III

HAZEL

She didn't know what to make of him—of this "Noctis" character. She stared down at him, spread eagled on the seascape bed covers unconscious, and tried to divine something from him. Where was he from? Who was he?

He was a mystery to her. He was a stranger—but not just any stranger. She felt something in her jump at the very thought of him. She felt really weird when she was around him. It was like he was the catalyst to let her emotions out.

She was always a quiet girl. Being the daughter of Pluto, she wasn't like the other girls like Gwendolyn: all about love and very open and loud. For some odd reason...she wasn't like that. And she didn't want to be like that. She just didn't know how to act like that.

But with Noctis around, Hazel felt...so different. She had a feeling that he wouldn't laugh at her for anything and he wouldn't make fun of her for anything. It was something with his eyes—always half-closed and serenely filled with a deep sadness of loss and of something else.

"Why? Why am I like this?"

Venus seemed to spend a lot of her divine time with her in dreams and in brief conscious encounters. She would always talk about how she would find someone one day but it wouldn't be the way she'd think it would be like. Venus and her prophecies… Why was the goddess into her anyway?

She remembered the soft whispers, resonating through the cursed gems that always grew wherever she stayed too long, talking with the wind. The gossip was as nonsensical as a mad hatter. But that was because they hinted at the future and things that hadn't occurred yet. Once they whispered about the new tragic love story of a hero...she wondered if this was it. The story of Hazel's fall...or Noctis'...

A hand clapped her on the back suddenly and she gasped. It was only Reyna. "What were you thinking?"

"Nothing," Hazel replied, quietly. She touched the mark of Camp Jupiter on her right arm, as she glanced at the orange shirt Noctis wore under his jacket. "Just wondering where he came from…"

"Mars has been hinting on some runt of a hero coming to Camp Jupiter but I never thought it'd be someone like him…" Reyna muttered. "He seems like he's a well-seasoned fighter."

"Mars is just angry." A figure shimmered into view. It was a teenage girl of about seventeen with long silver hair that seemed almost pink in the sunset. "He's a sore loser—no offense." The goddess added hastily at Reyna.

Diana, goddess of the Hunt, stepped from the air onto the sand and knelt down to touch Noctis' hair. Hazel felt a twinge of something—jealousy? The goddess looked up at the others as they gathered. She nodded at them before turning her serene gaze to the fallen hero, eyes half-closed and downcast in sadness.

She placed a hand on Noctis' forehead. Noctis' body shimmered briefly silver as his cuts and bruises healed. His eyes flickered and his body jerked as if shocked. That brief second, Hazel could've sworn she saw his slitted eyes glow bluish silver.

"Farewell, heroes. I leave the Son of Neptune in your hands." The goddess murmured softly, still kneeling there, staring at the lost hero. She suddenly stood—reluctantly.

"How do we know he's not going to be the downfall of us?" Dakota asked. "He looks in his late teens. No demigod has survived that long outside."

The goddess smiled. "He's no enemy." She laughed. "I know and you do, too—deep inside you, you know, because you've met before..."

And she was gone—like the wind sweeping away the silver clouds, leaving behind snowflakes of silver sparks that shone like the stars and fell, slowly drifting—probably to meet with Lupa. Hazel had a feeling that the moon goddess wasn't going to go away anytime but was here to stay.

Hazel sighed. Even though Diana was a maiden goddess, she felt weirdly like a rival to Hazel, how the goddess stared tenderly—almost lovingly at Noctis—and how she seemed so sad at the hero's spread eagled exhausted form.

What was going on?

I'm back~! I added this because I felt I should add one of Jason's friends as a major player. There will be more, so don't be dismayed at the short length or its lack of content—this is just an introduction to a moderately major character. Artemis' chapter is coming up soon after I write Frank's. Any ways, I want to know if you readers want me to continue the story even when the real book comes out. Yes or no? Review your answer please!