Hazel's POV
Hazel felt like she'd just introduced two nuclear bombs. Now she was waiting to see which one exploded first. Until that morning, her brother Nico had been one of the most powerful demigods she knew.
The others at Camp Jupiter saw him as a traveling oddball, about as harmless as the fauns. Hazel knew better. She hadn't grown up with Nico, hadn't even known him very long. But she knew Nico was more dangerous than Reyna, or Octavian, or maybe even Jason.
In fact, Hazel thought the only person who could have ever held a candle to her brother was (Y/N). Both of them were anomalies in her life, two people who were too strong to be considered normal, even to a demigod like herself.
She had seen it, that same look in both their eyes, that only came out every so often, only when that power shone through enough to be noticeable, like the world was confirming their strength, she didn't think there were any more like them.
Then she'd met Percy. At first, when she saw him stumbling up the highway with the old lady in his arms, Hazel had thought he might be a god in disguise. Even though he was beat up, dirty, and stooped with exhaustion, he'd had an aura of power.
He had the good looks of a Roman god, with sea-green eyes and wind blown black hair. She'd ordered Frank not to fire on him. She thought the gods might be testing them. She'd heard myths like that: a kid with an old lady begs for shelter, and when the rude mortals refuse—boom, they get turned into banana slugs.
Then Percy had controlled the river and destroyed the gorgons. He'd turned a pen into a bronze sword. He'd stirred up the whole camp with talk about the graecus. She was sure she had seen that light in his eyes too.
A son of the sea god...Long ago, Hazel had been told that a descendant of Neptune would save her. But could Percy really take away her curse? It seemed too much to hope for. In the back of her mind, all she could imagine him looking at her like (Y/N) did.
The hidden anger, the small note of disgust that was lingering in his stare, it made her feel shameful whenever his eyes were on her, Hazel didn't know if she could stand anyone looking at her like that again.
Percy and Nico shook hands. They studied each other warily, and Hazel fought the urge to run. If these two busted out the magic swords, things could get ugly. Nico didn't appear scary. He was skinny and sloppy in his rumpled black clothes.
His hair, as always, looked like he'd just rolled out of bed. Hazel remembered when she'd met him. The first time she'd seen him draw that black sword of his, she'd almost laughed. The way he called it "Stygian iron," all serious-like—he'd looked ridiculous.
This scrawny white boy was no fighter. She certainly hadn't believed they were related. She had changed her mind about that quick enough. Percy scowled. "l know you." Nico raised his eyebrows. "Do you?" He looked at Hazel for explanation.
Hazel hesitated. Something about her brother's reaction wasn't right. He was trying hard to act casual, but when he had first seen Percy, Hazel had noticed his momentary look of panic. Nico already knew Percy. She was sure of it. Why was he pretending otherwise?
Hazel forced herself to speak. "Um...Percy's lost his memory." She told her brother what had happened since Percy had arrived at the gates. "So, Nico..." she continued carefully, "I thought...you know, you travel all over. Maybe you've met demigods like Percy before, or..."
Nico's expression turned as dark as Tartarus. Hazel didn't understand why, but she got the message: Drop it. "This story about Gaea's army," Nico said. "You warned Reyna?" Percy nodded. "Who is Gaea, anyway?"
Hazel's mouth went dry. Just hearing that name...It was all she could do to keep her knees from buckling. She remembered a woman's soft sleepy voice, a glowing cave, and feeling her lungs fill with black oil.
"She's the earth goddess." Nico glanced at the ground as if it might be listening. "The oldest goddess of all. She's in a deep sleep most of the time, but she hates the gods and their children." "Mother Earth...is evil?" Percy asked.
"Very," Nico said gravely. "She convinced her son, the Titan Kronos—um, I mean, Saturn—to kill his dad, Uranus, and take over the world. The Titans ruled for a long time. Then the Titans' children, the Olympian gods, overthrew them."
"That story seems familiar," Percy sounded surprised, like an old memory had partially surfaced. "But I don't think I ever heard the part about Gaea." Nico shrugged. "She got mad when the gods took over."
"She took a new husband—Tartarus, the spirit of the abyss—and gave birth to a race of giants. They tried to destroy Mount Olympus, but the gods finally beat them. At least...the first time." "The first time?" Percy repeated.
Nico glanced at Hazel. He probably wasn't meaning to make her feel guilty, but she couldn't help it. If Percy knew the truth about her, and the horrible things she'd done...she shuddered at the thought of (Y/N)'s eyes on her again, looking at her like he knew everything.
"Last summer," Nico continued, "Saturn tried to make a comeback. There was a second Titan war. The Romans at Camp Jupiter stormed his headquarters on Mount Othrys, across the bay, and destroyed his throne. Saturn disappeared—'" He hesitated, watching Percy's face.
Hazel got the feeling her brother was nervous that more of Percy's memory might come back. "Um, anyway," Nico continued, "Saturn probably faded back to the abyss. We all thought the war was over."
"Now it looks like the Titans' defeat stirred up Gaea. She's starting to wake. I've heard reports of giants being reborn. If they mean to challenge the gods again, they'll probably start by destroying the demigods...."
"You've told Reyna this?" Percy asked. "Of course." Nico's jaw tensed. "The Romans don't trust me. That's why I was hoping she'd listen to you. Children of Pluto...well, no offense, but they think we're even worse than children of Neptune. We're bad luck."
"They let Hazel stay here," Percy noted. "That's different," Nico said. "Why?" "Percy," Hazel cut in, "look, the giants aren't the worst problem. Even ... even Gaea isn't the worst problem. The thing you noticed about the gorgons, how they wouldn't die, that's our biggest worry."
She looked at Nico. She was getting dangerously close to her own secret now, but for some reason Hazel trusted Percy. Maybe because he was also an outsider, maybe because he'd saved Frank at the river. He deserved to know what they were facing.
"Nico and I," she said carefully, "we think that what's happening is...Death isn't—" Before she could finish, a shout came from down the hill. Frank jogged toward them, wearing his jeans, purple camp shirt, and denim jacket. His hands were covered with grease from cleaning weapons.
As it did every time she saw Frank, Hazel's heart performed a little skip-beat tap-dance—which really irritated her. Sure, he was a good friend—one of the only people at camp who didn't treat her as if she had a contagious disease. But she didn't like him in that way.
He was three years older than she was, and he wasn't exactly Prince Charming, with that strange combination of baby face and bulky wrestlers body. He looked like a cuddly koala bear with muscles.
The fact that everyone always tried to pair them up—the two biggest losers at camp! Youguys are perfect for each other—just made Hazel more determined not to like him. But her heart wasn't with the program.
It went nuts whenever Frank was around. She hadn't felt like that since ... well, since Sammy. Stop it, she thought. You're here for one reason—and it isn't to get a new boyfriend. Besides, Frank didn't know her secret. If he knew, he wouldn't be so nice to her.
He reached the shrine. "Hey, Nico..." "Frank." Nico smiled. He seemed to find Frank amusing, maybe because Frank was the only one at camp who wasn't uneasy around the children of Pluto.
"(Y/N) told me to come see you Hazel." He said brightly. Hazel's heart was too busy tap dancing to notice the shift in the air until Nico said, "Sorry, who did you say sent you Frank?" Frank's brow furrowed. He blinked.
"Reyna, Reyna sent me to get Percy," Frank said, quickly moving on. "Did Octavian accept you?" Nico shook his head and looked at Frank sourly, then, looked around like he was expecting to see something that wasn't there.
"Yeah," Percy said, ignoring Nico being odd. "He slaughtered my panda." "He...Oh. The augury? Yeah, teddy bears must have nightmares about that guy. But you're in! We need to get you cleaned up before evening muster."
Hazel realized the sun was getting low over the hills. How had the day gone so fast? "You're right," she said. "We'd better—" "Frank," Nico interrupted, "why don't you take Percy down? Hazel and I will be along soon."
Uh-oh, Hazel thought. She tried not to look anxious. "That's—that's a good idea," she managed. "Go ahead, guys. We'll catch up." Percy looked at Nico one more time, as though he was still trying to place a memory. "I'd like to talk with you some more. I can't shake the feeling—"
"Sure," Nico agreed. "Later. I'll be staying overnight." "You will?" Hazel blurted. The campers were going to love that—the son of Neptune and the son of Pluto arriving on the same day. Now all they needed was some black cats and broken mirrors.
"Go on, Percy," Nico said. "Settle in." He turned to Hazel, and she got the sense that the worst part of her day was yet to come. "My sister and I need to talk."
(Y/N)'s POV
Walking around like this was giving (Y/N) heartburn, in the worst way possible, it was like trying to hold in a hiccup, but the hiccup was expanded to the size of a baseball constantly stuck in your chest...okay, that wasn't the best analogy, but it was hard to imagine anything else.
Concealing his soul from the world was not as easy as it sounded, it made him feel weird, like his whole body was numb, but he could still walk and talk, he imagined this is what astronauts felt like up in the space stations.
After a long and heated conversation with a few of his Fifth Cohort brethren and a brief lecture from Terminus, he was now in possession of one Probatio tablet, that he wore around his neck without a care in the world. His travels took him past the armory.
He would have walked right past it, had he not seen a baby face that he recognized peeking out from behind a stack of newly polished shields. "Frank?" He said, walking up to meet the guy, the boy looked around at him, "Oh, hey (Y/N)"
"What are you doing here, shouldn't you be in the infirmary?" Frank's expression turned panicked, "Oh yeah, I know you told me to...um...go to the infirmary...but Reyna really wanted to see the new guy Percy and-"
"-Yes, I know that part Frank, I was there. My question is, why are you here." He flushed, "Well, Reyna told me to come here. I know you said to go to the infirmary, but she outranks you." (Y/N) smirked at Frank and flashed his new necklace, "What gave it away?" He asked.
"-That's so unfair!" Frank said as (Y/N) filled him in on her decision to strip him of his rank, it was odd to see someone with such a young face look so cross, "Yeah, but here we are. Now come on, I'll give you a hand, after all, two probatio are better than one right?"
By the time Frank was done protesting, (Y/N) had already cleaned and polished a chest plate, three swords and a spear. "Where's Vitellius?" (Y/N) asked, Frank smirked cheekily, "I told him that the unicorns got loose again."
The two of them had a good laugh at that, "You're a smart guy Frank." The baby faced boy just huffed like he didn't believe it. "And you are killer with that bow, what's the max draw weight on that thing?"
"220...Nothing special..." Frank answered quietly. "Nothing special? Sure...for a giant." (Y/N) scoffed, then tried to make Frank laugh, "Well, that explains some things." (Y/N) said, flexing, Frank hid his blushing face behind a set of old cavalry swords very poorly.
But it seemed talking about archery brought Frank out of his shell a little, in fact the boy confided in (Y/N), explaining his desires about being claimed. (Y/N) paused, "Wait...you haven't been claimed yet?"
Frank shook his head and expressed his desire at who he wanted his father to be, but (Y/N) could only think of one thing, that someone had broken their oath. And he spent a few minutes after that, trying to find out who.
"Oh yeah, hey Frank, what's your favorite song?" He asked, Frank just smiled at him and shrugged, "I don't know." (Y/N) nudged his arm, "Oh, come on, there must be one song that you sing in the shower or something."
"Nah, I'm not a big singer." Frank said, but (Y/N) noticed a hint of colour in his cheeks, "Everyone's got one man, personally I get this old gum commercial in my head, my girlfriend always hums it, plus this one song I heard in an elevator." Frank rolled his eyes, "Sure."
After that, the two worked in a pleasant silence for a while, it was so comfortable in fact (Y/N) almost didn't notice the tiny well of pity he had any time he looked Frank in the eye. Once they were finished, he tried something else to calm that sense of pity and satisfy his own curiosity.
One final thing, he promised himself, (Y/N) sighed as he turned to leave, and said "Oh, almost forgot my tablet, chuck it to me will ya?" (Y/N) asked, holding up one hand to catch, Frank seemed perplexed but picked up the small badge of shame and threw it towards (Y/N).
It wasn't a bad throw by any means, in fact it was good enough that (Y/N) would have had hope, had he not watched the tablet bounce of his palm roughly and clatter to the floor. Not letting on, (Y/N) picked it up and smiled.
"Well, it's been fun my fellow probatio, but I've got a meeting with some Lares before evening muster, something about unionizing before the new Greek guy kills us all and we have more of them to deal with."
Frank chuckled and said, "Thanks for helping me." The sincerity of his smile made (Y/N) feel nostalgic and sad at the same time, it was in that moment, that (Y/N) made a decision. "Actually Frank. Why don't you go find Hazel before evening muster, or worse before Vitellius comes back"
Frank nodded and jogged past (Y/N), who decided he was about to have a slow walk, and once that walk was over, he would stop hiding from his friend, even if this was probably going to be really awkward, because Frank had reminded him of someone he missed dearly.
Someone that (Y/N) had no right to hide from, or lie to, for a second longer than he already had, and someone who (Y/N) really hoped would control his temper enough not to run (Y/N) through with his sword.
To avoid that outcome, (Y/N) took a deep breath and let his magic sprout from his chest, curing his heartburn, and as an extra precaution, he made sure to stop by Bombilo's on the way.
Hazel's POV
"You know him, don't you," Hazel said. They sat on the roof of Pluto's shrine, which was covered with bones and diamonds. As far as Hazel knew, the bones had always been there. The diamonds were her fault.
If she sat anywhere too long, or just got anxious, they started popping up all around her like mushrooms after a rain. Several million dollars' worth of stones glittered on the roof, but fortunately the other campers wouldn't touch them.
They knew better than to steal from temples—especially Pluto's—and the fauns never came up here. Hazel shuddered, remembering her close call with Don that afternoon. If she hadn't moved quickly and snatched that diamond off the road...
She didn't want to think about it. She didn't need another death on her conscience. Nico swung his feet like a little kid. His Stygian iron sword lay by his side, next to Hazel's spatha. He gazed across the valley, where construction crews were working in the Field of Mars, building fortifications for tonight's games.
"Percy Jackson." He said the name like an incantation. "Hazel, I have to be careful what I say. Important things are at work here. Some secrets need to stay secret. You of all people—you should understand that."
Hazel's cheeks felt hot. "But he's not like...like me?" "No," Nico said. "I'm sorry I can't tell you more. I can't interfere. Percy has to find his own way at this camp." "Is he dangerous?" she asked.
Nico managed a dry smile. "Very. To his enemies. But he's not a threat to Camp Jupiter. You can trust him." "Like I trust you," Hazel said bitterly. Nico twisted his skull ring. Around him, bones began to quiver as if they were trying to form a new skeleton.
Whenever he got moody, Nico had that effect on the dead, kind of like Hazel's curse. Between them, they represented Pluto's two spheres of control: death and riches. Sometimes Hazel thought Nico had gotten the better end of the deal.
"Look, I know this is hard," Nico said. "But you have a second chance. You can make things right." "Nothing about this is right," Hazel said. "If they find out the truth about me—" "They won't," Nico promised.
She almost told him then, about the man who seemed to look straight through her, about (Y/N), who knew something was wrong with her, and at any moment seemed ready to find her out, and air out her deepest secret.
That man was probably the closest thing to the two of them in the camp, but was still an entire mystery to Hazel, the person she felt a strange kinship to, but also a deep aversion. The other walking paradox in her life.
She was afraid of the man because no matter how kind he was, or how people accepted him, he still had those eyes, and he still looked at her that way, the eyes she would never forget, the eyes that carried her away.
Something in her gut told her that if she confronted Nico about (Y/N), it wouldn't end well, that it really would and with a sword fight that she would be in the middle of, it was a small murmur of a voice in the back of her mind.
She was so deep in her own thoughts, she almost missed what Nico said next, "-They'll call a quest soon. They have to. You'll make me proud. Trust me, Bi—'" He caught himself, but Hazel knew what he'd almost called her: Bianca.
Nico's real sister—the one he'd grown up with. Nico might care about Hazel, but she'd never be Bianca. Hazel was the simply the next best thing Nico could manage—a consolation prize from the Underworld.
"I'm sorry," he said. Hazel's mouth tasted like metal, as if gold nuggets were popping up under her tongue. "Then it's true about Death? Is Alcyoneus to blame?" "I think so," Nico said. "It's getting bad in the Underworld."
"Dad's going crazy trying to keep things under control. From what Percy said about the gorgons, things are getting worse up here, too. That's why I was looking for-" Again Nico almost said a name, and it hurt him, but this time, Hazel didn't think it was Bianca.
"Figured he would be the next best thing..." Nico said quietly, and Hazel got the distinct impression that Nico had forgotten about her entirely while he looked out over the valley, she never asked who he was searching for back then, she knew it was painful for Nico.
Once he came back to his sense, her brother tried to smile at Hazel, "But look, that's why you're here. All that stuff in your past—you can make something good come out of it. You belong at Camp Jupiter."
That sounded so ridiculous, Hazel almost laughed. She didn't belong in this place. She didn't even belong in this century. She should have known better than to focus on the past, but she remembered the day when her old life had been shattered.
"Room for one more up there?" A voice asked, Nico jumped, Hazel was sure that was the first time she had ever seen the son of Pluto taken by complete surprise, the two of them looked down, and they both saw who was calling up to them.
Once she had, the world became a haze of colour, the same colour she saw back then, as she stared down, and her eyes found his, she knew she couldn't stop it from happening.
The blackout hit her so suddenly, she didn't even have time to say, Uh-oh. She shifted back in time. Not a dream or a vision. The memory washed over her with such perfect clarity, she felt she was actually there.
Her most recent birthday. She'd just turned thirteen. But not last December—December 17, 1941, the last day she had lived in New Orleans.
(Y/N)'s POV
For moment, Hades' son just sat there, legs swinging off the edge of the temple, then Nico seemed to come back to reality, and said "(Y/N), is that you?" Like he couldn't tell if his eyes were deceiving him, or it was a trick of the light.
When (Y/N) nodded, Nico began to wobble as if he was going to faint, and (Y/N) seriously feared that he was going to fall off the roof. "Wow Di Angelo. You look like you've seen a ghost." He said as Nico's mouth fell open.
To calm his on nerves in this situation, (Y/N) tried to drown his emotion with humor, figuring it might work better with Nico than it had with Annabeth. He chuckled to himself, "I figured you'd be used to that by now. Maia."
His shoes sprouted wings that fluttered to life and he ascended towards the roof as Nico still stared at him blankly. His face was even paler than normal in this light, but (Y/N) was happy to see there were less dark circles under his eyes.
"I mean, what were you expecting? The rattling of chains, the dimming of lights? Wailing? Ectoplasm?" He said, wiggling his fingers towards Nico, "I've come to suck your bl-Oh no wait, that's vampires..."
He settled with just making wailing ghost noises. Nico was still in shock as (Y/N) continued to ramble through his nerves. "Wow, look at you, you've gotten so much taller, and your hair looks great man...and now with the ring too, man your fashion sense has really improved since your pinball days." He said.
He teased Nico by rustling the boy's hair a little, as Nico frowned and pushed him off, it must have occurred to him that (Y/N) was entirely solid, because he made a sort of whimpering noise. "See, not a ghost. Really me. Promise." He held out his hand for a fist bump as final confirmation, but didn't receive one.
Nico crushed him with a hug, and through his newly compressed lungs, (Y/N) smiled, musing that they still had to work on that part. "You're back." He said quietly in utter disbelief, "You came back."
They pulled away and Nico seethed at him. "Why wouldn't you tell me" He shouted and honestly (Y/N) couldn't blame him. Nico had every right to be angry and every right to shout. (Y/N) tried to explain before the son of Hades used that Stygian iron sword of his.
"I wanted to tell you in person. Because I know your tendency to hold a grudge, and I wanted you to understand why I didn't come to you immediately. I got sent here on a-" he reminded himself that Hazel was here, looking over at the girl, who seemed off in her own little world, perhaps not trying to pry.
"-On an errand for Reyna." "Does the camp know?" He asked angrily. "Of course the camp knows we're in the camp Nico" he said to remind the boy to be careful. "Annabeth knows right, and Percy, and Chiron and-"
(Y/N) placed a hand over Nico's mouth, nodding to Hazel, the boy remembered himself, and once (Y/N) let go, Nico punched him in the shoulder. "You could have Iris messaged me or reached out to me or...anything!" He shouted.
"You and I need to sit down and talk." (Y/N) replied calmly, "I'll explain everything I promise. We can get McDonald's-" "OH MY GODS THAT WAS ONE TIME. I WAS TEN!" Nico yelled and that let (Y/N) know he was back to his normal broody self, until he did a little dance in excitement.
"I KNEW IT! I knew you were here!" He shouted triumphantly. (Y/N) sighed, "So, who outed me, was it Hazel or Frank?" He asked, Nico just rolled his eyes at him, "Percy? It was Percy wasn't it, I knew that seaweed brain couldn't keep his mouth shut."
"He's such a pain in the butt, I mean how can someone with no memory still remember to ruin all my plans? It was him who told you I was here wasn't it?" Nico looked perplexed, "What? No, I guessed on my own."
He frowned at (Y/N), like he suddenly remembered to be angry. "I can't believe you'd do this to me! I knew I sensed you, I thought I was going crazy, and then when I saw Percy, I figured that I'd just got the feelings mixed up, but seeing you now I can't believe that-"
"What, you didn't think I'd take the opportunity to come back once I got the chance?" (Y/N) asked, "No, it's just...How?" Nico replied, hands trembling as he held onto (Y/N) like he might disappear any second, like he was a ghost that Nico had summoned from his nightmares.
"Hera paid my toll. A soul for a soul. She used my third life. A soul I'd never have, still a soul." (Y/N) said as he pulled Nico in for another hug. Embracing his friend and loving every second of it as it dawned on him that he may never have experienced that again if he didn't make his deal with Gaea.
They embraced for another few moments, until Nico became more conscious of it, Nico looked up at him, tears glistening in his eyes, and then, punched (Y/N) square in the face, his fists balled in anger, giving (Y/N) a bloodied nose and a warm sense of nostalgia as he tumbled to the floor.
He didn't mean the floor of the roof by the way, Nico hit him so hard that (Y/N) slid of the roof, and tumbled to the ground below, he landed on the flat of his back, and groaned in a mix of deja vu and pain. "Deserved that one." He said once breath was back in him, getting up.
"I remember that hurting a lot less..." (Y/N) smiled as he flew back up to the roof with Nico glaring at him. Once (Y/N) was sat beside the boy, he smiled and pulled something out of his shadow, "Soda?"
After they had both finished the beverages, Nico was much calmer, and seemed to have gotten any urges to commit grievous violence out of his system, which was good, but (Y/N) sat between the son of Hades and his Stygian iron sword just in case.
"-So you were supposed to come here, find Percy, and somehow make peace between two rival factions, and how was that going for you? I mean no offence (Y/N) but you aren't the most diplomatic person I know."
"Hey, I'm plenty diplomatic, I have a toga and everything, and well, it was actually going pretty good until Percy showed up." (Y/N) said with honest surprise at his own skill. Nico smirked, still too proud to laugh as he said, "Yeah, that sounds about right for you guys."
Nico gasped, "So it's true, death is-" "Yeah, it's true, been trying to fix it for a while, but bad guys keep coming out of the woodwork, so I've put a pin in it for now. Until I figure out where he is and how to help him, there's no point risking a wild goose chase."
Nico nodded. Again, like he suddenly remembered to be angry, he frowned at (Y/N), "I can't believe you've been here, all. this. time!" He punching (Y/N)'s arm again, almost knocking him off the roof again with the third, until (Y/N) instinctively caught it. "Calm yourself ghost boy, stop punching and hugging me out of the blue."
"Personally, I think one punch was more then enough, seeing as it very well could have killed me. I'm sure Hazel agrees with me, don't you Hazel?" He asked, trying to get her to join the conversation, to be met with no response,
"...Hazel?" He said, as Nico looked on guiltily. (Y/N) snapped his fingers in front of her face. Her eyes were still there, not rolled back in her head or anything, but they seemed sort of glazed over.
"Yo, you good? It almost looks like you...died." He looked at Nico, then back to her, he closed his eyes and focused, and saw something that disturbed him, Hazel's soul seemed to be fighting against itself, pulling itself in different directions, (Y/N) had never seen anything like it.
Suddenly, something clicked in his mind, he looked at Nico and affixed him with an accusatory stare, the son of Hades shank away from his gaze. "Nico, please tell me you didn't...Oh, now it makes sense." He said, looking at Hazel's blank eyes.
"I'm honestly disappointed in myself I didn't figure it out sooner. You pulled her out didn't you?" He looked at Nico for confirmation and practically received it when he noticed the boy's ears turned red.
"Are you kidding me Di Angelo, first you try with Bianca, and get me killed in the process, and now this? I swear I can't leave you alone for five minutes...I take it back, Percy's not a pain in my butt, you are."
He looked at Hazel and took note of her eyes for the first real time. "So Hades is still on a good streak with his oath, and here I thought he was just as bad as his brothers-" "Pluto." Nico corrected, gesturing around to the crystals on the floor, which again, made (Y/N) feel like an idiot, it was right in front of his face.
"Nico I can't believe you! What were you thinking?" "I was looking for you! I hoped you could help us get everything in order, but you weren't at Elysium, so I went searching. When I found her I figured she could help."
"So you resurrected her fully, instead of just making a deal?" (Y/N) said angrily. "No, I tried to make a deal, but she was too strong, and with things already as bad as they are down there, it just sort of happened. And don't start lecturing me!"
"How is she any different from your buddy Terry?" He asked, (Y/N) laughed out loud at that, "She is different from Terry in almost every way and you know it, that's like comparing a centaur to a donkey."
"First of all, Terry's a spirit, second we have a deal, and most of all, it's the fact I don't go around calling Terry my brother, or trying to use him as a stand in for-" (Y/N) bit his tongue when Nico's eyes flashed dangerously dark.
"-Look, I just think you've taken it a bit far this time, children of Hades aren't meant to abuse their power to bring each other back Nico, c'mon man, I taught you better than that." "You barely taught me anything! You wouldn't even teach me to do this. Maybe if you had-"
"-Exactly! This is why I said no magic, this is why I tried to teach you that you couldn't go pulling up souls on a whim!" (Y/N) shouted, is anger towards Nico's recklessness boiling over, "You're too impulsive. Look at what you've done to the her!"
"It wasn't me!" Nico whined, "Well then who was it?" (Y/N) barked back, trying not to make matters worse by shocking the girl into the real world with a loud noise. Again, that great swell of pity lodged itself in his chest.
The pity mixed itself with the disgusting feeling of guilt that had slowly risen to the surface for (Y/N) as soon as he saw her like this, as soon as he learned the truth. He regretted everything about the way he treated Hazel.
Like a dagger to his gut, it stuck into his core and twisted, in hindsight, it made him feel worse, the horrible stares he gave her, the way he looked at her, what he said to her, it was all so painful for him to look back on.
How could he have judged her like that before he knew the whole truth, how could he have added to the pain she had probably been feeling all her life because of something she had no control over, something that was entirely out of her hands. Prejudice, just like (Y/N0 was complaining about earlier.
He was disgusted with himself, the weight of his own regret felt crushing, "How old is she?" (Y/N) asked, Nico shrugged, "Older than me. By a few years." "How long has she been back?" "A while." Nico said quietly as (Y/N) ruminated on his thoughts.
"Why wouldn't she just tell me?" He said softly, not really wanting an answer, because he knew it would hurt too much, "Why would she just let me treat her like that?" He asked, but then it hit him, she probably expected as much from the moment they met. Which was heartbreaking in many ways.
He put his hand on her cheek, feeling the warmth trace across his own skin, "This poor girl..." He said sadly, tears almost forming, "This is why I don't bring them back Nico, she didn't deserve this, she must be so confused, so alone."
"She wasn't confused, and she's not alone. You don't give Hazel enough credit, she's strong." Nico said fiercely, vouching for his sister. "She shouldn't have to be, her time was over-" "So was yours!" He shouted.
At that loud noise, Hazel seemed to jolt awake, her eyes regaining their color. she seemed to breathe at a normal rate again, and (Y/N) and Nico shared a glance as Nico took her hand, speaking to her gently.
Hazel's POV
Hazel was walking home alone from the riding stables. Despite the cold evening, she was buzzing with warmth. Sammy had just kissed her on the cheek. The day had been full of ups and downs.
Kids at school had teased her about her mother, calling her a witch and a lot of other names. That had been going on for a long time, of course, but it was getting worse. Rumors were spreading about Hazel's curse.
The school was called St. Agnes Academy for Colored Children and Indians, a name that hadn't changed in a hundred years. Just like its name, the place masked a whole lot of cruelty under a thin veneer of kindness.
Hazel didn't understand how other black kids could be so mean. They should've known better, since they themselves had to put up with name-calling all the time. But they yelled at her and stole her lunch, always asking for those famous jewels:
"Where's those cursed diamonds, girl? Gimme some or I'll hurt you!" They pushed her away at the water fountain, and threw rocks at her if she tried to approach them on the playground. Despite how horrible they were, Hazel never gave them diamonds or gold."
"She didn't hate anyone that much. Besides, she had one friend—Sammy—and that was enough. Sammy liked to joke that he was the perfect St. Agnes student. He was Mexican American, so he considered himself colored and Indian.
"They should give me a double scholarship," he said. He wasn't big or strong, but he had a crazy smile and he made Hazel laugh. That afternoon he'd taken her to the stables where he worked as a groom.
It was a "whites only' riding club, of course, but it was closed on weekdays, and with the war on, there was talk that the club might have to shut down completely until the Japanese were whipped and the soldiers came back home.
Sammy could usually sneak Hazel in to help take care of the horses. Once in a while they'd go riding. Hazel loved horses. They seemed to be the only living things that weren't scared of her. People hated her. Cats hissed. Dogs growled.
Even the stupid hamster in Miss Finley's classroom squeaked in terror when she gave it a carrot. But horses didn't mind. When she was in the saddle, she could ride so fast that there was no chance of gemstones cropping up in her wake. She almost felt free of her curse.
That afternoon, she'd taken out a tan roan stallion with a gorgeous black mane. She galloped into the fields so swiftly, she left Sammy behind. By the time he caught up, he and his horse were both winded.
"What are you running from?" He laughed. "I'm not that ugly, am I?" It was too cold for a picnic, but they had one anyway, sitting under a magnolia tree with the horses tethered to a split-rail fence.
Sammy had brought her a cupcake with a birthday candle, which had gotten smashed on the ride but was still the sweetest thing Hazel had ever seen. They broke it in half and shared it.
Sammy talked about the war. He wished he were old enough to go. He asked Hazel if she would write him letters if he were a soldier going overseas. "Course, dummy," she said. He grinned. Then, as if moved by a sudden impulse, he lurched forward and kissed her on the cheek.
"Happy birthday, Hazel." It wasn't much. Just one kiss, and not even on the lips. But Hazel felt like she was floating. She hardly remembered the ride back to the stables, or telling Sammy good-bye. He said, "See you tomorrow," like he always did. But she would never see him again.
By the time she got back to the French Quarter, it was getting dark. As she approached home, her warm feeling faded, replaced by dread. Hazel and her mother—Queen Marie, she liked to be called—lived in an old apartment above a jazz club.
Despite the beginning of the war, there was a festive mood in the air. New recruits would roam the streets, laughing and talking about fighting the Japanese. They'd get tattoos in the parlors or propose to their sweethearts right on the sidewalk.
Some would go upstairs to Hazel's mother to have their fortunes read or to buy charms from Marie Levesque, the famous grisgris queen. "Did you hear?" one would say. "Two bits for this good-luck charm. I took it to a guy I know, and he says it's a real silver nugget. Worth twenty dollars! That voodoo woman is crazy!"
For a while, that kind of talk brought Queen Marie a lot of business. Hazel's curse had started out slowly. At first it seemed like a blessing. The precious stones and gold only appeared once in a while, never in huge quantities.
Queen Marie paid her bills. They ate steak for dinner once a week. Hazel even got a new dress. But then stories started spreading. The locals began to realize how many horrible things happened to people who bought those good-luck charms or got paid with Queen Marie's treasure.
Charlie Gasceaux lost his arm in a harvester while wearing a gold bracelet. Mr. Henry at the general store dropped dead from a heart attack after Queen Marie settled her tab with a ruby.
Folks started whispering about Hazel—how she could find cursed jewels just by walking down the street. These days only out-of-towners came to visit her mother, and not so many of them, either. Hazel's mom had become short-tempered.
She gave Hazel resentful looks. Hazel climbed the stairs as quietly as she could, in case her mother had a customer. In the club downstairs, the band was tuning their instruments.
The bakery next door had started making beignets for tomorrow morning, filling the stairwell with the smell of melting butter. When she got to the top, Hazel thought she heard two voices inside the apartment.
But when she peeked into the parlor, her mother was sitting alone at the séance table, her eyes closed, as if in a trance. Hazel had seen her that way many times, pretending to talk to spirits for her clients—but not ever when she was by herself. Queen Marie had always told Hazel her gris-gris was "bunk and hokum."
She didn't really believe in charms or fortune telling or ghosts. She was just a performer, like a singer or an actress, doing a show for money. But Hazel knew her mother did believe in some magic. Hazel's curse wasn't hokum.
Queen Marie just didn't want to think it was her fault—that somehow she had made Hazel the way she was. "It was your blasted father," Queen Marie would grumble in her darker moods.
"Coming here in his fancy silver-and black suit. The one time I actually summon a spirit, and what do I get? Fulfills my wish and ruins my life. I should've been a real queen. It's his fault you turned out this way."
She would never explain what she meant, and Hazel had learned not to ask about her father. It just made her mother angrier. As Hazel watched, Queen Marie muttered something to herself. Her face was calm and relaxed.
Hazel was struck by how beautiful she looked, without her scowl and the creases in her brow. She had a lush mane of gold-brown hair like Hazel's, and the same dark complexion, brown as a roasted coffee bean.
She wasn't wearing the fancy saffron robes or gold bangles she wore to impress clients—just a simple white dress. Still, she had a regal air, sitting straight and dignified in her gilded chair as if she really were a queen.
"You'll be safe there," she murmured. "Far from the gods." Hazel stifled a scream. The voice coming from her mother's mouth wasn't hers. It sounded like an older woman's. The tone was soft and soothing, but also commanding—like a hypnotist giving orders.
Queen Marie tensed. She grimaced in her trance, then spoke in her normal voice: "It's too far. Too cold. Too dangerous. He told me not to." The other voice responded: "What has he ever done for you? He gave you a poisoned child!"
"But we can use her gift for good. We can strike back at the gods. You will be under my protection in the north, far from the gods' domain. I'll make my son your protector. You'll live like a queen at last."
Queen Marie winced. "But what about Hazel..." Then her face contorted in a sneer. Both voices spoke in unison, as if they'd found something to agree on: "A poisoned child." Hazel fled down the stairs, her pulse racing.
At the bottom, she ran into a man in a dark suit. He gripped her shoulders with strong, cold fingers. "Easy, child," the man said. Hazel noticed the silver skull ring on his finger, then the strange fabric of his suit.
In the shadows, the solid black wool seemed to shift and boil, forming images of faces in agony, as if lost souls were trying to escape from the folds of his clothes. His tie was black with platinum stripes.
His shirt was tombstone gray. His face—Hazel's heart nearly leaped out of her throat. His skin was so white it looked almost blue, like cold milk. He had a flap of greasy black hair. His smile was kind enough, but his eyes were fiery and angry, full of mad power.
Hazel had seen that look in the newsreels at the movie theater. This man looked like that awful Adolf Hitler. He had no mustache, but otherwise he could've been Hitler's twin—or his father.
Hazel tried to pull away. Even when the man let go, she couldn't seem to move. His eyes froze her in place. "Hazel Levesque," he said in a melancholy voice. "You've grown." Hazel started to tremble. At the base of the stairs, the cement stoop cracked under the man's feet.
A glittering stone popped up from the concrete like the earth had spit out a watermelon seed. The man looked at it, unsurprised. He bent down. "Don't!" Hazel cried. "It's cursed!"
He picked up the stone—a perfectly formed emerald. "Yes, it is. But not to me. So beautiful...worth more than this building, I imagine." He slipped the emerald in his pocket. "I'm sorry for your fate, child. I imagine you hate me."
Hazel didn't understand. The man sounded sad, as if he were personally responsible for her life. Then the truth hither: a spirit in silver and black, who'd fulfilled her mother's wishes and ruined her life.
Her eyes widened. "You? You're my..." He cupped his hand under her chin. "I am Pluto. Life is never easy for my children, but you have a special burden. Now that you're thirteen, we must make provisions—"
She pushed his hand away. "You did this to me?" she demanded. "You cursed me and my mother? You left us alone?" Her eyes stung with tears. This rich white man in a fine suit was her father? Now that she was thirteen, he showed up for the first time and said he was sorry?
"You're evil!" she shouted. "You ruined our lives!" Pluto's eyes narrowed. "What has your mother told you, Hazel? Has she never explained her wish? Or told you why you were born under a curse?"
Hazel was too angry to speak, but Pluto seemed to read the answers in her face. "No..." He sighed. "I suppose she wouldn't. Much easier to blame me." "What do you mean?"
Pluto sighed. "Poor child. You were born too soon. I cannot see your future clearly, but someday you will find your place. A descendant of Neptune will wash away your curse and give you peace. I fear, though, that is not for many years...."
Hazel didn't follow any of that. Before she could respond, Pluto held out his hand. A sketchpad and a box of colored pencils appeared in his palm. "I understand you enjoy art and horseback riding," he said. "These are for your art. As for the horse..."
His eyes gleamed. "That, you'll have to manage yourself. Now I must speak with your mother. Happy birthday, Hazel." He turned and headed up the stairs—just like that, as if he'd checked Hazel off his "to do" list and had already forgotten her.
Happy birthday. Go draw a picture. See you in another thirteen years. She was so stunned, so angry, so upside-down confused that she just stood paralyzed at the base of the steps. She wanted to throw down the colored pencils and stomp on them.
She wanted to charge after Pluto and kick him. She wanted to run away, find Sammy, steal a horse, leave town and never come back. But she didn't do any of those things. Above her, the apartment door opened, and Pluto stepped inside.
Hazel was still shivering from his cold touch, but she crept up the stairs to see what he would do. What would he say to Queen Marie? Who would speak back—Hazel's mother, or that awful voice?
When she reached the doorway, Hazel heard arguing. She peeked in. Her mother seemed back to normal—screaming and angry, throwing things around the parlor while Pluto tried to reason with her.
"Marie, it's insanity," he said. "You'll be far beyond my power to protect you." "Protect me?" Queen Marie yelled. "When have you ever protected me?" Pluto's dark suit shimmered, as if the souls trapped in the fabric were getting agitated.
"You have no idea," he said. "I've kept you alive, you and the child. My enemies are everywhere among gods and men. Now with the war on, it will only get worse. You must stay where I can—"
"The police think 'm a murderer!" Queen Marie shouted. "My clients want to hang me as a witch! And Hazel—her curse is getting worse. Your protection is killing us." Pluto spread his hands in a pleading gesture. "Marie, please—"
"No!" Queen Marie turned to the closet, pulled out a leather valise, and threw it on the table. "We're leaving," she announced. "You can keep your protection. We're going north." "Marie, it's a trap," Pluto warned. "Whoever's whispering in your ear, whoever's turning you against me—"
"You turned me against you!" She picked up a porcelain vase and threw it at him. It shattered on the floor, and precious stones spilled everywhere—emeralds, rubies, diamonds. Hazel's entire collection.
"You won't survive," Pluto said. "If you go north, you'll both die. I can foresee that clearly." "Get out!" she said. Hazel wished Pluto would stay and argue. Whatever her mother was talking about, Hazel didn't like it. But her father slashed his hand across the air and dissolved into shadows...like he really was a spirit.
Queen Marie closed her eyes. She took a deep breath. Hazel was afraid the strange voice might possess her again. But when she spoke, she was her regular self. "Hazel," she snapped, "come out from behind that door."
Trembling, Hazel obeyed. She clutched the sketchpad and colored pencils to her chest. Her mother studied her like she was a bitter disappointment. A poisoned child, the voices had said. "Pack a bag," she ordered. "We're moving."
"Wh-where?" Hazel asked. "Alaska," Queen Marie answered. "You're going to make yourself useful. We're going to start a new life." The way her mother said that, it sounded as if they were going to create a "new life" for someone else—or something else.
"What did Pluto mean?" Hazel asked. "Is he really my father? He said you made a wish—" "Go to your room!" her mother shouted. "Pack!" Hazel fled, and suddenly she was ripped out of the past.
Nico was shaking her shoulders. "You did it again." Hazel blinked. They were still sitting on the roof of Pluto's shrine. The sun was lower in the sky. More diamonds had surfaced around her, and her eyes stung from crying.
"S-sorry," she murmured. "Don't be," said another voice beside her, when Hazel turned to stare at (Y/N), her heart almost leapt from her chest, she thought she was being taken away again. "Please..." She whimpered.
But this time, his eyes weren't cold, they weren't scary, they held a warmth to them, "Don't worry Hazel," he said gently, his voice seeming like a melody in her ears, "Nobody's going to take you away again, not for a long time, that's a promise."
Nico smiled at (Y/N), "Sister. I see you've met my friend (Y/N) (L/N)." He mused, she nodded, chuckling dryly, "Yeah, we've met. He's nothing but trouble." (Y/N) laughed at that, "I take that as the highest of compliments, your father practically said the same thing last time I saw him."
Hazel suddenly caught on. "Wait, you mean, you're...like me?" He nodded, "In quite a few ways Hazel. I'm sorry for how I've treated you up until now, I hope you can forgive me, I didn't realize what you were, and it's in my nature to be...displeased, with people like us, even myself sometimes."
Nico interjected. "Speaking of my father (Y/N), we need to talk about that. Do you know how much pain you put him in, it's the main reason everything's a mess down there-" "Well yes, I do know how much pain I put him in, that was the point-"
Hazel was suddenly lost again, "Wait, what's wrong with dad?" (Y/N) smirked happily as Nico frowned at him, then turned back to her, "It's a really long story Hazel, I'm sure (Y/N) will be more than happy to tell you over evening muster, now back to more important things."
He took her hand once more and then said. "Where were you?" "My mother's apartment. The day we moved." Nico nodded. He understood her history better than most people could. He was also a kid from the 1940s.
He'd been born only a few years after Hazel, and had been locked away in a magic hotel for decades. But Hazel's past was much worse than Nico's. She'd caused so much damage and misery....
"You have to work on controlling those memories," Nico warned. "If a flashback like that happens when you're in combat—" "I know," she said. "I'm trying."
(Y/N) spoke up, putting his finger to his chin, "If you need anyone to guide you through them, I could call in a few favors, Somnus, Morpheus, Ate the goddess of delusion, even Psyche if you give me a few hours." (Y/N) suggested.
Hazel was confused, "You have three gods on speed dial. And one you can get to me in a few hours?" (Y/N) smiled at her, "I have more than three, but sure." Hazel appreciated the offer, but deep down, she was sure this was something she herself would have to face alone.
She expressed this gratitude to (Y/N), who understood her reluctance, Nico squeezed her hand. "It's okay. I think it's a side effect from...you know, your time in the Underworld. Hopefully it'll get easier."
Hazel wasn't so sure. After eight months, the blackouts seemed to be getting worse, as if her soul were attempting to live in two different time periods at once. No one had ever come back from the dead before—at least, not the way she had.
Nico was trying to reassure her, but neither of them knew what would happen. "I can't go north again," Hazel said. "Nico, if I have to go back to where it happened—" "You'll be fine," he promised. "You'll have friends this time. Percy Jackson—he's got a role to play in this. You can sense that, can't you? He's a good person to have at your side."
Hazel remembered what Pluto told her long ago: A descendant of Neptune will wash away your curse and give you peace. Was Percy the one? Maybe, but Hazel sensed it wouldn't be so easy. She wasn't sure even Percy could survive what was waiting in the north.
"Where did he come from?" she asked. "Why do the ghosts call him the Greek?" "And what am I? Hydra bait? I came here for a reason too you know." (Y/N) pouted. Before Nico could respond, horns blew across the river. The legionnaires were gathering for evening muster.
"No, I seem to remember being the Hydra bait (Y/N), and we'd better get down there," Nico said. "I have a feeling tonight's war games are going to be interesting." (Y/N) jumped of the roof and giggled to himself, "Trust me Di Angelo, you don't want to miss it."