Daphne Swan was used to tense and unpleasant situations. She was used to the change that tended to accompany such situations too. She was so used to them that when she was expelled after blowing up the school cafeteria fighting the lunch ladies who had turned into a single hydra, she wasn't phased.

Her mother, however, was very phased. She had screamed and raged at Daphne. Daphne's temper, always so close to the surface these days, had bubbled over. It was pointless trying to explain to her mother that she was fighting a hydra, that if she hadn't turned on the gas stoves and then used the gas they emitted to blow them up, she wouldn't have been able to incinerate the hydra. She couldn't tell her that it was either blow up the cafeteria or die.

Daphne's mother couldn't see through the mist. In her eyes, her ungrateful, delinquent daughter had suddenly refused to attend her normal "boarding school", come back and ruined her perfect, childfree life, only to blow up the school and cause thousands of dollars in damages.

Unable to scream about how unfair her mother was being when she had nearly died, Daphne had instead screamed about how shitty of a mother she was and how awful of a person she was. After Daphne dodged an open-palmed slap, her mother had screamed that she couldn't deal with this anymore and that Daphne would no longer be her problem. She was going to live with her Uncle Charlie.

So Daphne Swan, daughter of Hermes, who's siblings and friends had died, who had survived two wars, who had finally seen the importance of loving those around you, who had tried once more to make it work with her mother, was rejected. Again. By the woman who had given birth to her.

Jaded as Daphne was, she wasn't the least bit surprised. It still hurt like a sword slicing across her side though. And yes, she knew exactly what that felt like. She had the scar to prove it.

Now she sat in a plane that had just landed at Tacoma airport and was being readied for passengers to disembark.

Daphne was grumpy, to be honest. The fight with her mother was only yesterday and all of Daphne's anger, resentment and disappointment were still swirling thickly in her mind. The flight had increased her frustration about her situation too. She couldn't use any electronics unless she wanted a flock of stymphalian birds or something to attack, so she had tried reading a book she'd stolen from her last school's library. The stupid thing was so difficult to read with her dyslexia that she had nearly thrown the damn thing down the aisle. As if that wasn't enough, sitting still the entire flight with ADHD was torture.

Really, the only reason she was meeting a previously unknown uncle and cousin was because she didn't want to have to go back to camp several months before summer. Doing so would be admitting defeat, something Daphne never did. If these people were also her mortal family then she had to try with them, even if they were strangers to her.

Daphne stood up as the people around her moved down the aisle and off the plane. As she reached overhead to grab her backpack, it struck her once again how sad it was that all of her possessions fit into the one bag. Then resentment hit her again. If her dad had chosen to have an affair with an actual decent woman, she'd own more than just a backpack full of clothes and the odd bits and pieces she'd stolen from either her last school or her mother's place. Her favourite thing she had was a little ivory elephant figurine she'd stolen from her mother as she left. A bolt of satisfaction shot through her as she imagined her mother searching in vain for it.

Daphne made her way inside the terminal where there was a man with a moustache and a teenage girl about Daphne's age holding a small sign with her name on it. They both had curly brown hair, similar to her own, and both had brown eyes. As she made her way closer Daphne noticed that the girl's eyes were more of a chocolate brown.

Daphne fidgeted with her necklace, trying to tamp down her frustration and resentment and general grumpiness. If she were to succeed in having a relationship with these people, a bad first impression would not help her mission.

"Hello," Daphne said, plastering on the nicest smile she could manage. "I'm Daphne. Are you my Uncle Charlie and cousin Isabella?"

"Hey kiddo!" The man said. "Just Charlie is fine, and this is Bella. How was your flight?"

That was it. No hug for a long lost family member, no pat on the back, not even a handshake. Just a greeting and a polite question before they all turned and started making their way out of the airport. Daphne was grateful, if she was being honest. Such a greeting told her that, while her relatives were not the open and overly affectionate type, they weren't fake either.

"Terrible," Daphne answered before she could stop herself and give a more diplomatic reply. Her cousin looked at her sympathetically.

"Lots of turbulence?" She asked.

"No," Daphne replied awkwardly. "I, um, I don't know if you were told but I have ADHD. Sitting still for me isn't fun."

Daphne really had no idea what they'd been told about her, considering she'd been dumped on them so quickly, but the look of surprise on both her uncle and cousin's face told her they didn't know.

Great.

Daphne looked sideways to see Bella examining her, sizing her up. The look on her face was something she'd seen a million times in her life. Every time she moved schools when she was younger, when she had first come to camp as another undetermined camper, when she had been claimed and people's opinions about her changed as a result, and most recently when she had started that school she had just blown up. She knew the importance of proving herself.

"That's a nice necklace," her cousin said.

Daphne looked down and realised she was fiddling with the silver lyre pendant on her necklace. If she yanked on the little lyre a quiver would appear at her back and a bow would appear in the hand she'd held the pendant in. It was one of three magical items Daphne kept on her at all times. The others were a watch that turned into a shield when a button was pressed and a bracelet with a caduceus charm that became a sword when she twisted the charm.

Of course, Daphne said none of this to Bella.

Instead she smiled gratefully at her cousin, knowing the comment was a deliberate change of topic from her ADHD revelation.

"Thank you," Daphne said gratefully. Bella smiled back.

They were quiet until they stopped at a police car. For a moment Daphne tensed, ready to bolt, thinking her mother was setting her up to get thrown in jail as revenge for all the damages she'd caused. Then the rational part of her brain caught up to her. The police would never agree to something like that. With her power over locks she'd be able to escape easily anyway and book it to camp. It suddenly struck her how far away from camp she was here. She forced back a wave of homesickness and determinedly followed Bella into the backseat. This was going to be her home too. She would make sure of it.

The car ride was quiet. Daphne couldn't think of anything to say that wasn't awkward or stupid, and clearly Bella and Charlie couldn't either.

When they arrived Charlie gave her a tour of the house.

"It's only a two bedroom place, and we didn't have enough time to get another bed before you got here so you'll be on the couch until we can get one. Is that ok?" Charlie asked.

"Of course Charlie," Daphne said, stunned that he was actually asking if it was ok and not just telling her to deal with it. "Really. I appreciate you taking me in more than I can say."

Charlie smiled at her awkwardly.

"Well you'll have to share your room with Bella once we get you a bed. You won't have your own room either way."

"That's ok," Daphne said hurriedly. "I didn't have my own room at- at school before." She almost slipped up and said camp.

"Well, here's Bella's room. I'll let you two get to know each other." Charlie knocked on the closed door in front of them.

"We're going to the diner for dinner tonight," he announced, before Bella had opened the door, then walked back downstairs.

The door opened to reveal Daphne's cousin, and Daphne took the chance to really look at her. She was pale, much paler than Daphne's own tanned skin. She had a heart shaped face and pretty chocolate brown eyes. Her nose was thin and she had strong cheekbones, much like Daphne herself had. Curly brown hair, a bit darker than Daphne's, fell around her face and shoulders. Her cousin was beautiful.

"Come in," Bella said, gesturing into her room.

Daphne walked into the room, noting the double bed, the desk and open window, even though it was cold outside. There wasn't much room for a second bed. Guilt shot through Daphne.

"I'm sorry," she said, turning to face her cousin. Bella looked surprised. "I've only just met you but I'm going to be taking over your space and becoming your problem. I really don't mind sleeping on the couch indefinitely. I'm just happy not to be on the streets. If I can do something to make your life easier around me I will."

Bella's eyes took in the expression on Daphne's face and the backpack Daphne was still carrying, obviously noticing that this was a tiny amount of stuff to have for someone who was moving across the country. Her face softened.

"It's ok," she said, sitting on her bed and patting the spot next to her. Daphne sat down gratefully. "Your mum didn't say anything about why she couldn't look after you anymore. She just called yesterday and told Charlie that you were coming and he needed to look after you. Do you want to talk about it?"

Wow, thought Daphne. So she hadn't even had the guts to tell her own brother that she was kicking her daughter out. Daphne's blood boiled.

"I moved back in because I wanted her in my life. Then she kicked me out," Daphne said, trying and failing at keeping the anger and resentment out of her voice. She fiddled with her caduceus charm, wishing there was a training dummy she could take out her anger on.

She stood abruptly and began pacing around the room.

"Do you run?" She asked Bella before she'd been able to formulate a response. "I don't know where any good running tracks are around here. Is there anything good in there?" Daphne had reached the window and pointed to the woods outside.

Bella's eyes flashed with panic for a moment. The reaction was so odd that Daphne paused, watching the girl.

"I can take you to school," Bella said hurriedly. "There's a football field there. I'll wait in the car until it's time to go to dinner."

"You don't have to do that," Daphne said, baffled by the offer.

Bella walked over to her desk, pulling out a textbook and workbook.

"I have homework I have to do. There are less distractions if I'm in my car."

"Ok," Daphne said, refraining from pointing out that there was less room to actually work in a car too. "Let me get changed first. I won't be a minute."

–

Daphne ran around the football pitch so fast it was like her feet had wings. Being a daughter of Hermes, she was gifted with the ability to run far faster than regular mortals, and even faster than other demigods.

The first lap she felt good. Really good. Running so fast was the perfect antidote to being cooped up for so long with ADHD. On the second lap, she had settled into a rhythm and began thinking about her mother. Daphne let her anger, her resentment, her frustration, her every negative emotion fuel her. She poured it all out of her head and into her body, letting it evaporate in her movements.

She was so focussed on herself internally that she didn't notice it had started to rain until it began to pour. She splashed around the now muddy pitch for a few more hundred metres before admitting defeat and heading back to Bella's truck.

After Daphne had showered and dressed in dry clothes, the three of them headed to the diner. This was again an awkward affair. They made enough small talk that Daphne now knew Charlie was the chief of police, which explained the cruiser, and that Bella had a boyfriend called Edward who was coming to visit tomorrow. The way Charlie tensed up told her that he did not like this Edward. The expression on Bella's face told Daphne that she was very much in love with this Edward person. Daphne decided to ask Bella about him in private.

When they went back to the house Charlie planted himself on the couch and began to watch baseball on TV. Daphne loved sports. How could she not, when her father was the god of athletes? She sat and watched with Charlie for a while, making idle chit chat about the game that was playing. Charlie seemed delighted to have someone to watch with who was actually interested in the sport. Daphne figured Bella probably wasn't one for baseball.

After a while she left Charlie and knocked on Bella's door. The two girls sat on Bella's bed, Bella looking decidedly awkward. Daphne gave her a grin.

"So, tell me about Edward," she said.

Bella's face lit up at the mention of her boyfriend and she was off, explaining all about how smart he was, how beautiful and charming and determined he was. When Daphne made a comment about how amazing he seemed, Bella seemed to come back to herself.

"Wow," she said, awkward once more. "I'm normally not so good at the whole 'girl talk' thing. I don't think I've ever talked like that in my life."

"Please," Daphne said, waving her hand dismissively. "Talking like that about someone you love is never a bad thing, no matter how much it's stereotyped to be. Anyway, what I really want to know now that you've said all of this, is does he have a brother you could hook me up with?"

Bella burst out laughing, all of her previous discomfort melting away. Daphne grinned at her.

Maybe living here was going to turn out ok after all.

Its ya girl, starting another new story without finishing the others. Hope you enjoy.