Edited: 06/11/2021

Just edited paragraph spacing!

REPLY TIME!

BlackholesA(Guest): I KNOW RIGHT!? HAHAHAHHA Hopefully she gets over that soon. But to be fair, she's been dropped (literally) bombs (figuratively) and she had to cope somewhat haha she's a normal person from our world after all

Jinglebells852: Thank you so much! It really makes me happy uwu 3

Thanks for the follows and favorites! TheStressedOrca, Jinglebells852, TheLoserEllimist, Sega91, mk0008, HoldClose, 03Isabella, nancywheeler, AnimeGamerGirl23, Alexandra Chiri.

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CAN THE GROUND SWALLOW ME UP NOW?

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I came to Will pressing a damp towel to my forehead.

There was a moment where everything was just blank, all I could hear was a faint buzz at the back of my mind as I stared up listlessly at the ceiling. My mind wasn't processing anything and I couldn't feel my body—it was as if I was detached, hovering in some state of purgatory. Slowly, the ceiling I was staring at was replaced by a face, and I instantly locked on the gentle yet concerned orbs of blue that was like the sky in a bright sunny day.

Unconsciously, the tenseness that I felt simmered into ease. Safe, my brain registered. I'm safe.

Of course, Will Solace just had to fucking ruin it.

"…Are you okay?"

I blinked.

…Okay? What do you mean? Why wouldn't I be okay—

Memories slammed into me with the same impact as an 18-wheeler truck barreling into a concrete wall at full speed. I know I love my exaggerations but I don't think it was far from the truth considering the force actually propelled me to suddenly sit up on my bed. My mind was in overdrive as Apollo's words replayed. I paled so hard my face went ten shades lighter.

What the hell was that all about? Apollo knows me? I apparently had training? We were close enough he gave me a fucking nickname? "Ray of light", what the hell is with that term of endearment? We close? Back off dude I literally just met you five minutes ago! Creep!

Will gripped my shoulders and murmured reassurances. I tried to focus on his voice as he calmly told me to breathe.

Why did he look at me like it was the last time he was going to see me? Oh my god, I literally just survived a fall from thousands of feet high in the sky and now I find out I'm apparently going to die? Why didn't you just finish me off at the fall then! At least a flat human pancake won't be suffering from a god's unknown scheme!

Circles were rubbed into my back. "Hey, breathe with me. Inhale. Exhale."

I struggled to follow in time with his instructions. The chaos in my mind seemed to lessen with each shuddering breath I release. I finally took notice of the cold damp wetness seeping through my shirt. In his haste to calm me down, Will dropped the towel he was using before on my stomach. I gingerly picked it up in question.

"Ah, sorry about that, I was trying to cool you off," he apologized sheepishly. "You were a bit hot a while ago."

"A while ago?" I asked, still in a daze as I'm trying to process everything. "What are you talking about, I'm hot all the time."

What the hell did Apollo do to me? I was in a weird state when he left. I felt both hot and cold… is that what Will was talking about? But he only mentioned being hot… God did I almost overheat to death? WAS HIS FINAL KISS TO THE FOREHEAD SOME SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION ATTEMPT THAT DIDN'T WORK QUITE RIGHT?

A snort revealed the presence of other people in the room.

"Well, you were literally burning a while ago," a young girl noted. "I don't think that's a compliment."

I took in her ginger hair and the bright shock of lime green at the ends. "Well you're literally blinding me right now," I replied. "That was very much a compliment."

I paused.

"Or maybe I'm indirectly insulting you by calling you some neon disaster. You never know. I say just pick the positive perspective."

So was "ray of light" a positive thing then? But he looked at me with something akin to regret. I don't think he was being sarcastic with that nickname though—

Will chuckled as he took the towel and placed it on my bedside table. "You seem chirp. I'm glad."

"Yeah, anything's better than a while ago. Will was panicking!"

I turned and blinked at the tall African-American sitting on the bed at my left. He smiled amiably.

"Was it that bad?" I asked, grimacing.

"I've never seen anything like it happen before," Will admitted.

I inhaled. Right. My body was behaving in ways even Camp Half-Blood's medic extraordinaire hasn't encountered before. What a way to confirm my predicament. I'm definitely going to die. Yipee.

"Well I am one of a kind." I smiled, quite too brightly.

"No, but seriously," another girl piped up as she bounded to my bed and plopped at the edge by my feet. Her big golden hoop earrings jingled back and forth. "It was scary. We couldn't even touch you to give you nectar and ambrosia. What in the Hades happened to you?"

The last few minutes of the encounter replayed in my head. Apollo said he was leaving. He went to the door. He… flashed out the usual Olympian god style.

Oh shit.

"Apollo didn't know how to use the fucking door," I dead-panned.

It took about three seconds before the four of them burst into a panic.

"YOU LOOKED AT HIM WHILE HE FLASHED OUT?"

"LIKE HEAD-ON!?"

"HOW ARE YOU EVEN ALIVE."

Will grabbed my shoulders as he forced me to look at him dead in the eye. "Are you sure you're okay?"

I blinked at the sudden close proximity as they all crowded me. They had some sort of panic shown in their expressions and my heart clenched slightly. I've never had anyone show this amount of concern to me before.

"I'm okay. I'm alive," I placated.

For now—a voice whispered.

SHUT UP BRAIN WE'RE HAVING A MOMENT.

"Though I think I'll seriously melt at this amount of concern. I don't do feelings," I joked.

They all glanced to each other hesitantly, as if thinking, 'What the hell is up with this girl?'. This was clearly the point where they decide whether or not to disown me. I have been nothing but unserious and slightly egotistical this whole conversation, and I probably didn't act as normal as someone who just got dropped from the sky and almost got burnt alive from the inside. Sorry, I don't know the standard for this situation.

Was Apollo trying to kill me this whole time? He did say he didn't want to see me again, and he looked all sourly seeing me injured—but alive— on the bed. Was he mad I survived? I don't remember anything from before plummeting to the ground however… Did he toss me off the sun chariot? But what's with all the nicknames, and what's with the insinuated past with him!?

Not that I ever conformed to any standard at all. Bitch, I'm above all standards. I'm unique. I'm a special little snowflake. It's called actually having personality.

…Yeah. That's the little speech I give myself in front of the mirror every morning.

They seemed to have picked the kinder side, opting to accept me wholly along with my eccentricities. Aww, shucks, guys! I'm blushing! I didn't have any but aren't siblings supposed to piss the hell out of you? That or either have severe sibling complexes for you. (Though I do realize that majority of what I know came from some rather questionable fanfiction…)

They all loosened up around me as they gave me space. "Of course we were worried," the neon ginger frowned. "You are our sibling after all…" she trailed off hesitantly.

That seemed to snap them out of whatever state they were in. Will cleared his throat, seamlessly stepping into the head counselor role. "Right. You've basically been claimed by dad verbally so I don't think there are issues with that, we've informed Chiron of everything…"

His eyes darted to his other siblings, as if trying to formulate his next words carefully. "The way you came to camp is actually a special case." He spoke slowly. "Especially with dad making a follow-up after… We haven't had any communication with the gods recently—"

"Except for Hera four months ago. That day was wild." The lone unknown guy beside my bed shivered.

"—so we'd like to know what your situation is?" Will inquired, eyes kind and understanding. "We won't force you, of course. If you'd prefer to just tell Chiron—he's the activities director here—that's fine as well."

I closed my eyes in resignation. With Will's description, and considering Jason is still here in camp, that puts me before Mark of Athena in the canon universe timeline. I was literally plopped right before all the fun—and by fun I meant chaos, despair, and imminent destruction.

And I'm not even sure I still have that knowledge advantage I thought I had—my lone edge against this insane world. I was pretty sure Apollo didn't stop for a quick drop in Camp Half-Blood, at this point he was already hiding from anger-management-issues daddy Zeus. Unless it did happen during the time-skip…?

No. I have to think of the worst-case scenario. Even Apollo was acting weird during our talk, his emotions shifting all over the place. Was it a Greek-Roman internal debate thing?

I doubt it. Apollo was a special case in that, wasn't he?

I sighed as I tried to will my brain to stop thinking. It has been in overdrive these past few minutes, and I've been processing both my ruminations and what is happening in the real world at the same time. Frankly, I've never felt as tired my entire life. I've been hit by intense circumstances one after another as soon as I got here, not to mention the impending doom in my future, and to think that all I had to worry about before this was cramming a literature paper. This tops that one time I had to do an emergency all-nighter because I forgot a project was due the next day. Ah… better times.

I slouched as I looked back up at Will tiredly. I didn't ask for any of this... (Okay maybe I did, remember the random wishes I make during breaks? But I didn't expect it to actually be granted! It was rhetorical!) I am exhausted, I am confused, and I am honestly just a few seconds away from a panic attack.

I am so done.

God my head hurt.

"…I really don't know," I answered honestly, shaking my head in frustration. I decided to be honest with everything as I woefully retold my situation. Of course I omitted some parts, I couldn't possibly tell them that I was from another universe and the way I entered this one is because I freaking rolled off my bed harder than usual—how the fuck did that even work!?—so I just vaguely described that I hit my head before falling off the chariot. I was banking on my "amnesia" as the foundation for my whole re-telling; hopefully Will buys it as something more than just an excuse to save my ass from Apollo.

Basically I was also as confused as they are and I didn't know shit.

The slight downward twitch of Will's lips was the only indication that he was disappointed with the lack of beneficial information. Not that I can blame him. I'm literally useless.

I'm going to fucking die.

I was new to this world, and unlike normal demigods who had been staying in Camp or had the ingrained instincts from the godly side of the family, I was another person ripped from my own world and unceremoniously plopped down here. Even if this body had prior training, it wouldn't be of help because I, Kiara, the conscious being occupying Alena, don't know anything.

What's the use of great potential and power if I can't even tap it? I certainly didn't feel any transition of abilities or instincts, so would I even be able to use them? Am I just a normal mortal essence in a demigod body? Like no matter how much I train, would I even reach normal demigod level with just mortal capabilities? Oh god, can I even read Ancient Greek? Was I starting to feel ADHD when I first woke up or was just that adrenaline and panic mixed in with my weird way of thinking?

I could hear canon rapidly approaching like the sound of a train zooming into a station. Might as well dig a grave now and be buried underneath it, I thought, squashing the urge to laugh hysterically. For now, I'll just settle with mentally slapping myself hard and putting a rain-check to my manic breakdown.

God, can the ground swallow me up now?

"You don't seem suspicious or confused about this situation." The brunette with the golden hoop earrings spoke up after a few seconds of silence.

"I'm sorry?"

She shrugged, feigning nonchalance even as she narrowed her eyes. "It's just, you claim to not know anything but you don't look confused about what's happening."

I blinked. Ah, she's got a point.

"Coping mechanism," I answered.

The neon ginger rolled her eyes in what seemed like exasperation. She turned to me. "Sorry about that, Erin is always suspicious of other people. You'd think she'd lay off considering how you're a sibling but no." She turned to the golden hoop earrings girl—apparently Erin—to point at her in childish rebuke. "You need to work on your trust issues."

I cocked my head to the side. "Huh, so your name's Erin. You pegged me as an Astrid or something."

Erin huffed, eyebrows creasing as she looked at me in confusion. "You're weird."

Will took this time to step in before a fight broke out. He clapped his hands loudly, the sound ringing in the cabin. "Right! I forgot we haven't even introduced ourselves!" He smiled at me brightly. "My name's Will Solace, the head counselor for the Apollo Cabin, more on that later—"

He then proceeds to introduce the rest of his siblings.

Apparently the neon ginger is Kayla Knowles, Erin-not-Astrid or golden-hoop-girl is Erin Bennett, and the friendly boy-next-bed is Austin Lake. Kayla and Austin were familiar names, but I'm pretty sure I've heard none of an Erin from any of the books in the franchise. Was she an insignificant minor character never named in the books? Or did my presence change something in canon?

I let out a small smile. "Nice to finally ditch the atrocious nicknames I have for you in my head. I'm—"

Kiara.

I swallowed.

"—Alena."

A horn sounded in the distance. Will smiled at me and I tried to reciprocate despite my inner turmoil.

"You up for lunch?"

Half of me wanted to bail and say no. I mean, on one hand, food. On the other, people who would most certainly stare at me and judge me, and then there's nymphs, satyrs, and other mythological creatures I wouldn't have normally thought existed—

Right. Calm. I need to be calm. I tugged at the collar of my cupcake-patterned pajamas.

"Can I get a change of clothes first?"

So, uh… can the ground really swallow me up now?

Social gatherings weren't really my thing. I've always been socially anxious all my life and huge numbers of people make me feel claustrophobic. Despite the thick skin I always want to show and portray, whenever there is a huge crowd, I seem to be hyper aware of all their piercing gazes and their soft whispers, making me shrink in myself and let my overthinking run wild. It was one of the things my small group of friends like to tease me about, that they should just toss me in a crowd if they want me to finally shut my trap.

It was all light-hearted and good-natured jabs, and my heart clenched as I thought about those infuriating assholes.

Assholes I probably won't ever see again.

I glanced to the side and caught more people unsubtly staring at me and whispering to their tablemates. I mean, it was understandable; I probably made a huge scene with how I arrived in Camp and that was probably the biggest story in a while to get tossed in the rumor mill. This would maybe continue for a few more days or so, so I need to get used to it.

But I just can't help it. It only emphasizes the fact that I don't belong.

I felt so out of place.

(God, was this the infamous protagonist attention? I change my mind, I don't like it mom get me out of hereeeeeee)

My new siblings tried to get me acclimated, chatting with me amiably as they try to turn my attention away from the pointed stares and continuous gossiping. It somehow worked, and I barely managed to keep track of the tips and orientation they gave about Camp and the whole system for eating. Most of the stuff I knew from reading the series anyway. I just made sure to react appropriately at certain things as if I didn't know them before, especially as we wished for our meal to materialize and as we offered food to the gods (I didn't say a word and just chucked food in, screw you Apollo). Surprisingly, they bought it. Huh… Looks like I deserve that Oscar after all.

And then the public humiliation happened.

I didn't really pay much attention to the announcement scenes in the books, where Chiron and Dionysus blurt out the new campers and their godly lineage. It just felt like an ordinary thing, with no significant impact. But sitting there at this time, head snapping up at the head table as Chiron made to stand, I can't help but feel anguish rush through me.

Shit, I wasn't ready!

I realized that once you were in this situation, it was a very big and significant thing. Imagine being thrust in a world you never thought could have existed and then being subjected to the attention of all of Camp at your first day. Instead of being welcomed as per the original intent, it does nothing but highlight how new this world is. How out of place you are.

How the hell did Percy survive all this as a kid!? (I mean not that I'm not one myself, I'm 15— or wait, am I still 15? Is Alena 15? Shit I'm getting sidetracked, my point is Percy was younger when he first arrived and he already had to be subjected to this public torture—)

"Let us welcome our newest addition in Camp: Alena," Chiron announced in the absence of the wine god. "Daughter of Apollo."

There was a silence as I stared first time at the centaur, like a deer caught in headlights. I wasn't ready to face all the other campers. I wasn't ready to be acknowledged.

I wasn't ready to face reality.

Chiron either didn't notice the panic in my face or just ignored it completely, the ass. He only smiled encouragingly as he motioned for me to stand. Fuck, now I've got no choice.

Slowly standing up, I turned my gaze from my eaten food to the entirety of Camp Half-Blood. There were a lot more campers than I thought there would be, as well as satyrs and nymphs. I suppose the several sets of eyes bothered me but as I scanned the whole dining pavilion, I can't help but settle on specific people I was supposed to avoid at all costs. I haven't met them personally but I fucking knew it was them.

The tired but determined blond-haired and grey-eyed girl at the table with the most books strewn across the surface, the curly black-haired Latino whose face was spotted with dirt and grease and was very much half-asleep on his Cabin's table, the slightly distracted but beautiful brunette surrounded by other equally pretty and handsome teens. And that blonde-haired blue-eyed guy sitting alone but very much staring at me in concern and recognition.

I exhaled.

Most of the main characters from The Heroes of Olympus all in one contained space. If it wasn't clear before, thank you for this blaring sign.

Fuckkkkk, my heart is pounding in this proximity.

After the very awkward pause I definitely caused, I raised a hand and waved. "Hi," I all but meeped.

My siblings clapped loudly in support and the rest of Camp unenthusiastically followed. I didn't wait for them to finish as I bolted back down in my seat.

Well… time to try to survive.

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A/N: hi guys! hope you all are still doing good unlike our good friend Kiara over here lol This was a really introspective chapter, as I wanted to give a glimpse as to how much of an overthinker Kiara really is. Her theories about Apollo so far are very... interesting haha If you guys were in the same position, would you panic as much as she does? Hopefully she survives her first full day in Camp!

QUESTION TIME!

(because i'm curious. and nosy af)

Kiara finally saw the first half of the Prophecy Seven! Do you guys think she'll be able to stick to the plan and avoid the crew? If not, who do you think would she first embarrass herself in front of?

Lemme know at the review section! :D

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I'd love to interact with you guys at the review section! If you liked the story so far or have any thoughts please don't hesitate to drop a review~ *hopeful look uwu*

peez awt