plague bringer - a heroes of olympus insert

𝗏𝗂. 𝗀𝗁𝗈𝗌𝗍 𝗀𝗂𝗋𝗅

"Who is Aunt Rosa?" Hazel asked.

Leo grimaced.

"Long story," he said. "She abandoned me after my mom died, gave me to foster care."

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah, well..." Leo was anxious to change the subject. "What about you? What Nemesis said about your brother?"

Hazel blinked like she'd gotten salt in her eyes. "Nico...he found me in the Underworld. He brought me back to the mortal world and convinced the Romans at Camp Jupiter to accept me. I owe him for my second chance at life. If Nemesis is right, and Nico's in danger...I have to help him."

"Of course," Aria said, understanding how she would feel if one of her siblings was in the same situation. "And what Nemesis said about your brother having six days to live, and Rome getting destroyed...any idea what she meant?"

"None," Hazel admitted. "But I'm afraid..." Whatever she was thinking, she decided not to share it.

Hazel climbed one of the largest boulders to get a betterview. Leo tried to follow and lost his balance. Hazel caught his hand. She pulled him up and they found themselves atop the rock, holding hands, face-to-face.

"Um, thanks." Leo let go of her hand after a moment, but they were still standing so close, he could feel the warmth of her breath.

She definitely didn't seem like a dead person.

"When we were talking to Nemesis," Hazel said uneasily, "your hands...I saw flames."

"Yeah," he said. "It's a Hephaestus power. Usually I can keep it under control."

"Oh." She put one hand protectively on her denim shirt, like she was about to say the Pledge of Allegiance. "And Aria, your eyes were glowing. Like bright green. Was that an Apollo power?"

Aria grimaced. She considered brushing it off but knew she couldn't avoid the question forever. "Yeah. I can heal people and stuff, but I can also make people sick. It's not a power I often intentionally use, but when I get really mad it just kind of happens." Aria scratched the back of her neck uncomfortably.

"I see," Hazel said, and she looked at her and Leo with an expression she couldn't describe.

Aria got the feeling she wanted to back away from them, but the boulder was too small. Great, she thought. My potential new friend now thinks I'm a scary freak. We love that energy.

Aria gazed across the island. The opposite shore was only a few hundred yards away. Between here and there were dunes and clumps of boulders, but nothing that looked like a reflecting pool. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence before Hazel spoke.

"Leo?" Hazel asked gently. "You can't take what Nemesis said to heart."

He frowned. "What if it's true?"

"She's the goddess of revenge," Hazel reminded him. "Maybe she's on our side, maybe not; but she exists to stir up resentment."

"We should keep going," he said, changing the topic. "I wonder what Nemesis meant about finishing before dark."

"Yeah, we might be cutting it close." Aria glanced at the sun, which was just touching the horizon.

"And who is the cursed boy she mentioned?" Hazel asked.

Below them, a voice said, "Cursed boy she mentioned."

At first, Aria saw no one. Then her eyes adjusted. She realized a young woman was standing only ten feet from the base of the boulder. Her dress was a Greek-style tunic the same color as the rocks. Her wispy hair was somewhere between brown and blond and gray, so it blended with the dry grass. She wasn't invisible, exactly, but she was almost perfectly camouflaged until she moved. Even then, Aria had trouble focusing on her. Her face was pretty but not memorable. In fact, each time Aria blinked, she couldn't remember what she looked like, and had to concentrate to find her again.