III
Hazel
After hearing Percy rant about some supposedly imaginary kids about the Big Three, Hazel didn't think her life could get any more random. Yeah, you're a demigod for a while, you get used to weird stuff like demon lady grandmothers attacking you, big furry not-so-nice doggies trying to claw you to death...that sort of stuff. She was proven wrong a second later when Lupa trotted up to her. Meeting in the council room in five minutes.
Hazel's mouth dropped open. Usually, Lupa announced that there would be a council meeting a week in advance or such, and never on short notice. And yet, here she was, being told that she has got to be at the war council within five minutes. That should have served as a warning to what crazy things were about to happen next.
First, it was Reyna scampering across the field, yammering something about Jason Grace, her lost boyfriend. Now, as Hazel had known that Jason and Reyna had liked each other for years, so this wouldn't have been surprising to her at all—if circumstances were normal, that is. Nowadays, circumstances were never normal; short-notice war councils, the Praetor of the First Legion disappearing, an amnesic son of the sea god appearing three months after the son of Jupiter had disappeared...really weird, even for the life of a demigod.
The point being, Reyna had barely breathed a word about Jason since he disappeared three months ago; she seemed resigned to the fact that he had disappeared and will never return. Even possibly dead. Hazel had been planning to tell Reyna about her dream that she had had about a week ago, but she had never gotten the chance. New demigods had been randomly popping around all over the country, and Reyna already had her plate full with technically running Camp Jupiter since Lupa only guides the demigods...not to mention Jason being gone, setting the assessments for the new campers, and organizing the daily patrols around the perimeter of the camp. Oh, and not to mention prepping legion training activities a month in advance.
But Hazel had caught Reyna outside one night, harnessing some pegasi to a chariot. So was Reyna really giving up on Jason, or was she making some little midnight rides to search for him? Come to think of it, Hazel thought that Reyna looked really tired for the past couple of weeks.
But when she had criticized Percy about there being more children of the Big Three, she was secretly freaking out inside. The dream she had, she was sure that she had caught a glimpse of Jason talking with a girl who literally looked like Reyna's nicer twin. There was a guy with dark brown eyes and black hair interjecting from time to time who kind of looked like Hazel, but she had seen no mention of the girl who turned into a plant, unless the girl's name was "Thalia". Of course, Percy had said that she was probably still a plant, so Hazel shouldn't be expecting too much. This boy, an amnesiac demigod who had appeared out of nowhere in the camp's territory, carrying an old hippy lady on his back who mysteriously disappeared as soon as he set foot within the proximity of the Caldecott Tunnel's shadow, claimed to have knowledge of more kids of the Big Three.
In her dream, the boy who looked like her had said, "You know how longer the ship is gonna take to build? I think that Annabeth's gonna blow if she can't see him within two hours."
The blond girl had hit him around the head after he said that statement, whom Hazel assumed was Annabeth.
The blond Jason guy shook his head and laughed. "Nah...Leo's been really secretive about it."
Annabeth scoffed. "Like he even knows; even with that tool belt of his and the whole camp helping...it's going to take at least another two months. You know how he likes Thalia?"
The blond guy stifled another laugh. "Annabeth...he was trying to flirt with her when we met her on Pikes Peak. You know what he said? He was trying to reassure me: 'Nah, we were absolutely—'"
Annabeth smirked. "Yes...Piper told me. She said that you told her."
"So yes, I know how he has a crush on her. And I'll bet that she knew it, too."
The dark-haired boy chuckled, and the dream had turned to blackness. Hazel had jolted awake in her bunk, yelling about the conversation and generally waking up the First Legion, if not the whole camp. Hazel was sure that Reyna had been a millisecond away from killing her.
Frank nudged her lightly. Hazel blinked, jostled out of her memories. "Oh, right...I was in the middle of asking a question, right?"
Percy weakly chuckled. "Uh...you were berating me about the imaginary children of the Big Three, right?"
Hazel rolled her eyes. "No time for that right now; Lupa called a war council meeting, and you know how she is when we're late."
"I do?" Percy asked faintly. Hazel barely suppressed a roll of her eyes. Pluto was right; children of Neptune had seaweed for brains.
Now, Lupa growled, many of you might be wondering why I called you here on such short notice.
If there had been crickets chirping outside, Hazel was sure that the bugs would have been the loudest thing in the room.
Lupa got right to the point and bluntly growled, Death has been captured.
The council burst into instant pandemonium. Sodas, Cheese Whiz, and grapes were flying everywhere as all the Praetors began taking sides, yelling and screaming and accusing each others godly parents of entombing Death.
Lupa wrapped her tail around her paws and just sat there, not attempting to calm down the unruly crowd. Hazel understood why a second later as Octavian calmly sliced open a teddy bear in the shadows. He intently studied the stuffing that spilled out of the stuffed animal and shot a glance at Percy.
Hazel pushed her way towards him. "What now?"
Octavian stared at her and said in a whisper, "Bring Perseus Jackson and Frank Zhang here. It's time that I had a talk with you three."