X Frank

Frank remembers the morning of his mother’s funeral, venting grief by shooting his grandmother’s porcelain. His stern grandmother interrupts, oddly calm, and presents a mahogany box. Inside lies a charred stick whose ashes still smudge his fingers.

She reveals family truths: Frank’s absent father is a Roman god; their Zhang line carries ancient blood from Li-Jien; and a blue-clad goddess once prophesied baby Frank would restore family honor, go to camp, and free Thanatos. The same goddess warned that Frank’s life is bound to the piece of tinder—when it burns out, he dies. Frank questions safeguards, but his grandmother insists fate resists cheating and passes the burden to him.

His grandmother adds a dangerous secret: at camp he must privately beg the praetor’s forgiveness for his great-grandfather, Shen Lun, linked to a past “San Francisco incident.” After the funeral, wolves arrive; Frank departs south with the medal, his bow, and the stick near his heart, reaching the Wolf House and then Camp Jupiter. Reyna admits him but keeps Shen Lun confidential; Frank’s early months are clumsy and discouraging.

Returning to the present, Frank marches with Hazel and Percy toward the Field of Mars for war games. The engineers’ fortress bristles with scorpions and high-pressure water cannons. The Fifth, led by Dakota and Gwen, is assigned first assault to draw fire while others take glory. Observing Reyna overhead and Nico at a distance, Frank inspects Percy’s gear and worries about the Greek sword.

Seizing on an idea, Frank proposes exploiting the aqueduct-fed water cannons with Percy’s water control, while Hazel locates tunnels beneath the field to approach the weaker eastern wall. Despite Hazel’s reluctance to reveal her Pluto-gifted skills, the trio commits: Hazel will guide them underground, Percy will disrupt the cannons, and Frank will execute the follow-up attack, hoping to finally prove himself.