Chapter Text
Camp hadn’t even started yet, but for Pearl Moon, everything was already going wrong.
She knew it was a given, y’know being a halfblood and all that, but could the universe tone it down a bit on the world-ending events? All she wanted was a nice, fun summer at camp with her friends where nothing bad happened and everyone was happy.
But of course, the universe decided to fuck her over yet again.
It started on a Saturday morning, like all bad decisions do. Pearl had been packing her college dorm room for camp, the world thankfully pitying her by letting her roommate be gone for the summer already, meaning the Mist didn’t have to work overtime to attempt to cover up the fact that there were currently several knives, a whole sword, and a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun laid out haphazardly across her star-patterned bedspread.
She was nearly done when her absolute brick of a Nokia phone started blowing up on the bedside table, blasting Paramore loud enough for anyone within a five mile radius to hear.
Pearl and Sausage had figured out that older tech seemed to attract less attention from monsters and thus had begun using phones from the 80s. It was kind of a nightmare, but at least it was better than sending letters like lovers in wartime.
Picking up the phone, she leant against one of the walls, opening the message app to reveal an absolute bombardment of texts from Sausage.
***
The most mythical sausage - 3:14am
PEARL
PEARL
PEARL!!!!!!!
WHERE ARE YOU
PEARL
PEARL
ANSWER ME
PLEASE
ARE YOU OK
PEARL
GIRLY
ANSWER
NOW
PEARL
10:43am
Sausage?
Wtf
What's wrong?
OH THANK THE GODS
I WAS WORRIED
YOU WEREN”T ANSWERING
You texted me in the middle of the night……
Of course I didn’t answer
i had a nightmare ok
i was very stressed
A nightmare
Are you ok?
i’m fine it was just weird
it was like i was trapped somewher?
idk where
but i could hear you screaming and there
were a bunch of other voices aswell
Fuck that sounds bad
I’m sorry
Do you think it was a sign or smthin
gods i hope not
because if it was
were kind of fucked
fuck gotta go
my bus is here
see you at camp :3
***
Pearl set her phone down, a sense of dread growing deep in her chest like a blooming flower as she continued her packing with renewed haste, throwing the last couple of loose shirts into her suitcase before shutting and locking it.
Less than an hour later she was standing out the front of the Columbia College dormitories, suitcase in one hand and a backpack full of more ‘camp’ essentials slung over her shoulder, waiting nervously for her transportation to arrive.
She had luckily managed to snag a ride with Abolish who, miraculously, had managed to buy a car and not get it destroyed by a monster within the first week.
Honestly, it had been awfully quiet ever since the previous summer and the Battle of Manhattan, the monsters were probably laying low after the war in hopes of some sort of forgiveness, or at the very least trying not to be massacred by the first demigod to spot them.
Pearl really did hope that Sausage’s dream had been just that, a dream, no matter how slim the chances were what with how dreams like to treat demigods like them, but she still, just for a second, found herself praying to whichever god had decided she wasn’t good enough to claim, even after their promise, that this summer could be one where she could relax.
The loud sound of a car horn from the end of the curb startled her out of her train of thought with a little jump. Raising her head, she locked eyes with a very smug-looking Abolish leaning out the window of an extremely beat-up, offensively orange Toyota Corolla.
“Hey Pearly!” He waved cheekily to his friend, his grin dazzling bright.
Pearl grinned back. “Hey there, dude!” As she answered, she forced her luggage into the small boot, before taking shotgun next to Abolish.
“Ready for a new year of camp, moon girl?” He teased, his right arm hanging loosely out the window, the summer wind ruffling his golden-brown locks.
“Of course I am!” She grinned wolfishly, “Can’t wait!”
The rest of the car ride was fairly quiet, the pair throwing comfortable banter back and forth for the next hour as if they hadn’t been apart for nearly a year.
Abolish was one of Pearl’s closest friends, at first stuck together by chance since he was one of the only campers still around that was her age, other than Sausage. Well, he couldn’t leave her now even if he wanted to, he was officially stuck being her friend forever after he, extremely drunkenly, swore on the River Styx one night that he would always be her friend.
Pearl couldn’t help but feel a swell of excitement as she watched the view turn from the city, to fields, and finally to the dazzling azure ocean that seemed to stretch out forever.
Soon after spotting the beach, the campers in the car both felt a zap of something that made the heroes feel fueled with adrenaline of adventure.
Abolish parked right out front of the big house on the even larger lawn, both teens immediately stepping out, Abolish going to grab their luggage and Pearl looking out across the camp, a sense of homecoming settling deep in her bones.
“Pearl!” She heard a loud voice excitedly scream her name.
Turning around, she spotted a tall, scraggly man running up the hill, a wide grin on his face.
Pearl's face instantly brightened as she reached up high, waving wildly at Sausage as he continued to run towards her, barrelling into her before she could say anything, his large arms wrapping around her waist and swinging her off the ground in a large arcing circle.
“Woah, fuck!” She shouted, a boisterous laugh echoing from both of them, “Sausage!”
He finally set her down on the dew-damp grass, her feet slipping slightly as he caught her in his arms, still grinning and laughing with a teasing sort of joy.
“Well hello there to you too,” Abolish chuckled, walking up to the pair with both his and Pearl’s bags. Upon handing Pearl’s to her she immediately held them out to Sausage with big puppy eyes. He sighed and took both her suitcase and backpack.
“Look at us,” Pearl cheered, throwing her arms over the two boys’ shoulders, “Legally adults and ready for whatever the world throws at us!”
Abolish tried to shrug away from her grasp, still smiling at her affectionately. “Come on, Abolish,” Sausage joked, “we quite literally helped fight a god last year, the least we deserve is a summer free from unnecessary violence and chaos.”
“Don’t say that, Sausage,” Pearl whined, “you're gonna jinx it!”
The trio began down the hill, laughing and practically falling over each other as they wandered haphazardly towards the cabins, smiling as they spotted a lot of new faces around the grounds, new kids being brought into camp after the gods started actually getting off their asses and claiming custody.
Abolish split off from the group with a cheery wave and a promise to see them both at dinner, leaving Sausage and Pearl to enter the Hermes cabin together.
It was both quieter and busier at the same time. Many old faces were missing, like a sharp wound in the pair’s chest, but there were also so many new faces.
Pearl smiled softly to herself, watching all the young kids running around the cabin as if they hadn't just been to war. It was sweet to see so many people who could be brought into this world without experiencing the horrors that they had gone through.
She would do anything to keep it that way.
She dropped her stuff on her bed before flopping down on the assortment of pillows she had collected over the years, watching as Sausage ran over to mediate an argument between some of the younger kids who were arguing over one of the bunks.
Gods, she remembered the time when campers would argue over the best floor spots, these kids were lucky they even got a bed, though she certainly wouldn’t miss being unable to get up at night in fear of the human minefield the cabin floor became.
Pearl sighed. She had missed this so much.
As much as she was enjoying college, this was her home first and always, the place where she always felt at peace amongst the unfiltered chaos of demigods who realised they could swordfight and not get in trouble for it.
The rest of her day was spent mostly saying hi to people now that she was back. Drift and Shelby had been very excited to see her again, and she had been dragged through an explanation of all the drama that had occurred during the year by a very hyper Scott who had, at the same time, been trying to teach a few of the younger kids how to ride pegasi. She loved the chaos, but by the time she got to dinner she was properly pooped.
Pearl wove herself through the crowds of the mess hall pavilion, making sure not to trip over any frantic twelve-year-olds as she made a beeline for the Hermes table.
She slid in between Sausage and Connor, both currently talking each other's ears off about something or another. She smiled at a few of the other campers who greeted her, but most were busy trying to be welcoming to the handful of new kids scattered around.
“So Pearl,” Sausage began, his attention turning back to his best friend “how long you staying with us anyways?”
She gave him an odd look, confusion evident in her expression. “What are you talking about?”
“He’s asking if you’ve been claimed yet.” Travis answered her, leaning into his brother’s space to join the conversation.
“No.” she replied simply, her tone light but a little defensive, “none of the gods have decided I’m their kid yet”
Sausage just shrugged. “Well, their loss, guess you're ours for a little longer.” Pearl beamed at that, leaning into him slightly.
“So then, how's college been?” Travis asked her. "It’s been pretty good!” She smiled, “I mean physics is a hell of a subject but at least it's never boring.”
“Yeah,” Sausage grinned, “I love you girl. But why physics,” he teased, “like you could have picked any subject and you chose. Physics.”
Pearl laughed loudly at that, her head thrown back against his shoulder, “you’re telling me, I’m the one who has to live with my poor subject choices, you just get to watch me suffer!”
He stuck his tongue out at her, “not my fault you’re making the poor financial decision that is college in this country!”
The table continued to be full of teasing and banter, the group throwing jibes and insults across the space like they had never left, Pearl laughing along and enjoying the small moment of peace with her family.
She eventually got up, carrying her nearly empty plate to the large fire through the crowd. She could feel a few pairs of eyes on her, campers at other tables whispering to each other as she passed by them.
Gossip was something you couldn’t avoid somewhere like this, it was very hard not to have at least a little drama when you put this many teenagers in a space with very little adult supervision, but she wasn’t used to the gossip being about her.
It was inevitable, she had realised at the end of last summer. Pearl had been too close to Luke for some of the other campers’ liking, which of course meant she had to be a traitor. Not being claimed even after the gods promised to a year ago was just fuel for the fire.
She stopped just short of the large fire and dropped her last remaining food scraps into it, murmuring a small prayer under her breath for whoever her mom might be to hurry up already, before turning back towards her table.
Sausage was chattering with some of the younger campers, his arms moving dramatically as he retold some story, probably one from last year.
She couldn’t help but smile to herself. After everything that had happened, she was glad to see her brother so relaxed, he deserved it after all the shit he had dealt with.
Glancing around at the other tables, she spotted many faces she had grown up around. Drift and Shelby were talking to each other from across their respective tables, Martyn and Ren were currently sitting at the Artemis table, Ren leaning into his friend as Martyn smiled fondly at his antics. Cleo sat with Gem at the newly made Nike table, quiet but peaceful in their conversation.
She walked back, catching Sausage's eyes as he saw her return. “Took you long enough,” he grinned, “I was wondering when you would get… back…” His sentence tapered off, eyes blowing wide with shock as he stared at her with an expression of… no, not fear, but something certainly close to it.
At that moment Pearl realised how quiet the entire dining hall had become, her breath loud in her ears as she slowly looked around trying to figure out what had happened.
And that's when she noticed the purple light inching its way in from the top of her vision, setting her pale blue streaks alight with a rich plum glow.
She looked up hesitantly, only to met with a glowing crescent moon floating menacingly just inches above her head.
Pearl wouldn’t normally call an inanimate image menacing, but she would bet her drachmas on it, this thing was out to get her.
“Well, fuck.” Sausage breathed, shock evident in his tone.
Chiron stood slowly, an unreadable expression across his face as he stared Pearl dead in the eyes. “All hail Pearl Moon, daughter of Nyx.”