𝐅𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒 - jason grace

12. BROKEN LOCKET

𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐏𝐋𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐔𝐓𝐄𝐒, Maia sat quietly on the ship, staring out onto the water.

She kept thinking about what had happened, Percy on the ground, barely able to breathe. The pained look on his face as he crumpled down. She knew that if she would've done something, anything, she wouldn't feel the weight of the world crashing down on her shoulders at that moment. A small part of her knew she wasn't fully in control of her powers, so it would be crazy to think that she could've saved him, but a bigger part of her kept insisting she should've known. That she was so messed up, such a jinx, that she didn't even know of her own strengths - if she didn't spend all her time wallowing in self pity and moping around, maybe she could've figured it out on her own. And then she could've avoided all this.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, breaking her out of her thoughts, and looked up to see Percy's worried face.

"It's not your fault, you know." He muttered.

"It sure feels like it," Maia said.

Ella sat atop her nest of books and papers,happily quoting one of her many sources. Their little moment, if you could even call it that, must've inspired the harpy. "Friends," she muttered. "'Ten seasons. 1994 to 2004.' Friends melt Phineas and give Ella jerky. Ella will go with her friends."

Now she was roosting comfortably in the stern, nibbling bits of jerky and reciting random lines from Charles Dickens and 50 Tricks to Teach Your Dog.

Percy looked at Maia one last time, and shook his head, before he knelt in the bow, steering them toward the ocean with his awesome mind-over-water powers. The sky started to darken, the sea turning the same rusty color as Ella's wings. June 21 was almost over. The Feast of Fortuna would happen in the evening, exactly seventy-two hours from now. Time to make her mom proud! Or not, as usual.

There was a moment of silence between the group - a silence so loud you could hear, feel, and practically see the excruciating awkward tension emanating from the group — mainly Maia. Finally, Frank brought out some food from his pack—sodas and muffins he'd scavenged from Phineas's table. He passed them around.

"It's okay, Hazel," he said quietly. "My mom used to say you shouldn't try to carry a problem alone. But if you don't want to talk about it, that's okay."

Hazel took a shaky breath. "You were right," she said, "when you guessed I came back from the Underworld. I'm...I'm an escapee. I shouldn't be alive."

She explained how her mother had summoned Pluto and fallen in love with the god. She explained her mother's wish for all the riches in the earth, and how that had turned into Hazel's curse. She described her life in New Orleans. She described the Voice, and how Gaea had slowly taken over her mother's mind. She explained how they had moved to Alaska, how Hazel had helped to raise the giant Alcyoneus, and how she had died, sinking the island into Resurrection Bay.

Frank took her hand. "You sacrificed yourself to stop the giant from waking. I could never be that brave."

"It wasn't bravery. I let my mother die. I cooperated with Gaea too long. I almost let her win."

"Hazel," said Percy. "You stood up to a goddess all by yourself. You did the right..." His voice trailed off, as if he'd had an unpleasant thought. "What happened in the Underworld...I mean, after you died? You should've gone to Elysium. But if Nico brought you back—"

"I didn't go to Elysium." Her mouth felt dry as sand. "Please don't ask..."

Maia noticed how Hazel looked dazed, almost sick, for a second. She worried the girl would throw up, but that wasn't exactly the case.