Mortals and Mist

Hope you enjoy this chapter! Stick around, it will get more interesting! Sorry if the last chapter was too short, I'm tried to make this one longer!

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson!

Chapter 2 - Disappearance

Hazel P.O.V

The battle was over. We had won. But something still felt wrong, like a part of me was disconnected. On the top of the hill everyone was crowding around Thalia's pine tree. Curiosity got the better of me and I went to see what all the fuss was about.

There lying on the ground was my brother, Nico di Angelo. I froze. Was he hurt? He seemed fine. Then it dawned on me. He was a shadow, he had overused his powers. I ran to Will who was tending to other injured campers. "WILL," I screamed, "help, please." I lead him to where Nico was, Will was horrified, his face looked like it had just seen medusa's head.

"Can you do anything?" I questioned. "I don't know," Was his reply, "My only fear is that he might not make it unless we do something fast, but we might not have enough surgeons.." He trailed off, still staring at Nico.

Emotion took over me and I ran, I didn't even care where I ran, I just wanted to get away from reality. I looked behind me and I saw Will and a few other medics attempting to get him onto a stretcher. I didn't run back to Camp, I ran the opposite way. I felt a gush of wind and there stood my horse, Arion. He looked urgent, like he needed something quick. I jumped onto his back and he took off instantly.


After about an hour, Arion stopped running. I looked around and saw a gigantic temple in the distance. I hopped off Arion's back and started walking towards the temple. It took a long time because every step I took the temple looked further and further away. Once I eventually reached the temple, I noticed a carving on the wall of the temple which looked like it could have only been a few months old.

I looked closer and saw words, but they were in English, so I stood there for what seemed like hours trying to decipher what it said.

Mortal that enters

Will make the mist fall

Through emotions of joy

Or through feelings of despair

Giants regain the strength that has been lost

While mortals live in nightmares at this cost

I thought nothing of this carving until much later on. It was my biggest mistake to ignore the words etched on the temple's wall. I walked into the temple and to my surprise, I realised this was a temple of Hecate. Mosaics and paintings of her stared down at me from the ceiling as if I had done something terribly wrong. Suddenly, I felt a gust of wind sweep around me. It was mist. But it quickly disappeared just as fast as it had come.

Everything around me was silent. It was peaceful. It made me forget everything that had happened that day. But I still felt angry. I felt angry at the gods for giving us this fate. I felt angry at camp for not having protected the barriers enough. But most of all, I was angry at myself for letting Nico fight, if I had stopped him, we would both be safe at camp eating dinner, enjoying each other's company. It was my fault.


A few days had passed since I had come to Hecate's temple. I had slept inside the temple on a pile of leaves I collected from outside. Arion left after the first night, but I knew he would come back. I walked outside of the temple. It was bright. Arion stood in front of me. I didn't want to leave, but I had the feeling that if I didn't go with him now, I wouldn't get another chance to go again.

Unwillingly, I made my way to my favourite horse. Arion flicked his mane impatiently, I jumped onto his back and he sped off at such a speed, I nearly fell off with shock. This was the fasted he had ever gone with me. Or maybe I was just losing my mind, I had spent two day sleeping in a pile of leaves in a temple of the Goddess of Magic.

My hair whirled in the wind and I started to think of what I might come back to once I got back to Camp Half-Blood. Nico might be still be stuck in the shadows, or worse, he might be dead. Everyone probably thought I was dead too, I didn't talk to anyone after I saw Nico, except Will. I hoped Frank was ok. I hadn't seen him in a week because I came to Camp Half-Blood four days before the monsters showed up. I had come to spend time with Nico, but the time went fast, too fast.


I finally smelt the strawberries from the fields of Camp Half-Blood. I saw Half-Blood Hill in the distance and fear came over me. What if Nico really was gone forever? I felt my heartbeat speed up as I got closer and closer to the hill.

Arion and I reached the bottom of the hill and I leaped off Arion's back, quickly thanked my horse and ran to Camp. The hill was much steeper than I remembered, and my fear only made me feel worse. I reached the top of the hill and ran toward the infirmary. I knocked on the doors and waited for someone to open it. The door opened and there stood Will, he looked frantic and pale, but he smiled when he saw me.

"Hazel!" Will exclaimed, "your just in time, Nico just woke up and is no longer a shadow." I breathed I sigh of relief. Nico wasn't dead, he was alive and healing. Will ushered me inside and lead me towards a door. "He's in there." I opened the door and there was my brother, sitting up right on the bed, completely solid. I ran towards him, flung my arms around him and held onto him tight and didn't let go, afraid I would lose him again. I felt overwhelmed with joy. I sensed the same sensation of wind that I felt when I walked into Hecate's temple, but I was so happy that I didn't care.


After talking with Nico, I went to see the rest of my friends. Will released Nico out of the care of the infirmary so Nico came with me too. They was at the lake when we found them. I knew Percy was at a high-school and Jason was with Thalia somewhere, but I was a bit sad when I saw Frank wasn't there even though I knew he was at Camp Jupiter. My sadness was immediately replaced with joy when Annabeth, Piper, Leo and Calypso ran up to me and engulfed me into a hug.

"Where were you Hazel?" Piper cried, "Yeah Hazel, what happened?" Annabeth asked. Leo opened his mouth to ask me another question, but Calypso stopped him. "She has enough questions to answer already Leo, don't ask another," I smiled at her in thanks, she smiled back. "Well," I started, "Arion appeared after the battle and I just got on him and left, I was so overwhelmed with the fact that Nico could die I just couldn't face reality, so I ran the other way. I stayed at a temple at Hecate for two days before I came back." "Oh Hazel," Piper gasped, "you should have come to us first, we could have helped you." I smiled at them, they were the best people I could ever ask for as friends.

Suddenly, a scream filled the camp. We rushed toward the hill where the sound came from. At the bottom of the hill was clearly a mortal family that had planned a picnic, they were getting chased by Basilisk. We all ran down the hill, distracted it, killed it and then ran over to the distraught family. "Hi, I'm Hazel. Are you ok? You looked like you've seen a ghost," I was expecting them to say something like, "We saw a snake," or "It was nothing," but instead they looked at me in fear and the mother replied shakily, "That snake breathed fire, you just killed it with a sword," then she whispered, "am I going crazy?" Me and the others glanced uneasily. Were they all clear-sighted mortals or did the mist just disappear?

Hope you liked this chapter! Please review!

The DemigodishWitch