Holly POV
I can't believe I had the courage to grab onto Pippin's hand like that. I also can't believe that I was actually patient with him.
Everyone was lost in their own thoughts, so I was kind of bored, until Pippin spoke up.
"Thanks."
"For what?"
"Everything you've done for me, from when you gave us those cookies-which were really good-up to when you helped me get over my fear of drowning."
I smiled a little. I hadn't realized that I helped him get over his fear. "Well-"
"You guys should go out." I whirled around and punched Daniel in the arm. "Shut up!" I yelled at him. Pippin was blushing like crazy, probably from embarrassment. I probably was too, but more out of anger.
Daniel yelped and rubbed his arm. "Ow, I was just pointing it out."
"We don't like each other like that. End of story," I said firmly. It was a 100% of a lie (on my part at least), but it shut him up.
Thankfully no one else said anything until the monster attack.
"Weapons out!" I yelled.
"What weapons?" Daniel yelled back at me.
"YOU DON'T HAVE A WEAPON?!"
"Fury at 3 o'clock!" Lily yelled. She had a javelin of sorts.
I fought that thing single-handed while Lily fought a Hydra with Daniel, who had a stick. Thankfully, none of us had serious injuries.
"Keep moving!" I yelled at the others. They (hopefully) followed me as I darted through the forest like a ninja.
We finally made it to the urbanized part of the city. I killed the last monster then stepped out of the forest.
A man walked up to me and started jabbering in what I assumed was Japanese. Hank walked up and had an exchange with the man. He looked delighted.
"He asked where we were going," he translated to us. "I told him we were looking for a gem. He then said that his friend kept one in his house, but it was heavily guarded. He also asked how I knew Japanese, and I told him I learned it in school."
"Good for you," Lily muttered absently.
"Ask him where his friend's house is," I told Hank. He had another exchange with the man, then translated, "It's downtown. He'll take us to it."
We got into his car. However, it only fit five, so we improvised. Since I was the smallest, I crammed into the trunk and Lily and Daniel strapped themselves to the top of the car.
It took a while to get there, but I was nowhere near uncomfortable. The trunk was very roomy. I could almost sit up in it.
We stopped about fifteen minutes later. However, it took twenty more minutes for them to find me. I even banged my hands against the trunk, and they didn't hear me. Finally I texted Daniel and said, "I'm in the trunk. Get me out." Soon after, I could see light again.
"Sorry," Daniel muttered.
"Were you uncomfortable?" Pippin asked me.
"No, it was actually really roomy," I told him.
The Japanese guy motioned for us to come on, and he led us straight to the gem. Either he was really oblivious, or this was a trap of sorts. Either way, I kept my sword out.
As soon as we saw the gem, the others made a protective semi-circle around me, and scooted closer to the gem. When it was close enough to reach, I grabbed it.
Immediately, alarms were set off. I expected them to fight, or at least be alarmed or something, but no one moved, except for Turner, who looked grim.
"Guys?" I poked Lily. She didn't move.
"They're frozen." I jumped. Turner had a really deep voice.
"You can talk?" I asked Turner.
He nodded.
"Sorry, that sounded rude, I just-" He cut me off.
"Don't worry about it. We need to find a way to unfreeze the others." I nodded, then an idea came to mind.
"Aren't you a son of Hecate?" I asked him.
He nodded. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"Could you make a potion that could unfreeze them?" I asked.
He studied me for a moment. "How would I be able to make it?"
"Use what you can." I was desperate. I looked around in the cabinet for anything that could help. I found a bottle of water and two other bottles. One had green liquid, and the other had red. I handed them to him, and he smiled.
"What do you think?" I asked.
"I think that you're secretly a genius," he told me, and set to work.
I decided to call my mom. She picked up on the second ring. "Holly?"
"Hi Mom."
"Where are you? Percy said you were on a quest-"
"Right now we're in Tokyo," I told her. "There's seven of us, and five are frozen."
"What?" My mom sounded confused and a little nervous. "Who's the unfrozen one with you?"
"Turner. He's working on a potion to unfreeze the others." I told her.
"Can I speak to him?" I knew what she was thinking, but I said she could. I handed the phone to Turner. "My mom wants to talk to you."
He nodded, and they began talking. After a few minutes, he looked amused. "No, ma'am. I don't have a crush on your daughter."
"Good," I muttered.
He smiled at me. "Yes, she heard that. I do think another member on this quest likes her, though." I swear to the gods, if it's Daniel...
"Oh, he does? That's fun." After another moment of silence, he smiled grimly. "Yes, I'll be sure to look after her, Ms. Jackson. We should be back in a little less than a week." I guess she hung up on him. He handed the phone back to me.
"How do you know my last name?" I asked him.
"Your brother," he said simply.
I facepalmed.
He smiled and continued working on the potion.
About forty minutes later, he was finished. "Pour this over everyone's heads," he instructed. I did, and soon everyone was shivering but moving again.
"I love you guys," Lily said gratefully to us. "How'd you get us unfrozen?"
I grabbed Turner's elbow and dragged him over. "He came up with a potion to unfreeze you guys."
"You had the idea," he muttered.
"You can talk?" Lily almost screamed. I laughed.
"I had a similar reaction," I told her. "Come on, I think the plane has heated seats." The five of them sighed in relief as we made out way back to the plane.
