Death's Touch | Jason Grace

Twenty

"Who is Aunt Rosa?" Hazel asked.

"Long story," he said. "She abandoned me after my mom died, gave me to foster care."

"I'm sorry," Cary muttered.

"Yeah, well..." Leo was anxious to change the subject. "What about you guys? What Nemesis said about your brother?"

Hazel blinked like she'd gotten salt in her eyes. "Nico...he found me in the Underworld. He brought me back to the mortal world and convinced the Romans at Camp Jupiter to accept me. I owe him for my second chance at life. If Nemesis is right, and Nico's in danger... I have to help him."

"Sure," Leo said, though the idea made him uneasy. He doubted the revenge goddess ever gave advice out of the goodness of her heart. "And what Nemesis said about your brother having six days to live, and Rome getting destroyed...any idea what she meant?"

"None," Hazel admitted. "But I'm afraid..."

Whatever she was thinking, she decided not to share it.

Cary sighed. "I don't know why Jason... his life felt so tethered when I was down there last. And my dad—he's always been rescuing me. My mom died in a house fire and he saved me. I should've died when I was eight. Pluto never sent him after us. But-but now he's supposed to claim my soul the next time I face Erebus?"

She huffed and climbed one of the largest boulders to get a better view. Hazel climbed up after her. Leo tried to follow and lost his balance. Hazel caught his hand. She pulled him up and they found themselves atop the rock, holding hands, face-to-face.

"Um, thanks." He let go of her hand, but they were still standing so close, he could feel the warmth of her breath.

"When we were talking to Nemesis," Hazel said uneasily, "your hands... I saw flames."

"Yeah," he said. "It's a Hephaestus power. Usually I can keep it under control."

"Oh." She put one hand protectively on her denim shirt, like she was about to say the Pledge of Allegiance.

He gazed across the island. The opposite shore was only a few hundred yards away. Between here and there were dunes and clumps of boulders, but nothing that looked like a reflecting pool.

You will always be the outsider, Nemesis had told him, the seventh wheel. You will not find a place among your brethren.

"Leo?" Cary asked gently. "You can't take what Nemesis said to heart."

He frowned. "What if it's true?"

"She's the goddess of revenge," Hazel reminded him. "Maybe she's on our side, maybe not; but she exists to stir up resentment."

"We should keep going," he said. "I wonder what Nemesis meant about finishing before dark."

Hazel glanced at the sun, which was just touching the horizon. "And who is the cursed boy she mentioned?"

Below them, a voice said, "Cursed boy she mentioned."

At first, Cary saw no one. Then her eyes adjusted. She realized a young woman was standing only ten feet from the base of the boulder. Her dress was a Greek-style tunic the same color as the rocks. Her wispy hair was somewhere between brown and blond and gray, so it blended with the dry grass. She wasn't invisible, exactly, but she was almost perfectly camouflaged until she moved. Even then, Cary had trouble focusing on her. Her face was pretty but not memorable. In fact, each time Cary blinked, she couldn't remember what she looked like, and she had to concentrate to find her again.

"Hello," Hazel said. "Who are you?"

"Who are you?" the girl answered. Her voice sounded weary, like she was tired of answering that question.