Chapter Text
He was still sitting there, by the lake. He'd been doing that a lot lately, since his dad claimed him. No one seemed to want to be with him.
It made Rhea's stomach ache to see him like that. To see that no one really cared about him enough to check on him. The campers looked at him like he was the sun, avoiding looking directly at him and squinting when they did.
Camp was supposed to be a safe haven, the one place a demigod belonged. It was sad to see that it didn't look like that was happening for him.
Unless...
But her friends didn't like the idea of him. They thought he was going to be another pretentious hero. One that thought that because his father was an Olympian, he was better than all of the children of the minor gods.
But they couldn't know that, a voice in the back of her mind whispered, they don't know him.
She knew it was true. He could even be as resentful of the gods as Ethan Nakamura, considering how he's treated here.
Maybe she could change that.
Making up her mind, Rhea stepped from behind the tree she was leaning on and slowly walked to where he sat on the pier, looking sullen. She sat next to him and he barely acknowledged her, just staring at the water.
"Hey," she said, her smooth voice barely piercing the silence between them, "you know how to skip rocks?"
He finally looked at her, sea green eyes wide as he slightly leaned back.
"What?" his face was a little flushed, though it was hard to tell from his dark tan. Was he surprised she was talking to him?
"Do you know how to skip rocks," she repeated, trying to supress her accent.
"Umm, no," he fidgeted slightly, "not really."
"I'll teach you," she gave him a lopsided smile, before scooping up some rocks and pouring them in between the two demigods.
She showed him how to angle his wrist, then demonstrated.
One, two, three, four, five, then it snuck into the lake.
"So where are you from," she said, watching him on his first attempt. He got three skips.
"New York city. You?"
"New Orleans." Six skips.
"Explains the accent." Rhea slightly flinched. "How long have you been here," he asks. Four skips.
"'Bout four years. Favorite color?" Seven skips.
"Blue. Godly parent?"
"You're just gettin right into it aren't you cher?" She raised an eyebrow, smirking. He flinched.
"Sorry," he mumbled. "Is that offensive?"
"Not to most. Bit of a sore subject to the unclaimed demigods."
"Oh." His eyebrows were furrowed, his sea green eyes turned to a darker blue.
"They're bitter," it was a statement. And it was true.
"Imagine going your whole life thinkin you don't have a parent, only to find out that you do but they don't want you." Her words made him slump. His sea green eyes were pouting, reminding her of a baby seal. It made her heart hurt.
"Don't feel guilty," she said, putting her hand on his shoulder. "The gods are responsible for their kids. 'S not your fault their parents don't care."
His eyes were still slightly downcast, but he pulled himself up. He picked up a new rock and started skipping again.
"So, your parent," he continued. Four skips.
"Mississippi."
"The state," he yelped, turned towards her wide-eyed. She laughed softly.
"The river."
"Your dad is a river." He buried his head in his hands. She raised a dark eyebrow.
"Your daddy's the ocean." He groaned at the reminder. She snickered at him.
The dinner horn sounded off in the distance. Percy jumped, and Rhea laughed at him again. He gave her an offended look.
"What's your name?" he said, changing the subject.
"Rhea," she said, extending a dark hand for him to take. He shook it.
"Percy," he smiled.
"Well Percy," she stood up fluidly, "let's eat."
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She floated her way to the table, trying to wipe the smile off of her face. Her friends barely looked up. She sat down and tuned into the conversation.
"Look at the Poseidon kid," Kevin, a son of Eos said, "looking all happy and shit."
"Don't call him that," Rhea chided softly.
"Why're you sticking up for him. He's probably stuck up, like the rest of em," Lila, the daughter of Alastor gave her a suspicious look.
"It's just rude," Rhea mumbled, silently cursing herself. She got her food and whispered lemonade to the cup.
Her friends ignored her, getting up to sacrifice their food.
Rhea found Percy standing alone in the crowd of people rushing to get back to their table. She weaved around them, meeting Percy by the fire.
"Hey," he said. She smiled back at him.
"You good?" she asked tipping bits of her plate in, saying Hestia. She was her favorite goddess.
"Yeah, just a little tired," he was lying, she could tell from his tense stance. She let it slide, because he could tell her when he wanted to.
"Were you in ballet," Percy quickly changed the subject.
"Yeah, I go during the school year," she answered. "How'd you know?"
"You walk like you're dancing," he answered, shrugging his shoulders. They began walking back.
"So," he started, "you don't stay the entire year." She smiled at that. Despite what many have said, he was smart. It was a good thing she didn't listen to them.
Without answering, she waved goodbye, and strolled back to her table. Her friends were slightly glaring at her.
"You talked to Jackson," Ethan said, hissed. She nodded before eating her food.
"Why shouldn't I?"
"He comes in bringing all kinds of trouble-"
"Ever since he got claimed I've been getting omens of death-"
Rhea ate her food as she listened to their excuses.
It's not like he asked for the king of the gods to be a bitch, she thought. She closed her eyes, thinking of a way to coax them out of this topic.
"Why do you guys care so much about him anyways," she said instead.
"Why would we care-"
"I'm just saying," she said slowly, "that you guys talk about him a lot for people who say they don't care about the major kids."
They were silent for a second.
"Well," Kyrie, the son of Eurus said, "good point. Now how long do you guys think it'll be until it finally rains?"
Lila rolled her eyes. "Well now you jinxed it." Kyrie blushed.
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It was after dinner, and Rhea was talking to a dryad near the lake. The dryad abruptly stopped talking, blushed green, and disappeared back into their tree.
Rhea turned around. She raised her eyebrow, looking at a sheepish Luke.
"You talked a bit more than usual back there," he said.
"Well it was for a good cause," she mumbled, looking down at her ratty shoes.
"Oh?"
"He was chased to our border by a monster almost definitely sent by the gods," she started, "When he got here he was constantly treated like he was stupid for being in shock. Now he's been isolated because of who his father is."
Luke gave her a contemplating look. She quickly glanced at him, before going back to looking at her shoes.
"Well," he smiled at her oddly, "it's almost curfew. We should head in." Rhea avoided giving him a strange look, walking slowly back to her cabin for a fitful rest.
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She walked with Percy to the pier after attempting the climbing wall, legs barely keeping her up. Percy nearly collapsed when he sat down, and Rhea followed, albeit more graceful.
"That's not fair," he whined.
"What," she laughed.
"You're all graceful and stuff, like a frickin fairy," he flung his arms up and flopped on the ground. Rhea nudged him with her foot, laughing loudly when he groaned.
"It's good for climbing, no?"
"Doesn't mean it's fair," he muttered. She laughed again, brown eyes twinkling.
"If it makes you feel better, saltwater don't heal me like it would for you," she said. Percy sat up, eyebrows furrowed.
"Really?"
"Don't sound too happy now."
"I'm not," he sputtered, blushing, "just curious."
She picked up a sharp rock. "Want me to show you?"
He started to say yes, but then rethought his answer. Rhea cackled at the look on his face.
"You're too easy man." Percy fell back again, groaning.
Snap!
Rhea tensed up, fiddling with her bracelet. While they weren't too close to the forest, it couldn't hurt to be prepared.
Percy however, jumped up and looked around, shoulders squared and legs ready to move. But the tension melted from his shoulders when he saw who it was.
"Hey Grover!" He ran over to greet him. She saw a pale freckled boy with light brown hair. He gave Percy a hug, before coming down to sit on the pier.
"Who's your friend," he nodded towards her.
"That's Rhea," she waved at him, "she taught me how to skip rocks yesterday." Grover smiled at her, and she extended her hand to him. He hesitated, before gingerly taking her hand and lightly shaking it.
"I'm Grover," he said She smiled again.
"Rhea." She looked down into the water, watching the naiads basket weave. They sat in silence for a few moments.
"Okay, now that that's over," Percy interrupted, "Grover, how was your talk with Mr. D?"
Rhea thought back to the gossip she heard, about how this was Grover's second failure and that he would never get a searcher's license. And judging by the way he turned a sickly shade of yellow, they were probably right. Rhea felt a pang in her chest for the boy next to her. He seemed alright, if not a little shy.
"Fine," he said. "Just great."
"So your career's on track?" Rhea shot him a look. He wasn't stupid. Grover was clearly in a bad place right now.
Grover glanced at them nervously. "Chiron told you I wanted a searcher's license? And how did you know?" That was addressed to Rhea.
"Word gets around fast," she said, leaning back on her hands. The nymphs were some of the best sources for news, if they were telling the truth and not exaggerating.
"Well... no," Percy said looking a little confused. "He just said that you have big plans, you know... and that you needed credit for completing a keeper's assignment. So did you get it?"
Grover looked down at the naiads. "Mr. D suspended judgment. He said I hadn't failed or succeeded with you yet, so our fates were still tied together. If you got a quest and I went along to protect you, and we both came back alive, then maybe he'd consider the job complete."
Percy looked hopeful. "Well, that's not so bad, right?"
"Blaa-ha-ha! He might as well have transferred me to stable-cleaning duty. The chances of you getting a quest... and even if you did, why would you want me along?"
"Well he is the son of Poseidon," Rhea said, "they tend to have the best luck with getting quests." She didn't mention that the sons of Poseidon often have the worst luck with completing said quests.
"And of course I would want you on my quest!" Percy chimed in.
Grover stared glumly at the water. "Basket-weaving... must be nice to have a useful skill."
Percy tried to cheer him up, but that only seemed to make him feel worse. Rhea quickly changed the subject, starting a debate on the pros and cons of different Olympians.
Percy then asked about the empty cabins.
"The one that's silver at night, that's Artemis. When her hunters visit they stay there," Rhea explained.
"But what about the ones at the end. Are those the Big Three?"
Grover tensed, and Rhea let him take over the explanation.
"No. One of them, number two, is Hera's."
"She'd get angry if she didn't have one, even if she don't have kids," Rhea cut in.
"Right," Grover said, "that's her husband's job. When we say the big three, we mean the three powerful sons of Kronos."
"Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades."
"Don't forget Chiron." Rhea muttered.
"What?"
"Don't worry about that," Grover cut in. Rhea hugged her knees to her chest. "The point is, after the Titan war, they drew lots to decide who got what."
"Zeus got the sky," Percy said, "Poseidon got the ocean, Hades got the underworld."
"Uh-huh." Grover nodded.
Rhea thought that it was unfair the ladies didn't get to draw, especially since two out of three of the boys definitely abused their power. She kept her thoughts to herself, though.
"But Hades have a cabin here."
"No. He doesn't have a throne on Olympus, either. He sort of does his own thing down in the Underworld. If he did have a cabin here ..." Grover shuddered. "Well, it wouldn't be pleasant. Let's leave it at that."
"Even if it makes you uncomfortable, he should have a cabin. Gods should be respected," Rhea said softly, fiddling with rocks. Grover gave her a strange look, before returning to the conversation.
Rhea knew when she wasn't welcome. She also knew that the two of them needed some alone time, so she stood up and walked to the arena. She could faintly here them talking about the pact between the Big Three, which only Hades kept.
She shook her head, clearing her thoughts. She needed no distractions while training. Maybe Luke could teach her a new move with her daggers...