The Son of Neptune - Chapter 29

EVEN BEFORE SHE GOT ON THE BOAT, Hazel felt queasy.
She kept thinking about Phineas with steam coming out
of his eyes, his hands crumbling to dust. Percy had
assured her that she wasn’t like Phineas. But she was.
She’d done something even worse than torment harpies.
You started this whole thing! Phineas had said. If it
weren’t for you, Alcyoneus wouldn’t be alive!
As the boat sped down the Columbia River, Hazel tried
to forget. She helped Ella make a nest out of old books
and magazines they’d liberated from the library’s recycling
bin.
They hadn’t really planned on taking the harpy with
them, but Ella acted like the matter was decided.
‘Friends,’ she muttered. ‘“Ten seasons. 1994 to 2004.”
Friends melt Phineas and give Ella jerky. Ella will go with
her friends.’
Now she was roosting comfortably in the stern, nibbling
bits of jerky and reciting random lines from Charles
Dickens and 50 Tricks to Teach Your Dog.
Percy knelt in the bow, steering them towards the ocean
with his freaky mind-over-water powers. Hazel sat next to
Frank on the centre bench, their shoulders touching,
which made her feel as jittery as a harpy.
She remembered how Frank stood up for her in
Portland, shouting, ‘She’s a good person!’ like he was
ready to take on anybody who denied it.
She remembered the way he had looked on the hillside
in Mendocino, alone in a clearing of poisoned grass with
his spear in hand, fires burning all around him and the
ashes of three basilisks at his feet.
A week ago, if someone had suggested that Frank was
a child of Mars, Hazel would have laughed. Frank was
much too sweet and gentle for that. She had always felt
protective of him because of his clumsiness and his
knack for getting into trouble.
Since they’d left camp, she saw him differently. He had
more courage than she’d realized. He was the one looking
out for her. She had to admit that the change was kind of
nice.
The river widened into the ocean. The Pax turned north.
As they sailed, Frank kept her spirits up by telling her silly
jokes – Why did the Minotaur cross the road? How many
fauns does it take to change a lightbulb? He pointed out
buildings along the coastline that reminded him of places
in Vancouver.
The sky started to darken, the sea turning the same
rusty colour as Ella’s wings. 21 June was almost over. The
Feast of Fortuna would happen in the evening, exactly
seventy-two hours from now.
Finally Frank brought out some food from his pack –
sodas and muffins he’d scavenged from Phineas’s table.
He passed them around.
‘It’s okay, Hazel,’ he said quietly. ‘My mom used to say
you shouldn’t try to carry a problem alone. But if you don’t
want to talk about it, that’s okay.’
Hazel took a shaky breath. She was afraid to talk – not
just because she was embarrassed. She didn’t want to
black out and slip into the past.
‘You were right,’ she said, ‘when you guessed I came
back from the Underworld. I’m … I’m an escapee. I
shouldn’t be alive.’
She felt like a dam had broken. The story flooded out.
She explained how her mother had summoned Pluto and
fallen in love with the god. She explained her mother’s
wish for all the riches in the earth, and how that had turned
into Hazel’s curse. She described her life in New Orleans
– everything except her boyfriend Sammy. Looking at
Frank, she couldn’t bring herself to talk about that.
She described the Voice, and how Gaia had slowly
taken over her mother’s mind. She explained how they
had moved to Alaska, how Hazel had helped to raise the
giant Alcyoneus, and how she had died, sinking the island
into Resurrection Bay.
She knew Percy and Ella were listening, but she spoke
mostly to Frank. When she had finished, she was afraid to
look at him. She waited for him to move away from her,
maybe tell her she was a monster after all.
Instead, he took her hand. ‘You sacrificed yourself to
stop the giant from waking. I could never be that brave.’
She felt her pulse throbbing in her neck. ‘It wasn’t
bravery. I let my mother die. I cooperated with Gaia too
long. I almost let her win.’
‘Hazel,’ said Percy. ‘You stood up to a goddess all by
yourself. You did the right …’ His voice trailed off, as if
he’d had an unpleasant thought. ‘What happened in the
Underworld … I mean, after you died? You should’ve
gone to Elysium. But if Nico brought you back –’
‘I didn’t go to Elysium.’ Her mouth felt dry as sand.
‘Please don’t ask …’
But it was too late. She remembered her descent into
the darkness, her arrival on the banks of the River Styx,
and her consciousness began to slip.
‘Hazel?’ Frank asked.
‘“Slip Sliding Away”,’ Ella muttered. ‘Number five US
single. Paul Simon. Frank, go with her. Simon says,
Frank, go with her.’
Hazel had no idea what Ella was talking about, but her
vision darkened as she clung to Frank’s hand.
She found herself back in the Underworld, and this time
Frank was at her side.
They stood in Charon’s boat, crossing the Styx. Debris
swirled in the dark waters – a deflated birthday balloon, a
child’s dummy, a little plastic bride and groom from the
top of a cake – all the remnants of human lives cut short.
‘Wh-where are we?’ Frank stood at her side, shimmering
with a ghostly purple light as if he’d become a Lar.
‘It’s my past.’ Hazel felt strangely calm. ‘It’s just an echo.
Don’t worry.’
The boatman turned and grinned. One moment he was
a handsome African man in an expensive silk suit. The
next moment he was a skeleton in a dark robe. ‘Course
you shouldn’t worry,’ he said with a British accent. He
addressed Hazel, as if he couldn’t see Frank at all. ‘Told
you I’d take you across, didn’t I? ’Sall right you don’t have
a coin. Wouldn’t be proper, leaving Pluto’s daughter on
the wrong side of the river.’
The boat slid onto a dark beach. Hazel led Frank to the
black gates of Erebos. The spirits parted for them,
sensing she was a child of Pluto. The giant three-headed
dog Cerberus growled in the gloom, but he let them pass.
Inside the gates, they walked into a large pavilion and
stood before the judges’ bench. Three black-robed figures
in golden masks stared down at Hazel.
Frank whimpered. ‘Who – ?’
‘They’ll decide my fate,’ she said. ‘Watch.’
Just as before, the judges asked her no questions.
They simply looked into her mind, pulling thoughts from
her head and examining them like a collection of old
photos.
‘Thwarted Gaia,’ the first judge said. ‘Prevented
Alcyoneus from waking.’
‘But she raised the giant in the first place,’ the second
judge argued. ‘Guilty of cowardice, weakness.’
‘She is young,’ said the third judge. ‘Her mother’s life
hung in the balance.’
‘My mother.’ Hazel found the courage to speak. ‘Where
is she? What is her fate?’
The judges regarded her, their golden masks frozen in
creepy smiles. ‘Your mother …’
The image of Marie Levesque shimmered above the
judges. She was frozen in time, hugging Hazel as the
cave collapsed, her eyes shut tight.
‘An interesting question,’ the second judge said. ‘The
division of fault.’
‘Yes,’ said the first judge. ‘The child died for a noble
cause. She prevented many deaths by delaying the
giant’s rise. She had courage to stand against the might of
Gaia.’
‘But she acted too late,’ the third judge said sadly. ‘She
is guilty of aiding and abetting an enemy of the gods.’
‘The mother influenced her,’ said the first judge. ‘The
child can have Elysium. Eternal Punishment for Marie
Levesque.’
‘No!’ Hazel shouted. ‘No, please! That’s not fair.’
The judges tilted their heads in unison. Gold masks,
Hazel thought. Gold has always been cursed for me. She
wondered if the gold was poisoning their thoughts
somehow, so that they’d never give her a fair trial.
‘Beware, Hazel Levesque,’ the first judge warned.
‘Would you take full responsibility? You could lay this
guilt on your mother’s soul. That would be reasonable.
You were destined for great things. Your mother diverted
your path. See what you might have been …’
Another image appeared above the judges. Hazel saw
herself as a little girl, grinning, with her hands covered in
finger paint. The image aged. Hazel saw herself growing
up – her hair became longer, her eyes sadder. She saw
herself on her thirteenth birthday, riding across the fields
on her borrowed horse. Sammy laughed as he raced after
her: What are you running from? I’m not that ugly, am I?
She saw herself in Alaska, trudging down Third Street in
the snow and darkness on her way home from school.
Then the image aged even more. Hazel saw herself at
twenty. She looked so much like her mother, her hair
gathered back in braids, her golden eyes flashing with
amusement. She wore a white dress – a wedding dress?
She was smiling so warmly, Hazel knew instinctively she
must be looking at someone special – someone she
loved.
The sight didn’t make her feel bitter. She didn’t even
wonder whom she would have married. Instead she
thought: My mother might’ve looked like this if she’d let go
of her anger, if Gaia hadn’t twisted her.
‘You lost this life,’ the first judge said simply. ‘Special
circumstances. Elysium for you. Punishment for your
mother.’
‘No,’ Hazel said. ‘No, it wasn’t all her fault. She was
misled. She loved me. At the end, she tried to protect me.’
‘Hazel,’ Frank whispered. ‘What are you doing?’
She squeezed his hand, urging him to be silent. The
judges paid him no attention.
Finally the second judge sighed. ‘No resolution. Not
enough good. Not enough evil.’
‘The blame must be divided,’ the first judge agreed.
‘Both souls will be consigned to the Fields of Asphodel.
I’m sorry, Hazel Levesque. You could have been a hero.’
She passed through the pavilion, into yellow fields that
went on forever. She led Frank through a crowd of spirits
to a grove of black poplar trees.
‘You gave up Elysium,’ Frank said in amazement, ‘so
your mother wouldn’t suffer?’
‘She didn’t deserve Punishment,’ Hazel said.
‘But … what happens now?’
‘Nothing,’ Hazel said. ‘Nothing … for all eternity.’
They drifted aimlessly. Spirits around them chattered
like bats – lost and confused, not remembering their past
or even their names.
Hazel remembered everything. Perhaps that was
because she was a daughter of Pluto, but she never forgot
who she was, or why she was there.
‘Remembering made my afterlife harder,’ she told
Frank, who still drifted next to her as a glowing purple Lar.
‘So many times I tried to walk to my father’s palace …’ She
pointed to a large black castle in the distance. ‘I could
never reach it. I can’t leave the Fields of Asphodel.’
‘Did you ever see your mother again?’
Hazel shook her head. ‘She wouldn’t know me, even if I
could find her. These spirits … it’s like an eternal dream
for them, an endless trance. This is the best I could do for
her.’
Time was meaningless, but after an eternity, she and
Frank sat together under a black poplar tree, listening to
the screams from the Fields of Punishment. In the
distance, under the artificial sunlight of Elysium, the Isles
of the Blest glittered like emeralds in a sparkling blue
lake. White sails cut across water and the souls of great
heroes basked on the beaches in perpetual bliss.
‘You didn’t deserve Asphodel,’ Frank protested. ‘You
should be with the heroes.’
‘This is just an echo,’ Hazel said. ‘We’ll wake up, Frank.
It only seems like forever.’
‘That’s not the point!’ he protested. ‘Your life was taken
from you. You were going to grow up to be a beautiful
woman. You …’
His face turned a darker shade of purple. ‘You were
going to marry someone,’ he said quietly. ‘You would
have had a good life. You lost all that.’
Hazel swallowed back a sob. It hadn’t been this hard in
Asphodel the first time, when she was on her own. Having
Frank with her made her feel so much sadder. But she
was determined not to get angry about her fate.
Hazel thought about that image of herself as an adult,
smiling and in love. She knew it wouldn’t take much
bitterness to sour her expression and make her look
exactly like Queen Marie. I deserve better, her mother
always said. Hazel couldn’t allow herself to feel that way.
‘I’m sorry, Frank,’ she said. ‘I think your mother was
wrong. Sometimes sharing a problem doesn’t make it
easier to carry.’
‘But it does.’ Frank slipped his hand into his coat
pocket. ‘In fact … since we’ve got eternity to talk, there’s
something I want to tell you.’
He brought out an object wrapped in cloth, about the
same size as a pair of glasses. When he unfolded it,
Hazel saw a half-burnt piece of driftwood, glowing with
purple light.
She frowned. ‘What is …’ Then the truth hit her, as cold
and harsh as a blast of winter wind. ‘Phineas said your life
depends on a burnt stick –’
‘It’s true,’ Frank said. ‘This is my lifeline, literally.’
He told her how the goddess Juno had appeared when
he was a baby, how his grandmother had snatched the
piece of wood from the fireplace. ‘Grandmother said I had
gifts – some talent we got from our ancestor, the Argonaut.
That, and my dad’s being Mars …’ He shrugged. ‘I’m
supposed to be too powerful or something. That’s why my
life can burn up so easily. Iris said I would die holding this,
watching it burn.’
Frank turned the piece of tinder in his fingers. Even in
his ghostly purple form, he looked so big and sturdy.
Hazel figured he would be huge when he was an adult –
as strong and healthy as an ox. She couldn’t believe his
life depended on something as small as a stick.
‘Frank, how can you carry it around with you?’ she
asked. ‘Aren’t you terrified something will happen to it?’
‘That’s why I’m telling you.’ He held out the firewood. ‘I
know it’s a lot to ask, but would you keep it for me?’
Hazel’s head spun. Until now, she’d accepted Frank’s
presence in her blackout. She’d led him along, numbly
replaying her past, because it seemed only fair to show
him the truth. But now she wondered if Frank was really
experiencing this with her, or if she was just imagining his
presence. Why would he trust her with his life?
‘Frank,’ she said, ‘you know who I am. I’m Pluto’s
daughter. Everything I touch goes wrong. Why would you
trust me?’
‘You’re my best friend.’ He placed the firewood in her
hands. ‘I trust you more than anybody.’
She wanted to tell him he was making a mistake. She
wanted to give it back. But before she could say anything
a shadow fell over them.
‘Our ride is here,’ Frank guessed.
Hazel had almost forgotten she was reliving her past.
Nico di Angelo stood over her in his black overcoat, his
Stygian iron sword at his side. He didn’t notice Frank, but
he locked eyes with Hazel and seemed to read her whole
life.
‘You’re different,’ he said. ‘A child of Pluto. You
remember your past.’
‘Yes,’ Hazel said. ‘And you’re alive.’
Nico studied her like he was reading a menu, deciding
whether or not to order.
‘I’m Nico di Angelo,’ he said. ‘I came looking for my
sister. Death has gone missing, so I thought … I thought I
could bring her back and no one would notice.’
‘Back to life?’ Hazel asked. ‘Is that possible?’
‘It should have been.’ Nico sighed. ‘But she’s gone. She
chose to be reborn into a new life. I’m too late.’
‘I’m sorry.’
He held out his hand. ‘You’re my sister too. You
deserve another chance. Come with me.’

Categories: The Son of Neptune