It was a perfectly ordinary monday evening fireside at Camp Half Blood. The satyrs were eating toasted tinfoil, the tree nymphs were shrinking the nearby tree's branches away from the magical, multi-coloured fire, and Dionysus was drinking coca-cola out of a wine glass as he summoned up more plants to be chopped into firewood.
And then all of a sudden it wasn't a perfectly ordinary evening anymore.
The ground shook, the air grew cold, thunder blasted in the distance and the fire was doused out in a mysterious blaze of salty-smelling water. Altogether, this felt suspiciously like the handiwork of the Big Three.
Suddenly, a dark aura fell over the crowd, as though all the happiness and cheer from the evening's bonfire had been sucked out, along with heat. Campers shivered and moved closer to one another, looking around nervously on guard.
"What the hell is going on?" Thalia Grace asked, her hand tentatively hovered over her bracelet in case she needed a sudden shield. Percy Jackson had his pen out as well, and many other campers were holding their weapons.
"Ok," Percy called out into the air, "You've got our attention, whoever you are. Now do something!"
Campers, do not be alarmed.
Everyone jumped, searching for the sound of the indescribable voice that had suddenly appeared in their heads. "Ok, that is creepy," said Clarisse La Rue, who was usually not one to be frightened.
"Dad?" Dionysus asked, looking up at the sky, astounded. A look of hope quickly replaced it. "Can I finally leave this gods-forsaken hellhole?"
Not quite yet, the voice chuckled, amused, as everyone else proceeded to freak out. Although hellhole is a rather amusing bit of foreshadowing.
"Dad?" Jason Grace asked, looking up at the sky hopefully. Thalia was trying not to get her hopes up, but she looked up as well.
My children, the booming voice of Zeus said, in a rather fatherly tone. I wish I could say I was here for you today. Unfortunately, there are other matters at hand.
"Figures," Thalia snorted, rolling her eyes. "So? Why did you 'come' here tonight? And I use the word 'come' loosely, since you haven't even appeared. What's with the weird immortal-voice thingy?"
Zeus's voice took on a graver tone. I dare not appear tonight in any mortal form, he said, and all the campers could feel his somber fear Zeus felt as he spoke. Annabeth Chase thought to herself, I've got to learn how he did that. Maybe then Percy will finally understand why I can't just ask Dionysus to magic up some tampons.
"So..." Percy said, braving to speak to Zeus without getting blown out of the sky for reminding the god he had been born. "Why are you here?"
There is a child, Zeus said, who will be attending your camp.
Percy raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, that doesn't really explain anything."
This is a child, Zeus said, Born into the holy trinity of the Big Three.
"Ok..." Percy said, trying along with the rest of the camp to figure out what the hell was going on. "I'm a child of the Big Three. How come I didn't get a godly introduction to Camp Half-Blood?"
You, Zeus said, sounding annoyed at having to argue with a mere demigod, were born to a single god of the Big Three. This child that has somehow managed to be born is related to all members of the Big Three.
"How is that possible?" Annabeth blurted, her mind trying to calculate all the possible ways that could happen and coming up empty.
The Fates have made a mistake, Zeus said sombrely. They foolishly allowed Poseidon to have a child with a demigod child of mine, and then they allowed Hades to have a child with that child. Subsequently, the child that has been born is more powerful than anything even the gods have experienced before.
"Oh come on," Piper piped up. "'Foolishly allowed' to have a kid? How could the gods not have known what they were doing? Why didn't you just stop each other?"
We were not aware of our own actions, Zeus said. The Fates were attempting an experiment with fate that went horribly wrong. They blinded us to our actions and made us unaware of what we were doing. The child is now more powerful than even they could have predicted and now the fate of the world hangs in balance. The Fates have dealt with the parents of such an audacity-
"Hang on," Jason interrupted. "What do you mean, dealt with?"
Zeus's sigh echoed through the minds of everyone in camp. The Fates have killed them off, and sent them to Tartarus for their sins. Poseidon, Hades and I are also not allowed to ever help or reach out to the child.
"Sins?!" Percy cried. "What sins? Being pawns in the Fates experiments?"
Unfortunately, that is how the Fates view it, yes. But Hades is being particularly decent to the girl's mortal family, as he was also a pawn in this horrible plan.
"Wait, so... what did you do with the kid? Why didn't the Fates kill him off, too?" Annabeth, though sick to her stomach, reasoned logically.
She is so powerful that even the Fates have no control over her. They cower on their knees in front of her, and even they would not be so foolish as to attempt putting her in Tartarus. For better or for worse, this child is now in control of her own destiny.
"Lucky kid," Leo Valdez muttered under his breath as he and Calypso cuddled close against the unnatural cold in the air that had appeared when Zeus started to speak.
And now, she is being sent here, for safety. I expect all of you to treat her well, as she is but a child. Bring her to Chiron when she arrives.
"Wait, what do you mean, but a child? How old is she? And when is she going to arrive?" Thalia asked, but it was too late. The air had returned to the normal temperature, the ground stopped its trembling, and the multi-coloured fire resumed as if nothing had ever happened.
Except, standing calmly but rather confused looking inside the giant fire stood a small, girl, looking around tentatively at her surroundings. She stepped out of the fire, exposing first her knee-height pink rain boots with a striped pink sock sticking out of one, then her pink tulle skirt, then her sparkly pink sequinned vest over her pink puffed-sleeves shirt and pink bows in her pigtails. The symbol of Hades floated above her head, glowing black.
"That's... not exactly what I was envisioning for the most powerful kid in the universe," Jason said slowly, taking in the pink-clad, cutesy little girl standing shyly in front of the fire which she had just walked out of. "Yeah, I was picturing something a bit more... black, for a daughter of Hades," Piper said, "Or at least, less pink," she finished, as the two of them tried not to laugh out loud.
The rest of the camp stared on in silence, mimicking how Piper and Jason felt. After an introduction from Zeus himself on how powerful this girl was, expectations had kind of been set for a grand, intimidating entry.
"Um, hello!" The girl said brightly, her voice shaking a bit in front of such a large crowd. "It's nice to meet you," she continued in a perfectly friendly way, seeming completely unaware to the expectations she was defying. The crowd remained impassively silent, trying to figure to how to react. The little girl gulped, her young age showing in her large eyes. "Uh, can anyone tell me where I am, please?"
"I'd be happy to, Princess," a son of Ares sitting in the front row sneered, rising to his feet where he towered a good few feet over the little girl. "As soon as you tell me what the #$% you're doing in our camp, ruining our perfectly nice little evening."
The girl shrugged, looking up at him with big, watery eyes. "Well, I would," she said sweetly, "but I'm not exactly sure myself. I just sorta... found myself here,"
The son of Ares' mouth twitched. "Look, princess. I just had to suffer through Zeus Almighty tryin' to intimidate us in your name, callin' you the Great and Powerful and a whole bunch of other B.S. so if you please you'll just mosey on out of here and right back to where you came from."
"Well that's not very nice," the little girl said, smoothing out her tulle skirt. "I don't know where I came from, either. No need to be mean."
Suddenly, the Ares kid screamed in pain, writhing to the ground. The camp gasped, and Clarisse rushed over to him. "Evan? Evan! Evan, wake up!" The girl in pink looked down at him, unfazed. "Don't worry," she said kindly to Clarisse, "I didn't kill him. He'll come to in a little bit,"
"D-didn't kill him?!" Clarisse sputtered, frantically looking between the young girl and her brother. "What'd you do to him? Fix it!"
The little girl sighed melodramatically with her whole body. "I can't. I don't know how to undo death magic yet."
"Death magic?!"
The little girl rolled her eyes. "I was just giving him a taste of what Tartarus feels like, before he ends up there for being such a bully. If he doesn't want to go through this again, he'll stop being so rude. I am just a helpless little girl," she said, the corners of her lips tugging up. "Now, can anyone please tell me where I am?"
Clarisse, and the rest of the campers, stared at the little girl with their mouths hung open in shock. Even Dionysus had forgotten to stop filling his cup with coca-cola, and the overflowing liquid ran over his hand as he stared in shocked silence.
"Please?" the girl said, the sudden fear of a lost and alone young girl filling her voice. "I just want to know where I am,"
"Absolutely," Annabeth said, even surprising herself as she calmly rose to her feet and walked over to the young girl, without even a quake in her voice. She stepped over Evan, who was still writhing on the ground with his mouth open in a silent scream, and up to the young girl.
"I can help you. My name's Annabeth Chase, and you're at Camp Half-Blood. Why don't I explain more as we walk? I need to take you to see Chiron, the Camp Director,"
"Ok," the girl said, taking Annabeth's hand. "Thank you,"
"No problem," Annabeth said, squeezing the girl's tiny hand gently as they walked off.
"Man, you do not want to get on that little girl's bad side." Leo whistled as the campers watched Annabeth lead the girl off.
"Seriously," Percy said, "I wonder if she could teach me some of that death magic stuff,"
Jason, who was nearby, grinned. "Annabeth would kill you before you had the chance to use it."
"I wonder how Nico's going to take to having a new roommate," Piper said, looking around. "Speaking of which, where is Nico? Or Hazel?"
"Nico's off wherever he goes, but he'll be back soon enough." Percy said. "Hazel's at Camp Jupiter with Frank and Reyna, so I guess we'll have to send them an Iris message later or something,"
"Of all the sisters those two could have gotten," Jason grinned. "What do you think Chiron's gonna do with her?"
The rest of the group shrugged. "Guess we'll find out soon enough," Piper said.
"Now, did you by any chance have a name?" Annabeth asked the girl as they walked, hand in hand.
The girl smiled gratefully at Annabeth's kindness, showing all of her baby teeth. "You can call me Panda,"
"Panda?" Annabeth echoed. "That's a pretty uncommon name,"
The girl shrugged. "Well, it's not my real name, it's just what I go by. Don't ask me what my real name is though,"
"Alright, I won't," Annabeth said. "Do you mind if I ask how old you are?"
"I'm eight and a half!" Panda said proudly, thrusting her pink-clad chest out. "That's almost nine!"
"Wow," Annabeth said, "You're the youngest camper here. That's pretty special,"
"I am?" Panda asked, cocking her head curiously. "How old were you when you got here?"
Annabeth said, "Well, I was seven, but that was a long time ago. Nowadays, since the gods have given us more protection from monsters, most kids don't need to come here until they're eleven or twelve."
Panda looked sadly at the ground, subconsciously rubbing a jagged scar along her collarbone. "The gods didn't give me any protection from monsters,"
"I don't think they're allowed," Annabeth said sympathetically. "What sort of monsters have attacked you?"
"What sort of monsters haven't?" Panda said, trying to smile. "I can't remember a day in my whole life where I haven't killed something,"
"Yeah, I've been there," Annabeth told her, "But you're being a real trooper about it. I mean, how many little girls manage to juggle fighting off bad guys in princess costumes?"
Panda giggled, and it was a sound so innocent and infectious that it filled Annabeth with warmth until she had to grin, too.
"Thanks for that," Panda said, smiling up at Annabeth. "I can't remember the last time I laughed,"
Annabeth ruffled the young girl's golden hair. "You should laugh more often," she said warmly to the young girl. "I'd be happy to help out,"
Panda grinned and suddenly threw herself against Annabeth's side into a hug. Annabeth wrapped her arm around the girl and instinctively scooped her up, where Panda nestled her head on Annabeth's shoulder. "You're nice," Panda sighed contentedly from Annabeth's shoulder. "I'm not used to people being nice,"
"Well, don't worry," Annabeth said, rubbing the girl's back with her other hand. She couldn't believe what she was doing; usually Annabeth was not very good with kids.
There was something about Panda that made Annabeth's heart ache, though - probably that Annabeth had been a similar age when she had gotten to camp half-blood, and still could quite clearly remember the pain and fear that hadn't gone away for months, even after she had made it to safety. And to think that this girl had done it all completely on her own: no friends, no gods ever stepping in to help, not even the Fates to give her mercy.
"Everyone here is pretty nice. No more monsters for you," Annabeth told the girl in a sort of promise, as they walked into Chiron's cabin.
"I hope so," Panda said, curling up into Annabeth.
