"Rise and shine, campers! The dawn awaits!" Connor announced. This time, even Travis threw him an annoyed look. The other kids of the Hermes cabin seemed to know the routine. They all seemed older than me, and were quick and impatient with their actions. I blinked the Sun out of my eyes, tired from having slept for only about 40 minutes. Travis stayed with the other campers, while Connor came to me.

"Rough sleep? You look exhausted." He tried coaxing me out of my tight fetal position on the bed. I only tensed when his breath sweat over my hair, while he crouched beside my bedside.

"Yeah..."

Chris looked at me suspiciously, "Who's the new kid?" this got the attention of the rest of the cabin, all still in their pajamas with sleep in their eyes. I swallowed nervously and looked down.

"Seth. I... don't know who my godly parent is. I thought I was orphaned." Most of the cabin nodded in understanding, but part of it still had more questions.

"Are you a girl or boy?"

"How old are you, kid?"

"Uh- I'm nonbinary. You can use they/them pronouns if you want. Um, according to the orphanage, I'm 13 right now." That seemed to suffice for the rest of the cabin to move on with their days. As I pulled my bloody clothing out of my bag, Connor came up from behind my back to sit in front.

"Rough childhood I see... I'm sorry."

"It's fine."

"Ay, just curious... what happened to your arm and back? Seemed fine last night."

"I killed a minotaur before they brought me here. Pushed up against a rough boulder. And... my foster home." The look of shock only evolved on the brunet's sharp face.

"Your foster home..?" I sighed and turned my back to him. He's a young mind. Hasn't experienced what I have, no matter how old he actually is.

"A druggie and his daughter. He... didn't like me apart from the money." I refused to face Connor or even look in his direction. I was scared of what he would think, scared of what he might do.

"Oh... I'm really sorry. I'll- I'll let you get ready for breakfast. Is there anything I can do?" He definitely hadn't ever experienced this before. My guess? Most of the time I bet he's dealt with plenty of angsty teens and abandonment issues. But child abuse? That may have been a new one for him.

I used the bathroom and went to wash my face at the sink. While receiving multiple strange stares from onlookers, a specific girl with dark hair and light eyes approached me while I was pushing my hair to the side.

"Hey newbie. You're looking very cute for your first day. You been claimed yet?" I immediately got the idea of her questions by the way she flipped her hair back and leaned against the sink, jutting out her rear.

"Um. No." She giggled at my bland response.

"What a shame. I'm sure my mom wouldn't mind if I took you home to her." Some other kids giggled at that, but I was simply confused. I pulled away from her when she tried to pull me in by the back of my neck to get closer to her.

"Um, no thanks. I'm not interested in that. Plus... I'm nonbinary. Not a boy." I felt extremely uncomfortable as most of the bathroom was now looking at me.

The girl nodded, "Sure, Cutie. My bad. When you are interested, I'm Selina. Counsellor of the Aphrodite cabin." She winked at me and went with the other Aphrodite kids to gossip. I slouched and let out a sigh of relief when they left, but also remembered how tired I was.

"Don't let them get to you. She tries it on everyone." I knew that Annabeth had come in right before the confrontation, but didn't think she would step in. She looked at my arm in the sling and gave me a look, "Did you get that checked?" I began putting everything I had back into the backpack.

"No."

"That's not very smart, sorry to break it to ya." I nodded and avoided her gaze. I scurried to leave with the crowd of people from the bathroom, but she managed to catch me even without touching me, "Hey." I turned around and met her eyes once.

"I know you're confused, and I know you've had it rough, but you can't expect things to get better unless you put some trust in it." Her words struck deep, and my gaze wandered as she came closer. Before she could get within arms reach, I nodded and left for the dinning pavilion.

Annabeth's point was true, whether I wanted to admit it or not. As you can probably guess, trust didn't come easy for me. I used to have faith in her point, as it had presented itself to me in the past. The first time, it ended in me becoming the functional slave for a rich couple looking to up their reputation by taking in an orphan. At least I had a roof over my head, is what I thought at the time. Doing their chores and constantly waiting for their next order was more barrable than one would think; being subject to their sophisticated equipment was not. "Just trust me," she had said. I did. I made that mistake, and as punishment, I got my face sliced in thirds by her sick attempts at entertainment with a crystal pocket knife. Just then, the gap in my eyebrow felt hot, as if the blood was still seeping out, years later.

Taking my savory breakfast in the dining hall, I eyed the tables individually. It seemed that each cabin sat with each other, as the cliques could easily be seen. I had always heard of these stereotype groups, but to me, people were either with or against you. The subcategories I could care less about when it was a battle to survive each day. I didn't realize my brief pause, before seeing Travis waving to me from across the large hall. With the fire pit smoking in the center, I navigated through each group to get to the table. Passing through was a nightmare. Some of the Apollo kids were laughing hysterically to the point that my ears started to ache.

Suddenly, a hand flew up in the air, "See, I knew you could do it!" A tan blonde boy had his arms up in excitement after reading something on a piece of paper. His hand flew straight into my side, but when I went to catch myself with my left arm, the sling restricted it.

"Will!" Yelled one of the Apollo kids. The boy turned to see me stumble sideways, struggling to regain balance. Unfortunately, I stumbled to crash into the back of someone with toned muscles and a sword strapped to their back. Oh no...

"Watch it, Newbie. You're gonna learn who's turf you're on, I'll make sure of that." A very intimidating girl stood up to tower over me. She was definitely older than me, and smirked as I shifted my stance to regain some balance.

"Oh my gods, I'm so sorry." The boy—Will—stood up to place a hand on my shoulder. Suppressing a hiss, I turned to try and get away from them, but the girl took hold of my other shoulder. "Sorry Clarisse, that's on me." Will sincerely said, before flashing a look of concern at me. He removed his hand from my bandages, hovering them over. I nodded and put my head down, starting to walk away before I felt a strong hand shove me forward. I wasn't prepared, and the hiss escaped audibly before the wave of fear struck. Never make a sound. It only makes things worse. Shit, shit, shit...

"Clarisse, stop! Hey, what's up with your injuries? I haven't seen you in the infirmary, and this must be your first day." I gulped nervously, now facing the 2 newcomers, fear laced my breath. I must have been more scared than I remember, because Clarisse got impatient and snapped.

"What, trip on the way to the bathroom or something? Spit it out!" Looking back, she did seem to share Will's curiosity in the nature of my injuries. Usually, when this would happen with neighbors or strangers passing by, a sour lie would slide out: usually something too innocent for me to really know, but something about the radiant boy's aura told me that lying wouldn't work. Plus, I already told Connor.

"Minotaur. And the foster..." I didn't want to call it a home. It wasn't comforting or an anchor to my chaos. It was the cause, the antagonist.

"And the what?" Clarisse demanded.

"Foster family." That probably wasn't any better, but for all I knew, family were just people you were always around through circumstance. Most were blood related, but I knew that would always be impossible for me. At least, I thought that it would be impossible for me.

Will's shock came in 2 waves: once at the reveal of my foster home, and again at the realization of how many injuries there were. Clarisse's came gradually.

"Who got to kill the minotaur? Little Prissy over there, or did you just run and hope someone else would deal with it?" She seemed bitter in her tone.

"Me..." It was only now that I realized both tables were staring at the entire confrontation. Both tables were definitely surprised, but Will's seemed more shocked and concerned. Clarisse's had a competitive energy, while some seemed... jealous? I didn't understand at the time, but now I do. Gods, I understand.

"If you guys are so interested in the new kid, you'll be thrilled to meet a late complaint from Hestia." With that, Clarisse and her table resumed to eating once she got a peck on the cheek from her boyfriend. Will and his cabin weren't as easily persuaded by Chris. I was thankful Chris was providing a bit of an escape for me, but as I turned to follow him back to the Hermes table, I sensed a protest from Will incoming.

"Hey," I flinched away at that, expecting him to grab my arm or put his hand on my shoulder. He didn't, which surprised both of us, "sorry, didn't mean to startle you. Sorry again for hitting you, I should be more aware of my surroundings." I nodded and tried to leave again before more of the Apollo kids spoke.

"Why haven't you come to the infirmary? Those bandages on your shoulders look like a nightmare to have put on by yourself, although pretty good for having no medical knowledge."

"I... no. I can handle it myself. Sorry for interrupting your breakfast." My voice was low, not necessarily quiet, just low in tone and pitch. As Chris yawned, he lead me to our table and placed his body in between me and Will. Once at the table, most of the Hermes cabin barely acknowledged my arrival. Chris walked me to Connor and Travis before going to eat at the far end of the table. "Thanks." My soft bit of gratitude must have surprised him, as he froze halfway through plopping down at his food. Before long, he was sending me a tiny smile and nod.

"Don't worry about them. Will's the definition of a sunny day; he just doesn't know how to cap it sometimes. Most of the Apollo kids are just here to flex being healers or being all artsy and shit, anyway." I nodded with the rest of the cabin members. "Clarisse is great once you get to know her, she's competitive though, and that entire cabin is fueled by competition."

"Your luck is shit, man." I actually laughed at Connor's bluntness. His brother scolded him, but I waved him off.

"You got that right." I was pretty damn sure that most of the camp pitied me, but they were a bit more welcoming, now.

"You may want to avoid the Ares cabin... sorry not sorry, Chris. They're way too aggressive when it comes to newbies like you. Geez, did you guys ever hear about what happened to Percy in his first Capture the Flag?" A girl asked collectively. Most people shook their heads.

Travis spoke up with his mouth half full, "Annabeth said that he was in the bathroom and Clarisse came in, thinking he had the flag. Then he shot all the toilet water out at her." He laughed with most of the table. Chris once again, rolling his eyes. The lightness of the group gave me a bit of courage to speak up.

"What did Percy do to get on her bad side?" I knew that Percy was one of the more powerful kids here, but not the details of his first days at camp.

"He's a bit like you." Julia said between bites of food, "Killed a minotaur singlehandedly on his way here. Passed out. Usually monsters come after demi kids in their escort here, but the newbie isn't the one to kill them. That, and he doesn't close his stupid mouth when should." The table agreed as most people were finishing their meal. I had eaten half of it before feeling full. As everyone went to their first scheduled activity, I overheard some of the conversations from the Ares, Aphrodite, and Apollo campers.

"Let's hope they're not another Poseidon kid. Don't need another one of those to bring problems left and right."

"I'm getting some weird vibes. Like, they seem so dark but also so light?"

"Poor kid. At least we know they're gonna be a full-year."

"They look like they've been in the Underworld their whole life- they haven't, right?"

I put my head down to try and block out the gossip, but couldn't look away from the fire. I had already put an offering in before Travis called me over to sit, but didn't really look at it. This seemed to be what the light was, last night. The fire danced more than one would have thought, as air was only slowly shifted around it. Within the fire, it was clearer. The warm heated edges of sparks danced with vigor, but the clearer and more calm part of it only waved slightly. That interior started to grow. It became darker, like the ash on the bottom.

"No last name given... how the heck am I supposed to fill this out if- ah. I see." I snapped my vision away from the flame. There, across the fire pit was Mr. D