Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The new guy (Lee?) reached his duffel bag first and then he just, walked off with it? That bag has Percy’s new blanket in it. And his water bottle. New guy can’t have them.

He knows the sunshine man has explained everything but Percy is tired and things aren’t really clicking in his head. But the new guy is leaving with his blanket and Percy is meant to be following him. So. Percy follows. At least new guy didn’t get Eric the Sea Horse, Percy still has him hugged tightly against his chest.

If this wasn’t happening at the end of the weirdest day of Percy’s life, he’d probably be super interested in all the odd things he can see. All the buildings are like, themed, and themed super weirdly. Right now all Percy cares about is that the guy who stole his blanket is heading for the very shiny gold building, so that’s where Percy needs to go too.

He does notice there’s a bunch of golden-blonde kids scattered around who look a little too much like the sunshine man, and they seem to be acting like bouncers stopping anyone else from approaching him. Which is also very weird, but he’s almost at the gold building and the guy who took his blanket is inside. It could be a trap but Percy no longer cares.

The guy is standing at the far end of the hallway outside an open door, he smiles cheerfully at Percy and asks if he wants a tour now or if he’d rather get some sleep and explore in the morning. Percy just blinks stupidly at him, more interested in the duffel bag (and his blanket!) then whatever the new guy is saying.

The dude pauses, looks him over and goes “Yeah, I think you’re ready for bed, kid. Come on, if you follow me I’ll show you where you’ll be sleeping.”

Percy numbly follows the guy through the open door, he’s halfway across the room before he realises it’s a room full of bunk beds. No. He cannot sleep here. Not safe. Before he can stop and start backing out of the nightmare room, new guy is already opening another door and ducking through. He comes out a moment later without the duffel bag. Percy’s blanket is through that door.

The guy steps away from the door and moves across the room to sit on one of the bunk beds. He gives Percy an easy smile, it makes him look a lot like the sunshine man.

“It’s all good, take your time, we set you up your own bedroom. Figured the dorm setup would be a bit much right now. Your bag is in there and everything is ready for you. You even have your own bathroom. The door can only be locked from the inside too.”

Percy grips Eric tighter, he’s going to tear right through the fabric if he keeps this up, but at last he manages to unstick his throat, though it’s barely a mumble. “I get nightmares, real loud ones, gonna wake everyone up, it’s okay, can sleep outside.”

Sunshine Man 2.0 looks kinda heartbroken at that. His voice is all soft and gentle as he tells Percy that nightmares are pretty common for demigods and even if they are loud, no-one is going to be upset about it. He says that if Percy wakes up and doesn’t want to stay in bed he’s welcome to wander around the cabin and there’s a sitting room at the front he can hang out in. He says Percy needs to stay inside until sunrise because there’s a curfew but no one will mind if he explores the cabin.

Yeah. Okay. Whatever. That’s too many words. Percy is tired and he wants his blanket. Additional Sunshine Man hasn’t moved and he’s doing the thing Artemis did where he looks welded to the bed. Percy will need to walk past him to get to the door, but he can stay on the other side of the room. It’ll have to be enough.

Percy moves quickly and on tip toe, nearly running to the door. But he makes it and the guy doesn’t twitch. Percy shuts the door and clicks the lock. His duffel bag is sitting on the bed. He should look around but Percy is just done. He drags his blanket out and curls up on the bed still holding Eric, right next to the duffel bag. He doesn’t want to move ever again.

Percy drifts, he doesn’t know for how long, maybe minutes, maybe years, or decades, possible millennia. His mind is just numb and flat. Sensations drift around him, he’s not even sure if they are real or just memories.

Liquid sun wraps around him full of warm/safe/care, silvery moonlight whispers safe/calm/trust/no-hurt, currents full of of home/safe/love/strong curl around the bed, a sudden flash of deep ocean, screaming storm that drenches him in safe/protect/fierce/proud/love/home that disappears so fast Percy’s not sure if it was there at all. Just as briefly, wild waves calm to a conch horn’s call of protect/proud/sorry/safe before the sense is gone again.

There are fainter whispers of sensation, the ghost whisper of unfamiliar auras, they move around him, past him. Unlike the others they don’t reach out to him with unspoken promises. These just brush past and move away, but they go on and on and on.

Confidence sounds as a plastic case clicks shut, paint glides across a canvas, a shuttle on a loom clatters and whirs, words whisper in a king’s ear, a war drum vibrates faintly in someone’s chest, hot steam as molten metal plunges into water, sea foam laps at ankles, a dove coos, lock clicks open, wax seal crumbles, vocal cords vibrate.

Then skin blisters and pottery shatters. Percy doesn’t like that one, it brings him back enough that he pulls his senses in, tries to stop them reaching out.

There are less feelings now, but some seem to settle in place nearby. Fingers clench the sun-warmed wood, antiseptic stings the nose, tongue tastes the wooden reed, fingers dance on brass keys, an arrow thuds home.

He pulls in tighter. He tries to spin the weak sun and lapping water into a smaller spot, he doesn’t want to feel anymore. He refocuses on the liquid sun and curling currents. The ones that come from the blanket and the sea horse. Steady, stable, familiar but not.

Nothing is familiar here. He wants to go home. Even Gabe felt more familiar than this.

Gabe.

Gabe is going to kill Percy when he finds out about today. Gabe will find him. He always finds him.

The panic builds. Percy is so tired. He can’t think clearly. But he knows he should go back to the apartment. The longer he stays away the worse Gabe will be. He needs to leave. He does not want to leave. Gabe will kill him.

A purple drift swirls around him. Fills all of him with peace/still/safe/calm/sleep, a ghost hand taps his head with a finger, a silent voice murmurs “Sleep”, and Percy sleeps.

He dreams of Medusa, but now Gabe is standing in the garden and Poseidon is gone. She watches Gabe and Gabe… Gabe is growing taller, bigger, towering over her. Medusa just watches Gabe, head tilted, unafraid as Percy’s monster grows and grows and grows.

Percy is so scared, Gabe will kill her. It isn’t safe. Gabe will hurt Medusa. Gabe isn’t meant to be here. This is not how the story goes. He tries to say something, anything. To call out, warn her, but he chokes and no sound emerges. She notices him. That isn’t right. The sunshine man is the only one who sees him.

Yet Medusa sees him, she turns to him, gives him a soft smile. She should look terrifying with her snakes for hair and the way she turns people to stone, but she just looks… kind. She turns to him and tells him “This isn’t real, it’s just a dream, child. But you should know, had you not called out to the sun god you would have died today. There is nothing left for you in that apartment.”

She turns back to towering monstrous Gabe, and her face freezes. No, Gabe freezes. All of him going grey and unmoving. He’s stone now. Crumbling, crashing down, turning to dust and being swept away on the wind. The garden goes with it.

Percy wakes to a quiet knock at the locked door. The sort of tiny sound that will not wake someone sleeping peacefully. He was not sleeping peacefully. His face is wet, his nose blocked. He has been crying in his sleep, probably sobbing hard.

He croaks out a “Hello?”

A soft voice replies, “Hey Percy, sorry to wake you but you were sounding pretty upset. I’ll leave you alone if you want, but I know I don’t like being alone after nightmares. I could make us some hot chocolate?”

Percy considers. He doesn’t entirely remember how he got here, some vague memories of Apollo bringing him to camp, something about a bedroom, meeting siblings in the morning? The room he is in is small, and while the stars on the ceiling are really cool and there’s some sort of night light chasing back the dark shadows, he doesn’t really want to be shut away in a little room right now.

“Okay, I’ll be out in a minute.”

“I’ll wait for you just out here then.” Who was this guy again? All his brain is telling him is ‘blanket-stealer’ which is not helpful. Wait, Apollo said his son was going to look after Percy. Nope. Still drawing a blank on the name.

The door across from his bed leads to a bathroom, one he definitely wants a closer look at. For now he washes his face and checks his clothes. He’s still in the outfit Apollo gave him, hasn’t even taken his shoes off. Whatever. He’ll try and remember to take his shoes off next time.

As he goes to leave he pauses at the bed. He really should be too old for toys and blankies, those are things normal kids have. Not freaks. But he likes them, and what if someone steals them while he’s gone? It’s a weak excuse but it works. He wraps the blanket around his shoulders and hugs Eric to his chest. Then he faces the door. He can do this. Yes. It’s just a door.

He opens it as quietly as possible, carefully peeking out to see the much larger dorm room outside. All he can hear is quiet breathing, half the beds are empty, three beds have kids asleep, and Sunshine Man 2.0 is sitting quietly on another. He looks over at Percy peeking out at him and gives him a smile before whispering “Just follow me, I’ll show you where the sitting room is,” and off he goes. This guy seems very confident that Percy will follow.

He’s right too, darn it. Percy tip toes through the dim room and out into a hallway. The door across is open with light spilling out.

When he quietly sneaks through the door, Sunshine Man 2.0 is already across the room heating something up at a little kitchenette type thing. He cheerfully calls over his shoulder for Percy to make himself comfortable wherever, the hot chocolate will be ready in a minute.

It’s a nice room, there are desks scattered around, and shelves against the walls with several comfy looking couches and armchairs. The room is full of a whole jumble of musical instruments, a lot of scattered arrows, an open first aid kit, a half-finished painting on an easel, a bookshelf full of hand labelled binders… He does a double take at the binders. He may not be able to read but he can recognise English, and whatever that is, it’s not English.

Actually, there are books scattered around too, with the same strange lettering. Oh, hey! He does recognise that. That’s Greek. Because of course. He just remembered. He’s at a camp for greek demigods. Apollo is a sun god. He said Percy is his prophet. The guy making hot chocolate is a demigod son of Apollo.

Percy finally picks a random armchair, at least that way Sunshine Man 2.0 won’t be able to sit too close. He doesn’t seem bothered by his choice, just drops a mug on the nearest surface and falls into a couch a little further away.

He really doesn’t want to admit he’s forgotten the guys name. But he can’t think of a polite way to ask. “So, uh, I kinda forgot your name?” Real smooth Percy. Making friends already!

The guy is surprisingly unbothered, “It’s all good, you looked dead on your feet when we met, I’m Lee Fletcher, Head Counsellor of Apollo cabin.” Lee! That was it!

“I’m Percy! I’m really bad with names, I know I’m meant to be meeting people, and I’m definitely going to forget their names. My brains kinda scrambled, like, all the time.” May as well be upfront, right? It’s only a matter of time before he upsets someone.

“Seriously, it’s okay, most demigods have some level of ADHD and Dyslexia, people are really accepting here and if you are unsure about anything you can ask me, there are no wrong questions, not here.”

Huh. Challenge accepted? Then Lee asks him about his nightmare, and if Percy wants to talk about.

Percy isn’t really sure. It was weird. Normally his nightmares are actual things that have happened, like way way in the past.

“It wasn’t like my usual nightmares? Like, normally my nightmares are things like Hera nearly killing Hephaestus or Troy and Astyanax, things that really did happen, but like, not to me?”

He looks up to see if Lee is following. Lee looks kinda horrified, but he does something with his face so now he looks all smooth and unworried and focused on Percy. He nods encouragingly.

Percy looks down at Eric and twists his hands up tightly in the blanket edges, clenching them in his fists while still hugging Eric with his arms.

“This time it was Poseidon and Medusa talking, I’ve dreamed it before, except Poseidon was gone and it was Gabe. Gabe was super tall and scary. Poor Medusa, no one believed her. Like, I know she lied but also it did happen. But Gabe was there this time. She said I would have died. Except I didn’t, because your dad came. But she says I would have died if I hadn’t. Then she killed Gabe. I think. Not sure. People are really mean to her. He even said it was okay she lied. That he understood. And it did happen, it did!”

He’s breathing kinda hard at the end of that.

He peeks at Lee. Lee is looking… not great. He’s kinda frozen and stiff and his hands are clenched into fists and he’s taking very slow deep breaths. Percy focuses back on Eric. He’s really making such a good impression tonight isn’t he?

When he peeks up again, Lee is all calm and composed with a serious expression on his face. “Thank you for telling me, that sounds like a really scary and confusing dream. I’d like to just check a few things with you if that’s okay?”

This feels familiar, why does it feel familiar?

Oh. That’s because it is familiar. He and Lee have the same conversation he just had with Artemis. The only difference is Lee is super concerned with making sure Percy knows that if he ever needs to tell someone that he will be believed no matter what. And Lee says he can talk to Mr D if he doesn’t want to tell Lee or Apollo. He even explains about the whole burning an offering thing in case Percy doesn’t want to say something out loud.

Percy doesn’t really feel like talking anymore after that conversation. And he doesn’t want to go back to the small room either. Lee says he can stay in the sitting room, and to try and get some more sleep on one of the couches.

Percy does lie down, but he doesn’t want to sleep anymore, so he lets himself drift in all the new sensations around him. They aren’t moving around anymore, he can feel them all still and settled in different places around him. The feelings that go best with each other are gathered in little clumps. It feels kinda nice, all organised like that. He lets the sensations pull him along and lets time flow around him.

________________________

Lee returns to bed feeling like he’s been put through a wood chipper. What the hell? Is this normal for prophets? Or is it from the abuse or what? The kid just casually drops the fact he has repeated dreams of a literal infant being murdered. Even if the actual story isn’t as violent or horrific as the myths, a baby was still killed. And Percy sees it in his dreams?

Lee has no idea what to make of the Medusa thing. He’s not even sure if the conclusion he drew was actually what the kid meant. He still figured it was better to have the consent talk than not. Kid looked so over it when Lee started though. Lee can’t decide if that means the kid’s heard the speech before, or that the kid wasn’t listening.

Problems for later. Dad loves waking his kids up at sunrise, it’s still a few hours away, so sleep now, stress later.

He falls asleep fast. And dreams of sitting at the lake. His dad drops down beside him. Ah. One of those dreams.

“Hey Dad, look, I love you and all, but maybe next time don’t downplay the kids situation quite so much?”

Apollo winces. “Honestly, it was only after I spoke to you that I realised his situation was a bit more complex than I’d thought. I was focused on basically negotiating custody with his very overprotective family who had just been informed of the abuse. Still, I’m sorry I couldn’t give you more of a heads up.”

“How long have you known him?”

“Until oh, fifteen hours ago, I was under the impression my new prophet was Jenny’s age, and they had such obvious skill with the sight that I assumed they’d also had some level of training. I’ve spent the past four years searching, but I was not expecting Percy.”

Lee sighs. Yeah, he probably can’t hold it against Dad. It’s just such a shit situation all around. “I don’t know many details, but please tell me this ‘Gabe’ has been dealt with?”

“Yep.” Apollo gives no further information, just a flat look that means he has no intention of traumatising Lee with details, but that the man has been given the full vengeful sun god schtick.

“Cool, well it’s great to see you and all, Dad, twice in one day even! But I’d like to get some actual restful sleep before you start blasting music. Anything else I need to know?”

“Couple of things, one’s nice and easy. I’ll be dropping some things off in the sitting room. The art supplies are for everyone. See if you can encourage Percy to play around with them, but it’s just about him having opportunities to find what works for him. He needs an outlet for his visions but there’s no way of knowing what will suit him till he finds it.”

Lee is at least familiar with this process. He only sensed auras but Apollo had shoved a whole range of ‘materials for vision expression’ at him just in case.

“The weapons are specifically for the use of Percy and one of the kids living in the Hermes cabin, her name’s Georgie, red hair, green eyes, she’s another child of the sea. Her mum’s been searching for her for weeks, long story.”

Kinda sounds like Chiron kidnapped her, Lee’s seen Georgie around, she seemed desperate to leave. No wonder.

“Not sure what her mum’s long term plan is for her, but while she’s here she’s going to need the same ocean made weapons as Percy. With the weapons there’s a sword called Anaklusmos, it’s possibly still in pen form. That one is just for Percy. Present from his folks. But the rest can be shared between them. Talk to the Aphrodite kids if you need help with them, they should be more familiar with ocean forged weaponry, it’s really not my area, but I can pass any questions on for you.”

Lee looks at his father. He looks so tired. “Okay, do I need to do anything about Georgie?”

“Nope, Dio is now aware of the whole situation and should have spoken to her already. If you want to see how she and Perce get on together it wouldn’t hurt, but she isn’t your responsibility, it’s being handled.”

“So if that’s the easy thing, what’s the other?”

“Yeah, the second, not so fun. Have you noticed Percy sometimes seems to be not really present? He’s in the room with you but mentally elsewhere?”

“Yeah, it’s been pretty constant. I just figured he was dissociating. Yesterday can’t have been easy for him.”

Apollo purses his lips, clearly trying to decide something. “I kind of really want to say he’s dissociating and leave it at that, but given Percy’s habit of just announcing distressing things, he’ll probably tell you at some point.”

That sounds ominous. Though Lee feels a little vindicated that his father has also had to deal with the whole ‘do not show how horrified you are at things coming out of the seven year old’s mouth’ thing.

“Percy has somehow learned how to cast his sight out and effectively leave his body whenever he gets overwhelmed. When his mind goes away, he’s not just disconnecting and not thinking. He’s seeing the past and future, or if he stays in the present he seems to mostly watch auras. He’s incredibly powerful, I can barely track him as it is and that’s with him wearing a charm specifically designed for tracking this.”

Lee just looks at his dad. “I am not remotely equipped to even try and manage that. Isn’t there a huge risk he’ll break his tether to the real world by doing that?”

His dad snorts, “I’m the God of Prophecy and I don’t think I’m equipped for it. Percy is doing this instinctually, it’s somehow natural for him. The tether is my main concern. Right now the best way to help him is to increase his connection to the here and now, both through relational connections and by strengthening his ties to the ocean. There are reasons I can’t just send him to Atlantis, but he still needs that connection.”

“So lots of beach days in my future? And I am definitely looping in Silena, she’s much better at the whole true connection thing.”

“Sounds good. I still need to at least appear to keep Father’s ridiculous non-interference rules, but they truly don’t apply to Percy, so if you need anything, even just someone to talk to, just call me. And thank you, I know this is a huge thing I’ve asked from my kids, especially from you. It won’t be forgotten.”

With that too-serious sounding promise still ringing in his ears, Lee falls through shadowed dreams, only to be woken up by… Stupid Cupid, the one from the 50’s? The hell Dad???

The swearing from his siblings is kinda funny though. His brothers were switching between stunned silence and laughing hysterically at each other’s faces. Maybe not so terrible a way to wake up.

Percy’s up and peeping around the mostly shut sitting room, wide-eyed at all the noise and laughter. He’s still holding the sea horse, fingers white from how tightly he’s clutching it.

“Hey kid, while me and the others are getting ready for the day do you want to head back to your room and grab a shower and some clean clothes? I know you probably haven’t unpacked yet but Dad would have made sure there was something in your bag for you.”

Lee moves down the hall towards the communal bathroom, giving Percy plenty of space to get back to his own room. He sees him bolt past out of the corner of his eye. Great. Kid’s still terrified.

Once Percy’s clear, Lee redirects to the sitting room to check for the promised delivery. Dad definitely went overboard, but Jenny will gladly claim any unwanted art supplies, and maybe they can offer some to the Hermes cabin? The heavy black bag is definitely weaponry.

Outside of personally owned weapons, Apollo cabin doesn’t really keep live weapons in the cabin, they just grab what they need from the armoury near the arena. Lee doesn’t love the idea of this many weapons, most with live edges, just sitting out in the open now they have a seven year old living with them.

But Dad has apparently thought of that. There’s now an actual weapons safe sitting beside the desk Lee claimed for himself. The safe is the same green-blue Percy seems to prefer. Cool, colour coded weapons safe. He gets the assorted swords and knives locked away, taking note of a specific sword with a blue-green ribbon tied around it and ‘Anaklusmos’ engraved on the hilt, just as his siblings start arriving.

They’ve all settled and are behaving far more calmly than usual when there’s finally movement in the hallway and sea-green eyes topped with clean shiny black curls peek around the edge of the door. Lee reminds himself it is only the first day and it will take time for him to feel safe around new people.

“Percy! You’re looking a bit cheerier, how do you feel about meeting my siblings? I promise, they won’t bite, they’ve been looking forward to having a new little brother around.”

Austin adds his own cheerful commentary about how he can’t wait to be a big brother and he’s tired of being the youngest. The new voice catches Percy’s attention and he edges his way into the room, eyes flicking across each of them. The sea horse is nowhere in sight, Lee isn’t sure if that’s good or bad, though the kids got a silver and blue water bottle hugged against him in it’s place.

Percy’s in a similar outfit to last night, the hoodie is a similar colour but now it’s got an enormous stylistic sun across the chest, the jeans are darker and the gold metallic stitching glitters in the morning sun.

Dad has all but branded the poor kid.

Percy doesn’t seem bothered, stroking the edges of the hoodie as he fidgets. He does look much brighter. Lee wonders if it’s a sea kid thing, like touching water just automatically perks them up the same way Demeter kids perk up around plants. Would be a useful thing to know.

Introductions go pretty smoothly. Like most cabins they are used to new kids arriving and have it down to a fine art, all light and breezy, no pressure on the new kid, and lots of assurances that they still regularly forget each other’s names and there’s no need to stress about any of it.

Once that’s over Lee chivvies them all out, sending them on ahead to the dining pavilion so he can check in with the kid and give him a heads up about the chaos that is feeding time at the zoo. Ahem, breakfast at Camp Half-Blood.

Once they are alone Percy turns to him and asks where Sally and Gabe are and when will they be picking him up?

Oh boy.

“Okay, um, I’m assuming Sally is your mum? Your mortal parent I mean?” Percy nods.

“Okay, so you remember how yesterday Apollo came and got you and brought you here?” Another nod.

“Well that’s because I’m your guardian now, at least in the mortal world. Dad, Apollo, is kind of the one who makes any decisions about you, but day to day you’ll be with me.” The kid tilts his head.

“Percy, I don’t know when, or well, if, you’ll see Sally again. Even if you do, you won’t be living with her. You’ll live here now. At Camp Half-Blood.”

“Okay. But Gabe is going to be angry when he picks me up. Especially if Sally isn’t coming back.”

No emotion. Kid’s completely fine with being told he may never see his mother again. Maybe it’s a prophet thing? No, if the kid had seen this he wouldn’t be asking when they were coming to get him.

“Percy, I need you to listen to me really closely okay? This is super important, for now I’m only going to say it once, but if you need to hear it again, I’ll say it as many times as you want. Okay?”

Percy looks at him like he’s insane, but he does eventually agree. His eyes seem clear and Lee is fairly sure Percy’s with him in the here and now.

Okay. Deep breath. “Percy, Gabe is never coming back. Gabe will never hurt you again. You will never see Gabe again. Gabe is gone for good.”

Head tilt. Blink. “Okay. So what happens now?”

Yeah, that’s the best Lee is going to get right now.

“Now we go to the dining pavilion for breakfast. All the campers eat together. It can get a bit loud and chaotic but me and the others will look out for you. We all sit at Apollo’s table when we eat, so you don’t need to worry about anyone you haven’t met sitting beside you.”

Kid seems weirdly okay with all of this. May as well just go with it while he can. Lee walks to the pavilion, Percy a step behind. He’s still holding the water bottle. Lee side eyes it. He can definitely see a faint aura around it, not Dad’s sunlight though, probably Artemis? Looks like her style.

His siblings have left a wide stretch of bench for them on the side of the table nearest Cabin 8’s empty table. Clearly the others have also noted Percy is scared of basically everyone.

They are some of the last to arrive, Lee fills his plate (and Percy’s, kid looked a bit too confused by it all) and at the kid’s whispered request, takes him to the brazier so he can make offerings to Artemis and Apollo. They’d barely sat down again when Mr D stands up and does his usual new camper announcement. Except he actually gets Percy’s name right.

Then Mr D drops the bombshell, looking a tad too gleeful, “While Percy Jackson is an undetermined demigod, he will be staying in Cabin Seven as he is an acknowledged Prophet of Lord Apollo.”

Stunned silence, everywhere Lee looks heads are craning towards their table, eyes searching for this piece of living mythology. Who is hunching into his hoodie and shrinking away from them, Lee wouldn’t be surprised if the poor kid slides under the table entirely.

Mr D isn’t done. “Yes, yes, all very exciting. I’d also like to remind you there are sacred laws governing Lord Apollo’s Prophets and their sight. And Lord Apollo is fully able and willing to smite anyone who breaks those laws. If you aren’t clear on the rules, just stay away from the kid. I really don’t care if my brother turns any of you to ash, but it’s sure to cause some upset on Olympus and I’d really rather not deal with any of that.” With that, he drops back into his seat and proceeds to ignore all of them.

Whispers break out and the rest of breakfast is spent trying to ignore the constant murmurs of thirty excited demigods. Percy doesn’t eat. Kayla explains how to order a drink and Percy listens politely but his cup stays empty. He doesn’t even touch the food.

In the end Lee gives up and gathers the siblings to head off to their morning classes. They surround Percy like bodyguards, determined to get him back indoors before anyone starts asking questions. They make it all the way into their usual classroom before Percy stalls out again.

________________________

“Wait, we have classes?”

He’s already dealt with everyone staring at him when Mr D (Lord D? That was definitely Dionysus) just outright announced he was a prophet at breakfast. Apparently being a prophet is a Big Thing here.

Percy was so happy that even in a camp for acknowledged weird kids he was still the freak.

Lee at least looks sympathetic. “Unfortunately. The summer schedule is a bit different but the kids who stay here year-round are basically home-schooled. Demigods have a pretty rough time at school. We all have some some level of ADHD and dyslexia, so at least here at camp lessons are easier to access.”

Percy considers this. ADHD is the fidgeting thing, though previous teachers have said since he doesn’t have a diagnosis he’s just being naughty. He has no idea what dyslexia is.

Percy knows lots about Greek things because of his dreams. He’s never dreamed about normal kids so any advantage the whole knowing thing gives him is not going to help him with normal classes.

Apollo said he would be safe here, but he doesn’t know Percy can’t read or write. It’s only a matter of time before he gets expelled. Again.

He looks back at Lee who is still just smiling patiently at him. The people here are very strange, most adults would have already lost patience with him. “I’m not sure this going to work out, I think it’s better if I don’t go to class.”

Lee considers him for a moment. “How about we try this one step at a time? Today you can just sit in on lessons with Castor & Pollux, they are only a little older than you. Just see how you go. I’ll get you some art supplies and you can just mess around with them and get a feel for what it could be like. You don’t need to participate at all.”

Percy pauses, considering. It sounds like a trap. Especially given what happened at school just yesterday. But Lee doesn’t know about that, and he does like drawing.

So he sighs, “Fine, let’s do classes, there better be some proper coloured pencils I can use.”

The other five Apollo kids moved to seats around the room while Lee was talking to him. There are more kids hovering just outside the door. Percy looks at Lee, tilts his head to the hovering kids, “Who are they?”

“Oh they share morning classes with us, they probably just wanted to give you some space. You okay if we let them in now?”

Percy just shrugs, he isn’t the boss. Lee seems to be the oldest, shouldn’t he make the decisions?

The five kids file in, most breaking off and heading for their seats as soon as Lee introduces them. Percy is slowly starting to un-jumble all the different auras. Guess it was a good thing Apollo gave him that necklace, if the sensations are this strong already, he’d be unconscious without it.

Katie and Miranda are from Demeter cabin. They look about Lee’s age? He’s not sure if they are twins. Katie is the smell of spring rain and the rustle of ripe wheat, Miranda bursts with new growth and the taste of ripe fruit.

Charlie is from Hephaestus, he’s bigger than Lee even though he’s clearly younger, but he has a cheerful face and soft eyes, sort of scary at first, but maybe okay. He’s the click of the last piece snapping in place and a liquid bronze confidence that anything can be fixed with effort.

Castor and Pollux are eight year old twins, Mr D is their father (they said Mr was fine when he asked), Castor’s aura is a lot, strobing light/dark, good/bad, mind on the edge of order and madness. It’s a little bit blinding, Lee seems to notice because he reminds Castor about his lessons, and Castor does something and the strobing dims until Percy feels like it’s safe to come back to the room. He hasn’t actually moved, only his mind left. Lee looks worried though. Oops.

Pollux has a strong aura too, but he’s done the same thing as Castor and dimmed it somehow. His tastes like pure power, locked up tight in a steel vault, wild unrestrained growth, vines exploding.

Percy is beginning to think Mr D is a lot more powerful than people think. He can’t remember what his aura was like, just some vague sense of purple something, but if his kids are like…

Oh, he did it again. Percy’s now sitting at a table with Castor and Pollux, he’s got a proper drawing pad in front of him and the good pencils. Castor and Pollux are talking between themselves about, maths? Words he’s heard before at school anyway.

Lee is across the room talking to, um, the younger Apollo girl, Kayla? Her hair’s closer to red-blonde than gold. They really all look too much alike.

Percy’s hands have been moving the whole time, and when he looks down at what he’s drawn his insides go cold. It’s the same drawing as yesterday. Poseidon and Medusa in the garden. Medusa is crumpled and sobbing and Poseidon is absolutely focused on her. Towering over her. Bad things happened when his teacher saw this.

It’s too late, Lee has already noticed him and is heading straight for him.

“Hey Percy, everything okay? You’re looking a little stressed there.”

Percy just stares at his drawing, he doesn’t move. Just waits for the world to end all over again.

Lee stands beside him, and looks at his drawing. “Hey that’s pretty good! You’ve got a lot of talent as an artist. Let’s see, I’m pretty sure that’s Medusa, must be after Athena cursed her, I can see the snakes in her hair. Though her face is uncovered and the man hasn’t turned to stone, so he must be a god. Actually that looks like Poseidon in his ancient greek form? Not sure on the location. I think Athena burned the temple to the ground, so maybe that’s where they are?”

The words flow over Percy. Lee is entirely unbothered by what he’s drawn. Even recognises who he has drawn, and is just… fine with it?

Percy needs to know. He finally looks at Lee, searching for the anger and horror and worry that happened yesterday. Lee just smiles at him, rocking back on his heels, hands in his pockets. Lee raises an eyebrow.

“Percy, it’s okay. I promise. We know things are going to be different for you, and no one is going to get upset no matter what you draw or what stories you share. The history of the greek gods… It’s often not very nice. I don’t love that you are getting such a front row seat to those stories. If it was up to me I’d want you to just be a kid and deal with all this when you’re older. But no one is going to be upset with you for sharing. I’d rather you draw what you see or talk about it rather than lock it all inside you.”

Castor and Pollux are nodding along, with serious looks on their faces.

Percy needs to think about this. It makes no sense. Lee cheerfully changes the topic and suggests he work with Castor and Pollux on a math problem. There’s no reading or writing involved. Lee reads the question out for them and they slide pebbles around to work out the answer. It’s actually kinda fun?

Percy thinks he might like to be friends with Castor and Pollux, they seem so very casual about the prophet thing, they don’t bring it up but don’t seem to be avoiding it either.

They tell him everyone gets them confused and it’s completely fine if he gets their names mixed up. Percy can’t imagine confusing Castor’s strobe light with Pollux’s contained power, but then most people don’t see auras. The twins happily chatter on about camp and the other kids. Apparently they’ve basically lived at camp all their lives.

They mention a lot of names, the only one that really catches Percy’s interest is when they say something about how their dad had finally gotten in touch with ‘Georgie’s’ family and confirmed she was a child of the sea. They don’t know if she’ll stay at camp or go to live under the sea with her divine parent. Percy really wants to know more about that but he’s a bit too scared to ask.

Castor and Pollux do seem really happy to get another kid their own age, apparently the only other one is ‘Annabeth’, who they don’t seem to like very much. They do seem to like Percy though?

Maybe this could all work out?

________________________

There is a blonde girl staring at him, he can feel her eyes on him even with his back turned. He’s been here for less than a day.

Percy waits quietly beside Lee who is trying to contain the other Apollo kids. They are very very bouncy. And loud. He knows he called Apollo a golden retriever but he didn’t quite anticipate his kids acting equally over the top. It’s a lot. But at least it means no one notices Percy standing in the middle of it all.

One of the larger groups of kids are constantly wrestling and shoving at each other, repeatedly pushing each other off the bench only to jump up and start all over again. At least the Apollo kids aren’t that aggressive?

Even with all the staring, breakfast had been a lot quieter, and calmer.

The blonde girl isn’t at a table, she’s off to the side where he’ll have to walk close to her to get to the Apollo table. He thinks she’s older than him, though not by much. But she is a lot taller. Percy is tiny for his age and skinny besides. This girl has clear muscles, she even has a knife strapped to her hip. Her blonde curls are tied back in a basic pony tail and her grey eyes are sharp and calculating. The eyes kinda remind him of… Oh. This must be Annabeth, the girl Castor and Pollux mentioned.

He thinks Lee may have noticed her, because even though all the siblings have been located, Lee has not moved towards the table, instead he sends them on ahead. Percy notices him give Kayla a look, though she just nods and heads in. As she passes the blonde girl, she turns and says something. Annabeth did not like that one bit, she practically snarls at Kayla before flouncing off.

She stomps to a table and drops onto the bench with a huff, arms crossed. Now she’s alternating between glaring at Kayla and glaring at Percy. Awesome.

Even better, her table is right next to the Apollo table. But now she’s seated, Lee is walking in as if he hasn’t just spent fifteen minutes dawdling watching the blonde girl stare at Percy. The others have left space for Lee and Percy as far away from Annabeth as possible, and Percy is grateful. This whole place is overwhelming and he really doesn’t want to deal with even more people right now.

Lee tries to persuade him to try the magic refilling cups, but Percy still has his water bottle from Artemis. He has no idea how it’s still full, it doesn’t even look like it can be opened, but it tastes good and he trusts Artemis so he’s going to stick with that.

There are no announcements this time, a couple of kids make offerings but it all seems fairly casual. Mr D is still wearing his non-scary face and is sitting with Castor and Pollux at the far table. Chiron’s at the head table with satyrs and, oh joy, Chiron is also staring at Percy. His aura hurts and Percy can’t bring himself to even look at it.

Lee has clearly given up on Percy actually filling his plate and has done it for him. Even though he’s sitting right next to Lee he’s at the end of the bench and Lee is far enough away that he can’t accidentally bump him. It’s nice. He can still feel Chiron’s eyes and the black wrong bad feeling of his aura stabs at Percy.

There’s a loud yell from the table of angry kids and Percy snaps back into the real world with a jolt. The other kids plates are mostly empty now and some people had started to leave. Oh. He’d gone away again hadn’t he?

He feels a purple drift wrap around him offering a sense of peace/still/safe, but when he glances over at Mr D he is turned away talking to Castor. Percy frowns. He’s still not sure how he feels about the way Apollo, Artemis and now Mr D can change their auras, but it does make him feel a bit calmer. And Lee keeps flicking glances at his untouched plate.

While Percy is still debating on whether he wants to risk the bread, Lee stands up saying he needs to talk to Silena about Georgie. Georgie was the sea kid right?

Lee flicks another glance at Percy’s plate before saying very casually, “Once you’ve had something to eat I thought we’d join the Aphrodite cabin at the beach, figured we’d invite Georgie along too.”

The beach? Oh. He knew the ocean was close, but the beach? Okay. Percy can totally eat some lunch if it means a trip to the beach! He reaches for the bread and Lee looks a little too relieved as he heads for Silena.

________________________

When they make it to the beach Percy actually looks interested in his surroundings, he is looking out at the ocean and it’s the happiest Lee has seen him all day.

Percy looks up at him and the thing happens again, like the kid was about to speak but something only he can see distracts him and the moment is gone. Lee’s not even sure Percy is aware of how often his mind goes away. He had even finally talked the kid into eating and just as Percy reached for his plate he disappeared again. At least this time Lee thinks he knows what Percy was going to ask.

“You don’t have to stay with me, go, explore, splash in the water. Please stay where I can see you, or let me know if you want to go further, but you really are free to just let loose and have some fun.”

With that the kid is off, heading for the water like an arrow shot from a bow.

The rest of the kids disperse, Drew joining Lee’s siblings for a somewhat violent game of volleyball. Georgie is beelining for the water as well, looking more relaxed than he’s ever seen her. He really doesn’t know much about sea kids. He definitely needs to ask his Dad for more information.

He and Silena sit up on the grass looking down over the beach where they can keep an eye on the volleyball game as well as the two kids at the water. Silena’s biting her lip, looking worried. He really doesn’t want to have this conversation. He’d seen the way she watched Percy at breakfast and then at lunch she’d been watching when the kid went lights on, no one’s home for a good twenty minutes.

“Percy isn’t okay is he?” He just looks at her, what is he supposed to say?

“No, he isn’t. Dad didn’t give me many details, but it was… bad. Even Dad was shaken up by it. I think having the sight made it worse.”

“Is there anything we can do? He keeps getting this look in his eyes, like he isn’t actually here?” She looks at him, clearly unsure how to describe what she’s seeing.

“It’s because he isn’t. Here, I mean. Dad tried to explain it but I don’t really get it either. It’s to do with the sight. It’s normal for a prophet to occasionally vague out from a vision, but Dad thinks Percy does it deliberately whenever he gets scared or overwhelmed. According to Dad it’ll improve over time if Percy feels safe and connected to the people around him.”

“So” She stretches the word out teasingly before continuing, “Basically we can cure him with the power of love?”

Silena looks a little too delighted by her interpretation, but she isn’t wrong. He gives her a bit of wincing smile, Lee really isn’t sure what to do for Percy.

The kid looked terrified when Lee came to look at his drawing. It’s an understandable fear, if Lee didn’t know the story, didn’t know the kid had the sight, he’d also be coming to very different conclusions about why a seven year old would draw that.

Silena knocks her shoulder against his. “You aren’t alone with this, he’s a sea kid, only reason you can claim him is because you got there first. He’s ours too, we’ll take care of him, it’s going to be okay.”

Lee really really hopes so. Percy isn’t the first frightened kid he’s met, but he feels so far out of his depth with the prophet thing. He keeps thinking about what Michael said, about Dad entrusting them with the first prophet in millennia. He is terrified of screwing this up.

But Silena is right. He isn’t alone in this. And right now Percy is sitting and laughing with Georgie and he looks like any other normal seven year old playing on the beach. Maybe it would be best if Lee took some time to just sit and breathe and get a better grip on his fear. It will all be okay, Percy is not alone. Lee is not alone.

Silena is good company, he suspects it’s a child of Aphrodite thing, the way she can cut to the heart of the matter with only a handful of words, the way she’s fine with silence too. She always seems a little too world-weary for a sixteen year old, but that’s the life of a demigod.

He does remember to mention the duffel bag of weapons that popped into existence in the cabin that morning and Silena at least knows why weapons made in the ocean are needed for sea kids.

It’s easy enough to get her to agree to stop in later with Georgie so they can start sorting through what each kid needs now and what should be set aside for when they are older.

Silena notes that she and Drew haven’t really spoken much with Georgie as Annabeth tended to cause issues over Aphrodite being such a weak goddess. After a while it was just easier to keep their distance from the entire Hermes cabin. Silena hadn’t really given much thought to what it meant for Georgie’s mother to be a nereid, but now the whole child of the sea thing has clicked she fully intends to befriend the girl and she’s going to have a chat with Drew about it as well.

Which reminds Lee he also needs to speak with Percy about Drew’s current issues. He knows Drew will keep her distance until Silena gives the okay, but it’s going to get awkward fast if Silena is spending time with Percy and Drew can’t.

Coming into your abilities can absolutely suck when you don’t have full control. Drew’s only ten and she is stuck living year round at camp until they are confident she’ll only charmspeak intentionally. Right now it just randomly affects her words. Last Capture the Flag Game she charmspoke an Ares kid to “Say that again to my face!” Drew didn’t find it quite as funny as everyone else did.

Eventually his and Silena’s peaceful interlude is interrupted by a fight breaking out between Drew and Kayla. Something to do with perfect aim and charmspeak. Silena goes to break it up and Lee figures he should check on the sea kids.

When Lee plops down beside the two kids they are busily making the most complex sand castle he has ever seen. It’s a thing of architectural beauty. Perhaps they may yet find a point of connection between Percy and Annabeth and avoid all the rivalry and bickering she subjects the other kids to?

“Georgie’s pretty new to camp,” he tells Percy “though I get the feeling she doesn’t much like morning lessons either.”

Georgie makes a face, “It’s not the lessons I mind, well, the proper lessons anyway, but the other boys aren’t really interested and Luke pretty much focuses on Annabeth and whatever she wants to study. Travis and Connor are fun to spend time with at least?”

Yeah, definitely time to try something new. “I was wondering if you might like to join our group for lessons, just to try it out? I’d need to check with Luke first, but we’re planning to spend some time learning about the ocean now that Percy’s joined us. That something you might be interested in?”

“Yes! Please!” Georgie absolutely lights up. “I haven’t even gotten a chance to go for a proper swim since we got here. Luke says it’s not safe with how far I go out and no one else is a strong enough swimmer to go with me. I tried asking Chiron, but he said no too”

That got Lee’s attention. Georgie is literally half nereid, to deny her the ocean… That was just pure cruelty. Sure none of the other demigods might be able to keep up with her, but there were plenty of naiads and nature spirits around. Or Luke could go out in a boat and just supervise. The hell were they doing in the Hermes cabin?

The only reason Lee wasn’t ready to let Percy swim out was because the kid is half-starved and has never actually been swimming. As soon as Lee is comfortable with the kid’s health and taken him for a dip in the lake to check his confidence levels, he fully intends to take him out on the ocean himself.

“Uh, okay. That doesn’t sound quite right, give me a few days and I’ll work out a solution for you. I don’t know if it’s something you’re ready for Perce, but you should at least have the option available to you, and Georgie, you should definitely be allowed to swim as much as you want.”

Georgie outright beams at him. Why does it feel like he’s adopting two kids rather than just the one he agreed to?

He can see Silena laughing at him, she’s clearly realised he’s on the verge of claiming a second kid. He can’t help it, being a demigod is hard enough, he sees no reason why they shouldn’t have fun whenever they can.

________________________

The sun is setting and a much chirpier Percy has been left at the Apollo cabin with strict instructions to ask one of his siblings to find Lee if he needs anything. Afternoon classes are long over but Lee can still hear the sounds of Luke moving through yet another training drill. Pity all the sword play never seems to defuse his anger any.

Lee is totally not bitter that the guy who constantly ran off for years and has been staying at camp consistently for less than a year is Head Counsellor of their largest cabin just because he’s the oldest. Nope, not at all.

“Hey Luke!” He called across the arena, keeping his distance. “I was wondering if you would mind if Georgie joins my cabin for morning lessons for a bit? Just as a trial?”

Luke doesn’t pause his training drill, the sword moving fluidly through the set, “why? I know she’s technically unclaimed but she’s pretty certain who her parent is. She isn’t one of your golden kids.”

“I’m going to pretend that’s a reference to my father’s love of gold, for both our sakes. I know her mum’s Galene, which means she’s a child of the sea. With Percy joining we’re going to change up our classes to focus more on the ocean and all the related deities. I figured Georgie might like learning about her culture too.”

Luke’s face was singularly unimpressed. “Why should she care? It’s not like her mother cares about her.”

Lee definitely has better things to do than listen to Luke rant. “Yeah, whatever, not like you’re out here training with a celestial bronze sword. Since you don’t care about your dad’s culture and all. I’ll talk to Georgie myself, figured it was only polite to ask you since you’re the Hermes Counsellor, but since she isn’t actually a Hermes kid I’ll let her decide for herself.”

Luke pauses to glare at him before returning to hacking away at the training dummy, as Lee leaves the arena he hears Luke’s sneering insult, “Fucking golden boy.”

Which was interesting actually. He had expected a lot more vitriol about Percy being a prophet and not actually an Apollo kid, maybe some commentary on Percy being unclaimed. At least he can say he spoke to Luke and Georgie’s already agreed to the change. He hopes Luke doesn’t make things too difficult for her, even if she joins Apollo for all her lessons she still has to sleep and eat with the Hermes cabin and Mr. Chip-On-His-Shoulder.