Hazel spun.

"Who are you?" she demanded. The young woman before her was dressed like a modern teenager, which stood out clearly from the campers. She wore a skin-hugging crop-top and black shorts. Her hair was frost white.

If that wasn't enough to convince her that this stranger was their enemy and definitely a monster, she was wearing a white mask that covered her eyes. Around her thighs and arms were black bands, all seemed like magic items. Especially the belt around her waist.

"My name is Celeste," she introduced herself. "I know, stupid name. Put that sword down."

Hazel didn't even realize she unsheathed her sword. She sheathed it, but her dread only escalated. How did she know that she was holding a sword? Could she see through that mask?

Her voice was low but cold. There was a slight Chinese accent, but Hazel didn't push. She just wanted to know how in the name of Pluto is she talking to her.

"Right," she tested. "My name is Hazel. Are you a demigod?"

"No. I'm a drakon." Celeste didn't show any emotion, but if she did, she'd probably be sneering at her.

"Who's your godly parent? I'm sure I never seen you here before," Hazel said. "Are you new? I'll show you around here. How old are you? You look like you're ten. What's with the mask?"

Despite her icy appearance, she was only 5'2 feet tall. Being a short demigod was troublesome and lucky, because everyone else could steal the T-shirt gun from the Ares cabin better and monsters will be too tall to ever see you coming.

"I don't know. Fifteen," she said. "New to this camp. Blind."

Hazel blinked. Then she realized that she was answering her questions in very short form replies.

"I'll bring you to Chiron," she offered. "Follow me. Um, can you-"

"I can." Celeste walked past her. "Chiron's a centaur. I can trace his scent."

"Are you sure-"

She found the Big House and walked through the door.

"-about that," Hazel sulked.

* * *

Hazel told the girls - including Calypso, Meg and Rachel - about the new girl and her worry grew. Annabeth asked questions like, Who's her godly parent? What does she look like? Is she Hera in disguise again? Is she Greek or Roman? Is she new?

Hazel didn't have answers for any of that. Especially for the Greek or Roman question. She looked like a Greek with her pale skin and complexion, but sounded like Frank talking English - Chinese accent mixed in English.

Frank. She couldn't go a day without thinking about the big guy. When she sees a random eagle in the sky, she would think that Frank could fly faster than that. When she sees children of Ares, she would mutter, Frank is so different from them.

"It's almost impossible for a demigod to find camp unscathed," Rachel noted. "Even Apollo and Meg faced dangers. Apollo ended up passing out."

"She just appeared behind me like she was always there," Hazel recalled. "She felt like... Gaia talking to me. You don't know she's here, but she's everywhere."

"She's fifteen. Her godly parent should claim her today," Piper said. "Unless they're still incapitated."

"Gods claiming parents is more like a subconscious now. Once their children's presence is alerted in camp, they'll be claimed if they're above thirteen years old." Annabeth seized the only Oreo from Rachel.

Rachel snapped it back from Annabeth.

"Unless she's a Roman demigod that entered the wrong place." Meg inhaled the chocolate chip cookies. Ever since Rachel had taken up residence in the cave for the summer, her pantry was always stoked up with cookies and especially Oreos. They always raided it until it was magically refilled by the next day. "If her parent doesn't claim her tonight, then she's in the wrong camp."

"Does it work like that?" Piper's arched her eyebrow.

"Roman Gods claim children by burning a tattoo in your forearm," Hazel supplied.

"I do not want a Roman lineage," Calypso declared. "I'm not a demigod. What am I talking about?"

Meg clubbed Calypso's face with a pillow. "Demititan, maybe!"

"Sit down," Annabeth commanded.

Meg sat down.

Normally councils between friends was filled with chaos, Cheeze Whiz and donuts. When your friends are only consisted of girls, you get mild chaos and deadly leaders.

Feels just like home, and a hint of an angry Annabeth.

* * *

The campfire sing-along was less than entertaining. The Ares cabin had taken up the liberty of bellowing songs of stomping their enemies and cheesy limericks of drinking the enemy's entrails. Gross. It really clashes with the homey feel that the full moon gives off. ("How can they call that music?" Kayla said in horror.)

Hazel scanned the crowd. Celeste was sitting with the Hermes cabin and she stared blankly at the music massacre Sherman Yang had led. A few of the Hermes campers swung their hands in front of her and tried to prank her by sticking a DORK IS HERE note on her mask, but she either kneed them in the groin or gifted them an uppercut without any thought. Connor ended in the infirmary to treat for a dislocated jaw.

Chiron sat by his corner, sighing at all of this. His chat with Celeste didn't end up in fists, which was a relief.

"That girl is downright dangerous," Leo declared.

"She's injuring our campers before the war! She has to be a spy," Sherman snapped.

"It's self-defense. Admit it, Sherman. You would throw them into the lava if you got pranked by them." Miranda stood up from the Demeter seats.

"Preferably with Harpies," Sherman admitted.

Through all of this, Celeste hardly cared or pretended to don't. Hazel wondered how was she able to survive in the demigod world before she found Camp. Maybe some god or goddess was assisting her? Who could be so important for the incapitated gods to care about?

Maybe this was a mere mistake. She was probably off to some Mythology roleplay camp and Hazel had mistook it for their camp. Yet she didn't ask, Wait, you guys have those kinds of props? Cool!

Or she was just too bothered at the moment to ask. Her godly parent was supposed to claim her tonight. Now it's night.

"You're literally the only unclaimed demigod here," Alice teased. "Since there's this war all over and demigods are being hunted down once more, you're lucky to have survived all those dragons and hellhounds."

"Alice! Don't tease the newbie," Annabeth chided. "She survived alone outside the borders in this camp, even with Gaia rising once more."

Her words was like dropping a flash bomb among them. Nobody spoke a word but the crackling of the campfire.

"Gaia is behind all this?" Sherman demanded.

"I just broke my flamethrower!" Harley sulked.

"Is the Roman Camp informed?" Nyssa's voice cut through the bickering and wailing. "We should send an Iris Message. We can't let them di-"

"No."

Everyone turned to Hazel.

"What?" Valentina's eyes bulged. "No?"

Piper stood up. "She's right," she agreed. "Here's the thing that we discovered in the Underworld. We met Silena, Beckendorf, Luke, Nico, Will, Lee Fletcher, and Michael in Elysium. Percy was in the Isle of the Blest."

Everyone gasped. The Aphrodite cabin - the ones who knew Silena - gasped sharply. (Lacy broke her nail.) The Apollo cabin and the Hephaestus cabin's expression tensed. To sum it up, they were both surprised by Percy achieving Elysium three times and them meeting their deceased friends.

"I know you all saw 'Percy,' but it's an imposter. That's not our Percy. It's merely a puppet with Gaia manning the strings," Annabeth said.

"So did he help us? Provide spiritual advice?" Leo asked.

"No."

Everyone groaned.

"Always the no," Cecil groaned.

"There's a yes and that's the answer to whether Gaia is rising," Damien snapped. "Why didn't he help us?"

Hazel felt a lump in her throat. She, too had the same answer to that question. When she was lowered into her grave, she'd probably have Why didn't he help us? carved as her memorial quote.

"He's fed up," Rachel summed up, "of the Gods using him as a pawn."

Everyone murmured agreement. Despite Percy refusing to assist, everyone agreed that the guy had been through a lot. That was the impact that Percy had on the Camp. He was the leader, he was their hope, and most of all, he was their light.

He was at a level that Hazel would never understand. It's scary when everyone rested their lives in your hands. It's even scarier when the fate of the world is crushing your shoulders, but you know you have to hold it for everyone. It was a mental and physical struggle and war.

Then everything blacked out. Despite the campfire's cackle, everything was pitch black. Hazel couldn't see her fingers or anything. Even the moon and stars were snuffed out. Somehow, Hazel knew she wasn't blind. She was just kept in the dark.

"Someone turn on the lights!"

"They are on!"

"My fire isn't working! What's going on!"

"Leo! You're burning the seats. I can feel it!"

"SOMEONE TURN THE SKY ON!"

A gentle silver light shone through the darkness, just above the Hermes campers. A sphere the size of an egg, glowing like the moon in a starless night, slowly descended onto Celeste.

She seemed to be alert on the situation. When the sphere lowered itself before her, she cupped her hands around the small orb of light.

The light returned, spreading straight from the orb and to the entire camp and to the sky.

Hazel blinked rapidly and rubbed her eyes. When she opened them, the stars in the sky blinked brighter than ever and the full moon had turned into a crescent moon.

Chiron looked as horrified when he heard that Gaia was rising.

"We've never seen anything like it," Annabeth said gently, but her voice was shaky. "There's only two goddesses that have never been claiming children in this camp, because they don't have children."

"Hera and Artemis," Hazel realized. "The - the moon. The moon just changed."

"It can't be," Nyssa said. "She took the oath."

"Oaths are broken commonly among Gods," Austin noted. "But Artemis-?"

"No." Chiron stood to his full height. "Not Artemis."

Annabeth frowned. "Then who? Which god has the power over the moon itself? Over-" Her face paled. "No. She's in Tartarus. How could she have a child!"

Chiron folded his front legs before Celeste, who was staring at the ground.

Somehow she realized that the centaur was in front of her, her head shot up to him like she'd been shot.

"Hail." Every camper kneeled unnervingly. "Celeste, daughter of Nyx, Goddess of the night, dreams, death, pleasure and sleep."

Then Leo realized that he was wearing nothing but his underpants.

"OH MY GODS MY CLOTHES!"