"Frank, it's okay. I'm going with Nico, not Clytius," I said, irritated. Frank sighed. "I know but I'm worried. Sure the war with Gaea ended, but you and Nico are still both children of the Underworld. Your scent will attract monsters from a billion miles away. Who knows, maybe Clytius himself might rise from Tartarus to kill the Roman who destroyed him. Not like I helped to destroy him." I playfully shoved him, but inside, I was worried also. It's the city, and from I've heard, it scars you for life.
It's been two years after the Giant War. When Leo came back with Calypso two months after the war, I shadow traveled all the way to Camp Half Blood with Frank. I first hugged him tight and I almost used my spatha to show him a demo of what would happen if he did that again. I remember crying and laughing at the same time, until Leo popped one of his corny jokes at me. "Well, Ms. Levesque missed me," he said, tears in his eyes. When I talked to Calypso, Leo's new girlfriend, I felt like I knew her forever ago. I immediately liked her. After Frank and I threatened Leo if he did something like this again, we hugged good bye to our other Argo II members before they started to strangle Leo and left.
"Fine, Hazel, you could go," Frank sighed. I whooped loudly. "But if there's any trouble, shadow travel back to me immediately. I don't another valuable piece of me to die." I smiled understandingly, gave Frank a lingering kiss on the lips, and went to get ready.
I usually stayed away from mirrors, but after having Katherine Seymour, a sixteen year old daughter of Venus, let me borrow one of her small shirt and jeans, she put a light layer of makeup on me and she force me to look. "Oh my gods, Hazel, just look!" I sighed and turned around in the swirly chair. (A/N: I have no idea what the spinning chairs are called so I'm sorry.) You know, I always wondered if Katherine was a daughter of Apollo, because she is an ace at art. She reminds me Piper with her attitude. Like usual, Katherine didn't fail to shock me.
I was wearing my purple Camp Jupiter shirt with Katherine's black long sleeve shirt underneath, which had a hem of gold. Since my old jeans were all ripped and I was too 'busy' (I'm a centurion of the Fifth Cohort. Of course I'm busy.) to clean the bloodstains from cut legs, I had to borrow one Katherine's tight black jeans. My untamable hair was tied into a braided ponytail with a dove clip. Katherine had applied a light layer of lavender eye shadow, which somehow complimented my eyes. A thin layer of clear gloss made my lips lightly shiny. I looked different, but I think it's a good one. My combat boots made me like myself, at least. "Thanks, Kathy." I hugged her tightly and she smiled. "No problem, Haze. Since you're going to the mall, think you can buy me a drawing pad and some charcoal? One of Mars' kids destroyed mine." I agreed and I left her in charge while I was gone. Waving goodbye to Reyna, Frank, and my Cohort, I shadow traveled to the bakery, where Nico was waiting for me.
He looked surprised. "Hazel? Are you wearing makeup?" I rolled my eyes. "It wasn't my choice, but you know Kathy. Besides, I'm sixteen you know. And you, my brother, are seventeen, so you should be able to wear some nice clothing." He had on his typical worn black jacket, but after he gave it to Annabeth, it looks better now after she stitched it. Black jeans, a gray shirt with a skull on it with long black sleeves, and sneakers, his Stygian sword by his side… that's my brother. I hugged him, whispering, "I missed you so much." I buried my head into his mildly cold shoulders.
"Me too, Hazel. Good to know you're doing well." We broke the hug and Nico smiled, an expression I missed from him and it suited him. "By the way, I'm seventeen and a half. Gods, you should know this by now," Nico retorted, rolling his eyes. I chuckled on the outside, happy. On the inside, I felt a bit pained. I was hurt he didn't say 'my own sister.' I know it's ridiculous, but he's my only family that's not immortal. And Frank, he's more than family to me. I pushed that thought aside and linked my arm to his. "Shadow traveling, right?"
"Of course, but since it's my treat, I'm doing it."
"Nico, Will Iris messaged me after you did and he told me it's best for you to not shadow travel." After thinking, I added, "Dork." He laughed hard enough to piss me. "From the way… you… said-HAHAHA!" I took that as my cue and I used our shadows as the way to the city.
"That… was… hilarious!" I exclaimed. I took a bite of my marshmallow covered ice cream, and the warm marshmallows melted in my mouth. Nico winked at me, and took a bite of my ice cream. I expected that and when tried to bite half of the cone, it melted into air. "Hey, no Mist tricks allowed!" He whined like a little kid, causing people to look. "We were playing a game?" I answered, putting on a surprised face. "You ate two ice cream cones and a big bucket of buttered popcorn already. How in Tartarus are you still hungry?" "I'm a growing man," he replied. "Growing man my foot," I snapped back, but I still gave him part of my ice cream. We had just finished the movie Annie (A/N: I didn't see t yet but I really want to.) and it so good. No words can explain how much I love that movie right now. Before the movie, we had gone to get brunch, took some funny pictures at a photo booth, and tried to read books. I had major dyslexia and the English turned into Latin jumble. Nico told me he saw Greek letters that were taunting him. After that, we went to the IMAX Theater and got ice cream. When I had shadow traveled, I overshot to the Palisades mall. I allowed Nico to shadow travel us to the streets of New Times Square. Now, strolling in the city, I felt peaceful. Cue the honking and crowded streets, with people yelling and cursing here and there. A group of gryphons did smell us but we slashed them. It's both relaxing and fun to hang out with my brother. He's a great person.
Not the best brother you could hope for, a voice inside my brain said. Shut up, I thought back. He loves me. Nico just loves Bianca, his full blood sister more. Even when I thought this, a pang went through me. Bianca's really lucky to have a brother like Nico. Too bad she died. It would've been really nice to meet my older half-sister, but the Fates just hate me.
Besides, he didn't visit me as much because of his new life at Camp Half Blood. When I first realized I had a brother, I was blissful. But now, I sometimes feel like it would have been better that I didn't have a sibling than one who visits you about centuries later. (Exaggerate much…)
"Styx, I forgot to buy something from the mall for someone special." Nico interrupted my train of thought. To hide my scowl, I replied," A love note to Will Solace?" I mind the fact that my brother hung with a guy, like a lot. It just told me he found a really close friend. Nico blushed furiously. "Shut up. Just, stay here while I get back. And no I won't shadow travel," he added after seeing my warning look. With that, he tried to run to the mall through the crowds. "Fine, shadow travel. But I'm going to do some exploring in you know what," I called. Seriously, how dumb did he think I was? Even I know that it's really long from the Square to the mall. Besides, we had seen an old house, hidden between some tall buildings. It was breaking apart and me Nico already talked about going inside it. So I'm pretty sure he knew what I was talking about. Nico yelled something back, but, with the noise around us, I didn't hear a word. He ran right into the shadow of a pole. I decided to shadow travel, too. With the last bit of my energy, I used an oncoming car's shadow as my ride.
With my Pluto senses, it was weird. I could sense one trapdoor leading into a room underneath the floorboards. The floor creaked with every step I made. With all the gloom and cobwebs, I was surprised there were no ghosts in the house. Oh well. Less trouble for me. Actually, it was fun. I saw pictures that had a thick layer of dirt on the art. One of them reminded me of Arion, like the artist had seen my super cool horse. "Beautiful," I breathed. "Just like you, babe," an unfamiliar voice behind me said. I almost wielded my spatha, but my magical senses and instincts told me he was mortal.
I whirled around to see a guy in about his twenties, dark and tall. He had a hungry gleam in his light eyes and something told me it wasn't for pie. "Thank you," I croaked out awkwardly. "Please don't call me babe." I tried to walk past him but he held my arm. "So soon? Nobody other than us is here so we could have some fun. Together. This place is perfect. Nobody will see or hear us." Uh-oh. Now would be the perfect time to, you know, shadow travel into the warm and safe arms of Frank Zhang. But if I did, I might either end up somewhere else or combust myself into shadow. Not many options. I can't use my spatha either, because he's mortal. I do sense some gems…
"How about some gold and diamonds? I'll pay you for my freedom," I offered. The guy smiled wickedly. It reminded me of the Golden Pirate Percy defeated when were younger. "It's okay, sweetcakes. I do this type of stuff for free. Besides, riches are worth more than this." Right, Mist time. I made a tiger and screech owl (My dad's sacred animal), about to attack. Three, two, one…
"ROAR!" The tiger growled loudly and the owl started to peck the guy, and I made it seem real. "AHHHH!" He screamed and in that second, I kicked him in the groin and ran. (Dad, Pluto, please make sure that my combat boot hurt him really badly, I prayed while running.) Unfortunately, he tore the right black sleeve off. In pain, he tried almost pulled my hair out. The force pulled out the bands and my hair fell messily around my face, flying as I ran. I willed the tiger to sort of jump on him while I escaped. His scream of shock made me feel a little better.
I sprinted down the stairs. I fell and scraped my elbow. My shirt got stuck on a loose nail, and when I pulled away, a part of the cloth came off. That cloth had to be the piece what covered most of the right half of my shirt. I tripped again and this time, my jeans tore off at the knees, bleeding, when I stumbled on loose boards. I'm pretty sure I looked like a mess. I felt my eyes tear up. I wiped away tears and in the process my eyes were covered, two pairs of arms caught. Thinking it was the guy, I started yelling Latin curses (Not the best thing a centurion like me should've done) and kicking. "Hazel, calm down. It's me, Nico."
Hearing that, I had a breakdown. I collapsed onto my brother crying my eyes out. Thank Pluto Kathy didn't make me put mascara or eyeliner. (Venus, I will kill you for making me think these thoughts.) After seeing me, Nico hurriedly put on his jacket. That was new. He never gave his special jacket to anyone, even Will. When he gave it to me, sure he saw I had some tattered clothing, I felt like he was showing me something I experienced from him a while ago: Love. "What happened?" he asked. I could almost hear the anger in his voice. On prompt, the man yelled out some unflattering things he would do to me. Should I mention that he called me the B word and would do the F word to me? (Of course I shouldn't.)
When he saw me and Nico, he uttered some more perverse things. "So you're a slut, huh? Because I'm pretty sure you were mine!" From his words, I figure out he thought Nico was my boyfriend or something. I was exhausted, and I waited Nico to start yelling at me for hooking up with another guy. Instead, he surprised.
Nico pulled up his sleeves to his elbows, his face terrifying from his anger and rage. "WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT MY SISTER?!" Nico yelled, the floorboards creaking as if something was underneath. The guy must have heard the noise and tried to back away. "Nothing just that-"
Nico growled, and I swear to the gods that his eyes were red, as if fury came from his eyes. The other man saw that and tried to run back, but skeleton warriors rose from the ground. The air became mustier and frigid. I'll admit it; I grew afraid of my brother.
The guy screamed with a high pitch. (Do you think Octavian screamed this high when he was on fire? I need to ask Leo.) "You don't mess with my family and that includes my sister! I did not bring her back to show her more pain and hurt. I brought her back to show that she could live happily with a good guy, not people like you! My father Hades, he never liked the likes of you. He definitely doesn't like people like you that try to pervert things to his children, much less hurt them. I hope you an eternal lifetime of pain in the Fields of Punishment!" The floor underneath melted into shadows, and the man fell, and the last I heard of him was yelling for mercy. The warriors went along with him, to the Underworld, mine and Nico's dad's domain.
After that, the air got warmer and the floor became wood again. I backed into a wall. I felt like someone just slapped me with Imperial Gold. Nico's words made me realize why he brought me back to life. It also made me see how much he loved me. I still couldn't help but feel a bit fearful of my brother. And, a bit of pity to the man. If his family knew he died, they would kill us. But if they knew why, they would kill him. The thought of pity was erased clean from my mind. Nico turned around to see me, backed up in the shadows. I saw a look of shock and understanding pass over him. Thank the gods his eyes were that beautiful dark brown. "Haze, it's me your brother Nico. I won't hurt you. I swear it on the River Styx." I felt like I was six from his tone. I did what a six year would have done too; I ran into Nico's arms, feeling the warmth and security and love in them. I didn't want to let go. "I'm sorry for scaring you. If anyone does that to you again, I'm always around Hazel."
"Thanks, Nico." "Can I breathe now? Too tight, Haze." I relaxed my grip and let go. I almost took it off but Nico told me to keep it. "I don't want to see you like this," he somewhat assured me. I took a step, but my instinct told me not to step in front. I bent down and held a small lavender paper bags. It looked like the ones you might give to someone with a present inside. I gave it to Nico, who smiled at me. "It took me awhile but I found a special gift for you. I don't know if you remember or not but I did tell you this is the day Bianca died. For that, I bought you something special." The stupid tears came back. I think this is what he yelled at me before he shadow traveled. "Stop staring and open it!" Nico demanded. I took the bag and reached inside the tissue paper. It was cold and metal.
Nico had bought me a necklace. The heart one that opens so you can put a picture of whoever you want. It was silver and the heart was as red as blood, inlaid with gold. Nico had done me a favor and put in two pictures already. The left side showed a tiny but visible picture of the Argo II members. The right had a picture of Nico and Bianca smiling at the camera. I let the tears flow. "Nico, thank you. No words can express how I feel right now." I almost choked him again. But instead, I planted a kiss on his cheek. People who think this was a relationship kiss, this is a family kiss. I repeat, brother and sister sort of kiss. Nico's cheeks grew slightly pink. "Hazel, I'm really glad I have sisters like you and Bianca. Maybe she knew about you and wanted to give a second chance. Whatever the case is, I'm pleased I found you. You brought me closer to the mortal world and showed me love. I feel like I belong now." I tried to argue that it wasn't me but Nico (I barely know Will or Clarisse or Chiron or Chiron or Juniper or-) interrupted me. "Since you're tired, do want me to shadow travel or do you want walk to the nearest store?" I playfully shoved. "How come you're not tired?" Nico slapped himself in the forehead. "Right. I ate some ambrosia on the way. I almost exhausted myself from shadow traveling but the godly stuff helped. Here, I am so stupid I didn't give it to you before." I put on my new necklace and a piece of ambrosia. The taste of warm chili gumbo reminded me of home and I felt stronger. Nico took a bite also, maybe because he got deflated from killing the guy. I took that bit of memory and erased it from my mind.
"Ready for the dangers of shopping?" Nico put on a brave face. I took my spatha and pretended to slice a glittery dress. "If you're with me, I'm always ready." Together, we jumped into a shadow in the wall to defeat perils of long lines and the risk of appending too much money. I just hope Katherine doesn't mind that I ripped her outfit. (Even though she's not your typical Venus kid, she loves the outfit I ruined.) I also hope Frank doesn't freak when he sees that I forgot to get a new pair of jeans and sees the wound. Well, with Nico, I don't care. After all, he is Nico di Angelo, the powerful son of Hades and sister to the deceased Hunter of Artemis Bianca di Angelo and me Hazel Levesque. With Nico, I feel the love.
Miss me? Well, if you did, thank you. I feel loved. If you didn't, forget you. (I'm JK. Rowling around with you.) I decided to do a story on the sibling relationship between Hazel and Nico because them two are famous in HoH, especially they are the only siblings that interact really closely. Also, they are my favorite characters! *squeal* (Well, with Leo and Bianca and Rachel and Reyna and the whole Argo II, of course.)
I'll be honest; I cryed doing this. OK, tell me honestly how sentimental this story is. On a scale of 1 to 10, how sentimental?
You know, that review button feels lonely. Send me a review on how you felt about this story. If you didn't figure it out, the story was told from Hazel's POV. Also, I have some great ideas for more HoH and PJO stories. Too bad I don't know to make chapters. Please PM me how to make some chapters and the first one to do so while get a summary and excerpt to my Caleo story. The title's Olympus High. Please review and tell me what you think. (If you hated it, do it for Percy or Leo or Nico or Piper or Hazel or Annabeth or Jason or Frank or Reyna or Octavian (okay, not that blonde scarecrow or Bob or Clarisse or Chiron or whoever you want.)
Thank you.
Happy Holidays! :D