There was a new girl at Camp Half-Blood. Nobody knew what to do with her. Elena sighed and wandered quietly away from the Big House. Actually, the biggest problem was that nobody was entirely sure if she was actually a demi-god anyway. There were rumours flying around Camp that her transcripts were clean. Only a few minor scrapes and incidents in her school years, she never had to switch schools for burning down the gymnasium, or stealing a car, or anything else. This was a rare occurance for a demi-god, it wasn't every day that a satyr would find a demi god with straight A's and perfect attendance. The only chink in her perfect, shiny amour was that she didn't have parents. This was even more problematic in camp half-blood, at least with only one parent, it was slightly easier to figure out which god had sired this cast off. But Elena was different. People stopped talking when she got closer to them, she knew they were talking about her. Elena was used to the whispers and the stares. Being in foster care for so long, she knew what it was like to be the new girl.
Suddenly, Elena stopped. She stood for a moment outside the Hermes cabin, like something was bothering her. Then, she spun on her heels and stared intently at the Big house. For a moment, the hermes kids wondered what on earth she was looking for. Then a blonde head popped out of the door of the Big House. Elena visibly relaxed.
'Elena!' Annabeth called. Elena smiled and waved at Annabeth as she trudged back to the Big House. She liked Annabeth. She was nice, logical. Elena knew that when Annabeth was staring at her quizzically, it wasn't because she thought Elena was weird, or different; Elena was like a puzzle that Annabeth just had to solve. At the steps of the Big House, Elena paused. She took a deep breath, and steadied herself before heading in. she had a feeling that what she was about to hear wouldn't be particularly pleasant.
"well, aren't you an interesting young demi-god." Chiron tilted his head, like a bird and squinted at her.
"I thought you weren't sure I was a demi-god?" Elena asked. The rumours around camp had made her curious about why on earth she was brought to Camp Half-Blood in the first place, if they weren't even sure if she was godly or not.
"you can see through the mist. That's reason enough for you to be here." Grover, the satyr who'd found her, shrugged. he was munching on something that looked curiously like an empty soda can.
"oh." Elena said, and then, she zoned out. She took one look at the Grecian painting on the wall, and was lost to a world of shimmering pearly silk, gold snake bracelets and strappy gold sandals. Nothing could tear her away. Suddenly, a bell rang, breaking Elena out of her silk induced reverie.
"Dinner!" Annabeth leapt towards the door with eyes as big as plates.
"oh good! I'm starving!" Grover hurried on after Annabeth, chewing a paper plate as he went.
"you should go too, Elena. You'll need your strength." Chiron stood on his horse's rear, and nodded towards the door. Elena got up, and headed towards the door, stopping only momentarily, to curtsey sweetly at Chiron. Chiron looked at her in surprise, nobody had curtsied at him in over a hundred years! He shook his head at the girl's retreating form, she was strange, even for a demi-god.
As soon as Elena stepped up to the tables, she was swept up by the Hermes cabin, two boys, presumably twins, locked her between them. They chattered incessantly at her, she caught three things before zoning out. One, that they were Travis and Connor Stoll, two, they were brothers, not twins, and three that she would be residing in the Hermes cabin with them until she was claimed. Elena didn't know what 'being claimed' meant, but she prayed to any god listening that it would please happen soon, because being trapped in a cabin for any extended period of time with these two boys leering at her may cause her to go slightly insane. After sending up that quick prayer, she glanced at the armour a few of the kids were wearing, and was lost to a world of structured skirts, boned corsets, and leather. All types of leather.
"CAMPERS!" with a booming shout from Chiron, Elena was back in the real world. She glanced down the long tables to see Chiron in full centaur form, at the head of the biggest table. "We have someone new with us today." The whole of camp half-blood moved as one, turning to stare at Elena. Elena stared back. They were just as freaky as she was. "ELENA!" Chiron yelled "Stand up!" Elena sighed. She hesitated for a moment, before putting her hands on the table and heaving herself up. She stood. There was a moment where nothing happened. Then, the Stoll brother sitting on her left got a glint in his eye, and smirked, in a way that only a son of Hermes could. Elena felt something around her ankle, but before she could react, she was pulled forwards by her ankle, still under the table. The next thing she knew, she was on her back, staring at the night sky. The campers laughed and jeered, Elena could hear Chiron and Annabeth trying to calm them down, but they just kept going. Elena stayed on the ground, staring at the stars. She closed her eyes, and prayed.
"Please, godly parent, whoever you are, if I am even a demigod after all, please, just get me out of here. Or make them stop laughing. Please." She kept her eyes shut tight, until she heard Annabeth at her side.
"are you alright, Elena? Are you hurt?" she sounded so worried, Elena gave in. she sighed and opened her eyes.
"I'm alright." She sat up, avoiding the eyes of the Stoll brothers. She stood quickly, hoping to regain any dignity she hadn't left on the ground, but a wave of nausea and dizziness washed over her. With a gasp, she stumbled forward, almost falling over, but Annabeth had already caught her arm. The campers burst into another wave of laughter. At that moment, Elena hated her clumsiness. She wanted to be someone more graceful and put-together, like Annabeth. She squeezed her eyes shut, hating the stares she could still feel burning through her. Why couldn't she be graceful? Why couldn't she be more normal? Her figure flickered. Behind her shut eyes, Elena was somehow aware that all the campers were now staring at her more. They had stopped laughing. Elena couldn't see it, but her figure flickered again. The whole camp leaned in closer, wondering what on Olympus was happening. Was the firelight messing with their eyes? Or was Elena really…flickering?
"graceful. I want to be graceful. I want to be like…Annabeth." With one last flicker, Elena sucked in her breath and opened her eyes. She was met by stares of horror. She turned to look at Annabeth, who gasped and took a stumbling step backwards. Elena looked down at herself. Gone was the floaty green dress she had made herself last year. Gone were her favourite pair of strappy sandals. In their place was a ratty pair of shorts, an orange camp half-blood t shirt, and a pair of scuffed converse trainers. But that wasn't the weirdest thing. The weirdest thing was her hair. The long dark fringe that normally shielded her from the outside world was gone. She could see blonde curls framing her face.