Chapter Text
Hazel Levesque could already tell something was wrong, even before she stepped foot into Gravesfield.
Many things tipped her off about this. For instance, the ungodly amount of monsters that seemed to pile at the town's borders. It was unlike anything she had ever seen; most monsters didn't fight together and when they did…
Well, it usually ended with a ton of demigods torn limb from limb.
So Hazel's chances of making it through the monsters alone?
Slim, but, hopefully, not impossible.
It almost made her wish she had brought a few other demigods with her, even if she knew that wouldn't be possible. Camp Jupiter had already suffered enough losses.
And it wasn't like Hazel hadn't wanted to go on this mission alone; she'd personally requested it, optimistically thinking she'd only have to deal with a single, hopefully peaceful, god.
The fewer demigods the better, after all, she had assured her boyfriend. Fewer monsters she could attract, with far fewer distractions.
Hazel felt so stupid now.
She looked towards the large crowd of monsters, her eyes scanning over the group from the oak she had taken cover in. It was only a matter of time until they smelt her.
The monsters seemed to be distracted momentarily by the town's borders. They seemed to almost repel them, much like the borders of both camps.
It was a miracle that they still were trying to get through at all; even the dumbest monsters usually gave up within an hour or two of trying when they ran into the Camp's borders.
She crept down the trunk of the tree she was sitting in, careful as to not make a sound and alert the monsters about a hundred or so yards away from her.
She crept closer, inching her way towards the monsters, her hand subconsciously gliding towards the still sheathed Spatha on her waist.
When she was about thirty feet from where the monsters stood, she drew her Spatha, already preparing herself to make a run for the town's borders. She hastily put her foot down, ready to run before she was noticed…
SNAP!
Hazel felt the blood drain out of her face as the monsters' heads snapped towards her in perfect unison.
Hazel paused for a few seconds before regaining her wits and sprinting for the borders of the town.
Unfortunately, a few seconds can be detrimental when faced with a hoard of monsters.
Within seconds, Hazel was overrun with monsters, their claws and teeth digging into any exposed skin they could find. Hazel tried desperately to fight them off, with very little success. She had barely managed to kill a handful of them, which were then replaced with about a dozen more.
Hazel knew for a fact that unless she ran for it soon, she would be a corpse within no time; she honestly didn't want to relive dying again.
She tugged her arms from the grip of a particularly vicious hellhound and reached into a small pocket in her coveralls, pulling out a small round disc that was about the size of a poker chip.
Hazel squeezed her eyes shut as she pressed a button on the face of the disc, silently praying to every god that it would work and she would be able to get away.
She listened intently, preparing herself to pull herself up and run.
The monsters began to squeal and hiss, Hazel quickly getting to her feet, wincing slightly as blood slowly dripped down the side of her arm.
She winced as she stood on her feet, pain shooting up her legs. She stumbled away, desperately putting as much distance between her and the monsters as possible.
She stumbled through the woods, barely making it past what she figured was the borders of the town. With any luck, the monsters would stay put where they were and away from any mortals.
But that brought up another issue; the citizens of the town. There was no guarantee that the citizens would ignore her. At the best, they'd see her as a slightly injured runaway.
At the worst…
Well, she really shouldn't risk it.
She looked around, ignoring the ache in her head as she did so. There wasn't much around here besides woods; the only thing in the general area was two houses, one abandoned and the other well lived in, and an incredibly old road.
She staggered towards the cabin, throwing open the door and all but falling inside.
Dots clouded her vision. The only thing she could make out was what looked to be a messy living room before she knelt over and let the world go black.