A/N: I don't own Greek mythology or any characters from Percy Jackson and the Olympians that might show up. All of the main characters are OC's.
"Well then," a fifteen year old murmured to herself, gathering up four or five heavy books, "I suppose that's good for a day or two." Out of reflex, she glanced around, checking to see if anyone had noticed, and then remembered that she didn't need to. At this place, SASS, (she couldn't think of it as a school) everyone was abnormal. In fact, the only one here that wasn't ADHD and/or dyslexic was Miss. Rhea, and she was the one in charge. Besides, hadn't Diablo announced a day or two ago that he talked to himself a lot ("although," he had admitted, "I mostly did it to piss off my aunt.") The only ones in the library on a day like this were her (Mika), Shawn, who was buried in the fiction section as always, and Daman, who was content with only staying in the manga part of the fiction section. Boys.
Grabbing a bag, Mika walked out of the library, holding the bag where her books now were with both hands. She blinked spasmodically when the sun temporarily blinded her, and with her hands full, she couldn't block the light. When she got used to it, she strode off towards the dorms, her coffee skin softly glowing. She veered off of her path when she heard something, the distant sound of a car jolting to a stop, and started toward the gate with curiosity. Miss. Rhea had said they were waiting for six more kids before they would officially start training.
"Or maybe," she had said thoughtfully, tapping her chin, "if it does turn out that one will be late, we could start without them and let them catch up when they arrive." If this batch of kids wasn't the entire six, Mika hoped that'd be what they would do. She wanted to start as soon as possible.
She walked past Diablo, Carter, Willow, and Josh without even glancing back. It was too common to see it to even wonder why Carter was chasing Diablo, seeing as it was always that Diablo had taken one of his parts. And of course, Willow would be trying to be the peacemaker, while her little brother did all he could to demand her attention. Every time Mika saw something like this, she felt kind of bad for Willow. Sure, she had little siblings too, since her dad had married Serenity, and she already had seven year old twins, but Erik and Erica were well-behaved. It helped that they wanted to be like their mom, so Erik loved Ju-jitsu while Erica did yoga. But Josh was an ADD (ADHD, whatever) kid like the rest of them, and he didn't have anything to put that energy into.
Mika'd been at SASS for about three days now, spending time exploring, meeting people, and getting used to the idea that she had actually found a place where she belonged, not somewhere she'd mess up and get kicked out again. Almost everyone was really nice here; it was almost like having a second family she'd never had. Miss. Rhea was definitely everything Mika had ever looked for in a mother; kind, caring… everything she's read about mothers. She'd never met her own mother, so it was a nice change.
Once she was done reminiscing, she noticed a boy had already passed through the gates. He was about ten, blond hair, blue eyes, but a totally shocked expression. Well, who could blame him? On the outside of SASS, you see this totally depressing building, but walk past the gate and you enter a whole new world. He was frozen, about a foot inside, and two girls came up behind him, knocking into him. Instead of freaking out like the boy, the girls looked terribly excited. Mika walked up to them.
"Hi!" the one on the left said to her before she could talk, running up to her. "I'm Aj, and this is Aly! We're twins!"
"What is this place? Is it really our new school?" the one on the right, Aly, continued excitedly. Mika blinked, and slowly started to smile. They were young, so they must be the minimum age, nine. Identical twins, unlike Erik and Erica, with red hair and green eyes.
"Yes," Mika answered. "This is SASS, Special Ability School for Students, although you can't really call it a school once you're inside, can you?" They grinned back at her and scanned the area again.
"We hear you," Aly agreed.
"Loud, And, Clear." Aj added.
Off to the side, behind the boy, two more girls came up behind him, and followed his example by freezing on the spot. The one in front was older than the three before her, maybe a year younger than Mika, with eyes that looked like they were made of rainbows, something she had never seen before. But then, there were already never before seen eye-colors here at SASS, weren't there? She had shoulder length chocolate brown hair sticking to her face, and Mika realized that it must be sweltering outside. The girl, the twins, and the boy were all sweating.
Oddly enough, however, the last girl, a small Asian girl about Shawn's height, maybe a bit taller, looked perfectly sweat-free. This girl had waist length hair, a dark red color (it was color that Mika had read about… what was it again? Vermillion? Yes, vermillion), and it was braided over her left shoulder. Mika glanced at the girl's eyes and sighed. Yep, copper. Another color she hadn't ever seen a person's eye as. Maybe she hasn't met enough people…
Answering the twins' questions (they weren't that hard. It was mostly: Is that a lake? Is that a sword fighting arena?), Mika saw that Miss. Rhea had appeared, welcoming the boy and the two girls to SASS. That must mean that the sixth person still hadn't arrived. Mika almost muttered 'dang it' until she heard that the sixth would arrive late. That meant they would just start the lessons! Yes!
Once Miss. Rhea left, Mika pointed the twins to the dorms. They ran over to the older girls and the boy, who was slowly coming out of his transfixed state, and took the three older kids' bags, racing each other to the dorms. The gray eyed girl walked over to them, smiling. She remembered how uncomfortable she had felt when she walked into those gates three days ago; almost like she was trespassing on a party she hadn't been invited to.
"Hi," Mika said, a bit unsure how to start. When she had arrived, the first person to greet her was Diablo, and he had said "You got any cash? Just kidding!" and, ruffling her hair, he'd announced, "We all love each other here at SASS!" Then he ran off with Carter chasing after him. Somehow, as welcoming as it was, she hadn't found that calming. Rainbow Eyes nodded at her, tapping the boy's shoulder. He snapped out of it, and stepped back next to her, focusing on Mika.
"Hello…" he spoke cautiously.
"It's nice to meet you," Copper Eyes inserted, walking up to Mika with a smile. "My name is Jenna Thomas, but I'd prefer if you just left out the Thomas part." Mika nodded, understanding. A lot of the kids here didn't always use their names. Diablo for sure never said anything about his real name, much less his last name. Whenever someone asked him why he went by 'Diablo', he'd immediately reply, "It reminds me that one: my eyes are purple, and two: that my sister won't fall for some guy who has pretty eyes." Then he'd grin like he'd just made a joke.
"My name is Mika Davis," she said, grinning like an idiot. Maybe she'd just made a new friend! "I'd offer you my hand, but…" she glanced down at the bag she was holding.
"Oh, it's fine," Jenna said reassuringly. "No harm done. Everyone loves at least one sort of book." She glanced at Rainbow Eyes and Blond boy, who were starting to relax, settling into the novelty of the whole thing. "This is Katherine Prince," Rainbow Eyes nodded again, smiling this time, "and this is her younger brother, Lucifer Prince. The girls you met earlier are also their siblings, Aly and Aj Prince." Mika nodded at them, and Rainbow Eyes, Katherine walked up to her. Then, she did something totally unexpected. She hugged Mika!
"It is very nice to meet you Mika," she said warmly, letting go. "I'd love it if you called me Kathy; Katherine sounds too formal. Would you mind being friends with me?" Mika's face glowed with delight. Two friends! Maybe even those twins would be her friends! Four friends! She nodded excitedly, and then looked at the boy, Lucifer. He also did something unexpected. He surveyed her with his eyes, snorted, and stuck his hands in his pockets.
"Great," he muttered, sounding a bit crestfallen. "I can't pickpocket her now." Once he realized he'd said this aloud, he glanced up to see her reaction. Surprisingly enough, she looked at him, interested.
"If he likes pick-pocketing," she said, turning to Kathy, "he should talk to Diablo. Diablo's a master at pick-pocketing, and no one ever catches him." Lucifer was suddenly interested.
"Which one's Diablo?" he said, trying not to sound excited, but failing miserably as he took in the camp once more, pausing at every boy. Amused, Mika pointed out Diablo, and he nearly dashed off to meet the older, better pick-pocket.
"Um…" Kathy started, and Mika swung around to give her, her attention. "Can you please tell us about the people here? At least so we know who to avoid?" Mika raised an eyebrow.
"Well," she began, setting the bag of books down, "there's not that many people you need to avoid. Mostly just the Divas, and they usually stay away from you if you don't challenge them. They're a bunch of stuck-up snobs, but they're beauty queens, too. Luckily the boys here are smart enough to judge by things other than looks." She gestured over to the far side of the lakes, where almost all of the Divas were sunbathing. "The only Diva who's worth talking to is the leader; Bella Mason, though most of the boys avoid her most of all." Kathy and Jenna looked confused.
"Why? You'd think the leader would be the prettiest-"
"Oh, she is." Mika assured Jenna, and then indicated the direction where Bella was "talking" with Jasper. "Like I said before, though, the boys here don't only judge by looks. Bella's problem is that if she's near a good looking boy, she feels the extreme need to flirt. And of course, almost all of the guys here are pretty good looking." The two girls looked around, eyes widening when they realized she was right. "Other than them, the Drifters' are the only ones who don't make an effort to be nice, but the plus is that they don't usually make an effort to stop and talk, either. That's about it," Mika finished, proud of herself. Not many people thought to add the Drifters. Katy and Jenna looked at each other and nodded.
"Mika?" Katy asked hesitantly. "Would you mind telling us about the other people too?" Mika looked at her, surprised.(A/N: If you don't care about descriptions of the characters, you can skip this stuff. It's understandable. This is for people like me who are overly-obsessive about details and want to be able to close their eyes and picture it happening.)
"Of course I don't mind," she said, and then she began. "I think I'll save the major group for last. First," She pointed at the red head in the sword arena, "is Conrad McHenry. He's the boy with red hair, but he also has brown eyes and he's quite tall as the oldest person here, seventeen. He's seriously buff, but," she made a face," he's obsessed with fighting. He's part Irish, and if you ever want to talk to him he's either at or around the arena. He never backs down from a challenge." She turned her gaze to the person no less than a foot away from the boy.
"The girl fighting him is Kayla Lagow. She's the only one who's brave enough to challenge Conrad to fights, and the only one I've seen skilled enough with a sword to occasionally beat him. Although, I suppose that's not saying much, seeing as I haven't seen many other people fight. She's nice enough, but pretty short tempered, and she tries to stay away from her brother as much as possible. She's nine, with dirty blond hair and hazel eyes." At the brother comment, Katy and Jenna looked confused, so Mika quickly continued before they could ask.
"The one just outside the arena is Ryan Orneales," unconsciously she made a face. "He must be the only boy here that isn't even partially good looking. Maybe I'm biased, but who cares? He's an idiot too. Not even nice, seeing as he's an ass. I guess he's another one you'd want to avoid." The two girls looked horrified at Mika's thoughtful expression. "He has brown eyes and hair, and he spikes it like he thinks that'll make him look cooler. He's pale, like a sick person, and all stick-like, but he doesn't even have the decency to be clumsy. He's talkative, annoying, and adores attention, also fifteen years old. Nobody likes him, but no one hates him more than Carter. Ryan's also a vegetarian, and he says he loves gardens." Mika turned her head to look at the lake, where Bella was finally leaving Jasper alone; the girl looking disappointed.
"I already skimmed over Bella, but you'll want more info, right? So, she's the unofficial leader of the Divas, she's an enormous flirt, her last name is Mason, and she has the body of a supermodel," Mika said, listing off the things she'd already told the other two. "She has really pale blond hair that goes down to her mid-back, and she's another one with an unusual eye color. Her eyes are electric purple. Along with her blond hair, she has super pale skin," which I think makes her look like Rosalie from Twilight, she added to herself. "Her personality describes the stereotypical blond, though. She's ditsy, and more often than not says the first thing that comes to her mind even if it's not the nicest thing to say. Other than that, she's pretty harmless; just don't let her set you up with anybody.
"After Bella, next would be the boy she was just talking to, Jasper Hunter. Jasper has black hair (kinda wind-blown looking) and has jade eyes. Not bad looking at all for a boy that's a year younger than me. He doesn't seem very interested in girls, though. He's almost always by the lake, and he's pretty laid-back. He tends to keep to himself, but he's good friends with everyone. He was the first one to get here." Kathy and Jenna were starting to look a bit overwhelmed, but there were still a lot left.
"That one," Mika continued, indicating the girl shooting targets," is Alexa James. She's thirteen, and is always at the archery range, unless she decides to shoot hoops, or at sunset when she's at the lake. She's amazing at archery, and she's really friendly and easy-going. She doesn't particularly like boys much, though. She has really pretty silver hair with streaks of gold, and her eyes aren't unusual, but they are kind of weird when you stare at into her eyes and realize that they look a hell of a lot like the moon." Almost to the group, and Mika was starting to get excited.
"Okay, you see where that group of kids is? The group where you're brother went?" She amended when Kathy looked confused, and the girl then nodded. "You see the boy clinging to the older girl?" Another nod, one from both the girls. "That's Josh Martin. When he's in the sunlight, he never leaves his sister's side. He's always trying to get her attention, but fails miserably and only makes it harder on her. He's highly annoying, but not bad so I can't tell you to stay away from him. He's nine and greatly resembles his sister, with light hair and greenish blue eyes." She paused, making a quick decision.
"I guess, that means I'll go to Willow, his older sister. As I said, and as you can see, her brother greatly resembles her. She has teal eyes and long, cream-colored hair, with natural brown streaks, taller and more slender than other fifteen year olds. She's hyper and an optimist, and makes for a great friend, though she does talk a bit louder and faster than normal. She's addicted to red rockstars." At the questioning looks she was getting from the other two, Mika added, "you know, the energy drink. She's part of the main group in this school." She got apprehensive looks for at one. "Oh, they're not bad. They're just a big group of friends and stuff. They have some of the most talented in the school in their group, but they're still nice to people outside of the group." Mika squinted at the two boys who had recently stopped fighting.
"Carter is the auburn-haired boy who recently stopped chasing Diablo. His last name is Lagow, and he's Kayla's older brother. He loves tinkering with mechanical parts, but he loves trains the most. He has gloomy blue eyes, and he has a down-to-earth sort of personality. A lot of people go to him for advice, and he naturally gravitates people to him, but the funny part is he doesn't like attention from anyone except the people in their group. He really dislikes Ryan, and he's holding up a rivalry with Diablo, but he maintains it's not a rivalry, just the feeling of hate. It's not true, though. He obviously hates Ryan more than anyone out there." Kathy stepped forward.
"How many more people are there, Mika?" She sounded strained, like she was being expected to remember all of this. Mika blinked.
"Oh, just three more. You don't have to remember all of this, you know. You're completely welcome to meet them face to face." Kathy nodded and stepped back to rejoin Jenna.
"Okay, then. Go on."
"Next is Diablo. No last name, and we're pretty sure Diablo's not his real first name, either, but he insists. He's the troublemaker of the group and the camp. He's a pick-pocket, and he loves causing mischief. He's part Latino, with black hair, but he has purple eyes. He's amazing, though. He never cares whether you're new or not, he's like the big brother of the campers who let him act that way. Don't get on his bad side, though. He can be scary for a sixteen year old. He's the co-leader of the group, and best friends with Shawn. I'll get back to him later." She added when she received curious looks.
"Second to last is Daman Jones, who's in the library-" She paused, and looked, seeing that a figure had just come out. "That's him. He has really dark brown hair and eyes, almost black. He unconsciously drives everyone who's not in the group away; whether because of his insanity or his aura, I can't tell. He's pretty cheerful, but he doesn't like Ryan either. He and Carter get along well enough, but sometimes they're at odds with each other." Mika paused, as she had been doing every change of person, and a voice boomed across the courtyard. (A/N: You come in around here if you skipped the descriptions.)
"Mika!" Diablo has finally noticed that there were new kids, and ran over to the gate, dragging Lucifer behind him. Curiously, Carter, Willow, and Josh followed. When she saw Diablo, Mika blushed.
"H-Hey, Diablo." She choked out, avoiding his eyes. Kathy and Jenna looked at her, eyebrows raised. He didn't notice, his attention already on the other girls.
"'Sup, new kids? How do you like the most awesome place in existence?" He grinned, looking like he was having the time of his life.
~POV change~
"Josh, please stop that!" Willow said, exasperated. Her younger brother stopped clinging to her and pouted at her.
"I don't want big sister to pay attention to anyone but me!" he whined, and she narrowed her eyes at him. He blinked; she never got angry with him, so this was new.
"Josh, I have friends too! I want to hang out with them sometimes! You're perfectly capable of getting your own friends! Maybe you can go talk to them!" She gestured to the two girls walking out of the dorm building, two of the new kids. He looked uneasily at them. "You'll never know if they'll like you, so give yourself a chance! Please?" She was almost begging now, sending side glances to the entrance where some of her friends were heading to meet the new kids. He looked at her, still pouting, then sighed.
"All right, for you, Willow." He muttered, trudging to the girls, who had noticed him and were running to meet him. Willow watched him go, and then ran to the gate, catching up with everyone. The newer girls by the gate were staring, bewildered, at Diablo, who must've said something weird. Mika was doing her usual 'blush and look down' routine, the one she did every time Diablo came close. Willow wasn't an idiot; she knew that Mika liked him; Diablo was just too blind to notice.
Trying to snap her out of it, Willow asked Mika, "So? Are you going to introduce us?" Mika blinked and looked at Willow.
"Oh- I- I just-" she stammered, and glanced at the two girls behind her. Noticing her distress, the older girl stepped forward.
"My name's Kathy Prince," she said, and then nudged the girl behind her.
"I'm Jenna Thomas. Please leave out the Thomas part." Everyone nodded. Not everyone liked both of their names.
"Well," Diablo started, looking excited, "I'm-"
"Diablo No Last Name." Jenna inserted. Everyone stared at her; even she looked embarrassed at having interrupted him. Mika blushed even harder. Diablo surprised the three girls who weren't in the group by bursting into loud laughter, and he grabbed the nearest shoulder for support, which happened to be Carter's, who looked like he himself was having a hard time not laughing, too.
"Nice!" He choked, still laughing. "See, Carter? I'm so popular that people know my name before I even meet them!" Willow was laughing as well, though not as hard as him. Carter rolled his eyes.
"Are you kidding?" He asked the older boy, grinning. "Mika probably thought you were so annoying that she felt she needed to warn the newbies away from you!" The three other girls started smiling too, and Lucifer rolled his eyes. He walked away, towards where Josh, Aly, and Aj were talking. Before everyone had stopped laughing, another person came to join them. Daman.
"What's up, guys?" He asked, looking around. "What'd I miss? And who are they?" He glanced at Kathy and Jenna, and everyone turned to look at him.
"Daman!" Diablo choked, turning to him. "Carter's just made a clever joke, is all."
"Oh, another joke at your expense, you mean?" Daman replied knowledgeably, cracking a grin. Everyone burst into another fit of laughter, leaving Diablo pouting.
"So, these two are some of the new kids; Kathy and Jenna!" Diablo interrupted the laughing, hoping it would stop. It did, and Daman turned to look at the girls.
"Kathy and Jenna, huh?" The girls nodded. "I'm-"
"Daman Jones," It was Kathy who stated the name this time. After a small pause, Diablo, Carter, Daman, and Willow turned to look at Mika, who didn't seem all that pleased with the attention. She was so embarrassed she couldn't look any of them in the eyes.
"Aw!" Diablo whined, "You told them about us?" Mika looked mortified, and Willow decided she didn't need to be humiliated by the boy she liked.
"She probably didn't differentiate," Willow said knowledgably, "Mika probably gave them a run-down on everyone here, not just us." Everyone stared at her, different expressions heavy on their faces. Mika had the greatest relief, Jenna and Kathy had surprise, but the people in her group were shocked.
"Willow, I didn't follow after you said differ- whatever." Diablo said finally.
"Well, I know what the word means," Carter said, shooting an annoyed look at Diablo, "But that's not a word you usually use."
"No kidding," Daman marveled. "You sounded like Shawn or Mika." Willow blushed, and Mika decided she might as well help her out, seeing as she'd saved her multiple times already.
"Willow's right, I didn't just stick with your group. I described everyone." Kathy and Jenna looked at each other with confused looks.
"What's wrong?" Willow and Carter asked at the same time, and then looked at each other. They never said things at the same time. The two girls didn't notice.
"It's just that…" Jenna trailed off, looking questioningly at Mika.
"You said there was one left," Kathy finished, also looking at their informer. Mika's eyes widened and she looked at them.
"That's right, I didn't finish, and Diablo came before I could." She said as an explanation. Everyone looked at the teen in question, and he had the grace to look embarrassed.
"See?" Carter said teasingly with a grin. "I told you that you were annoying." Before Diablo could protest, Daman asked a question.
"Then who's the one you haven't heard of yet?" Kathy tilted her head.
"I wouldn't say we haven't heard of him, Mika mentioned his name a couple of times." It was almost like she was purposely avoiding saying the name. Even Willow was curious, and if she was, Diablo and Daman would be dying with curiosity.
"Who?" Diablo asked impatiently, confirming Willow's suspicions. Mika opened her mouth to answer, but Jenna, catching on, covered the girl's mouth and grinned.
"Oh, should we tell them?" She asked Kathy, obviously enjoying herself. Willow and Carter hid their smiles. Oh, those two were good. "If Diablo stopped Mika before she could tell us, it's obvious he doesn't want us to know about him. We wouldn't want to upset our senior." Willow and Carter didn't even try to hide their smiles; even Daman, who was now seriously curious, was grinning at their antics and the expression on Diablo's face.
"Please tell me! I'm begging!" And, to everyone's amusement, Diablo kneeled down and clasped his hands, literally begging.
"Oh for the love of all that's holy…" A voice muttered, "Diablo, what in the name of Tartarus are you doing?" The voice came from behind the group, and everyone jumped. Kathy and Jenna had been too focused to notice the newcomer. Diablo got up quickly, a sheepish smile on his face. Daman, Willow, and Carter turned around and watched with amusement. Mika looked like she wanted to run, and the look flashing over Kathy and Jenna's faces showed that they might have found the person they didn't know.
"Um…" sheepish smile still in place, Diablo looked at the new figure in front of him. "Hey, Shawn." Kathy and Jenna looked each other, and quickly went back to examining the newcomer. Willow could understand why a lot of people would underestimate Shawn. He was the youngest in the group at twelve, but he acted older than Diablo more often than not, and he was kind of short. Okay not kind of, he was about a head shorter than everyone who was normal height, even Jenna, who had some Asian in her, was an inch or two taller, but he had lighter skin, like cream. No one ever saw him without his Yankees hat, and it covered all his hair, which he'd told them was black. The bill covered his face, and since no one was short enough to see under it, no one had ever seen under it. He was a bit of a smart-ass sometimes, but he was really nice, too. Interestingly enough, his best friend of all of them was Diablo. Shawn was the second to arrive at SASS. One thing you needed to know about him: he can be hell-a fast if he wants to be.
"What are you doing here?" Diablo continued awkwardly, breaking the silence, "You said you were going to be at the library for awhile. Shawn shrugged.
"Rhea told us to get over to the lake, and I was trying to figure out why you hadn't started heading over there until I saw you get down on your knees." The reply couldn't have been more pointed, and everyone in the group started laughing at Diablo's half-affronted, half-embarrassed face.
"Shawn," he said quickly, "Don't you want to know who these two are?" Shawn sighed and looked at the three separated girls. Mika was looking anywhere but there, but Jenna gasped, and Kathy looked, startled, at Jenna. Shawn ignored it, and started walking over to where they were all supposed to be. Everyone started following him.
"They're Katherine Prince and Jenna Thomas, who doesn't want to be addressed with her last name, aren't they?" The two girls stumbled, but caught themselves, looking shocked.
"How-?"The girls started, but they'd already gotten to the pavilion by the lake where all the announcements were made. They were the last ones there.
"About time," Conrad grumbled. Miss. Rhea was the only one in the pavilion, and she clapped twice to call attention to herself.
"Hello, my heroes," She started warmly. "Although we still have one missing, I'm glad there are still so many of you here. It's time I explained why you all were chosen to attend the Special Ability School for Students, or, as so many of you have dubbed it, SASS. You see, the Greek 'myths and legends' you have all heard sometime in your life are true." Gasps came from all around, but Miss. Rhea continued. "As well, though it might surprise you; you all have something in common. You'll find that each one of you has a parent that- well- 'ran off'." This time, it was not easy to ignore the hard looks Miss. Rhea received from them. "This is actually part of the reason you're here."
"So what?" a voice suddenly called from the crowd, "you're saying you just took us in? Missing a parent so we equal a charity case? Is that what you're saying?" Willow didn't look to see who said that.
"No, that is not the case," Miss. Rhea stated firmly. "The reason you're here is because the parent who left you behind, is a Greek God or Goddess." No reaction, all they could do was stare. "Each one of you is important. You are all capable of being heroes- with proper training." Willow couldn't believe it. Her coward of a father was a Greek God? All Mom had ever told her was that she had fallen in love with the guy, and that he left when she was pregnant. Mutters and whispers broke out throughout the group, and Willow threw back another couple of gulps of her rockstar, dying her mouth red. Someone tugged on her sleeve, and she looked down. Josh was standing there looking utterly confused. She nearly choked as she remembered; Josh had both parents. What did that mean?
"Wait!" A voice called from the crowd. It was Carter, and he seemed as confused as his younger sister, who was standing next to him. "Not all of us are missing a parent! What does that mean?" Miss. Rhea nodded, and looked at individuals in the crowd. For a second, her gaze rested on Josh.
"I am aware that I made a few mistakes," she admitted. "Not all of you are half-gods, or demigods. Some of you are just siblings of one. The mistakes will be corrected within a couple of days. No need to worry," she added at seeing their faces, "I already have a place set up for you in the Layaway public school, and if there are questions, we will explain that we are branch schools. Once you transfer, you will only remember boring classes at the gray building you saw from outside. No difficulties, no harm, no problem." For some reason; with the finality of her tone, it was accepted that indeed, there was no problem. That did not stop the questions from bubbling in Willow's mind.
"So-" she voiced out, "if most of us are quote-and-quote demigods, you can tell us who our other parent is?" Mutters broke out in a storm as, once more, Miss. Rhea nodded.
"Most of you, I can tell who your godly parent is. For example, Miss Martin, I believe your father is Dionysus, the wine god." It was as if someone had thrown a hundred ton weight at her. The wine god? Her father? Miss. Rhea continued, "Miss Mason, your mother is Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty." Bella looked- of all things- flattered. "Mr. Orneales, Demeter, goddess of agriculture." Ryan nodded, like it was understandable. "Mr.… Diablo… and Mr. Lagow," both stiffened, and Willow got the feeling it wasn't because they were addressed at the same time, "Son of Hermes, god of thieves, and son of Hephaestus, god of fire and the forge, respectively." They both looked like someone had dropped a crate of bowling balls on them.
"Now, I could go on and name all I've discovered," Miss. Rhea continued, "But I need to warn you- it's not all fun and games- being a demigod. I'm sure some of you have noticed already, but monsters come after you. I must explain why." Many people looked expectantly at her, and she took a deep breath. "The monsters are after you because of your parents." Silence. "Your godly parents are embarrassed and ashamed of you, so they tell the monsters they can go after you and have you all for lunch for all they care.
"What?" Bella shouted, shocked. "But why-"
"Think, Miss. Mason," Miss. Rhea interrupted sharply. "Your mother is married to Hephaestus." Carter looked uncomfortable and edged closer to the group, away from Bella. "Why would she want you to live if all you were was an example of her adultery?" Bella choked and looked down, her eyes going red. Willow was determined to look on the bright side, so she reasoned something out.
"Well, even if we don't have love from our Godly parent, we still have our mortal parent," Willow said, thinking about her mother and step-father who were at the winery they owned, both of whom loved her. This statement did not entirely receive the reaction she was expecting. Kathy let out a dry laugh, Jenna made a choking sound and fell to her knees, Daman looked like he'd been slapped, and a hissing noise came from Shawn's direction. Willow whitened when she realized why. Oh gods, what a stupid thing to say. Miss. Rhea hurried to cover for Willow.
"Anyway, there is something all of you must know." She said firmly as Jenna was helped to her feet. "You are not the only demigods out there." Everyone was entirely focused on her again. "There is a camp where they take in others, but these children are lied to. They are told that their godly parents love them, and they believe the lies. They are trained to fight as well, for their teachers know that we exist. The leaders know that their campers' siblings will want to help them, and that we will tell their charges the truth. So, I must train you so you may hold your own in a fight.
"On another note," Miss. Rea added with a bit more cheerfulness. "Visiting days are once a month, and the next one is three day from now, on the last day of the month. Lessons begin tomorrow, and you will find your schedule on your bedside table in the morning. On your schedule, if I know, will be the name of your godly parent. I hope you enjoy your time here!"
A/N: And now you have your plot line. Demigods are taken in and told that their parent hates them; therefore turned against the kids at camp half-blood. I'm sorry about it being a bit slow in the last couple of chapters; I had to introduce and describe.
I also must admit I dislike jumping perspectives so often. I understand that you probably can't keep up as well as I do, and even I have some trouble unless I see the perspective jump reminder. From now on, I'll be sticking with third person limited, focused on one character per chapter. I'm also going to be focusing on the main group, though, so you don't have to worry about all of the main characters, just five. I hope you enjoy it more from here on out.
Edit: Well, I don't know if you guys know this or not, but I have two stories. And both are quite complicated and leave me drained at the end of the day because I'm planning them. So, I figure, I might as well use polls to my advantage, right? I'm putting this at the bottom of my most recent chapters for both stories, and I want you guys to give me your input. I notice that not many of you have reviewed (Thank you ohsoverymuch 'Guest' and Mochabelle33 for reviewing An Unimaginable Occurence :D), but that's okay. But, it would be nice to know which of my stories my readers prefer, so, please just make a fast click at my name at the top there, choose what you want in the poll, and be on your merry way! It'll help me to update the story in question faster...