Chapter Text
Look, she didn’t want to be a Half-blood.
~
New kids arrive at Camp Half-Blood, of course they do. It happens, and they’re rarely anything special. Thea Castellan knows this. Everyone knows this. Except, maybe, Annabeth. Every time a new kid arrives. Thea watches her get excited, thinking this is it, this is finally the one, someone special…
And it never is.
So, Thea isn’t getting excited about this new kid, he’s just going to be another kid in the Hermes Cabin. Until he’s claimed, and he ends up in another cabin… If he’s claimed, that is.
Sure, this kid had a more interesting arrival than most. Killing the Minotaur is a big achievement, especially for a kid with no training. This kid saved himself and a satyr with no training—something no one expected— after watching his mother die.
A rough start, even by demigod standards.
But still, he’s probably nothing special. Maybe an Ares kid, that might explain how he was able to do it.
There’s no point in Annabeth getting excited again. There’s no point in her insisting on looking after the kid, to see if she can find anything out about him, or about what’s happening.
There’s no point. This kid is just going to be another camper. Just another kid. Nothing special.
~
Alright, maybe Thea was just a little interested. Maybe the new kid’s start to Camp had caught her attention, Maybe, just maybe, she thought he could be something special.
But she would never admit that out loud.
And so, when Annabeth caught her sneaking a look into the room where he lay unconscious, she just told her that she was bored, and wanted to see the kid who had caught Annabeth’s attention this time.
Thea wasn’t sure that Annabeth believed her.
Thea was a good liar when she wanted to be… But Annabeth knew her too well. Had known her too long. Ever since they were both runaways, along with Luke and Thalia.
~
The new kid finally wakes up for good a few days after his arrival. He arrives at Cabin Eleven— the Hermes Cabin— with Chiron and Annabeth not long after.
Thea rises from where she was sitting on the edge of her bunk as the door opens, bowing respectfully to Chiron alongside everyone else. She looks him up and down curiously, but is disappointed when he doesn’t look like anything special. Just another scrawny pre-teen boy.
Chiron encourages Percy to enter, before leaving. The kid finally walks in the door, tripping embarrassingly over the doorstep. Thea shakes her head, as her siblings and the other Cabin Eleven campers chuckle at his clumsiness.
“Percy Jackson, meet Cabin Eleven,” Annabeth announces from beside him.
“Regular or undetermined?” Thea calls out.
There’s a round of groans of annoyance from around the cabin as Annabeth replied that he’s undetermined. Everyone is thinking the same thing: Great. Another kid to take up space, who probably doesn’t even belong in here. Who might not even get claimed.
Luke Castellan steps forward, closely followed by Thea who steps up behind him. “Now, now, campers. That’s what we’re here for. Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor, right over there.” Luke points out one of the few space left on the floor of the overcrowded cabin.
“That’s Luke Castellan. He’s your counsellor, for now,” Annabeth explains. “And with him is Thea Castellan, his sister.”
“You’re undetermined, so you’re here, for now. ‘Cause Hermes is the God of Travelers, among other things,” Thea explains quietly, still studying Percy curiously. He’s certainly scrawny, not having had any training to strengthen him up yet. And he doesn’t hold himself confidently. There’s nothing in particular that’s interesting about him, as far as she can tell.
And yet…
There’s just something about him, something that won’t let her look away. He seems different, like there’s something there that should make him stand out.
But she can’t see what it is.
Is Annabeth right this time?
Or is he just another kid?
“How long will I be here,” Percy asks.
“Good question.” Luke answers this time. “Until you’re determined.”
“And how long will that take?”
There’s a round of laughter at that question. Thea only shakes her head, wondering how Annabeth could think he was ‘the one’. Wondering how she could have almost herself be convinced of the same.
Annabeth starts to drag Percy out of the cabin again, and Thea follows quietly behind, murmuring a quiet, “See you later,” to Luke as she steps past him.
She trails silently behind the two, tuning it out as they argue without noticing her. She watches Camp around them as they walk, listening in again after a few moments, just in time to hear Percy say, “My mom is Sally Jackson. She works in a candy store at Grand Central Station. At least, she used to.”
Thea shakes her head as Annabeth replies, “I’m sorry about your mom, but that’s not what I meant, I meant your other parent, your father.”
“He’s dead. I never knew him.”
Thea snorts aloud at that, the other two whipping around to face her. “Your dad’s not dead, kid.”
He stares wide-eyed at her. “When did you get— never mind. How can you say that, do you know him?”
“No. But we know enough about you, and if he were dead you wouldn’t be here.”
“You don’t know anything about me!”
Thea sighs, shaking her head, as Annabeth speaks up, “I bet you moved around from school. I bet you were kicked out of a lot of them.
“How—”
Thea cuts him off with a raised brow. “Diagnosed with dyslexia, and probably ADHD too. Right?”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“It makes it pretty obvious… The letters seem like they float of the page when you read, right? That’s ‘cause your brain is hardwired for Ancient Greek, not any modern language. And the ADHD, that’s just your battlefield reflexes. They’ll keep you alive, be grateful.
“Combine that with how you survived the nectar and ambrosia… Face it, kid. You’re a half-blood.”
Thea watches his face as he reels at the blunt statement, at his wide-eyed, shocked expression. Before Percy can come up with a response, there’s a loud yell.
Clarisse.