Hey there!
This chapter's a little short, but there'll be a longer one after it, so don't worry ;-)
Thank you so much to everyone who's already reviewed this, and to the ones who haven't: Please do!
Hope you enjoy this!
I only own my OC
~thegirlwiththetrident

Chapter four: Claimed

Diner was...interesting. Now that every camper had to be determined at 13, there was no table for
undetermined ones.
It used to be the Hermes' one, but that was already packed, so Chiron (who had welcomed Penelope upon their arrival at the pavilion) gave Penelope special permission to sit at the Hephaestus' table
with Leo.
The others all treated her nicely, but a couple of times Leo saw his sibling looking at the new camper with confusion.
He could relate, though.
Penelope was so difficult to place: Normally, a camper could be determined even without his godly parent, by some trait all of that god's or goddess's children shared.
Not Penelope though. It wasn't as if she didn't fit in anywhere, more like everywhere.
She was very pretty, like the Aphrodite kids, clever like the Athena ones, had the still concentration Leo had noticed the Apollo campers had when fixing their eyes on a target, but then she also seemed to give off a bit of a charged, dangerous vibe, like Jason sometimes did.
And then of course, there was her inclination to Hecate, which Leo, after spending the evening with her, didn't question at all.
Penelope simply had a mystical, powerful aura, one that Leo thought she probably wasn't aware of.
It was the same as the Hecate's campers, of whom there were only three others.
Leo had never interacted much with them (not that he interacted much with anyone or anything lately that wasn't metal or couldn't breathe fire) but he'd always thought of them as extremely intelligent, extremely mysterious and sorta scary demigods.
Kind of like Athena campers gone bad-ass.
Yes, Penelope would fit in there.
Yet still she kept glancing at the empty Poseidon table, fingering her necklace, which Leo hadn't noticed before.
It was a design of sparkling white and purple diamonds, which hung on a black leather cord.
Leo wondered how he hadn't seen it before, and why Penelope hadn't mentioned it, as if she knew it was supposed to be there. He made a mental note to ask her about it later.
Before they ate, as everyone burnt a bit of their food for his or her godly parent, Leo heard Penelope mutter something:
"Please, mum, dad, whomever I belong to out there. Please, help me."
It sounded very afraid, but when Penelope turned to him, she smiled, bravely. Leo knew the face she put on all too well, having worn it often enough himself.
At the camp fire, Annabeth sat next to Penelope and Leo, which he thought was nice.
She gave Penelope a smile and the girl returned it, looking grateful.
At one point, Jason and Piper came over, and introduced themselves. They were very nice to Penelope, Jason perhaps a little more so.
Leo saw how intrigued his friend was with the new girl, and he understood why.
Jason sat down next to Leo, followed by Piper, and then all of them joined in the singing.
He was surprised to hear Penelope join in after two songs (albeit so quietly that he doubted anyone could hear but himself) and found himself fascinated by her high, crystal clear voice.
Listening to Penelope singing was similar to being exposed to Piper's charmspeak, Leo thought dreamily.
Just then, Penelope caught his eyes, and for a second he swore hers flashed dark purple as she smiled at him.
And then, there was a collective gasp, as suddenly a symbol appeared above her head, shining softly against the dark night behind her.
Leo recognised the symbol as a claim mark immediately, having had a flaming hammer appear above his own head, only months before.
However the image above Penelope wasn't a hammer.
Shining there were two twin torches, burning with flickering fire. It was Hecate's sign.
But there were mutterings in the crown, confused whispers, and Leo thought he knew why.
The mark of Hecate was usually purple, like the stones that the Hecate's cabin was made of.
Not this one though.
Instead of purple, the sign above Penelope's head glowed a different colour:
A deep, dark, ocean blue.