A/N Soooooo... I really didn't mean for it to be three weeks before I next updated... oops... So here's the next chapter! I think this may be the longest chapter of this fic? It's definitely longer than the others... Anyway, enjoy! (Here's to hoping that I actually remember to post next week's chapter on time...)

For the first few days, Percy struggled.

His arm was all but healed, Chiron and the campers from the Apollo cabin giving him some weird stuff, which looked like a weird buttery popcorn sludge, but actually tasted like his mom's cookies.

It still throbbed from time to time, but it also allowed him much more movement with the camp activities.

Which weren't normal… at all.

Although Percy hadn't actually gone to a summer camp, so he wasn't quite sure what he was expecting.

Well, whatever it was, it most certainly was a freaking lava wall. Or sword lessons nearly every day.

He supposed the archery and canoeing were probably normal summer camp activities. And horse riding probably, although normal summer camps probably didn't have flying horses.

This was how the campers (year-rounders, Chiron had explained the other night) spent their mornings, their afternoons spent in lessons, like maths and all of the school stuff Percy didn't really like.

It also didn't help that he wasn't even in the same grade as most of the other demigods, was quite possibly, as the cabin counsellor of Cabin 11 had put it, "the youngest camper to come through for a while".

Percy liked Theo.

For someone who was a son of Hermes, Theo was quite calm. Or maybe that just came from the already tons of people he had to look after in the cabin. Theo had said that during Summer, the cabin got even more overcrowded, but year-rounders had priority on spots in the cabin.

The rest of the cabin were unsure of Percy.

Percy was also very unsure of them.

Theo had explained that most demigods weren't hunted by monsters until around thirteen, usually associated with puberty, and the coming into adulthood. Something about their scent developing?

At that Percy had shivered, remembering the one-eyed man which he had sworn had been watching him at school a few months ago.

When he had been run off, no one had believed Percy that the man had had one eye. That night his mom had held him closer to her.

The one thing some of the Cabin 11 campers could sympathise with though was that he was "undetermined".

He had come to learn that, while not necessarily a bad thing, it meant his godly parent hadn't claimed him yet.

Theo had theorised that perhaps he would be claimed when he reached thirteen, although Percy wasn't quite sure about that.

If about half of the campers in Cabin 11 were unclaimed, then the chances of him being claimed after almost six years would be pretty low.

But that wasn't just it.

Percy had a gut feeling that his mom knew. He didn't know why she hadn't told Chiron or him, but Percy also had the sneaking suspicion that Chiron knew that his mom knew, he just hadn't pressed her.

Percy missed his mom.

Even if he still felt betrayed that she had left him here for the foreseeable future, with no way of contact.

A lot of the other campers didn't understand why Percy missed her, some of them year rounders because they had run away from their homelife.

He missed his mom, but sometimes he also hated her for leaving him here. Then, the guilt came, the guilt of hating her, because she was his mom. And he missed her. He also felt guilty because he knew that this was all his fault, no matter what she had said.

After the first night, during which he had collapsed from the emotional rollercoaster he had been on during the day, he had spent the next nights lying awake in his bunk.

He didn't cry when the others were still awake, swallowing his sniffles, and when he couldn't hold them back, burying them as deeply into his lumpy pillow as best as he could.

Everything in the cabin smelled musty.

At least it was better than Smelly Gabe's constant rotten garlic and cheap beer smell. But Percy missed his mom, missed the smell of her shampoo, missed the smell when she came home from the sweet shop.

He wanted to know if Gabe had hurt her further after she had dropped him off. He would give anything to have one more of her hugs.

But he couldn't have that.

So through the days he struggled, struggled with the small knife they had given him because the sword his mom had given him was just slightly too big for his frame.

Struggled because the other kids weren't exactly mean, they were just unsure of what to do with someone so drastically younger than them, unsure of how to deal with the undetermined kid whose godly parent had left them a magical weapon but hadn't done so much as claimed them.

And magical the sword was.

Percy had found out that the sword (in pen form) would return to his pocket when one of Hermes' kids stole it from him.

He didn't know why, maybe so they could get recognition from their father (not that Percy thought it was a very impressive steal, considering he was seven and that they all lived on top of each other), or maybe they just didn't think he deserved it, unclaimed as he was.

Over the week Percy had been there, he had quickly learned that there was a hierarchy of demigods, whether they all realised it was happening or not.

The closer a cabin's number was to Cabin 1, the higher up the demigod was. But the undetermined? They were all the lowest of the low.

Because of this, Cabin 11 itself was brought down, some of the claimed campers in the cabin taking it out on those who were unclaimed.

Percy was just the newest in a long line of kids.

It didn't mean that it didn't hurt.

On this particular day, they had said some especially nasty shit (Percy had learned the swear accidentally from Theo, but he had thought bitterly that it fit) about his mom and his step-dad.

Percy hadn't quite lost it, but he had slipped out of the arena where they were training, tears threatening to spill over.

He wasn't quite sure where he was going until he reached the ocean.

The ocean had always brought him a sense of calm.

Many of his happiest memories started and ended with the ocean, all those weekends his mom and him had spent at Montauk. Before Smelly Gabe. Before this stupid camp.

He didn't want to be here anymore.

At some point as he hid from sight, the sun beginning to set, the conch horn for dinner blew.

He didn't move.

In a fit of rage, he threw the pen-sword, satisfaction coursing through his body as he watched it splash down heavily into the water.

It didn't matter.

It would return.

He slumped, body worn out, the tear tracks long since dried on his cheeks.

He didn't want to do this anymore.

"Percy?"

He crawled further into himself, hoping to further hide himself from view.

It didn't work.

Theo sat down beside him, leaning back on his hands.

He didn't speak, just sat in silence with Percy for a few minutes.

Theo was almost eighteen, had been the councillor of the Hermes' cabin ever since the last head councillor had died in a monster attack a few years back. Or at least that's what some of the kids in the cabin had said.

Percy wasn't sure if they just said it because they were trying to scare him or not.

"I'm sorry about what they said," Theo said softly into the night. "I know that these last few days have been hard on you."

Percy snorted, trailing patterns in the sand with his hand.

"I want to go home," he admitted, feeling every inch like he was being whiny and selfish.

A pause.

"Yeah, we all do, kid," Theo sighed. "Look, just promise me something okay?"

Percy shuffled, gaze fixated on the patterns he had created in the sand.

"Percy, look at me kiddo," Theo said, and Percy suddenly felt obliged to look at the older demigod. "I know that it's hard. Trust me, we've all been in your boat. But promise me, just promise that you'll take it one step at a time. They don't really understand, no one does. I… I understand what you've been through. And it's not easy, the healing afterwards."

"My arm is healed," Percy threw back petulantly. He wanted nothing more than for this conversation to be over, so he could go back to being alone.

It wasn't like anyone wanted him anyway.

Theo sighed, "That's not what I meant."

Percy closed his eyes, struggling to take in a breath as he hiccoughed, a new wave of tears overtaking him.

His body shook as Theo wrapped an arm around him, no more words passing between them. The hug was nice, Theo slowly rubbing circles on Percy's back, humming a soft tune.

Percy closed his eyes tighter and buried his head further into his hands, pulling his body as close as he could to himself, so he wouldn't have to face the world.

He hated this. Hated this feeling, hated feeling weak, hated showing his weakness to someone else.

Even if Theo had been about the only person to really be nice to him.

Part of Percy wandered as they sat there, Theo offering comfort, if the only reason the older camper was doing this was because he was the cabin councillor.

Percy could hear the voices of the other campers raised in song, and he wondered why Theo was sitting here with him, had chosen to make sure that he was okay, instead of being there.

Part of him wondered if Theo would rather be there instead of here. Part of him knew it was probably the truth, as a fresh set of tears crashed over him.

Percy rarely cried in front of people, his mom being the exception, and Smelly Gabe… he shuddered, curling further into himself.

He wished the dreams would go away, wished that everytime someone swung a sword at him he would stop flinching, he wished he could be brave.

This was all his fault.

He whispered as much into the night, as the tears receded, his body aching, mentally drained as a hollow feeling crept through him.

"I don't know what happened," Theo said, still rubbing gentle circles as Percy stopped shivering. "But I do know that it wasn't your fault. People like that… they don't need a reason to do what they do. They look for excuses, yes, so they can blame it on you. But underneath, they're always simmering, waiting for their chance. Sometimes the worst monsters aren't the ones who live under the bed, sometimes they're the ones we live with. Sometimes… sometimes humans can be worse than the real monsters."

Percy nodded, taking a shaky breath.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"For what?" Theo asked, squeezing Percy's shoulder. "It's okay to struggle. I still do… this healing process, it's not always linear, 'k? Some days, you're gonna feel like shit, some days someone will say the wrong thing, some days something completely mundane will trigger the memories… trust me. But we're all family here. And I want to make sure that you understand that. That no matter what, we look after each other. No matter how rude or mean the others can get, if anyone is in trouble, we will always go to help them. Cause that's what family does. And I want you to know that we will always be there to support you."

Percy nodded, wiping his nose as snot started to drip out, finally looking at Theo.

"Okay," Theo said, smiling gently. "Come on. The others will be at the campfire for a little longer. You can sneak back to the cabin, and I'll steal some marshmallows on the way over, how about that?"

Percy grinned, nodding.

Theo grinned right back, helping Percy stumble to his feet.

Maybe everything would be okay.

It took another week before Percy fully settled in.

He didn't know what Theo had said to the other people in the cabin, but things did get slightly better.

And then Percy was no longer the newest camper.

The new camper and their satyr (Percy had learned very quickly that he did not come to camp the usual way) arrived late at night, some of the older campers hauling themselves out of bed when a conch horn blew, a roar which chilled Percy to the bones rolling through the valley.

Theo had left with a quick "stay here", shield and sword clasped in his hand.

Percy huddled in his bed, his other cabin mates whispering among themselves, many of the whispers about what godly parent they thought the new camper would have.

Theo returned shortly after, an arm wrapped around the new camper, a blanket hiding most of the person's features.

A girl, whose name Percy was pretty sure was Debbie piped up, "Theo, what-"

"Questions in the morning," Theo responded, guiding the newest addition to the cabin into the empty bunk under Percy. "Everyone get back to bed."

There were a few grumbles, but eventually the cabin settled down.

Percy felt the bunk move, as the person under him tried to settle. The movement stopped after a few seconds, and eventually the person's huffs evened out into soft breaths, Percy lying there as he too drifted off into sleep.

The new camper's name was Charles Beckendorf, and Percy immediately got along with him.

For someone who had supposedly been chased by monsters for the last half of his journey, he was surprisingly chill.

Alright, maybe one of the other reasons the two of them got along so well was because Beckendorf (Percy had called him Charles at breakfast, and he'd immediately cringed, asking to be called by his last name, Percy wasn't going to refuse) was only two years older than Percy.

It was nice no longer being the newest camper, and while Percy was still the youngest, it was great to have someone at least closer to his age.

Not only that, but Beckendorf was also undetermined, not that that, much to Percy's dismay, lasted for very long.

He had just started getting used to having a bunkmate, the two of them getting into some trouble when they spent one night whispering to each other, Percy leaning over the edge of his bed, the rest of the cabin whisper yelling at them to be quiet.

It had sent the two of them into chortles of laughter, and the next day they had been set to clean out the pegasi stables as penance, but it had been worth it.

One of the many activities which camp offered was learning how to forge your own equipment, the forges open at any time of the day, so you could go in there anytime you wanted.

Percy already had his pen sword, and the practice knife, but Beckendorf loved the forges, so more often than not, he would find himself sitting on one of the creativity tables, watching as Beckendorf worked.

They talked about everything and nothing, and it was nice.

For the first time since Percy came to camp, he actually felt happy.

And then Beckendorf was claimed.

Percy should have seen it coming, the rumour mill around camp almost unanimously deciding that Beckendorf must be a child of Hephaestus.

The entirety of April had almost passed, Beckendorf in his second week at camp when it happened.

They were in the forges as usual, only another camper (son of Athena, Percy was pretty sure) there with them.

Percy wasn't even sure what Beckendorf was making, the metal not taking form yet when it happened.

At first, Percy thought that his friend's hair was on fire, but before he could yell out to Beckendorf, the flame took form, the flaming hammer hanging above his head.

The child of Athena gasped, "Look!"

Beckendorf twisted around, and it would have been almost comical, had Percy's heart not been racing in his chest as realisation struck.

"What is that?" Beckendorf said, poking his finger at it as the hammer disappeared, but forever burned in Percy's memory.

The Athena kid stood in awe for a second, before smiling, clapping Beckendorf on the back, "You've just been claimed by Hephaestus. Come on, let's go tell Chiron and we can get you moved."

Beckendorf cast a look back at Percy as he was manhandled out of the forge, and Percy felt a pang in his chest.

For not the first time, he had been left behind.

The excitement which came with Beckendorf being claimed soon died down, and with it, the other campers seemed to forget that Percy existed.

Well, not really forget that he existed, more that the excitement around his arrival had died down. It was nice, he supposed, but he missed Beckendorf.

Missed their late night whispered conversations, missed the conversations they had in the forge.

More importantly, he missed his mom.

Which was how he found himself sitting with Chiron, looking out over the strawberry fields.

"...so, I mean… yeah," he finished hesitantly, after asking Chiron if he could speak with his mom.

Chiron regarded him for a few minutes, with those heavy ancient eyes, Percy squirming in his seat slightly.

"I don't know if a meeting is possible, Percy," he finally said. "There have been more monster sightings around camp… I'm sorry, my child."

Percy huffed, sliding further down onto his seat, glaring out at the strawberry fields.

"Why not?" he all but snapped back, anger and frustration warring throughout his body, tears threatening to spill.

He missed his mom's voice, missed the way she would run her hands through his hair to calm him down.

Chiron did not answer, simply choosing to look out over the view of camp.

"I simply don't have the resources to set it up," he carefully responded. "Your mother coming here the first time was dangerous, to bring her here a second time… but for you to leave camp now that you know that you're a demigod?"

A pause, as he shook his head sadly, before raising his eyes to look at Percy with pity.

"That would be even more dangerous. Stay here, Percy, learn how to fight for a little longer. If you're lucky, you might get claimed by your godly parent."

Percy tensed, openly watching Chiron with curiosity, "Do you do know who he is…"

Chiron smiled then, "I do not know, but I do have my suspicions… Unfortunately, suspicions are not enough, without you being claimed."

Percy frowned, "Why do some demigods get claimed over others? Why do the gods not claim all of their children?"

"I do not claim to know the inner workings of the gods' minds, young hero," Chiron said, sipping at his coffee.

Frustration almost bubbled over, Percy knew exactly what Chiron was doing. He thought just because Percy was seven, he didn't understand complicated stuff. Thought he was too young to know the truth.

"I don't feel much like a hero," he responded grouchily, glaring at Chiron in the hopes that the centaur would get the message that Percy knew what Chiron was doing, and wasn't happy with it.

"Perhaps not," Chiron said. "But then none of my greatest pupils ever did. Would you not call what you did, standing up to Gabe, heroic?"

Percy flinched unbidden at the name, skin crawling as his arm throbbed.

"Yeah, well look at where that got me," he mumbled.

Chiron hummed noncommittally, the silence stretching before them.

"Do you think my mom knows?" Percy whispered out into the open, the words something he had thought during the late nights in Cabin 11, but never said out loud.

Chiron hummed once more, something Percy had come to think was the centaur's way of dodging the question.

So Percy waited.

It was torture for the minutes he sat there, watching Chiron, the centaur watching him back. But Percy wasn't going to back down, no matter how long he had to sit here.

Chiron must have understood what Percy was doing, sighing as his face fell slightly into wariness, rubbing his hand along his face.

"It is possible," he paused, taking a breath before continuing. "It would explain how she knew about the camp… but why she did not say… perhaps she just knew that he was a god. The gods don't always reveal their names to mortals."

"But why?" Percy felt confused. Why would a god reveal themselves as a god, but not their name? What was the purpose?

Chiron regarded Percy with curiosity, "I wonder…"

The sentence trailed off, as if Chiron had not meant to say it out loud for Percy to hear.

"Wonder what?" Percy said, the frustration once more bubbling up. It wasn't fair. It wasn't. Chiron clearly knew something, so why wasn't he telling Percy?

"No," Chiron whispered, finally shaking himself out of whatever reverie he had been in. "That would be impossible."

"What would be impossible?" Percy pressed, pushing himself up and forwards in the chair, heart racing, hoping Chiron would slip and reveal… whatever he knew.

Chiron simply sighed, looking over the fields as the conch horn blew.

"Perhaps one day, young hero," he said. "We both have lessons to attend to right now."

Percy knew when he was being dismissed, forcing down the growl and tears of frustration welling in his throat.

For his entire, short life, Percy had been different to the other kids in school. He had been fumbling around in the dark.

It was all he had ever known, but now someone had shone a light, and, for a brief moment, he had known what it was like to see clearly.

But as quickly as it had come, the light had faded, and he was back to fumbling around in the dark.

Percy was tired of that.

He was going to get answers, no matter how long it took.

Starting with getting contact back with his mom.

Somehow the letter had found Sally.

Although considering the fact that it had been delivered on a gust of wind, she really shouldn't have been surprised.

The letter was written in the untidy scrawl of her son, rife with spelling mistakes and crossed out words.

It was the most precious thing she had ever received, could trace the shaky letters in her mind's eye, could imagine her son, sitting in the fields perhaps, tongue poking out between his teeth, as it always did when he was trying to concentrate, as he tried very carefully to form his letters and words properly.

Mom,

It had begun.

I miss you. camp has been fine, and I made a freind.

She had laughed at the spelling, happiness in her heart at the words. She had been worried, worried that because the other kids had been so much older than Percy they wouldn't accept him. Worried that he would be shunned, would be unhappy.

his name is Bekendorf and he is nine and Theo is also my freind but he is older. Theo is our Countsilor Cowsilor Cownsilor. He is very nice.

Sally closed her eyes, sitting back in the uncomfortable plastic chair. She had been glad that there were people at camp who would look out for him. People he could trust.

She had felt so guilty, watching the realisation in his eyes when he had realised she was leaving him there, for an undetermined amount of time.

kiron sayed that yuo might not be able to take me for my Burthday. he sayed it wood be to daingerus.

but yuo promiced and yuo sayed that we shood never go back on promices

I love yuo mom

from Percy

The letter had been short, yes, but it had warmed her heart, and it still did as she held it in her hands, letting the now worn and slightly crinkled paper run through her fingers.

Everything was going to be okay.

"Miss Jackson?"

Sally flinched, her name ringing through the room as her heart rate increased.

She stood on shaky legs, clutching her son's letter.

It would all be over soon.

Be brave, just like Percy.

She could do this.

She would do this.

She tilted her chin up, forcing down the nausea rising in her throat, allowing a wave of fake confidence to buoy her along.

She took a step forward.

A/N I hope the letter makes sense, I tried to make spelling mistakes on the words I thought a 7yr old may have trouble spelling. Also, I've been having a little trouble with not sending me email alerts, so if you comment and I don't respond, I am sorry, that is why.