We stood there in the coldness of the Winter Solstice night.
"Thanatos? Wouldn't that be Letus?" I asked.
"Call him what you may, but us Romans let him stay Greek." Gwen answered. "Either way, I'm a monster."
"You're not a monster." I said. "You're just troubled."
"I'm a wicked witch to Nathan. I'm also cursed." she said.
"Cursed? How can you say that you're cursed?" Piper asked.
"The daughter of Death just suffered from a miscarriage mere days ago. I don't think that's a coincidence." Gwen said.
"You're not cursed." Hazel said. "Believe me, I know what that's like. I was cursed at one point in time."
Hazel told Gwen about how her powers to summon riches from the earth were selfishly used by her mother, Marie Levesque, to gain money and never face poverty. The sold diamonds gave curses to the buyers. Marie originally blamed Pluto, Hazel's father, for the curse, but in the end, she came to realize that it was her fault and that her daughter Hazel was the most precious treasure of all.
"So, you said this curse used to effect you. When was it broken?" Gwen asked.
"I was getting to that. Many years ago, Pluto told me that a descendant of Neptune would wash away my curse. When me, Frank and Percy went to Alaska to free Thanatos, I originally thought that Percy would break the curse as he's the son of Poseidon, but it turns out that I was wrong. During those days, I fell in love with Frank Zhang, a legacy of Neptune. According to Aphrodite, who visited me in my dreams the night we finished our quest, the curse was broken when me and Frank kissed for the first time." Hazel answered.
"Aw, how adorable." Gwen said. She smiled but it quickly faded. "If my husband knew the truth, he'd never accept me."
"Really? Who is he?" Percy asked.
"His name is Michael Kahale." Gwen answered. "You might remember him from your time at Camp Jupiter. Maybe you don't." She sighed. "Either way, we have a big problem on our hands."
"Let's see. Reyna's dead, Nathan's been corrupted into a power-hungry jerk, and we're out of leads on who framed Percy Jackson and stole the Golden Fleece." I said.
"Now Percy has to keep his promise." Jason said.
"How long can a single praetor rule over Camp Jupiter by themselves?" Leo asked.
"Usually, it's three months. When Jason disappeared, it was eight months. That's the longest amount of time a lone praetor ruled Camp Jupiter." Gwen answered.
"Looks like me and Frank are the rulers of a cursed camp." Percy stated.
"Percy..." I began.
"Unless we can restore Reyna, which is impossible, I have to take up the role as praetor." he said. "I can't turn my back on my fellow demigods."
"And what about Nathan?" Jason asked.
"I say we kill him." Gwen said.
"He tried to kill me." Frank said.
"He was terrible to Calypso." Leo mentioned.
"And he wanted my boyfriend dead." Hazel added.
"I don't think we should kill him. I saw a golden flash in his eyes. He was being mind controlled by the same force that corrupted my mother. We can't kill him for that." I said.
"I'm with Annabeth on this one." Percy stated.
"I don't know if killing Nathan would be the right thing to do." Jason said.
"Ditto." Piper chimed in.
"Well, we can't let Nathan just get away. He'll eventually try to kill Frank again." Leo said.
"You're right. But if we imprisoned him, people would get suspicious." I said.
"Wait a second. Won't people get suspicious if Percy takes Reyna's place without any explanation?" Frank asked.
"You're right." Leo said.
"We're in a catch 22 situation." Percy said.
Leo frowned. "We may as well just give up on finding that criminal."
"What? No, we... we can't give up!" I exclaimed.
I felt sadness radiate throughout the camp. What if he was right? What if it was pointless to continue searching?
"I'll deal with Nathan. Even though he may be corrupted, our rivalry is genuine." Gwen said.
"Gwendolyn, why do you hate Nathan so much?" Piper asked.
"It's a long story. In a nutshell, on the Day of Misfortune, Nathan discovered that I was a daughter of Thanatos. He blamed the invasion of the spirits on me and says that I should have done something to get them under control. Looking back on it, I believe he was right about the 2nd part. I should have done something. If I had, maybe we would not be in this situation that we are in today." Gwen answered.
"Hey uh, Gwen. I hope you don't mind me asking this, but... how far along were you in your pregnancy before... disaster struck?" I asked.
"Six weeks." she answered. "I better take care of the augur. I'll figure out a ruse."
Gwen left, carrying an unconscious Nathan in her arms, leaving the six of us in silence. I wanted to eat dinner, but suddenly I felt a loss of appetite. Percy had donned his Praetor cape. Gwen told everyone that Nathan was sick with tuberculosis, and that Reyna was on a long vacation with her sister Hylla. But in reality, Nathan was trapped in a bone cage guarded by three skeletal warriors day and night, and Reyna was dead. I felt stricken with sadness. We had no leads left, Camp Half Blood could soon fall and Camp Jupiter was cursed. After dinner, I was speaking to Piper who had her dagger unsheathed. Suddenly Katoptris showed an energy wave.
"A vision?" Piper asked. "I haven't seen a vision in this dagger in ages..."
We looked into the dagger. The sword showed us the Battle of the Labyrinth; a battle that took place at Camp Half-Blood. Several demigods were fighting monsters and enemy demigods. Castor, who was 17, was bravely fighting a young girl with black hair and blue eyes. She wore a red mini-skirt, black tank top with black combat boots. She had her helmet knocked off. She got out a dagger and slashed Castor in the arm. Then she used a sword to strike him down, and he was dead.
"Castor!" Pollux yelled.
The demigod laughed to herself and then disappeared.
"What was that about?" Piper asked.
I told her about the Battle of the Labyrinth and how we had nearly been defeated. Then I left New Rome, getting back my weapons after doing so. If no one was going to search for answers, then it was up to me. I packed up my gear and left for the Saint Fransisco Mountain Range. I had no idea what I expected to gain, but I hoped I would find something. And in the darkness of the night, I never felt so sad and alone.