August 18, 2014
Ro had been at camp for less than year. He'd been found by a satyr who sensed he was 'something else'. Ro sensed the satyr was 'something else', although he attributed that to his awful seen rather than the two hooves he hid. Ro hated that description 'something else'. How vague. The kind of vagueness that landed him in the Hermes cabin, joined by the other kids who didn't exactly know what made them special, just that they were for some reaso.n
The war against Kronos had actually come as a relief. As sick as it sounded, he welcomed the feeling of purpose gave him the ability to ignore the new tendrils of power that threatened to push to the surface. Nightmares of a version of himself with glassy black eyes and a wolffish grin were replaced by dreams of intricate battle plans. Ro hadn't thought about when the war he stood on Thalia's Hill, watching his cabin mates laugh in delight as colorful symbols finally appeared over their heads. No one seemed to noticed the striking absence of a symbol overs own head.
That was the night the demigod were claimed.
That was the night Ro realized he wasn't one of them.
Present Day
Ro slipped into a seat in the massicve lecture hall with a grimace. He always hated school, and couldn't believe he was attending college. 'You're impulsive and careless, Annalise warned,"don't add uneducated to that list."As much as he wanted to say not her, he couldn't. Not after all she did for him. He and his mentor met soon after he left camp half blood. She found him lost and hungry on the street and without hesitation gave him food, clothing and housed him. For days he mulled over why the demure, wealthy woman would help him. Ro replayed the conversation they had two years prior in his head:
"Why me?" Ro asked
Annalise set down her book and ceremoniously crossed her legs. "Because you and I are alike, in more ways than one."
When Ro gave her a confused look, she continued.
"I know that you are not human, you are more. You're a Cambion Ronan— half-human, half-demon. As I am."
He was snapped out of his reverie by an oversized backpack slapping him in the face. Fresh new anger bloomed and he said bitingly," Hey watch where you're slinging that thing! " The perpetrator, who was now sprawled on the floor,met him with stormy gray eyes and snapped back, "Well maybe if you weren't blocking the aisle, I wouldn't have tripped!" It was true—Ro was by no means shorts long legs stretched the width of the aisle of seats. He heard the conviction in her voice, but sensed the girl's embarrassment. Softening, he lent a hand to help her up. He received a flash of gratitude before her steely gaze returned. Ro noted she wore a necklace with intricate beads that he immediately recognized. No, he thought, not here. He was hundreds of miles away from camp half blood. A demigod shouldn't be right in the middle of monster-infested San Francisco.
But here she was.
Ro eyed the delicately painted beads and mumbled, "nice necklace." They both felt the room quiet. She smiled easily and replied, while toying with the single bead that hung from his neck,"we match." Her voice sounded bubbly,however her eyes were picking him apart. She's wondering who I am. Ro smirked, "I guess we do." The girl only nodded and brushed past him to take her seat towards the end of his row.
The professor droned on about macroeconomics or something, but Ro couldn't focus. He couldn't stop himself from stealing sideways glances at this new half-blood.