Out In The Open

|Chapter 13| The Goddess of Heroes

Hazel Levesque is the goddess of heroes.

She could remember every detail the day she had been named a goddess. It was on Sunday, August 28, 2010, that she had been made a goddess. The very same day, mere hours after her mortality was stripped away, the Greek Gods revealed themselves.

When Jupiter - technically it was Zeus - had listed her deific designations, she had asked about why she was the goddess of heroes. Why not Percy, Annabeth, or even Jason?

Jupiter - Zeus - had grinned at her, a rare sight. (It seemed that the lord of the sky didn't hate her as much as she hated Percy or Nico.) He had asked her a question in return, his voice echoing against the marble, and in her ears.

How old were you, Hazel Levesque, when you thwarted Gaea's plans and stopped her rise to power?

She had only barely understood, yet she took her role as a goddess, leaving all of her mortality behind her.

That night, she had cried into her stepmother's arms, wishing that she had refused the offer. She was exactly four months shy of her fifteenth birthday.

She was very, very young.

Hazel went to school for a few months, but after the attack on her and Nico that Halloween, she hadn't returned. Her cover had been blown, but Nico's, that lucky duck, hadn't.

She spent her days helping people. She aided people in rescues, giving them the strength to be heroes. She blessed young children who had great futures and helped people on the streets.

She did this all, looking like a 20-year-old.

She felt like if she showed up to something, as a 5 foot 8 inch, fifteen-year-old who still spoke like it was 1941, she wouldn't be believed. But if she showed up older, she would seem more authoritative, and people would listen to her more.

Her parents had told her multiple times that she didn't have to look older. She had insisted she did. Nico, who probably didn't like his sister looking even older, had said that she needed to be who she was. She tuned him out.

Frank had said he liked her how she was, yet she only half listened. Percy and Jason had teased her, saying that she looked ready to kill someone wearing that armour. She had stuck jewels through their shoes. (At least they laughed at that.) Annabeth had said that it was her choice, and Piper had hugged her and told her she understood. Leo had said she was an old lady. She punched him in the face.

Spoiler alert: He cried.

But today when she walks through New York, she looks her age. She's just sightseeing, taking the day off, and letting her responsibilities go for a day. She's doing the very thing that is going to make her parents frown at her over dinner tonight, and they might chide her for being careless.

She really doesn't care.

She's a normal girl, out for a casual daytime stroll. She looks impossibly normal, with normal brown-black eyes, a white fleece sweater, light blue jeans, and a pair of well-worn converse.

She found herself in Lower Manhattan, wandering through Battery Park. She came upon a World War Two memorial and stopped to read the names of the thousands of soldiers who had lost their lives.

She traced her hands over the carved out letters, then moved to face the eagle. She laid her hands on the pedestal and looked up in the carved eagle's eyes.

Her peaceful day was cut short by a loud, blood curdling, ear-splitting, shriek.

Her head whipped around to face the sound. She couldn't see anything, but could still hear the sound and mortals screaming. She summoned her Spatha and took off. She did not see the mortals in the square, but she could feel their stares on her back.