Piper and Jason had found a secluded area in the forbidden forest where they could sit in the trees and look at the stars. Jason had taken them up to the topmost branches of one of the tallest trees they could find and was steadying her on the thickest of the branches.

"Don't let me fall, superman," She teased, eyes sparkling.

"I wouldn't dream of it," The two of them laughed as Jason situated himself on the branch across from hers.

"Do you think there will ever be a time without wars to fight?" Piper asked, sobering the mood.

"I don't know," Jason answered as he looked at the stars, "But one of these days someone's gonna' start a war and we won't have to be a part of it," his voice was wistful, as if describing a pleasant dream.

"Don't kid yourself," Piper said and leaned her head against the tree, "We'll always be called to arms, the only choice we'll get is if we stay at home and retire or if we go and fight another war,"

Jason was about to respond when his head suddenly snapped up and turned to the castle. Piper followed suit, having heard the explosion as well. Jason grabbed his girlfriend around the waist and launched them both out of the tree.

~oOo~

Back at the castle, the entire school was woken up by the sound of an explosion from the seventh floor. Students and teachers flooded the halls as Half-bloods armed themselves and rushed to the danger. First years were rounded up and rushed outside, where the hunters and some of the campers formed a protective circle around them.

Hazel was the first to the site. The hall was littered with rubble and the walls were barely there at all. A gaping hole was blown into one wall, leading to a sheer drop. The dust was just beginning the clear but Hazel was able to make out the forms of three unconscious demigods and one wizard, all sprawled out among the stones.

She rushed over to the forms and knelt beside the closest of them, checking for a pulse. She breathed a sigh of relief, it was faint, but there was a slight pulse in the demigods wrist. She flipped the body over and gasped, it was Annabeth. She called over an Apollo camper and gave her friend over, rushing to the other two bodies and identifying Will and Nico. she passed them to waiting medics and checked the wizard last.

Draco had been the farthest away and taken the least damage of the four. Hazel knelt next to him and felt his wrist, finding a steady pulse. She laid him flat on his back and was about to call over a teacher when he suddenly sat up, coughing spluttering.

When he was able to breathe again he scampered back a few feet in a panic before realizing where he was. He looked around for a few seconds as if to process whatever had happened before he spotted Hazel.

"You," He said accusingly, "You lot need to explain yourselves before you get us all killed-" he dissolved into a coughing fit and regained his composure, "What are you? What does it mean 'you'll accept the children of-" he coughed, "-the underworld'? And what does it mean Ever's the 'daughter of time'? Who are you people?!" He had another coughing fit as the blood drained from Hazel's face. The daughter of time. She only knew one deity who had anything to do with time. Kronos. Ever, the mysterious heir bringer of the future and the only demigod the gods seemed to fear, was the daughter of the king of the Titans.

Hazel was frozen in her thoughts when Draco shook her out.

"You owe us all answers," He said, glaring at her, "and I expect you to deliver,"

Hazel nodded, surprising herself, "I think you can have your answers for now, you rest of the school can wait for the time being,"

Draco looked like he wanted to argue but thought the better of it, if he was getting answers he didn't know when he would get the chance to get them again. Hazel stood and helped him to his feet, "Follow me," she said and set off down the hall at a brisk pace, not bothering to check if he was following.

Draco scampered after her, amazed at how quick the small girl could walk. She led him through the winding halls and staircases, until she finally led him outside. Toward the forbidden forest.

"Um, we aren't supposed to go in there, it's dangerous," he felt a little silly telling her that, having seen her fight.

"Oh please," she answered, "the woods at camp are way more dangerous than this, and there are ten-year-olds who play capture the flag in those. Well, technically it's the whole camp, which includes some kids younger than that, but that's not my point," She glanced over at Draco, whose mouth was hanging open, "Close your mouth, you look stupid,"

"So that's why you're all so good at fighting?" He asked and she rolled her eyes.

"I'll answer your questions once we get further into the woods, that way we don't get any evesdroppers," She led him silently deeper and deeper into the forest until she found a small clearing about a mile in.

"Alright then, before we start, I need you to do something for me,"

He resisted the urge to groan, "I thought you said you would give me answers," He said, crossing his arms.

"And I will, but I need to make sure you won't tell anyone first," she took a deep breath and cut him off before he could speak, "Repeat after me," she said, "'I swear on the river Styx I will not share anything I learn tonight in this wood from Hazel Levesque without her, any of the seven, Nico, or Reyna's direct permission,'" He repeated the oath with a quizzical expression, wondering what kind of spell this was.

When he finished thunder rumbled in the clear sky and Hazel looked satisfied, "Alright, now, what do you want to know?" She asked, plopping down on a rock.

Draco took a seat on the grass and asked, "First off, who are you?"

She looked slightly hesitant but replied after only the briefest of pauses, "Hazel Levesque, half-blood daughter of Pluto and, therefore, one of the children of the underworld you were asking about earlier,"

His eyebrows drawn together, "But...isn't Pluto a planet?"

Hazel rolled her eyes, "You sound like Percy. Yes, and no. Pluto isn't classified as a planet anymore, but that's not what I meant anyway. I meant the Roman god Pluto, lord of the underworld and precious metals under the earth. I'm his daughter,"

Draco was still sceptical, "But that would mean the Roman gods are real," He said as if he'd caught her in a lie.

She just rolled her eyes again, "Yes, they are, and the Greek ones too, most of the demigods here are Greek, except myself, Reyna, Frank, and Jason, we're the children of Roman gods, the rest are all Greek," She went on to explain both the wars, though the second titan war was still a little bit of a mystery to her because she'd only taken part in the Roman side, which was significantly less prominent than the Greek side, but she did manage to explain most of Percy and Annabeth's role, though she'd never never really asked much about Luke so she didn't know anything more than he was manipulated into betraying his camp and had been a friend to both Annabeth and Percy.

"So," Draco said when she'd finished, "You expect me to believe that there have been two wars over in America and none of us over here knew about it?"

Hazel nodded, "And if you don't it's your problem, because none of us knew about your little Voldemort problem until Chiron told us, he's a center by the way, the wheelchair is a disguise," Draco nodded, finding that to be the least mind-blowing thing she had said all night.

"How can Nico just sort of show up places, even when the room's been sealed?" He asked finally.

Hazel gave him a suspicious, almost angry look, "How would you know that my brother could do that?" She asked tightly.

"Umm, I may have, sort of, tried to question Will," Hazel looked like she was about to attack him but calmed herself before she could decapitate him.

"I hope he scared the living shyst out of you," She said and Draco dared not ask about the wording.

"He can shadow travel, he can do that as a son of Hades, I can't so don't ask. I can summon gems and things from the earth and I'm really good underground, not that that helped when I got myself killed, but you know, it was helpful in the house of Hades so there's that," Draco didn't think he wanted to know what she was talking about.

"Next question, I've heard several people reference 'the seven', who are they and why are they so special?"

Hazel explained to him about the prophecy of seven and their role in bringing down Geia, making Draco eat his sarcastic words.

"Umm," Draco continued hurriedly, trying to keep at least some of his composure, "Who is the mystery girl, you people looked as surprised as we wizards were to see her, but she addressed your brother directly,"

Hazel's eyes flashed but she relented, slightly, "We still don't know much about her, except that she just kinda shows up and changes things, like telling Nico not to expose ourselves, apparently she thought that would start a war and we would win, but be too weak to defend ourselves against the monsters when they attacked,"

Draco looked at her incredulously, "So you think you're powerful enough to defeat the entire wizarding world?" He clearly didn't understand the concept of 'gods' and 'monsters'.

"Yes," She quipped, getting fed up with his ignorance, "I don't think you quite understand," She twisted the mist to show several copies of herself, all surrounding Draco, "If I can do this," She said through one of her doppelgangers, who was, of course, not really there, "Imagine an army of us,"

Draco rushed at the original, passing through her harmlessly. She couldn't help it, she laughed, making all of the copies mirror her. The effect was a creepy circle of laughing Hazels, a trick worth of Hecate. Draco stared wide-eyed at the circle, which he had mysteriously found himself back in the middle of.

"I may be one of the more powerful demigods," she said through another ganger, "but some of the Hecate, the goddess of magic's children, could destroy this place in their sleep," Draco gulped. He understood why they were so dangerous now. He had lost faith in his kind against these children, teens with powers beyond the greatest wizards who he fully believed could destroy everything he knew without blinking.

Hazel dropped the illusion, cocking her head to the side as she studied Draco's reaction.

"I believe you," He said through a dry mouth, and he meant it.

~oOo~

Percy slashed at Ever, "Why!" he shouted over the sound of rushing water. Ever had dragged them through space and time to the base of some waterfall someplace, where she had proceeded to continue trying to kill both him and Reyna. Reyna had been left behind on their last jump, some random town in the middle of nowhere. Percy hoped it was at least some modern little town in the middle of nowhere.

Ever had wings, big black angel wings like the flip side of Eros. They had just sort of solidified on her back when she launched herself at them. The time-traveling daughter of Kronos had wings. Why not.

"-I can't," Ever shouted back, a tear snaking down her cheek as she hacked at him with a pair of wicked looking twin swords.

"You can't what!" Percy shouted back, thoroughly confused.

Ever shook her head, "I can't hear-" the rest was lost in the roar of the falls. Percy jumped over the steep bank and into the water, figuring he could overpower her better in his own element. Ever followed, wings beating to keep her above the surface. Percy couldn't help thinking of that as unfair, in every way. She dove, her blades creating gashed in both his arms, which promptly closed.

As they fought Percy couldn't help noticing how she was moving, the way she only seemed to want to aim for non-fatal area's, like his arms or legs. She didn't want to kill him, and she looked like she might be crying, but Percy couldn't tell with the spray from the falls.

She dove and cut over the surface, her wing hitting Percy's shins and making him fall into the shallow water. She grabbed his arm and dragged him through space and time once again. They landed in a Walmart parking-lot and resumed their battle.

Isn't traveling around like that tiring? Percy asked himself as he dodged her blows, comparing her fighting to when she was on the battlefield against the monsters. When she fought with Percy she fought like a demon, faster than the eye could follow and deadlier than an angry Nico. But now her strokes were slower and less precise, as if she didn't want to hurt him.

The realization hit him like a brick to the chest. Of course he never really trusted her, but she didn't want him to. She had begged him and his friends to kill her. She didn't want to fight them, she was being controlled somehow, maybe a careless oath on her part or leverage, either way she didn't want to win.

Percy dodged her next blow and looked her in the eyes, willing her to know that he understood. Relief flooded her eyes and she gave him and opening, making it look like a simple mistake, but Percy knew better. He took it, slamming the hilt of riptide into the base of her skull as hard as he could. She collapsed to the pavement, wings spread behind her in an almost angelic way. That is, if angels had short brown hair braided with charms and bullet casings and wore long black coats and fishnets.

Percy scooped her into his arms, finding her lighter than he thought she would be with those huge wings, and carried her to the alley between the stores. Just in case he hurried inside and bought himself some rope with some cash he found in his pocket, discovering that they were, in fact, in the U.S.A., and tied her up with it.

When Ever woke up she barely struggled, seeming to only try for whoever she seemed to think was watching. Thank you, she mouthed as she wriggled in the ropes. Percy played along, winking at her with the eye that was to the back of the alley as he said, "Don't bother, they're tight," gods he was bad at this, where was Annabeth when you needed her?

Ever relaxed, keeping herself slightly tense for her possibly-imaginary viewers "What? Aren't you going to kill me?" She asked, the question was genuine.

"No," Percy responded, slightly confused, "I don't kill in cold blood,"

"It's not cold blood, I tried to kill you,"

"But you didn't,"

"Neither did any of the other monsters you fought,"

Does she really want me to kill her? Percy asked himself as he answered, "I don't know why though, and until I know why I need you alive," Ever visibly deflated, seriously how suicidal was she?

"Just kill me," She begged quietly, a tear splattering on her boot.

"No," Percy capped riptide and sat against the wall across from Ever, "I won't kill you," He traced his question in the dirt next to him, using his body to block the view of the words from outside the alley, Why?

She rolled her eyes behind her half-closed eyelids and said, "What do you want to do now?" she ignored his question. He brushed it out of the dirt so no one could see it later and covered the spot in random squiggles, a completely believable thing for an ADHD demigod to draw while sitting still.

"How about you tell me where, and when, we are," he said leaning forward slightly.

"Minnesota, the same day we left Hogwarts, just a few hours before, same with Reyna, she's not far from Camp Jupiter, just a few miles of country before she makes it to the city," her voice was quiet again, Percy found himself hating it when her voice was quiet.

"Why Minnesota?" He asked.

Her eyes met his, "You honestly think I have perfect control of my powers?" Percy thought about this, if she wanted to lose the battle she could have ended up in Camp Jupiter itself, where the Romans would easily overpower her and kill her, just like she wanted. Percy had begun thinking of Ever as a sort of goddess, too perfect to beat with her time travel and shadow travel and wicked sword skills, she was unbeatable. But Percy had found a crack in her pedestal, a flaw.

She couldn't control her powers like a goddess could. That was something, he didn't know how he would use this new information just yet, but he stored it away for later use. Ever glanced to her right, eyes flitting over the street for a fraction of a second before she sighed and shrugged off the ropes, which she had apparently untied while they spoke.

"I'm sorry Percy, I can only resist direct orders for so long, that's why I needed you to kill me, need you to kill me," She got on her knees, "Do it, if I receive another order to kill you I won't- I won't be able to hold back like this time," She bowed her head, prepared.

Percy helped her to her feet, "Who would be the one to give you that order?" She opened her mouth as if he wanted to respond but her throat couldn't create the words. She groaned in frustration and dropped to the ground, grabbing a discarded receipt off the ground and taking riptide from Percy's hand, putting it in pen mode.

Black=White

Day=

She scribbled, showing it to Percy, eyes willing him to understand. Unfortunately, he did. Night. Nix. He nodded and he flipped the paper, scribbling on the back,

Where=who

Percy paled. Where had he met Nix? He preferred not to think about that place, he revisited it enough when he slept. He shook his head, eye automatically flitting downwards.

Ever nodded solemnly. The pit was controlling her. The pit could make the most dangerous girl in the world do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. Percy was suddenly feeling pretty hopeless.

"How does he give you orders, and how does he watch you carry them out?" Percy asked.

"I took an oath to protect someone, if he says anything from anywhere I hear him, I can't explain it but I just know what he wants me to do, and I can't resist. As for monitoring, my brother, Damien, has this invisibility cloak, same one Harry has-had- I don't know, too many timelines. He got it from some shady dealer a couple hundred years from now," Percy nodded, though the time travel thing was still boggling his mind.

Ever suddenly stiffened, "Order," Was all she said before shimmering away to who-knows-when. Percy put riptide's cap back on and ripped up the receipt, tossing it into a trash can outside the store and walking off in search of a way home.

HEY! I know this update took forever but I started a new project at school on top of my other project, which happens to be a novel (I finish the first draft by the end of the month!YAY!) and I haven't had time to work on this, it was a stressful x-mas break and new years on top of that as well so writing was difficult. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I wanted to make it longer but I figured I kept y'all waiting long enough. More about Nico in the next chapter.

I also have a request. I need reviews, I swear it's for school. I need y'all to tell me what you think I'm doing wrong, what you think I'm doing right, what you think is going to happen (so I can tell if I'm being too predictable) and so on. Another thing I need to know is whether the characters become occ, and when. Let me know in the reviews on a scale of 1-10, 1 being perfect and 10 being way off, which characters become occ and when that happens, I'd like to go back and fix it if I can.

Anyway, I hope y'all had a good year so far and that it gets better as it goes on. Also, I would like to hear what you think the seemingly random objects braided into Ever's hair are, and why she put them there. I can assure you, they aren't random, and they are important. Please review! I need to get better and the only way to do that is to know what I'm doing wrong and what I'm doing right, otherwise I might change what I'm ooing right and keep what I'm doing wrong.

PLEASE REVIEW!