Heroes of Olympus: The Aftermath of War

HAZEL

*Rick Riordan owns all of the characters*

HAZEL ENGULFED THE wholeness of the scene before her, setting her precious golden orbs on marvelous trails of grasses, greeneries, and a wide, welcoming mountain top. She smiled, running in the vastness of the fields, inhaling the sweet sensation of cool, fresh air. The wind blew strands of Hazel's hair impatiently as she continued to marvel at her surroundings, beaming at the beauty of nature. Should she thank Ceres, the Roman goddess of the fields and agriculture, for this view somehow?

Moving to sit on a particularly big rock, she sighed and wrapped her arms around her knees, suddenly confused. The phantom of Turtle was grinning contentedly at her as it zoomed over the horizon and talked about lots of things, giving facts as to what happened here and there.

Why did it have to be a turtle again?

Vitellius, the Lar who watched over the members of the Fifth Cohort, had probably mentioned this back at Camp Jupiter, but Hazel herself had trouble remembering most of the details (and everything about the topic, for that matter).

Sure, she decided, some Roman demigods tend to get annoyed at Lares sometimes, and neither could she blame her fellow legionnaires, nor did she have the heart to. (Hazel was technically a Centurion now, but the daughter of Pluto still considered herself a legionnaire, since every Roman was obliged to serve Rome, and she had every intention of doing so.)

Actually, the demigods and legacies had this 'universal' opinion about Lares because:

A. The Lares practically roamed around New Rome and had the verge of annoying someone at times, especially when they got absolutely bored. They tried talking to Terminus once, Hazel remembered, and the conversation had went on for hours.

B. They had the habit of spying on a half blood who was deemed as an 'unproductive' citizen of New Rome (even though Lupa had trained every demigod who got there beforehand), or on an equally famous and talented person, when curiosity hit them [a lot].

C. The guardian deities eavesdropped on Fama-knows-what, from matters that were entirely personal to absolutely ridiculous conversations which, in return, taught everyone to be really careful during discussions and meetings.

Setting those 'facts' aside, though, Lares also gave quite useful information to demigods and legacies if they felt like it ("Offering to play board games with them also worked," Frank surprisingly told her at some point, though she imagined playing Scrabble with a guardian deity of Ancient Roman religion...and immediately decided it was weird).

Was her godly father, Pluto, behind this? Why did he send Turtle at such an awful time?

"Great," Hazel thought, her currently hopeless situation slapping her right in the face. "Piper's just gone missing moments earlier and, as if things couldn't get possibly worse, Voila! I'm now miraculously stuck on top of Mount Cyllene...in Greece. A place very, very far from where the others are. Yeah, everything's practically sunshines and rainbows at the moment. Good job for pointing that out, Hazel Levesque."

The animal in question, however, was paying no attention to the demigod at the moment, having its own version of quality time by circling around trees and bushes at a surprisingly fast pace. Turtles don't get to experience that often. Then again, Hazel heard her mind voice out for the millionth time, nothing had been sent by the gods and passed as 'normal' for certain standards, may it be a mission or...

Turtle went spiraling towards her, no longer emitting a carefree and excited persona, as if reality had erased all signs that it was even there in the first place, being present just moments ago. Its eyes illuminated fear and worry, glowing a deeper shade of red each passing second.