A/N: here's your claimings. Hope you like it!
Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or Penderwicks.
Skye sat wedged in between Rosalind and Jane. The long picnic table was packed with kids. And there were tons more like it, lined up in an orderly fashion around the marble floor. There was a table packed with buff, scary-looking kids, and another full of particularlly beautiful ones. There was an empty, small one in the back, and just looking at it made her feel lonely. She returned to the conversation at the table.
They were sitting at the Hermes table, across from two remarkably alike brothers named Travis and Connor. Both were extremely skilled pick-pockets. Connor had already stolen Rosalind's watch while shaking her hand, and Travis had gotton a hold of Mr. Penderwick's wallet. But despite that, the girls all loved them instantly.
"-away from them," Travis was saying. "They're a nasty bunch. All weapons and barbed wire."
"Not that barbed wire's a bad thing," Connor said. Both of them spoke quickly, and Skye had to strain to understand. " I mean, it can come in handy sometimes."
"But seriously," Travis said. "Don't get on the bad side of the Ares kids."
"Do you speak from experience?" Rosalind asked, half-smiling. The boys glanced at each other.
"There might have been and incident," Travis said, "involving some shaving cream and feathers. . ."
"But we took care of it," Connor finished, nodding. Skye snorted.
"I'm sure you did," she said, arching her eyebrows. From across the tables, Skye caught Jeffery's eye. He smiled when he saw her laughing, as if to say "i know, they're hilarious." She kept his gaze for a few seconds, then looked away. Heat had risen in her cheeks, but she waved the sensation away. It was just the humidity.
"Have you killed any monsters?" Jane asked.
"Well sure," Travis said. "In the Titan War, we all killed monsters. Even the Aphrodite kids. It was awesome."
"Skye killed a monster," Batty said.
"It was nothing," Skye said.
"How'd you kill it with no training?" Connor aksed. "You couldn't possibly have had Celestial bronze on you!"
"I did," Skye said. "On my eleventh birthday, my dad gave me a bronze Swiss Army knife. I didn't know it was celestial bronze until a few nights ago. Anyways, i always have it."
Suddenly, empty golden plates and goblets appeared before them. A quick survey of the hall showed that everyone had them.
"Just imagine any food you want," Connor said, who already had a burger on his plate, "And it will appear. Same with the drinks."
Skye immediately thought of Greek salad, and pesto pasta. Both appeared on her plate instantly. Her glass filled with mango soda. She was just about to dig in when Travis stopped her.
"Wait Skye," he said, standing up with his plate. "Before we eat, we have to scrape our food into the fire." She looked up, and saw that most people, including Jane, were already at the fire at the front of the room. "We offer the gods our best piece of meat, our juiciest vegetable." She nodded, and stood up with him, and made their way to the fire. The flames were tall and blazing. Beautiful. And even though there was a bunch of food buring in it, it smelled surprisingly good. like freshly mown grass and lilacs.
She scraped off the most colourful part of her salad, and the pasta with the most pesto into the fire. Travis did the same. She was about to leave when Travis said "Hermes." His father's name, she thought.
"To my godly parent. . .whoever you are." Suddenly, she heard a gasp behind her. She whipped around, to see almost everybody staring at her. She examined herself quickly, to see if she was bleeding and/or dying. She wasn't.
"Why are they looking at me?" she thought. she noticed a grey glow above her. SHe looked up, and say a small, grey owl hovering there. "Why is that there?" she thought desperately. She saw Rosalind in the crowd, looking worried. Jane looked excited. She couldn't see Batty. Finally, after slience, Chiron trotted forward.
"All hail Skye Penderwick. . . Daughter of Athena."
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Skye sat on a log, this time inbetween Annabeth and Jeffery. All around her people were singing joyfully and the flames of the bonfire were high and purple. But she wasn't singing. To be honest, she was still stunned.
After everyone bowed to her, she was led over to the Athena table. Annabeth explained what had happened, and introduced her to her new found siblings. They all looked alike, and she noticed she was the only one with non-grey eyes. But despite the intellectual conversation going on, she couldn't get into it. She kept glancing up at Rosalind, who always met her gaze sadly. Her father and Iantha were sitting at the long table at the front, as guests. They gave her encouraging smiles. But it was weird, to suddenly be whisked away from her family. She felt like she'd never talk to them again. Which was ridiculous: they would still see each other every day.
The singing grew louder and the flames grew taller. Through the flames, Skye could see Jane, singing loudly and horribly off key. She smiled at her, and Jane replied with louder singing. the two sisters had a way of communicating that no one else did. And when they used it, the people around them were either confused, scared, or both.
"We do this every night," Jeffery told her, clapping on the beat. "We Apollo kids always lead it."
Skye nodded, not really listening. She clapped distractedly. The song ended, and Jane rushed over as another one began.
"Skye!"she sqealed, pushing Jeffery aside. He pushed her back. A pushing war commenced, each one growing more intense. Skye joined in, and she and Jeffery passed Jane back and forth. When Jane and Jeffery were pushed onto the ground, dangerously close to the fire, Annabeth stepped in.
"For the gods' sake," she said. "Be careful!"
"Oh Annabeth," Jeffery said, grinning up at her. "You don't know what fun is." She answered by giving him a hard kick to the shin.
"Skye!" Jane said, turning away from the groaning Jeffery. Her tone mimicked the one from a few minutes ago. "I can't believe you got claimed! I wish i were claimed. . . that would be wonderful!" She paused for dramtic affect. She looked up expectantly, but no icon apeared above her head. She shrugged.
"Oh well, maybe later." There was a pause as she burst into song. When it ended, she turned back to her sister.
"You know what I wish?"
Skye rolled her eyes. " I don't know, what?"
"I wish that wizards were real as well as demigods. . .and that I was one of them. Then, I could come here in the summer, and go to Hogwarts during the school year! Can't you just imagine. . .fighting Voldemort by day, monsters by night! Or do you think it'd be 'monsters by day, Voldemort by night?' Or maybe they both come out at night! Then I'd have to alternate: 'fighting monsters on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and Voldemort on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, with Sundays off!' Not quite as catchy, is it?"
But Skye wasn't listening to her sister's ramblings. She was more focused on the green musical note floating above her head.
"Jane," she said, pointing. Jane frantically looked up and sqealed.
"Who is it? Who is it?" She was smiling widely, imploring anyone to answer.
"Apollo?" Jeffery asked skeptically. "But Jane. . .you suck at music."
"Apollo!" Jane said. But her face fell. "Oh, Jeffery, you're right. . . I couldn't be a child of Apollo."
Another sign apeared next to the note. It was a giant sun.
"That doesn't really convince us," Jeffery said to the sky. There was what could only be described as an exasperated rumble of thunder. Finally, a symbol appeared that made sense to everyone who knew her.
"Oh," Jane said as she stared happily at the green book and pen.
"Yeah," Jeffery said. "Apollo also symbolizes like, all forms of creativity. And you're definitely creative."
"Oh Jeffery!" Jane exclaimed. "This means we're siblings!"
His face broke out in a grin.
"All hail Jane Penderwick," Chiron said as he trotted forward. "Daughter of Apollo."
#####
Skye had had enough claimings for one night. One was fine. Two was really pushing it. Three was unacceptable.
The sing-along ended, and everyone's hyperness had worn away (except Leo, who was rambling on excitedly to a random person about the Argo II.) THe campers trudged down the hill towards their cabins, sleepily leaning on each other. Skye walked next to one of her brothers, Malcolm.
"Don't go out at night without permission, or else the harpies will eat you." He gestured when he talked.
"Wait," she said, disappointed. "That means i can't star-gaze."
"You star-gaze?" Malcolm asked. "That's really cool. I'm sure Chiron will let you come out, if you ask."
Skye nodded. Right now, the stars were high in the sky. "so, what do you do?" The question came out awkwardly, as if she were trying to make small talk, and failing. Skye Penderwick didn't make small talk.
Malcolm didn't seem to notice, or if he did, he just didn't care. He grinned. "I do lots of stuff." She smiled and rolled her eyes.
"I meant, what is your, you know, intelligent activity."
"I'm interested in biology, and archeology, if that's what you mean."
"That's sounds awesome. But they're pretty different aren't they?"
Malcolm shrugged. "Not really. I mean, they're completely different subjects, but you could use both to explain one thing; what was here before us. You could examine a bit of matter from the bottom of the ocean, and figure out how long it's been there, and wheather it was ever dry land there or anything. . .archeology is just the same thing, except with objects humans have used."
Skye thought about it for a second. "Huh. i woudln't have thought of it like that. Have you ever been on a dig?"
He nodded. "Once. One of my- sorry, our- older borthers took me to Turkey last year. We just got to watch, but it was interesting all the same. There was this-"
"Boring Skye with one of your archeology tangents again, Malcolm?" Annabeth said as she came up beside him.
"No more boring than your architecture ones," he shot back.
"Yeah? Well your biology lectures are particularly-"
Skye listened patiently to them insult each other. Annabeth seemed more upbeat around her siblings. That afternoon she had apeared tired and worried. Now, she seemed fine, happy even. She wondered if it was because of the fact that you can just be you around your siblings. Nothing's expected of you in those moments when you're being silly. However, Skye never had playful shouting matches with her sisters. Only Jeffery. 'I suppose you need a male influence,' she thought. She'd never had a brother. Well, she had Ben, whom she loved, but he could barely talk, let alone shout.
She wondered if she could ever have the relationship Malcolm and Annabeth had, with anyone at camp, excluding Jeffery and her sisters. She didn't think it was possible.
"Hey," a voice said beside her. She turned, and saw Rosalind walking beside her. Immediately, she threw herself into her sister's arms. Rosalind hugged her back tightly.
"Hey," Skye said into her shirt. Rosalind smelled familiarly of mint, and lemon soap.
They broke apart,and looked at each other. Malcolm and Annabeth had continued walking, not even noticing Skye was gone. 'Oh well,' Skye thought. 'This is who i really belong with.'
"How are you doing?" Rosalind asked. She crossed her arms over her chest.
"You mean, am i okay with the fact that i just got handed to a new family?"
"Well, yes."
Skye nodded. "Yeah, i guess i'm okay." She glanced around. There were still some people lounging around, stalling before they reached their cabins.
"What about Jane?" Skye asked. She spotted her sister, laughing with Jeffery and a few of their siblings. She envied how included she was.
"Oh, i spoke with her for a minute, but it was clear she was eagar to meet her new. . .siblings."
Skye noticed the tinge of bitterness in Rosalind's voice. She knew that she felt betrayed. "Y'know.. ." Skye had never been good at talking about feelings. "You know that Jane is just. . . just. . .excited. She still. ..you know, loves us and everything."
Rosalind sighed. "I know. It's just. . .Batty was actually talking to people. You know how she's usually terrified of strangers? Well, the entire night, she ignored me, and talked to other people the whole time! And then Jane went off with her Apollo siblings. . .which is fine of course! She should get to know them. It's just, you can't ignore your real family." She scuffed her foot on the ground, turning up mounds of dirt. Then she looked up
"You know,"she said quietly. "i feel like you and i are the only ones who really know how different this is going to be. . .how drastic this change is. I mean, Batty is too young to realize, and even though Jane's twelve, i think she is too."
"Yeah," Skye agreed. "When we were that age, we were way more mature."
Rosalind snorted. "We were more mature than that when we were ten!"
Skye grinned. What with Rosalind being the oldest, and a subsitute mother for the younger ones since she was eight, you didn't catch her saying bad things about her siblings often.
Rosalind looked up. Almost everyone was down by the cabins. "You better go to bed," Rosalind said, giving her sister a small push down the hill. "I have to go find Batty. . .i left her with Jeffery."
Skye ran to the Athena cabin. The lights were still on. Annabeth was waiting outside.
"We were wondering where you'd gotten to," Annabeth said. "I figured one of your sisters had come by."
Skye nodded. "Yeah. Rosalind just had to talk about some things."
Annabeth nodded. "Well, you're here now." She smiled mysteriously. "You get to see the cabin."
She grabbed Skye's hand and pulled her through the sight that met her eyes made her gasp.
Bookshelves lined the walls, except for the one all the bunk beds were pushed up against. Blueprints were taped to the ceiling, and the few places where books didn't reign. Tables were spread over the cabin, each with different equipment and papers on it. At the very back of the room was a SmartBoard.
Annabeth led her around the room, pointing out the different stations.
"That's where we do our lab testing," Annabeth said, gesturing to an open-doored side room full of advanced science equipment. "This is the history table," she sai. "I advise you not to touch anything on it unless you want someone very angry at you. Unless you know what you're doing, in which case, touch all you want." She pointed at a table covered in pencils and blueprints. "That," she said with relish, "is the architecture table. You may look, you may touch, but you may not make any changes to the designs. Unless they're yours. A person's designs are their own,and no matter how bad or unsensible you find them, you may not make any alterations." She continued to outline where everything was, the basic rules of the cabin and the camp. It was only when the tour was done did Skye noticed the people. Some were lying on their beds. Others were wondering around in their pyjamas, typing on their laptops or reading. They all had blonde hair, except for a few.
Annabeth noticed Skye noticing everybody. She clapped her hands loudly, and everyone looked up from their books or their laptops to her.
"Everyone," she said. "I know i've said this already. But please, help make Skye feel welcome. Save the teasing and insults until after she knows you're all real family, and that you don't really mean her harm." The Athena children laughed. A few of them nodded or smiled at her before going back to their work.
Skye couldn't help but feel annoyed. She didn't need anyone to look out for her and defend her in advance. She could take care of herself.
"Sorry," Annabeth muttered. "But i had to say it. I didn't want you immediately disliking us because of our habit of mocking and insulting each other, therefor, for mocking or insulting you."
Skye softened a bit. "It's okay," she said.
"Great," Annabeth said. She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. She seemed tired again.
"I'll find my way to the bathrooms," Skye said. Annabeth raised her eyebrows. "You look like you have more important things to do," Skye explained. "Like sleep."
So, Skye found herself waiting in line for the girls washrooms alone. Her toothbrush and paste were in hand, along with her soap and cloth. Very simple. No make up remover, like some of the girls infront of her. No special facial cleansers or creams. just the basics.
When she reached the front of the line, she noticed Rosalind leaning tiredly against the wall.
"Rosalind!" Skye said. Rosalind immediately opened her eyes, and looked around. Her eyes fell on Skye.
"Skye," she said, before closing her eyes again.
"Why are you just leaning there?" Skye asked.
"I'm waiting for Batty," Rosalind said.
"Where are you guys sleeping tonight?" Skye said.
"In the Hermes cabin," she replied dreamily.
Suddenly, a gasp went up from inside the washrooms, much like the one from earlier, at dinner. Loud chatteeing followed, and girls rushed out of the room.
"The little girl," one girl managed to announce, before going back inside. Once agian, Rosalind opened her eyes, frantically this time. She rushed into the bathroom, and Skye followed.
Stalls lined one wall. The sinks lined the other. Girls were pressed up against the white marble, their toothbrushes and bottles in hand. But Skye hardly noticed them. All she could see was her little sister, eyes wide with fear. An image of a horse running through water was hovering above her head. Rosalind stared with disbelief and disappointment.
One girl, a daughter of Demeter grabbed Batty and led her outside. Everyone followed. A crowd had gathered outside the door, both boys and girls. Chiron pushed through them. He breathed in sharply when he saw Batty. He muttered a few words to himself, but they didn't amke sense to anyone who heard them.
"All hail Elizabeth Penderwick," he said, finally regaining his composure. "Daughter of Poseidon."
Talking and gasps erupted all at once.
"Percy," one girl said. "What would Percy say?"
"He'd be surprised, that's for sure," a boy replied.
"She's so little. Tyson would crush her in a hug." More comments continued, both names popping up.
"Come," Chiron siad, flinging Batty onto his back. "I'll take you to your cabin."
"But-" Rosalind said, rushing forward.
"You'll see her tomorrow!" Chiron called as he rode away with their sister.
Rosalind looked down and fiddled with her fingers. She breathed a small, humourless laugh.
"I guess it's just me in the Hermes cabin tonight."
A/N: I'd like to thank DemiLovatoGirl (again) for giving me the Poseidon idea. You really helped me out!
Sorry if the characters seemed OC to you. . . I'm trying to give them justice.
Now. i am going to do a thing that really annoys me when i read fanfics, but oh well:
I'm not going to update this story again, until i get. . .five reviews. (wow, that sounds pathetic. It's just, i usually only get one or two per chapter, so five is practically gold.) If you like this story, and want another chapter, press the blue "Review" button, at the bottom of your screen. If you don't then. . .don't.