Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson
Chapter 1: The Girl in the Storm
Eleven years ago…
A dark storm swirled around the hill, silhouetted against the night sky, as snow blew down fast, blanketing the hill in fluffy, white powder. Quickly, a dark figure ran up the hill, their footsteps completely drowned out by the howling wind, as a black cloak swirled around them, rendering them invisible to any nearby viewer. The figure clutched a bundle to their chest and placed it down on the hill, where in only six mere years, a large pine tree would shadow that part of the hill.
As the figure stole back down the hill, their silhouette quickly disappearing into the stormy night, a baby's faint cry was heard from the bundle. And if it wasn't for the appearance of a young satyr, alone on their night patrol, the baby's cry might have been silenced forever.
The satyr quietly gasped, spotting the bundle on the hill and hurried over, picking it up and holding it close to their chest. As they turned to go back down the hill, they spotted the note, peeking out of the blankets. The satyr pulled the note out of the blanket, quickly scanning it before gasping, their eyes wide.
"I need to get this to Chiron." A young Grover Underwood muttered to himself. "He'll want to know about this."
As Grover hurried down the hill, a handful of words were visible on the note, as it fluttered in the wind in his clutched hand.
This is my daughter Christina Keeper, a child of Poseidon.
Chiron glanced out of the window by his desk in the Big House, as the storm swirled widely around outside, just past the camp borders. Suddenly, the door banged open, and a young Grover Underwood stood there, clutching a bundle of blankets in his arms and a wild look in his eyes.
"Grover? What is it?" Chiron asked, eyes wide with concern. "What's going on and what do you have there?"
Grover peeled back the blankets to reveal a small, baby girl. She had stopped crying after being pulled out of the storm by Grover, and blinked her big, bright, green, curious eyes at Chiron. Grover wordlessly handed the note to Chiron, not elaborating anymore as to why he had a baby.
Chiron scanned the note, his eyes widening at every word. Finally, after a minute or two, he set the note down on the desk and looked up at Grover.
"Since we can't throw her out in the cold, and she's too young to survive on her own, we'll keep her here. She'll stay in the Big House until she's older, and then we'll move her into cabin three." He told the satyr.
Grover nodded. "She may have not been officially claimed by Poseidon, but…" he trailed off, the implications clear.
"I'll go find a bed for her to sleep in temporarily until we get a proper crib. I'm sure the Hephaestus cabin will be able to make something nice. You go to bed." He told Grover. "I'll deal with breaking the news about the baby to Dionysus."
Grover nodded and left, leaving Chiron alone once again, except this time with a baby. He sighed, leaning back in his wheelchair, and gazed down at the bundle in his arm. Christina had already fallen back asleep, making no noise but the steady sound of her breathing.
"I'll do the best to keep you safe little one, but I'm afraid your fate has already been sealed for you since you were born." He thought to himself. "But I promise that I will train you the best I can, so you are ready when the Great Prophecy comes to fulfillment."
Chiron pushed his wheelchair out from the desk, a bundle on his lap, as he wheeled away to find the god of wine. The note lay abandoned on his desk as the lights clicked off, all the words visible now.
This is my daughter Christina Keeper, a child of Poseidon. Her birthday is November 19th, and she is only two months old. Please keep her safe for me. I know I, a mere mortal, will be no match against the monsters that will come for her. As much as it pains me, I know it is the best for me to leave her. Poseidon told me about her destiny, and I am afraid for the fate of my daughter, but I know Camp Half-Blood will give her the best chance at survival. Please care for her as if she were your own.
Sincerely,
Jane Keeper
Dionysus pinched the bridge of his nose. "You mean to tell me Chiron, that we are meant to take care of this baby?"
"She's Poseidon's daughter, Dionysus." The centaur told the god. "You know as well as I what that means for her. Her mother left her in our care, because she knew that we would be able to take better care of her then she ever would."
Dionysus sighed. "Fine, keep the brat. But if she wakes me up at all at night, she's moving to your room and you're taking care of her. You were the one who wanted to keep her. I'm going back to bed." He told Chiron, pushing past the centaur, and heading back to his room.
"See, it's going to be okay." Chiron told Christina, laying her down in a makeshift crib. "I won't let anything happen to you."
The next morning…
"What is happening with Christina?" Grover asked, rushing up to Chiron as the centaur stepped out of the Big House into the morning light.
Chiron smiled down at the young satyr. Despite what Dionysus might say, Chiron liked Grover. Although young, only about nine in what mortals would consider human years, the satyr had a passion for helping people.
"She is staying in the Big House until she is old enough to sleep on her own, then she'll move into cabin three. But try to keep this quiet until we announce Christina's presence. We don't want campers to panic about there being a child of the Big Three here, until we explain how she got here."
Grover nodded, before rushing off to breakfast with the other campers. Chiron chuckled watching him go. But for whatever reason, Chiron had a feeling that whatever was going to happen here in the next two decades, Grover would be directly tied to it.
Later in the afternoon…
"Campers, attention!" Chiron called, softly banging his hoof on the ground, as all the campers looked up from their lunch. "I have an announcement to make. Last night on patrol, one of the satyrs found a baby, who had been left by her mother on the hill."
A couple of the satyrs who knew the patrol schedule glanced at Grover, who shrank back in his seat from their stares.
"Her name is Christina Keeper, and she is only a few months old." Chiron continued. "The note left by her mother also revealed that she is Poseidon's daughter."
Murmuring broke out among the campers, who were all shocked about the presence of a child of the Big Three among them, especially since the gods' oath was well known. Chiron banged his hoof on the group a few more times, silencing the group.
"She will stay in the Big House for the time being, until she is old enough to move into cabin three. That is all, you may go back to your food."
All the campers turned back to their food, but any previous conversations now veered towards the topic of the extremely powerful demigod in their midst, even if she was just a young baby for now.
Chiron silently surveyed the demigods in front of him. "Hopefully," he thought. "That this won't change their reception of her when she's older. Although she may not have any siblings, she should be able to rely on her cousins and extended family."
And if Chiron looked back on his words fifteen years from now, he would realize exactly how wrong he was.
This story starts eleven years before the beginning of the Lightning Thief, but the plot will quickly catch up. Christina is a year younger then Percy, so he will still be the kid in the prophecy, but now he has the help of his younger sister. And if you didn't notice, the chapter title is a reference to the first episode of Avatar, the Boy in the Iceberg
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