Chapter Text
Wednesday 13th December 2008
10.30am
I got a new diary but it took until today to arrive and I have so much to catch up on.
So yesterday I woke up at the ass crack of dawn this to find Thalia with a bunch of kids I’d never seen before, apparently I missed her almost crashing the Sun Chariot into Camp. She looked almost as pale as me when I wandered out, yawning and still in my black ghost pyjamas wondering what on earth the noise was about.
Thalia introduced me to the other girls and the two boys with her, all the girls wore silver jackets and they were the Hunters of Artemis, the younger boy was called Nico Di’Angelo, and the older boy was Percy Jackson. One of the Hunters was Nico’s sister, who just joined the Hunters and was given a spare jacket in the chariot ride to camp.
Percy was not what I had been expecting, from how people talked about him I thought he’d be this tall, strong, fierce looking boy but he actually seemed kind of quiet and almost timid. He seemed sad, too.
Something about Nico set alarm bells off in my head, like something was telling me to stay close to him. It was weird, I’ve never felt a reaction like that towards anyone before now.
Then I asked the question no-one wanted to answer; “Hey where’s Annabeth? I need to thank her for giving me those pamphlets the other day.”
The odd group all exchanged looks, until Percy sighed and told me; “Annabeth is missing.”
“Oh,” I said, and it took a few awkward moments of quiet for me to remember that Annabeth was Percy’s friend and he was probably very worried about her. “Do you need help finding her? My magic compass might be able to point us in the right direction to find her.”
Percy and Thalia perked up immediately.
“You have a magic compass?” Thalia asked.
“Yeah, let’s go!” Percy said, immediately on board.
“Let me get breakfast and some clothes better for the weather, first,” I replied with a yawn so big I heard my jaw crack. “Then we can go find her.”
“No-one is leaving Camp!” Mr D announced, appearing out of no-where with Chiron in tow. “It’s far too dangerous for you little mortals.”
“You employ harpies and threaten us with being eaten by them if we break curfew, and now you’re concerned about our safety?” I asked, incredulous at the audacity of this man.
“Mind your manners, Emma,” Mr D scolded me, not even looking at me but at one of the Hunters. “Now why are the Hunters at Camp?”
Thalia and Percy explained what was happening to Mr D and Chiron, and I stood there awkwardly, unsure if I should stay or go. A very cold breeze made my decision for me, and I returned to the cabin to shower and change for breakfast. I picked out a pair of black ankle boots with pink flowers printed on them, a nice pale pink turtleneck, and my pink coat.
After I was done showering and changing, I packed a duffel bag with some changes of clothes, snacks, a couple of water bottles, a torch and a map. Who knows how long it would take to find Annabeth, better to be prepared for a long journey and some snacks.
Soon the horn was blown, announcing that breakfast would be starting. I left quickly, whilst Travis and Connor were busy trying to get the rest of the cabin in order and ready for breakfast.
I found Percy dragging his feet and walking alone to the Pavillion, and with how popular he was I figured I might not get a better time to talk to him.
“Percy?” I called to him, keeping my voice from being too loud so others might overhear us.
He flinched and turned immediately towards me, he sighed when he saw it was me. I guess that mission rattled him more than he let on.
“You’re Ellis, right?” Percy asked me.
“Yeah,” I said, before carrying onto what I wanted to talk about. I walked directly beside him and kept my voice as low as I could whilst still being audible to him. “My offer still stands if you want to find Annabeth, I’m ready to leave whenever.”
“We’re not allowed to leave unless there’s a quest,” Percy reminded me, his shoulders slumping.
“Percy if you want to find Annabeth alive then you can’t wait for permission,” I reminded him. I don’t know where his enthusiasm went all of a sudden. “The longer you wait, the less likely she’ll be alive when you find her, if you get to find her at all.”
“I know,” Percy said. I almost started pressing the issue but his voice started to waver and I saw the tears gathering in his eyes so I decided to let it go for now.
“Death is probably more merciful than living the painful life of a demigod,” I mused aloud, a little frustrated by the lack of action being taken to solve a problem. We reached the pavilion so I wandered off to the buffet table and grabbed a plate for myself. I made the usual sacrifices for Mom, Lord Hermes, Lady Persephone and Lord Hades, but I added Lady Artemis this time.
As I sacrificed a juicy piece of turkey breast to Lady Artemis, I prayed; “Lady Artemis, protector of girls, please find Annabeth Chase and bring her home.”
I don’t know if Lady Artemis would answer or if she would find Annabeth but it felt better than just sitting on my ass and doing nothing.
During breakfast, Chiron announced that the Hunters would be staying with us and that we would be playing capture the flag this friday but it would be campers vs hunters. Mr D wasn’t around, so I think he was napping.
Chiron also told us that school was over until the winter solstice ends, I think there’s probably sound ancient greek holiday involving the summer solstice we need to prepare for but I wasn’t paying much attention to that. I was thinking more about Annabeth and what to do.
I don’t like her but I don’t want her to be hurt or killed either, and it doesn’t sit right with me to do nothing about it. No-one looks out for us demigods, we only have each other to rely on.
But where do I start?
4pm
I don’t have to think about it too long, I think word spread around Camp about what I said to Mr D because at lunch today I was approached by the leader of the Hunters. She’s called Zoe Nightshade, she has dark hair and eyes and tan skin, she looked like she could be Ancient Greek princess if it weren’t for the modern day clothing.
“Ellis Graves,” she greeted me whilst I was sitting at the Hermes table, I could feel the rest of Cabin 11 watching us and listening in. “Would you join me at Lady Artemis’ table?”
“I can’t, I wasn’t claimed by her and I’m not a Hunter,” I replied, a little confused why she was offering for me to sit with her.
She blinked, and for a long moment she just stared then she said; “I am her lieutenant, if I invite you she will not mind.”
I had almost finished my lunch, so I agreed more out of curiosity than any interest in getting to know her. I wanted to know what her real intention was, she’d been rude and borderline antagonistic towards everyone so she doesn’t seem to be the type to ask someone she didn’t know to sit with her.
I stuffed the last of my mashed potatoes into my mouth, and then left the table to follow her. I put my plate on the dirty dish pile as we moved, I noticed several other demigods watching, including Thalia and Percy.
I sat with Zoe at the crowded Artemis table, and she introduced me to the other girls at the table. I caught Bianca’s eyes, and I felt the same strange instinct of feeling drawn to her the same way as I was with Nico, and it rattled me enough that I didn’t try to smile back when she smiled at me.
“Zoe, why did you invite me to your Lady’s table?” I asked, interrupting her attempts to tell me the names of all the many faces. The faces all blurred together, and trying to pick them apart would be a nightmare when they all looked the same other than differences in hair colour, eye colour, and skin tone, let alone remember what features belong to who or what their names are.
It was a miracle I was able to pick out Bianca.
Zoe dropped the small smile she had, and she didn’t answer right away.
So I added; “You’ve been incredibly rude to the point of being almost antagonistic to us, you and your comrades have literally burned down the cabins here in the past, some of the only homes these demigods have known, and now you’re suddenly playing nice? What do you really want?”
That had been a hell of a shock to learn about, a girl from the Ares cabin called Clarisse told me about that when I was confused why the Camp demigods disliked the Hunters so much. After learning about that, I paid more attention to how the Hunters treated the Campers and saw the rudeness and antagonistic behaviour.
“I wished to know if ye would be interested in joining the Hunters, Daughter of Ghosts,” Zoe told me.
When I glanced at the other girls, some refused to look at me like they had just been scolded by a strict parent, and Bianca seemed to be doing the same. I wasn’t good at reading facial expressions but I hoped there was doubt that I saw or I would be concerned for her mental state.
“No, I have no interest in being stuck enduring puberty forever or join a group of arsonists,” I told her. I saw one of the Hunters flinch at my comment, and a couple of others glared at me.
I left shortly after that, joining Cabin Eleven as they left for the climbing wall.
“What did the Hunters want to talk to you about, Bones?” Connor asked me, he and his brother flanked me like bodyguards.
“They wanted me to join them, and I refused.” I told him. “I don’t want to go through puberty forever.”
Travis started wheezing at that.
I helped Travis and Connor find some safety gear for Nico, and explain what the climbing wall was and the best way to avoid the lava. I stayed with him on the wall, since we’re at a similar level of fitness. He has better balance than me when the wall shakes and despite how excited he was, he waited for me to catch up when the wall shook.
“Hey Ellis,” Nico piped up. Once we finished our third climb, we sat near the bottom on the benches drinking some water and catching our breaths. “Does Bianca not love me?”
“She does,” I said, feeling panic setting in. There’s no way I’m the right person to talk about delicate stuff like this. “She’s just… being a teenager.”
“What do you mean?” Nico asked.
“She wants to be able to do things with her friends, not hang around with family so much,” I tried to explain. “Once she realizes that the Hunters aren’t that great, she’ll dump them and find another group of friends.”
“Is that what happened to you?” Nico asked me, crossing his arms as we sat on the benches.
“Kind of, I’ve not had any friends before coming here and my human family aren’t that great,” I admit, trying to keep it brief so I don’t have to think about it too much. Talking so much to Lady Psyche about so many heavy topics is making me a lot more emotional outside our sessions and I’ve caught myself tearing up about things that didn’t bother me before.
“From what I’ve seen, you’re a good brother, and Bianca will come back eventually,” I tell him, not that worried about his sister. “Once she’s gotten over the idea of admitting she was wrong to go with them without thinking it through properly. When you get to her age, you’ll start wanting to look for friend groups and spend less time with family too. That doesn’t mean you’ll ever stop loving her, and she won’t stop loving you either.”
I’m not sure if I said what I meant the right way but Nico didn’t seem as sad so I’ll take it as a win.
He spent the rest of the afternoon talking about mythomagic or whatever the name of his favourite card game is. I did get tired from talking so much so I did get to a point that I was tuning him out, and I guess Travis and Connor picked up on my thinning patience since they appeared to bring Nico to the weapons’ shed to pick out his own weapon.
I’ve never been so grateful for the Stolls. Nico was a good kid but I don’t like little kids and I don’t have the patience for them and their endless questions.
7pm
Thalia cornered me after dinner to ask what Zoe wanted, so I told her and my answer to her offer. She laughed when I told her that I told Zoe that the behaviour from her and her fellow Hunters was part of the reason why, and she started wheezing when I expressed a lack of interest in going through puberty for all eternity.
I don’t understand why she was laughing and found it funny. I'm very serious about my feelings and reasons why but it beats being shouted at for them so I’ll take it.
Thalia brought me to the kitchens and together we made hot chocolate, normal hot chocolate not white hot chocolate, when I mentioned white hot chocolate to her Thalia whined about the thought of such an abomination existing.
Why did everyone hate white hot chocolate so much?
“Did Zoe ask you to join the Hunters too?” I asked Thalia as we left the kitchens with our hot chocolates, we sat on the wood steps of the porch of the Big House. We watched the other kids from a distance preparing the bonfire for the Camp sing-a-long.
“Yeah, before I joined Camp,” she said, losing her smile as she talked.
“Was she as prickly then as she is now?” I asked.
Zoe reminded me of a rose, pretty but prickly and if you get too close you’d end up with scratches and cuts. Someone to be appreciated and admired at a distance.
Thalia snorted and she grinned; “Yeah.”
We didn’t talk much after that, just sipping our hot chocolate and enjoying the atmosphere.
“Have you thought about what you want to do once you turn 18?” I asked her, curious. “You’re very strong so you’d have plenty of gods that would want to employ you.”
“I don’t know,” Thalia said before sipping her hot chocolate again. “I didn’t think I’d make it this far so I don’t have anything planned.”
I get that, even before Pansy found me and brought me to Camp I didn’t think I’d live along enough to become 18 let alone figure out what to do after I turn 18.
“If you don’t mind working for an Underworld deity, I can send a letter to Mom and ask her if she knows anyone that would want to employ you.” I offered.
“Thanks but I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Thalia said with a sigh. The smile on her face was strange, like it was fake. “The King of the Underworld doesn’t like me or any of my father’s demigod children, so I doubt I could work for one.”
That gave me something to think about. If Mom hadn’t convinced Lady Persephone to employ me, would Lady Demeter have employed me or would she hate me for being Lord Hades' granddaughter? Would a sky aligned deity or an ocean deity refuse me because of my connection to Lord Hades? Was the relationship between the children of Kronos so bad that they would automatically hate anyone associated with Lord Hades?
“Yeah, maybe not.” I managed to say.
Thursday 14th December 2008
11am
I wrote a letter to Mom to ask her for her permission and advice in searching for Annabeth. I intend to go regardless of what she says but having her permission would make things easier, whether anyone else was willing to go with me or not, I won’t wait any later than tomorrow to leave to find Annabeth.
When I used my compass this morning to look for Annabeth it pointed immediately West. I hesitated before gathering the last of my dracma to order more supplies for the search. I ordered some camping supplies and a sleeping bag that could fold up and shrink into the size of a fanny pack, and look like one.
It should all arrive tomorrow morning.
I talked to Katie and Elsie after breakfast about what Zoe wanted, and about finding Annabeth. They both were supportive but hesitant to break the rules, which I understand. Elsie literally had nowhere else to go for most of the year and she couldn’t risk her place here, and Katie talked so little about her mortal family that I suspect that they might not be reliable. Hopefully Katie’s mortal family isn’t as bad as mine or worse.
Still, it didn’t sit right with me.
I know it’s not the same since I have the Underworld to fall back on if things don’t work out here but it still doesn’t sit right with me that they weren’t willing to take the risk of finding Annabeth.
Part of me does wonder how Annabeth treats people if so few of them were willing to leave Camp to help her. I don’t like her and I can only tolerate her in small doses but I would still try to help to find her because it’s the right thing to do, why is no-one else doing that?
I need to ask Psyche about this, she understands people well so maybe she’d have some insight on this.
3pm
I had my therapy session with Psyche after lunch, and I asked her why no-one wanted to help Annabeth. She did talk about how Camp is the only home a lot of demigods here have, and they’re scared of losing it. She talked about how dangerous it is for demigods not to have safe space, and it did help me to understand a little but it still felt like an excuse.
She also mentioned that not everyone will have such strong (well she called it rigid but that’s practically the same thing) mortals as me, and that this situation isn’t so black and white.
I started tuning her out after that, letting her talk and I didn’t talk as much as I had before. I felt sick and tired, and a little hurt. It felt like Psyche was agreeing with everyone else’s decision to just abandon Annabeth to the wilderness, she’s smart but her wits alone wouldn’t be enough to survive. Would she be saying the same thing if it was me who was missing instead of Annabeth?
Psyche really is just like all the other deities.
I guess when I left my hurt must have shown on my face because when I went to the beach to get some space to think, Percy followed me. He didn’t say anything at first, he just sat with me on the cold, wet sand.
“Mr D called the goddess of the Human soul to be the Camp therapist during the time you were away,” I told him after what felt like several minutes of silence and I noticed him start to fidget. “Mr D tried his hand at it but he was bad at it, Mrs P is better but after today it hit me that she’s just as bad as the other deities.”
Lady Psyche asked us to call her Mrs P, following Mr D’s example so we could address her without messing with the powers of her true name.
“I wondered why Mrs P wanted to see me after dinner,” Percy said with a heavy sigh. “Are you ok?”
“Yeah,” I responded. I don’t feel ok, but what else could I say? Percy is nice but he’s not my friend and I don’t feel comfortable talking too much about my feelings with him. “Talking to her made me realize that I can’t stay here any longer.”
“What do you mean?” Percy asked me. When I finally looked him in the eyes, he was really, really tense.
“There’s another option for demigods, Percy,” I tell him. “It’s the employment route, you can work for a deity and earn some money. They’ll train you and educate you so you can do your job, and Mom found me a job with a deity that won’t take advantage of me.”
I paused for a moment before saying. “And I accepted, I start after the winter solstice is over. If I leave tomorrow to find Annabeth, that gives me enough time to find her and bring her back here.”
The dead or alive went unsaid.
“You can come with me if you want to,” I offered him again. “But I’ll go alone if I have to.”
“...I’ll go with you,” Percy said, his jaw clenched a little and I briefly worried that he might break his teeth from the force of it. “I’ll sneak into the Big House and talk to the oracle, if we get a prophecy we won’t have to sneak out.”
“I’m going regardless of whether the oracle gives you a prophecy or not,” I tell him, and rise to my feet. “Think about what you plan to do if the oracle doesn’t give you a prophecy and let me know when I come to you tomorrow night.”
I left Percy to think about what he wanted to do, hopefully he cared more about his friendship with Annabeth than the punishment that came with breaking the rules.
Now I’m here in bed, wondering if any of these same people I have started to trust would go to the same lengths for me that I would for them. I’m starting to think that they won’t look for me if I was in Annabeth’s place and I don’t know how to look past that, how do you be ok with the knowledge the people you trusted wouldn’t help if you were missing?
I feel ill.
9pm
I went for my last treasure hunt at Camp, this time I went alone. When I got back I gave Travis and Connor their shares as we agreed but I mostly just wanted to be alone with my thoughts, and whilst everyone was busy with the Camp singalong, I went into the Big House to sneak out a few books about the different supernatural options for transportation.
One such option was a brief paragraph about how underworld deities could summon dead mounts, like horses, to travel on. I went back in to find an old spellbook that once belonged to a son of Hecate named Stephen Strange, which had a record of the summoning ritual needed to summon the dead.
I know what I’ll be doing tomorrow morning. I saw a deer skull in the woods the other day, I just need my old suitcase to get the deer bones and other supplies I need and set up the ritual space somewhere in the woods, near the border and away from the part of the woods where we are supposed to play capture the flag tomorrow evening.
I feel a bit better now that I have a plan. Now, how in Tartarus’ saggy ballsack am I going to sneak out without the Stolls noticing?