Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the series PJO or HOO.

AN: I am back! Get ready for some fun adventures coming up. I'm not having a rest, Nico and Hazel are not having a rest, so neither should you! Go and give me some feedback!

Things are heating up, we're adding some more depth into our characters. Along with some details that will go a long way to creating dramatic tension as the story goes one. Once again, I'm happy to report that we are well on the way!

-H.

-o-

Everyone, excluding Frank who had gone to park the car, was ushered into a generous lift, and in the absence of real stimuli, Hazel stared at their reflections in the shiny silver doors. There was her portly uncle, her best friend/bodyguard Reyna, Thanatos the intimidating head of security, and then there was herself. She looked unbelievably short in such company and her skinny frame was exacerbated by the strangely long reflections in the door. She hadn't yet had time to fathom all the events of today that led up to this moment.

Besides her, Thanatos spoke into a lapel microphone softly, "Take us up."

Abruptly, without anyone having pushed any buttons, they started to shoot up into the sky.

Poseidon dropped a fatherly hand on her shoulder, "You'll love the apartment, I'm certain of it. It was designed, and its building supervised by my brother himself. Four levels, each more fantastic than the last!"

Hazel glanced at Reyna out of habit, and the latter nodded with a smile. "The library is a piece of work indeed and you'll love the maids' cooking- everyone does. It almost makes up for the fact that they like to sneak up on you and hardly say a word. They're almost like ghosts."

"How many times have you been here?" Hazel couldn't help but feel a coil of jealousy stirring in the pit of her stomach at the thought that even Reyna knew more about what could have been her life than herself.

Her friend shrugged, "Not that many times. I came to report your progress to your father a few times. Saw your brother a few times."

"My brother? I have a brother?"

Hazel was surprised. She had always been an only child, but in hindsight it was perfectly logical that her father would have… legitimate children. Even the thought of speaking that word left a sour taste in her mouth. It made her feel unwanted and unneeded.

"Your brother, Nico, is quite a fellow. I'm sure you'll come to get along famously."

Reyna grinned as Poseidon finished, "After a while."

Thanatos frowned while her uncle made a 'hmmm' that could have been of dissent or agreement. Hazel didn't have time to find out. At that moment, the elevator stopped, and she was stunned into silence as the doors opened up into a brilliant modern kitchen. Glittering black marble countertops matched the polished silverware displayed in an open-style cupboard.

Thanatos made a shooing motion beside her, "Welcome home, Miss. The rest of the apartment is only assessable by taking the staircase. I look forwards to getting to know you more in the future."

Reyna, Hazel and Poseidon stepped out. Thanatos gave them a nod before the doors hide his solemn face from view.

"Wow." Hazel spun to take it all in. To the left of the elevator box rose a magnificent marble staircase, a path that was a splendid mixture of grey and white which spiralled upwards towards more floors. Rich people certainly had a different definition of 'apartment'. Reyna gave her a push and she realised that Poseidon had already moved on, heading for a room to the right.

"Go on," she whispered.

Hazel was so taken by the view that greeted her that she almost tripped over the lush carpet of the what was most likely the lounge room, a generous space filled with the biggest couch that she had ever seen. The olive coloured piece of furniture could have easily fitted ten seated people. In the far corner of the room was a small table with four cosy chairs, in the same colour scheme of olive and dull red.

There was no doubt that the whole room was decorated with an oriental theme in mind, but Hazel only had eyes for the city skyline that was displayed like a panorama through the floor to ceiling windows. Manhattan was often thought of as an ugly metal city, but in the glows of sunset it looked almost friendly. Could almost make one reminiscent of home.

"You know," a voice said right behind her, "I nearly had a heart attack when I found how much of that belonged to Hades."

Hazel started and spun around, almost colliding with a young man standing behind her. "Oh!"

The man grinned sheepishly and flashed her with a mouthful of perfect white teeth, "Sorry, Hazel. I'm Triton. I believe you've already met my father, Poseidon?"

Hazel could hardly believe her eyes. The man before her was dressed as formally as Poseidon was casual. With a full three-piece blue checked suit, he could have been mistaken for a fashionable accountant. His shirt was blindingly white and buttoned up the neck without a tie, a stylistic choice which showed off his broad chest attractively.

Hazel berated herself- this was her first cousin after all. "It's alright." She offered a small smile as they shook hands. "This is just a lot to take in. I'm Hazel, but of course you already know that."

Her eyes caught the lapel pin that Triton had on. It was a mermaid's tail, but instead of one, the tail divided into two, forming what looked like a stylised grappling hook with scales. "What's that?"

Triton followed her eyes down, "Oh. That's my variation of my father's company logo. He's got a trident, so I thought I'd go with the sea theme, but also add some flair to it." He pinched it shyly, "I got the inspiration from the legend of the sirens Poseidon used to tell me stories about the sea. Homer's The Odyssey was my favourite."

Hazel wasn't sure who Homer was.

She was saved however, because Poseidon stepped up and clasped a fatherly hand on both their shoulders, grinning widely. "Well, we run a shipping business- of course we must have an ocean related theme." Then he looked serious, "I will be busy helping your brother work out the handover and run the company for a few months at least, so I hope that you know if you need anything, Triton is the man to go to for help."

Reyna coughed and excused herself, explaining that she was going to supervise the creation of dinner downstairs. Where downstairs was, Hazel had no idea.

Now there was only family left in the room, Poseidon left a grimace come across his face. "How's Nico?"

Hazel was going to ask what was wrong, and then remember that her (and therefore his) father was dead. That would put quite a damper on most people's mood.

His son met his eyes briefly, "He's doing better. Last I saw, he was in a meeting with the family lawyers. They're in the library working out a range of legal documents."

Poseidon looped his thumbs through his belt, "Well, we'd better join them- as distasteful as lawyers generally are."

-o-

The library was just what you'd expect to find in an apartment like this. Whilst the other rooms were airy with floor to ceiling windows, the library was dark and shrouded in mystery. On the second floor, directly across from the staircase and through a dark wooden door that even Poseidon had to use both hands to push, the library was a secret cove. Wooden panels lined the whole room, and what wasn't taken up by maps and paintings were reserved by shelves upon shelves all crammed with books.

Hazel was flabbergasted that all this could belong to one person. It didn't seem right. But she was brought back to the present by four pairs of eyes that focused on her the moment the doors opened. There were three stern looking women and a boy seated around the boardroom table dominating the centre of the library.

The three women stood at her entrance, but the boy remained frozen where he sat. He glared at her with open hostility.

Poseidon pushed past her, "Nico, I've brought you a visitor."

Hazel tried for a smile, which was difficult under that gaze, "Hello, I'm-"

"I know exactly who you are. Hazel Levesque." Nico's voice was soft, but it was said with a bitter tremble. "How old are you?"

Hazel was taken back, "Seventeen. And there's no need to be rude. I didn't ask to be here either."

Triton tried for a laugh to break the tension, but Nico cut him off with a glare. "Well, you're right about that. No one wants to be here. Let's just get this over with." He gestured to one of the women, "Alecto, or any of your sisters who wishes to begin?"

Alecto nodded as she faced Nico, "Your father has decided to leave this woman here, Miss Hazel Levesque, a figure sum of ten million dollars. Along with a generous estate out in the country and the adjoining vineyard. Megaera?"

Hazel almost fainted. How rich had Hades been to be able to leave her money like this? Behind her Triton whistled and whispered a "congratulations". Her brother didn't move, didn't even act slightly surprised at the massive amount of his father's money being given to a near complete stranger.

Megaera spoke now in a slightly softer voice, "Do you intend to contest that, Mr di Angelo?"

Her half-brother looked away with a resigned sigh, "No. I do not. Let her have what she's been given."

The three suited ladies nodded in assent. "Very well," said the last sister, "We shall see it done. We'll take our leave now."

With that, the three picked up their briefcases along with a bundle of papers and paced out of the office. They give respectful nods to Hazel and their uncle Poseidon on the way out. Said man strode forwards in the now suddenly empty seeming room where Nico had stood up with a strange hesitance. Hazel thought he winced but wasn't sure. She didn't care either.

"Good choice, my boy." He slapped Nico on the back, nearly sending him sprawling, "The legal fees to dispute that might be even higher. Not to mention the money needed to hide the subsequent media storm."

Triton nodded, "Why don't we leave them alone for a little while, Father?"

Hazel tried to plead a no with her eyes, but her uncle fixed her a pointed glance. Be nice, he seemed to say. Together, he and his son left the library.

Now the room was filled with an awkward silence. Nico sat back down in the armchair and stared openly at her. Not only was it rude, but such a gesture reminded Hazel painfully of all the looks that the people at her school had given her. It was a look that said you don't belong, with a dose of we don't want you here at all.

"What? Do you expect me to say thank you?" she demanded. She braced herself and straightened her posture, refusing to look cowed by his gaze. Her half-brother coughed to clear his throat before he spoke.

"My father can do whatever he wants with his money. But you? You're not what I expected of one of father's children."

For some reason, this rubbed her the wrong way. Hazel sneered, "I didn't expect a rich white man to be my father either. But we don't choose what family we're born into, do we?"

Nico gave her a cold glance. "That's not what I meant. I was just curious as to how my father could have fallen so low to have an affair with some woman from the ghetto."

"How dare you? You want to insult my birth now- it's a bit too late now. Look here, you've been nothing but hostile towards me and I haven't even done anything wrong." Hazel tried her best to keep calm.

Nico's brow contorted and he opened his mouth to say something, but Poseidon walked in at that very moment. "Dinner is served!"

He looked positively drunk. Triton stepped around his father carefully, "Is everything alright?"

"Everything is fine!" Hazel spat out. "I'm going to go home right now."

"But you haven't had dinner yet. The cooks have whipped up quite a meal, we've got roast pork belly, or scallops if you're more of the seafood type. I've heard that dessert is something to look forwards to today too!" Their uncle patted his stomach, "Though I look forwards to dessert every day!"

Triton, unlike his father, seemed to sense that something was not right. He stepped forwards. "Are you alright?" He asked his cousin cautiously, "What's wrong?"

Nico glared daggers at Hazel and then swept a glance over the two new occupants of the room.

"Everything is fine. Go to dinner." He stood straighter, and with tense shoulders made a shooing motion. "Go on."

Triton gave him a concerned look, "Are you not dining with us?"

Nico frowned, his mouth twisting into a bitter expression. "I'm not feeling well. And even if I was, I'm not going to eat with her."

He stalked out of the room. Hazel wondered if he was going to knock into her with is shoulder or something dramatic like in the movies. She braced herself firmly, ready to deal with his tricks.

But as he walked past her, Hazel couldn't help but notice how… unwell he looked. What had been concealed by the dim light of the library was revealed by the white light of the corridor.

Pale and with dark eye circles, Nico did not seem familiar with restful sleep. More alarmingly, as he turned to glare at her as they passed by each other without any physical contact, she could see that his skin was clammy. And despite the hateful expression in his eyes, there were beads of sweat gleamed around his hairline.

Still, that small tingle of concern went out of the window when she remembered how unnecessarily cruel he had been.

Hazel glanced at her retreating back and then at her uncle, afraid that he was going to berate her for making a mess of things. But Poseidon merely shrugged, "Well, he doesn't know what he's missing out on."

-o-

So… How do you all like Nico?