"Wow," was all Hazel had to say after Arelyn finished explaining pretty much everything, "So that's where you went? When you said you were 'figuring stuff out'?"

Arelyn laughed nervously as she glanced around Hades cabin, "Yeah. I was sort of hoping you forgot about that..."

"Why? Cause you lied to me? That's fine. Everyone lies."

"Well, yeah, but... You know what? Let's not talk about this right now."

Hazel shrugged, "All right. What you rather discuss?"

"Maybe how life's been here?"

"Well, we've gotten a lot of new campers recently. Lots of them are little kids, but we have some older ones too. Nobody has any idea where they came from."

"Wait, what? No clue at all?"

Hazel shook her head, "Any satyrs Chiron sent out to look for demigods brought them in at similar times. According to them they were all making no progress until around the same time when half bloods were suddenly everywhere. The half bloods themselves have no idea where they came from."

Arelyn thought for a while, "When you asked them where they had been, what did they say?"

"Well, I didn't ask them personally, but Annabeth did. She said they would just look at her strangely and say 'dark' before staring off into space for a while. So far Bren has been one of the only ones to just look Annabeth in the eyes and tell her that he didn't know."

Dark... Arelyn thought, letting the pieces click together in her mind before saying her idea out loud, "Do you mind if I visit Bren?" She asked.

"Um, sure. But I don't know if he'll tell you anything... Also, don't hurt him."

Arelyn looked at her hands resting in her lap, "Never."

The two of them stood and walked outside.

"If anyone sees you," Hazel began, "I'll tell them you're another camper. Hopefully some of them from before won't recognize you..."

Arelyn nodded but still pulled her hood over her head. It hid her face fairly well, and if she flipped it inside out you wouldn't see the Neverseen symbol on the shoulder. "If they do, let's hope they've forgiven me."

The walk to Hermes cabin wasn't very long, but it still felt like hours to Arelyn. All the campers we're running around happily, a few of them stopping for a moment to glance at Hazel and her  mysterious friends before continuing with whatever they were doing. None of them looked close enough to recognize the girl that had hurt them and held them hostage in their own safe haven. Well, maybe except that one girl Arelyn recognized from Aphrodite cabin. Back when the Neverseen took over, she'd been sent to some of the cabins to see if they were empty, and when she'd walked into the Aphrodite cabin she'd found a girl laying on her stomach on a bed, waiting for her nails to dry. Then the girl asked Arelyn if she could keep the shouting down since she was trying to listen to music. Needless to say, Arelyn had fun turning the girl in. Hopefully she remembered her.

As Hazel knocked on the door of the Hermes cabin, Arelyn couldn't help but worry. What if she was wrong and it was just a coincidence? Yes, because lots of demigods claiming to have come from the dark is a coincidence. Get a grip!

When the door opened, it was Bren, much to Arelyn's relief. She didn't want to talk with some random kid from Hermes cabin and ask them to talk to Bren. That would've seemed weird...

"Hey Bren!" Hazel exclaimed, "Can we talk with you?"

Bren nodded and glanced at Arelyn a moment before stepping outside and shutting the door. "Where are we going?" He asked as they walked away.

"...Half Blood Hill." Hazel told him.

"Didn't we already go there?"

"This time we're just going there to talk."

"Is this something about me?"

"Not you in particular."

Bren nodded before falling silent. He seemed to like questions more than just regular conversation. Not that Arelyn could judge. She'd only talked a few times with her colleagues when she'd worked with the Neverseen, and those few times were usually in a whisper.

When they made it to the top of the hill, Hazel turned to Bren and asked, "Is it okay if I leave you with Tempest for a bit? I'll be right back."

Bren nodded again and Hazel went back down the hill. Arelyn and Bren sat there quietly for a long while. "So," Bren started, breaking the silence, "What's your real name?"

Arelyn smirked as she pulled her hood down, "Why do you want to know?"

"You look familiar. I thought maybe your name would help me know why."

"If I look familiar, then you would know me by the name Tempest. I've gone by that name for a while."

"Why aren't you showing the eye on your sleeve anymore?"

"Many of the people here... They don't like it."

"But you do?"

"No, I don't. I hate what it stands for. But... Now it's part of me. I'm ashamed of it, but it's the truth. Some people just don't understand that."

"What's it for?"

"A...group of people I used to work with. They called themselves the Neverseen. I didn't want to join them, but they threatened to hurt my half brother if I didn't."

"Is he here?"

"No, he's not a demigod. That's why he's my half brother. Same dad, different mom."

Bren nodded, as if he'd learned everything he wanted to know. "What about you?" Arelyn asked, "Where were you from?"

Bren looked at Arelyn with a dark expression, "Why does everyone want to know? None of us know. We just know we were together."

Arelyn smiled, "Together in the suffocating dark where you couldn't tell if you were dead or alive? Where it was both terrifying and calming at the same time? Where the black covered everything like fog? And the ground shook as we all got against an invisible barrier?"

Bren's expression changed as she talked from suspicion, to curiosity, to relief, "You were there?"

Arelyn nodded, "Who was the girl?"

Bren looked towards the Big House, "I think her name's Emma. She's doing worse than me. They're all doing worse than me. Except you." He looked at Arelyn desperately, his large blue eyes shining with hope, "Do you know where we're from? Who we are?"

Arelyn wanted more than anything to tell him yes. To tell him that she knew exactly where they were from, who they were, everything. But she couldn't. She didn't know. So, reluctantly, she shook her head. The light quickly drained from Bren's eyes as he looked away. "Bren, I really, really wish I did. But I genuinely didn't know you before that. I don't know why I can remember instead of you, but you just gotta make the most of it. Ask Percy or Jason. Pretty sure they both forgot who they were too. But it gets better."

Bren nodded - again - and glanced back at Arelyn, "If you can find a way to help Emma and the others, I'll believe that." Slowly, he stood and walked away.

Of course, that just had to be when Hazel came back, "He left." She said, somehow surprised.

"Yep."

"What happened?"

"Well, I know a bit about where he's from."

"Really? How'd you get him to tell you?"

"He didn't have to. I figured it out. All that matters is that they all ended up in South Dakota somehow."

"You figured that out on your own?"

Arelyn leaned back on her hands, "Its not that hard when you've been there yourself and know why they must've been there in the first place."

"You gonna tell me?"

Arelyn smiled sheepishly, "Actually, I feel like it's better if I tell this directly to Chiron, even if he doesn't know me." Arelyn hadn't told Hazel about the whole thing with the Lord of the Night. She knew it was part of the prophecy and that it was important, but she didn't really want Hazel worrying about something that didn't really matter anymore.

Hazel nodded, "That's ok. Mr D might question you a bit, but I'm sure it'll be fine."

All of a sudden, shouts started filling the air with calls for buckets of water and people asking where Percy was. Arelyn quickly turned towards the commotion and sighed, "Well, that's definitely not fine."

A small portion of the woods was on fire, the trees covered in scarlet flame and the normally blue sky was filling with grey ash and smoke. "Ugh, Leo," Hazel muttered, "What are you up to now?"

Dang it! I was so close to updating every day this weekend!(friday-Monday) And then I just had to mess it up! Way to go, Hailey. Anyways, this chapter is a bit longer than normal, since I wanted to do a bit more with Bren, who I've quickly grown attached to, for some reason... So, yeah, that's all for now. I don't have school tomorrow, so I'll try to update again then. See y'all later! Bye!