AN: This is just Rachel's backstory. I've always liked her and she's just so mysterious to me and since not much was mentioned about her past, I wrote this up for my roleplay blog. The scenes here are all made up (except the last few paragraphs which were taken from The Titan's Curse only they're in Rachel's pov) I hope you guys will like it! :)
Disc. Not my characters. Rick Riordan owns all characters mentioned below and the events that happened were only taken from my head and based from the book.
Clairvoyance is not equal to insanity
Children were supposed to have a lot of imagination. But somehow, Mr and Mrs Dare disapprove of Rachel's creativity.
"Mom! Persons flying!" Little Rachel looked up at the sky to see what seemed like a group of half-person half eagle or half-bird and pointed at them. Her mom immediately laughed as she brought Rachel's arm down. Mrs. Dare stared at the sky but there was nothing human-like – the only creatures that were visible were a couple of birds flying. "Rachel, those aren't people. They're birds. How many times do we have to go through that animal book?" She sighed in disappointment and dragged the little redhead away from the park to prevent her from shouting once more.
The little girl went back to her playroom and played with her crayons. Art is without a doubt, her favorite. Whether it was drawing on a piece of paper or adding colors to a white wall, Rachel enjoyed her works of art. Somehow, it makes her forget everything.
One night, Rachel heard something outside of her room. And just like her father would always remind her, she made herself brave and went outside to discover what made that noise. Her nervousness and anxiety faded when she saw that it was her old nanny, Maria. Rachel was confused, but she was happy to see her old nanny and decided to spend some time talking to her.
The Dares were enjoying their sleep when they heard a clatter of metal. Mr. Dare quickly stood on his feet and went outside of the room, followed by Mrs. Dare. But when they saw that Rachel's door had been left open, the two started to shout for their daughter. "Rachel?! Rachel? Where are you? Mommy wants to see you!" Mrs. Dare ran across the hallway but stopped when she saw her child, her precious little angel sitting on a chair talking to no one.
"Rachel! What are you doing out here late at night? You got me worried!" Mrs. Dare ran to her daughter and held her tight. Rachel was confused. Couldn't her mom see Nanny Ria? The little girl pointed to her former nanny and spoke. "Nanny Ria is here!" A smile was visible on the child's face.
Mr. Dare was standing near them, a worried look painted among his face and Mrs. Dare's. "Rachel… Nanny Ria is dead." Rachel stubbornly shook her head and stomped her feet. "No! She's there!" Before Rachel could start crying and throwing a tantrum, Mrs. Dare carried the child back to her room and put her back to sleep. Her eyes were filled with concern as she looked at her husband.
The next day, Mr. and Mrs. Dare decided to bring their daughter to a psychologist and see if they can help their daughter. Rachel hated the place. It was so boring to her. When her parents introduced her to an older person, she hid behind her mom's legs and refused to talk to the lady. But she wasn't strong enough and so, her father loosened her grip around her mom's legs and told her to talk with Ms. Davenport.
Rachel hated Ms. Davenport. She kept on asking questions and giving her quizzes. She even took her out of the building and went to the park to describe what Rachel can see. Afraid that her dad might scold her, Rachel told her that she can see kids playing around, an ice cream truck, a person flying (the same one she saw days ago), and a one-eyed man with an old man who has goat legs. Ms. Davenport knew that something wasn't right with Rachel's vision and had a talk with Rachel's parents.
The process went on for days. Rachel would get the same test, the same questions, they would go to the same park and Ms. Davenport would ask her the same thing and Rachel would always reply with her honest answer. But the longer she spent more time with the psychologist, the sooner she lost interest and got annoyed at her parents. How could they let this woman talk to her? It was horrible. And so, Rachel changed her answers. It surprised Ms. Davenport – something about her experiment being successful but Rachel didn't bother rejoicing with the woman. She told them that there's no one eyed-man, no half-eagle person, nothing. And with that, she was free of Ms. Davenport and it was all back to normal.
Or at least they thought it was.
Because little Rachel never stopped seeing things. Little Rachel would still see people that others can't see, creatures that nobody can visualize. And yet despite these visions, despite all these things that she kept on seeing, she had to keep her mouth shut. Because Rachel doesn't want to go back to Ms. Davenport. Rachel doesn't want to be called irrational and crazy. Rachel doesn't want to be alone in saying she can see all those things. Rachel wanted to be accepted.
And so for years, Rachel kept her secret to herself. And as she grew up, she started to forget about these things. She started to live life like a normal teenager would – even though her father would still mention how weird she is and how she needed to go see a psychologist. But it was better than when she was a child. Much better. Or was it really? She had to lie for others to see her as normal, she had to forget about all those things she saw, and she had to change herself for everyone else. Was it really better this way?
"Rachel? Hello? Rachel? We're going to the Snack Bar in case you want to go with us." Her friend pointed to a small cottage-like area with the words "The Dam Snack Bar" plastered in front of it. Rachel gave her friend a smile and waved for her to go on. "You guys go ahead. I'm not feeling hungry yet so I might go around the area for a while." Her friend ran to the dam snack bar and left Rachel by herself. It's not like she isn't used to it. Perhaps she even missed the feeling of being alone but Rachel felt different, like something big would happen that day. Like something about her is about to change. Like something – "Achoo!" Rachel felt disappointed. 'Yes, Rachel. Biiig change. Sadly, that change is a sneeze.' Rachel thought to herself as she reached for the Kleenex in her pocket.
Her nose felt clogged and since Rachel doesn't want another "change" to come, she blew her nose –hopefully not too loud for everyone to hear. She felt relieved afterwards but then she saw a sword strike through her body. "Oh my god –" 'Wait, a sword?' Quickly, she turned around to see a young guy, about her age with a sword in hand and anxious look on his face. Without thinking, Rachel yelled at him. "Do you always kill people when they blow their nose?"
Rachel stared at the guy with a confused look. There was something about this guy. With the way he looks, the way he gripped his sword and the way those letters on his orange t-shirt spoke out to her: Camp Half-Blood.
Strange incident. But Rachel felt happy. Because for once, she felt like she isn't the only one able to see those creatures after all.
