A Different Kind of Siren
A Spin-off one-shot of I Did NOT See That Coming
Just because she was named after a monster didn't make her a monster. Right?
A child of Aphrodite was always stereotyped the same way. No matter their gender, looks, body type, or personality. They were classified as one big group instead of individuals. No matter if they were virgins or not, had their first kiss or not, or have ever even been in a relationship or not. People always assume certain things before they get to know you.
Siren Lorraine Montgomery was an individual. She was in no way a carbon copy of any other person in this entire world. She was just herself. And other people judged her for that.
She still doesn't see the crime in wearing capris every now and then instead of her shortest and tightest pair of jean shorts. Or throwing on a pair of sneakers instead of stuffing her foot into a death trap designed as a high heeled shoe. Or pulling her hair up into a ponytail instead of taking an hour out of her life every day making sure each individual piece of hair was perfectly straightened.
Maybe she was an odd child of Aphrodite, but she didn't really care. She liked being different.
She did not enjoy having backhanded compliments thrown at her every day by her siblings, thank you very much. No matter how "helpful" they thought they were being, she always just ended up feeling judged. No amount of "tips" was going to want her to take even more time out of her day to be considered presentable.
She kinda just wanted to be left alone.
Important jobs were given to important campers. Or so she thought.
When did she become an important camper?
Perseus Jackson, Savior of Olympus, son of Poseidon, Praetor of Rome, slayer of every monster imaginable, and defeater of a number of Titans, including the most powerful Titan of all, Kronos, was stuck at the airport. Chiron needed someone who could legally drive so they could pick up the most important demigod that was on the face of the earth.
Were taxis that hard to stop?
She enjoyed the people in her block of free time. They were all younger than her and none of them were children of Aphrodite. She could walk around wherever she wanted and not be pestered to change her posture or powder her nose or anything else that Siren considered ridiculous.
The one downside was that she was the only one able to pick up Percy at the airport. He just had to be stranded during her time of free time. She just had to be the only one able to legally drive.
She'd never had a conversation with Percy Jackson before. He was always busy saving the world and she was always busy trying to survive camp.
As Siren reluctantly took the keys to the camp van from Chiron's outstretched hand, she wondered what she was going to say to the boy who had saved nearly everyone on this planet from extinction. Was she supposed to bow? Curtsy? Kiss his ring? Sing praises of worship?
It turns out that smiling politely as he climbs into the van and not saying a word works pretty well.
That is, of course, until a monster decides to throw itself in the way of the van that Siren was driving. Siren had never been in a car accident before, and she hoped that she'd never have to. Just the closeness of the monster from the front of her car took her breath away. Her grip didn't loosen from the steering wheel until they got off of the busy New York streets. Swerving away from the monster had caused her stomach to flip.
Percy seemed distracted. He was a nice guy, or so everyone told her, and she didn't think being this quiet was normal for him even if she was a stranger to him.
She was so distracted by Percy being distracted that she nearly missed her turn and had to sharply turn onto the narrow side street. Percy's head hit the passenger side window and he seemed to not be distracted anymore. She kinda felt bad.
He turned his head towards her, slightly amused. "Trying to knock me unconscious so you don't have to have a conversation with me?" His green eyes glinted with amusement.
She shook her head quickly. Even though they were the same age, Siren looked at Percy as though he was an elder or something. He was so far up in swordsmanship and monster-fighting skills that he seemed like he was up on a cloud and she was down in the basement.
"No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your head. Are you feeling okay? I'm sure there's some ambrosia or nectar somewhere in here if you need some," Siren quickly said. She was nervous, and kind of shy. She'd never been a really shy person, but now, near this powerful demigod, she was speechless.
Percy Jackson just laughed. "I'm fine, thanks. It kind of snapped me out of my trance and I kind of needed that. I'm Percy, son of Poseidon. What's your name?"
"Siren Montgomery, daughter of Aphrodite."
Percy's smile became a smirk. "Siren huh? As in the monster?"
Siren shrugged. She was used to people making fun of her name. Percy apparently wasn't that different from everyone else after all.
Percy laughed. "Well I like it. You'll give the name Siren a different meaning than just a bloodthirsty monster."
Siren's eyes widened. Apparently he was different. "Thank you," Siren whispered to Percy. He just smiled back at her.
Siren drummed her fingers on the steering wheel and turned on the radio. She turned the volume down just in case Percy said something to her that she needed to hear.
The silence dragged on for a few more minutes. Siren bit her lip. "What's Alaska like?" Siren asked quietly. Hopefully he didn't hear her.
His hypnotic green eyes snapped to her face. "It's rough and rugged and dangerous. But at the same time, it's kind of beautiful. There are friendly Hyperborean Giants walking everywhere, and the mortals can't even tell. Friendly people are everywhere, because they don't usually get to talk to anyone besides the people they live by."
Siren had a small smile. "It sounds wonderful." Siren was surprised by his answer. People usually said that Percy Jackson wasn't the smartest person. He usually had problems with schoolwork and when he spoke, it was simple words used to get his answer across. This Percy Jackson was deep. He seemed older than his age. Siren thought it was a side effect of all of the things he'd been through. After a while, she would start to feel older than she really was too.
Siren's left foot tapped, a side effect of her ADHD. "Are the Inuit gods kind of like the Greek and Roman gods?"
His green eyes stopped looking at the landscape out the window and focused on her again. He showed a big grin and started laughing. "Oddly enough, they are kind of similar. I walked into their version of a council meeting and it kind of made me homesick for Mt. Olympus. Some were out of their chair screaming while others looked like they were taking naps. I guess all gods must be kind of similar in some way right? They all have the same responsibilities over their people."
Siren giggled. "I guess that's true. They weren't animals or half-animals or anything right?"
Percy let out another loud laugh. "I got lucky. They were all in their human forms."
Siren and Percy began swapping stories. He would tell her something funny that had happened on one of his many quests and she would tell him something funny that happened to some of her meaner siblings.
They began to near camp. Thalia's Tree was visible from the road now. Percy took one look at camp and his entire face glowed. You could just see from his facial expressions that he loved this place.
They walked up the hill, past the tree, and then back down the hill, heading towards the Big House. Siren and Percy held a normal conversation the entire way. He acted as though she was one of his good friends that he talked to all the time. She liked that.
Percy kept comparing her to Siren's sister, Piper. Siren didn't mind. She respected Piper and all of her differences from her siblings. She wouldn't have been brave enough to head off on a quest just the day after arriving at camp. Piper was brave. She was the kind of daughter of Aphrodite that Siren could look up to.
Percy bid her goodbye and walked into the Big House after throwing her a big grin and thanking her for driving him.
She was kind of sad to see him go.
Later, as Siren kept repeating her and Percy's conversations over and over in her head, she realized something. Percy didn't look at her as a useless daughter of Aphrodite when they first met. He didn't stereotype her or judge her. He got to know her before he began deciding who she was as a person.
Maybe it was because of Piper, or maybe it was because of her deceased sister Silena. Siren didn't know. But Percy didn't look at her like she was air-headed. He looked at her like an actual person with an actual brain that wasn't filled with air that was scented like hairspray.
He treated her like a regular camper. And that's all that Siren had ever wanted.
Being different wasn't so bad. Being ostracized for being different was the bad part. But being accepted by others because of your differences totally made up for all the bad stuff.
Siren wasn't going to stop being herself, because she finally found someone that could accept her for her no matter how different she was from all the other daughters of Aphrodite.
She was Siren Lorraine Montgomery, and she was no carbon copy.
A/N- For those of you that don't know, Siren was one of my OC's from my story I Did NOT See That Coming. Hopefully you've read that before reading this because if not, you were probably confused.
Inspiration strikes at weird times. This was the result of not enough sleep last night, but I'm still pretty proud of it. Hopefully you enjoyed it as well!