MAKE SURE TO READ THE DESCRIPTION! Other wise some things might not make sense. If you know what this is based off of, hope you enjoy!
~secrethalfblood
I walked back to cabin 11 from the Big House, trying to ignore the various looks I was getting from the other campers. It was obvious they were wondering where I belonged.
I glanced around uncertainly, not sure I even had an answer for that question at this point.
While I knew my mother wasn't lying about what I was, it was still hard to believe there was an entire camp full of people like me. Demigods. It was a word I'd never liked to admit to myself. Even now, after I'd known what I was for so many years, it sounded strange.
I'd never imagined there would be so many of us.
Well…
Maybe not like me.
When I first arrived at the camp, Chiron had assured me I would be claimed, but I already knew who my father was. My mother had been telling me ever since I was little and while I'd never really believed her, when the monsters started attacking, well, the things she had been saying had started to make sense.
I glanced at my hands and let sparks dart between my fingertips, feeling a surge of anxiety go through me. Part of me had always hoped I'd imagined them or my mother was wrong, but the things I knew I could do… unwelcome memories filtered through my mind. A generator blowing and several monster vaporizing in an instant as wind whipped around me. That was hard to ignore.
I looked around the camp again hoping no one had seen what I'd just done. Though I knew what cabin I belonged to I was dreading people finding out. I didn't want to be claimed. What would people do when they found out who my father was? So far I'd been able to fly in relatively under the radar, attracting no more attention than any other new campers. Well, except from a few of the girls my age.
I noticed a couple of Aphrodite girls looking at me curiously as they passed but I kept my head down and they moved on, ready to ignore the antisocial new kid. Once my father bothered to acknowledge me though, would that change?
Hopefully people would leave me alone. Maybe it would be better that way. I was more than happy to adopt the role of the quiet kid if it meant people didn't freak out. It wasn't like it would be that different from school and Mom had sent me a ton of summer work anyways.
'It's not so bad.' I thought walking away from the groups of people, talking and laughing with their friends, but that didn't stop a pang of loneliness from surging through me.
I didn't know why it bothered me so much. It shouldn't. Even when I tried to make friends I rarely found someone to which I felt like I could relate.
I stepped into cabin 11, not sure if I felt grateful or jealous when I saw two of the siblings chase each other to the front door, laughing in the chaotic way I'd come to associate with the Hermes campers.
I grinned slightly. They were a little crazy but fun to be around.
I watched them sprint outside, then turned back to the room I'd be staying in for now.
I wasn't sure if I wanted this kind of company when I made it to my cabin or not. Not that I had any choice in it really, but they all seemed to love each other very much here. I knew firsthand however, how hard it was to deal with a sibling.
I stepped through the door hoping to have some time to myself before dinner, but froze when I saw a girl sitting on the floor, going through what was obviously my backpack.
"Hey!" I shouted angrily, grabbing her shoulder and pulling her off the floor. "What are you-"
But she moved so fast, I was thrown against the wall a knife at my throat before I'd even finished my sentence.
"Relax newbie." She said in a bored voice but with an expression that told me she was serious about what she said next. "Don't make me hurt you."
She was taller than I'd originally thought, and skinny, with long light brown hair and hazel eyes that were giving me a blank look, as if she'd been in this situation many times before and found it far from interesting. It was at odds with the force with which she'd attacked me, however, her eyes sparked with interest as they met mine.
She smiled and I wasn't sure I trusted it, but my heart skipped a beat as her eyes continued to search mine.
"You know, usually this is the part where people beg, asking me not to hurt them." She said as if prompting me.
"Do you assault people often?" I asked trying to get a sense of her.
Her smile grew. I definitely didn't trust it.
"Enough to know that you're different. So," she fixed me with a curious expression. "You're not going to try and convince me to be nice?"
"No."
"Why not?" she asked softly, but her eyes were alight with interest now. It was obvious she was trying to get a sense of me as well.
"You've already made your decision whether you want to hurt me or not. Nothing I say will change your mind."
She laughed.
"You know you suck at negotiating." She said amused and lowering her weapon. "And you really shouldn't bring this much cash to camp." She continued tossing me my wallet when she took a step back. "Because it'll be in my pocket in less than in an hour."
"Noted." I said with a frown. All my money was still in it. Did she really just try to rob me, then give me advice?
"Who are you anyways?" she continued, looking at me with curiosity.
"Adam." I said keeping my eyes on her in case she was going to attack again.
She studied me for a moment, her eyes narrowing as if she were debating something to herself, but eventually she spoke.
"Are you big three?"
"What?" I asked confused.
"I guess not." She muttered, but she looked unconvinced. "Otherwise you'd have tried to hurt me."
"I'm not going to hurt you." I said and she laughed. She seemed to do it a lot.
"I said try Adam." She continued with a smirk. "You wouldn't succeed."
"Are you always this modest?" I asked and her smirk grew.
"No. Usually I'm much more of a pain in the ass. But I like you," she looked me up and down with approval. "So I'll give this back."
She reached into the pocket of her shorts and pulled out my pocket knife. With the way she was holding it, I had a feeling she knew it was more than just a tool.
"How did you get that?" I asked quickly, checking my pockets instinctively.
She a look that was almost pitying.
"Adam, you've got a lot to learn if you want to survive in this cabin."
"You know what this is?" I asked stunned and she nodded, opening the blade so that a sword appeared in her hands. "How?"
"I'm a thief." She said amused inspecting the weapon, then banishing it and handing it back to me. "I know when things are more valuable than they appear."
She put her knife in her belt and continued to smile at me.
"So, you get a tour yet?"
"I was supposed to get one." I said. "But Chiron got distracted. Apparently someone dropped a hornet's nest in the Ares cabin."
For some reason, I wasn't surprised when her grin turned slightly evil.
"They probably shouldn't have messed with that someone's little sister." She said slyly. "Come on." She gestured for me to follow her as she walked out of the room. "I'll show you around."
I hesitated for a moment, wondering if this girl was the kind of person I should be hanging around, but when she glanced over her shoulder at me, she smiled and I was surprised to find myself smiling back.
It took me a moment to realize that it was the first time I had since I'd gotten here.
"What's your name?" I asked jogging to catch up with her and we walked into the hall together.
"Thea."
"Thea?" I asked in surprise and she quickly continued.
"I know. It's a bit unusual." She was rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly but I didn't let her finish her what she was going to say.
"I like it. It's pretty" I said and I saw her give me a look of slight surprise. "What?"
"Nothing." She said looking away but quickly returning to her carefree attitude. "It's just I think you're the first person in years to hear my name and not immediately start wondering what I did wrong. I'm kind of amazed you want to know me at all."
"Why?"
"I tried to steal your money and attacked you. Most people might consider that the markers of an undesirable person."
"You attacked me after I grabbed you, you could have hurt me and you didn't, and you gave me my money back. You seem fine to me."
She laughed and we walked out of the cabin together.
Over the next hour, Thea showed me around the camp. Her favorite places seemed to be the places that were the most chaotic, the arena, the woods, the climbing wall. I'd asked her if she was supposed to be going to activities like the rest of the camp but she waved this off saying she'd rather show me around. I noticed not many of the campers seemed to like her, they'd glare at her as she passed, and whisper as she walked away but Thea didn't seem to let it bother her.
As the day progressed, I found that I really, genuinely liked her, which was rare for me. Maybe it was because she was a bit of an outsider herself, but I found that around Thea, I didn't feel so alone. I didn't often find people I liked right off the bat, much less people that I felt I could spend a lot of time with. She was weird, but I was surprised to find that I liked that about her.
"Are you sure we're supposed to be up here?" I asked as she helped me up to the roof of cabin 11. We'd just gotten back from the campfire, but instead of going to bed like the others, Thea had convinced me to sneak out and meet her to talk.
She grinned.
"I've found that whether or not I'm supposed to be doing something, generally doesn't change if I want to do it or not."
I clambered up next to her and she laid back on the roof, her arms behind her head, looking up at the stars and the moon above us.
Neither of us spoke for a moment, and while Thea continued to look at the night sky, I found myself glancing at her every few seconds, not that she seemed aware of it. It was she who broke the silence however.
"So. Have a good first day?" she asked eventually, turning her head to look at me.
"Yeah." I said honestly, feeling a bit surprised as I admitted it. "Thanks to you."
I'd been expecting today to be nothing but anxieties and anticipation, but as I'd spent it with Thea, I'd completely forgotten to be worried about what would happen when I was claimed.
She smiled, but it was different than I was used to seeing from her and I felt my stomach tighten slightly though I had no idea why. I'd never felt like that before. It was like I was nervous, but excited at the same time.
"Happy to help." She said turning back to the sky but I continued to stare at her, feeling curiosity rise within me as I realized, I didn't know hardly anything about her.
"Why are you here year round?"
Thea had told me that she'd gotten here just a few weeks before me and wasn't planning to go back to school next year or her family. I wondered why, but almost immediately regretted this question when I saw her frown slightly, and her eyes seemed to grow dark, but she quickly recovered.
"That's not really something you talk about with someone you've just met." She said shrugging as best as she could with her arms still behind her head.
"Don't get along with your family?" I asked wondering if the fact that she was clearly a kleptomaniac might have something to do with it.
"Not with what's left of it no." she said softly and I felt a pang of pity go through me.
"Do you mean-"
"Don't worry about it Adam." She said shaking her head. "It happened a long time ago, and I had a long time to prepare for losing my mom."
She seemed to be trying to play this off like it didn't bother her, but her eyes went darker still and the mischievous glitter that I'd come to appreciate in them had seem to go out.
"That's what happens when you watch someone for months in the hospital." She continued with a slightly bitter edge to her voice. "You eventually start preparing yourself for the possibility that they might not make it out. No matter what the doctors tell you and say they're going to try next."
"I'm sorry." I said quietly.
"Why? It's not your fault."
"Does that mean I can't express compassion for someone who's been through something rough?"
"I guess not," she said sitting up and hugging her knees to her chest, avoiding my eye. "But why do you care?"
"That's what friends do, isn't it?"
She looked warily at me.
"What?" I asked feeling a little self-conscious, wondering if I said too much but when she spoke, she surprised me.
"You want to be friends with me?"
She sounded stunned.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I?"
"No one wants to be friends with me." She said shaking her head. "Not unless they have a record." She looked at me suspiciously. "You're not like some weirdo murder or anything, right?"
I laughed.
"No."
She smiled, the light returning to her eyes and I was surprised, but a little happy when she rested her head on my shoulder. Automatically I put an arm around hers, and we sat together, not speaking for several minutes.
"So where do you think you'll end up?" she asked curiously, shifting slightly but not pulling away from me.
"I don't really want to talk about that." I said a little awkwardly.
"Nervous to be claimed?" she asked perceptively.
"Yeah."
"Don't worry, everyone feels that way when they first get here. Your Mom or Dad will figure out you're here soon and you'll find your place at camp. We all do."
"Thanks Thea." I said privately thinking I might have already found where I was supposed to be, even if I wasn't a Hermes camper.
I wasn't looking forward to being claimed and having to leave. Something about Thea, as chaotic as she was, seemed to allow me to relax. It was a strange feeling but I liked it. I'd never felt like this before. I wasn't used to feeling like there was someone I could talk about any and everything with. Someone who seemed to understand me.
Eventually we went back into the cabin and said good night, and I found that unlike when I'd first arrived, I was looking forward to activities. I wondered if I could get mine lined up with Thea's.
Smiling at this thought, I went to bed for once feeling ready for whatever the next day had in store for me.