Sorry about the rather short brother-sister time with Hazel and Nico, but I just couldn't wait to get to the Iris-message to Camp Half-Blood. Maybe I'll have another little one later on in the demigods' journey. As for the Hyperion vision, I wanted one with Thalia in it and it was either that or the Iapetus one.

Disclaimer: I do not own Heroes of Olympus series (or PJO)

Chapter III Hazel

The demigods gathered around the water fountain Leo had literally pulled out of nowhere. He'd just whistled and the floor had split beneath his feet. The water fountain had been pushed up on something and the floor had turned back to normal again. Now the water sparkled in the morning sun, splintering sunlight into dazzling rainbows. Hazel remembered what the goddess had said on their quest, which seemed like so long ago – that Fleecy usually managed her messages. She wondered if they should say O Fleecy, do me a solid instead. But apparently they were going to say the traditional way. First, though, there was a mini-argument about who was going to say what.

"Not me," said Frank. "They have no idea who I am and I'm not sure they'd want to listen to a Roman. Better they listen to one of their own."

"Me neither," said Nico. "I'd prefer it if they didn't know I was here. That could cause some suspicion."

"I'm not," she said. "They don't know me. And like Frank said, I'm sure they'd prefer listening to one of their own."

For some reason, everyone glanced at Coach Hedge, who frowned. "Don't look at me like that," he said. "I'm not going to talk. I'm a satyr! I protect demigods. I don't make Iris-message calls. And besides, Grover would strangle me."

Who's Grover? Hazel wondered. Probably another satyr.

"Hey, I'm not doing it," said Jason. "I mean, I'm still a Roman, son of the sky god or no. I'm not talking. I'm bad at talking," he added, which was such a lie. Being praetor meant you had to be able to speak well at Senate meetings, but she didn't blame him for not wanting to speak.

"How about you, Piper?" Leo asked. "I mean, you've got charmspeak and all. They'd listen more to you than to me. Nyssa said fire dudes were always bad luck. I'm not going to keep that tradition going."

Piper sighed. "Fine, it all comes down to me talking. Great. Fab. Not."

She took out a huge golden coin – as big as one of those – what did they call it? Girl Slots? No, Girl Scouts. The coin was as big as a Girl Scout cookie. It had the Empire State Building on one side and a god on the other side. The god looked like one of those statues of Mercury. She guessed it was Mercury's Greek form – Hermes – since it was a Greek coin. The gold called to her, which was seriously annoying her. She had no intention of burying her friends in golden coins.

"It's called a drachma," Nico whispered into her ear.

Piper did the honours. She threw the drachma into the rainbow. "O Iris, goddess of the rainbow," she said, "accept my offering."

The coin sailed through the air. As it hit the rainbow, it vanished.

"Camp Half-Blood, campfire," Piper requested.

And the surface of the rainbow shimmered. Suddenly the demigods were looking at a pale orange campfire. The campers of Camp Half-Blood were roasting marshmallows on the fire. As she watched, a girl popped a marshmallow in her mouth. Then the campers noticed them. Or rather, they noticed everyone except Nico, who had dived below deck as soon as the rainbow shimmered, and Coach Hedge, who had gone to watch a martial-arts programme.

Instantly, the campers all shot closer to the Iris-message. About a dozen or so boys and girls sat down next to the message. A centaur trotted forward.

"Piper!" he called. "How is your quest going? Where are you? Is everything OK?"

"Um, we've just left Rome for Greece, we've defeated Ephialtes and Otis, and recovered – "

She was interrupted by a gasp from one of the campers with Annabeth's blonde hair and grey eyes. "No way," he whispered. "Did you – Is that – Is that the Athena Parthenos?"

A chorus of gasps rose from everybody beneath the grey olive-branch-and-owl banner. She guessed they were Annabeth's siblings. One of the girls fainted. Another boy dropped his marshmallow. A third promptly collapsed into one of the girls under the silver crescent moon banner, who seemed like she was a daughter of Athena as well, she had those same features.

The centaur stamped his hoof and the camp fell silent, everybody's eyes fixed on the message. She had to say it was pretty unnerving.

"Uh, yes, that is the Athena Parthenos," Piper said. "Recovered by Annabeth from Arachne."

At the word Arachne, several children of Athena fainted. Others turned deathly pale, as if they'd just seen their worst fear coming towards them. She somehow remembered the story of Arachne and Minerva/Athena. No wonder they looked shocked.

"Er… unfortunately…" Piper just wasn't able to say any more on the subject of Percy and Annabeth falling into Tartarus. Jason quickly said "Erm, that is, Gaia sent a minion at the Roman camp, so the entire Twelfth Legion Fulminata will be, um, heading your way. They're already at Central Park. I'm afraid Annabeth told Reyna the location in friendship, but it didn't work out that way," to fill the gap.

Hazel had told them all about her dream of the map and the legion and Jason filled in the details. "They said they'd attack at dusk or something. From that rise on the hill."

A girl pushed her way forward, and Hazel's eyes widened. This was definitely the same girl in her dream – the same electric blue eyes, the same black spiky hair. Even the silver circlet was the same. "From the rise on the hill?" she asked. "They must be mad. That's where Peleus the dragon is protecting the Golden Fleece. He'd roast them into bits. And," she added darkly. "It won't have positive effects if they try chop down the pine tree."

"Thanks for the reminder, Thalia," Jason grumbled.

"That's not all." Piper said quickly. "Percy and Annabeth… they sort of, um… fell into Tartarus."

The campfire instantly turned black. Hazel could almost feel the shock in the Greek camp. Nico had been right about the mass demoralization.

"Well," the girl – Thalia – finally said, "we'll stay here to help defend the camp. That must be why Lady Artemis sent us here. And Percy and Annabeth – " her voice choked slightly, " – they'll make it out alive. They have to. And they will."

"I know, sis," Jason murmured. "They will."

Wait. Sis? Jason had a sister? She decided to grill him later.

Jason's sister glanced at the campers surrounding her. She was under the silver moon banner, which Hazel thought was a little strange. Shouldn't she be under an eagle banner or something?

"Oh, and, um, not to give you more bad news," said Piper, "but the twin giants told us that, er, Gaia'll wake on August 1st."

"Then we'll just have to hold the camp until then," Jason's sister said determinedly.

On that happy note, Leo swiped his hand through the rainbow, and the Iris-message dissipated.

So what do you think? Camp Half-Blood knows all about the deadlines now. And about two of their leaders falling into Tartarus. The next chapter will be from someone else's point of view, I'm not sure yet. I think I'll have some chapters from Reyna's point of view, just not yet. The fight between the Greeks and the Romans just can't be viewed properly in dreams and visions from Katoptris. And this chapter is a little longer than the other two chapters, because of the super-long Iris-message. Sorry! And it might take a while before I can upload the next chapter.