HELLO.

I LIVE.

I HAVEN'T DIED.

YOU MIGHT'VE THOUGHT THAT I DID, SEEING AS I HAVEN'T UPDATED AN ACTUAL CHAPTER IN A LONG TIME.

I have no idea if where this chapter's gonna go, by the way. Very reassuring of me.

READ ON, MY LITTLE MIDGETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Hazel POV

It was just past Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but here in Camp Jupiter, it doesn't snow. At all. Unless some god is angry with us.

I was almost late to deathball, again. I make a wonderful Centurion, as you see. But this time I did have all my equipment, so yay for me!

I stood with the Fifth Cohort and my fellow Centurion, Dmitri Farn. Reyna had just started stating the rules, so I wasn't technically late.

Okay, maybe I was a little. But only by a few seconds.

"You know the rules!" Reyna said, sitting atop her pegasus, Guido. "No aiming at the face, no taking off armor unless reloading at the supply stock, no intentionally hurting someone. No meleeing with your deathball gun, no maiming. If you are shot and you somehow are still conscious, you have to walk to the 'dead area', and you may not take your gun. Taking from the stock supply is legal. Fourth and Fifth Cohorts are one team, First, Second, and Third are another. "

(A/N I know nothing about paintball, so I'm sorry if I'm incorrect on somethings. Deathball is like paintball except with things like acid and fire balls. Frank mentions it in SoN, which is why I'm using it.)

We all let out a cheer and spread out, in trees, tunnels, and behind other places. On the ground, Frank yelled, "Three, two, one!" Trumpets blew, signifying that the game had started, and the sounds of deathball guns firing and people yelling rang into the air, muffled by the roof of the tunnel I was in. I had already come up with a strategy, and it involved this tunnel. I knew where the stock supply was. Everyone did, but they didn't know how to get to it. The stock supply was full of the best paintball guns and the best weapons and armor. If you got one, it was pretty much impossible for you to 'die'.

I made a way through the ground using the powers I inherited from my father, and made a way through the ground to where the supply stock was, or right next to it. I made an opening through the ground and hoisted myself to the top, right next to the supply stock.

"Well, well," I murmured, taking in the quality and quantity of the supplies in front of me. I dropped my gun and took off my armor, putting on the best armor, and taking the best gun possible along with a shield. This gun fit all around your waist with guns all around, it was light, and it fired the biggest, baddest shots ever. The acid could knock people out, and the fire, well, with shots the size of this, anyone would be running for their life. All you had to do to fire was use a lever on the detonator to set it to acid or fire and hit the button to fire. The detonator was connected to the guns by wire, so if you hit the button, the triggers would pull. The armor literally made everything bounce off and backfire at the person who shot it at you. The helmet had something like a rear view mirror so you could see behind you. All you needed to do was stroll through the field, firing, and you could win with this set.

Turns out someone had to get this set, since the Fifth and Fourth were losing quite badly. So basically, hurrah to Hazel for winning the game!

"Well done, Fifth and Fourth," Reyna announced, landing on the ground. Frank was behind her, giving a thumbs up sign with an astonished face. I blushed, not only because of Frank, but also because of all the still conscious people of the Fourth and Fifth congratulating me.

Suddenly, crumpled to the ground, freezing there. Everyone, except these two kids. One was taller, with platinum blond hair, and eyepatch, and a cruel smirk playing on his lips as he held the other kid in a headlock. "Hello, Hazel Levesque," he said. I recognized that voice. It had been from quite a bit of time ago, when I went on a picnic with my friends in Central Park. A lot of things happened on that catastrophic picnic, including a giant made of water with the same voice that I was hearing.

"What do you want?" I demaded, drawing my spatha.

"Oh, nothing, at all. This boy right here helped me get into the camp, unnoticed. Son of that goddess, whatever the Helheim her name is. Trivia?" The god gestured his free hand toward the gasping boy lazily.

"Why are you here if you want nothing?"

The god's smirk seemed to stand out more now. "To let you know what is to come. Do you remember what I said to you and your friends a few months ago?"

"No, since something so worthless and stupid is really insignificant to me, let alone his words," I answered.

The god gave an amused laugh. "I like you Hazel Levesque. I hope you can live to be my entertainer when I'm King."

I narrowed my eyes and moved my spatha to point toward him. "You know, you're really wasting my time here, as well as everyone else's. Can you just go?"

"I could."

"You remind me of an eleven-year-old," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Your friend, Leila? That annoying girl who shot an arrow at my eye?"

My head whipped upward, astonished. "Wh - what?"

The god laughed. "Leila visited that lake a few hours before you did. She tried to find information about me, and believe me, she did. She found out my name. She was the one who gave me this eyepatch. Quite clever, what she did, hiding herself. I can't find her, you know." He gestured toward his eyepatch. "But without her bow, she would have been powerless. Just like how you all are without your weapons or powers."

"What are you saying?"

"What I'm saying, is that someone of your group, the only one who could match me identically, will lose their powers. Good day!" The god disappeared in a spray of ocean mist, and the boy he was holding in a headlock fell to the ground, gasping for air. I sheathed my sword and rushed forward to help him.

"You okay?" I asked him, checking his pulse.

"Wh - what was that?" he choked.

"I don't know," I admitted. "But I know someone who does."

The people started to stir, and suddenly, they bolted upright and went on with their day like nothing happened.

"Frank!" I began to push my way to him. He rushed forward and hugged me.

"How did you get to the supply stock? It's literally impossible!"

"Never mind that," I said. "I need a way to get to Camp Half-Blood, quick."

"Well, we can Iris-Message Nico to come here and he can bring you there."

"Okay, fine," I said, not wanting to waste my brother's energy, though. I ran to the barracks (A/N I'm pretty sure that's where they sleep, but please correct me if I'm wrong) and took off all my armor, so I had my jeans and a Camp Jupiter t-shirt on. I fished a denarius out of my pocket and ran all the way to the Neptune temple on Temple Hill. Since the war with the giants, we started to give Neptune a bit more respect. The temple had been expanded with marble floors and a quartz statue of the god with a trident was in the middle. At his feet was a bowl, filled with fresh food like the other temples. There was also a fountain in the temple, for anyone who wanted to make an Iris-Message.

"Hey, Fleecy, do me a solid. Show me Nico di Angelo at Camp Half-Blood," I said, tossing in a denarius. Since the war with the giants, Iris and Fleecy started doing messages for Romans, too.

The face of Nico di Angelo appeared in the mist, facing down, reading a book. "Nico!" I shouted.

"Ah!" He jumped up from his bunk. "Who's there?" His eyes fell on the Message in front of him. "Oh. Hi, Hazel." His tone immediately sounded much brighter.

"Hello, Nico! Sorry, I don't have much time to talk now. Can you get Leila or shadow-travel me to Camp Half-Blood? What book are you reading anyway?"

Nico blushed and muttered something.

"What? I can't hear you, Nico," I said, straining my ears.

"Ella Enchanted!" He blurted out, immediately turning into a deep shade of ketchup.

"You're reading Ella Enchanted?" I started laughing so hard, I was gasping for air.

"It's my favorite book! It's a beautiful book in which a girl goes through struggles and finds the love of her life!" Nico defended.

"How do you know what it's about if you're in the process of reading it?" I asked suspiciously, smiling. This caused Nico to turn a deeper shade of red.

"I'll go call her," he grumbled. He left the image and I heard the door of the Hades cabin swinging shut.

A few minutes later, he returned, with Leila. "Ooh! You're reading Ella Enchanted! I love that book! But the movie isn't anything like it."

Nico blushed again and muttered something inaudible. "Leila," I said. "Something happened today, and I need you to tell me something." I told her how the god at Central Park showed up out of nowhere, and what he told me.

"So, can you tell me his name?" I asked.

"I could," she said, trying to smirk. She was trying to hide the serious expression on her fave with the smirk, I could tell.

"Will you tell me his name?"

Leila's face grew serious. "I don't know if I should. It can't be safe. You know how names have power."

I bit my lip in frustration. That was true, of course. "Well, can you give me some hints?"

Leila smiled. "The prophecy already gives clues, Hazel. 'Neither Aesir nor Vanir, the greedy sea'll rise.'"

Just then, the door of the Hades cabin flew open. I heard a feminine voice yell, "Hands above your heads! Don't move!" Nico and Leila's hands flew up. "The voice of the person asked, "What are your names?"

Leila answered, "This is Nico di Angelo and I'm Lana Dirk." I saw Nico nudge her, only to have Leila nudge him back. I remained frozen in place, shocked.

"Who're you talking to?" The voice demanded. I could see a masked face through the Iris-Message now. The person said, "Sir, I have two people in Cabin Thirteen. They're talking to a girl through a mist-thingy." There was a bright flash, and I realized what had happened. She'd taken a picture of me.

I swiped my hand through the mist and sprinted to the principia, where Reyna and Frank where. "Camp Half-Blood . . . Danger. . . ." I gasped.

"How do you know?" Reyna demanded, bolting up.

"Iris-Message. . . ."

"We have to get there as quick as possible," Frank said. They both ran out of the door, leaving me to wonder what I just saw.
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That's it, folks!

-da dam author