The van made its bumpy way down the gravel driveway towards the big red house. Despite what had happened, Alexa found herself peeking out the window as they passed by the volleyball pit. Several of the kids, all older than her, paused in their game to look back at her. One girl with curly black hair even gave her a smile and a wave as the van inched its way past.
Uncle Theodore pulled the van right up next to the house and cut the engine. "Alright little lamb." He said gently, looking down at Alexa. His smile was kind, his eyes a little sad. "I know this is going to be a bit of a change, but don't worry, the activities director is very nice, and we're going to do everything we can to make this as easy as possible for you. You just got to be strong for us, okay?"
Alexa looked down at her shoes and nodded. She felt Uncle Theodore's hand land on her shoulder, giving it a little squeeze before he opened the driver side's door.
"Hey Mr. U!" Called one of the volleyball kids. "Who's the fresh meat?"
Alexa slid out of the passenger seat, her shoes hitting gravel with a soft crunch. She hurried to the driver's side and promptly grabbed Uncle Theodore's hand. The one who had shouted was lightly jogging over, the volleyball tucked under one of her arms forcing their game to a stand still. She was an older girl, much older than Alexa, tall and broad shouldered. Her messy red hair was cropped short, her blue eyes seemed to lock on Alexa, and her smile was a bit too...crooked to be friendly. Like a strip of barbed wire somehow grew lips and teeth.
"Jasmine we've talked about calling new campers 'fresh meat'." Theodore said, his lips pursing.
"And I told you to call me Jazz, Mr. U. So we're both not following directions!" She responds with a smirk. Uncle Theodore sighed.
"This is Alexa Barber." He said. "I'll tell you a bit more about her here in a few minutes, but right now Chiron is waiting to give her her orientation." He turned and gave Alexa's hand a gentle squeeze "Come along, Alexa"
The two turned away, and began to walk towards the red house.
"Heads up, New-blood!" That was the only indication Alexa received before something slammed into the back of her head with a loud "pumph!" Alexa toppled forward, landing on her hands and knees in the gravel.
"Jasmine!" Uncle Theodore chastised. Alexa managed to look up just in time to see the white volleyball drop, seemingly from nowhere, and land precisely in the older girl's hand.
"I did give her a warning. Not my fault she didn't get out of the way" Jasmine taunted, still smirking. Uncle Theodore's eyes narrowed.
"I will be telling Chiron about this." He warns
"Oh no!" Jasmine said with a dramatic gasp. "Then I'll have to clean the weapon's rack for a week! Now ask me if I care." Her eyes turned back to Alexa. "What, are you going to cry, New Meat? Go on then, baby! Cry!"
A wave of heat seemed to wash over Alexa, starting from the pit of her gut and radiating outwards. Her cheeks went red, her hands clenched, and she turned away from Jasmine so that the older girl couldn't see the tears in her eyes. She had been so numb since that morning, she had almost forgotten what anger and humiliation felt like. But, just as quickly as those feelings swept over her, they were gone. Alexa quietly wiped at her eyes, stood back up, and slipped her hand into Theodore's. Uncle Theodore cast Jazz one last glare before leading Alexa up the steps to the red house's front porch.
Sitting at the porch's table were a pair of men. One was chubby, shorter, with curly black hair, wearing a leopard print Hawaiian shirt. Just looking at the man, Alexa felt something wash over her, a smell that she heavily associated with her mother. She didn't like looking at him for very long. The other man was almost the opposite of his table-mate; Thin, with thinning brown hair, brown eyes, and a coat that reminded her of one of the first grade teachers she had seen back at school. He was also sitting in a wheelchair that set off that little tickle in the back of her brain, the same way Uncle Theodore's crutch did. The little tickle that whispered that the wheelchair was not being used as intended. The teacher man looked up from the cards set out in front of him and smiled.
"Ah, Theo my boy, at last! We were beginning to worry!" He said. A small 'crkshh' interrupted him as the chubby man cracked open a silver can of Diet Coke with one hand, not even looking up from his cards. "...Well I was beginning to worry at least." The Teacher man amended with a soft chuckle.
"The only thing I'm worried about is you skipping your turn" The larger man shot back without looking up. The teacher man rolled his eyes theatrically before focusing on Alexa.
"I suppose this is our newest camper" He said, wheeling his chair around to fully face her. "Wonderful to meet you, my name is Chiron. I am the activities director here. That gentleman over there, is Mr. D. He is the head director."
"Under protest" Mr. D grumbled. Chiron ignored his comment, still talking to Alexa in a calm, gentle tone.
"We're going to gather up some supplies from the camp store, a few changes of clothes and some toiletries while you watch your orientation film." He glanced at Theodore. "Did Mallow say anything else before you left the city?"
Uncle Theodore shifted his weight from foot to foot, looking a bit uncomfortable. "Her information was completely accurate. She didn't need to give me anything else." Chiron nodded
"I see" Said the wheelchair bound man. "Well in that case I'd suggest Fred's orientation video. It's in the green case."
In response, Uncle Theodore just nodded and offered his hand to a still silent Alexa. As he lead her away, Alexa turned back and gave the two at the table a small wave. Mr. D didn't respond other than to take another sip of his diet soda, but Chiron gave her a smile and returned the gesture.
Uncle Theodore lead her through a few rooms, all the way back into a wood paneled office with a desk, a commodore computer, and an entertainment center with several records, a record player, and television. He lead her to the office's chair and gently motioned for her to sit down while he searched through the shelf of VHS tapes.
"Now I won't be too far away. I'll be just outside if you need anything, but this is something you have to experience and come to terms with on your own." He gives her a pat on the head and gently slipped the tape into the VCR, putting the green case down next to the TV set. He gave her one last look before quickly ducking out of the room.
A golden logo appeared on screen; a circle with a black silhouette of a horse drawn chariot running over a spitting serpent. "This is an Apollo films production" Read the caption in bright golden letters.
Before she could properly register that, the soft tinkling music of a familiar show reached her ears. Her eyes widened as the camera panned over a model town, zooming in on one particular home before cutting to the set inside. A tall, thin man with an affable smile and dark hair appeared in the doorway.
"It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor. Could you be mine? Would you be mine?" The man gently sang, the words and the sincerity washing over her, making her feel as if she had sunk into a warm bath after a cold day. She felt herself smiling for the first time in hours as the man continued singing and swapped his coat for a sweater, and his black shoes for sneakers.
It was a marvelous, almost magical thing about the man on the screen, how he somehow made her feel safe and loved in a way only Morgan had made her feel before. This man, who she only really knew of in passing, wasn't just an image on the television, he was speaking directly to her and telling her that . As the song ended the man stared out of the television screen and gave her a smile.
"Hello Neighbor." Whispered Mr. Rogers.
Chiron let out a soft sighed as he finally managed to pull one of his rear hooves from the wheelchair disguise. It didn't seem to matter whether he wore the thing for 5 minutes or 5 days, it always seemed to chafe and refused to come off as easily as it went on.
"You're worried about her, aren't you?" Mr. D asked without looking up from the game still in progress, placing down one of his cards.
"Of course I am" Chiron said with another sigh. "If Mallow's information is accurate, she's a witness to filicide, and the victim of at least 5 years of parental abuse. That does tend to scar a child."
Mr. D only grunted in response, watching the disappearing form of Theodore sprinting towards the cabins. It wasn't exactly unheard of for a demigod to come out of a troubled situation, but these situations tended to crop up less and less in later years. As a matter of fact Alexa's case was the first in a long while to have come from a biological parent.
Standard procedure for such cases was to get them a place in Cabin 11, inform the cabin's campers what had happened, and sit the child in question down for the orientation video starring one of their most famous former campers. Fred Rogers might not have been the most decorated hero Camp Half-Blood had ever had, in his time there he had only completed one quest, but even Mr. D had to admit that he was one hell of a camp counselor. The boy just had a way with people and it only improved as he grew older.
"She's already started shutting down." Chiron continued, derailing Mr. D's train of thought. "We'll be lucky if we can get her to talk by the end of the month."
"There've been those in worse situations before." Mr. D grunted, but despite this stellar bit of encouragement, Chiron continued to look pensive. "Tell you what, why don't I pop in there and turn her into a fig tree. Then we won't have to worry about her getting better."
This, finally, earned him a change of expression. It wasn't the smile and chuckle that he had been aiming for, but a scowl was still an improvement.
"We are not going to be turning a traumatized little girl into a plant." Chiron said firmly.
"Fine, fine, I'll turn her into something else then" Mr. D said dismissively.
This time the disapproving glare was accompanied by silence. The two played pinochle in silence for several minutes before Chiron finally spoke.
"Are you sure you don't know?" He asked, the third time he's asked such a thing since they had heard from Mallow about the girl's case.
"For the last time, no. Just because she was a drunk doesn't mean she was one of my consorts and we don't exactly send out a memo to each other whenever we have another kid, you know." Mr. D put down the card he had been staring at.
"Maybe you should. It would certainly make things easier here." Chiron quips.
"Yeah, I'll float that by father the next time I'm in town. We'll see how well that goes coming from his degenerate, irresponsible son." Mr. D said with a roll of his eyes. Before they could get back into an old argument, Theodore arrived with a backpack slung over his shoulder.
"Welcome back." Chiron said, putting down his cards and turning to face him. In the time he was away Theodore had done away with his pants and shoes, opting instead for a pair of shorts and bare hooves. "Did it go well?"
"They're making up a bed for her as we speak in a nice quiet corner of the room, and I got her clothes, a toothbrush, and her first camp necklace!" Theodore beamed with pride.
"Good...we'll give her a few minutes, the video should be ending soon." Chiron motioned towards one of the chairs. "Would you like to join?"
"Well...I really don't think-" The satyr started to say
"Underwood, pull up a chair before I beat the centaur's skull in with it." Mr. D groaned.
"Y-yes sir!" Theodore said, quickly falling into one of the two empty chairs around the little table.
The last notes of the farewell song played out, and once again, Alexa was left alone with her thoughts. Her daddy...was a god? The little girl's brow furrowed her brain buzzing with questions.
He was a god...and yet...she was stuck with her mom? Why? Why had she been stuck there! Why had he left her with her of all people? Didn't he love her? Did he blame her for how her mother had turned out? Did both of her parents hate her? Why even have her if they weren't going to love her like parents were supposed to!
Anger began to bubble up in her stomach again and tears burned at the corners of her eyes. Her father was always a confusing point to her growing up. Her mother always seemed to blame her for him leaving them, and when she had asked Morgan what he had been like, she said she only saw him twice, and both times he had been a bit too intimidating to approach. She did remember the black beard, though, and the intense eyes.
Now that Alexa knew what he really was, that just made it all the worse. He had the power to visit whenever he wanted and he didn't! He never saved her from her mom!
Alexa took a deep breath, and let it out. Mr. Rogers was right, she told herself. It wasn't that he didn't care, it's that he was expected to keep his distance for her sake. If he had come to visit, his scent would draw more monsters once he left. Although the explanation made sense, it still left a bitter taste in her mouth. True, he would've brought monsters to their door, but she was already living with one monster.
That thought immediately got her mad again, but with a push, she forced the anger down once again. She could deal with that later. The six year old got up from the seat, wiped her eyes dry on the back of her hand and quietly walked out the door, heading down the hall towards the front porch, and the three men playing pinochle.