Hazel Levesque had faced monsters most demigods couldn’t imagine, horrors born from Gaea herself, but there was something about the pit scorpion that sent a primal shiver down her spine. She had been riding Arion through the Nevada desert, the sun dropping low, painting the sand in red-gold fire, when Arion abruptly reared, snorting and pawing at the ground. Hazel tightened her grip on the reins, her eyes darting across the dunes. That was when she heard it—a sinister clack, clack of enormous pincers. The sound was too deliberate, too heavy. She slid from Arion’s back just as the creature emerged from the sand, towering before her.

The scorpion was grotesque, its chitinous body glistening black like volcanic glass, eyes glowing a sickly yellow. Its pincers snapped like steel traps, while its stinger arched high, dripping venom so potent the sand sizzled where drops landed. Hazel’s heart hammered, but she forced her breathing steady. She remembered the stories from Camp Jupiter, the warnings that even Percy Jackson couldn’t heal himself from their poison. Which meant that if she faltered now, she had seconds, not minutes, to act.

The monster screeched, a sound like rusted metal grinding, and lunged. Hazel reacted instantly, her hand slicing through the air as the ground beneath them obeyed her will. Spears of gold erupted from the desert floor, thrusting upward to impale the beast. But the pit scorpion was faster than she expected—it leapt, impossibly high, fifteen feet into the air, clearing her attack before slamming down behind her. Hazel spun, drawing her cavalry sword, but the tail lashed out. Pain exploded through her shoulder as the stinger grazed her flesh, leaving behind a red welt that immediately bubbled with yellow pus. She gasped, dropping to one knee, her vision already wavering.

Hazel Levesque: “N-No… I can’t… not like this. I won’t let it end here.”

The earth trembled around her, gold and silver veins snaking upward, but her grip on her power wavered as paralysis crept through her limbs. The pit scorpion advanced, pincers clicking with terrifying finality, and Hazel knew her next move could mean the difference between life and death.