Work Text:
LENORE MAYBERRY
As soon as I woke up today I knew something was going to be different today. I felt it in my bones and it was in a way that resonated with your soul so deeply you knew it without any rational sense. At least that’s how I would describe it at the very least. The kids in the Hermes cabin always said that I had a very unique or deeper way of describing things than most people. I pulled my blanket off of me and carefully crept out of the Hermes cabin with my backpack already on my shoulders, it was crowded as per usual due to the amount of unclaimed kids there were including me in that demographic. But I was just happy to have a place to call home ever since mum left me here a couple months ago in the fall. Every once in a while I would ask Chiron or one of the older Hermes kids at camp who were in charge of letters if my mum sent me one yet. They always looked at me with pity and changed the subject quickly or they would lie to me, I don’t really like liars. I usually had a feeling when someone lied, probably just something I picked up from being around this cabin so much. I finally got to the cabin door without stepping on anyone that was sleeping on the floor and pushed open the door quietly. I was so glad to leave without waking anyone up, since I was one of the youngest kids to ever be at Camp Half-Blood, usually the older kids always had to have their eye on me. They often swap who makes sure I don’t do anything dangerous or harm myself. But just because I’m four doesn’t mean I can’t do anything by myself! I’m a Demi-god after all! And even if my dad hasn’t claimed me yet doesn’t mean anything, one day I’ll make him proud to have me as his daughter even if I don’t know who he is yet! It was the break of dawn and you could just see the sun rising over the lake. I waved goodmorning to it with a smile. Then I crept away from cabin eleven with my small hand tightly holding my dagger and my other gripping on my backpack straps before running into the forest.
By the time I had gotten back from the adventure I had already missed breakfast so I made a deal with one of my Hermes friends and they swiped me some food from the Camp store as long as I promised to do them a favor later. When they gave me the food I happily munched on some toast with strawberry jam while I hid behind the Pegasus stables. Usually when I tried stealing stuff myself I always ended up being caught so I definitely wasn’t Hermes' daughter even if I kinda wanted to be, I wanted to be closer with my friends in that cabin and maybe they would have liked me more if I was their sister. The list of gods who could potentially be my dad was growing ever shorter, maybe my godly parent is Athena? Her kids aren’t born so there is a chance there. My train of thoughts got cut short there when I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I immediately froze.
“There you are, Lenore!” A familiar older male voice exclaimed with relief. I turned around to see an older teenager with red hair and freckles give me a friendly smile.
“Morning, Alan! Is it your day to watch me? Y'Know you really don’t have to do that, I’m fine on my own!” I reply brightly while I push myself off the ground and wipe my knees with my hands.
Alan was a claimed son of Hermes, and also the one who usually hung out with young kids and me to make sure we didn’t get into trouble or at least trouble that would get us hurt, and of course pranks were always on the table for trouble.
Alan just laughed softly before answering me. “Yeah yeah sure you can. Now come on let’s go check the arts n crafts tent today, you like that right? Creative stuff.” He held out his hand for me to take. After a moment of pondering if he was going to prank me by a hand buzzer I decided he probably wasn’t and took his hand. Luckily it wasn’t a prank though you can never be too careful.
We spent most of our day in the Crafting tent and I made the two of us friendship bracelets which Alan accepted and promised not to take off. Unfortunately though a group of Ares kids who were in the Crafting tent were starting to cause a fight with one of Apollo’s children over hogging all the markers and they were starting to cause a mess. And pretty quickly it was becoming violent. Alan held my shoulders gently and told me to leave and get Chiron, then he left to try and break off the fight. But no matter what my feet couldn’t move I was stuck in place as the commotion grew and festered. I could hear my heartbeat pound in my head and felt every beat in my throat. I could hear the sound of someone getting punched as they tried stopping the fight. I started backing up but soon I backed into the wooden wall. I didn’t know what to do. Alan told me to get Chiron but I’m too scared to leave. But as soon as I saw someone with red hair turn around with a bloody nose I knew who it was that had gotten hurt. I barely noticed when tears started rolling down my face from panic and seeing my friend hurt.
“STOP!” I tightly closed my eyes and screamed out of panic for my friend. Suddenly everything went silent. I thought that maybe they decided to stop fighting or someone stepped in. Then after a few moments I hear the gut wrenching and gagging sounds of throw up and the dry heaving that came with vomit. I opened my eyes slowly to see the Ares kids that had started the fight suddenly came down with sudden sickness and fatigue that came at a rapid pace. They started falling to the floor one by one or they leaned on the furniture to stabilize themselves. Most of the others that were in the room started to try to attend to the sick but the others that weren’t trying to help just looked up, staring at something above me. I looked up and saw a golden Lyre hover above my head. And that was the last thing I saw before I got washed with a wave of exhaustion and hit the floor with a heavy thud.
When I woke up I smelt the strong scent of sickness and disinfectant, both smells trying to overpower the other but no matter how much they could never mix cleanly. I knew I was in the infirmary considering I spent my first few days there to treat the bruises on my neck but I couldn’t remember why I was there currently. I sat up in the bed and looked to my right where I saw a camper sleeping in their bed sweating heavily with a wet towel on their head and a bucket of water nearby. It was one of Ares' kids, one of his son’s specifically but I couldn’t remember his name for the life of me but I remembered his face. He was one of the kids complaining about how one of the Apollo kids was hogging the markers. Then my eyes widened in guilt as I remembered what had happened in the Crafting tent. Did I cause that? I couldn’t have, right? I started gripping at my hair tightly as I spiraled in my guilt feeling as if the pain of pulling at my hair was deserved if I caused it. You messed up again. I kept thinking. You caused this. You hurt them. This is why mom left you here-
“Lenore you’re awake! You’ve been out for a few days now.” A cheerful voice spoke out of the blue. I froze and looked up. It was one of the medics at camp half-blood; he had golden hair and a friendly smile that could light up any room. I think his name was Lee? Anyways I was pretty sure he was one of Apollo’s sons.
I sniffled and wiped my nose waiting for a sign or Lee to say something like, Hey by the way since you caused the sickness we’re just gonna kick you out! But you’ll be fine on your own, have fun! But he just sat next to me with a tissue box, grabbed one and started wiping away the tears on my face. I didn’t even notice that I was crying. Soon I felt better and I think Lee saw this and he softly spoke. “Don’t worry it’s not your fault you just got scared and wanted to help your friends.”
“Really?” I croaked.
“Really.” He replied while looking me in the eyes. “And plus I get to have a brand new sister!” He said while gently ruffling my hair. I smiled at that comment. Right, I had completely forgotten before I blacked out and hit my head on the floor that I had finally gotten claimed. But it didn’t make sense that Apollo was my dad. “But I thought that Apollo was the god of archery and… and uh, light and healing. N-not …that.” I guested towards the camper towards my right and proceeded to hug my legs. “That is what dad is most known for but a LOT of people also forget that he is the god of disease and sickness and that’s actually a really rare ability, I can’t even remember the last time one of Apollo’s children ended up having that power.” Lee tried comforting me by telling me this but to hear that I was probably the only one of his children that were alive with this ability made me feel worse. I know I should be grateful to inherit an ability from my dad. That it should feel like a gift to inherit one of his powers, another way to honor your godly parent, a chance to make them proud of you. But this, this felt like a curse that I will never be able to shake. I don’t want people to be scared of me., I don't want to make people decay and rot.
I don’t want to be the daughter of plague.
The next couple of hours were a blur. I just remember snippets about the rest of the day. Moving my things out of the Hermes cabin and being told quick congratulations about being claimed. But it felt different now the way they looked at me no longer with warmth but rather waryness mixed with pity. I got settled in my new bunk in cabin seven and officially met all of my new siblings. It was a nice warm welcome but some made it feel like it was fake and rehearsed. A few of my siblings were avoiding me and it hurt a lot. I imagined when I finally got claimed I would be so happy and all my siblings would be excited to have a new sibling. But… I guess dreams disappoint you in the end. As I took a walk around camp an hour before curfew there were still some campers outside once in a while they would point at me and whisper. I pretended I didn’t see it and continued on the path with tears in my eyes that have yet to fall until I was deep in the woods. I waited and waited until I heard no other campers or for noises that could only be heard from the woods. Then I broke, I fell to the ground, dirt staining my knees as I sobbed and sobbed into my hands and I just stayed there my chest heaving for air as my emotions festered. I kept on crying until my throat was hoarse and I stayed there for a while. I sniffled and got up on my feet, and turned back to the direction of camp. And I vowed to myself that I would fit into what the usual Apollo kid type was, no matter what, and I’ll radiate so much brightness and force myself into my dad’s other domain’s that everyone will have no choice but to forget the incident. No matter how much I need to change, I’ll get them to forget.