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 the most
powerful demigod she knew. The others at Camp Jupiter
saw him as a travelling 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.
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 beaten 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 windblown 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.
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.
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 seriouslike
– 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. ‘I – I 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 Gaia’s army,’ Nico said. ‘You warned
Reyna?’
Percy nodded. ‘Who is Gaia, 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 Gaia.’
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 …
‘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 Gaia. 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 offence, 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 Gaia 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 towards 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 wrestler’s 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! You guys are perfect for each other – just made
Hazel more determined not to like him.
But her heart wasn’t with the programme. 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.
‘Reyna sent me to get Percy,’ Frank said. ‘Did Octavian
accept you?’
‘Yeah,’ Percy said. ‘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 were
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.’
‘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 got 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. ‘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. 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. 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 that she felt she was actually
there.
Her most recent birthday. She’d just turned thirteen. But
not last December – 17 December 1941, the last day she
had lived in New Orleans.
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