The Demigod Games

Chapter 10

We decide to move our camp. It is way too exposed here. I packed up our stuff and picked up my pack. As we head down the mountain, the holographic image appears again.

First, it was Percy's face.

"Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon".

"Killed by Clarisse la Rue".

Then, the attacker's face.

"Clarisse la Rue, daughter of Ares".

"Killed by Frank Zhang".

Beside me, Frank gasps. He looks over at me, and I place an arm over his shoulder.

"Frank, we were just protecting-" I start, but he interrupts.

"No! I'm still a muderer, whether I was protecting you guys or not!" He says, his voice shaky.

We head further into the woods in silence. We decide to stay near the edge of the forest, so that we could spot people more easily. Frank and I sleep first. I tuck myself into the sleeping bag and drift into a dream almost immediately.

It's the man in the cloak again, at the same place in the cavern.

"Hazel, you are a demigod. I am your father. I'm Pluto. God of the dead," he speaks quickly, not waiting for my response.

"Find a way to get out of there, preferably with your half-brother. He's in there. He's called Nico. I need to go now." He continues, then vanishes in a flash of golden light.

Then, I fall into a dreamless sleep.

Frank shakes me awake a few hours later. It is dawn now, and Jason and Piper are nowhere to be seen.

"Where are they?" I ask Frank as I roll up the sleeping bags and stuff them into my pack. That's when I noticed the other pack is missing.
"They ran off on their own in the night, but stole one of our packs, I suppose," Frank replies.

"Oh well. Less people to feed, I guess," I say. "We need to hunt. They took our food."

We head further into the forest, and I shoot down a rabbit after a while. We light a fire and sit down to eat the rabbit. We continue to wander aimlessly in the arena until nighttime. As the sun sets, another cannon fires in the distance.

The holographic image comes up again. A girl, with stormy grey eyes.

"Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena."

"Killed by Jason Grace."

"What..." Frank murmurs next to me. "Jason..."

I nod. I'm equally shocked at Jason's first kill, especially, him killing that girl we had worked so hard to protect.

"Frank, we gotta get out of here. The arena is just turning everyone into a monster!" I say eventually, after a long silence.

Frank's face is rigid with determination. He nods firmly and says, "Now."

I raise my eyebrows and look at him expectantly.

"You know that power that you said you had? Try it. Now," he tells me.

I shrug, then agree. After all, I have been eager to test it out.

I close my eyes and feel the pull of the realm under the ground. Hard stone, layers of ores, and at last, a strange cavern, filled with tiny, flickering presences. I focus my attention on a particular one, and the action that follows is just natural.

I raise my hand up, and the ground around me ruptures.