Daughter of the Sun

Chapter One

It was dark.
The sky was clouded, the moon and stars invisible to the naked eye. A little girl who looked to be about three with her small, petite stature was running. Her mother was not too far behind her, shifting her own eyes back and forth, guarding them from some impending danger. She relaxed a little after a few minutes, but still kept her eyes on her daughter's back. It had been a while since the last time her little girl had cried, since she was normally so cheerful and loved, it was rare for her to shed tears.
But it was probably only natural for her to be crying, since just twenty minutes before she had been crashing into her own kitchen, a woman with a serpent's body hot on her trail.
Tori had acted as quick as lightning and grabbed the bow and arrow off the wall where it hung. It was a special gift from the little girl's father in case there was ever a time where the little girl ever needed to be protected. Like now.

She shot with accuracy and prayed in the small, minute time it took for the arrow to reach the serpent woman's side for the arrow to hit. It did, and the serpent woman disintegrated into dust. With the immediate danger gone, she had trembled slightly after the thrill of adrenaline had worn off before picking up her daughter and her weapon and speeding out the door of their home and into the street. Into the darkness of the night.
Her car was far away. Too far away, it seemed. When they had reached the clumsy but sturdy suburban, Tori sped off into the night, praying once again that she would be able to get to their destination in time so that her daughter would be safe. The little girl spoke next to her in the passenger seat.

"Mommy…? Wh-why was that mean lady trying to hurt me? Why did she look like a snake and a person at the same time?" she spoke quietly, sniffling. "D-did I do something wrong, Mama?" She was close to tears again.

"Hush, Aria. You didn't do anything wrong, angel," Tori squinted her eyes, focusing on the dark road in front of her, and debated whether or not to tell Aria the truth. It's about time I told her about her father anyways, she thought sadly. "I'm going to talk to you about your daddy, okay?" she spoke in a calm, loving voice in order to soothe her daughter's frazzled nerves, but there was a hidden worry laced under its sweet tone.

"I thought he had to leave us alone, right?"

"Yes, he did. He had to leave and simply wasn't allowed to stay. You see, he has a job he can never leave. It's too important. Do you remember what I told you about the Greek gods, Aria?"

"Zeus, Hera, P-pos…Posido-"

"Poseidon, sweetheart. And Hades, Hera, Aphrodite, Hermes, Dionysus, Aphrodite, Athena…Well, you should remember the main gods anyways. Do you believe that they're real?"

"Yes, Mama," Aria replied solemnly. With her clear, pure tone there was no way her mother could believe that she was lying.

"I'm about to tell you the complete truth, all right? The reason why that monster came after you is because your daddy is a Greek god. He's Apollo."

"Daddy pulls the sun across the sky? And he's the god of music and potry, right Mama?" Aria's eyes were wide with wonder and was enthralled by her mother's words. Was she really the daughter of a god. If so, did she have powers as well?

Tori couldn't help but laugh at her darling little girl's antics, even in this entirely grave situation. "Poetry, sweetie, not potry. Remember, though, no matter what anyone ever says, your father loves you very much. Never doubt that." The thought hadn't even crossed Aria's mind.
"Now Ari, I'm taking your to a camp that your Daddy wanted you to go to. It's a camp for special kids like you who also has a god or goddess as a parent. They teach you how to protect yourself against monsters like that snake lady, you hear?"

Aria's eyes opened wide in shock and fear. "Doesn't that mean I won't get to see you, if the camp's only for kids like me? I want to be able to see you again, Mama! I love you!" Her tears fell once more and her mother was also distraught with pain at the idea of separating from her only child.

"You will see me again. I promise that you will see me again, Ari. I don't know how long you'll be at camp. Maybe a year. It depends. Usually you would go around the age of twelve, but Aria, if you're only five years old and monsters are after you, then I guess it means you're very powerful. I can't protect you the way I am right now." She looked to be on the verge of tears, but froze as something in the air changed. She jumped out of the car and slammed the door shut. Locking the car, she unhooked her bow and arrow from her arm and aimed at the oncoming mist. "Whatever happens Aria, don't move from the car," she warned.

She squinted her eyes through the fog and darkness and saw another monster. This one had a bronze leg and one disgustingly hairy leg. Her hair was fires and her eyes were a blazing, living red. It was an Empousa.
Tori was extremely angry now. You could almost say irrationally. She had gotten her daughter so close. She could see the border to camp! There was no way she would let her only child get killed by this freak of nature!
She arched her bow.

"Come here you ugly freak! Attack me! Come on! CHARGE YOU STUPID MONSTER!" She had been trained in archery by Apollo himself. When they had first met, it had been at an archery range. There was no way this ***** would get to their daughter without getting through Tori Varsonello first!
The Empousa charged with fury at being addressed so disrespectfully by a mortal.

That was her fatal mistake.

Tori raised her bow and shot another arrow for the second time that night. And for the second time, a monster perished by her own hand.

She went back to her car and grabbed Aria, who was wide eyed, looking at her mother in wonder.

"I'm so sorry you had to see that, I'm really sorry Ari," she cried into her little girl's hair, and together mother and daughter were in each other's arms for what was most likely the last time. Finally, after a few good minutes of crying, Tori wiped her tears and looked her daughter in the eye for one last good lecture. "Do you see that big pine tree all the way over there? That's the camp border. Once you pass it, you'll be safe there, but I won't be able to pass through. You're going to have to go down to the first house you see and go in, okay? I need to know that you're understanding what I'm telling you, Ari."
It was so much for a little five year old girl to handle as her young brain tried to comprehend all the incoming information as well as the events that had just rocked her life to the core, but she understood that these instructions would be the pathway to her new life. A life where she could learn to be strong and protect herself from monsters like that snake lady so that she could come back to her mother. "I understand."

Her mother choked a sob and picked her daughter up in her arms and ran for the pine tree. Once she reached it, she set Aria down and held onto her for dear life. She looked at her child and once again marveled her beautiful cobalt eyes. They were the eyes she knew and loved best, the eyes of her lover and their child. And now they were streaming with tears that should not have been so.

"Please remember this for me Aria. I don't know when I'm going to see you again, but don't think I ever abandoned you here. I love you. Daddy loves you too. Don't doubt the love of the people who brought you into this world, because it's our love that let a miracle like you live. Don't be sad when you can't go and see me or Daddy, okay? Don't forget the things I've said, and please, have fun and be happy, okay?" Tori said in a soft, caring voice, but with an urgent strength and fierceness to back up the gravity of her words.

For the first time that night, the little girl let out an incredible wail. It led to more tears, but these were more like sobs that wracked her whole body with terrified, mournful sounds that should have never been heard out of a five year old. Aria hugged her mother tightly and cried through her tears, "I-I won't Mama! I swear! And I promise I'll have f-fun!"

Her mother kissed her forehead and let go. It took all her power not to pull her back and take her home, but she knew she couldn't. That would be selfish of her. So she let her go.

Aria turned and ran. Still sobbing, she sprinted down the hill towards the first house she saw, as her mother had instructed. She didn't look back once. Tori turned, sobbing, to the direction of her car to go home. But not before she prayed to Apollo.

Please Apollo, claim her. Don't let our baby feel unloved.

On Olympus, Apollo was already planning to do so. Some of his own godly tears were running down his face from witnessing the painful goodbye between mother and daughter. He then vowed mentally on the River Styx to go to Hephaestus after he claimed Aria to ask him to forge something at his request.

Back at Aria's end of the situation, she had just gotten to the house at the bottom of the hill and walked in as her mother told her to. She was confronted with a scene of people playing some card game. No, scratch that. It was an old man with a beer belly, a rather tough looking, seemingly nine year old girl, a boy who was a goat from the waist down, and a wise looking man who had the body of a horse. She wasn't as shocked as most people would have thought because the abnormalities she had already seen. Aria looked at each and every one of them, crying, but not sobbing anymore.

"Please help me! My mama told me she couldn't go any farther than the pine tree. She told me to come here and the monsters wouldn't try to get me anymore!" She sobbed again and the girl came over to hug and shush her until the tears stopped. She wiped Aria's eyes and asked if she knew she was a half-blood. She nodded.

"My name is Aria Varsonello…I'm five," she said shyly, holding up her fingers.

"Well, Aria, I'm Clarisse. Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Ares, and I'm nine," the older girl smiled and pulled her up so she could see the others better. "The guy over there is Mr. D. He's the god of wine and also our camp director; it's better if you don't ask how that circumstance came to be. That is Chiron, a centaur and our activities director. The satyr is Grover. Him and his kind go out to find demigods like us and bring them to camp. The house you're standing in right now is called the Big House, and we're all in Camp Half-Blood."

"Okay," Aria replied in a small voice, dazed by the sudden flood of information given to her little brain. "About my daddy, my mama told me that he was-"
To complete her sentence, a symbol of a whirling sun appeared above her forehead and she gasped at the sudden warmth. Everyone looked around the room, giving each other silent, meaningful glances.

"Well child, this means that your godly parent is Apollo-god of the sun, music, poetry, healing, medicine, plague, and the truth. Are you tired my dear? We can take you to the Apollo cabin right away. And tomorrow, Clarisse will show you around camp," the centaur named Chiron announced. Aria yawned in answer before she replied with a sweet, "Yes, please."

Chiron carefully held the exhausted girl in his arms and trotted all the way to the Apollo cabin and knocked the door artfully with his hooves. Joel Henderson, the eighteen year old cabin counselor, opened the door sleepily, since it was indeed the middle of the night, but woke immediately when he saw Chiron and a sleeping little girl in his arms.

"Chiron, who is this girl?" he asked, confused.
"This girl is Aria Varsonello, your newest little sister. She arrived in the Big House only minutes ago, crying. Clarisse was the one to comfort her, believe it or not. I daresay they will be like sisters…" Chiron's expression turned graver though, as he reached the touchier subject. "She must be very powerful, you know? Chased here at the age of five…but for now, please see that she gets a nice place to sleep. She's had a rough night."
And so Chiron handed Joel his new sister and left for the night.

Hope you liked it!

Sorry to all who waited patiently, there was an error that wouldn't let me upload.