Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter 1, Gwen: Wow. A great start to my week.

February 2nd.

When I said I wished something interesting happened, this was not what I had in mind.

I meant something more like a teacher dying, someone getting arrested, insane gossip at school that had nothing to do with me. Not long lost half brothers, not false jealousy, and certainly not a hydra.

Yet there I was. Facing all 3 of those things.

Let me just pause for plot convenience here-

My name is Gwen Ingrid and I live in Toronto. my life had been relatively easy, the only major plot points being Gwen's dad is absent and Gwen doesn't like Heather Kasuga at all (it's mutual). I had a pretty... ahem, vivid imagination, as most call it. Sometimes I see things that aren't really there. I genuinely suck at spelling and reading and focus are traits I lack, mom said everyone goes though that though. It wasn't like I was a complete failure or a criminal.

Do you ever get bored and try to trace the major plot twist of your life to a small, tiny choice?

I do.

That Monday morning, I'd had a stuffy nose. Mom offered to let me stay home, but I left my notebook at school the previous day and wanted it back.
If only I had just STAYED HOME-

it's fine, its cool, I am okay mostly for now.

Anyway.

I had made it to school on time. Rather odd.

"Hey emo blueberry!" Heather Kasuga snarled cheerfully. I thought, she definitely has Lima syndrome or something. Attached to me, despite her open despise for me.

"Hello, Heather." I replied.

"See anything odd today? I bet that bird has a metal beak!" She jabbered. I mean, she wasn't wrong... the raven's beak was shiny grey, like steel or iron. I wasn't going to say that. She already was never going to let me live down the gawking out the window because a Godspeed girl on a horse with a sword they didn't see.

"Goodbye Heather." I stuffed my bag in my locker and promptly started walking to class. and then Cody stopped me.

Cody is like a little brother to me. A very Annoying. Little. Brother.

"Sup Gwen! How's my fav girl doing?" He pointed finger guns at me. I blinked, unimpressed but not surprised. At all.

"Fine." I said brushing past him. He followed me, which was fine, since we have the same homeroom.

"Wait."

"Why." I snapped, tiring around to see a nervous expression. "We're gonna be late."

"Trent told me Mr McLean was teaching in a different room today and we shouldn't go in." He spoke carefully.

"Oh. Where?"

"I don't really know? Trent went outside I think."

"Onto the track? Why?"

"I don't know? He was being all weird- something about an oracle and hydra?"

"Well should we go find Trent and demand answers or just go to the room." I said, impatient. "I'm fine with either."

"Maybe let's check the room?"

We checked the room, nothing. No one in sight. It felt barren. Something felt wrong. Mr McLean's class had been one of the liveliest, especially since he used to be a TV star. No, he wasn't Tristan McLean, but that was his nickname for some reason. Tristan. Moviestar.

I grabbed my notebook. It was like, tiny, A7 I think, so it could fit in my pocket. We then headed outside to find Trent.

Cody had been on edge for a while. It was starting to freak me out. Trent had been slightly nervous the entirety of last week, same with Lindsay. Maybe Heather started a rumor like 'did you know Gwen killed her dad?' (Despite me stating multiple times I never met him)

Finally we found him. And also Lindsay. Joy.

They both looked panicked, pupils dilated, eyes darting around. Flinching at any sound. Lindsay was in the stands, and Trent was standing on the ground at the bottom of them. Trent's guitar, which he never brought to school, ever, he was gripping the neck of it like his life depended on it. Lindsay also was holding something but I had no idea what it was. I was too far away.

Trent's foot tapped the floor nine times, and then paused, nine times, and paused again- something he only did when really freaked out.

"What's going on?" I called to Lindsay. She nearly dropped whatever she was holding.

"You need to leave. Now." Trent snapped into focus. "We can handle this."

"Handle what?" I asked, now also starting to freak.

A magnificent roar, came from behind me.

Standing behind me, a 6 metre tall hydra. 9 horrible heads, gangling and snarling, hungry for breakfast.

At first I thought 'this is most totally an illusion of some kind. It can't hurt me!'

How wrong I was.

It lunged at me, and I rolled out of the way just in time as acid sailed over my head. Who knew fire safety training could be so useful when battling a 20 foot monster. The venom spit seared into the side of the metal stands, right next to Trent. I expect him to be terrified, but he just looked determined, like he'd done this before. He ran backwards and grabbed something from behind the stands. A bow and a quiver of arrows, each arrowhead a strange glowing bronze. Then I realized what was in Lindsay's hands- a dagger.

I spotted a sword in the grass- strange glowing bronze, like Trent's arrowheads and Lindsay's dagger- I grabbed it and ran. I sliced of a hydra head from behind.

And two regrew in its place.

The hydra turned one of them and slashed my arm with its teeth. Venom burned as my left forearm exploded with throbbing acidic pain. With my remaining strength, I stabbed the hydra with the sword and rolled away. Apparently, that didn't do anything. The Hydra kept spitting acid after me and missing, as I ducked behind the bleachers. It couldn't fit in the gap, so I was at least a little bit safe.

"FIRE! WE NEED TO CAUTERISE THE WOULDS SO THEY CANT GROW BACK!" Trent called.

I felt dizzy. I looked down at my arm.

Two long open slash wounds oozed and bubbled with acidic venom. I almost passed out from the sight.

I don't remember what happened next very well. I had collapsed and was half passed out, so it was all a bit of a blur.

I heard a scream. Cody. Someone yelling "WHAT THE HELL?" Must've been my other friend Courtney. Then there was an explosion. Then I was being pulled out from under the bleachers. That was when I passed out fully.

When I woke up, we were still on the track, but now I was propped up on one of the seats of the bleachers. My arm hurt, but not as much as before. Lindsay was sitting on the folded down chair of the row in front of me closing some kid of canteen.
"What...happened?" I asked weakly.
"That was a hydra." She replied. Lindsay had a talent for stating the obvious. At least she could identify what it was. "Duncan blew it up with spare fireworks."
Of course. Duncan blew it up. Everyone's favourite pyro punk.
"Dad will be here soon," Lindsay told me. "Trent's gone to get the rest of the class."
"Why?" I asked. "I-"
"Eat this." She handed me a small caramel-coloured square, similar to chocolate. I nibbled it cautiously. It tasted like the pomegranate tea my mum has. It's delicious. It was also not a taste a square of caramel should have. At the same time, my arm felt like it was healing in rapid time. What kind of painkillers was this?
"What is this?" I marvelled.
"Ambrosia." Lindsay said. "Food of the Gods. It heals us demigods. You can't eat too much though, or you'll combust."
"Demigods?"
Lindsay paused awkwardly. "Oh... no one told cause you were.... Oh... oops..."
"Just tell me what they are." I replied. I had no idea what she was jabbering on about. I didn't exactly trust Lindsay with providing information, but I could always ask Trent later.
"Well," Lindsay's blonde hair swayed in the light breeze. "You know how in Greek mythology, sometimes the gods had children with mortals? Like, Uhm..... Aeneas, or Heracles?"
"Uh, yeah." I was certainly surprised she could name two, let along get Heracles's name right.
"What if I told you that the old Greek gods- Apollo, Zeus, Hera, Aphrodite and all the others- actually exist? And have kids with mortals sometimes? And we are those kids?"
I couldn't even be surprised. I had been seeing weird stuff all my life, I just battled a very real Hydra and had magic Ambrosia squares. Besides, my dad is not really in the picture, so it was almost plausible that he was an all-powerful Greek god. It was still a lot to take in somehow.
"Ok...."
"My Dad is Apollo, god of light, music, archery, healing and... prophecy...."
"Ok.... You said he was coming to pick us up? What's that about?"
"Well as you just saw, monsters really like killing demigods. Especially teens." Lindsay huffed. "So, they decided to make a camp for demigods. Camp half-blood. At least, that's the Greek camp. It trains them on how to fight, uh, and other demigod stuff. We need to get there ASAP. That's where my Dad, Apollo comes in. He has this magic sun chariot that drives the sun across the sky most mornings- it can be any car, including a bus. He can get us there in record time."

"Cool." I tried to stand, but using my arm to push myself up nearly killed me.
"Might wanna rest." Lindsay told me, gently putting her hand on my arm, which should've hurt, but instead made my throbbing arm hurt less. "Ambrosia helps big time, but usually won't fix it entirely."
"Ok then."
In a flash of golden light and a quick scorching of the track, there was a glowing yellow mini school bus with a shining golden spiral sun painted on the side of it.
"That's Apollo."

Chapter Text

Chapter 2, Heather: Turns out I am one of a kind (and also slightly problematic)

February 2nd.

That bird has been following me. I dont know why. It just has. It was outside this morning. It flew over me when I walked to school. And now it's sitting in the tree beside the window of my empty classroom. Weirdo. Maybe I've just spent so much time near Gwendolyn that evil bird mistook me for her. Not appreciated, bird!
It could also be because I am apparently a 'demigod', whatever that was.
Nevertheless,
The school bus that just appeared looked kind of cool. The door slid open and out stepped a tall, tanned blonde guy, about 18. He practically glowed.
"Hello dearest children!" The guy said, looking at Trent and Lindsay in particular.
"Hello! Lord Apollo...!" Lindsay sputtered.
"Hi Dad," Trent huffed.
"Please," He said, "Call me dad, Lindsay."
Ok. This guy was Lindsay and Trent's dad. Also apparently Apollo. Ok then.
I've learned to adapt to the mayhem. My parents hate me, same as my siblings- well, half siblings. I'm the oldest, from my Dad's first relationship who left as soon as I was born, so I don't find it particularly ridiculous that my biological mother is a goddess. I mean, I am pretty great and worshippable, so there's that too.

I turned to the bleachers. Lindsay is helping a very weak Gwen climb down from the top seats. Her arm cut looked nasty. It's also what got me believing this was real, between the oozing acidic hydra venom pouring out or the way Lindsay healed her- yeah.
My class gathered around the school bus. Beth chatted to Justin about- well, god knows what, anything to get his attention, Duncan annoying Courtney and asking stupid questions, Bridgette and Geoff reassuring a nervous DJ, sierra being.... Herself.....
ick.
Behind Apollo, a tall blond boy with brown routes, wearing an orange T-shirt with the words "CAMP HALF-BLOOD" and a weird logo with a winged horse, a green flannel and cargo shorts stepped out. He seemed to be glowing slightly, though it was hard to tell, and also and obvious bisexual.

"Trent, what exactly were you thinking?" obvious Bisexual said, sounding slightly irritated. "And bringing Lindsay as well?"
"Well now we know that my theory is correct." Trent rolled his eyes. "Demigod traps DO exist."

Turns out, the guy was named Will Solace, and he was also the son of Apollo, making him Trent and Lindsay's half brother. He also was,in fact, bisexual- he had a boyfriend called Nico.
Also, about Trent? He'd been going to camp halfblood for 2summers, since he was 9, but had been living there for a while as well until last October, which was when he moved back with his mom and stepdad and joined our school. Lindsay on the other hand, only came to the camp at the end of last summer, brought by Trent after he helped her fight off an Empousa, whatever that was.

As we all piled onto the bus, it became clear I probably wasn't getting my own seat like I deserved.
I told Alejandro to give up his seat to me because I am awesome.
"You can sit next to me," he offered, charmingly, "but you may not take my seat."
HMPH. How rude. I sat down anyway.

Alejandro really annoys me. NO ONE IS THAT charming AND pretty. NOT EVEN Courtney. I mean what who said that.

"Is there a Greek god of annoyance?" I Asked loudly. "I reckon he's Al's dad."
"Alejandro." Alejandro corrected, irritation seeping into his voice.
"Whatever." I retorted.
"Oh, speaking of godly parents," Apollo, who was getting ready to start driving the bus (which was actually just the sun chariot) piped up. "Cody?"
"Yeah?" Cody said, enthusiastically. He sat near the front, sitting in one of the seats across from Gwen and Trent. The kid was ok in theory, but he acted like a little brother. Occasionally insufferable, very punchable and wedgieable, so very annoying, but you had this strange urge to protect him even after knowing him for one group project. Cody is a small child must protect.
"You look just like your mom." Apollo said, "Rosella Anderson."
Why does Apollo know Cody's mom? Kinda creepy....
"I'm your dad, by the way."
OOOH that makes sense.

Did you know, theres a word for when you realises something isn't as good as you thought? Disillusioned.
That's how I felt about Apollo's driving skills.

You would think I guy who drives the sun across the sky every single day would be a safe, non-reckless, careful driver. If not, you'd at least think he'd drive straight, riggghhhhtt????

But alas, here is where I am disillusioned. Apollo drives about as straight as his son.
So, not at all.
we started driving.

"You're going to crash into that tree!" Courtney yelled from the middle of the bus.
"hate to agree with princess," Duncan, who was forced next to her said, "but at this rate we'll be plowing through the school wal-WOAHWHOWHOAH."
just as we were getting close to the tree Courtney was talking about, the bus jerked upwards, shooting into the sky.

"WE'RE GOING TO DIEEEEEEE!!!!!" wailed Owen.
"IF YOU DON'T LET ME GO I CERTAINLY WILL!!" Noah snapped, being hugged to death by Owen. "AS MUCH AS I FEEL SYMPATHETIC FOR YOU, STOP USING ME AS YOUR OWN PERSONALLY TEDDY BEAR! TAKE IZZY INSTEAD!"

Even I must admit, that was a little unexpected. but also pretty cool.
Alejandro was clutching his seat in shock, his fearless, charming persona wavering for a second. I looked back. Izzy was excited, cheering, next to a stoic Eva. Gwen was clutching her arm, but otherwise didn't seem too scared. Trent looked like he'd been though this before and was bored already. Duncan and Courtney, ever the banterers, were clutching each other for dear life. when things started to settle, they quickly let go and went back to arguing like nothing had happened

But the REAL mayhem kicked off in the decent to the camp.

"There!" Will Solace pointed, whom was in the seat directly behind Apollo, navigating.
"Ah yes!" Apollo said. We came to a halt in the middle of the sky. Apollo looked back at us. "I suggest you hold onto your seats!"

then the bus tilted downward.

and so we plummeted. Owen clutched Noah, screaming into his ear, while Noah cursed at him. Duncan and Courtney did not hug this time. they continued arguing, now grabbing at the edge of their seats as advised. Gwen however, only had one arm able to hold on, and she started slipping off of her seat. Trent grabbed her sore arm, preventing her from flying off and hitting the windscreen like a bug or a pigeon.

"OW!" Gwen cried, wincing in pain.
"Sorry!" Trent called. "It's that or become a pancake!"
we crashed in a field of strawberries.

After we all had gotten off the bus, regained our composure and put out the fire caused by the sun chariot, we were met by 3 new figures:

Number 1) Horse dude. He was middle aged, but a black stallion from the waist down.
Number 2) Concerned girl. She was pretty, about 18, tall, dark skinned with blonde braids. her face was scrunched with concern and worry, her grey eyes darting, calculatingly.
Number 3) Emo boy who was also likely a homosexual. this theory was confirmed when Will called out to him, "NICO!" which was, of course, the name of his previously mention boyfriend.

Horse dude said, "hm. how old are they?"
"We're like... how old are we?" Lindsay whispered to Trent. In response, Trent facepalmed.
"We're all in the same year group," Trent answered, "6th graders. So, most of us are 11. A few 12."
"Ah." Chiron said. "hopefully some of you will be claimed soon... oh wait, there it is."

Holographic, glowing, silver owls holding olive branches shone above Courtney and Noah's heads respectively. They also gained a silver glow of their own. A few seconds later, a golden goblet of liquid appeared above Owen's head.

"what are your names, children?" Chiron asked.
"Noah."
"Courtney Satella."
"Oh, hi, I'm Owen!"
"Well, Noah, Courtney you have just been claimed by the goddess Athena as her children, meaning you are the half-siblings of Miss Chase here. And you, Owen, have been claimed by the goddess Hebe."
"Cool!" Owen said, happily.

on our way to camp, four more of us were claimed.
Katie was a daughter of Hecate, and her 'BFFFFL' (best female friend for life) Sadie was a daughter of Iris. DJ, the big softie who is too good for the world, too sweet and innocent and wholesome surrounded by plain madness, was the son of Hephaestus. And Beth, Beth was a communist. I mean a daughter of Demeter. Same thing.

"Noah, Courtney, Owen, Katie, Sadie, DJ and Beth, I'll show you to your cabins." Annabeth Chase, the Concerned girl daughter of Athena guided the claimed to a group of 20 cabins. Will, Trent, Cody and Lindsay also went back to their cabin. Apollo also went, to go be a good father or something and check up his kids.

Apparently, they were for all the claimed children of the ancient Greek gods. 12 for the 12 Olympians, as well as 8 extras for Hades and some of the minor gods, as Nico had explained.

The rest of us went to 'the big house', which was, shockingly, a big house. On the porch, there was another guy, in a leopard skin Hawaiian shirt drinking a diet coke and shuffling cards.

"Hi Mr D." Nico said.
"oh hi Nico," Mr D turned to the rest of us. He pointed at Geoff, and then Izzy. "Those two are mine."
"'scuse me man, what do you mean?" Geoff asked dumbly.
"Mr D is the god Dionysus," Chiron Explained. " He's here on punishment from Zeus, and He's saying that you two are his children."
"OOOH, fun!" Izzy clapped her hands 3 times. "aren't you the god of madness? Aha, that makes sense. Is my sister here? is she also a daughter of you?"
"I mean, she is here, but she's a mortal." Mr D answered.
"Excuse me? Are you saying that you? There's no way." Nico looked slightly shellschocked. "Does ahem....the oracle know?"
"Uhhh, doubt it."
"She's gonna be pissed."

but suddenly, they paused and turned to me in awe.

everyone went silent.

"What?" I asked. Glaring at them.
"No way..." Nico said staring above my head. "That's new."
"What does that mean?" Gwen asked.
"It means," Chiron began, "That this is Heather Kasuga, Daughter of Eris, Goddess of Strife and discord. This is the wielder of the golden apple, one of the 10 that the oracle fortold."

Chapter Text

February 2nd.

Heather was apparently claimed by her mother 10 minutes ago. Eris, the goddess of discord. yaaaaay. It figures, no offense to her.

Now, me, her, and the seven other claimed demigods are headed to the oracle's cave.

The oracle is apparently a girl called Rachel Elizabeth Dare. and apparently, she's the half-sister of our friend, Izzy Dare. Izzy is adopted, but since her biological family was alive and well, she still got to see them sometimes, especially since Mr and Mrs dare were on good terms with Izzy's adoptive moms. That's how Izzy knew about Rachel. And Rachel knows Izzy.

Generally, I like Izzy. She's a psycho, yes, but sometimes she's an ok person to be around. besides, she has two moms like me. Mama is bi. She had me a few months before she met Mom. They got married last year, when it was legalized. I've always seem them both as my moms, and i didn't really care about who my dad was. Now I've just learn that my Dad was Hepheastus, the greek god of blacksmiths and fire. Even though I'm scared of fire. Nice.

I just met the head councilor of my cabin, Nyssa Barrera, my half-sister, though she's co-ruling with my half-brother, Leo Valdez. the two couldn't be more opposite. Nyssa was Stoic, while Leo a hot mess. Literally. he had fire powers. He also, apparently, had been dead before, had built a massive warship and had a pet bronze dragon whose name was happy in latin, Festus. I'd also met Harley, My 8 year old brother, who was a little crazy. That was ok because he was a 3rd grader. The person i want to meet the most is Festus, probably.

apparently, there were usually way more campers in the summer. That would be cool, but also a little wild the gods have so many children.

"This is so random," Annabeth muttered. "Rachel's never mentioned a sister."

"You never mentioned your knowledge and relation to the Norse until last week," Nico piped up. He'd come along for moral support.

"I'm SORRY," Annabeth snapped. "is it really necessary knowledge that Magnus is an undead warrior who glows?"

Ok i didn't hear that i have no idea what they're talking about. Where's the effects of the mist when you need them.

we got to the cave. Out the front, there were 2 torches, neither lit. Annabeth told us this meant she wasn't busy or giving a prophecy. if the torches were lit, she was busy. if they were lit green, she was giving a prophecy. If they were gone, she was not there. Rachel was currently in art school, Annabeth told us, but she didn't have any classes today.

Inside the cave was incredible.

paintings of the gods and monsters and battles and even a few demigods I recognized from around camp lined the walls. I could see Annabeth, Nico, Will, A girl with short choppy black hair and glasses that could've been our age, and a guy that would've probably been Annabeth's boyfriend, Percy Jackson (He'd already been mentioned 5 billion times). I even saw Leo, This girl in the Aphrodite cabin who he was best friends with, Piper, and his Girlfriend, Calypso. There was also a chinese canadian guy in a purple shirt, a blonde guy with glasses wearing a purple shirt, and a dark-skinned girl with chocolate to caramel colored hair wearing a purple shirt. a lot of purple shirts.

There were a few that looked like they could represent something that actually happened, like a god (maybe apollo?) falling from the heavens. Poor Apollo. He may have been slightly vain, but I didn't think he deserved his god privileges revoked.

There were a few bones and swords on the ground in the corner of the room, but other than that, the massive green corduroy couches made it feel pretty cozy. Wedged between pillows on the biggest couch, scribbling in a notepad was a girl, about 18, same age as Annabeth. she had long, wild red hair and a face full of freckles, her bright green eyes practically glowing. When she saw us, she quickly stood up and walked over.

"Hi Annabeth!" She gave her a quick hug, and nodded to Nico. "Hey Nico." She glanced around, taking in the group. "I see we have some new demigods..."

"There's more, Trent was right about demigod traps." Annabeth said. " And also-"

"HIII RACHEL!!!!!!!!!" Izzy jumped. Rachel's eyes went wide, and her jaw dropped.

"IZZY?" She gawked. "Is that why they put you up for adoption? Who's your godly parent?"

"Dionysus!"

"MR D? ARE YOU SERIOUS?" Rachel was, as predicted, not pleased. I mean, If there was someone who annoyed you, and you learned they had a kid with your mother, would you be?

"Mr D isn't THAT bad," Nico said.

"Nico, You're his all-time favorite camper. And you've only been living here since the giant war. he knows your full name and everything. I lived here since I was 7, for 10 years. And he STILL forgets my name half the time!" Annabeth scolded.

"I'm Just saying," Nico began, "Mr D actually cares about his kids to some degree. Besides, with Pollux gone to university, Cabin 12 needs a new head councilor."

"I guess your right but it could've been ANY GOD. It could've been Apollo. Athena. Heck, I'd even take Hermes. But Dionysus." Rachel said.

"I think a maddness god is pretty cool!" Izzy jabbered. "maybe i can make people CRAZY!!!"

"or maybe that's why you are." Noah muttered. Owen elbowed him.

"Be nice!" He told Noah.

"That girl is as nutty as an uncracked walnut, dipped in pistachio sauce, coated with Nutella, smothered in peanut butter, not smooth, the crunchy kind, covered in almonds and macadamias encased in a pecan the size of China, drowned in red wine. Does it not make sense to you her father is the god of wine, parties and madness."

"The point is," Annabeth interrupted, "That we found the daughter of Eris."

Rachel's eyes somehow went wider.

"Where- Who is she?"

"Hello, ginger, it's allegedly me." Heather snapped, walking to the front. Rachel looked unimpressed.

"of course it's a 12 year old." She looked up. "What is it with the gods and torturing 12 year olds?"

"TORTURE? um, no, i didn't sign up for this. How do I opt out?" Heather asked, scowling.

dead silence. Nico, Rachel and Annabeth exchanged looks, having a silent conversation of worry and empathy for the girl. Heather caught on.

"...I can't, can I?"

"It might not be you?" Nico said hopefully.

Heather sighed. "Just my luck then."

"You'd better go get weapons then," Rachel spoke. "I sense the prophecy's started. and She's not the only one part of it whose arrived."

I'd already been to the weaponry today, but man was it cool.

Celestial Bronze and imperial gold swords and spears lined the walls, each as unique and as powerful as the next. There were even some stygian iron, which were apparently only for children and legacies of the underworld. anyone else would die wielding a weapon of it. There was a whole rack of demigod firearms (which had a big 'NO WILL SOLACE OR CLARRISE LA RUE' sign on it. I was scared to ask) entire drawers worth of shiny daggers and knives, as well as shelves of jars of Greek fire and other demigod weaponry necessities. On one of the work benches, hunching over a golden round thing was my brother, Leo Valdez.

At first, I thought he was tinkering with one of his archimede's sphere models. He was trying to recreate the master piece he had lost when the warship The Argo II he built exploded in the second giant war, which happened nearly 2 years ago. But it wasn't the archimedes shere he was working on. It was too small, and imperial gold rather than celestial bronze, so it couldn't be. Leo turned around in he spinny chair when he realised we were here.

"hello demon children!!" leo said.

"Oh come on, the Cocoa Puffs aren't even here." Nico rolled his eyes.

"Cocoa puffs?" Courtney looked confused, which was a rare sight. When Courtney is confused, it says something.

"right, you HAVE demon children! Not you are one!" Leo corrected himself.

"You have CHILDREN? aren't you like, 15? 16? and gay?" Heather judged, raising an eyebrow.

"It's a long story, they aren't actually children... more like beings created out of my trauma? Created by a slightly evil goddess? who is like, your grandmother."

"Ok......." Heather and Courtney said in sync.

Leo had told me the story already. He talked a lot. last September, Nico and Will had gone to Tartarus which was kind of like Greek hell on steroids, trying to rescue the good titan Iapetus aka Bob from Nyx, goddess of night. Nyx had made cacodemons out of Nico's negative emotions, which were literally his children.

"Anyway you lot, pick your weapons! You'll need em for tonight's game of capture the flag!!"

"Why would we need weapons for capture the flag?" Katie asked.

"It's a little violent." Nico shrugged. "Oh, Katie. You're a daughter of Hecate, she's an underworld goddess. You can use stygian iron if you want."

"Oooh, Cool!"

"Also," Annabeth said. Her voice dropped volume. "Golden apple?"

"The daughter of Eris or something is here ALREADY?" Leo exclaimed.

"The one and only," Heather flaunted. "I presume."

"Well we'll have to get you a cabin!" Leo said, excitedly. "Annabeth?"

"YES, yes, I'll help you design the cabin." She replied tiredly, crossing her arms.

"and ALSO," Leo said. He turned back around in his swivel chair to grab the thing he was tinkering with. He handed it To Heather. It was a golden apple. "Meet the golden apple of chaos, made by the amazing and excellent Leo Valdez, modelled after the real thing."

"what does it do?" Heather did not look impressed. The apple, knowing about the things Leo'd built before, probably had some kind of epic function.

"anything you want," Leo replied. "all you've got to do is tell it the amount of chaos to cause, and then pull the stem. The scale is non-destructive (self explanatory), minor damage, medium damage, major and extreme. If you're going for a specific person, say their name, and if you want explosions tell it to go into bomb mode. It won't actually destroy itself unless told too by YOU. try it."

Heather held the apple, scrutinising it. "Golden Apple, non-destructive chaos please. throw confetti or something at Courtney."

the Apple shot out of Heather's hands, and flew towards Courtney. a little spout opened and shot tiny confetti at her. Courtney was a little surprised it worked, but she also looked impressed. Heather grinned maliciously as the apple flew back in her hands.

"I also engineered it after Percy's sword riptide." Leo pulled out a small, red, velvet bag. "it automatically comes back to this bag after 5 minutes and it has not been picked up by someone, so as long as you've got this bag and no one steals it, you can't loose it."

Heather grinned even more. I had a feeling she was going to use the apple not in the way that was intended, like fighting monsters or something. I thought she planned on using it to blow up Gwen and maybe Trent or Beth too.

"The rest of you, go pick your weapons!" Leo announced.

Katie got twin stygian iron daggers. she was quite pleased with them and the fact they would be hard for even another demigod to steal, since wielding stygian iron weapons when you aren't an underworld kid can kill you. Sadie got her own set of knives, but one was celestial bronze and the other imperial gold.

Both Geoff got throwing knives and Izzy got matching ninja stars, as well as both of them getting their own celestial bronze daggers. Both had already managed to get banned from the firearms rack. Geoff is one of my best friends. He's the life of the party, very chaotic and at some points plain insane, but you can't hate him for it. He's a genuinely nice guy. Unfortunately, Izzy and him were an dangerous combination back at school, and now that they've learned they're siblings, they've become even worse, acting like twins.

Courtney found a celestial bronze blade for herself. It seemed normal, nothing special other than the ruby engraved in the hilt (as geoff pointed out), but Courtney insisted there was something about it. Leo backed her up.

"That sword was made by Beckendorf. He was the cabin 9 head councilor before the second titan war. I never met him, but he sacrificed his life to blow up this giant evil ship." Leo said, "there probably is something special about the blade, we just don't know it yet."

Beth adopted a celestial pitchfork that could turn into a hairclip. It seemed pretty cool to me, also pretty sneaky, but heather didn't seem to think so.

"Weird." Heather snarled.

"You have a flying apple that throws confetti at people." Beth replied.

Noah just got himself a plain sword he liked, that came with a sheathe. Cody on the other had found what was known as a bow and 'The chaos quiver'. This thing had all kinds of arrows, throwing knives, ninja stars and various other projectiles, all in infinite supply, but the catch was you couldn't choose what you grabbed. You wanted a normal arrow? Here's an explosive one! Oh NOW you want an explosive one? Have a ninja star!

i got myself a normal celestial bronze shield, as well as a bow and some arrows. I'd prefer not to be violent, in all honesty.

Now, it was time for dinner, and then a good ol game of something called capture the flag.

Chapter Text

4, Duncan Tarun: I get hit by a brick.

February 2nd.

So.

I wake up. I eat toast. I agrue with my father. And then I go to school.

sounds like a normal day right?

yeah well then i blow up a monster, learn i am half god, take a trip on the sun chariot, meet a half-horse guy, and have magical dinner.

Yep. super normal.

hey I'm not complaining, this is kinda cool. I really want to know who my godly parent is. In theory, it could be either of my parents, not because i'm adopted or an orphan, but because i actually have two parents. judging from the way that the hydra charged me, and the fact that i accidentally cut myself on one of the celestial bronze swords, i doubt i'm just a human who got dragged into all of this. Personally, i think it's my dad.

Mom has cheated on dad before. And dad highkey hates me. so i wouldn't put it past either of them. My theory is that mom cheated, got pregnant with me, dad somehow knew and was petty to me all my life because of it. they fight all the time. It's also probably the reason my dad favours my sister- well, probably half sister- so much.

Most of us are sitting at the massive hermes cabin table, since we're unclaimed. I'd be fine with Hermes actually being my dad. I mean, I'm pretty good at stealing stuff, but I also like fire, so you can't rule out Hephaestus. as much as i hate to admit it, I'm really not smarter than courtney or Noah, and I'm not nearly as charming or as pretty as Alejandro, who was just claimed by Aphrodite. What huh who said that. I didn't call him pretty, i'm just stating an objective fact. i mean common opinion. not that i agree. regardless, i think I can rule out Aphrodite and Athena.

But yeah. we were having dinner. magic dinner, well, more like dinner with magic cups.

there were platters of food brought to the tables by some of the nymphs. everything you could ever imagine x 10. fruit, nuts, bread, roast chicken, peanut m&ms, skittles, blue cookies- you name it- it was there. we also had magic cups that filled themselves with any drink you wanted.

HEAR ME OUT ON SPEARMINT MILK.

stop saying 'ewwww' right this second. it is not gross. do not listen to courtney say it is. she is a liar and a fraud.

I turned to my acquaintance (friend? rival? frienemy? weird person who I am sometimes near?), Gwen Ingrid.

"Who do you think your godly parent is?" i asked her.

"well obviously, it's my dad," Gwen replied. "Not sure after that. Maybe Hypnos? That would be cool. I'm Insomniac though."

Hypnos would be a cool dad. Dream control? that would be fun. I could give people i don't like dreams about their worst fears. only problem is, sleep is not my friend. and also, I do not want gwen as a sister.

during dinner, a few more of us were claimed. Alas, that didn't include me, just a few of the weirdo classmates whose antics needed explaining.

stalkierra aka sierra was a daughter of Iris, which, between the speed, constant talking and purple hair, made perfect sense. Leshawna was a daugher of Nemesis, which also made sense. she was all about revenge. especially on Heather and those who deserve it. Tyler was actually claimed by hermes, which also makes sense, and Harold was claimed by Athena. long after Noah and Courtney like he was the least favourite, but still plausible.

About Athena having children- I find it very funny Athena just spawns her kids from her thoughts and brain, similar to Athena herself emerging from Zeus' skull when she was born. Like father like daughter. apparently, during the summer, there was a son of Hestia, and he was alledgedly born from flames and didn't even have a biological father, instead two foster parents. Artemis only had a cabin for her hunters, a group of immortal girls who went around killing monsters (and a few inherently bad people, like murderers or groomers or pedophiles) which i think is pretty cool. If i were a girl, I would absolutely join them.

Anyway, AFTER dinner, chiron, the horse guy, said we were going to play capture the flag.

"the rules are simple, as always, however to make things fair, since we currently have many unclaimed, they may choose whom they side with: The Athena cabin, or Ares."

"I'm choosing Ares," Eva said in her gravelly voice. I wouldn't be surprised if she was a daughter of Ares herself. "who's with me."

"Sure," I said. I'd seen the Ares cabin. I liked our odds. besides Eva was scary. she had a permanent resting angry face. She had a slight monobrow and choppy black hair which she said she cut herself with a knife. If you ever maker her mad and look her directly in the eyes, you will be screaming and crying for your godly mommy or daddy to protect you from the big bad Eva.

"I'm siding with Athena." Gwen decided.

"Yeesh, I'll have to go with Ares." surfer girl Bridgette said. I was surprized she was playing. "sorry gwen."

"It's fine," Gwen replied. "but we're gonna crush you guys."

I didn't want to use a sword.

They were far too bulky. far too heavy. besides, i sucked at ruler swordfights back at school. Courtney beat me every time, which was a little embarrassing. instead, i chose a bow and arrows, throwing in some explosive ones as well.

"are you SURE?" Leo Valdez asked me for the 7th time.

"yes. Absolutely. never been more certain in my life." I confirmed.

Leo made me bring an extra dagger as well, like he didn't trust me. I mean, his slight concern was warranted, i would not trust me either. I wasn't even sure i knew how to use a bow. I figured it couldn't be too much different from a slingshot, and i wasn't bad with those. when push cam to shove, I could always chuck exploding arrows at people if needed. As we were getting ready, To a grand total of no one's surprise, Eva was claimed by Ares, which she was pretty keen about, for Eva at least.

On my team, the cabin siding with Ares were the Hermes cabin, the Aphrodite cabin, the Dionysus cabin, The iris cabin, The Hypnos cabin, the tyche cabin, The Nike Cabin and the Hecate cabin, as well as most of the unclaimed. the cabins siding with Athena were the Apollo cabin, the Hephaestus cabin, the Nemesis Cabin, the hades cabin, the hebe cabin and the brand new, magically built Eris cabin. Aka Heather. oh, and gwen.

Not everyone was playing. For example, Annabeth. the daughter of Athena wasn't participating for some odd reason. neither was her boyfriend Percy. I had only caught a glimpse of Percy, when we arrived, but he was presumably legendary. being a major part of 2 or more major prophecies and a son of Poseidon. yeah. he seemed pretty cool. but Annabeth was worried. about something. Percy hadn't been at dinner.

probably unrelated.

now, we were all gathered on opposites sides in our teams.

the game. It was just like regular capture the flag, only with weapons, armour and a 12% chance of maiming or death at the hands of Courtney Satella.

Court was probably my only real problem, since Athena was a war goddess and she was the only person We were playing against who geniunely scared me a bit. (DON'T tell ANYONE i said that.)

Here we go.

"you all know the rules," Chiron called, voice booming through a megaphone. "No maiming or murder. magical weapons and items you may possess are fully permitted. be at least a little nice to the new campers please. try not to give them their first taste of trauma."

First taste of trauma. joyful.

"GO!" Chiron sounded the horn.

Sherman Yang, Head councilor of Ares commanded me to be a flag defender. since I had a bow and arrow, I could sit in a tree near where the flag was placed, and shoot at anyone who came too close. I quite liked that role. so i was perched in a birch. reclined on a pine. actually, i don't know trees so i have no idea what tree i was in.

Things were boring at first. i only shot at one person, Lindsay, who shrieked and ran back after one normal arrow landed in the ground near where she was crouching. i even got the arrow back. I nearly shot at Eva, but then remembered that she was on my team. i figured that if I did shoot at her, she'd find new un-discovered bones to break.

A while later, i spotted someone ducking behind a bush nearby. they were pretty close, i wondered how i hadn't noticed them. Then i saw who they were.

mid length dark brown hair, tanned complexion, brown eyes that could bore into ones soul. Courtney, Daughter of Athena, my rival.

I Notched an arrow. not exploding, but I wasn't afraid to use one if nessecary. Just as I was about to fire..

Courtney lunged out of the bushes, dodging my arrow, and running out of sight. I was the only defender from here to the flag, aside from Tyler, and Tyler's useless. I jumped down from the tree which was luckily not too high and ran after her.

She tried to loose me by swerving around some trees, which almost worked. I set off a few exploding arrows, but it didn't hit her nor slow her down. We got to the flag, and I hoped to the gods that Tyler and his freakishly strong fingers would help me out.

But no. the brunette boy wasn't even there. It was just me, courtney and the flag in the clearing.

courtney drew her sword.

"surrender." she said firmly, her eyes burning.

"Not gonna happen." I took out my dagger. I could try and disarm her? if not, i'd blow her up or at least a tree to distract her, grab the flag for myself and run. It would be harder for her to fight me If I had a ranged weapon and she didn't, whilst sitting in a tree.

Courtney lunged. she slashed, but i dodged. now it was my turn to slash. and she disarmed me easily, using her sword to knock my dagger right out of my hands. I was stunned for a second, then she slashed my hand and arm, and that hurt. it wasn't a deep cut but it still hurt.

i grabbed an arrow and stabbed her hand. she yelped in pain and threw me to the ground.

A minute more of struggle later, I knew i was doomed. i had quite a few cuts and wounds, and was flat of my back. Courtney pressed the tip of her bronze blade to my neck. She grinned.

"Hah."

A second later, well, flying daggers and ninja stars, and that smug expression court had been sporting faded. it was the twins-not-twins izzy and geoff, coming to save my butt. as courtney deflected one of geoff's knives, I struggled to my feet and backed off, and notched an exploding arrow. i aimed it for near courtney's feet, enough to knock her far back and disorientate her enough we could hide the flag or pick her up and take her away.

The arrow struck the ground exactly where i'd been aiming. courtney flew black, though not as far as i'd hoped. Geoff, who was near, also was knocked back by the shock. Izzy was unfazed however. I dashed for the flag.

"I'LL HOLD EM OFF!!" Izzy exclaimed.

"It's just courtney?" I asked, grabbing hold of the flag.

"Well soon it won't!" Izzy cheered, shooing me.

I ran out of the clearing just as Heather Kasuga yelled "APPLE! MAJOR DAMAGE!" and tossed down a small golden apple.

BOOM.

a brick, from nowhere, hit me on the head and sent me FLYING back. like literally. nearly 3 dozen metres, probably. I smacked into a tree. Luckily, i didn't pass out, despite the intense throbbing in my head. I'll get some ambrosia later for the potential concussion, i thought. right now, i'd better focus on the game.

I pulled myself up and ran, still clutching the flag, still not exactly sure what I was actually meant to be doing.

Chapter Text

5, Cody EJ Anderson: Do not give my brother a gun please

February 2nd.

I now see why Will Solace was banned from the gun rack in the weaponary.

"Yes!" He said, picking up a loose celestial bronze shotgun.

We were tracking down Duncan, who was currently on the run with the flag. He'd dashed off with it when Heather blew up their clearing, which was a little stupid considering she nearly blew up the flag, too. Then there would be no way we could win.

Will shot the gun, as a practice or something, twice.

"EEP!" a shrill voice came. It was a tree nymph, a dryad. she had long ginger hair and a crown of blue berries- juniper berries- and yellow flowers.

"Juniper?" Will asked. "OH! I didn't shoot you, did I?"

"NO, but NARROWLY." Juniper snapped. "aren't you banned from guns, anyway?"

"Well-"

"How'd you get banned from guns?" I asked. my brother did not seem like the violent type, so I'd been wondering why he and some daughter of Ares (which was slightly self explanatory) had gotten banned from the gun rack.

"Well, when he was brought to camp," Juniper began.

Will groaned. "we kind of have a game to focus on, here?"

"Basically, Clarisse La Rue, who was the demigod daughter of Ares who showed him around when he got to camp, let him use one after he said he knew how to use one." Juniper said. "and he shot every target with immaculate precision. The problem came when he shot a tree, which also hurt it's nymph. so he nearly killed my cousin."

"TO BE FAIR," Will defended, "That is how i learned i wasn't bad at healing. I did save her life."

"True," Juniper said. "By the way, Duncan's like, hiding out in a tree somewhere around here. He's pretty good with a bow and arrow, he could be one of your brother's maybe- OOH! he's in that tree over there!" Juniper pointed to the left.

"Thanks juniper!" I called, as we ran in the direction she pointed.

apparently, tree-hopping is one of Duncan's hidden talents.

that guy drives me insane! I can't decide if I hate him, or I'm just jealous. everyone, except Courtney and Noah probably, thinks he's cool. INCLUDING ME!

just so you can get a visual of him: He's about 5'3 which is kind of tall for our age. He has spikey black hair with a shock of bright green in the front, and piercing blue eyes comparable to lightning. like seriously. you could flashbang someone with those eyes. He's a total punk, which I'm sure you've guessed already. He's athletic and lean, while still being underestimated. HOW DOES HE DO IT?

While completely lost in codyland (aka my thoughts) I ran face first into a certain son of Athena.

I tumble to the ground. a tan hand grabs my wrist as i fall, and pulls me up to my feet. I stare into the cold, calculating chocolate eyes of Noah Starecra. If there's anyone cooler than duncan, it's him. Duncan is the guy everyone thinks is cool, with the exception of his rival and well... Noah. besides, he's not a total entitled brat like Heather, but not a pushover like me. Introverted, Snappy, sarcastic, but cooperative and even sympathetic when he needs to be. plus, he's pretty.

"You ok?" He asked

"uhm- oH- yeah sure i'm ok." I stammered. wow. such wise and inspiring words. i'm sure noah took them to heart.

"great," Noah grumbled. "Cos he just got away."

Noah's about an inch taller than me. so still on the short side of things. He's indian, with long-ish dark hair. He's not exactly sporty, (he's always reading AND his most iconic quote is "sports. not my forte.") but he makes up for it in brainpower, that's for sure. the guy's a genius! I guess that makes sense now, since he's the son of the wisdom goddess and all, but still. never EVER even TRY to win a debate against him. he will make you cry without even using insults, but with mass logic.

"I SEE HIM!" a girl next to him calls. It's one of his sisters, Hanna Kuld. Hanna is 14, and weaves. and by weaves, i mean she weaves beads. and by beads i mean pony beads. yes. you heard me. one of the children of the wisdom goddess is a major scenecore kandi-kid. Don't get me wrong, those patterns and layers look hard to do. only a smart person with extremely good technical skills would be able to make stuff like THAT.

Me, Noah, and Will trailing behind, followed Hanna. It wasn't exactly a clearing, but the trees were not as close together. duncan was in the centre, facing the other side directly opposite us. four of my sisters and brothers, Kayla Knowles, Austin Lake, and the forementioned Trent Cooper and Lindsay Top glowered at him, weapons drawn. Duncan looked back and cursed.

"Well, I'm screwed, aren't I?" He said.

"just give us the flag." Kayla said.

"Ok, alright..." we looked to Kayla. she nodded, and we slowly started walking closer. soon, we were just 7 feet or so from Duncan. He held up the flag, and made a run for it.

You'd think this would spiral into some epic chase scene, where duncan would nearly get away and then we would capture him, or maybe we would loose and he would just be distracting so that his team could get our flag. but no.

Gwen Ingrid launched herself from the bush she was hiding in, situated in the exact direction Duncan ran too. She tackled him, hands wrapping around his throat. I was honestly scared she was going to kill him. fortunately, she ripped the flag from his hand, grabbed his shirt and threw him into a tree.

"...ow..." Duncan said weakly. Well. Duncan may be cool, but can he beat the scary goth(ish) girl? hm no. to be fair, I doubt anyone could beat her, not even because she's strong. She's just a little too bloodthirsty sometimes. Maybe that's why she tries her best to avoid competitions.

Gwen is slightly shorter than me, like, an inch. so short in general. Which also explains her bloodthirstiness and pent-up anger pretty well. tiny body, lots of rage. It's that, or tiny body lots of brains. Or, in my case, tiny body lots of dorkiness.

Gwen is cool. and pretty. pretty and cool. pretty cool. yeah. She has obsidian colored hair with dyed streaks of dark blue. think of an angry ocean at night during a storm. this Aqua-blue-green color. you know what i'm thinking of. She's deathly pale, it's a little concerning and i think she's anemic. her eyes are an indescribable color. most of the time, they look exactly like dark chocolate. other times they're THAT blue-green, the same color as her hair streaks, just slightly darker, nearly black. and sometimes they're star-grey. she dresses in dark clothes alot, sometimes wearing a choker or these cool silver dagger earrings, so you can see why i call her gothish. I'm pretty sure if she had the money, she'd be full on goth.

We got to our base, where our flag was missing. It was right near a riverbank, on the other side, Chiron and Mr D (aka Dionysus) sat in lounge chairs- well, Mr D did. Chiron just... stood. Harold, Whose one job was to make sure no one took the flag, was slumped against a tree, and looked like he'd just had his lights punched out... which was probably the case. his face lit up when he saw us. He didn't speak, just pointed. Bridgette.

Bridgette is a prime example of when you shouldn't stereotype blondes. also why you shouldn't be a misogynist. She, if provoked, can beat the hell out of you. only if provoked. otherwise she's the sweetest person on the planet seriously. as previously mentioned, she has long blonde hair and eyes the same green as the ocean. She used to live in Brisbane, Australia, when she was four, then she moved to Sydney, and finally her, her mother and her new stepfather moved to Toronto a year or two ago. She still has somewhat of an aussie accent, but not as extreme or exaggerated as in cartoons and media.

She was running along the shore, holding our flag AND flag pole. you can't win capture the flag if there's nowhere to put or display the flag.

oh, but do not fear, for Gwen handed me the flag and went and tackled her too. she was on a rampage.

"SORRY BRIDGETTE!" she called, running back with the flag. I didn't think that Bridgette accepted the apology. she was lying face down in the sand, not looking too keen on getting up.

Gwen ran and snatched the flag from my grasp. she tied it to the pole of our flag. She ran up to where our flag was meant to be and stabbed it into the ground. from the other side of the river, a horn sounded.

"THE ATHENA CABIN AND ALLIES HAVE WON CAPTURE THE FLAG!" Chiron called. a dozen campers, on both sides, came out of the bushes, either in frustration or celebration. Nico popped out and reattached himself to Will's arm. As per usual, they likely wouldn't separate until absolutely necessary, from what I'd seen so far. they were all pretty happy. Gwen practically collapsed. I mean, she'd just violently tackled two relatively Athletic people to the ground, ran a whole bunch and probably some other stuff, minus a weapon, whilst being slightly anemic.

"ALSO," Mr D took the megaphone from Chiron, "WILL SOLACE, I THOUGHT WE BANNED YOU FROM THE GUNRACK?"

"Didn't get it from the gun rack? I found it in the woods?" Will replied hopefully.

"You're banned from the gun rack? like, the celestial bronze one in the weaponry?" Nico asked, raising an eyebrow. "might I ask why?"

"Oh yeah, funny story," i spoke up. "Juniper told us when Will nearly shot her!"

"You nearly shot juniper?"

"IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!"

over on the other side, mr D muttered something to Chiron, something like "he didn't break the rules, it's fair game."

"ALRIGHT SOLACE, AS LONG AS YOU ONLY SHOOT AT MONSTERS, YOU CAN KEEP THE GUN." Chiron said. "i better not regret this, but it's about time you get a weapon."

"Nice!" Will replied. Gwen slowly started rising from her collapsed state.

"well guys, there goes all our bullseyes, Will'll likely be blasting a hole through all the middle of our targets by tomorrow noon." my sister Kayla muttered to herself.

"WAIT!" Bridgette said, pulling herself up off the sand and dashing over to us. She pointed to gwen, who was now standing up again, stretching. but...

"What?" she asked, looking around. "WHAT?"

a shimmering aura of darkness outlined her. a strange, holographic silver helm with a weird symbol of what could've been some kid of magic staff etched onto it.

"Is that...?" Will turned to Nico.

"yeah- I believe so." he replied, looking just as flabbergasted as the rest of us.

"So's anyone gonna answer my very valid question?" Gwen snapped. "or are you all just gonna stare?"

"Gwen Ingrid," Chiron said, slowly. "Daughter of Hades."

Not one, but TWO shocking claimings in one day. first Heather, the daughter of eris, who's supposedly part of some weird prophecy, and then a daughter of the big 3.

When gwen had been fighting, I'd thought she could be a daughter of Ares maybe. Even Athena. (You never know, Gwen never knew her dad but that didn't mean she HAD a dad, since athena just pops her kids out of her brain)

But she was the daughter of the god of the dead. which, made total sense when you looked at her.

It was 7:30 now. dark, but not that dark. the sun had set, but because of the magical borders that could change the weather and keep rain and snow out, there was still an evening glow in the air. how the border changed the sun patterns and time? I had absolutely no idea. Noah would know.

"So you're like, my sister, huh?" Nico said. "cool. just a heads up, I think that whoever designed the interior of the hades cabin thought we were basically vampires. They weren't entirely wrong i guess, but still." He paused for a second. "I think that Hazel is coming to visit in a few days actually. So you'll get to meet her as well."

"who's Hazel again?" gwen asked.

"she's our half-sister. she's one of praetors of the roman camp, which is in California. She visits sometimes though. another thing to be warned about, she swears a lot."

"cool."

Gwen also got to pick a weapon. She chose a stygian iron tipped spear, which is, to say the least, not exactly what i was expecting. Regardless, I could see her charging into battle with it, which terrified me a bit. It also had an evil eye carved into the base, which was the ancient greek symbol of protection. She also got her own limited edition underworld kid shirt. lucky, only Hades, hecate and hypnos kids got those, since they were underworld deities.

unfortunately, there were no exclusive cabin 7 merch other than that weird box of like a couple hundred cheap plastic kazoos that no one really knows why or how we have. seriously, I asked like, everyone. apparently it kinda just appeared one day, and never seems to run out of kazoos.

But, the Apollo cabin was cozy. It gave off it's own little glow, like it was reflecting the sun like the moon does at night. there were around 24 beds in total, and 12 of us. which seems like not a lot, only half of the cabin was full, but considering we were all half-siblings, that was a little wild. Some of us were reading or drawing or other things, while the rest of us tried to go to sleep. I had a top bunk, though no one was below me. I was ok with that.

there used to be more, Trent had told me earlier, just before I came to camp half-blood, there were nearly 30 of us. then, there was the second titan war. In the end, there were only 3 left: Kayla, who was 12, Austin, who was 11, and Will who was barely 13. Will became the new head councilor because he was the oldest, after that. He was the last surviving combat medic, the one who saved Annabeth Chase's life when she was stabbed. He's seen more blood in 16 years than most demigods will in their entire lives. don't underestimate him.

I thought about my half brother Trent. If he was 11 now, and the second titan war was 2 and a half years ago, than he would've been around 8 or 9 years old when he came to camp. that was pretty young to come to camp, from what i'd heard. But he'd started living at camp not long after, despite having at the very least a step father. well damn.

When I finally nodded off, the dreams started again.

The same strange woman in a tie-dye shirt, her dark ponytail loose. she seemed normal until you looked her in the eyes. behind her circular rimmed glasses, lay to voids of blurred, colourful tv static. every colour. she kept yelling at me to run.

yelling and yellling....

over and over.......

Chapter Text

6, Courtney Satella: my older sister panics a lot.

February 3rd.

It was a bad day for camp half-blood.

"What do you mean he's gone missing AGAIN?" Nico gawked.

"Well do you see him anywhere?" Noah rolled his eyes. I elbowed him in the gut, like most people do when he's being a biatch.

"Hey!" he scowled at me.

We've been at camp half-blood for nearly a full day now. Some parents would be panicking right now, that their child is missing. maybe some of the more emotionally capable ones or ones that knew that their child was a demigod not so much. some, like my 'mother' (not Athena, the other one) wouldn't care. but that's ok. Because we had a bigger problem.

Percy Jackson was missing.

No, Not missing; Kidnapped.

He'd gone missing just before dinner yesterday. that's why Annabeth didn't play capture the flag- she was looking for him. He just disappeared, no trace of where he could've gone.

He had been talking about visiting his mom, stepdad and half sister in their apartment in Manhattan, add that to his ADHD and you have a classic case of 'whoops i went to go see my mom and forgot to tell anyone'. or so we thought. We convinced Annabeth of this, and that we would Iris message him when morning came the next day.

in the morning, two notes appeared. Immaculate script on fancy pale blue parchment. one appeared next to Annabeth in the morning, on the other side of her pillow. It told her to go to Percy's desk in the Poseidon cabin. Me, Noah, and my sister Hanna went there with her, trying to reassure her everything was fine (and failing).

The poseidon cabin was filled with nautical decor. there was surfboards and a few cool-looking shields with pictures on them hanging on the wall. There was literally a half-cracked well closer to the back. there weren't as many beds, only 3 bunk beds in total, probably moved in when Percy showed up at camp all those years ago, or even when the big three gods' pact was undone (i've been doing my research), though only Hades actually obeyed it- well actually no, because Gwen was from this century. It was less of a big deal now, since the pact was no more, but still.

on percy's bare desk, there was the second note, along with a bouquet of 14 pale pink roses.

this is what the note said.

Yes, I have Perseus Jackson. No, this is not a joke. It's as real as Rachel's most recent prophecy. As real as the Norse. I'm sure you know that, Annabeth chase.

I am however, giving you a chance to save him. The only way to save him, is with a quest. Of 5. It must be lead by one who has never been on a quest. In fact, none of these quest members can have been on a quest or it shall fail, and your dear boyfriend's soul dies. you have as many days as there are roses, before I seize full control over the boy. 14 days before Percy surrenders his mind to my words.

Rachel will have the prophecy as soon as she touches the first rose, which she must do, if you still don't believe me.

-Peitho

Oh no.

"what kind of twisted version of beauty and the beast is this?" Noah had asked, disturbed. Annabeth's face was blank, all but her eyes, full of worry.

Hanna dashed off to tell Chiron

And that's how we ended up in our position.

an emergency head councilors meeting, plus a few extras (the few extras being me, Noah, Lindsay, Trent and Gwen). Will and Nico were not-so subtly holding hands under the table, Annabeth still hadn't said a word, and Heather looked bored. Seriously. The girl may have been pretty, but she was awfully insensitive.

The only reason she was head councilor of the Eris cabin, is because she was the only one IN the newly built cabin -designed hastily by Annabeth and Leo, and built by a bunch of zombies Nico summoned- juuust before Percy went missing.

"i do suppose it means we require a quest." Chiron admitted. "Rachel, whenever you're ready."

The rose bouquet was sitting on the table, directly in front of the redhead oracle. She hadn't touched any of the flowers yet. She took a deep breath.

"i have a hate-love relationship with my job." she muttered, and reached out and lay her hand on the petals of the thorned flowers. Her eyes glowed, becoming entirely bright green. her mouth dropped open like a trapdoor, and green smoke poured out. a hissing sound came, which soon became words, almost impossible to understand. almost.

"DAUGHTER OF APOLLO, MUST BEWARE,

HAUNTED NOT BY A SIMPLE LARE.

THUNDER, TIDE, APPLE, GUITAR AND BRAIN,

TO SAVE THE SON OF POSEIDON IN PEITHO'S CHAINS."

Rachel's mouth shut. She collapsed backwards in the chair, her eyes glued shut, passed out.

"Is she ok??" I asked. The sight was a little concerning, don't blame me for being worried for her health.

"yeah, this is normal. a few hours and she'll be fine." Will solace said, standing up. "Lindsay, Trent, would you mind helping me get Rachel to the infirmiry?"

and a couple minutes later, I wound up back in my cabin. Noah and I were trying to decode the prophecy. I was scribbling down stuff in my notepad, even though my hand still hurt a bit from when duncan stabbed it with an arrow last night at capture the flag. That rat. THEN MY OWN TEAMMATE, HEATHER, blew me up! how DARE she! THEN, i had to fight everyone's favourite psycho, izzy! Yay.

"Well, Brain could be an Athena kid." Noah muttered. From what I know, a lot of us have been on quests. It could be me or you... let's hope not me. And Tide sounds like a child of Poseidon, so if my suspicions are true..." Noah shuddered.

"Thunder is obviously a Zeus kid... the only known alive one is that Thalia that Annabeth told me about. Which means that... that one of our ex-class must be a child of Zeus." I murmured to myself, scribbling it down in my notepad. "and what exactly do you mean by 'your suspicions'?"

"the exact same thing you just said, but with a Poseidon kid." He shrugged. "An apple is quite clear. Heather."

"obviously. Now guitar... Music. A child of Apollo who plays guitar." I connected.

"Ok, but I totally nominate you to lead the quest."

I looked at him like he was crazy, which he was. "Why me??"

"because it isn't me. I know that. and you're a daughter of Athena who's never been on a quest before. And besides, you're the type of person who'd be a good quest leader, avoiding major unnecessary danger and all that."

"I've known I'm a demigod for not even a DAY."

"so has Heather, but we've already deduced her and 2 other unsuspecting unclaimed demigods who were part of our class have to go on this quest. why should we rule out the fact that the gods are just sending a bunch of middle-schoolers on a dangerous life-threatening quest. They do it all the time. Nico literally went to Hell on steroids when he was what, 14?"

He wasn't wrong. before highschool even started, Annabeth said that she'd been on 3 technically 4 quests, leading one as well. Percy had been on 4 as well, and saved the world before his sophomore year, and once again riiiight before his junior. damn. Noah wasn't wrong.

There was absolutely nothing stopping the gods from forcing me, an 11 year old, to save some really important demigod guy.

"Also," Noah continued, "didn't what's-her-name say that Heather wasn't the only prophecy child that rocked up at camp? i get the feeling she wasn't talking about the one she had today." His voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. "I think that there's a new great prophecy and Heather, or the daughter of Eris, is involved. I'll figure it-"

the door opened. Annabeth stepped in. she still looked worried as hell.

"tried Iris-messaging percy. No use." She sighed. "i was really hoping we could catch a break this time. that someone else could take over."

"Hey," Noah said. "I have a theory. They're using Percy as bait to say it's serious. This is to do with the great prophecy rachel had to do with heather, isn't it? I don't think that you and him are part of it."

Annabeth looked stunned- and then impressed. "wow. already adapting i see, working all of that out without ANY direct cues."

"Oh no, he's always like this." I admitted. "He has too many theories, which usually turn out to be at least a little bit true. he once worked out who our teacher was texting from the way he smiled."

"It was a group chat titled 'the boys' with a bunch of random unnecessary emojis next to it. also, I- we, i mean, worked out some that are going on the quest."

"really? who?" annabeth raised an eyebrow. she smiled very very faintly. it was a start.

"Heather and me or her." Noah pointed to me. of course. "and also mysterious poseidon kid that isn't percy, mysterious zeus kid that isn't Thalia, and mysterious Apollo kid that plays guitar and hasn't been on a quest before- oh wait! I know who that is." Noah remarked, sarcastically. "Trent. Cooper."

"I see." Annabeth slowly nodded. "Apple, guitar and brain, then tide and thunder."

"Yep."

"Well, I came in here to ask if you two wanted to do some of the activities. You've been in here all day so far. Athena isn't JUST the wisdom goddess you know."

I shrugged, and agreed. Noah decided he'd rather conspire about the mysterious and elusive Poseidon kid and Zeus kid.

I decided to do archery- I'm not completely terrible at it. My hand did still hurt though. When I got down there, there were only three people: Trent, Duncan and Bridgette. they seemed to be talking.

"-Just wish he would claim me." Duncan ranted, shooting an arrow and hitting a bullseye easily. wow. "it makes the most sense. I'm quite clearly a Hermes kid."

"i wouldn't be so sure- Oh hey Courtney!" Trent waved me over. Duncan rolled his eyes, whether at me or trent, I didn't know. I glared back at him and got my answer.

"Oh, Trent? Noah thinks you're the guitar in the prophecy. He also thinks I'm the brain." I told Trent, tying my hair up with this random ribbon i found. not ideal, but better than nothing.

"Dam. is anyone taking him seriously?" Trent asked. he grimaced, like he also did not want to go on a quest.

"Annabeth, at the very least. he makes a few good points." I replied, shrugging. "Also, he thinks that one of the unclaimed are a Zeus and Poseidon kid."

"I think he's right."

"Why?"

Trent shrugged, a few strands of messy black hair falling in his pale green eyes. "Just do."

"Damn. that's cool. I wonder who it is." Bridgette pondered.

"Well it's not me, that's for sure." Duncan said, shooting another arrow, this time in the ring around the bullseye. I never took him as the archer type. must be practice from all the sling shots he used to make to hurl water balloons at people. actually, mostly me. You can see why I do not like him.

"Hm. with all your arrogance, I would think you'd be BEGGING to be a child of the big three." I mocked. "To have some sense of importance. thanks a lot for stabbing my hand by the way."

"You're most welcome, princess. I'm already very important, besides, I don't like either of their myths. kind of creepy."

"Not all myths are accurate," Trent corrected.

"Shut it, emo boy.

Bridgette cackled. "Oh you're one to talk."

"and you too, clutz." duncan scowled at the blonde.

"what were you in the infirmary after capture the flag yesterday, again?" Bridgette mused. "oh. right. getting hit in the head with a brick."

for some reason, Trent found that hilarious. "You got hit in the head. By a BRICK ?"

"didn't you get tackled to the ground by the emo blueberry, surfer girl?"

"Like you didn't?"

"very Jason Grace quality. and There's Thalia."

"Huh? what are you rambling about, forehead?" duncan raised an eyebrow. "Who's Jason Grace."

"Jason Grace was this son of Zeus- well actually Jupiter, but still. He got hit in the head by bricks all the time. And Thalia Grace was his sister. She argued with People- specifically Percy Jackson- A lot. and she's punk, like you. She's a hunter of Artemis now, and Jason... isn't with us anymore."

"Dam." Bridgette sighed. "Rest in peace person I don't know." Then her eyes went wide, and her jaw dropped to the floor.

"i so KNEW IT!" trent threw his arms in the air in victory.

"HAH." i laughed.

Because Duncan had just been claimed by one of the two gods he didn't want to be claimed by.

a glowing lightning bolt appeared above his head. in my best Chiron voice, I said "Duncan Tarun, Son of Zeus. You must go on this quest, and join the torture and potential death."