So what did you think? Will private brother-sister time turn out OK? Or will this just make Nico even more miserable?

Disclaimer: I do not own Heroes of Olympus series

Chapter II Hazel

Hazel was seriously starting to hate her dreams. Why couldn't they just be normal dreams for once? But no, she had to have bad dreams for the night. And with her luck, of course she dreamed about the thing she did not want to think about.

She was in a pitch-black cave. After that muskeg in Alaska, she did not want to dream about pitch-black places. Even worse, she could feel something watching her, like a prickle at the back of her neck. Glancing back, she stifled a scream. The – the thing was a huge pig. With wings, which just made it look even worse. It had pink skin and black hooves. From her monster classes, she guessed it was either the Clazmonian Sow – which was seriously bad news – or the Erymanthian Boar – even worse news. And Percy and Annabeth were there, too.

The pig rushed forward, almost knocking down a section of the dark roof. Percy dived for cover and Annabeth rolled away. They slashed at the pig with Annabeth's dagger and Riptide, but it barely had any effect. The pig must have iron skin. Or maybe that was just because it was Tartarus, and the pig, since it was a monster, was practically immortal there. She didn't like their chances of beating the pig.

Then the scene shifted.

She was next to Percy in a different time. She thought she recognised Central Park, in Manhattan. There were about two dozen girls in silver, demigods under an owl banner and some fauns holding back what seemed like an endless army. Dracanae, giants and other demigods attacked. The demigods under the banner somehow held them back. A girl with spiky black hair and electric blue eyes, with a silver circlet on her head, pointing at a golden man in armour walking on top of the reservoir. A hurricane. The fauns playing on reed pipes – she guessed this made them satyrs. The golden man turning into a maple tree.

The scene shifted again. She was still in Central Park, but this time there was no army, no owl banner. She saw a maple tree in the distance – probably the golden man in armour. This time, she was next to Reyna. The praetor was pacing up and down a room while Octavian studied what seemed like an ancient map. She moved until she was next to Octavian. The map dated from the American War of Independence, which made it really old. Part of her wondered where Octavian had found it. The other part of her studied the map. Long Island was marked, and so were boundaries. There was a Greek Delta in the middle of the camp. She briefly wondered what that was supposed to be.

It was a shock when Octavian spoke. She didn't know she could hear stuff.

"The camp borders should be weakest here," he said, pointing at a spot. "If we attack at dusk, they won't be able to see us properly from the sun. Plus, they have no chance of defending against an attack they won't know is coming."

Senator Larry came in. "So when are we attacking? Next week?"

Reyna sighed. "Sooner, if possible," she said. "We want to give as little warning as possible, remember. The day after tomorrow, if we can."

Hazel woke so fast she was sitting up in bed before she was fully awake. She glanced out the window. Probably six o'clock, maybe seven. She was so confused she decided she'd go onto the deck. Somehow, the Athena Parthenos had major calming properties.

When she arrived, Nico was already there. He glanced at her as she came up. "Hey," he said, in a weary voice.

"What's up?" Hazel asked. She instantly winced inside. What a stupid question.

"Couldn't sleep," he replied. "And, honestly, I feel like I never want to sleep again. Not after that death trance."

"It'll be all right," she found herself saying. "They'll make it out alive."

"Yeah," he agreed, sighing. "Bad dreams?"

Instantly, she stiffened. How did Nico know?

"Hey," he said, "all demigods have super weird dreams. But please tell me you saw some good stuff in your dreams."

She found herself telling him everything. He winced when he heard about the pig, then groaned when she told him about Reyna. "Not good," he said. "Not good at all. So we can tell them in the Iris-message. Ok. Calm down," he muttered to himself. "And sis, this time it'll be alright."

A few minutes later, Leo popped out his head. "Up already?" he asked. "Well, let's get the bad parts and the Iris-message over with."

Ooh, Iris-message time! Wonder what Camp Half-Blood will think when two of their leaders fall into Tartarus?

By the way, I'm not too sure why I added in the battle at the reservoir with Hyperion. It just felt right for a dream-vision for Hazel. Maybe it'll play a part later on. As I said, I'm not too sure.