Hey, Everyone!

Okay, so this is where the action finally STARTS HAPPENING!

I'm so sorry I held you up with a lot of this filler stuff for so long! But now, things will begin to fall into place, I hope, and mabye you'll start to figure things out?

Enjoy!

Chapter 14

Hazel

Sometimes, the Hazel wished she could un-hear things.

And now was one of those times.

As she sat in her room on the Argo II, she couldn't stop thinking about what had happened.

She was just looking for Frank in the crowd…

She was looking through the crowd for Frank when a red haired, green eyed girl came up to her.

"You're one of the kids on the quest, right?" she'd asked.

"Yeah, I am," Hazel replied. "I'm Hazel."

"I'm Rachel," she smiled at Hazel. "Can we talk?"

"Sure, I guess," Hazel replied, looked over her should one last time for Frank, and followed the girl away from the crowd.

They had been talking about random things when Rachel brought up the quest.

"What are you doing now?"

"We're restocking and refueling before we go to Greece," Hazel replied.

"To save Percy and Annabeth?"

Hazel looked her, shocked. "Yeah. How did you know?"

"Well, I-" she started, when suddenly, a strange green mist came out of her open mouth and she looked blankly, and it seemed to Hazel, past her.

Then she suddenly started to speak.

"Heroes Fight for the Doors of Death

"But Have to Fight;

"Dead Man's Last Breath.

"To Close the Doors

"They Play Both Sides

"And Please the God

"Of Truth and Lies."

The mist stopped and the girl blinked a couple times. She looked at Hazel like she was worried; the look of horror must have been showing on Hazel's face.

"I'm so sorry," Rachel whispered. "I just…I'm the Oracle, you see. I didn't mean to scare you. I wasn't expecting it, really."

Hazel found her mouth was hanging open, so she closed it, nodded, and told her, "It's fine. I just…wasn't expecting that."

Then, she heard Piper shouting, "Hazel? HAZEL?"

"I-I'm over here!" Hazel called to her.

Piper popped over and said, "Leo told me to round up everyone. Let's go, we're leaving."

Hazel nodded. "I'll be right there."

She turned back to Rachel, and Rachel was staring nervously at her. "I'm really sorry. Please forgive me."

"I'm not mad," Hazel assured her. "But I have to leave now. Bye, Rachel," Hazel turned and ran, calling, "and thanks!"

She wanted to tell Leo, but her relationship with him was kind of…shaky, at the time, so she decided to tell all of them together.

It's now or never, Hazel¸ she told herself. Do it now before you forget!

She stood up and ran out of her room, calling for everyone to meet her on deck.

How could I forget? She thought as she waited for them on the deck.

The sun was starting to set, and she could see the half moon rising across the sky.

Leo was the first one on. He smiled at her and waved, and she couldn't help but feel guilty as she waved back.

Just remember what Piper said¸ Hazel thought as she looked away and waited for the others. Pick one, and everyone stops getting hurt.

Slowly, the rest of the crew (Hazel felt a pang in her heart when she remembered Nico wasn't there) filled on deck again, and Jason asked, "What is this about?"

Hazel cleared her throat. "I know we have saving Percy and Annabeth on our minds-"

"And Nico," Frank piped up. "He's one of us, too."

Hazel smiled and continued. "But there's some news I found out while at Camp Half-Blood."

"What?" Jason asked.

"I got a message from the Oracle, Rachel," she said.

Everyone was silent.

Hazel cleared her throat and tried to remember.

"Heroes Fight for the Doors of Death

"But have to Fight;

"Dead Man's Last Breath.

"To Close the Doors

"They Play Both Sides

"And Please the God

"Of Truth and Lies." Hazel finished.

"We are fighting for the Doors of Death," Leo whispered.

"What could be 'Dead Man's Last Breath'?" Piper asked.

"We'll find out when we get there, I guess," Frank replied.

"I really don't like the sound of 'Playing Both Sides'," Jason spoke. "What do you think that means?"

"Maybe Annabeth and Percy are closing the Doors from the other side? Playing both sides?" Leo guessed.

"I think it means someone has to be a traitor," Jason replied.

"Oh, come on, that doesn't really make any sense, does it?" Hazel asked. "We're just worked up about this; no one is betraying us."

"Maybe not yet," Jason answered darkly.

"How about not ever," Leo replied. "We need to sort this out later."

There was a sudden shimmer next to Hazel, and she jumped back in alarm.

"What the…?" Jason asked, but then the shimmer flourished into an Iris message.

Very simple, yet terrifically horrifying.

Nico, with his hands bound by rope behind him, was tied to a stalagmite. He had a gag over his mouth and he was struggling, but his face was bleeding, and one of his eyes was swollen shut and black.

Hazel started crying. Her brother was being tortured in some crazy place and she couldn't help him.

She scanned him over for more injuries when she saw his left leg was bent at an odd angle and his bone was starting to stick out halfway up the shin.

Hazel gasped and nearly threw up.

"Nico!" Hazel cried out to him.

"You have twenty-seven hours, demigods," said a strong, definitely male voice boomed, and just before the Iris message faded, she saw a streak of something fly by behind Nico.

She was more than sad now; Hazel was down-right furious.

I'm going to find him, Hazel thought as she stalked past everyone, gritting her teeth, and walked down below deck, tears of sorrow turning into tears of anger. No matter what it takes, I will find him.

And I will kill anyone who gets in my way.

NOOOOOOOOOOO, NICO! How could anyone do anything so cruel!

...Oh, wait. I can. }:)

I feel bad for what I did to Nico, though...

But don't worry, all will be explained in good time!

Thanks for Reading, and please check out my Hunger Games story, Bloody Water!