Chapter Text
“Welcome back, everyone!” Danielle Marsh, a year-rounder at Camp Half-Blood and the head counselor of the Aphrodite Cabin, cheerfully ushered in a crowd of demigods.
Danielle and the other year-rounders began preparing for the influx of summer regulars early in the week. They had spent whole mornings and afternoons at the Arts and Crafts building, creating necklaces and bracelets with the artistic Apollo kid, Pham Hanni, as their guide.
Out of the corner of her eye, Danielle saw Hanni rushing to embrace Kim Minji, the famed daughter of Poseidon. The pair had been best friends since they first stumbled into Camp Half-blood, gaunt and bloodied from the monsters that pursued them, four years ago.
Danielle entered the camp three years prior, though not as downtrodden as the pair. She wasn’t a ‘Big Three’ kid like Minji, nor was she a target of more dangerous monsters, like Hanni, a highly athletic Apollo kid.
While the conventional notions of Aphrodite kids being weak, useless, and superficial had been dispelled by the Cabin’s famed former counselor and modern-day Greek heroine, Piper McLean, Danielle still found herself at odds with her identity.
She attracted both suitors and monsters, and her charmspeak and combat abilities were powerful enough to garner her quests. But she often felt like a part of her was missing.
As Danielle embraced the older kids who were her long-time friends, placing long necklaces around their necks and bracelets around their wrists, she happened to glance at someone who never failed to make her nervous and giddy.
There she was. A part of Danielle. The missing appendage.
Kang Haerin wore silver-framed glasses over her face. Different from the ones she wore last year, Danielle noted internally. She looked like she had grown three inches during the year.
Sighing to herself, Danielle mentally calculated their height differences. Haerin was now about an inch taller than her. Not enough for Danielle to go up on her toes if they happened to kiss, but just enough for the former to raise her chin infinitesimally. It was a start.
“Oh gods, how do I look?” Danielle asked Zahra, one of the half-siblings she was closest with.
Danielle sharply turned away from Haerin, who briefly met her gaze.
“I can’t do this. Hyein, you deal with her.” Zahra groaned, shoving Lee Hyein, a Psyche kid, in Danielle’s general direction.
“Unnie, you’re so pretty. Like seriously, you know that by now. But your aural energy is all over the place.”
“Her aural energy? Every year, I think the Aphrodite Cabin loses points for the way its head counselor gets starry-eyed at an Athena kid who barely looks her way,” Zahra muttered.
“This year, it’s going to be-”
“Different?” Hyein and Zahra deadpanned.
“I don’t need this energy. Especially from you, Zahra. So much for being an ambassador of love.”
“Honey, I’m all for love, but a three-year unrequited crush swallows what remains of my patience.”
Danielle huffed, turning around again with a bright smile as she bit her lip and picked out a necklace that she personally crafted for Haerin. With a little help from a Demeter kid, the string was entwined with thinly woven roots. The design was simple: a lone clover, healthy and evergreen, at the center of the necklace. The magic sprinkled over the necklace guaranteed it would never wither.
Just as she moved toward Haerin, Minji and Hanni breezed past her and tackled the girl into an embrace. Danielle stood awkwardly, waiting for the trio to notice her.
“Minji,” Hanni whispered, elbowing her best friend as she motioned to Danielle.
“Ah, sorry,” Minji said, smirking as she looked at Danielle and the necklace in her hands. Minji and Hanni stepped away from Haerin to make space for Danielle.
“No, I don’t do necklace-”
“It’s special,” Danielle insisted, stepping closer to Haerin. “I especially made it for you.”
“No, you didn’t. You guys made necklaces for every new arrival. It’s standard procedure.” Haerin replied bitingly, leaving no room for a rebuttal.
“Well, it isn’t standard procedure to have it personalized to the camper’s tastes. Your favorite color is green, I remember. So-”
Around Danielle, some of the Aphrodite kids shot one look at their head counselor and averted their gaze. In her periphery, Zahra might have cringed and covered her eyes.
Wonyoung, the head counselor of the Eros Cabin, was scoffing as she brushed past Danielle.
“Seriously, Danielle,” Wonyoung muttered, but Danielle was barely fazed. The latter’s eyes were trained solely on Haerin, whose ears had turned red from all the attention she was receiving.
“If I receive this from you, will you leave me alone?”
“Uhm, well-”
“Yeah, thanks.” Haerin snatched the necklace and all but ran away.
“Sorry about that,” Hanni said, grimacing at Danielle before following Haerin.
Minji merely whistled, looking down as though embarrassed before walking away too. They were no doubt headed for The Big House, where Haerin usually stops by before heading to her Cabin. She would usually greet Mr. D and Chiron and request a list of new half-siblings she needed to note.
Danielle’s cheeks burned as she walked back to the tables where the year-rounders continued to welcome campers.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Oh, shut up,” Danielle groaned, crumpling into a chair in a huff.
“When is she going to leave me alone?” Haerin scoffed, burning holes in the floor.
She, Minji, and Hanni were hanging out at Minji’s cabin. As the only Poseidon kid after Camp Half-blood’s highly respected senior and Greek and Roman hero, Percy Jackson, had gone to New Rome University, Minji had the space to herself.
“Oh, come on, Haerin. Why not give her a chance? Dani is nice. She’s smart and really into books if you get to know her better. I bet she’s been dying to talk to you about the poetry books she-”
“Poetry? What am I gonna do with a topic I barely have time to understand? When I’m not in Camp, I’m neck-deep in medical textbooks that make more sense.”
“Okay, I take great offense in that,” Hanni said, rolling her eyes.
“I’m sorry, but you know me. I love order and structure-”
“Gods,” Minji groaned, pulling a blanket over her head. Hanni cackled and poked Minji’s side.
“Hey!” Minji squealed as Hanni tickled her. The former looked like a squirming worm as the latter leapt over her blanketed frame.
“Children, the lot of you.” Haerin huffed, watching with a bored expression as her two best friends roughhoused on Minji’s bed.
“Danielle Marsh,” Toby lilted, “you get prettier every time I see you-”
“Save it.” Danielle snapped, eyeing the Ares kid up and down before continuing her stroll to the archery range.
“I know I’ll never get a chance with Ms. Smitten, but hear me out, would ya?”
Toby wasn’t unattractive. Their buzz cut and ear piercings were half the charm, and the mischievous smile they often wore had made more than a handful of girls swoon. Their dark brown skin looked flawless and smooth in the sunlight, and if Danielle wasn’t irrevocably taken by Haerin, she would probably have flirted back.
“You have ten seconds.” Danielle crossed her arms as she faced Toby.
“Join the Ares Cabin for Capture the Flag! There, that’s it.”
“Seriously? If the Athena and Poseidon Cabins win at Capture the Flag again this summer, that would be the nth time your cabin has lost, right? Like, no one is even keeping score anymore.”
“Just because Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase have this magical hold over everybody, it doesn’t mean other cabins can’t have a shot at beating the new faces at the Athena and Poseidon Cabins.” Toby snapped.
Danielle smirked, knowing she had struck a nerve.
“Gods, and they say Athena kids have pride. Give it up, hon. You know Aphrodite always sticks with Athena these days. Gone are the days when we follow the Ares Cabin blindly.”
“When are you gonna give it up, Danielle? You’re bordering on pathetic.”
“Be very careful with how you speak to me,” Danielle sneered, drawing closer to Toby.
Toby flinched, feeling the weight of Danielle’s words. The former knew that the latter was one step away from performing charmspeak. Who knows what type of embarrassing thing Danielle was capable of hypnotizing Toby into doing?
“You don’t think I have it in me to have you keel over, right here and now? Oh, honey, you and your wandering eyes aren’t lost on me. You like Zahra, don’t you? I mean, you really like her.” Danielle whispered, giggling as she watched Toby twitch.
“Stop it.” The Ares kid’s hands were itching to hold the dagger strapped to their waist, but Danielle’s eyes held them in place.
“If you want me to put in a good word for you one day, you should tread very lightly.”
With that, Danielle stepped away. Toby grunted, glaring at the girl as she walked away.
“I think I’m getting better,” Zahra said, wincing as she rolled her shoulders.
She and Danielle had spent the afternoon at the archery range. They had goals this summer. The latter was helping Zahra train to be strong enough to go on quests. Her charmspeak was already good. Not as extraordinary as Danielle’s, but it was passable for minor quests.
“You are! You just need to hit the target next time.” Danielle giggled, dodging Zahra’s punch.
“I want to shake her off. I really can’t stand her, man.” Haerin was standing by the bleachers near the Amphitheater. She was speaking to Minji.
“Oh gods,” Zahra whispered, pulling Danielle roughly into the bushes.
“What are you-”
“Hush.” Zahra placed a finger over Danielle’s lips as she pointed to Haerin and Minji. “They could be talking about you.”
Danielle scoffed, wincing as she realized the negative things Haerin had just uttered. If it were true, then-
“Why do you hate her so much? Hanni is right. Danielle is sweet-”
“Superficial, you mean. Every Aphrodite kid is.”
“Hey-”
“And don’t use Piper McLean. She was clearly the only Aphrodite kid with enough agency and self-determination to actually have critical thinking.”
“She’s so disrespectful. Gods, I hate her,” Zahra whispered, fisting her hands.
“It doesn’t mean anything. I can always change her mind.” Danielle responded shakily, but was quickly silenced by Haerin’s words.
“Danielle Marsh is a waste of a head counselor. I don’t even mean that she’s shamelessly pursuing me. That part is tolerable. But for her not to live up to Piper’s legacy is just plain embarrassing. Sure, she’s been on quests, but they're minor and nothing of note. If she spent less time standing in front of a mirror and worrying how she would look in front of me, maybe she’d actually have a shot at being more.”
“That’s harsh, Haerin. I mean, cut her some slack. She’s just in love.”
“In love, yeah, sure.” Haerin’s voice was dripping with sarcasm. “If her father was foolish enough to fall for Aphrodite, then I guess everyone should just give her the benefit of the doubt!”
The breaking point. Danielle had had enough. She stood up and walked away, feeling like she was being dragged by her innards. Zahra was beside her, fuming. But one of the best things about her sister and best friend was that she never pried unless Danielle was ready.
And right now, Danielle needed to focus less on Haerin’s last statement and more on keeping her tears at bay. She knew her eyes were rimmed red, and even as she kept her head down, other demigods who recognized her had begun to notice.
“Is she okay?” A Demeter kid whispered to Zahra. The latter sensibly kept her eyes trained forward, ignoring the stares.
My father, foolish? Me, foolish enough to bare myself before you? The pair of us, just clowns dancing around the people we claimed to love.
When Danielle arrived in the cabin, her half-siblings were smart enough to make way for her. Her footsteps were heavy, grief being slowly replaced by fury.
Darling, do you know what makes you powerful? It is because of your capacity to wield love—the very essence of what makes us human. Do you know, darling, that love is so synonymous with hate? Sometimes, they can be mistaken for the same thing. ‘I love you.’ ‘I hate you.’ ‘I think of you endlessly.’ Either way, a person who occupies the very facets of another’s mind holds the power.
Her father had told her this once. Love is bittersweet, and right now, Danielle was tasting the bitterness on her tongue, enough to make her sneer as she approached the cabin’s shared vanity mirror.
There she was. Tears had escaped her eyes. Lips trembling.
Mother, if you could see me now, would you coddle me or kick me to the curb? Am I an embarrassment to you? Is that why you have not appeared before me all this time?
Zahra had materialized in the mirror, just to the right of Danielle’s shoulder. Her sister was looking down, waiting for Danielle to either dismiss her or cry on her shoulder.
“I need some time alone,” Danielle whispered.
“Okay, of course.” Zahra nodded and left the space.
Zahra began ushering out the other half-siblings. The cabin was a shared space, so there was little room for privacy on a normal day. But all the other kids had seen this scene all too well.
A heartbroken kid of Aphrodite was, as they say, the most dangerous of all. They were beyond inconsolable, at least for the first few days. But as love morphs into hate, so do genuine acts become artifice.
And Kang Haerin will never know what hit her.