We Are Cursed (A Percy Jackson AU) || BOOK 2

Chapter 22 || Hazel

Hazel had never been so scared flying through Zeus's realm. Her uncle had security cameras all over the sky, and seeing them in it could mean an airplane ramming them in the sides. Basically, his nieces and nephews in the air mean that death would arrive soon. Thalia was panting hard, looking around her. At least Hazel knew Zeus wasn't that unreasonable to kill his own daughter.

"You okay there, Thalia?" Hazel called.

"F-Fine!" Thalia stuttered, looking back at her with wide electric blue eyes "I'm great!"

A bit too enthusiastic, but I'd rather her be happy than crying... Hazel thought to herself as she nodded.

They were simply floating in the void of blue, like a globe of Percy's desires. Well, if they weren't in the sky. The sky was Percy's horror place.

"What if I get LOST? Jet fuel only lasts a couple hours, Hazelnut," he said, "And I'm not getting a jet pack, so how do I get up here? Zeus is f**king crazy."

"Hazel?" Thalia's voice cut through her memories. "Hazel, we're nearing the floor."

She looked down to see a river roaring below.

"Shit..." she cursed. "We're heading for a river."

"B-But..." Thalia stared at it. "Poseidon's gonna kill us, isn't he?"

"If Zeus controlled water, he'd kill us." Hazel shrugged. "But Poseidon? Well... we're here to save his son. Why would he kill us for that? If anything, he'd help us!"

"But he's a--"

"--god?" Hazel cut her off. "Poseidon's a nice god. Not mean or anything. I mean... I've never met him or anything. None of us except for Percy have, and that's only because Percy's our 'mascot' in a way. Like, he's the standard."

"Oh..." Thalia trailed off.

"Did I say something wrong?" Hazel frowned at her peculiar behavior.

"No, no... It's just... Seeing this side of Percy is strange to me.  He's always been an innocent little Kelp Head that I get to punch around. And now..."

"He's an assassin and spy that clearly doesn't hold that much innocence?" Hazel finished her thoughts.

"Yeah," Thalia sighed. "I just don't want to forget about all the fun memories I have with him asa kid by getting used to him now."

"Thalia, he's still Percy deep down inside," Hazel reassured her. "He may seem serious and dark, but that's only because he takes his job seriously. He still pranks people, he laughs, and he makes the best jokes. But he's been through shit."

Thalia nodded, seeming to understand. Well, that was until they plunged into the river.

"AH!" Hazel screamed as she went under, clearly not expecting the cold water to rush at them.

"HAZEL!" Thalia choked as her parachute got caught on a tree, holding her in the water so that she didn't wade out.

Hazel grabbed a rock and hung on for dear life, managing to hoist herself up onto the slippery surface. Thalia was using a branch as a swing, landing on the solid ground with a thud. Shivering as she landed, Hazel twisted her curls, which were saggy with the river water.

"Now where the f**k are we?" Hazel sighed, looking around.

"We're supposed to find Night Leaves from Apate's Palace," Thalia said. "Do you know anything about that?"

"Uh..." Hazel looked around. "Apate is a daughter of Nyx and Erebus, so she's probably near the entrance to Tartarus."

"Tartarus?" Thalia's face paled.

"Yeah... why?"

"Oh... uh... nothing. Just wondering..."

"Good, so we need to get to Epirus," Hazel said. "And I think I remember hearing something in my classes about our sacrifice, which we need in order to get into her palace."

"What is it?"

"Well, I have to find the Greek library like I did the last time I was here, but I saw a book that has instructions on how to do it. But we'll need to buy supplies."

"Could you shadow-travel us to Epirus?" Thalia asked hopefully.

"If I did that, I'd be passed out for three days with you lugging me around like a sack of potatoes with the potential of being killed on the spot," Hazel said, giving her a look. "Or we could hike to Epirus and I could shadow-travel us when we're close enough to not give me a power meltdown. Which do you prefer?"

"I'll take the second option..."

___

When Hazel set up their camp, she didn't expect to have a very terrible nightmare when her head hit her makeshift pillow.

Cackling noises were all around her as she thought about Percy. She was falling somewhere and it was dark. But it all stopped right when it started. She was in a dark space now. Pure blackness. That's when she heard a gasp and there was a figure in front of her, seeming to barely be standing. That's when she saw his sea-green eyes, though they were murky and dull.

"Percy!" she gasped as he fell over, holding his side in agony. She turned him over and put his head in her lap, looking him over frantically. "Oh gods, Percy! What happened to you?"

"It's the curse..." Percy murmured. "Hey, Hazelnut... Hazelnut... HAZELNUT!"

Percy jolted, staring at her with panicked eyes.

"Are you okay?" Hazel asked, though she wanted to slap herself. Of course he wasn't okay. There wasn't a place on his body where a wound didn't lie, and there wasn't a single gash that didn't bleed.

"How'd you get here?"

"Where's 'here'?"

"Tartarus! How'd you get to Tartarus?!"

Hazel felt her blood chill as she looked at him. "T-Tartarus?"

"Yeah! It's where my subconscious mind has been for the past few..." Percy trailed off. "How long has it been?"

"It's been four days, Percy," Hazel whispered.

"You have ten days, then..." Percy breathed.

"What happened to you? Why do you have so many cuts?"

"My subconsciousness gets hurt and my physical body in the world of the living gets hurt, too. One of the monsters accidentally let it slip... Hazel, I don't think I can keep this up. I'm gonna die here..."

"Don't say that..." Hazel soothed. "Your'e getting out of here ALIVE."

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Hazel."

Hazel jolted awake on her sleeping mat. Rousing Thalia, she looked up at the sunrise.

"Wha--"

"There's no time to sleep or eat, Thalia. We have to hurry up. There's only ten days left."