"How's Adelphie doing?" Chiron asked, interrupting the twins' archery practice.
"She's sleeping now," Travis said. "We gave her clothes and toiletries and let her be."
"She's taking everything well," Connor said. "It's weird how well she's handling things."
"Don't judge a book by its cover," Chiron said. "This is difficult for everyone; she might not let on how confused, afraid, and uncomfortable she really is. Be good to her, will you? Find someone nice in the cabin to help her, maybe befriend her."
"I'll take care of it," Travis promised. Adelphie had grown on him quickly.
"Why do you get dibs on the girl?" Connor teased. "Someone has a crush!" he said in a singsong voice.
"Oh shut it," Travis said. "I have no crush on Adelphie. It's a family thing, considering the fact that she's most likely our sister."
"Oh don't go all fraternal on us, Trav," Connor said. "You know you're hoping she's some other god's kid, cuz you know you want her."
"It's weird how you know how I feel when I don't," Travis snapped. "Let's go, we've got archery practice."
Adelphie lay in bed after a shower, thinking about the day's events. She'd finally arrived at Camp Half-Blood, she'd be given a bed to sleep and privacy to deal with the fact that her life would never be the same again. I have a father, she thought. My dad is a Greek god. I'm half a god! Wow, this is one strange world.
Adelphie glanced at the clock: 6:30. She figured dinner would be starting now, but she didn't feel like eating. She just wanted to be left alone.
Deciding she needed some fresh air, Adelphie sat on the cabin steps and stared off into the distance. So much new in her life: new home, new dad, new friends, new everything. Might as well get used to it now, she thought.
"You okay?" A voice asked, waking Adelphie from her thoughts. She turned to see Travis standing beside her.
"I don't know," she said, staring back at the camp. "What are you doing here? Isn't it dinner time?"
"I came to check on you," he said. "You know, see if you're awake and want dinner."
"You can go," she said. "I'm not hungry."
"Neither am I," he said, though his stomach grumbled quietly. "Do you want to be alone?"
"Honestly, I don't know," she said. "I don't know about anything anymore."
Travis sat down next to her. "Things will be ok, you know," he said. "It's hard on everyone at first. But you'll get used to it, and you'll come to love it here."
"It's just so strange," she said. "I was used to it being just me and my mom. No mention of a father. I was just a normal girl. But then this freak monster shows up, burns down my school, and sends me on the run. Now, I find out I'm half-mortal half-god, I have a dad and a whole family to go into, and there's nothing ordinary about me now. How is it going to get better?"
"I don't know how to put it, but it just does. Once you make friends and get used to having siblings and adjust to camp, it's not so bad. Camp is the best home I have."
"I guess I just never expected any of this to happen."
"No one does, Adelphie. No one."
"Is it even safe for me anymore? Will I be able to go home and try to resume my life, or will I have to stay here forever because I'm too much of a threat to the world?"
"Camp is here to train you, so you can defend yourself and go back out into the world and stay safe. It's not like you have to stay here forever. Life will get normal again."
"Really?"
"I swear it on my life."
Adelphie smiled at Travis, and he smiled back at her. The thought that things could—would—go back to normal was enough to make her feel better.
"For what it's worth, you seem to be handling things pretty well," he said. "Much better than others."
"Obviously you can't see the internal turmoil my stomach is in."
"I'm sure dinner will calm your stomach. We're having pizza tonight. Sure you want to pass that up?"
"I am a little hungry," she laughed. "Lead the way; I have no idea where I'm going."
"Let's go," he said.
"Travis?"
He stopped and turned around to look at her. "Yeah?"
"Thanks."
"You're welcome." With another smile at Adelphie, he continued leading her to dinner.
"There you are!" Connor said when he saw Travis and Adelphie sit down to eat. "What took you so long?"
"Oh, just shut it," Travis said. To the table, crowded with the other children of Hermes, he announced, "Guys, this is Adelphie, our new camper/potential sister! Make her feel welcome, 'kay?"
Immediately, Adelphie was bombarded with "HI!" and "Hey!" and "Welcome to camp!". She blushed, embarrassed by all the attention.
"See, they like you already," Travis laughed.
"You still seem optimistic that I'm your sister."
"We'd love nothing more than a beautiful addition to our cabin," Connor interjected. "I'd say you belong in Aphrodite's cabin, but your mother's a mortal."
"Are you sure he's your twin?" Adelphie asked Travis. "He seems obnoxious and flirtatious while you're nicer and calmer."
"I know when to behave," Travis said. "I'm usually like him."
"I can totally see myself fitting into the cabin," she laughed. "All the tricksters and pranksters and me, the rule-abiding one."
"So now you think you're my sister?" he teased.
"You keep saying I probably am! It almost seems definite."
Chiron watched Adelphie from the head table. He was pleased to find her smiling and laughing with both of the Stoll twins, particularly Travis. He knew he had been right to leave her with them.
"She the new half-blood, the girl with the brunette ringlets?" Mr. D, the camp director, asked with a groan. In truth, he was the Greek god Dionysius, and he was not particularly fond of demigod children. His sentence as director of camp was nearing its end (only twenty more years to go), and he did not want many new children around to make it any worse than it already was.
"Yes, that's Adelphie Cameron," Chiron answered. "She's still unclaimed, but I'm almost positive she's a daughter of Hermes."
"Another punk at camp, just what we need," Mr. D sighed. "Those Stoll kids are going to corrupt her even more."
"She'll be okay," Chiron said. "Don't go writing her off yet."
After dinner, the whole camp gathered around a fire (dedicated to Hestia, goddess of the hearth) for camp sing-along. Adelphie found herself squished between Travis and Connor right up front.
"I don't know any of these songs!" Adelphie whispered to Travis.
"You'll catch on fast," Travis said. "They're not hard songs."
Before she knew it, Adelphie was singing as loud as she could along with the rest of camp, laughing at how ridiculous the songs were but enjoying herself nonetheless. Despite getting off to a bad start, camp didn't seem so bad to her now.
A thunderstorm had started at the end of the sing-along. Everyone was milling around the fire, not ready to go back to their cabins just yet.
"Shouldn't we go back?" Adelphie asked. Connor smirked.
"This place has some enchantment on it, so no weather gets in unless we let it. You're perfectly fine," he said.
"I like thunderstorms," she said. "It's fun to watch lightning streak across the sky."
Just then, a lightning bolt struck down inches away from Adelphie. Everyone had jumped back, except for her. For some reason, the bolt hadn't frightened her.
Another struck down, followed by another, and one after that. The series of bolts continued, etching a circle in the ground around Adelphie, who hadn't moved. Campers, officials, wood nymphs, satyrs, and every other creature under the sun stared at her, watching her remain still and calm as lightning nearly missed her with every strike.
"Does this happen often?" Adelphie asked Travis, who was five feet away from her. The lightning had finally stopped.
"No, this doesn't," he answered, transfixed by the faint yellow glow around the newest camper. An image of a lightning bolt appeared above her head. "Adelphie, you're not my sister."