XXIX

HAZEL

Hazel soon recovered from the incident, the other campers sheathing their swords and returning their arrows to their quivers. She walked to the lake, where she saw Calypso sitting silently. She walked over to her and sat down next to her. So she's the one Leo tricked us all for, she thought, but then pushed it out of her mind. It wasn't Calypso's fault.

As she sat, she saw Calypso wipe a tear from her eyes. She smiled weakly at Hazel and managed a small, "Hello." Hazel extended a hand, saying "We haven't been properly introduced. I'm Hazel, daughter of Pluto." Calypso raised her eyebrows. "Umm... sorry. Pluto is the Roman form of Hades," she corrected herself, remembering that Calypso had not been off the island since before Roman times. Calypso smiled, though she seemed slightly apprehensive. "I am Calypso, daughter of Atlas," she said, grimacing at the name of her own father.

"So, I guess Leo really fell for you, huh?" Hazel said, trying to lighten the mood. It didn't work. A fat tear fell from Calypso's eye onto her white t-shirt. Hazel gulped. Activate emergency plan, she thought to herself frantically.

"Umm, I mean..." she stuttered. "Umm, how do you like Camp Half-Blood?" Calypso was still crying, but she wiped the tears off her face. "It-It's nice," she blubbered. "I only wish L-L-Leo were here."

Hazel felt like wrapping her arms around Calypso, but she wasn't too sure how she'd react. Instead, she tried to soothe her with words. "Hey, don't worry. We're gonna get him back. We miss him too," she said.

Calypso nodded, but her eyes still streamed tears. Hazel realised she may want to be alone, and stood up and left; walking back towards the main area of the Camp. She went for lunch with Piper, even though she barely had an appetite. Neither said anything about it, but both were worrying about their boyfriends.

As they finished lunch and walked to the grounds for afternoon activities, Hazel saw a huge red and gold blur on the horizon. As it neared, she saw it was a dragon holding another dragon, Festus! She recognised the dragon holding Festus as Frank, but he was bigger than before. As he came in to land, she recognised two figures on Frank's back, both hunched over.

Frank deposited Festus on the ground before landing himself. Nico lifted a limp Jason off of Frank's back and they both landed to the ground, falling from Jason's weight. Hazel ran over to the three of them, as Frank transformed back into human form and stumbled to the ground, rolling into a ball.

Hazel reached Frank's side and turned him over. His skin was red, like he was still a dragon. Hazel recognised the redness as burns. Her mouth widened in shock as she fumbled in her pockets for nectar. She poured some into Frank's open mouth as he mumbled unintelligibly in pain. His breathing eased and he relaxed. Hazel looked over at Piper, who was shaking the limp Jason. "JASON WAKE UP!" she shouted as she shook him again and again. Hazel tossed her the bottle of nectar and she poured some into Jason's mouth, her mouth widening into a smile as he coughed and sat up.

A smell of burning emanated from Jason and Hazel thought for a heart-stopping moment that Piper had given too much nectar and he had burned from inside. But then she saw Jason flex in pain and concluded that he and Frank had been through fire.

The two of them struggled to their feet as Nico stood a ways off. Frank leaned on Hazel for support, her knees buckling under his bulk. "Sorry," he grimaced as she stumbled but she smiled up at him. The two of them walked to the infirmary, Frank leaning heavily on her. Behind them, Jason leaned on Piper and Nico as they, too, took him to the infirmary.