Lila

A brother. An attractive brother at that, but a brother. I have a brother! I stayed in the infirmary for most of the day, to recover my energy, but after lunch time, I was well enough to walk around. Percy decides to show me our bunk. He leads me through the camp, past an archery field, a rock climbing wall with lava, some punching dummies, and a bonfire. Wherever we go, I see how popular Percy must be, because every kid, no matter what they’re doing stops and looks at us, even if for a second, and most of them smile. They could also just be looking at the new girl, but Percy is definitely another factor.

“Here we are!” Percy extends his arm and smiles brightly. He’s pointing to a cabin with seashells in the walls and a trident above the doorway. I walk up the step and check the inside of my new… home, I guess. The first thing I notice is the beachy smell. The wonderful smell of the saltwater wind that rolls off from the ocean. There are six beds, but only one occupied, of course. Percy obviously tried to clean up, but it’s a pretty messy job. I don’t care the slightest bit. I step further into the bunk, and Percy follows. “I’m sorry my area is so terrible, but when your stuff comes in, we’ll have time to-” This time I’m the one who shuts him up with a bear hug. I jump up and throw my arms around his neck. Like a good big brother, he picks me up and spins me around. I shriek like a little sister, and we both laugh at the people we couldn’t be until now. When Percy sets me down, my back’s to the door. His sparkling sea-green eyes meet mine and swear I’m smiling like an idiot. I open my mouth to say something, when Percy looks up. It’s a good thing, too, because I have no idea what I was about to say. I turn around and see what grabbed Percy’s attention.

“Annabeth!” Percy exclaims. Annabeth. She has wavy blonde hair and startling gray eyes that look like they’re always searching, always thinking, always learning. Percy walks past me and hugs Annabeth, but in a different way.

“Percy,” Annabeth breathes. He kisses her cheek, confirming my thoughts.

“Lila, meet my girlfriend, Annabeth Chase. Annabeth, meet my sister.” Percy’s voice is filled with affection when he says that one magical word. Annabeth grins at Percy’s strong emotion and care he feels for me, and I instantly like her, too. She seems like she’d be a very good girlfriend.

“Hello Lila.” Her handshake is firm, like she means business. I bet she does, and her eyes are smiling now. Percy puts his arm around Annabeth’s shoulder, and his other hand on my shoulder blade. We exit the bunk, and Percy guides his two girls to the bonfire, where the rest of the camp is gathering. I can’t help but smile. Every second spent with Percy feels like something out of a dream. I have a brother! Annabeth peels away from us and towards another group of kids, while Percy and I take a seat by the brazier. The rest of camp gathers around, and Chiron makes his way to the center.

“Quiet down, everybody, and welcome our newest camper, Lila! Stand up for us, shall you?” The crowd cheers, and the fire seems to grow a foot or two. I slowly stand up, nervous. Percy gives me a reassuring smile, and my nerves disappear. I stand up for the crowd, and smile at each of them. But as I face people around the circle, they each gasp. It’s really confusing. Do they not like me? Is something wrong, do I look stupid? I quickly look at Percy for guidance, but he’s still smiling like he was before. So instead I look at Chiron. He walks over to me and puts a hand on his shoulder. “I assume you all are wondering which bunk Lila belongs in.” The camp is so quiet I swear everyone can hear my heavy breathing. “Lila has not been officially claimed to my knowledge, but has made it clear that she is a daughter of-”

“That’s bullcrap!” Someone in the back of the crowd shouts. Chiron glares in that direction, and the crowd parts to reveal one kid in particular.

“Drew.” Chiron says. It’s just a name, and it’s not even mine, but his tone makes me want to crawl into a hole and hide.

“Yes?” The girl responds.

“Care to tell me, and the rest of the camp, why you decided to interrupt me with such an inappropriate statement?”

“It’s because of this girl! I can’t believe it!”

“Believe what?” I bravely ask this steaming girl. She tears her gaze from Chiron and glares at me. I don’t even flinch.

“First Piper and now this? Don’t believe her, or anyone else who she met. Another with charmspeak? This is bull!”

“Drew.”

“What?” Drew almost screams at Chiron. He opens his mouth to speak, but I beat him to it. Probably not the best decision, but this Drew girl’s starting to annoy, and confuse, the crap out of me.

“Look, I don’t know what your problem with me is, seeing as I have no idea who you are, but if you’d just listen-”

“Shut up, new girl! I don’t need to hear your stupid charmspeak from yet another of my sisters. I can’t believe it! The bunk’s already getting crowded, I need more space! And now this girl comes in and-” Drew is cut off by my laughter. I can’t help it, but I can’t stop laughing. I look at Percy, and he’s laughing too, just less than I am. Drew glares at me, angry that I have the nerve to laugh while she’s ranting. “What?” She's practically screaming now, her face bright red.  

“It’s just so funny! You think I’m your sister? Because if you had just listened to Chiron, you’d realize that I’m not. And I’m glad for that, I’d rather not share a bunk with someone as cranky and annoying as you.” Drew’s red face gets even brighter with embarrassment. “Who are you, anyways? Who’s your parent?”

“Aphrodite.” Drew reluctantly says through clenched teeth, while still glaring at me. I stare at her, confused, then start laughing again. Me? Drew thought I was her sister, a daughter of Aphrodite? I'll take that as a compliment, but I think I just made an enemy out of Drew.

“I’m not a child of Aphrodite, but I guess I’ll take that as a compliment, no matter how it was delivered.” I grin, and take my seat. After a few seconds of dead silence, the camp starts howling with laughter. Drew frowns, and her bright red face looks like it’s about to explode. By the time Chiron is finally able to hush the crowd again, she’s probably killed me twenty-three times over in her head.

“Before that… lengthy interruption I was going to tell the camp who Lila’s parent is. Now, I please ask you all to be quiet. Not just to avoid another interruption, but because some of you will be confused, and have a lot of questions. Please don’t voice them now. I’m sure you can ask Lila if she feels comfortable, as long as you don’t hoard her.”

“Just get to the point!” Another kid shouts, from the other side of the crowd.

“Ahem. Well then. Lila is a daughter of…” The whole camp takes a breath, and only at that moment do I realize I’m holding mine. “Poseidon.” I breathe out. “She will be residing with Percy in cabin three…” Chiron had to get louder as he kept going, but gave up. The tension burst like a balloon, kids asking millions of questions that wouldn’t be answered, especially not there and then. I want to shrink, or escape the crowd, but Chiron does the next best thing. “You may all be seated to eat!” At those words, the whole camp disperses, going to sit with their respective siblings. On her way to the Aphrodite table, Drew glares daggers at me, but I just wave them off.

“So, Percy. Where do we sit?”

“I got permission to sit with Annabeth a long time ago, since otherwise I’d be eating alone. You can come sit with us.” I nod, but I don’t sit down just yet. Instead, I look for the one other lone child. Nico. But I can’ see him anywhere. It’s like he just slipped off into the shadows, which I guess he can actually do. I sigh, and turn around to go sit, when I bump into someone.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” I start to say, when I see who I bumped into. “Nico! I was just looking for you.”

“Really?”

“Well, yeah! I mean, I don’t know where you were sitting for dinner, since you’re the only child of Hades here, so I was wondering if you wanted to sit with us”

“Who’s ‘us’?”

“Percy, Annabeth, and me. Plus the rest of her cabin.”

“Athena’s kids. Annabeth will be talking about architecture throughout the whole meal, probably.”

“Well, where are you going to sit, then?”

“I don’t know….” Nico looks away. “I can’t remember the last time I ate a meal here. I don’t feel comfortable sitting with some other group, and I don’t think they’d feel comfortable sitting with me. So I think I’ll just take a plate and sit to the side.”

“Then I’ll sit to the side with you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m going to eat with you, dummy. You shouldn’t be alone.”

“I’m used to being alone. You should go sit with your brother and all those other kids. Really. I’ll be fine.”

“Nico. You can’t just get rid of me, remember?” Nico doesn’t say anything after that, which I take as an ‘ok’. We grab two plates and two cups, and I mouth to Percy that I won’t be sitting with him. He nods in response. “So, how does this work?”

“We just think about what we want to eat and drink, and then it magically appears on the plate. But before eating you always have to make an offering to the gods- namely your parent- by scraping some of your meal into the fire.”

“Ok. I can do that.” I focus on the plate in my hand, and in seconds eighteen pieces of assorted sushi fill my plate. I throw four pieces into the fire, and smell the amazing mixture of the offerings floating up to the gods. I whisper a small prayer and a question up to Poseidon, hoping he’ll hear. When I focus on my glass, it fills itself with water. Simple. When I look over at Nico, he has a burger and water. Simple. I smile at him, but he doesn't really respond. He walks over to a tree a little out of the way, but still in the dining pavillion, and we sit. Nico doesn’t say anything all throughout dinner, and he acts as if I’m not even sitting next to him. I don’t take it to offense, but it feels like there’s some kind of invisible barrier between us. As I eat my food, something nags at me. I wonder why sushi appeared on my plate. I mean, I am a daughter of the sea god, but there must be more to it. What happened to me before I lost my memories? Correction. What happened to me before my memories were wiped?