Catch Fire || P. Jackson

𝟏.𝟏𝟑

"𝐇𝐀𝐙𝐄𝐋!" 𝐅𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐊 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐇𝐄𝐑 arms, sounding panicked. "Come on, please! Wake up!"

She opened her eyes.

The night sky blazed with stars. The rocking of the boat was gone. She was lying on solid ground, her bundled sword and pack beside her. She sat up groggily, her head spinning. They were on a cliff overlooking a beach. About a hundred feet away, the ocean glinted in the moonlight. The surf washed gently against the stern of their beached boat. To her right, hugging the edge of the cliff, was a building like a small church with a searchlight in the steeple. A lighthouse. Behind them, fields of tall grass rustled in the wind.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"Lea!" Frank yelled into the breeze. The boy exhaled. "Thank the gods you're awake! We're in Mendocino, about a hundred and fifty miles north of the Golden Gate."

"A hundred and fifty miles?" Hazel groaned. "I've been out that long?"

Percy knelt beside her, the sea wind sweeping his hair. He put his hand on her forehead as if checking for a fever. "We couldn't wake you. Finally, we decided to bring you ashore. We thought maybe the seasickness—"

"That wasn't seasickness." Hazel almost whacked her head off of the ground in her fright. Pulling her lips into a tight scowl, Lea nodded stiffly down at the younger girl. Her hair was messily thrown around her shoulders and her eyes seemed to burn dangerously. Heavy breathing racked her body. She tossed a piece of ambrosia onto her chest but refused to come any closer than from where she stood behind Frank.

It was the first time Lea looked at Hazel the way Reyna did; as if she had mortally offended her. The younger girl shrank to herself. She had never seen Lea look so openly opposed to anyone.

Hazel took a deep breath. She couldn't hide the truth from them anymore. "I—I haven't been honest with you," she said. "What happened was a blackout. I have them once in a while."

"A blackout?" Frank took Hazel's hand, which startled her. "Is it medical? Why haven't I noticed before?"

"I try to hide it," she admitted. "I've been lucky so far, but it's getting worse. It's not medical... not really. Nico says it's a side effect from my past, from where he found me."

Percy's intense green eyes were hard to read. She couldn't tell whether he was concerned or wary. Lea's weren't much easier to read but the idea was clear, she was angry.

"Where exactly did Nico find you?" Percy asked.

Hazel's tongue felt like cotton. Lea's bore into her soul like a search beam. She knew something.  "I'll explain," she promised. She clawed through her pack. Stupidly, she'd forgotten to bring a water bottle. "Is... is there anything to drink?"

"Yeah," Percy muttered a curse in Greek. "That was dumb. I left my supplies down at the boat."

Hazel felt bad asking them to take care of her, but she'd woken up parched and exhausted. She shouldered her pack and sword. "Never mind. I can walk...."

"Don't even think about it," Frank said. "Not until you've had some food and water. I'll get the supplies."

"No, I'll go." Percy glanced at Frank's hand on Hazel's. Then he scanned the horizon as if he sensed trouble, but there was nothing to see—just the lighthouse and the field of grass stretching inland.

"We'll go," Lea corrected, finally tearing her angry eyes away from Hazel. "It's stupid to go anywhere alone when it's this dark."

"Weren't you just—" Hazel cut herself off when Frank elbowed her.