"STOP!" A voice shouted from the rubble. All eyes turned to the cloud of dust where the wall had been. A girl stumbled out, wheezing and coughing. "S-stop." She coughed, tripping over the rubble, "Nico don't." She said.
Weapons were out all over the great hall, all of the hunters bows and nearly every wand was aimed at her, arrows notched and spells ready. She glared at the wizards, "Nico, if you tell them you will only make it worse." She said before dissolving into a coughing fit. The dust had mostly cleared by now and everyone could see that a hole had been blasted clear through the castle.
Chiron wheeled forward, "Who are you miss?" he asked when she recovered.
"I'm sorry, I have places to be, I was just...where was I? OH! Right, Nico," She turned to the boy in question, ignoring Chiron's question, "If you tell them the ministry will declare war on camp, I can't tell you everything, but don't do it," She lowered her voice so only the demigods could hear, "Unless you want to lose another sister." Nico paled and cast a glance at Hazel, who had heard and was equally pale.
"Right, soooooo, I'll be going." She said and jumped off the stage, melting into a shadow at its base.
There was a stunned silence for several minutes, then the demigods cleared the stage in silence, deciding to heed the cryptic warning of the strange girl. Nico didn't get over his shock for quite some time. Will had taken him to an empty classroom in hopes of getting him to talk. Will had been to far away to hear the whispered warning and no one who had heard would tell him.
"What did she say Nico?" He asked softly after a minute of Nico just staring off into space with a blank expression on his face and Will sitting next to him and waiting.
"She said something that she couldn't possibly know." He said. Will let out a tiny laugh, "That's all she said Nico, you'll have to be more specific." Nico laughed, "She said I would lose Hazel if I told the wizards who we were." Will drew back slightly in shock, "How could she possibly know that!" He said, a little louder than necessary.
"Because I saw it happen."
~oOo~
Annabeth and Percy were in the Slytherin commons with the rest of the seven. The Slytherins hadn't been happy about outsiders in the commons but none of them wanted to stand up to the strange kids who fought like demons.
"Who do you think she was?" Annabeth asked after mulling the question over in her head.
"And why didn't she tell anyone who she was, I mean how did she know we would listen?" Jason asked, who, along with Piper, Leo, and Frank, had been too far away to hear the whispered warning.
"She said I would die if Nico told." Hazel said, leaning in so the wizards in the room wouldn't hear.
"WHAT?" Frank exclaimed, loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. Curious wizards turned to them, but quickly turned back to eavesdropping discreetly when they glared at them.
"What I want to know," Draco said from behind Annabeth and Percy, "is why she had to wreck our school to warn you bozos, and what you really are." He raised an eyebrow, but only got glares from most of the group.
Annabeth spoke up after a brief glaring war, "Get lost Draco." He let out a low whistle and squeezed onto the couch next to Hazel, "Feisty, but why? What are you hiding?" He asked twirling his wand between his fingers.
"None of your business." Frank said through clenched teeth, pulling Hazel closer to him on the couch. Draco ignored the preater. Bad move.
"I want answers, you all confessed to not being wizards, and you say you're not muggles, so what are you?" He leaned back, stretching his arms across the back of the couch. His hand brushed Hazel's shoulder.
"Frank," She said, her tone hard, "Hold my flower." She removed the colorful rose from her hair. Frank held out his hand, "Gladly." He took the flowed and Hazel rose, scanning Draco and spotting the silver Slytherin pendant on his robe.
"You see, Draco," She said, "My friend told you to get lost, I suggest you need her words." Draco brushed her off. Worse move.
"Or what, you wouldn't attack me here, your little destructive friend told you to avoid a war, this could very well start one if something as trivial as your identity can start one." She smiled sweetly, watching the spot where the pendant had been, "You're right, I wouldn't dare attack you here." Then she sat down, shoving him off the couch, "But I would like some space."
Draco left in a huff, a silver L pinned to his back.
~oOo~
Will and Nico bolted to their feet, weapons ready.
"Who are you?" Nico asked through gritted teeth.
"I-I can't answer that." His sword was at her throat with her back pinned to the wall before anyone could process a coherent thought.
"Please, Nico, let me explain." He had his first good look at her. Before she had been covered head to toe in dust, one couldn't tell what color her hair was then. But now she had cleaned off. She had short black hair, braided with all kinds of seemingly random things, leather strips, feathers, a disturbing number of bullet casings, about five, arrowheads and what looked like charms from a charm bracelet. She was paler than should have been natural, just like Nico, and she dressed all in black with a long coat that came to her knees.
But what Nico couldn't take his eyes off of were her eyes. One second they were ice gems of blue, the next they had shifted to a glowing orange, then they were sapphires, then coals, then sparkling banks of snow. Her face was dusted with freckles, and she had one tiny one at the corner of her left eye, were Nico had decided to focus instead of those eyes.
"How?" He asked, pushing the blade closer to her neck. She closed her eyes, "If you're going to kill me, do it, but don't waste my time with threats. I'll explain everything I can. But I can't tell you everything, you have to understand that." She was pleading now, just a helpless child trying to get him to believe her. He sighed and dropped her. She crumpled to the ground and grabbed her neck, "Don't you think I've nearly choked to death enough times today." she said as she stood to face him and Will.
She took a deep breath and began, "I am a demigod," she started, "but I can't tell you my godly parent. That matter is...delicate." Nico nodded for her to go on, knowing if he dwelt on this one thing he probably wouldn't get another chance to hear what she had to say.
"I used a powerful kind of magic to get here, I can't explain that either, but I had to get here. You see, if that war happens, I lose everything I care about." She took a deep breath and continued, "I know you, or I will, so I knew exactly when I had to get here. You are actually the only person who didn't try to kill me the second you saw me-" she choked and slid down the wall, tears welling up in her eyes from some memory that surfaced behind her eyes, which were now a solid shade of red, like hot coals ready to burst into flame.
"I had to save you-" She caught herself just as the tears slid down her cheeks, "You told me not to," she whispered, "You said you had gone through enough, that you wanted to die-" She broke down in sobs and Nico had the irrational urge to comfort her. He shook his head, You just met her, she hasn't given you a single straight answer in all the time that you've known her and now she's spouting nonsense. No Nico.
Will had gone to her and they were talking in Greek, "I tried, I'm sorry," She broke down, she couldn't be more than sixteen at the very most.
"What did you try to do?" Will asked comfortingly.
"I tried to save everyone, you die, you all die. You win the war, you obliterate the wizards, but it leaves you too weak to fight the monsters, just like they planed, you didn't know that last time, I directed you to that dream." she sniffed and was about to go on when she was interrupted, "Well, if it isn't our little mystery girl. Bringing tales of doom from beyond the stars!" Draco mocked from the doorway, "I heard you all put on that little show for attention, is it true mystery girl?" He asked with mock sincerity. Nico glanced at the girl, the look of pure hatred in her eyes was enough to make him want to get as far away as possible.
"You." She said, her fists trembling in rage. She got to her feet and whipped her arm to her side. A wicked looking dagger materialized out of a thin ring Nico hadn't noticed on her finger. "You don't know me yet Draco Malfoy but I know you. I know what you would have done. I only wish I had the pleasure of killing you myself." Nico made a grab for her but she was quick, she had Draco pinned to the wall, in a similar way to how Nico had just pinned her, with her blade at his throat.
"Unfortunately I have siblings who will track me down if I kill you now, δολοφόνος." Nico shivered, murderer. One didn't call just anyone something like that immediately after threatening their life, no, wherever this girl came from, Draco had killed someone, someone she cared about for her to have such a strong reaction to him.
"What did he do?" Will asked in greek.
"I can't tell you." She dropped Draco and changed her knife back into a ring. Draco sat frozen on the ground while they continued their conversation in greek.
"I have to go." She said as she paced the room, looking for a way out, but most of the shadows were just slivers in the corners or directly below someone because of the overhead lighting.
"What's your name?" Nico spoke up, daring to meet her eyes.
"You'll find out in…" She looked up, as if calculating something, "Two years, if I'm born that is."
"You're a time traveler." Will said in surprise and wonder.
"Yes."
Then she was gone.
Draco sat there, processing. He remembered Hermione saying they spoke in greek and latin when they didn't want to be overheard, so he had used a charm to translate the languages, which he kept on at all times. He had understood everything.
~oOo~
Hermione was with the hunters. Thalia was telling her about them, giving her a chance to join. She was considering.
"So, no boys, ever?" She asked, leaning forward.
"Never." Thalia responded, firing and arrow at a target she had painted on a tree a ways into the forest.
"Okay, but why? I mean, I know Artemis has to stay a virgin, but the rest of you don't have to, she could change it is all I'm saying." Hermione said, putting her hands up in surrender.
Thalia laughed, "It's been like that for thousands of years, it's not changing now." Hermione shrugged and asked, "But, that immortality thing, you don't die unless you're killed, but what if you get sick and die from that? Like if a girl with cancer were to join would she die of her cancer or be immortal just like the rest of you?"
Thalia pondered this for a minute, "I don't think she would die, we only die if we're killed in battle, an I don't think that battling cancer counts. It might, I'll have to ask lady Artemis."
Hermione's eyes widened, "You can actually talk to her!? Like, face to face?"
Thalia laughed again, "Of course, the whole point is to keep her company and help her hunt. It's not like we're just some group of fangirls or something who just hunt in her name. There are a few groups who she has to send out on their own though, there are to many of us to be in one hunting party, we wouldn't be able to catch anything with those kinds of numbers. Hunting requires stealth, you see, if there are to many of us it will be nearly impossible to hide everyone and not make a sound." Hermione nodded, "I see, I suppose that makes sense. And all I have to do to join is recite the oath to Artemis?" Thalia noded and fired another arrow, splitting the last one down the center.
Hermione's jaw dropped, "You've got to teach me that!" She exclaimed, earning another laugh from Thalia, "Here," She said showing Hermione how to hold the bow and notching an arrow, "just hold it like this, see, now notch the arrow, good, now aim, don't hold it like that, you'll lop your ear off," She adjusted the bow in Hermione's hands and directed her aim to an oak tree only a few yards into the woods.
The arrow flew, missing the tree by several feet. Hermione frowned, "How do you do it so well?" she asked. "Practice, and a blessing from the goddess of archery." That shared a laugh and put the bow down.
One of the other hunters called Thalia over for lunch and invited Hermione to join them. She accepted and went over to them.
"So you're considering joining us?" One of the girls asked, Amber Thalia had said, offering her a plate.
"Yeah, I am." She responded, taking the plate and going to the fire, where the food had been set out and the girls were passing plates around and chatting.
"We've never had a witch before, can you fight?" Amber asked, following beside her.
"Not like you can," Hermione took some meat, she wasn't sure she wanted to know what kind, and passed the plate along, "I can use spells with my wand, but I'm not very physical. I'm smart though, I can make plans and such."
Amber noded, "Gracey over there," she said, pointing to a red haired girl by the fire, "she's a daughter of Athena, she usually handles the plans, she's not as smart as Annabeth but she's close. She's actually the reason we keep winning capture the flag against camp half blood." She pointed to another girl, "And she's a daughter of Ares, she is weapons expert without a match." She took a plate of strawberries from another girl and put some on her plate, then gestured to a third girl, "She's a daughter of Venus, her charmspeak cannot compare to Piper's but she's actually pretty powerful, and a good fighter." Hermione nodded to show she was listening as they sat down next to a tree, "Thalia is the most powerful of us though, she's a daughter of Zeus, but you knew that, she can summon lightning if she wants to and is a lieutenant, meaning she's like Artemis's right hand." Amber put a strawberry in her mouth and chewed as Hermione mulled that over.
"How long do I have to decide whether or not to join?" She asked after a minute of them just eating, Amber with more vigor than should have been acceptable for a girl.
"I'm not sure," Amber said after swallowing, "you'll have to ask Thalia, I've only been here for a few months, only saw the last bits of the war, but she's been here since the last great prophecy, the one about Percy. You know the one? I don't know if you heard anything about it here." She could probably tell from Hermione's blank stare that she had no idea what Amber was talking about.
"Okay then, basically, there was a great prophecy about a child of the eldest gods, that Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, they thought at first that it was Percy after he got claimed, but then Thalia was, would you call it resurrected? Anyway, the golden fleece turned her back into a human, I mean her tree is still there, it's just not her. So, they thought it might be her, then she joined the hunters before she turned sixteen so now she'll never turn sixteen, that narrowed it down to Percy, or, a few years later, Nico. But the war escalated to quickly for it to be Nico, so it had to be Percy. He fulfilled the prophecy and chose not to destroy Olympus, so that's a plus." She said all of this without taking a breath and when she stopped she immediately shoveled a bunch of food into her mouth.
Hermione didn't understand half of that, but she didn't want to ask, so her just pretended to know and said, "My guess would be a couple weeks then, before you leave." Amber nodded, "It's as good a guess as any, but you can't know for sure till you ask." Then she shoveled more food into her mouth and Hermione had to keep herself from wrinkling her nose in disgust, didn't that girl have any manners?
She finished her food in silence and went up to her dorms, where she was surprised to see Annabeth waiting for her.
"Hey," Annabeth said, closing the book she had been reading, which looked to be in greek.
"Hey," Hermione responded as she walked over to the demigod.
"So, I was thinking," Annabeth started, staring down at her book, "That girl, the one who appeared and told Nico not to tell, I think she could be working for the enemy."
Hermione blinked, "Oh." she hadn't been expecting to talk about her, "I think that's a reasonable theory. But my question is, why?" She held up a hand to stop Thalia, "I know what you're going to say, you think it would have worked and that she was sent to stop it, but I'm saying that doesn't make sense. Even if you set aside the fact that she blew up a sizable section of our school and seemed desperate, it still wouldn't make sense that she would know exactly what to say to stop Nico from continuing, I mean, how would the monsters have known that about him when most of his own allies wouldn't know that."
Thalia shrugged, "Maybe they got smarter." Hermione gave her a sceptical look but didn't say anything else. Even if that girl didn't work for the monsters, there was certainly something suspicious about her. And Hermione intended to find out what.
After a while Hermione made her way to bed, finding several dozen demigods scattered throughout the halls on her way. She weaved her way around them and got up to her room, where she found Hazel.
"Hey," She greeted the demigod, not quite sure what to say, "I didn't know you were still going to go here."
Hazel looked up at her, she had been fiddling with a piece of gold in her hands, shaping it into something, "Oh, yeah, I'll keep coming here. Chiron explained everything about, um," She cast an uneasy glance at the door, where a pair of girls had just walked in, whispering and giggling, "That thing we told you about." The girls voices hushed slightly as they tuned in to the other girls' conversation, "so," Hazel continued cautiously, "there should be a few more of us coming here now, in case of another attack. We all know you witches and wizards wouldn't stand a chance without us."
Scoffs from one of the girls, who whipped around and thrust a finger at Hazel, "We can take care of ourselves!" She shrieked, outraged, "We don't need some secretive little muggles to take care of us! We just finished our own war you know! We beat the most powerful wizard of all time and his army while you sat in America and did nothing to help!"
Hazel gave her a smile. The girls angry look faltered, "We did nothing," Hazel echoed quietly, "Hu, interesting. Well, if that's what you think, maybe I should show you just how much 'nothing' I did." Hazel's face wore a pleasant smile, but her eyes were dangerously dark. Hazel stood, putting the piece of gold on the bed. Hermione saw that it was a figurine of a horse.
Hazel gently pushed the girls finger down, "Be careful about accusing people of being idle, you might insult them." Then she grabbed the girls wrist, just as gently as she had directed her finger. The witch went stiff for a second, her eyes glazing over. Then she screamed.
~oOo~
Hazel took the gild wrist and pulled her into a memory, just like she had with Leo what felt like an eternity ago. She had learned to control her flashes when they had started coming back not long after the end of the war. The memory she showed the girl was from that final battle, just a short clip, but enough to make the girl eat her words. Hazel had suffered at the hands of bullies before, and she wouldn't stand for it again, not this time. No one call her or her friends useless or idle, not when they had been busily getting themselves killed trying to save the world, not now, not ever.
When the witch snapped out of it she screamed and ripped her hand away, apparently not used to such bloody combat, "You-you-" she stuttered, "What are you?!" She demanded, rubbing her wrist as if to wipe away the memory.
"Were we idle?" Hazel asked, ignoring the questioning looks from Hermione, "Or were you just being an ignorant muggle." The wizard slang felt strange in her mouth, but it was all part of keeping the secret. The witch stuttered something incomprehensible and took her friend by the hand, hurrying both of tham out of the room.
Hazel explained what she'd showed the girl to Hermione and the two of them went to bed. Hazel picked up the little gold Arion and crushed it, forming it into something new. She had seen the thing she wanted to make in a history book while researching the history of magical objects. The gold was clay in her hands, taking the form of a necklace with a circular pendant at the end, three rings, the one in the center with little stars in the solid gold and a glass sandglass at the very center. She whispered a prayer to Hecate and felt the gold grow warm under her fingers. It glowed faintly and faded, the magic instilled in the golden charm. She hung it around her neck and tucked it into her shirt. All she had was a feeling, a feeling that she might need that little device soon.
The time came sooner than anyone would have expected.
Hey, so I know this one took longer than any of the others but I do have an explanation. I just moved into an apartment, money is tight so we can't afford wi-fi just yet, meaning updates will only come when I can get access. I am currently using the hotspot on my sisters phone to update this, so that wont be happening too often. I'm really sorry, I would use my school's wi fi but they block this site, so it's hotspot or library for me. And I get up at six each morning and don't get home till four or fie, depending on when I'm picked up from my bus stop, which is several miles from my apartment and it's winter in Minnesota, so walking is out of the question. I'm not tell you guys this for pitty though, I get plenty of that from the few people I have told about this. You guy's don't need to hear about the full extent of the drama in my life, I'm just tell y'all why I won't be updating as often now. Hope you don't get to mad, I'm doing what I can until I get internet the my apartment.
Anyway, I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter, I know you probably expected more from the long wait but I've been swamped with preparations for my exhibit at school, I did a project on the Titanic, something I consider to be one of my historical specialties. I had to finish the layered diagram I was drawing of the layout and put together my presentation, thankfully I don't have to do research papers till next year though.
Tell me what you thought of the chapter in the comments, guesses on the godly parent of our mystery demigod are welcome.