***Thank you to everyone who has reviewed/followed/favorited this story, you guys are awesome! I'm a little ahead of schedule on writing, so I thought I'd go ahead and post Chapter Twelve. Chapter 13, featuring Jason's POV and what happens in Eleusis, will be up by Tuesday, April 22. Have a great weekend! ***

XII. HAZEL

It wasn't a pleasant walk back to the ship. True, it was another beautiful summer day, but Hazel, Piper, and Annabeth were covered in chocolate and smashed apples; Hazel's shoes squished as she walked. More disturbing, though, were the things Paris and Helen had said. In the distance, Hazel could see the Argo II, floating like a giant bronze balloon about ten feet above the surface of the water. She thought she could see tiny figures moving around the hull; the guys must have been making some more repairs or upgrades to the ship. Finally, Hazel got up the courage to ask, "Do you think Paris and Helen were right?"

"No," Annabeth and Piper said together, immediately.

Hazel bit her lip. "But some of the things they said were true, about Frank's weakness and Leo not telling us where he went. Not that I think he's hiding anything bad," she added hastily, "but was what they said about Percy and Jason true, too?"

Piper blushed and Annabeth looked uncomfortable. "They were right that Percy left Beckendorf," Annabeth said. "But he didn't want to. They went on a mission to blow up Kronos's demon cruise ship and they got caught. The detonator they were using didn't have a time delay, so when Beckendorf pressed it—," Annabeth took a shaky breath. "He knew what he was doing and he died a hero. Percy only survived because he could use the ocean currents to get away from the worst of the explosion. But believe me, he felt horrible about what happened. I know he beat himself up over it, wishing there was something else he could have done."

Hazel nodded. That sounded like Percy as she'd come to know him. "And Jason?"

Even through the chocolate, Hazel could see that Piper's cheeks were red. "Yes, he said he wanted to stay at Camp Half-Blood after the war. But he gave up his role as praetor to Frank," she added defensively. "And Frank will be an awesome praetor; you should have seen him lead the ghost army in the House of Hades. So Jason should be free to go where he wants to now. He's not abandoning Camp Jupiter. He's left it in really good hands."

Hazel smiled. "Thanks, Piper."

"Helen had a point, though," Annabeth said. "A lot of times the heroes in the old stories turned out to be jerks. But it doesn't have to be that way."
"Paris just wanted to cause trouble," Piper said. "And Helen has been let down too many times. She's bitter. I don't think she even wants to believe that there's such a thing as good heroes."

"But she's wrong," Hazel said. "I have to believe that those guys," she pointed at the Argo II, "are good heroes."

"They are," Annabeth said. "And they have us to keep them that way."

Hazel and Piper laughed. "Exactly," Piper said.

"So, on the negative side of the trip, we got bad dating advice," Hazel said. "But on the plus side, we got the key to Demeter's temple. How do you think it works?"

Piper shifted the wicker basket in her hands, turning it to look at all the sides. "Helen said not to open either one until we get to Demeter's altar. So maybe we have to set them somewhere specific? I honestly have no idea."

"I wonder how long it'll take us to get to Eleusis," Annabeth said.

"As soon as we get back to the ship we can ask Admiral Valdez," Piper said as the three of them started down the final slope toward the pier where the Argo II was floating.

"Holy Hephaestus, what happened to you three?" Leo asked as Hazel, Piper, and Annabeth climbed back aboard the ship. All four boys were gaping at them, which led Hazel to believe that they must have looked pretty bad.

"Paris," Hazel said, picking chunks of apple out of her hair, which was sticky with chocolate.

Frank's brow furrowed. "Um, isn't that in France?"

"Not the city, the Trojan," Annabeth said, wiping a trickle of chocolate out of her eye. When the boys continued to look blank, she added, "As in Helen and Paris, who effectively started the Trojan War."

The three of them explained what had happened on the island and showed the boys the kiste chest and kalathos basket.

"So these are supposed to get us into Demeter's sacred temple?" Leo said, tilting the chest up as if checking for mechanisms.

"Apparently," Piper said. "And this weapon better be worth it, because getting that key was repulsive."

"I don't know," Percy said, grinning. "The covered in chocolate part isn't terrible."

Annabeth threw an apple peel at him. "If it were just chocolate it'd be okay, but it's Paris-chocolate, which is disgusting."

"Um, what?" Percy asked.

"When I stabbed him, Paris exploded," Hazel said matter-of-factly, "into a giant, chocolatey mess."

All four boys suddenly looked nauseated.

"So that's Paris all over you?" Leo asked.

"Well, some of it's from the chocolate fountains," Piper said, "but yeah, it's mostly Paris leftovers."

"That's sick," Jason said.

"Yes, it is, which is why I just want to get cleaned up and get this gunk off," Piper said. She plucked an apple core off of her shorts.

"Same here. And," Annabeth glanced over the side of the ship, as if measuring the distance to the water, then looked back at the others with a mischievous grin, "it's a great day for a swim." And she jumped over the side of the ship.

The rest of the crew stood stock still for a minute, staring at the spot where she'd disappeared. Then, Percy grinned.

"I freaking love her," he said as he, too, jumped over the side.

Piper shrieked as Jason scooped her up. "Can't let them have all the fun," he said. He summoned a gust of wind to carry them over the side and drop them gently in the water.

"Yeah, so, that looks like fun and all, but I think I'll hang out up here, maybe work on the Archimedes sphere," Leo said, backing away from the railing with his hands up. "Fire and water don't really go together."

Hazel glanced at Frank and saw an evil grin on his face that matched her own. "No way, buddy," she said to Leo. "You're going in."

Hazel and Frank lunged and caught Leo by the arms before he could get away, then tossed him, cursing and flailing, over the side and into the water. He came up spluttering. "I know where you sleep!" he yelled.

"We're so going to pay for that," Hazel said.

"Probably," Frank replied. He held out his hand. "But first, want to join me for a swim?"

Hazel smiled and took his hand. "I'd love to."

Together, they jumped over the side to join their friends.

The crew spent most of the afternoon in the water and at the nearby beach, where Piper used the cornucopia to produce a picnic lunch. It was nice to forget about the war, just for a little while, and hang out like normal teenagers. Hazel felt somewhat guilty about wasting the afternoon, but they couldn't make it to Eleusis until the next morning anyway, and she thought they could all use the break. They'd been under a lot of stress the last few weeks.

Back on board the ship, after everyone had changed into dry clothes, the seven of them gathered around the helm to plan their next move.

"Looks like we'll be arriving in Eleusis at 0700 hours," Leo announced after typing the coordinates into the ship's computer.

"Since when do we use military time?" Frank asked.

"Since now," Leo replied with a grin.

Hazel rolled her eyes. "The point is, we're going to get there tomorrow morning. We need to decide who's going into the temple."

"I think it should be all of us," Annabeth said.

There was silence as everyone turned to look at her.

"We'll attract every monster in a hundred-mile radius," Jason said.

Annabeth shrugged. "There's a bounty on our heads. We're already attracting every monster in the vicinity."

"Yeah, but we don't need to make it easier for them," Percy muttered.

Annabeth looked at her boyfriend, clearly hurt that he wasn't automatically taking her side. "Look, I know it's been said before, but Hera made us a team of seven for a reason. Think about Rome, or the House of Hades, or even Charleston. We work best when we work together. All together."

There was silence again, then Frank nodded. "I agree. Like you said, look at the House of Hades. It took all of us to get through that place and close the Doors of Death. And we don't know what we'll encounter at Eleusis. It only makes sense to have all our resources available."

"Paris did say that Gaea wants to keep us from getting this weapon," Hazel added. "So there's a good chance she's going to put up a fight to stop us from getting through the temple. We'll probably have a better chance if everyone goes."

Annabeth gave them both a grateful smile, but Piper, Leo, Jason, and Percy were all still frowning at the floor.

"Percy?" Annabeth asked.

Percy raised his head. He looked at Frank, then Hazel. When their eyes met, Hazel saw something unexpected. He's afraid, she thought, stunned. Percy looked away. He took Annabeth's hand. "I have a bad feeling about this," he said. "I—I can't explain. But I think you're right. We all need to go."

Piper glanced uneasily from Percy to Jason to Leo. "What about the ship?"

"Festus can keep an eye on things," Leo said. "And I've added some extra cloaking features. To mortals and immortals, when we're not on board, it's just going to look like some old rowboat sitting in the harbor."

"How come you can't do that when we're on here?" Frank asked. "Wouldn't that help cut down on attacks?"

"Demigod blood, my friend," Leo said. "Kills the illusion."

"Lame," Frank muttered.

"Anyway," Annabeth said. Her eyes were narrowed, looking at the last hold-out. "Jason?"

Jason was quiet for a minute, still studying the floorboards. Then he looked up. His eyes flickered around the group and Hazel saw the same flash of fear she'd seen in Percy's. "I have the same feeling as Jackson," he admitted. "I don't know why. I haven't—haven't had a dream or anything like that, but I have a bad feeling about Eleusis. I didn't really pay attention to it before today, but I think it's been in the back of my mind for a while."

"Same here," Percy said. "Nobody else is getting this?"

The rest of them shook their heads. True, Hazel was dreading another mysterious encounter with some god's cult, but she didn't have any specific bad feelings about Eleusis.

"Then I think that's all the more reason everyone should go," Jason said. "Like Frank said, since we don't know what we'll encounter, it's best if we have all our resources available."

Piper took Jason's hand. "Do you think it's a trap or something?"
He shook his head. "I don't know. I just feel like something's going to go wrong."

"Dang, I was hoping I was imagining things," Percy said. "But if you're feeling the same way, man, that's not a good sign."

"We'll just have to be on our guard," Annabeth said.

"Everything will be fine," Piper said. Hazel suspected there was a hint of charmspeak in her voice as she said, "We're going to go to the temple, use the key, and get the weapon. Then we'll use it to blast Gaea and the giants to smithereens. And then we can go home and stop the camps from annihilating each other."

"I like it," Leo said. "A nice, straightforward plan."

The tension broke as there were some small laughs.

"Piper's right," Hazel said. "We'll be fine."

Festus blew fire. "And that, ladies and gentlemen, is our signal to lift off," Leo said. "As I said before, we'll be in Eleusis at 0700. So anyone who's not on first watch, go get some sleep."

Frank was taking first watch with Leo, but Hazel pulled him aside as the others headed downstairs to their cabins. She kissed him. "Thanks for being one of the good heroes."

"Uh, you're welcome?" Frank seemed reluctant to let go of Hazel's hand. "I hope everything goes okay tomorrow. I mean, if something has Percy and Jason that freaked out…"

"I know." Hazel squeezed his hand. "But like Annabeth said, Hera made us a team for a reason. Between the seven of us, we should be able to figure out whatever it is."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Frank kissed her again. "You'd better get some rest. I have a feeling we're going to need it."