A maiden's son.

Hazel POV
It was so unfair. I begged Reyna to let me go at least five times, no such luck. Of course Frank and Sir sparks-a-lot got to go but for some reason Reyna insisted on me staying. I don’t know if she was punishing me or if she just REALLY wanted Jason and Frank out of the camp for a few days. Whichever it was, it left me bored out of my mind. Despite the activities being the same they seemed to drag on four times longer than normal.
I was now lying in my bunk, just lying there watching the ceiling. Orange sunlight poured in through the crack in the door. Percy must be being sworn in by now. Finally the dinner horn was called. I didn’t feel like eating, though. I just wanted to lie there and sleep but my stupid bunk mates dragged me outside to grab a bite to eat. I guess some fuel before the war games started would do me some justice. I trailed behind the rest of the group, almost at a snail’s pace. The sun got lower and lower but I maintained a leisurely stroll to the dining pavilion. That is, until shadows erupted at my feet and almost knocked me back. A few seconds later I was face to face with the king of ghosts himself.
“What’s up sis?” He said.
Nico was in his regular attire; aviator jacket, skull shirt, jeans. His sword hung at his side as usual but something seemed…off. Maybe he was still recovering from being trapped in that jar, but that was nearly a year ago.
“Nico!” I exclaimed, “How many times have I asked you to stop doing that?”
“Once or twice,” he replied with a grin.
“Why aren’t you at Camp Halfblood? Isn’t Percy becoming the new camp director?”
“Different time zones, sis. The ceremony was hours ago and while I’d love to spend some more time with Will, Frank said Reyna had kept you here.”
“Yeah… Wait, so why didn’t you bring Frank with you?”
“Well, something came up. It’s kinda secret but I’ll fill you in later. Come on, if I remember correctly you should be eating with your friends right now.”
We walked still slowly, idly chatting with each step eventually we sat down on the plush couches and the wind spirits brought us our food.
“So what’s this thing that happened at Camp Halfblood?” I asked setting down my shrimp po-boy.
“Oh right,” Nico said, “Well, after the ceremony there was this loud scream from the camp borders. When we inspected we found this girl who…”
“Hazel Lévesque.” A voice said from behind us.
I spun around and Reyna was towering above our table.
“What’s the issue Reyna?” I asked politely.
“Normally I wouldn’t interrupt a camper’s dinner but I have some grave issues I must discuss with you. Nico, I’m glad you’re here, this matter concerns you as well.”
Nico and I followed Reyna into the field of Mars while the others continued to eat. She didn’t say anything on the way and kept looking around as if she was afraid we were being followed. Finally she spoke:
“Call Arion please.”
I obliged and whistled. Pretty soon a flash of beige the fastest horse alive materialized in front of us. Pretty soon Reyna’s Pegasus joined us.
“Nico,” Reyna started, “Do you think you can shadow travel to you know where.”
“Of course,” he replied, “See you there.”
In a wisp of shadow he was gone.
“Follow me,” Reyna said, “You do not know this place so do not go ahead of me.”
“Yes, of course.”
Reyna took off west and I gestured of Arion to follow. I made sure to keep Reyna in sight but at this pace, it seemed like this one trip took hours. The moon began to rise behind us and the last licks of sunlight stopped blinding me as they grew dimmer and dimmer. Pretty soon Reyna was flying over the Pacific Ocean. No problem for Arion but it was a bit tricky to go fast enough to run on water yet slow enough to keep Reyna in range. That’s when I saw it, dim red lights in the distance. At first I thought it might have been a ship but as we got closer, I saw the faint outline of an island. It was small enough that most sailors would dismiss it but the light shone from a small building, a base of some sorts. Sure enough that’s where Reyna landed.
Arion trotted on shore and I dismissed him to scour the island for food. Reyna was standing side-by-side with Nico just up ahead, talking. The dim red lights allowed me to see their grim expressions.
“What are you talking about?” I asked when I caught up with them.
“Walk with us, Hazel,” Reyna replied.
I can’t say I wasn’t a bit hesitant. I had never been to this island before, whatever Reyna and Nico were talking about couldn’t be good, and the concrete building painted with hazard symbols didn’t exactly reassure me.
“Where are we?” I asked as Reyna punched some numbers into the keypad next to the iron door.
“The mouth of Cerberus,” Nico informed, “It’s pretty much the back door of Hades.”
The door swung open and I was led into a dim chamber. Murals were painted on the walls and the ceiling was low. The dim overhead lights allowed me to see depictions of erratic formations of stars and shadow.
“The creation of the Universe,” Nico said, “When Chaos created everything form the void.”
Most of the walk in the narrow hall was in silence until Reyna stopped and turned to a painting of a young woman surrounded by creatures shrouded in black to the left and men and women in white to the right. Judging by some of the weapons (A scythe, a trident, lightning) I suspect it was a depiction of the Greek titan war.
“How’s your Greek history, Hazel?” Reyna asked.
“Spotty at best. I know a few legends here and there but not much.”
“Do you know the story of Styx?”
“The river?”
“Before Styx was the name of a river, she was a nymph,” Nico said, “daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, and goddess of the River Styx itself. In the titan war she sided with the gods and was the first to rush to Zeus’s aid. Because of her efforts the River Styx was given her name in honor.”
“I’ve never heard of that story.”
“Not many have, sadly,” Reyna said, “I myself didn’t know about it until recently. That’s the problem with legends. Some details will overshadow others, forcing the true heroes to fade in the background.”
“Anyway,” Nico continued, “Styx was the wife of Pallas. She was also the mother of Bia, Zelus, Nike, and Kratos. No, not the Kratos from the God of War games by the way.”
“The what?” I asked.
“Oh right, you’re not familiar with technology. Anyway, Styx took her honor with the river greatly. She despised those who broke their vows but after she faded, the punishments for breaking vows became less and less harsh.”
“Until recently,” Reyna said, “The punishments are returning to their former intensity. People have become too liberal with vows on the river Styx, using the, for sarcastic promises. Usually they are broken and nothing happens. But a few months ago, we started noticing that even those little vows that couldn’t be kept were still being punished for.”
“That’s right,” I added, “I remember seeing more and more people in the infirmary with weird injuries.”
“We think she’s coming back,” Nico continued, “We don’t know how or why but she is regaining power and un-fading. She’s punishing all those who break their vows no matter who they are. We believe that someone is giving her the power to come back, we just don’t know how.”
We all continued down the hall. The murals became more and more modern. They even changed from myths to real events. I saw the fall of Rome, World War II, even the Twin Towers burning at one point. The hall got darker and darker, I couldn’t see the end to this cavern of shadow either way.
“So,” I started, “if Styx is coming back to make sure we keep our vows, isn’t that a good thing?”
“Not necessarily,” Nico replied, “Gods and Goddesses don’t just come back. Someone or something is allowing her to come back so she can carry out her deeds. It could be good but need to make sure.”
“So why are you telling me all this?”
“Have you not figure it out yet,” Reyna commented, “This is why I couldn’t let you go to Camp Halfblood. Nico and I have been investigating this situation for a while but it’s starting to get serious. As of a few hours ago we even lost all contact with the hunters of Artemis and that’s when we decided that today was the day?”
“The day for what?”
Pretty soon we stopped at a set of stairs that led down into infinite darkness. I could hear the faint sounds of souls below and a smell of death filled my nose.
“Why, we needed a guide of course. I have Nico and that’s good but two children of Pluto is better. Hazel, I need you and Nico to lead me down and guide me through the underworld so we can investigate this Styx issue. You ready to see your dad again?”
I gulped. Miles below us was my father’s kingdom, the land I once called home for decades. I took one deep breath and steeled my nerves.
“Alright,” I said, “Let’s go.”
I took my first step back into darkness.

Notes