Chapter Text
When I caught the scent of a demigod in Richmond, I had been expecting a child of Hephaestus, Apollo or Asclepus since manufacturing, education and healthcare were booming there. A child of knowledge, healing or creation, not a girl that looked like a haunted doll and smelled faintly of graveyard soil.
Ella Graves’ blond hair was almost as white as her skin and her blue eyes were so pale they looked like they belonged on a corpse, not a living, breathing human.
Keeping my composure around her was hard, and talking to her was even harder. She didn’t ask many questions or have much of a reaction to anything, she just looked tired and sad all the time.
When she went towards the basement with her suitcase, almost as if she knew her dad was expecting to send her away, it became clear why she was so sad.
“Are there year long options for her?” Her father, Josh, asked me. He looked even more tired and sad than Ella did, his light brown hair was limp and there were bags forming under his eyes. “She can’t come back, she’ll put us all in danger.”
I’ve done this many times before, the demigods with good parents wanted to keep their child as close as possible, even with the danger. Even some of the bad ones showed some concern for the demigod child’s safety.
Josh showed none of that, just safety for himself and his family.
Something niggled in the back of my mind as I explained the year round options for Campers, including the schooling and lodging. He’d have to pay a fee, of course, to cover the cost of her education, toiletries and clothing supply. He looked relieved, and sighed aloud when he heard there was an option to send her away, even with the cost.
I heard Ella’s footsteps, and when I turned to look her way I realized what it was that bothered me so much. The hallway that connected the kitchen to the basement was lined with pictures of the family that had been taken over many years, all at different times of the year and different locations.
None of them included Ella.