Hazel was sitting under the shade of an umbrella next to Frank, watching the waves come in, and out. In, and out. In, and out.

Frank was trying to make a sand castle in the sand, but was utterly failing. Big clumps of wet sand were all that he was able to create.

"Do you like my…sand castle?"

Hazel rolled her eyes. "It looks like a bunch of camels."

Frank frowned. "At least I make a more attractive camel when I shape-shift."

Hazel laughed. "Why don't you ask Annabeth for help? After all, she's the architect."

"You're right." Frank called to Annabeth, who was having a splash fight with Percy. She started to wade over to Frank, but not before being doused with a large wave of water from Percy. She shoved him backwards into the water, his head disappearing under the surface, then came to help Frank.

Hazel chuckled, then turned her head in the other direction, where she could hear loud laughing.

A brown-haired, seven-year old boy was sitting in the sand, trying to dig through the sand. A blond-haired boy and a girl, both the same age as the first boy, were laughing and waving some shiny things in his face.

"Ha, ha, Luke, look what we found!"

"Yeah, Luke, what did you find?"

"NOTHING! HA! C'mon, Lacy, let's go find some more. This nerd won't be able to find any."

The two blond-haired kids ran off.

Hazel frowned, then got up and walked over to the boy, who was looking at the sand hopelessly.

She knelt by him. "Hello. Is your name Luke?"

He looked up at her with big, green eyes. "Yeah. Why?"

"Well, I heard your two…um…friends talking to you. What's wrong?"

He sighed. "They're not my friends-and their names are Kyle and Lacy. Their parents are my parents' friends. My parents told me to try and get along with them, but they keep bragging about all the cool gems and coins and shells they find in the sand."

"Why do your parents want you to be friends with them?"

"We're really poor, and they're really rich, that's why." Luke sighed again, frowning at the sand.

Hazel smiled at the boy. "Maybe I can help you."

"Really?"

"Of course! I'm going to help you find some gems and coins."

So they set off to dig through the sand, Luke in one direction and Hazel in the other. Whenever Luke's back was turned, Hazel would make some precious gems appear in the sand near him, and he would let out an excited shout whenever he found one. Hazel pretended to find some too.

In the end, they had found a large pile of glittering gems. Hazel was pretty sure there were some diamonds and pieces of gold in there.

Luke was struggling to keep it all in his arms. "Wow! Thanks!"

"No problem. You should show those to your parents. They might earn a lot of money if they sell those."

"Thanks so much…miss…um…what's your name?"

Hazel opened her mouth, then changed her mind about what she was going to say, and opened it again.

"You can call me Miss Metal Detector."

"Well, then, thanks Miss Metal Detector!"

With a wave, Hazel headed back to her umbrella a few yards away.

Behind her back, she could hear Kyle and Lacy run up to Luke again.

"So, Luke, what junk d'you-WHOA!"

"Luke, what the heck? Where did you get all of that?"

"Miss Metal Detector helped me."