The Ghosts Among Us: A Percy Jackson Halloween Special

16 | In Which Hazel is Back

Thalia's eyes widened and her head shot to the side. "Get to the Hermes cabin," Thalia said.

Percy closed his eyes, stopping to think for a moment. He raised his hand in the air above his head and pointed his palm at the possessed demigods in front of him.

"Wise Girl, Thals, get behind me," Percy said. The two girls did as he said with a questioning look, Annabeth standing behind Percy and Thalia with her back to Annabeth, knocking an arrow and keeping it aimed at the demigods on the other side of them.

Percy inhaled deeply, then exhaled. Right as he exhaled, a gigantic cyclone of lakewater came crashing down onto the possessed demigods. They fell to the ground, and Percy, Annabeth, and Thalia decided to take the opportunity to run away.

They ran through the soaking wet demigods on the ground, careful where they stepped and not to touch them. They burst through the door with the evil demigods following right after. Percy was about to slam the door shut when he heard a voice that he immediately recognized.

"Percy, wait!"

It was Hazel. Percy couldn't believe it. He kept the door open for just a second longer, before slamming the door shut so no one else could get in. He wasted no time locking the door, then pushing a dresser in front of it.

"Hazel," He grinned, turning to the girl he thought was a goner, "You're... okay?" It was too dark to see any of her features, but he could clearly make out the silhouette of her tiny body and curly hair.

"Of course I am, silly," Hazel said, "I'm sorry I freaked out."

"Hey, it's okay. Don't blame yourself! We're sorry we put you through that," Percy said.

"Damn, Haze. I can't believe you got through them! You're pretty badass," Thalia said. She walked over to Hazel, raising her hand in the air for a high five. But instead of high fiving her, Hazel pulled her into a hug.

Thalia laughed nervously. "Heh heh, thanks for the affection or whatever, but I'm really not a touchy pers... aaand you're squeezing tighter. Hazel, I'm serious. Let go," Thalia said. Hazel just giggled in response.

Suddenly, Thalia let out an ear piercing scream of pain. Hazel laughed, letting go of the daughter of Zeus and letting her collapse onto the ground, kicking her roughly just for good measure.

"Oh no," Annabeth said, stepping closer to Percy, realizing what was happening.

"She's one of them..." Percy said quietly, his voice shallow.

"And Thalia's about to be too!" Hazel said gleefully. "Along with you pests. You've caused me enough trouble."

"But... but how did you get her? She was in the cabin! The doors were locked!" Annabeth said, adjusting the grip of her hands on her drakon bone sword.

"Hmm, they were. But the poor girl is far too nice for her own good. She felt bad as soon as you left her and tried to follow after. Unfortunately for her, as soon as she opened the door thinking we were gone, we got her. The rest is history," Hazel shrugged, twirling a piece of her hair on her finger.

"You're despicable," Annabeth said.

"Yeah, I don't really care what you think of me. But thanks for the thought, sweetie," Hazel said with fake sweetness. Just then, she stepped into the moonlight shining in through the window. And just as they suspected, her eyes were completely black.

"Gods, how do we get out of this one?" Percy said.

"The same way we always do. We don't give up or stop until we've won. We went through Tartarus together, we can easily defeat one possessed demigod. We outnumber her," Annabeth said, this time the one squeezing her boyfriend's hand and trying to comfort him, even though the darkness was absolutely spine chilling and she was not exactly the most comfortable at the moment.

"Actually... there's not just one of me," Hazel smirked.

She stepped to the side, giving Thalia room to stand up directly next to her. Thalia gave them a smirk, her now completely black eyes shining as she cracked her knuckles. The daughter of Zeus was gone. It was only a matter of time.

"Let's play," Thalia said, an unnatural, horrifying grin spreading across her face as she raised her knocked bow, pointing it directly at Annabeth's heart.