CHAPTER 8

Athelia

I grabbed Apollo by the arm, and shadow-traveled us to New York City. Apollo and I set up 6 tents for each one of us. Then, we set up a campfire. It had been at least 3 hours, and the others still hadn't arrived yet. So, I decided to go the nearby ocean. Even though I couldn't swim, I really admired the view. It was really pretty. It reminded me of the first time I-

GRRRRRRRR

"What the-" I said, but turned to realize there was an empusa there, with her 3 friends.

"Sssoooo, caaann we killllll her, Keliiiiiii?" One of the empousa said.

"Noooo! I will killlll her, Ssssooonnnnyyyya," The girl, apparnetly named Kelli, said.

"Awwwww!" Sonya whined.

"Ssssoooo, quarter godddddd, arreee youuu going to juuump into the water? Orrrrrr, arrree you going to lettttt that mediiicalllll conditttttion getttt in your wayyyyyy?" Kelli said.

"How do you know about that!" I shouted, trying to sound confident. But I knew that I had failed, even before the words came out of my mouth. I was nervous. Okay, I was scared. I had heard Percy had killed them with his weapon, Riptide. But, I had no weapon. And the Ocean was right behind me. I was deathly afraid of water.

The empousa started to advance in on me. It was getting dark out, and I doubt Apollo would be able to hear me if I screamed for help.

Poseidon, help me! I turned and dived into the ocean, preparing for the burden of pain I was about to feel.

"Ahh!" I screamed, as I dove into the water. I felt a cold splash, but realized that I was knee high into the water. But, the empousa seemed to have noticed, too. They jumped in, and I knew I had to get deeper into the water. At first, it wasn't that bad. But as I got deeper, fire coursed through my lungs. I pushed of the sand, and started to swim. Okay, swim isn't the right word. To be honest(TBH), I was trying to swim, but I was really drowning.

"HELP!" I called, but I didn't think it was coming. The pain started increasing inside. My vision was going foggy.

"Help," I croaked until I let darkness take me.

Hazel

It was dawn now. Let me start from the beginning. Leo, Calypso, Frank, Piper, Jason, and I were sailing to Camp Half-Blood. We had an urgent message to deliver to Chiron. That we needed to capture 6 demigods, and 1 quarter god. It was a prophecy Rachel had told us, before leaving for Italy to visit relatives. She had said she had forgotten to tell Camp Half-Blood, and wanted us to go tell them, because she said we would need their help. The prophecy was:

7 offsprings in need to go

To be rescued by 12 campers of 2 camps

The 15 year olds will not be easy to show

To be 2 campers be marked with a stamp

One will be found at the strike of lightning

Another one already found by Perseus

One in the woods of Striking

Another child of the sea, to be let loose

One in the garden's in Hades

Another sea one to get there on her own,

But may need saving from the naids

And Another at the one and only nome

We had no idea what it meant, but Rachel said Cam Half-Blood may be able to help. So, here we are, sailing there. Reyna had given us permission. We were halfway through the course, when we heard someone scream for help. We thought a mortal had seen a shark, so we told Frank to turn into an animal to scare the shark away. He did, and came back with an unconscious girl. She was half dead. I could tell she wasn't a mortal, because of the aura around her. But, she wasn't a demigod either. The girl had been severely hurt. Her skin was ripped, and she was bleeding like crazy. She looked in pain every moment, conscious or not. We had brought her over to a bed, and found this pain- relieving cream, which seemed to be taking a positive effect on her. She had been unconscious for at least 3 hours.

"Do you think she will wake up?"Leo asked. That dimwit was a real idiot.

"She has to. She will. Remember, I can see her death aura!"I told him.

"Right. Sorry. What does it look like?"He said.

"She isn't dead, but from what I could gather, she is in a lot of pain. In fact, could you hand me that cream, Leo?"I asked him.

"Sure,"He responded.

"Where is Calypso? Go bother her,"I said. I forgot to mention, Calypso was supposed to be released by the gods, but the gods forgot, so Leo saved her. Now they were dating, and Calypso went on quests with us. Wherever Leo was, you would find her around him somewhere.

Leo rolled his eyes. "Yes, sir!" He left the room. I turned back to the girl, who started erupting into violent coughing fits. She then looked up at me.

"Where am I?" She asked.

"Your on my ship. Don't worry, I'm on your side," I said, looking into her gleaming eyes. They were a swirl of blue, teal, and black. They shimmered in the light. Her hair was black, and loose in curls, pushed back. She had an athletic type of body, but had curves too. We had also dressed her. By 'we', I mean Piper and I. We had put on a Green Day shirt we had from when Thalia was here, and gaven her a leather jacket. She had long black leggings, and Calypso's old combat boots. She looked pretty well, considering her injuries.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"My name's Hazel, daughter of Pluto. I'm Roman. Are you Greek?" I asked. She looked like she could be either. But, maybe more Greek.

All she said was, "Isn't Pluto the Roman form of Hades?"

"Yeah," I responded. She paled for a moment.

"My name is Athelia. I'm a quarter god, Greek and Roman," She said.

"Cool. Who's your parents?" I asked.

"Do you know Nico Di Angelo?"

Athelia

After getting an explanation of Hazel of where and why I was there, I had to explain to her my relation to Nico. And, I also learned I had an aunt. Sort of. I dunno how Roman x Greek family works. Then, we went upstairs. There was an entire table of kids arguing over battle plans. They all stopped when I entered.

"So you're finally awake?" One of them asked.

"Yeah. My name's Athelia, but call me Atlas," I said.

"Cool. I'm Leo," Leo said.

"I'm Piper, and this is Jason," Piper said, motioning to the guy next to her.

He waved, and grinned when he saw my shirt. "Green Day, eh?"

"Oh. That's my mom and I's favorite band," I said.

"Oh yeah. Jason is a son of Jupiter," Hazel said.

"Zeus?" I asked.

"Yeah," Hazel replied.

Normally, I would have passed out, but I grinned from ear to ear. "You like Green Day to, Uncle?" I asked, surprising him with 'uncle'.

"Uncle?" He asked, confused.

"Thalia is my mom. I suppose you're her brother. So, hi Uncle," I replied.

He stared at me in shock. "How?" He finally managed to get out.

"You really wanna go there?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. All the girls and I erupted into a fit of giggles when he reddened.

The first one to recover spoke up,"Okay, I'm Calypso."

"And I'm Frank," The last one said, and Hazel went over and sat on his lap. I pulled over a chair and sat down.

"So, you can't swim?" Jason asked. I shook my head, and told them everything. Once I was done, they all nodded grimly, and we returned back to their previous conversation.

"Okay. We are sailing to Camp Half-Blood-" Jason started saying, but then another girl walked in.

"Oh yeah, and there is this one too," Hazel said.

"I'm Macedonia, but call me Macy. I'm the child of Hera and Zeus," Macy said. I opened my mouth in shock.

I finally said, "This is bad."

Macy frowned. "Why?"

"Well, Percy, Annabeth, Thalia, Nico, Artemis, Apollo, and I went looking for you on a mission."

They all exchanged glances.

"We'll contact them about that when we get to camp. We can't for any mist around here," Leo said.

"Mist?" I asked.

"Rainbow. To Iris Message them," Frank said.

"Oh," I said quietly, but I was still confused.

Macy pulled a seat next to me. She looked very nice. Now that she was closer, I took a closer look at her. Her hair was auburn, and had big curls. She was wearing a Green Day shirt, too. I assumed my mom left them all here, or that her and Jason had matching shirts. She was wearing blue tights, and green sneakers. She also had a purple hoodie on. Her eyes were electric blue and purple. Mixed, and they looked beautiful together. Anyone could fall for her. My eyes widened. I had completely forgotten about Apollo and the others. They probably didn't know where I was.

"How far are we from Camp Half-Blood?" I asked.

"Actually, we are close. Maybe an hour away, though? That's what Festus told me" Leo said. I raised my eyebrow when he said Festus. He grinned. "Jason, is this meeting over?"

"Yea," Jason replied.

"Come with me," Leo said, as everyone left. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Calypso watching us. I made a mental note to watch out for her. Leo led me up the stairs, and brought me to the front of the ship.

"This is Festus," He said, beaming. I looked up, and saw a dragon's head. It started thumping and making weird sounds. I looked over at Leo in confusion.

"Morse Code," Leo said. "He says that it's nice to meet you, and that you don't have a weapon."

"Nice to feet you too, Festus. And, no, I don't have a weapon. They couldn't find me one in time for the mission at Camp Half-Blood, so they figured that the others could protect me," I said.

Leo snorted. "So much for protection. You wound up in the middle of the ocean!"

"Hey, I'm not the one who was driving!" I said.

"But the empousa?" Leo said.

"I… maybe I should have a weapon," I said.

"Festus says you ticklish," Leo randomly said. He then started tickling me.

"What-?" I erupted into a fit of giggles.

"Jason! Frank! Piper! Guys! Help! Reinforcements!" Leo yelled, and they were soon all tickling me. I had never ever had that much fun. It had reminded me of when I was a child. I loved being childish. I was younger than everyone there. I was 13, turning 14 in 1 week. But, I was still 13. We finally all recovered, and saw we had arrived to Camp Half-Blood. Leo had docked the ship, and turned to us.

"Ready?" He asked.