Chapter Text
LORALAI FOTIA WAS, apparently, a lot of things. A liar, a thief, and more recently a volcano.
When she and her mother were forced to move to a small town (which conveniently came with cheap house prices), she hated it immediately.
The South wasn't then seven-year-old Loralai's thing. The hay, the sweat and the accents were enough to make her throw fiery tantrums. These seemingly harmless fits caused Melissa, her mother, to become more crazy than before.
As her mother's condition got worse, she began to hear loud and clear what everyone was whispering. Melissa had wide eyes that no one but Loralai dared to look at too long. However, Loralai hadn't noticed that threatening gleam her mother held until Melissa began to direct this insanity towards her own child.
Loralai's brain blacked out most of the details of the vicious repercussions. But, she still had a wrinkly scar planted on her neck that screamed to everyone at Camp-Half Blood: "Hey, look at me! My mother tried to kill me!"
Maybe it was the trip to the grocery store the day after it happened that made the townsfolk call child services, or maybe it was the screaming filling the ash-ridden air surrounding their former house. Nevertheless, it didn't matter, because Grover Underwood had gotten to her first.
The girl would be forever grateful towards the meek satyr; it meant avoiding a life being thrown around homes and schools. It meant spending a life at Camp Half-blood, with demigods just like her.
The speech that Grover gave her roughly followed the above and convinced Loralai to travel with him across the United States. Well, anything would've, but she didn't want to interrupt and tell him that as he poured his heart out with words of love about the camp.
Some things didn't go according to plan on the journey there: a few detours to get other demigods, getting attacked by various monsters. And, finally, Thalia, daughter of Zeus, gets turned into a tree on the last push of towards the haven. The last part left a mark on her, Grover, Annabeth and Luke that they couldn't erase, no matter how hard they'd tried.
Annabeth especially took it hard. Her and Thalia had gotten close during the journey. And, Luke... well, Loralai didn't really know how Luke felt about it. He was tough, with a scar on his face to prove it, something which Annabeth liked about him.
Of course, Loralai knew about Annabeth's crush, who didn't? Plus, the frightening trauma bond held her and Annabeth close like two trees interlocking branches. Close enough for Annabeth to know roughly about the trouble Loralai had to face in her past.
She didn't go into depth with anyone about what had actually happened. She tried not to think about it, otherwise she would physically feel the painful ache in her chest, a hollow reminder that even at camp she did not belong.
"You will have your day." That's what Chiron said to comfort her the day Annabeth and Luke got sent to their true cabin. But, no luck. Loralai was a patient person, but it felt as though her godly father couldn't care less about her. Surely she had done enough fighting and praying for him to notice her loyalty? Yet, here she was, feeling vulnerably stupid. For the gods' sake, she didn't even know her own father's name!
In Loralai's hopeful theory, if she helped satyrs collect enough demigods and got a quest, she would finally be enough for her unknown godly parent. She had severely overcompensated for the first part. The last part is where it became tricky.
Technically, going to collect demigods wasn't a quest. If she wanted a quest, she would need to find a problem, raise it to Chiron, go on a quest, then solve it.
Loralai was completely out of the loop. The older campers kept close the worries that wrinkled their faces, despite her begging them to tell her everything.
For now, she was stuck on another "mission" with Grover at a boarding school for misfits: Yancy Academy. Of course, at military schools, troubled students schools, etc. it was common to find half-bloods, but she was getting tired of the strict rules. On top of that, it sickened her to see how people who didn't "fit the box" were sent to a glorified prison.
Splat! The peanut butter and ketchup sandwich stuck to her hair further enhanced Loralai's distaste for school. The smell was enough to make her gag. She turned back to glare at Nancy Bobofit, someone who had been bothering Grover, her and the demigod they were there to collect, Percy, even since she arrived at Yancy. Seated at the back of the bus, Nancy just mocked the look as she laughed with her friends.
Not bothered to get another detention (or suspension, they started being tighter with her ever since her very intense fight in history class), she adjusted herself back into the bus seat, letting out a sigh.
Grover, sitting beside her, offered her a weak smile. "It'll be summer soon," he reminded her quietly, "look on the bright side." The thought of going back to camp made Loralai gleam, a smile that soon faltered when another sandwich catapulted towards them, smacking Grover's brown curly hair.
Mortals usually picked on Grover. He looked too old to be in their grade, with acne and a wispy beard beginning to grow on his chin. Being a satyr, it was hard to walk as mortals did. This added to the list of names Grover was called.
To the right of Loralai, she heard Percy mutter angrily, "I'm going to kill her." Immediately, Grover turned to console the boy, Loralai just let out a scoff. Like he could do anything.
"It's okay, I like peanut butter," Grover mumbled sadly. The small decrease of calmness was instantly regained when Grover was forced to dodge another piece of Nancy's lunch.
Loralai rose from her seat. Percy did the same simultaneously, declaring, "That's it."
Reaching out two hands to either side of him, the satyr pulled them both back onto their seats. "You're already on probation," he reminded them. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."
Percy glanced at Loralai. "And whose fault is that?" He grunted pettily. Sending him a warning look with her menacing amber eyes, Loralai almost decked Percy then and there. Looking back, she wished she did.
"That's what I thought, lava," he whispered when she said nothing in response. Calling her names with references to volcanoes was becoming his favorite insult. Loralai had protested repeatedly about how it wasn't even that good of an insult that had no correlation to herself. Percy quickly bit back, saying that she was like a volcano because she had continuously blown up at him out of nowhere. She had silently praised him for paying attention in English and using a simile.
It was growing harder and harder for her to contain her distaste for the boy. All she ever did was try to help him, especially in Chiron's class. Percy took her assistance as an insult to his intelligence. Logically, all demigods were hard-wired to read ancient Greek and have battle reflexes. These beautifully intentional improvements, however, did not help them in the mortal world. Eventually, she had stopped offering him help.
Loralai peeked at Chiron, not surprised to see that he was already looking at him. Chiron lowered his head and raised his brows, as if to say: "careful". The girl nodded slowly with a gulp of restraint. Contain yourself.
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CHIRON HAPPILY LED the group of rowdy kids around the museum. The large galleries were filled with old statues and pottery, making Loralai smile as she saw how long they had survived. The candy-floss store near the gift shop called her name... Loralai was sure that the gallery would've smelt heavenly without the bucket load of sweaty kids storming it.
Chiron, or Mr. Brunner gathered them around a tall stone column with a sphinx planted on the top. He began to tell the group about how it was a grave for a girl their age. The stele was somewhat familiar to her, but she couldn't hear Chiron explain it, the chatter surrounding her making her clench her jaw.
Her learnt self-restraint was contrasted as Percy continuously told their classmates to shut up. Each time he did, Mrs. Dodds gave him the evil eye. Mrs. Dodds was a monster, quite literally, of course Loralai knew that. She knew when she walked into their math class and saw that over-worn leather jacket, which was definitely not designed for her age group. The mist made the teacher appear about 50. In reality, she was probably millions of years old, which made Loralai grimace even more as she scanned her wannabe "motorbike rider" outfit.
Loralai half expected Mrs Dodds to point a finger at Percy and say what she usually says, real sweet: "Now, honey." But she didn't, she just stood there with her arms crossed, her lizard-like eyes flickering over and piercing into Loralai's. Loralai looked away swiftly, re-focusing herself onto the words of Mr. Brunner.
Behind her, Nancy snickered and made a comment about one of the naked guys on the stele. Percy whipped around. "Will you shut up?" He said a little too loud, because everyone started laughing and Chiron stopped his story.
"Mr. Jackson," Chiron said, "Did you have a comment?"
Percy turned bright red, Loralai smirked to herself at his flustered expression. "No, sir."
Jabbing a finger towards one of the images on the stele, he questioned, "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"
As Percy followed his finger, a flush of relief made his shoulders relax as he recognized the image. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?" He responded.
Chiron nodded his head slowly. "Yes." Obviously not satisfied with the brief answer, he prompted, "And he did this because..."
"Well..." Percy took a moment to think. "Kronos was the king god and–"
"God?" Mr. Brunner interrupted doubtfully.
"Titan," the boy quickly corrected himself. "And..." As Percy droned on with an explanation, Loralai couldn't help but think of what Percy must think of all the extra questions Chiron continued to give him during class. Obviously, she knew why Percy had to learn all of this, it was a matter of life and death. But, Percy didn't.
As Percy mentioned Kronos barfing up the Olympians, a girl behind them loudly exclaimed, "Eew!" Loralai pursed her lips, trying not to think of a visual image of the event in her mind.
Percy ignored her, continuing, "--and so there was this big fight between the gods and the titans, and the gods won." As he finished, people around them chuckled.
Nancy muttered something about not needing this in real life and Loralai almost laughed. Luckily, she had said it loud enough for Mr. Brunner's radar ears to hear. "And why, Mr. Jackson," he said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"
In front of her, Grover whispered, "Busted." Loralai was glad that Chiron called Nancy out, unlike all of their other teachers.
"Shut up," Nancy hissed, like the true snake she was, her face turning red to match her hair.
Percy eventually let out a weary shrug. "I don't know, sir."
"I see," Mr. Brunner replied, looking disappointed. "Miss Fotia?" He asked.
Loralai's eyes flicked up from where they were focused on the ground. "Zeus fed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, making him throw up his other five children, who had grown up in his stomach due to being immortal. The gods defeated their father, sliced him into pieces with Kronos' scythe and then scattered his remains in Tartarus," she explained confidently, ignoring the glare Percy was giving her. If Chiron wasn't there, Loralai was sure that Percy would've called her a smartass.
A boy behind her yelled out. "What the hell's Tartarus?"
It was meant to make them laugh, but Loralai replied anyway. "It is– was," she corrected herself, hoping no one noticed her slip up, "the darkest part of the underworld."
Mr. Brunner smiled approvingly, and announced, "And on that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"
The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses. Loralai, Grover, and Percy were about to follow the crowd when Chiron called Percy back, "Mr. Jackson."
The boy stopped like he knew that was going to happen. Lorelai continued walking but Grover stayed back, re-joining her when Percy gave him a nod to carry on.
As they sat down by the fountain, observing the traffic along Fifth Avenue, Loralai couldn't hold back a complaint at Grover. "How long is Percy going to take?" She snapped, the tone coming out more venomous than she had intended. Suddenly, her face turned red. "I mean– to realise that he's a demigod. He can take as long as he wants in there," she clarified, slightly embarrassed as to how her words had sounded.
Grover gave her a small smile of sympathy. He also missed camp, and they had been trying to take Percy there for longer than some of their other missions.
"Detention?" Grover questioned as Percy joined them, making sure to sit the farthest possible away from Loralai, whilst still being able to talk to Grover. As Percy complained about Mr. Brunner to Grover, Loralai stared at the style. The clouds were blacker than ever, a wild storm brewing and mocking the demigods below.
Turning her head, the girl furrowed her brows as she glared at the Empire State Building. The building was a gateway to Olympus, even though Loralai had never gotten the chance to go. It just reminded her no matter how close she was to her unknown parent, it would always feel further away than ever. The slightly wet ledge of the fountain beneath her was the only thing grounding her as her brain was swarmed with thoughts.
The distinctive smell of Nancy Bobofit and her goons make the girl snap out of it. "Oops," Nancy commented sarcastically as she dumped a half-eaten sandwich into Grover's lap. Her crooked teeth grinned at the three, daring them to do something about it. Loralai cocked her head. If only Nancy knew.
Apparently, all those counselling sessions Percy had received at Yancy did not do a thing to help his temper. Before Loralai could do something herself, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screeching, "Percy pushed me!"
Mrs. Dodds suddenly appeared next to them, their surrounding classmates beginning to whisper. "--The water–"
"--like it grabbed her–"
For a moment, Loralai had no clue what they were talking about. Then, she was reminded of the fact that, unfortunately, Percy was a demigod. He had probably accidentally released some of his future "skills" onto the bully.
Checking to see if Nancy was okay, Mrs. Dodds muttered a few promises about getting her some new clothes before turning to Percy. "Now, honey–"
"I know," Percy interrupted stupidly, "a month erasing textbooks."
This enraged the woman even further, her eyes widening in exasperation. "Come with me," Mrs Dodds said.
Caution alerts went off in Loralai's brain as she thought of the idea of Percy and a monster alone. Grover yelped as though he was reading the girl's brain. "Wait! It was me. I pushed her."
The teacher glared at him so hard that Grover started to tremble. "I don't think so Mr. Underwood," she said sweetly.
"But–" Grover began to protest.
"You– will– stay– here," she commanded. Her voice sounded strained, like she was trying not to doom Grover to the same fate at Nancy: soaked in fountain water. Although, Loralai thought that Mrs. Dodds would've had something more evil in mind.
Grover looked at Percy desperately. "It's okay, man," Percy reassured him, "thanks for trying."
Growing impatient, Mrs. Dodds barked at him, "Honey, now!"
Nancy Bobofit smirked at Percy and he sent him one of his deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stares, usually only reserved for Loralai when she unintentionally made the class laugh at his intellect.
He went to face Mrs. Dodds, Loralai observed his shock as he came to find that she was already at the museum entrance waiting for him. The realization that Chiron hadn't noticed a thing was enough to make Loralai worry further. She subtly got up, inching towards Mr. Brunner in a way that Mrs. Dodds wouldn't notice. She would probably think of an excuse to punish her, too. Or to kill her. Loralai shuddered.
Grover stayed back, mainly trying his best to help Loralai contact Chiron by loudly clearing his throat. A few of their classmates looked over in confusion and Grover changed his strategy with awkwardness.
When Loralai finally saw that Mrs. Dodds was out of sight, she ran the rest of the way to Chiron and shook him violently. Shocked, Chiron looked quickly up from his novel. "Percy's in danger," was all Loralai had to say before Chiron snapped the book shut and rolled inside. The girl let out relief when Chiron didn't ask her to follow him, she didn't feel like fighting a monster today.
Around 5 minutes had passed when Percy finally came out of the museum. Loralai caught Chiron's eye, who had practically materialized back into his former spot, but she read his expression: Mrs. Dodds was gone. Well, not gone, she would reform eventually, as all monsters do. Loralai hoped that she wouldn't have to hear that crackly and disgustingly sweet voice for a long time.
When Percy reached Nancy, who was whispering with her friends, she commented smugly, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."
Percy's face contorted in confusion. "Who?"
Nancy rolled her eyes, irritated with what she seemed to think was stupidness. "Our teacher. Duh!"
Percy blinked and asked Nancy what she was talking about. The red head just rolled her eyes again and turned away. Then, Percy whipped his head around to Loralai and Grover. "Where's Mrs. Dodds?" He asked both of them.
The girl glanced at Grover, urging him to take the lead. "Who?" Grover asked after a pause.
"Not funny, man," Percy deadpanned, "this is serious."
Thunder boomed overhead as Percy lazily walked over to where Mr. Brunner was sitting. From the distance, Loralai could roughly see him handing over a pen. She almost laughed at the thought of Percy fighting away a monster with a writing utensil.
Loralai took a hold of a moment without Percy, whispering to Grover with a chuckle, "Finally, it was starting to look like he would never leave his mom." But, as soon as the laugh came, it quickly faded. The sympathetic look on Grover's face made her want to punch him. Loralai inhaled shakily as that hollow feeling compared her and Percy's biggest problems.
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