Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Something had been up with Piper and the entire Aphrodite cabin as a whole for the past few days. They had been practically bouncing off the walls in excitement over something. Percy had originally chalked it up to the arrival of some of the camp Jupiter kids happening at the end of the week. But they had never acted like this when the camp Jupiter kids had visited previously. 

They had been whispering among themselves and giggling for almost the entirety of breakfast now that Friday had finally come and their friends would be arriving soon. And at this point almost every other cabin had taken notice of the secretive behavior. It wasn’t out of character for the Aphrodite cabin to gossip about something, honestly it wasn’t out of character for anyone at camp. You couldn’t do anything here without someone else finding it out and telling their siblings who in turn would tell their friends in other cabins- and soon everyone in camp would know. So the fact whatever the Aphrodite kids were excited about hadn’t spread to any other cabin yet was borderline a miracle. 

“Dude can you just ask Piper what’s got them so excited, I’m losing my mind here,” Percy groaned, dropping his head against the table. It was far too early for this. 

Jason shrugged apologetically, “sorry me and Leo already asked and she told us that we’d find out when everyone else did.”

“And that would be when?” Percy groaned, the curiosity was killing him here.

“Piper said she’d tell us later today, after the campers from Jupiter arrive,” his words had Percy immediately glancing up in excitement. As if summoned by her name, Piper seemed to appear out of thin air, immediately plopping on the bench next to Percy.

He jumped slightly at the sudden arrival, wondering if she had come over to tell them off for prying. Her presence at what had been deemed ‘the big three table’ wasn’t too odd- nowadays seating arrangements weren’t as strongly enforced. The movement was started when Jason and Percy had decided to combine their tables into one because of how boring it was for both of them to eat alone every meal. They’d dragged Nico along at first until he started sitting with his boyfriend, Will Solace, at the Apollo table. 

“Hey Piper, what brings you to our table this fine morning,” Jason greeted happily. 

The girl in question gave them a mischievous grin, “tonight after curfew, sneak out and meet us in Rachel’s cave. Wait until eleven pm. We have a plan to stagger the times different cabins sneak out so it’s less noticeable- so it’s eleven on the dot for you two, don’t be late.”

“Huh,” Percy eloquently replied, too tired to process all the information Piper had just thrown at them. 

She rolled her eyes at him, “don’t you wanna know what me and my siblings have been whispering about all week.”

That certainly caught his attention, Percy nodded instantly. Look, he wasn’t a horrible gossip like most of the camp- really he wasn’t. But it was hard not to get caught up in it while at camp. When you shove over a hundred teenagers together with no technology, gossiping is one of the most interesting things to fill up your free time. Back at college, Percy couldn’t care less what was going on in his classmates' private lives. But within a week of being back at camp for summer session he’d managed to learn Connor Stoll and Mitchell from the Aphrodite cabin were dating- but it was a secret. Lucy from the Demeter cabin had learned how to secretly grow weed and her brother, James, and her now ran a secret business from their cabin. Sean from cabin nineteen had got in a fight with Lila from cabin fourteen. And according to Austin, Lou Ellen and Kayla totally had crushes on each other. Long story short- drama and gossip were like a currency at Camp and Percy would be damned if he missed whatever the Aphrodite cabin had been brewing this past week. 

Taking his sudden enthusiasm as a yes, Piper stood from her seat with the same smirk plastered on her face, “eleven on the dot, remember. Me and my siblings have been planning how to sneak so many people out of their cabins after curfew all week so don’t fuck up our plan by being off schedule,” were her final, firm words before moving over to the Athena table and forcing her way between Annabeth and Malcom to presumably tell them the plan as well. Now that Percy was paying attention to the rest of the pavilion, he could see the rest of Piper's siblings speaking to the other tables as well. He glanced quickly back towards the front table, expecting Chiron or Mr.D to protest about the sudden scattering of Aphrodite kids to the other tables. But neither of them were there, Mr.D usually didn’t stay for the whole breakfast period, and with all the activity that came with the start of summer session, it seemed that Chiron had left early as well. Piper and her siblings were free to scheme without either of their directors present. 

Jason gave him a bewildered look as he took in the absolute operation that Piper and her siblings were pulling off right now, “what the hell do they have planned.”

Percy shrugged, popping a piece of waffle into his mouth before he spoke, “no clue but it’s probably gonna either be the most insane drama to ever grace this camp or some elaborate prank- and I’m honestly down for either.”

“Does she really expect to fit every camper in Rachel’s cave? I know it’s a spacious cave but surely not all of us can fit,” Jason fretted with a frown, “every single kid in camp missing from their cabin would definitely get us all caught.”

“I’m sure not every kid is gonna go- a lot of them don’t want to risk getting in trouble. And a lot of them will prefer to get a good night's rest and just hear about whatever the Aphrodite cabin has planned in the morning from their siblings,” he brushed off the worries, “I’d bet only a few kids from each cabin will go.”

Honestly he wasn’t all that worried about being caught, sneaking out was a weekly routine for most of the kids at camp anyway. And Piper seemed to have this planned like a military excursion, they’d definitely be fine. Jason didn’t seem all too convinced despite the fact he had snuck out with them successfully plenty of times before, but eventually he shrugged off his worries and went back to eating his breakfast with a sigh. 

Soon enough breakfast ended and Chiron returned to see everyone innocently sitting at their assigned tables without a trace of all the rules they’d been breaking only moments before. His return also heralded the arrival of the Camp Jupiter kids who had chosen to visit. It wasn’t as much as usual due to the start of summer, a lot of them wanted to settle into their routine before driving across the country to visit. But there were around two dozen visitors who arrived in sleek black vans. 

Percy stood from his seat with a grin, seeing plenty of other kids in the dining pavilion do the same as the Jupiter kids appeared at the top of the hill. Hazel was in the lead, waving her hand excitedly at them. Percy ran over to crush her in a hug before moving on to do the same for Frank. It had only been a week since he’d seen his friends but it had felt like so much longer. 

Jason, Piper, Annabeth, and Leo were close behind in greeting their friends with equally excited hugs and hushed greetings as if it had been a century since they’d all last seen each other. Nico came up the hill noticeably more slow, but the moment Hazel saw him she perked up and immediately ran over to tackle him in a hug that nearly sent them both tumbling to the ground if Will hadn’t been behind Nico to steady them. 

All around them, the camp Jupiter kids spread out through the dining pavilion to visit their respective friends and catch up on everything that had happened since Camp Half-Blood had done their field trip the month prior. Both camps worked on a visit schedule now. At the end of the month, one of the camps would host an optional field trip to the other, and then the next month the other camp would be the one hosting the field trip. It did a lot to keep up camp unity and friendships despite the fact the two camps were about as far away from each other as you could get in this country. 

Another bonus, the arrival of the camp Jupiter kids meant that they had the day off with training to catch up with their friends. Which also worked perfectly for the Aphrodite kids who seemed like they were unable to talk about anything but the secret meeting in Rachel’s cave all day. 

Despite the universal anticipation for the main event that seemed to be shared by half the camp, most of the actual day was relaxing and fun. Percy and his friends went swimming in the morning. By the afternoon some of the younger kids hosted a game of hide and seek and shyly invited Percy to play as well- and who was he to deny such a simple request. His participation in the game had inspired all the other older campers to banish their pride and play the childish game as well, turning it into a camp-wide event that actually ended up being pretty fun. 

And then night had fallen, and everyone had promptly rushed to their cabins after campfire in preparation for their little adventure later in the night. Jason, Nico, Hazel, and Frank had ended up just staying in Percy’s cabin until eleven since Piper had told them all to leave at the same time. 

Remembering their friends' very strict warning about the schedule, they all left the second eleven hit, not a moment earlier or later. The trip to Rachel’s cave was completely uneventful, especially with Nico bending the shadows to help hide their presence even more than usual. 

Inside, there were already quite a few kids- mostly because essentially the whole Aphrodite cabin was there. But also some kids from cabins twenty, nineteen, and eighteen were milling around. 

Piper gestured them over basically the second the five of them entered. In her arms was a clunky looking laptop. 

“Piper, where the hades did you get that?” Jason asked as they walked over to where she was standing. 

Piper rolled her eyes, “Jason come on, most of the camp has some kind of electronic device they smuggled in. It’s not like the monsters can get through the border even if we use technology, it’s fine.”

A few feet away, Rachel was fiddling with some wires connected to a small square shaped thing. He had no clue what it was, but a few seconds later Rachel stood up and answered his unspoken question, “it’s a projector, we’re about to have a little video watch party.”

Nico looked a little skeptical as he glanced between Piper and Rachel, “uhh, this is the big thing you guys dragged us out of our cabin for in the middle of the night?”

“Yes!” Rachel huffed defensively, “trust me you’ll wanna see it!”

Over the next twenty minutes, campers filtered into the cave in small groups, many of them bringing blankets or pillows with them that made Percy regret not thinking of the idea himself if they were going to be watching a video. Rachel seemed to notice him staring longingly at the blankets because after a few minutes and an eye roll she walked to a small alcove of her cave. When she returned she had half a dozen blankets piled in her arm that she threw at them unceremoniously. 

“Thanks Rachel! You’re the best,” Percy grinned, as he grabbed one of the offered blankets. As he had expected only a few kids from each cabin had come, leaving the headcount at about forty or so which was an impressive sized group to sneak out at once. With everyone present, Percy and the others made his way over to where Annabeth and Leo were waiting for them to get settled in. 

As they all wormed their way into comfortable positions, Piper stood up at the back of the cave. 

——————

Piper cleared her throat once the last of the campers who planned to come had filtered in. Everyone’s attention was on her within seconds as they eagerly waited for her to reveal what video her cabin had found that was so interesting it called for a group watch party. 

"So you guys know how Drew and Lacy are big true crime fans?" Piper said, biting her lip to hide the amused smile on her face as she addressed all the demigods who had gathered together in Rachel's cave. Drew and Lacy were currently sitting with their hands over their mouths to hide their own smiles as they waited for Piper to reveal what they had discovered a few days ago, "Well one of their favorite channels did a video about us."

Instantly everyone was rushing to crowd around the laptop she was holding to try and see the mentioned video. Piper shushed them quickly, fearing the noise would alert one of the patrol harpies that they were all out of their cabin after hours and with mortal technology no less. Once everyone quieted down and returned to their spots, Piper looked at the group with a grin, "Lets watch it."

Her declaration earned quiet cheers, emphasis on quiet , from the whole group, “after Drew and Lacy saw the first two minutes they decided to stop watching so we could all see it together for the first time- so we don’t even fully know what they talk about in the video. 

“Just play it already!” Connor called from the back of the group, causing Piper to roll her eyes and hand off the computer to Rachel to plug into the projector which was pointed at the back wall of the cave. 

“Yeah, yeah- none of you have patience,” Piper huffed, walking over to sit between Jason and Leo. 

“We’ve been waiting all damn week,” Chiara pointed out with a raised eyebrow.

“We had to wait for the camp Jupiter kids to arrive,” Lacy jumped into the conversation, “it’s not-”

All chatter and complaints were immediately cut off as Rachel abruptly hit play on the video, now being projected onto the wall so everyone could see. A title card saying ‘Buzzfeed Unsolved’ appeared first before fading to two men sitting at a small table. 

Ryan: This week on Buzzfeed unsolved we’ll discuss a string of different missing children over the past decade and how they are connected despite the fact they occurred over many years and in vastly different locations around the country. 

There were a few giggles from the group in anticipation of what was about to come. Most people wondered how mortals viewed their lives through the mist, Piper included, and this was a rare chance to see just what the general public thought about them specifically. 

—————

The strange case actually starts back in the 1940’s with the murder and disappearance of a prominent family of Italian diplomats-

Nico instantly groaned, hiding his face against Will’s shoulder in embarrassment. Of course they’d start off talking about him, this was going to be so embarrassing. A bunch of campers immediately started ‘oooing’ when they realized who would be the first person on the chopping block. By now everyone at camp knew he wasn’t originally from this century- he’d told Kayla and Austin a while ago and nothing stays secret long at camp after you tell someone.  

They started talking about his mother and grandparents first, and a few people looked at him in concern, probably worrying it would upset him- including his boyfriend who threw an arm around Nico’s shoulder and squeezed gently.

He appreciated the concern, but if anything it was the opposite of what everyone seemed to think. He’d never seen a picture of his grandparents before, and his memories of his mother were blurry. Seeing a picture of them all was a greater gift than anything he’d been given in a while. His mother looked about sixteen, the age he was now, it was odd to think about. He wondered briefly if that was what a grown up Bianca would have looked like if she never joined the hunters and went on that quest. 

Rachel glanced at him nervously with her hand hovering over the pause button in preparation in case he got upset. Nico cleared his throat, “it’s fine- if anything I’m happy. I’ve never seen any pictures of my family before.”

The reassurance sent waves of relief through the crowd and everyone eagerly returned to watching the video now that they were sure he was fine. Will leaned over mc whispering in his ear as to not disturb the quiet atmosphere as they watched, “I’m sure all these pictures are online somewhere, maybe there’s even more of them. We can print them out for you if you want.”

Nico turned to Will briefly, their faces were only inches apart due to how close they were sitting, “yes, I’d love that,” he whispered back. He would have kissed Will for that brilliant idea if there weren't like thirty other people here right now. So for the meantime he just rested his head against Will’s shoulder and returned his focus to the screen. 

Maria gave birth to her daughter, Bianca, in March 1930… large bouquets of Gardenia flowers were left in Maria’s di Angelo’s room. The flower was reportedly Maria’s favorite but being non-native to Italy they would have been more difficult to obtain and even more hard to deliver to her while keeping them so fresh. A bag was also left with fine silken blankets, dolls, and other toys for the newborn Bianca. 

“Damn,” Travis said with wide eyes, turning to Nico, “your dad must have really liked your mom, Gods like never do that kind of shit!”

Nico smiled briefly at the thought, only to immediately regret it when he heard one of the two guys comment.  

Shane: So her baby daddy was a ghost? But instead of haunting people he just used his supernatural powers to give gifts?

Laughter rang through the cave and Nico felt his face burn red, “please never refer to him as my moms- you know what I’m not even repeating it out loud, I hate that so much!” Nico groaned, wishing he could purge that line from his memory. 

“Never did I think I’d see the day Hades was referred to as someone’s baby daddy,” Julia Feingold giggled from behind the hand that was thrown over her mouth in shock. 

Nico groaned, “stop saying it guys I swear to all the gods I will send you to see my father prematurely!”

A couple of the campers Nico wasn’t as close with shut up quite quickly after that. But even more of them got wicked smirks on their face that promised Nico was not going to hear the end of this for a while. Connor stoll opened his mouth as if he was about to continue the mockery, but Mitchell quickly elbowed him in the side, shooting him a purposeful look. 

As the two men in the video continued talking and mentioned that people thought Nico’s dad was a supernatural entity everyone froze in surprise for a moment. No way they actually got this right even through the mist, but one of them- Shane if Nico remembered correctly- brushed it off as nonsense almost immediately. 

He heard Lydia from the Apollo cabin giggle at that, “if only they knew how close they got!”

As they continued to discuss his mothers mysterious relationship with his father, whispers of surprise at how much Hades seemed to pay attention to his children and lover swept through the group. The gods had been getting better at paying attention to their children, but back when Nico was born that level of attentiveness, as paltry as it was, was almost unheard of. He let himself smirk a bit at that, he’d admit that’s a little bit of an ego boost. 

Ryan: Some theorists guessed that he may have been already married and either feared the judgment that would come with getting a divorce, or that his current wife was from an even more powerful family who he didn’t wish to cross.  

Nico snorted at that, “yeah I think Persephone would have had some complaints,” him and his stepmother may get along now, but back then Nico was sure she would have lost it if Hades had truly brought him, Bianca, and his mother to the underworld. 

“Yeah my mother would have killed him for that as well,” Katie Gardener winced. The other two Demeter kids who’d come along- Miranda and Billie nodded in agreement. 

Cheers rang out through the group as Ryan began talking about Nico, and he rolled his eyes at the gesture. They began to describe his sister as a kid, a lot of it were things he already knew. But it was nice to hear other people talk about her and seem to think that she was as wonderful as Nico thought she was. 

One elderly man claimed, quote, ‘she was such a lovely young lady it made you forget she was born from sin within a single conversation with the girl’  

At that quote the entire room erupted in a mix of reactions that were quickly hushed by Rachel for being too noisy. 

“Dude what the actual fuck,” Harley gaped at the screen that Rachel had briefly paused until everyone settled down again. 

Nyssa knocked the boy gently on the top of his head, “you are too young to be using that kind of language,” she hissed scathingly, looking to Leo so that he could back her up in scolding their younger brother. 

Leo merely whistled, “no I’m with Harley on this one, what the fuck!”

Nico gave the boy a deadpan look, he should not be encouraging his ten year old brother to swear like a sailor. But honestly what else did he expect from Leo, “are you all forgetting what the 1930’s were like?”

Percy snorted somewhere to his left, “yeah sorry Nico, not all of us were alive back then.”

Annabeth punched his shoulder lightly, taking Nico’s side before he could respond himself, “then pick up a history book- not everything has to be learned through lived experience.”

Nico laughed at the disgruntled look on Percy’s face at his girlfriend's retort, before glancing back to the screen as Rachel hit play again. 

Back on the screen, the two men seemed just as shocked by the comments as Nico’s fellow campers had been, and Shane even began to give a small speech about how Nico’s mom seemed cool and that he was rooting for her. It warmed his heart a bit, that his mother would still be remembered by the public all these years later as the amazing person that she was. 

His face heated up a little in embarrassment as they started to describe him as a kid. Awws filled the room almost instantly, including from Will- his own boyfriend betraying him. This was going to be a blow to his reputation, he was hoping people would just forget how he acted as a kid during that brief first week he spent at camp.

“Aww,” Percy practically cooed, causing Nico to scoff, “I forgot how sweet baby Nico was,” he sighed wistfully as if he missed it before adding, “you were annoying as hell though-”

Nico glared at him, quickly turning and grabbing Kayla’s pillow since the girl was right next to him in order to throw it as hard as he could at Percy, “shut up Jackson.”

Percy merely laughed even after the pillow nailed him in the face, “aww don’t be mad Neeks it was annoying in an endearing way!”

Nico glared at Percy’s unwavering smile. Only to hear Travis pipe up as well, “yeah I remember that week you stayed in the Hermes cabin. You were so wide-eyed and innocent, and hyperactive as well. I don’t think two seconds could go by without you asking someone a question!”

“Lies,” Nico said through gritted teeth, cursing the son of Hermes' good memory. 

“I can second his claim,” Connor piped up helpfully. 

“I can third it!” Cecil and Alice said at almost the same time. All Nico could think though was that now the entire Hermes cabin was on his hit list, those little shits were all grinning at him as his face turned more and more red. Whatever team they were on for capture the flag at the end of the month- he was picking the opposite. 

“Come on guys,” Will called out, “stop teasing him, I think he’s had enough,” gods bless Will, Nico sighed in relief as he watched the Hermes kids who had been at camp all those years ago hold up their hands in surrender. 

Jason hummed slightly as if in thought, “I do wish I got to see how you were like when you were younger though- you seemed so sweet.”

Nico glared at Jason in betrayal, “One more comment out of any of you-”

“And we’ll never finish this video!” Rachel interjected her own words before he could finish the sentence and hit play once again.  

Shane: So how would a young woman with no job, and rejecting her family’s money pay for their stay at the hotel- *laughs* oh are we about to see the return of mysterious rich baby daddy?

The crowd erupted in laughter once again and Nico glared at the man on the screen as if he could will him to never use that phrasing ever again, “not a word, any of you,” he hissed at the assembled group.

The video went on to helpfully describe once again how Bianca was a well-mannered young aristocrat and Nico was a hyperactive nerd. He saw a few odd looks when it was mentioned his mother still took them to church everyday, probably due to the fact that she was actively involved with a Greek god at the time- you’d think that would kind of make her lose faith. But honestly Nico believed it was more of a lifestyle for his mother at that point, and he knew she still believed in God. 

“What happened to gods not being allowed to visit their children much- like I know it’s a lot different now but back then it was like rule number one,” Butch from the Iris cabin gaped at the screen as they described how his father would visit them at the hotel.

Nico shrugged, “Since when have the Gods followed the rules,” he’d had his differences with his dad in the past, and there were some things he still didn’t fully forgive him for. But in terms of godly parents, Hades was one of the best of them now. 

“Yeah, since the wars ended, Dad has started visiting us a lot more too!” Kayla added with a proud smile, earning a few jealous looks from some of the campers with less attentive parents. Everyone knew that Apollo was the best when it came to paying attention to his kids, especially after his brief stint as a mortal, but even before the wars they’d all at least met him a few times- according to Will at least. 

Ryan once again brought up his theory that Nico’s dad was a supernatural entity and Nico almost laughed at how close he got before once again having his theory called insane.  

Unfortunately, the happy lives of the di Angelo’s didn’t last much longer after their arrival in the states….Inside they found the dead body of Maria but both her supposed lover and the children were gone without a trace. 

Nico felt Will pull him a little closer as they got to the part Nico inevitably knew would be coming. Most of the room had gone quiet, the hushed whispers and comments fading as a somber mood took over and everyone remembered what happened to Nico’s mom and who had done it. Nico merely sighed and focused back on the screen, it still hurt really fucking bad, but he’d had years to come to terms with it now. Though the reminder was painful he wasn’t going to break into pieces at the mention of it. 

The somber mood carried over to the video as well as Shane and Ryan talked about that part of the case. 

Maria’s parents quickly made their way to America and promised huge cash rewards to anyone who could return the children or give information about their disappearance…. Bruno and Lucia never gave up on looking for the children though nothing came from their continued efforts, the two of them died within a year of one another around a decade later.

Nico stared at the screen with wide eyes. He had never known how hard his grandparents had looked for him and Bianca, and he suddenly felt a little frustrated that his dad hadn’t mentioned to them that he and Bianca were ok. 

Lacy sniffled slightly from her spot curled up between two of her siblings. And a brief glance around showed a surprising amount of campers had tears in their eyes. 

“They seemed like wonderful people,” Will said sadly to him. 

Nico nodded his head, “I don’t remember them much but they do. Maybe… I don’t know if dad will let me but maybe I can visit them in the underworld. I could give them a little closure.”

Once he said the idea out loud, he knew he had to go through with it. Even if his dad said no, he’d just sneak in to visit them anyway. If he didn’t he knew it would mess with him for the rest of his life. 

After a brief discussion between Shane and Ryan about how morbid his family’s story had been, they moved onto his and Bianca’s time at Westover hall. Honestly that whole experience was a little blurry for Nico too, they’d only been there a few months and then after they had left it had been one life or death situation after another. Remembering everything that happened during his brief time in a mortal school was the least of his worries back then. 

Seeing the images of him and Bianca from the 1940’s compared to the pictures from their yearbook was a little disorienting though- even for him. 

“I didn’t know Bianca played soccer?” Percy commented idly, looking at the image of her in her soccer uniform. 

Nico shrugged, he had kind of forgotten about it as well, it had only been for the fall season when they attended, “we were stuck in that fortress of a school 24/7, both of us were going stir crazy so Bianca started playing a sport to keep herself entertained.”

As Shane and Ryan moved from discussing the proof that they were the same people from the 1940’s the entire group suddenly focused on the screen with rapt attention. Ryan had brought up his theory that his dad was a supernatural entity once again, and this time Shane humored him, causing Ryan to talk about his theory more. A few gasps were heard as he talked about how another entity could have killed his mom in revenge. This man didn’t know how spot on he was right now, it was honestly impressive. Either he was a very good detective or he was very lucky to accidentally stumble into the right theories.

The entire room practically held their breath as they waited to see if he’d get any closer to the truth. But Shane soon interjected with a lighthearted comment about how off the rails the episode had gone and they moved on like nothing happened.

“Gods,” Cecil hissed, “I’m convinced this man actually found out the truth multiple times and is just getting sucker punched by Hecate with the mist over and over again every time he gets too close.”

“Um that’s not how the mist works,” Hazel commented lightly at the same time Lou Ellen rolled her eyes, “the mist is a powerful force, my mom doesn’t need to control it for it to do its job on some random mortal.”

Cecil instantly raised his hands in surrender, “Hades, sorry I didn’t know my comment would offend the teenage witch club- my bad.”

Lou Ellen glared at him, raising her hand slowly and moving it into position as if she was about to snap her fingers- and likely place some type of hex on the Hermes boy. A sharp, “Hey,” From Annabeth had Lou Ellen pausing though, “no hexing during the watch party.”

Cecil, whose face had gone a little pale as he seemed to remember all the things Lou Ellen could do with her magic, glanced at Annabeth gratefully. Only for his face to fall again when she continued, “do it later for all I care, but we can’t cause too much of a ruckus in here or we’ll be caught.”

Her ultimatum brought a wicked grin to Lou Ellen’s face as she looked at Cecil, “later then. Watch your back Cece!”

Back on the screen it seemed they were about to get to the part where Percy and co showed up at the school and Dr.Thorn had attacked them. 

Shane: Jesus! These kids cannot catch a single break

“If only they knew the half of it,” Nico sighed, rubbing a spot on his forehead as if to banish a headache. 

This time accompanied by Perseus Jackson, the subject of a nationwide manhunt from just a few years earlier. The other notable image recovered shows two girls and a boy chasing after them. The girls were Identified as Thalia Grace and Annabeth Chase- two of the most prominent unsolved child disappearances in the country. 

“Wait, huh?” Pollux interjected in surprise, glancing at Annabeth with wide eyes, “what do they mean you are one of the most prominent missing children cases in the country.”

Annabeth and her two siblings who’d come with her didn’t seem all too surprised, meaning she was likely aware of her level of notoriety in the mortal world, “my dad warned me about it once, and they questioned Percy a few times about me and Thalia- I never thought it mattered much though.”

“How would that not be relevant enough to mention at least once to us!” Valentina gaped, “wouldn’t that be- like kind of an issue for you every time you tried to leave camp?”

“Well back then I didn’t really see much of a life for myself in the mortal world so it didn’t seem like a huge issue for me,” She said, the words struck Nico as a little morbid given the implications. Demigods didn’t always live long, even the ones who trained at camp. It was only now with their association with New Rome and all the new technology the Hephaestus cabin had been developing to hide demigods from monsters, that it seemed they’d all have good chances of surviving past twenty. 

Annabeth continued with a small smile, “and now it’s not like it matters much. I’m nineteen- no longer a missing child. Since I haven’t committed any crimes it’s not like the authorities can do anything to me.”

“A good thing too,” Percy smirked, leaning more heavily against Annabeth’s shoulder, “if you’re gonna be a world famous architect you can’t be on the run from the cops.”

Shane: This is some lord of the flies shit. A bunch of missing kids running off into the woods after possibly killing a teacher. 

“Why was their first assumption that you guys killed him!?” Lydia said, looking scandalized. At the same time as she spoke, Percy laughed darkly, “to be fair he had it coming.”

“Wait, you guys actually killed him!” The nine year old girl said, her expression even more horrified. 

“I wish- that bastard got away and was a total pain in the ass for the rest of that quest!” He glared at the screen, as if to destroy the image of Dr.Thorn with his mind. Though, he had been the one to deliver Annabeth to Luke, so Nico figured the rage was justified. 

“He was a monster!” Annabeth and Grover both quickly added to clarify for the young girl who seemed to be thinking that the five of them committed some kind of murder coverup at some random school in Maine. 

“Oh,” she said, her voice tinged in embarrassment, “I guess I should have figured that out.” 

In all fairness, Nico didn’t think Lydia had actually seen a monster before. She was one of the newer campers and due to that whole promise about treating their kids better the gods had made, she had been brought to camp before anything even attacked her. It was strange how much could change in a few years, and how much better life was for the demigod kids they found nowadays. 

Back on the screen, Ryan pointed out that maybe Dr.Thorn had attacked them first, earning a cheer from Percy, “first person to see me at the sight of the crime and not think I’m somehow at fault!”

Shane: So maybe he just interrupted their annual meeting of the unsolved missing kids club or something. 

“Unironically an accurate name for Camp-Half blood,” Leo laughed. 

“To be fair, most of us are only called ‘missing kids’ because our parents can’t say we go to magical camp for half god children,” Will said dryly, “my mom had to file a missing report for me since I was here year round, but obviously she knows where I am.”

A few kids laughed as Shane and Ryan went on to bring up Percy and how he had gone missing, been found, only to go missing again. Percy on the other hand got a contemplative look on his face, “oh yeah, maybe I should do something about that fact.”

“Just go back to life like normal and then lie to Hades and back when the police ask where you were,” Piper shrugged, “it’s what I did- we didn’t commit any crimes that they know of.”

“That they know of, let’s go!” Percy replied, holding out a hand for Piper to high-five. Nico rolled his eyes, how those idiots had managed to not get caught doing some insane shit even through the mist was beyond him. 

——————

Eldest of the group, and who we can assume is the leader is Thalia Grace.  

“Hey what do you mean you can assume she’s the leader!” Percy whined with a petulant look on his face. Jason rolled his eyes, the big three kid rivalry still went strong even after all these years. 

As they moved on to his sister, Jason couldn’t help but wish she was here. Thalia tried to visit every few months, but being in the hunters made it difficult for them to see her with any consistency. And that schedule hadn’t lined up with the visit of the Camp Jupiter kids and this impromptu movie night they were having. 

On the screen, a picture of him and his sister appeared, obviously he had been too young at the time to remember much of his childhood even less so after most of his memories were wiped. So the image didn’t spark any familiarity in him, he couldn’t remember when it was taken or what had happened beforehand to make his sister so angry. 

Then they talked about some moments from his childhood that Jason certainly did remember. Somehow the night he’d been left to Lupa and her wolf pack still was so fresh in his mind despite the fact he had been only two at the time. 

He watched Ryan smirk before he spoke next. 

If Beryl Grace was falling from grace before then being accused of abandoning her infant son in the forest was the final nail in the coffin of her career.

Jason gave the screen a deadpan look at the bad pun, that somehow made multiple of his friends laugh. 

“Imagine you get abandoned in the woods and left to be raised by wolves and some fucker on YouTube makes a bad pun out of your last name while explaining it,” Travis Stoll said, earning him equally unimpressed looks from both his girlfriend and Jason. 

Katie Gardner punched Travis on the shoulder to silence him from speaking any farther, “that’s not something to joke about!” 

Travis winced, rubbing the area where his arm was hit and looking at his girlfriend with a pout on his face, but she merely rolled her eyes with a barely disguised fond smile and returned her attention back to the screen. 

When questioned by police Beryl Grace spoke like a madwoman, claiming that her son was an offering to the wife of Jason’s father and that she hadn’t wanted to leave her son. 

Jason looked around the room, taking in the absolutely shocked expressions of most of the other campers, “Dude, what the fuck,” Cecil gaped.

“Typical Hera,” Annabeth scoffed, she already knew all this, but she was never one to pass up the opportunity to insult the queen of the gods. 

Jason personally found the absolutely horrified reactions from his fellow campers as rather amusing. Of all the things that had happened in his life, if he wasn’t able to laugh at the absolute shit show once in a while then what was the point. 

And eventually Beryl was cleared of charges on grounds of mental instability and the prime suspect became the boy's secret father whom authorities believed took the boy from Beryl against her will. 

The entire room went up in complaints at the statement as if their words could change anything, “Oh come on!” Lou Ellen protested, “That had to be the mist misguiding them, no way the police didn’t look any further into her after hearing her say shit like that !” 

Percy frowned distastefully, “Don’t underestimate how useless the cops can be and often are, especially when it comes to rich people,” he told Lou Ellen, “trust me I’ve lived in New York my whole life you can’t trust them to be competent at their jobs most of the time.”

Ryan: Dude you know Hollywood- it was probably hush money or something. So many celebrities get away with insane shit. And even though Beryl’s reputation plummeted beyond repair after this, she still used to be one of the most prominent movie stars in the country. 

“This guy gets it!” Katie huffed, “Absolutely ridiculous that they didn’t follow up on her at all! Makes me almost glad I spent most of my life at camp instead of the mortal world.”

Jason smiled as everyone seemed to try and jump to his defense over this, but he had come to terms with his mother abandoning him a long time ago. He didn’t need them to defend his honor, “It’s fine guys, my mom abandoning me was also the will of Jupiter and Juno, mortal cops would have had no chance at figuring it out. The mist probably did play a big part in it,” he finished, nodding at Lou Ellen as he did. 

Everyone grumbled, but accepted his words and went back to watching the video. Rachel hit play again with a slightly annoyed expression that almost made Jason laugh. It seemed like she didn’t know how she had ended up being on pause duty every time the group began to talk over the video. But somehow she had been given the task, and now she was stuck with it. 

No one reacted much as they went on to describe Thalia running away, at this point it was one of the most iconic stories told at camp. It wasn’t as if they were learning any new information. It wasn’t until the voiceover said:

After the first year she began being spotted with an older boy with dark hair

That the entire room tensed up once again. Everyone except for Hazel and Frank seemed to freeze for a moment even though they must have expected this to be referenced at some point. Jason only realized who this boy must be because of the stories he’d heard about Luke, who he knew was a very sensitive topic for everyone present. According to Percy and Annabeth he had died a hero, and everyone seemed resigned to that. But glancing around the room he saw far more frowns, the memorials to fallen siblings scattered around camp and in cabins spoke of just how many demigods had been lost during the titan war. He doubted one sacrifice was enough to clear him of guilt in many of the campers' eyes. 

An image of Thalia and Luke as kids was shown on the screen, and Jason felt his eyes drifting over to Annabeth without thinking. His friend’s eyes were glued to the screen, and her face was set in an unreadable expression.  

Shane: Maybe it’s a family thing, you know. *laughs* all their dads are in the same cult and the initiation is running away from home and never being seen again except for in the most shady of circumstances.

Shane’s statement earned a few quiet chuckles at how close they had gotten to the truth once again. At the very least it served to lighten the sudden drop in mood that had fallen over the group. Everyone seemed to get over their initial shock, and he saw quite a few shoulders un-tense. Briefly, Jason glanced over to Hazel and Frank. All three of them were on the outside of this whole situation, they hadn’t known Luke at all except from brief stories. All three of them remained very silent, despite the fact he knew they must have as many questions as he did, knowing this probably wasn’t the time. 

Ryan: You joke but that’s a genuine theory here- that their missing parents are connected to each other and therefore that’s how they met up.

That earned even more laughs, gods they were so close and yet so far away. Chiara shook her head with a smirk, “The second they’re about to get it right the truth flies right over their heads.”

-----------------------

Annabeth’s mouth was set in a thin line as she watched them talk about Luke, Thalia, and eventually her as well, memories of their days on the streets returning to her. As well as memories of how it had all ended, and how Luke had changed after that. She still had very complicated feelings about the man who used to be like a big brother to her. 

Ryan: That unfortunately we never got any more leads on after his journey across the country with the girls ended. Unlike his companions he wasn’t spotted much again later save for a couple times by true crime buffs. At this point the case was so cold that the general public didn’t really remember or care to look out for the boy. Who knows what happened to Luke Castellan.

Whispers filled the room at the morbid statement, made even more so by the fact everyone present was very aware about what Luke’s fate had been. 

“Kinda weird to see how little the mortals know about everything.” Lacy whispered, her arms wrapped around herself as if she was giving herself a hug.

Nyssa averted her eyes from the screen, “There was a whole war, and nearly four years of fighting and they didn’t even notice once.”

“All those deaths…” Austin finally added, quietly, the thing that everyone had mostly been thinking about. 

On the screen, an image of Annabeth and her dad appeared. It had been taken shortly after one of her and her stepmom's frequent fights. Her dad had done that thing where he would lapse into guilt and try to appease her by taking her somewhere fun or giving her a gift. This particular photo was taken after he’d bought her a new book that she’d been asking him to get for her for days beforehand. 

The atmosphere still hadn’t lightened after the brief discussion about the war, until Percy cut through the tense silence with a loud exclamation, “Annabeth baby photos! I never thought I’d see the day- finally my revenge for all the pictures my mom has shown you of me!”

His words were louder than needed and his tone was over exaggerated in a clear attempt to cheer everyone up and put all the morbid discussions behind them. Even just the one lighthearted sentence seemed to bring a smile back to many campers faces. 

Annabeth Chase was spotted and accused of blowing up a bus with Percy Jackson and his friend Grover Underwood. 

“Pause!” Paolo Montes exclaimed, “You guys blew up a bus?”

“Technically, no,” Percy sighed.

“Were we the cause of the subsequent crash that led to the explosion,” Annabeth continued, “yes.”

“But! It was only because the furies attacked us- we didn’t do it for fun!” Grover defended. 

Their explanation earned a half a dozen wide eyed looks from some of the newer campers who hadn’t heard that particular story yet. Which was surprising, because it used to be the Hermes kid’s favorite tale to tell new campers. Given all the other shit that had gone down since their first quest though, Annabeth figured there were far more prominent stories to tell new kids nowadays. 

Ryan: *laughs* merry would not be the word I’d use to describe it given the amount of life or death situations they seem to find themselves in . 

“Hey give us more credit,” Leo scoffed, “we can be merry and on the verge of death! Take our trip to Rome for example- we had our fun times.”

“I don’t think there was a single moment on that trip I would describe as merry,” Hazel giggled, “we had our laughs but we were always on the verge of death at the same time- so it cancels out.”

“I was in a perpetual state of stress,” Frank nodded along with his girlfriend's words, a grave look on his face. 

“I was repeatedly injured during most major fights,” Jason winced, rubbing his side as if remembering the injury he’d received there near the end of their quest.

Annabeth smirked at the deadpan look of annoyance that Leo was sending half their friends, deciding to give her own two cents, “Adrenaline became our constant state of existence, none of us slept for more than three hours a night.”

Percy grinned, raising his hand slightly as if to say ‘me next’, “Me and Annabeth went to the depths of Greek hell.”

“None of you are any fun,” Leo glared at them, “can’t even take a joke.”

Piper patted his leg sympathetically, “hey don’t worry Leo! I can think of at least three whole minutes from that quest that I wouldn’t classify as stressful and terrifying!”

The room erupted into laughter at the faux look of betrayal that crossed Leo’s face, “Piper, my dearest friend, how could you turn on me like this!” 

——————--------

After the room was done ripping into Leo, Rachel clicked play once again, only for Percy to immediately see an image of his mom holding him as a baby appear on the screen. Now normally he would not be upset by a picture of his mother, she was the greatest person to ever walk this earth after all. But it also meant they were about to start talking about him- and he was not all too excited for the amount of crimes that he likely had been partially accused of. And of course one of the first things they talked about was his old stepfather.

Ryan: honestly the farther we get into this you’ll realize the name really fits. He’s an unfortunate man- and I mean that as in his existence in general is unfortunate for the general public.

Percy clapped at that, cheering at the screen even though the two YouTubers couldn’t hear him. He was glad to see that absolute atrocity of a man would only ever be remembered for who he truly was. 

As they went over his notorious rap sheet of expulsions, Percy groaned, seeing everyone else in the room have various reactions- from shock, too impressed, too amused. 

One claimed he hit the school bus with a cannon during a field trip. And funnily enough on another field trip he accidently sent some of his classmates off a platform into a tank with some tiger sharks

Connor whooped, clapping as they described all the trouble he accidentily stumbled into. His brother was equally excited, “Percy you have to explain that one to us, come on- how the Hades do you blow up a school bus with a cannon!”

“Don’t encourage that behavior!” Katie scolded lightly, and honestly bless that girl's patience Percy nearly laughed. Her close friendship with the Stoll’s, and her romantic relationship with Travis, was honestly one of the funniest things at camp in Percy’s opinion. The most chaotic force at camp, meets one of the most responsible and level-headed ones. 

Unfortunately for Katie, once again bless her, Percy often preferred the chaos that followed the Stolls, “I swear to all the gods it was an accident. I literally just leaned against it to rest my feet for a little bit- you know how tedious school field trips can be after all-”

He paused briefly at that part when he noticed some blank stares, “oh yeah- sorry half of you don’t go to school. Just know they always make you walk around for hours with no break on school field trips usually. But anyway- I lean against this canon which just happened to be pointed towards our bus. And somehow it triggered it to fire, like at that point it’s not even on me. If your cannon will fire if someone nudges it too hard I feel like the historical sight we were walking around should have taken more of the blame!”

His explanation earned quite a few bursts of laughter from the crowd, Hazel shook her head fondly, “only you Percy- genuinely this could only happen to you.”

Shane: *cackles* oh my god I love this kid already! Blowing up school buses and breaking aquarium rules- he seems like a funny kid.

“My man!” Percy cheered, “I like these guys, most people just assume I was partially at fault- even for the things that I was cleared of.”

“Big fan of them writing off demigod crimes as funny, hope they keep it up,” Cecil nodded sagely. 

They went on to describe him and his mothers arrival and subsequent disappearance from the beach house- and Percy merely rolled his eyes at the mention of the hurricane and lighting. The gods could be so dramatic sometimes, and Zeus was the worst of them. That’s why Hades was his favorite uncle, sure he had sent monsters after him at first- but they were cool now. He’d been to the underworld and come out alive multiple times, he doubted he would be able to say the same about flying. He’d saved Zeus’s ass about a million times and his uncle still would probably throw a tantrum if he so much as entered an airport. 

“It’s called having a petty uncle,” Percy grumbled out loud, earning him a few chuckles from his friends who weren’t as scared about pissing off the gods. 

A missing persons report was filed for the boy and his mom by Gabe Ugliano who claimed it was his stepsons fault. 

“Dude I thought you said your stepdad was cool!” Mitchell said, aghast. 

“My current one, Paul, is. Gabe was the worst though,” Percy replied distastefully. 

As they described the bus incident, a shaky image was shown of Annabeth and Grover grappling with the furies. Percy saw Annabeth sit forward abruptly, “wait does the mist not work on cameras! Those are clearly the furies, they’re not disguised as old ladies in the image.”

“Well, I’m sure mortals are just seeing it as what they described,” Percy pointed out to his girlfriend’s sudden shock. 

“No, I think I get what Annabeth is saying,” Jason said with a small chuckle, “image how many clearsighted mortals there are out there…”

“Oh hades,” Lou Ellen mumbled. 

“Am I missing something here?” Ellis glanced around at the growing realization on some of the other campers faces. Percy himself had figured it out too, but there was no need to explain- Clarisse beat him to it. 

She knocked her brother on the head, “with how many people watched this video there had to be a few clearsighted ones who are totally unaware of monsters and are about to have a very rude awakening to the world they live in!”

“Oh, yeah you’re right!” Holly said with wide eyes, “people would think they’re insane every time they try to point out the pictures show monsters instead of three old ladies.”

Shane: *laughs* They fought some poor old ladies on the bus. Ok- I was kind of rooting for these kids before this but an attack on some elderly women is a little uncalled for. 

“Noooo!” Percy mourned, “go back to liking us, I swear we were set up!” He pleaded with the screen, earning a few giggles from his friends. Only moments later, Percy’s wish was granted as Ryan explained to Shane about how the ‘old ladies’ had started the fight, and the other man immediately switched his opinion of them back to a positive one. 

Two days after the bus exploded they were spotted at the Gateway Arch where Percy was the prime suspect in an explosion that went off at the top. The attack left a gaping hole in the side of the arch to which one eye witness claimed he saw Percy jump out of before plummeting into the water below. 

That was one of Percy’s more infamous moments at camp. Mostly because a few years back a new camper had arrived, looked at Percy once, and immediately asked if he was the kid to jump out of the Gateway arch. Apparently even though there was no physical proof of him doing it to the mortals, the one eyewitness account that he jumped had made the whole thing into a huge conspiracy theory. 

Shane: *laugh* Please do not start truthing this kid as some magical entity like you did with the Di Angelo’s 

“I need to speak to this Ryan dude,” Lou Ellen said with an impressed look, “if it wasn’t for the fact he couldn’t see through the mist disguise of the photos I would think he was clearsighted. 

Annabeth nodded with approval from his left, “he’s very smart, for a second I considered maybe he was getting so close because he was a demigod himself- until he couldn’t see through the mist that is,” she added at the end.

“Still,” Drew sighed, “it’s a shame, I want to just tell him the truth to see his reaction,” she mused.

For a moment, Piper got a mischievous look in her eyes at her sister's comment, but a panicked look from Will quickly stomped out any scheme she may have been cooking up in her head, “we cannot just start telling mortals about our world because it would be funny guys!”

“Ok, but what if it would be realllly funny?” Connor raised his eyebrow, as if he had just come up with the best counter argument known to man. 

Will took a deep breath, “absolutely not! Back me up here guys,” his eyes scanned the room until they landed on a few of the other head counselors. 

“Yeah, it can only end badly,” Nico backed him up from where he was half-laying against Will’s side. 

“Your opinion doesn’t count di Angelo,” Travis complained, “Will’s your boyfriend of course you’re going to agree with him.”

“Well, as someone who is not Will’s boyfriend I’ll back him up as well,” Katie interjected, much to Travis’s chagrin.

“Katie c’mon! We have to be a united front here, Nico backed up Will, you need to back me up,” he whined dramatically with little success in changing his ever responsible girlfriend's mind. 

“It would be a little funny,” Lou Ellen said slowly, “even if we had to use the mist after to wipe their memories…”

Percy perked up at that idea. Privately he had agreed with Piper and the Stolls. The look on their faces when they learned the truth and how close they got to it on their own would be hilarious. He knew revealing all that shit to mortals could only go badly. But if they could wipe the memories afterwords-

“Nope! End of discussion everyone,” Annabeth sighed, “that would be an abuse of our powers! There will be no telling mortals about our world.”

With his girlfriend's final opinion on the matter stated, who was Percy to go against it. “yep, as funny as it would be, we definitely shouldn’t mess with it.”

It was later found that the transport company wasn’t a legitimate business but instead was a front for smugglers who were harshly abusing the animals in their care. 

There was some horrified gasping around the room as the campers heard about all those poor animals that had been mistreated. Outrage began to build rather quickly, especially among the Demeter kids who looked absolutely furious.

“Don’t worry guys!” Grover quickly soothed, though his own face looked annoyed as he remembered the conditions they had been in, “I placed a protection on them and they got safely back to the wilderness!”

Shane: Objectively- what did these kids do wrong? From what I can see they were attacked by some old ladies and then helped free some abused animals and accidently uncover a smuggling scheme in the process 

 His words sent cheers through the group, “Finally someone who gets it!” Leo clapped. 

“He is my new favorite mortal- obviously not counting you Rachel,” Cecil cheered, with a quick comment thrown in at the end when Rachel gave him a scathing look. 

As they talked about how he, Annabeth, and Grover seemed to disappear for a few days- something vaguely came to Percy’s mind, “Hey Nico,” he said, “you were in the lotus hotel while frozen in time right?”

Nico frowned at the question, “uh- yeah, I guess. Why does it matter?”

Percy grinned at the same time as Annabeth sighed in exasperation, “oh my god, we probably met unknowingly way before Westover!” Percy said brightly.

“Me, Percy, and Grover got stuck in the lotus hotel for five days,” Annabeth clarified for the group. 

Nico grimaced at them, “it is a miracle you got out after only five days. Me and Bianca thought we were at the hotel for a week at the most, and it had actually been seventy years.”

Percy shrugged, “I guess- probably more to do with the fates needing me to complete my quest on time.”

And then came Percy’s favorite part of the story- his fight with Ares. In his opinion it was the biggest example of how well the mist worked on mortals, hiding an entire battle between him and a god was insane. 

The child thankfully came away with no injuries, but one of the bullets got his attacker in the arm causing him to flee.  

“It wasn’t a gun fight, as you can probably guess,” Percy clarified to the demigods who hadn’t heard the story before, “I was using Riptide, but clearly the mist covered it up.”

“Also you may want to mention, the guy you were fighting was literally Ares- the god of war,” Grover added proudly, “and he beat him too!”

A couple of the younger campers looked at him with wide eyes full of admiration. Harley and Lydia were practically bouncing in their seats, “you actually beat a god!” The little Apollo girl asked. 

Percy rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, “well, I was in the ocean so I had a huge advantage-”

“Don’t downplay your achievements, seaweed brain,” Annabeth smirked, before turning to the little kids again, “he totally did. I was watching and he kicked Ares’s butt!”

Lydia and Harley dissolved into giggles, glancing over shyly at Clarisse and the other Ares kids. All of them merely rolled their eyes with a sigh, Percy seemed to distinctly remember his fight with their dad causing enmity between him and the whole cabin for months, but all these years later they finally seemed to be over it. 

Shane: If I was owned that hard by a twelve year old I wouldn’t show my face again either 

But after that line, the Ares cabin dissolved into groans- while the rest of the group started cracking up.

As Shane and Ryan began to discuss the cover up story the three of them had come up with, Katie shook her head and an impressed look on her face, “quick thinking you guys, I wouldn’t have even known where to begin covering that up.”

“And thank the gods for the mist,” Nyssa added, “otherwise all of us would have been arrested long ago.”

“More like we would have been used as human lab rats or something,” Leo said with a laugh, “think about it, to regular mortals were kinda freaks of nature.”

Another one of the little kids, ten year old Michael from the Tyche cabin, got a fearful look on his face. He turned to his sister with a frown, “that wouldn’t actually happen right?”

Chiara quickly shushed the boy's worries after a scathing scowl sent Leo’s way, “of course not, the mist isn’t going away anytime soon. And even if it did, our mom wouldn’t let it stand. All the gods would step in if the mortals tried to cross that line.”

As she soothed the worries of her younger brother, Will shot Leo a similar glare while his own little sister cowered at his side fearfully, “dude! Don’t say stuff like that, you’re scaring the kids!”

Leo instantly looked guilty, “sorry- I didn’t think it would frighten them!” He said, “guys I promise it was an impossible scenario, it's not gonna happen!” He quickly added for the sake of the younger kids. 

According to police transcripts of the interview with the children. Shortly after describing his fight with the gunman, Percy whispered to his friend something along the lines of ‘guess we know who the stronger cousin is now’  

Annabeth shot him an exasperated look, “Really Percy- why would you say that. Our whole story was some stranger kidnapping us, why would you call him ‘cousin’ that defeats the purpose!”

“In my defense, I was twelve and I had just fought the god of war and come out alive- I thought it was a little funny,” he weakly defended.

Annabeth merely rolled his eyes at his explanation, while Sherman from the Ares cabin called out, “don’t get too cocky Jackson- you beat our dad once because of a slew of lucky circumstances. I doubt you could do it again.”

Percy grinned at the other boy, “wanna bet-”

“Do not start challenging gods again,” Rachel sighed, “if Ares appears in this cavern to fight you then I’m not covering for any of you guys when Chiron inevitably catches us.”

Percy put a hand to the corner of his mouth and made a zipping motion to signify he wouldn’t say anything else- much to Rachel’s relief.

Gabe Ugliano had disappeared and Sally claimed that she had divorced him and not seen him since- though records show her selling a hyper realistic statue of him only a week earlier. 

All eyes in the room immediately darted to Percy, most were curious. But some of them, like Connor and Travis’s eyes, were sparkling in amusement as they remembered what had happened. 

“I have a feeling it wasn't just a hyper realistic statue…” Yan from cabin seven said. 

Percy gave them a toothy grin in reply before addressing the whole room, “did I ever tell you all that me and Annabeth killed Medusa on that quest?”

Eyes widened in Realization, followed by a few short laughs, “What he’s failing to mention is that he sent her head to Olympus first- and his mom was able to use it cause they returned it to his apartment,” Annabeth added. 

More stunned silence filled the room, before a girl who Percy sadly didn’t know the name of- maybe a new camper- spoke, “how have you not been killed by one of the gods yet?”

Percy shrugged, “I’ve saved their asses too many times for them to try anything,” at the same time Annabeth deadpanned, “dumb luck and world-ending prophecies.”

Ryan: leading theories suggest she turned him into a statue, like how the white witch from Narnia did. 

“What the Hades is a Narnia,” Juliet from the Aphrodite cabin frowned, “is it like a monster or something?”

“Oh my gods, have none of you guys seen Narnia before?” Kayla sat up abruptly. A few kids mumbled out that they’d seen it, but most of the campers- especially year rounders just stared at Kayla with blank confusion. For his part, Percy knew it was some kind of movie or something, he’d just never watched it before.

“Unbelievable,” Kayla lamented, “first I learned half of you guys haven’t even watched Star Wars before and now this! Do any of you watch movies?”

“It’s not like they are TV’s at camp," a year rounder named Noel pointed out. 

Kayla looked appalled despite being a year rounder herself, “ok that’s it, we need to implement a weekly movie night or something where I educate all of you guys on pop culture.”

Her suggestion earned quite a few excited looks, Percy himself was not adverse to the idea. So many of the year rounders didn’t know like any popular media, and even campers who went home during the school year seemed to be lacking in knowledge due to avoiding technology like the plague.

Ryan: Either works- but I say good riddance. Apparently neighbors claimed he was abusive to Sally and at the very least verbally abusive to Percy though they couldn’t be sure if he had hit the boy at all. 

All cheerfulness at Kayla’s suggestion drained out of the room in an instant, and Percy felt a vicious sense of happiness knowing that Gabe had got what was coming to him.

The energy practically crackled in the room, if there was one thing you didn’t do it was mess with his mom. Everyone at camp loved her, their apartment had become stop number one whenever someone got injured outside of camp and needed a quick break. 

“Where the fuck is that statue at,” Clarisse practically growled, “I’m gonna break it into pieces!”

Clarisse adoring his mom was something Percy had not expected years ago, but after the Ares girl had been forced to rush to his apartment after an unexpected monster attack left her injured- she’d been thick as thieves with his mom. It definitely helped that she had given Clarisse fresh baked cookies and set her dislocated shoulder like a pro- but now the entire Ares cabin would go to war for Percy’s mom. And that wasn’t even taking into account the fact all his other friends worshiped the ground she walked on. 

In light of not causing a riot, even if the thought of dozens of demigods hunting down Gabe’s statue to destroy was funny, Percy decided to calm the growing bubble of anger, “relax everyone, my mom handled it, and even if she hadn’t I would have dealt with him myself long ago.”

“Still,” Lacy, who was normally one of the sweetest people at camp, practically snarled, “it doesn’t change what he did- he deserves worse than just getting petrified.”

“Oh I’m sure he’s getting what he deserves,” Nico grinned in contrast to the dark tone of his words, “a man like him could have only ended up in the fields of punishment- they aren’t exactly gentle with the treatment of the souls that get sent there.”

Nico’s words seemed to satisfy everyone’s need for a more brutal justice, and the anger slowly simmered out of the room, “but if you guys want to do something, I’m sure my mom would appreciate visitors. She always loves when any of you guys visit, and you’re all Estelle’s honorary aunts and uncles.”

By the sudden enthusiastic replies he got, Percy figured that Chiron would get at least a dozen permission requests from campers wishing to take a trip into the city come morning. 

The next sighting of them after that was in Florida of all places alongside a girl named Clarisse La Rue.  

“What the hades,” Clarisse said as they began to talk about her, “I’ve never even been on mortal police radars before and suddenly one picture with Jackson and Chase from 2006 and I’m on an unsolved crime YouTube channel,” she grumbled. 

“What can I say, being my friend has that effect,” Percy sighed dramatically.

“We are not friends,” Clarisse retorted instantly. 

Percy held a hand over this heart in false hurt, pouting at her “after all we’ve been through, this is how you treat me!”

“Jackson I swear to all the gods-”

Clarisse was cut off by her boyfriend groaning, “please no more fighting you two!”

“Yes, please,” Will grumbled, “everyone just got back for summer session, the infirmary will be busy enough the last thing we need is for you two to start one of your competitions again- it always ends with you both in the infirmary.”

Percy did his best to look apologetic at Will’s huffed remark, “of course- we’ll be good I promise!”

It was a lie, but at least it would stop the son of Apollo from stressing prematurely. After all, he and Clarisse had been rivals since they were twelve, they couldn’t simply stop competing to see who could do better in whatever event or competition the camp ended up holding for the day. 

Shane: yikes, year round boarding school? At that point why even have kids if you just plan to send them off and never see them again. 

“Someone tell that to the gods,” Jason said with a raised eyebrow. 

“Yeah, don’t get me wrong, I love my siblings and all, but there is no reason for there to be enough of us in the Apollo cabin to populate a small school,” Kayla said, her voice thick with sarcasm. 

Connor rolled his eyes, “agreed, I need someone to introduce them to the concept of cond-”

All the older kids in the room knew what Connor was going to say halfway through the sentence, he’d already made the joke half a dozen times to them. But now there were little children present, and none of the older siblings seemed to take kindly to them being corrupted. Mitchell threw a hand over Connor’s mouth with a red face before he could finish what he was saying. He met the curious eyes of the younger kids and choked out a quick, “ignore him, he’s talking nonsense!” Before pulling his hand away with a pointed look at the Hermes boy. Connor was never one to back down from a joke in the face of backlash, but he was dead silent as the Aphrodite boy pulled his hand away, his face had taken on a similar shade of red as well. 

Percy snorted as he watched those two idiots, Chris had been totally right when he said they were secretly dating. That or they were both crushing on each other hard, either way they weren’t fooling anyone. 

Rachel coughed, seeming to pick up on the same thing Percy had, “right… well, moving on.”

Shane: If I were him I would lay low after the whole kidnapping thing- but nope right back into the action for him.

“I tried,” Percy sighed mournfully at the screen, remembering just how close he had been to completing a full year of school that year. Thank the gods for New Rome university, he doubted any mortal college would accept him with his spotty education records. 

Percy’s heart stopped for a moment as the two of them began to mention how Bianca vanished from the group. 

Ryan: unfortunately the leading theory as to the girls sudden disappearance is that she must have died or been captured within the two days of their first sighting 

His eyes drifted to Nico against his will, the memory of a younger version of him staring at Percy with wide teary eyes as he asked where his sister was still fresh in his mind. Nico’s eyes darted over to meet his, the younger boy's face was set in a neutral expression. They maintained eye contact for a few moments before Percy guiltily looked back to the screen. Even if he and Nico had already talked about Bianca and cleared the air, Percy still felt guilty about her death to this day, despite the fact Nico had forgiven him. 

Percy returned home and was questioned by police once again about the location of Annabeth Chase and Thalia Grace. He once again denied any association with the missing girls

“Mortal authorities are almost comically bad at their jobs,” Sherman scoffed.

Lou Ellen giggled, “yeah- like they knew you were blatantly lying. And yet they just dropped it anyway?”

Piper grinned mischievously, “if they can’t prove anything for certain, they can’t charge you with anything. If you don’t give them anything they can use as proof, you’ll be fine.”

Percy figured she must have quite a bit of experience with that given her favorite extracurricular activities from before she knew she was a demigod. Honestly, if Percy didn’t know for a fact that she was an Aphrodite kid, he would peg her for Hermes' daughter without a second thought. 

Annabeth’s father was questioned once again about her whereabouts… a recent letter from the girl in his house. The return address went to a random field in New York  

Annabeth snorted, “my dad told me about that- apparently they brought him into the station and drilled him about my location for a day. But, as Piper said, if they don’t have proof the cops can’t do shit to you.”

“Genuinely what would we do without the mist,” Katie mused, “I need to sacrifice some of my breakfast tomorrow morning to lady Hecate, without her magic we would have been discovered and hounded by mortals a long time ago.”

The handful of Hecate kids present looked a little smug as the room muttered agreement at Katie’s comment. It was their mom after all that was kind of the reason they didn’t have the US government on their asses all the time. 

Shane: This is getting almost comical, all these children are literally just fucking with the government at this point. 

“Not optionally, but it is kind of funny now that I’m hearing the full story,” Leo snickered.

Shane: You would never see the government going this hard to try and find missing kids usually. You know some people are sitting in Quantico right now fuming that they’re being outsmarted by middle schoolers 

“What’s Quantico?” Harley whispered to Nyssa, his older sister shrugged, but Annabeth's brother Malcolm answered in her stead, “it’s a government base where there’s a lot of FBI agents and stuff.”

Ryan: *laughs* the US government beefing with half a dozen missing children

“What’s even funnier, is that we had no clue this was even going on,” Kayla added with a giggle, “all this effort being put into finding you guys and you couldn’t care less.”

Shane: me personally, I would just quit if a group of sixth graders humiliated me that hard 

The whole room exploded into a mixture of laughter and giggles. Ok, Percy was really starting to like these guys. He had to find some way to tell them how amazing this video was after they finished watching this. At this point, they were probably going to become incredibly popular in the camp once the video was spread to all the kids who didn’t sneak out to watch the video tonight with them. 

By Percy’s best guess, by noon tomorrow everyone in camp will have watched the video. And these Shane and Ryan guys were about to acquire a whole lot of new demigod fans. 

The last concrete incident behind Percy Jackson was when he was accused of causing an explosion at Goode high school… the only witness was a young lady named Rachel Dare

“Thanks for lying for us again Rachel!” Percy gave his friend a bright grin, “the last thing I need is for people to think I caused an explosion in the school my stepdad works at!”

“What would I have even told them if I didn’t want to lie,” Rachel sighed in amusement, “that some vampire donkey ladies were the culprits? They would have packed me off to a mental hospital.”

“Also might I add,” Rachel said with a barely concealed smile, “since this video was posted I have received thousands of messages and mentions on practically every social media site asking if I know you guys personally.”

Sometimes Percy forgot that Rachel’s dad is like famous famous, and therefore so was his daughter. That on top of the charity work and activism Rachel was involved in would give her a huge online following. Slowly an idea started to form in his head, probably stupid in hindsight, but also really funny as well. He bit his lip to keep from smiling, if he didn’t change his mind, he could bring it up after the video ended. 

As Ryan continued to speak, he was once again reminded he was still currently a missing person, which he really should get a handle on soon enough. He was nineteen, and even though he did have a few more years of college before he tried to get any kind of normal job in the real world- he figured it was better to get this sorted out sooner than later. 

Shane: if the entire building was working together to cover for this kid then I have a feeling he isn’t the bad guy in this scenario

“Gods he's just never said a single incorrect thing this whole video,” Percy exclaimed dramatically, “a man after my own heart.”

“Dude,” Leo smiled mischievously, “this guy is like the accidental #1 demigod defender- I’m loving this!”

—————

Piper immediately focused her attention back on the screen the moment they mentioned Wilderness school and the infamous Grand Canyon field trip that had started it all for her, Leo, and Jason. After hearing their reactions to Percy and the multiple crimes that he was accused of, she couldn’t help but be curious about what they thought of her impressive list of crimes she’d managed to rack up over the years. 

Shane: *snorts* yes and I can practically see you wanting to jump up and down in your seat at the return of Jason Grace to the story.

“Hades, they identified your ass so quickly,” Leo snorted, flicking Jason’s forehead for good measure, “there’s no information of you since you’re two, and they see you once at sixteen and just know it’s you,” Leo laughed.

Malcolm on the other hand frowned, “that is a little weird though, normally there would at least be an uncertainty, but they just seem to know it’s him.”

“Probably the scar,” Annabeth told her brother, “and sketches depicting what he’d look like as a teenager- he fits the age as well.”

This marked the first time Jason Grace was ever seen since his disappearance. The boy just appeared at the Wilderness school one day after being sent there by a lady named ‘Juno O.’  

“Or it seems like Hera has no tact and just registered him for school under his actual identity,” Annabeth added with a roll of her eyes as they continued discussing Jason’s sudden reappearance 

“To be fair,” Piper sighed, “she’s a goddess so I doubt she was considering the legal repercussions of a missing child suddenly appearing at a Wilderness school for mortals.”

As an image appeared on the screen from their yearbook of her, Leo, and Jason she couldn’t help but grimace. It seemed the picture was added as somewhat of a memorial for them after they went missing- but all Piper could think about was how it was fake. Hera had certainly been thorough in her attempt to make it seem like Jason had been there the whole time. The startled yet fond look that the fake Jason had in the image was so much like his real self, and yet he had never been there. That had never even happened, they were fake memories and moments that Hera planted in their heads. 

They were certainly her best friends now, and despite how their friendship had started, Piper would always be grateful she had met Jason and got the chance to call him one of her best friends. But the bitterness of the deception Hera had put them through still remained, it hadn’t been fair to any of them to be forced into certain relationships by false emotions and memories.  

Piper was born June 3rd 1994 to Tristan McClean- and you guessed it, an unknown mother. 

“Wooo! Piper!” Leo cheered as an image of her appeared on the screen. She sighed seeing it herself, of course they’d picked some dumb paparazzi photo taken mostly of her dad. 

Piper had a string of minor crimes, primarily theft, by the time she was twelve. 

Connor wiped a fake tear from his eyes, “so proud, you’re a true Hermes kid at heart.”

She grinned at the Hermes boy in agreement. In the end Piper would never want to be anything but Aphrodites daughter, she adored her siblings after all, she wouldn’t trade them for the world. But being an honorary Hermes kid according to all of cabin eleven had its perks, not only was it fun to cause a little chaos once in a while, it also made her cabin less likely to be the target of their pranks. A fact all her siblings were very thankful for. 

To this day, Piper denies stealing the car, and states that the dealer gave it to her of his own free will

“And I didn’t even lie,” Piper shrugged proudly, “not my fault he was a bad sport.”

Shane: *laughs* I like this girl too. Being caught red-handed and then just being like ‘no fuck you, I didn’t do it’ anyway is such a ballsy move.

Piper erupted into cheers the same time as Percy did, “Piper he likes your crimes too!” Her friend told her excitedly. 

Annabeth and Jason looked utterly bewildered by the turn of events, but Piper figured this man was about to become the new idol of the Hermes cabin.  

Shane: Where's the harm in it, their crimes are funny. 

Sure enough, “Are we sure he isn’t a son of Hermes!” Julia whined, already knowing the answer but seeming to wish for it to be different.

“I wish,” Alice sighed mournfully, “but if he can’t see through the mist then he’s no demigod,” the other girl told her sister with a pout. 

———————

The last member of the new trio was a boy named Leo Valdez. Born the son of Esperanza Valdez and-

Leo smirked as he heard his name next. Sure he wasn’t a fan of the fact they were inevitably about to talk about his childhood, but these mortals seemed cool. He was far more interested in what they would think of him than scared of what memories this might stir up. 

They started off strong by bringing up the multiple fire related incidents that happened around him as a child. Leo scowled, “stupid Hera,” he muttered quiet enough for only Piper and Jason, who were sitting next to him, to hear. 

“Oh my gods, Leo baby pictures!” Nyssa cooed at him, Leo rolled his eyes at his sister's sudden exclamation, “you looked so much like Harley,” Jake added on as well. 

“Wow it’s almost like we’re all siblings,” Leo deadpanned, “you really cracked the case Sherlock.”

His youngest brother smiled proudly, “We do look similar!” He said excitedly, looking at Leo expectantly as if waiting for him to agree. 

Out of the corner of his eyes Nyssa and Jake both shot him pointed looks as if daring him to disagree. It wasn’t necessary though, Leo knew Harley looked up to him a lot, he wasn’t about to be a downer and hurt the kids feelings. Plus Harley was a legend, and Jake hadn’t been lying; they did look similar, even more so than the usual Hephaestus family traits, “Yeah bossman, we could practically be twins.”

Harley’s bright little grin left a warm feeling in Leo’s chest. He’d gotten so used to having a small army of siblings around him constantly since coming to camp. And then he had begun spending most of the school year at the waystation, finishing up high school in town and volunteering with the kids at the local shelter. It was good to be back even if it was just for the summer, getting to see everyone again was very nice.

He was also determined to finish his plans for demigod safe technology by the end of the summer. Even if it was just clunky flip phones, he’d been trying to find a way to prevent them from sending up flares to monsters when demigods used them. Iris messages were nice and all but they were too expensive and too inconvenient, and he was heading off to college next semester where his time would be spread even thinner between New Rome, camp, and the Waystation. He wanted to be able to get in contact with his siblings quickly at any given moment. 

Authorities and his other family suspected the fire was caused by him 

Leo felt the familiar burn of guilt in his heart that hadn’t quite left ever since he managed to read the police report. ‘The fire started within a few feet of Valdez, though the boy retained no injuries. It burned so hotly and quickly through the building firefighters reported it as almost unnatural’. The words had practically seared into his brain ever since the moment he first read them. 

He jumped slightly as he felt a hand fall against his shoulder. Glancing over revealed that Piper was the source of the sudden touch. His friend didn’t say anything, merely offering a comforting presence as the bad memories were brought up again. The rest of the room had a mix of sad and morbid looks, he almost expected some of them to ask if he had caused it. But not a single person looked at him with disgust or accusation like his family back in Texas had. 

His remaining family refused to take him in, claiming he was quote ‘the devils spawn’ end quote. 

“What the Hades!” Nyssa yelled suddenly, earning her a frantic shush from Austin in order to keep the noise down, even though the boy looked equally as shocked as Leo’s sister was. 

Leo’s siblings who had come to watch the movie; Nyssa the current head of the cabin, along with Jake, Harley, and Louisa- all looked absolutely furious at the mention of how his family had acted after his mothers death. Leo hadn’t really mentioned it before, after all he had a new family at Camp, the past didn’t need to haunt him anymore. 

“That’s- that’s just cruel!” Louisa wailed, his little sister looked absolutely heartbroken which made Leo feel worse than anything discussed in the video. 

Jake nodded along with a scowl, “bastards, do they even know who you are-”

As much as he appreciated the protectiveness, and it certainly healed the part of his inner child that longed for a family, he decided to calm his siblings down before this escalated, “Guys it’s fine- I’m fine. It was years ago, and honestly,” he smirked, “their loss, they couldn’t handle how immensely hot and smart I am. They were so jealous they had to cast me out lest I steal the spotlight from all of them. 

His siblings still didn’t look all too pleased, but at least the theatrical reply won him a giggle from Harley. With at least that victory under his belt, he turned back to watch the video, hoping they were past the worst of his childhood now and they could get on the fun parts- like when he ran away to save the world and all. 

Shane and Ryan certainly seemed to agree that the circumstances around his childhood were weird, as was the fire that killed his mom. But unlike most mortals, they seemed more sorry for him than accusative- which he could appreciate. 

——————

Only one was able to be identified. The boy, Frank Zhang, was born June 5th 1994 to Emily Zhang and an unknown father . 

Hazel was happy when they moved onto her and Frank at least if it was just to give Leo a break. They’d had to relive some bad memories during this video, but Leo’s had seemed to hit harder than the others as they discussed the possibility he had ‘superpowers’ and may have accidentally killed his mom. Which however true or not true that may be, must sting a lot for Leo to remember. 

The other new kid was unable to be identified, but after some rigorous research we came across some conspiracy theories claiming she was actually born in the 1920’s

There were multiple times throughout this video she had been impressed with their detective skills and how much information they were able to uncover. But when they mentioned she may be from the past Hazel was stunned to absolute silence, left staring at the screen in shock. How could they have possibly even figured that out? Even if she knew they would probably write it off as some conspiracy theory- the fact it had even gotten on their radar to begin with was insane.  

Both mother and daughter went missing in the summer of 1942. We actually only have one recovered picture of the girl herself.

Hazel had a hazy memory of the day the picture was taken. It had been Sammy’s tenth birthday and the two of them had spent the day hanging out together. He’d wanted to commemorate the day with a picture. Neither of their families owned a camera so they didn’t have any pictures individually or together beforehand. But Sammy had managed to convince a kind old neighbor to take the picture for them with his own camera. 

It was like staring at a different girl even though Hazel knew it was herself. They were both still in their school uniforms, having ran off the moment classes ended for the day. Her and Sammy were both smiling with the innocent glee that could only come from kids who hadn’t seen the true horrors the world could hold for them. 

“Huh?” Miranda cocked her head to the side in confusion, “that can’t be Leo- right?”

“They look identical,” Billie agreed. 

Leo grinned proudly at the two Demeter girls, “that would be because he’s my great-grandfather. As you can see, stunningly handsome good looks run in the family.”

“Wait, so Leo’s great-grandfather was Hazel’s best friend in the 1930’s and now you two somehow ended up being friends in the 2000’s?” Austin asked slowly for clarification.

“Yes,” Hazel sighed, “it’s a little complicated, I know.”

Lacy merely grinned with a dreamy look on her face, “I think that means you guys were meant to be friends! Like it's always been written by the fates!”

Hazel decided not to ruin the girl's sweet sentiment and tell her it likely wasn’t the fates but rather Juno that had brought them together. 

The girl would later be spotted alongside Frank Zhang, Annabeth Chase, Percy Jackson, Piper McClean, Leo Valdez, and Jason Grace in Charleston, West Virginia on June 28th 2010. 

Figures that one of the only times they touched ground in America during their quest they managed to be spotted by the authorities. They hadn’t even all been together for their trip, but Hazel supposed all seven of them being in the same city together was proof enough that they had been traveling together 

That seemed to be the last time they were spotted though, thankfully. People across the sea weren’t necessarily looking out for a bunch of missing teens from the US there was no way their trail could have been traced in Europe. 

Piper had a previous history of running away and the line of questioning was dropped. As of now she is about to start her first college semester at West Bay University.  

“West Bay University?” Kayla asked Piper, “I thought you were going to New Rome?”

“West Bay University is what mortals think New Rome is,” Hazel told her, “the mist makes them view it as any normal mortal college so the degree’s people get there are valid in the mortal world.”

Frank nodded, “and mortals who want to apply will find themselves dissuaded from it before they can try. The few who might be immune to the mist will just be rejected.”

Next they went on to discuss Piper’s coverup story of running away to stay with her mom- which was slightly genius in Hazel’s eyes. It wasn’t technically a lie, she had seen her mom on the quest, and it was the godly side of her family that caused her to go on it in the first place. 

Ryan: Maybe it was an affair and the mother didn’t want her actual husband knowing.

 “Expecting the gods, except Hera, to care about affairs is probably the most unrealistic thing they’ve theorized about our existence in this whole video,” Leo raised an eyebrow. 

The strange second parent of all these kids will show up in the theories though, so let’s get into it. 

Everyone in the room sat forward, eager to see what their final explanation would be after going through all of their stories. 

THEORY #1:

Coincidence 

They of course started with the least exciting possibility. After all everyone knew you had to build up to the real exciting things- ending off the video with ‘it may just all be a coincidence’ would be a letdown. 

Shane: yeah I don’t buy that. Those kids must be giggling watching the government absolutely fail to crack the case all these years 

“Yeah, we definitely are,” Connor snorted, “this has got to be one of the most interesting things that’s happened at camp in months.”

Ryan: I mean they’re all very likely still alive and at least Piper McClean is living a relatively normal life so they may be watching this right now. 

The whole room exploded in volume as Ryan spoke- forgetting for a moment that they were supposed to be trying to stay a little quiet. Chiron didn’t come walking into Rachel’s cave with a stern look on his face though, so Hazel figured they were probably safe. 

“I am watching, thanks for the shout out,” Piper answered the screen with a grin.

“Oh my gods, Piper, you have to comment on the video or tweet at them for the postmortem video!” Drew exclaimed gleefully. 

“Uhh, what?” Piper asked her sister with furrowed eyebrows. 

“The postmortem video!” Lacy said excitedly, “after a lot of their videos they make a follow up answering questions they get sent by fans on various social media sites!”

Hazel saw Piper get a mischievous glimmer in her eyes, a look that was matched by practically half the demigods in the room. There was no way everyone was going to drop this after they finished the video. Hazel had a feeling Ryan and Shane were about to get some vague tweets knowing far too much information from at least two dozen demigods. 

Shane: hello missing children if you’re watching

The whole room cheered once more as they addressed them all through the video- Hazel laughed brightly at the sudden excitement that had infested the atmosphere of the cave. 

Ryan: If you're watching, you guys are out of the woods when it comes to being sent back to foster care or your families. So let us know what actually happened 

If there was any doubt of whether some of her friends would try to message them after this- that would have erased them in her mind. Now that the idea had been put out there- she didn’t see anyone leaving this without causing a little bit of chaos. 

Shane: at least to make fun of us when we inevitably get this wrong.

“Honestly, they’re getting it pretty accurate,” Katie commented, “they’re just slightly off the mark because of how outlandish the reality is for mortals.”

THEORY #2: 

cult kidnappings 

The theory goes that an unknown cult preyed on mostly runway children who would not be missed. Though no one is sure quite what the cult’s goal would be, many think it has religious undertones to it. 

“I mean,” Percy said in a drawn out tone, “it’s not technically wrong except for the kidnapping part. Camp is kinda a cult- but like a good one.”

“We’re not a cult,” Annabeth corrected, “there’s no such thing as a ‘good cult’ either.”

Ryan: What about the Di Angelo kids or Hazel?

Shane: maybe they’re fans of necromancy 

Hazel giggled, glancing over to see the absolutely exasperated look on Nico’s face at the comment. 

“Well, they got you there Neeks,” Percy smirked.

Nico scowled at him, “shut up, Jackson!”

Annabeth gave him an apologetic look, “sorry Nico, but one of our earliest interactions with you was watching you raise ghosts from the underworld to speak to them.”

“And you did literally raise me from the dead,” Hazel added, seeing her brother send her a look of betrayal. 

“I hate you all,” he huffed. 

THEORY #3:

Supernatural scions

Theory three claims that they are all the children of some kind of supernatural entities-  

The entire room held their breath, there was no way they’d actually get it- right?

maybe angels or demons. 

“Awww they were so close that time,” Piper laughed as the tension drained from the room, “I was almost cheering for them to get it right.”

This theory doesn’t explain why all these kids seemed to converge on the same location unless they have some type of system to identify other supernatural children. 

“We do have a system,” Cecil pointed out, “it’s called the need for survival.”

“We converge on the same location because it is the only place where we don’t get hunted by monsters 24/7,” Drew laughed, before pausing for a moment and looking over to Hazel and Frank, “well, and now Camp Jupiter too.”

Shane: “yes officer, my mother is actually a demon”

Lacy hissed sympathetically, “don’t let mom hear you call her that- she won't take kindly to being called a demon.”

“Eh they don’t actually know what they’re saying and they’re mortals so I doubt mom will care all too much,” Mitchell shrugged, “worse case scenario they are both about to have insane love lives.”

“Don’t give mom any ideas!” Piper interjected with a panicked look, “she’ll think you’re being serious.”

Ryan: *laughs* I doubt they’d believe her, but Piper if you’re watching let us know if we’re close to the truth or not. 

Piper stopped scolding her siblings in order to look at the screen once again, this had been what? The third time that they had addressed them directly through the video, “if only you knew,” she sighed with a smirk on her face. 

“Piper, you should just message them ‘yeah you guys were very close’ and nothing else. And then wait for the chaos that follows,” One of her siblings told her eagerly. 

“Hmmm, perhaps I will,” she said, a smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth, “just to mess with them a bit.”

THEORY #4:

A family business

This theory has elements from both theories two and three combined into one. It goes that the kids' missing parents are part of some type of cult or mafia and the kids were following the bidding of this group on their journeys. 

“Also very accurate,” Percy said with a casual shrug, “I would not have done half the shit I did if some dumb prophecy didn’t tell me to.”

“True,” Jason nodded, “if we weren’t demigods we would never have had to do… any of the shit we did. So by all means they’re correct with the last theory.”

The room erupted into claps as they ‘got the correct answer’ or at least the answer as close to the truth as any mortal could get before the mist led them astray again. 

Shane: There's not much actual proof that the girl spotted with Percy and Frank is Hazel Levesque. 

Hazel found herself grateful for that fact. It was going to be hard enough to integrate into the mortal world as an adult if she wanted, that task would become so much harder if there was an abundance of information about her from the 1940’s like with Nico. At least for her brother, Hazel was pretty certain he never wanted to try to fit into mortal society and get a normal job, so it wouldn’t be something he really had to worry about. 

Shane: and as we’ve established, most of their crimes were actually very funny 

“Exactly!” Travis exclaimed, “we should commit more funny crimes so that they make a follow up video with more of us in it!”

His siblings in the Hermes cabin looked quite excited by the prospect, but Katie looked absolutely exasperated. There was a resigned look on her face though as if she knew there was no stopping them, only limiting the amount of chaos they were able to cause. 

Maybe one day in their adulthood these children will come out with the truth of what actually happened during the periods where they disappeared, but for now, the case will remain unsolved. 

———————

With that last line, the end screen popped up and Rachel closed out of the video. The whole room became filled with excited chatter and whispering as everyone began talking about the video and all the new stuff they’d learned about how they were perceived by mortals. 

The chattering came to a sudden halt as Percy jumped up from his seat to stand before everyone in the room. Based on the absolutely resigned look of exasperation on Annabeth’s face- whatever he was about to say was going to make the Hermes kids very happy. 

“Ok, I have an idea- how many of you have mortal technology you snuck into camp. Like phones or computers?” He addressed the room. 

Everyone went dead still at the question, with not a single person raising their hand. Percy gave the entire room a deadpan look, “I know for a fact that’s a lie. I may be a counselor but I’m not going to snitch, trust me guys you’ll love this. So how many of you have stuff- Stoll’s I know for a fact you two do, don't lie.”

Slowly, half the room raised their hands sheepishly in response to Percy’s question. Thank the gods- or more likely Thalia and her tree, that the camp had magic boundaries. Otherwise the amount of technology use in this camp would attract about every monster in the country. 

Percy got an evil grin on his face, “perfect. And I assume some of you guys have social media accounts as well!” 

A good portion of the kids who had illegal technology nodded their heads, a dawning look of realization on their faces. Rachel could already see what Percy was building up too- and as chaotic as it was, it would be very funny. 

“Even better! So, what do you guys say we all start sending in some questions or replies for their postmorum-”

“Postmortem,” Lacy interjected to correct him. 

“-postmortem video.” His suggestion had the entire room practically vibrating with energy at the prospect. 

Percy turned to her, a wicked smile on his face still, “And Rachel, you have the once in a lifetime chance to do the funniest thing ever right now.”

“And that would be?” Rachel asked with a raised eyebrow, already knowing what Percy was getting at. 

“Well I’m just saying that a lot of the fans of this channel are paying attention to you and your social media account right now. So if you were to post some fun pictures from the summer camp you attend and we just happen to be in them…”

Her dad would be furious if she involved herself in the cases of multiple missing children that have evaded and infuriated the government at every turn. That thought only made her more on board as she met Percy’s eyes and pulled out her phone, “it would be a funny coincidence…”