The Return of Leo Valdez (After Blood of Olympus)

13- Hazel

Hazel woke up on the ground coughing and sputtering. Fog surrounded her ankles and not a single sound was coming from the city.

Hazel looked around. No one was to be seen, not even Frank or Reyna.

"Frank!" Hazel yelled. "Reyna!" No one answered.

Hazel faced forward. She knew where she was, she knew this place better than any other place in New Orleans. It was an old graveyard that Hazel couldn't quite remember the name of.

Gravestones laid neatly in rows. Hazel didn't want to enter the place, but some kind of magical force made her.

Hazel slowly crept into the graveyard, her feet crunching against the leaves and twigs.

Hazel didn't know where she was going, but she couldn't stop the force that was pulling her.

She kept her hand on her sword, just incase if she was being lead to a monsters den. Monsters tended to make their homes in creepy places, graveyards, caves, attics and overpriced grocery stores.

Then, the force stopped pulling her. She stood, and wasn't being pulled. She has reached the mystery destination.

Hazel gripped her sword tighter. She looked around. Nothing seemed suspicious, just some gravestones and rotten trees. The gravestones didn't look anything out of the ordinary, except for one.

This one looked newer. All the other gravestones were from the 1800s. This one was from 1999. As Hazel crept closer towards the grave, she was able to make about the name embedded in the stone.

Hazel gasped and jumped back as her eyes read the name-

Sammy Valdez
1928-1999
Once now again his long lost friend, Hazel Levesque

Hazel was crying. She has never seen Sammy's gravestone, and she never thought she would see it. But now she wished she didn't. It wasn't because of the fact that he was dead, it was the fact that Hazel wasn't with Sammy in the Fields of Asphodel like he hoped.

Sammy has been dead for over 10 years, and he must be so depressed because Hazel wasn't there. One day, Hazel thought. Just be patient. It may be soon, it may not be.

Then, the floor began to shake. "It's all my fault," a male voice echoed. "She's dead because of me."

The shaking stopped and Hazel fell to her knees. "No Sammy!" Hazel yelled. "It's not you! It's not your fault."

"She said Hazel's great danger would not happen in my lifetime. But I promised I would be there for her. You will have to tell her I'm sorry, Leo. Help her if you can," Sammy said again, his voice repeating over and over, driving Hazel insane.

"Stop Sammy! It wasn't you!" Hazel yelled. "Gaea did it! Leo did help me! You didn't do anything wrong!"

Sammy didn't respond, not that Hazel thought he would.

All of a sudden, something sparkly caught Hazel's eye. She crept towards it. It was behind Sammy's gravestone, stuck in between a rotting log and tall, wild grass.

Hazel bent down and picked the object up. It was a diamond. The same diamond Sammy sold before Hazel died.