The Son of Neptune

V
Hazel

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 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. ‘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.