The House of Hades

Hazel 16

Disclaimer: Rick riordan has the smarts to come up with these characters not me.

XVI

Hazel

As soon as Nico called an end to the meeting, Hazel headed toward her room. She was exhausted from the battle and from the news that they had just received. It almost seemed as if the whole thing was just a joke. Like at any second Percy and Annabeth would pop out from a corner and surprise us. But demigod life wasn’t like that, and the truth was heart wrenching.

On her way to her room, she thought about Leo and Frank, and how complicated everything was getting. First, it had been easy. She liked Frank; he had even trusted her with his lifeline. But then Leo comes into the equation, looking just like Sammy, and makes her heart do cartwheels. She didn’t know which one to choose. In a way, she felt obligated to Frank. I mean, they had been in many near death experiences saving the world, but that didn’t destroy her right to like other guys. Right? And her and Frank weren’t even official!

Hazel mentally slapped herself and then noticed Piper ahead of her. “Hey!” she called out. Piper froze and turned on her heel.

“Hey, what’s up?” she said.

“Um, nothing. I was-, um, I mean… Do you think that-?”

“Hazel,” she interrupted gently “Do you want to talk?”

I sighed in relief. “That would be nice.” She smiled at me and led the way to her room.

On the way, we passed Percy’s room. The door was wide open, emitting a salty, sea breeze. (Due to one of Leo’s contraptions.) Hazel had never been in Percy’s room before, and for some reason, she felt compelled to do so now.

“Piper,” she called ahead, “Go on, I’ll just be a minute.” She didn’t hear her response because she already took the step in.

Percy’s room was, in a word, messy in a beautiful way. Sure, there were clothes strewn around the floor and his bed was unmade, but the room itself was beautiful. The walls were painted the exact color of the sea. Sort of a dark, bluish greenish color. There was coral and abalone decorating the walls, and a whole bunch of other sea living creatures. The room had at least five portholes and a sliding door that led right to a private section of the deck. All in all, Percy had the hook up.

One of the things that drew Hazel the most was the white nightstand next to the head of the bed. She carefully made her way to it, stepping over clothes and other boy junk. When she got closer, she noticed that it had one drawer attached, but it was pure white, and looked like it was crafted out of ever moving sea foam.

Probably a present from his dad, she thought.

For reasons beyond her comprehension, Hazel sat down on the bed (Which felt like you were sitting on water, but was more comfy than a water bed) and opened the drawer. She gasped. The drawer was filled with pictures. She took out the whole pile and looked through them.

The first one was of Percy, maybe when he just turned sixteen, with his arm around a beautiful woman. She had bright blue eyes and curly black hair. Her smile was the same as Percy’s, so it occurred to Hazel that it was his mom. What made the picture comical was Percy’s appearance. He was covered in dust and grime. He looked like he might pass out from exhaustion right there, but his smile was the same. His eyes were a little unnerving, like he had experienced one to many deaths. Knowing Percy, he had; and this picture was probably taken right after the Second Titian War.

Hazel continued looking through the photographs, every once in a while looking out in the hallway to make sure that no one was coming. The pictures were of several people, Grover, Thila, and a group photo of everyone at Camp Half-Blood. The last picture caught Hazel by surprise, and reminded her of the tragedy she had forgotten for the last three minutes.