so quickly it was almost a joke. Frank sliced him in half from shoulder to waist. The big guy exploded into dust. The next Cyclops backed up nervously, so Frank cut his legs out from under him and sent him into the pit.

The remaining monsters on their side of the chasm tried to retreat, but the legion cut them down.

“Tetsudo formation!” Frank shouted. “Single file, advance!”

Frank was the first one across the bridge. The dead followed, their shields locked on either side and over their heads, deflecting all attacks. As the last of the zombies crossed, the stone bridge crumbled into the darkness, but by then it didn’t matter.

Nico kept summoning more legionnaires to join the fight. Over the history of the empire, thousands of Romans had served and died in Greece. Now they were back, answering the call of Diocletian’s scepter.

Frank waded forward, destroying everything in his path.

“I will burn you!” a telkhine squeaked, desperately waving a vial of Greek fire. “I have fire!”

Frank took him down. As the vial dropped toward the ground, Frank kicked it over the cliff before it could explode.

An empousa raked her claws across Frank’s chest, but Frank felt nothing. He sliced the demon into dust and kept moving. Pain was unimportant. Failure was unthinkable.

He was a leader of the legion now, doing what he was born to do—fighting the enemies of Rome, upholding its legacy, protecting the lives of his friends and comrades. He was Praetor Frank Zhang.

His forces swept the enemy away, breaking their every attempt to regroup. Jason and Piper fought at his side, yelling defiantly. Nico waded through the last group of Earthborn, slashing them into mounds of wet clay with his black Stygian sword.

Before Frank knew it, the battle was over. Piper chopped through the last empousa, who vaporized with an anguished wail.

“Frank,” Jason said, “you’re on fire.”

He looked down. A few drops of oil must have splattered on his pants, because they were starting to smolder. Frank batted at them until they stopped smoking, but he wasn’t particularly worried. Thanks to Leo, he no longer had to fear fire.

Nico cleared his throat. “Uh…you also have an arrow sticking through your arm.”

“I know.” Frank snapped off the point of the arrow and pulled out the shaft by the tail. He felt only a warm, tugging sensation. “I’ll be fine.”

Piper made him eat a piece of ambrosia. As she bandaged his wound, she said, “Frank, you were amazing. Completely terrifying, but amazing.”

Frank had trouble processing her words. Terrifying couldn’t apply to him. He was just Frank.

His adrenaline drained away. He looked around him, wondering where all the enemies had gone. The only monsters left were his own undead Romans, standing in a stupor with their weapons lowered.

Nico held up his scepter, its orb dark and dormant. “The dead won’t stay much longer, now that the battle is over.”

Frank faced his troops. “Legion!”

The zombie soldiers snapped to attention.

“You fought well,” Frank told them. “Now you may rest. Dismissed.”

They crumbled into piles of bones, armor, shields, and weapons. Then even those disintegrated.

Frank felt as if he might crumble too. Despite the ambrosia, his wounded arm began to throb. His eyes were heavy with exhaustion. The blessing of Mars faded, leaving him depleted. But his work wasn’t done yet.

“Hazel and Leo,” he said. “We need to find them.”

His friends peered across the chasm. At the other end of the cavern, the tunnel Hazel and Leo had entered was buried under tons of rubble.

“We can’t go that way,” Nico said. “Maybe…”

Suddenly he staggered. He would have fallen, if Jason hadn’t caught him.

“Nico!” Piper said. “What is it?”

“The Doors,” Nico said. “Something’s happening. Percy and Annabeth…we need to go now.”

“But how?” Jason said. “That tunnel is gone.”

Frank clenched his jaw. He hadn’t come this far to stand around helplessly while his friends were in trouble. “It won’t be fun,” he said, “but there’s another way.”