Thankfully, Octavian knew to not take too long with his presence. Percy fondly thought back to the day when he had been able to fight him fairly in the arena. He heard that the scrawny legacy of Apollo still had nightmares about that day. Good.

He stopped the two of them in front of Neptune's… shack.

"What is this place?" Bianca asked him.

Percy motioned to the trident above the door, smiling bitterly, "Dear old Dad's place. Neptune's temple. Well, if it can even be called that. I've been trying to fix it up when I have time but well… the legion doesn't change. Even after all I've done, the Romans have always been scared of the seas."

"This is Neptune's temple? But isn't he one of the-" Bianca asked, glancing back at the temple as Percy led them away.

"Doesn't matter," Percy shortly responded.

Percy walked past the temple to a shrine decorated with bones and diamonds. Sitting on the roof of it, staring off into the distance with her back to them was a girl with brown skin and curly black hair. On her back was a silver bow. Strapped to her side was an imperial gold spatha.

She heard them approaching, turning to greet them. As she saw Bianca, she froze, surprise, fear, and recognition flashed through her face between she quickly masked it with a smile even Percy could tell was fake.

"Hey Hazel," Percy greeted, arm up in a wave.

"Percy!" she laughed, jumping down from the roof. "Nice of you to venture up here. And you are…?" she asked, turning to Bianca.

"I know you," Biana accused. "You look so familiar."

Again, fear. "No, I don't," Hazel quickly denied. Both of them could tell that she was lying. "We've never met before. I've been with the Hunters of Diana for the past few decades, and Camp Jupiter for the rest of that. There's no way that we've met. And if we had, you'd probably be with the hunters."

"Hazel, are you sure? You might have met her-"

He cut himself off at the look she gave him that said, 'Not here, not now.'

He obliged. "Oh I almost forgot," he said, changing the subject. "This is Bianca di Angelo, daughter of Pluto. You guys are half-sisters."

Hazel smiled, holding out her hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Hazel Levesque. I never thought I'd see another child of Pluto around for another few decades."

Bianca was still studying her suspiciously. "Nice to meet you too," she responded, shaking Hazel's outstretched hand. "You mentioned that you were in the Hunt?"

"Ah, yes. I was, for a few decades. Prior to that, my life wasn't… well it wasn't the greatest, let's just leave it at that. I got restless a few years back, and a year ago, Lady Diana released me of my vows. I joined the legion not soon after that," Hazel said. She then turned to see someone running up the hill. It was Gwen. Percy could see relief flicker through her eyes.

"Hey!" Gwen waved cheerfully. "Reyna sent me to get Bianca situated."

Percy raised an eyebrow at that. "You're a centurion. Shouldn't Reyna have sent someone else? Who's leading the Fifth?"

Gwen shrugged. "Wanted to meet the newbie, so I volunteered. Dakota's taking over the Fifth for now. Reyna knew I had it handled so she let me come."

"Are you sure Dakota can handle it? He's not even-"

Gwen fiercely glared at him. "You know, I thought out of all people, you would understand. You were-" she glanced at Bianca, cutting herself off. "But we shouldn't discuss that here! Now," she turned to Bianca, beckoning for her to follow her. "We should hurry to the Bath Houses so you have time to properly enjoy them. You haven't lived until you've had a Roman bath."

Percy winced, immediately regretting his words. He saw Bianca glance toward him, so he quickly faked a grin, nodding towards Gwen. "You should hurry. She's right. It was nice meeting you Bianca. See you at Evening Muster."

Bianca nodded hesitantly, following Gwen who had already taken off in a swift walk. Percy watched the two of them leave.

"You know her, don't you?" Percy asked, immediately after they were out of earshot.

"It would be against my oaths to Lady Diana if I were to respond to that question," Hazel stonily said. The usually expressive girl's face had closed off at his question.

"Your oaths?" Percy incredulously asked her. "But you were released from your oaths after you left the Hunt."

"Just because I was released from the main oath to Lady Diana, didn't mean I was released from this one. And even if I hadn't been released, I would have still kept it. Lady Diana saved me, Percy, and I refuse to betray her trust."

Percy sighed in frustration. "And they outweigh your responsibilities to the legion do they? And my position as your Praetor?"

"Yes," Hazel stubbornly said.

Percy threw his arms up in defeat. He knew he wouldn't be winning this fight. "Fine! Fine. Then tell me this one thing. Is she a danger to us?"

Hazel laughed in surprise, the stony expression cracking. "A danger? To New Rome?" she said, before sobering up, as she responded, "No, she isn't. But to her enemies? Very. You can trust that she will be loyal to New Rome as long as it doesn't conflict with any of her morals."

"I see. I guess that's… good. So you trust her?" he asked Hazel.

"With my life," she seriously responded.

"Bianca knew of someone named Annabeth Chase," Percy mused, watching as Hazel flinched. "Do you know of her?"

"How do you even-"

"We were childhood friends. I just… wondered," Percy responded.

Hazel looked at him with wide eyes. "You- you're that childhood best friend? No wonder you looked familiar!"

"You know Annabeth!" he exclaimed delightedly. "Where is she? Is she alright? And what do you mean I look familiar?"

"I…" Hazel looked uncertain. "I have met Annabeth before. Last I heard a few months before I joined camp, she was alright. And I saw a picture of you once in Mrs. Blofis' house when Annabeth took u- me to visit once."

Percy ignored her slipup, instead blankly saying, "Mrs. Blowfish? Who's she?"

"Oh uh, Mrs. Blofis? You must know her. She's this nice woman Annabeth took us to when we stopped by New York. She had pictures of you around her house. When we asked Annabeth about them, she just said that they were of her childhood friend."

He shook his head. "I don't know anyone named Blofis. I'm not really sure why she'd have my pictures either. It was just me and my Mom. And her husband, Gabe. That's it."

"Oh!" said Hazel, surprised. "I'm not really sure then. We didn't ask more about it since it seemed to be a sore subject for Annabeth. And I've probably," she smiled sheepishly. "Already said too much."

Percy winced. "Ah, I see."

They moved on after that, catching up after not having been able to talk for a few weeks, with Percy being busy managing the legion and Hazel having been doing other things. They only stopped after hearing the bell toll, ringing throughout camp.

The two of them cursed upon hearing it.

"Reyna's going to kill me if I'm late," Percy muttered, whistling for Blackjack. "You want a ride?" he asked Hazel, gaze concentrated toward the distance. He could already see two black spots quickly approaching.

She gratefully smiled. "That would be nice."