Part 1
My name is Casey West, and I don't trust these people or this place. After stepping into this "Camp" Lila and I were immediately "Claimed" by some "goddess" named Hecate. Father used to mutter that name in drunken rambles, everyone here seems just as crazy as him. All I want is to grab Lila and run, but once the twin torches faded from our heads, some girl grabbed our hands and began to drag us down a beaten path.
As we walk I observe the girl who had finally taken a hint and let go of our hands, she wears the same bright orange shirt as the rest of these people and jean shorts with pale pink and white Nikes. The right side of her head is buzzed and pulled back in a loose bun with the remaining hair styled on the left side. Her eyes are dark brown and highlighted by cat eye eyeliner with the same pale pink on her shoes. We walk for a couple minutes, past a lake with kids canoeing across. Past a dozen or so weird as hell “cabins” as the Girl called them, all the while Girl played crappy tour guide and made comments about “it’s really just perfect timing, the last of your siblings just got home from their boarding school!”
I was about to tell this girl that my only siblings is standing right next to me but she interrupts with a clap.
“Aaand we’re here! Welcome to Cabin 17! Oh look there’s one of your siblings now. Can’t wait to drop your grumpy and depressing butts on her.” Girl says, muttering the last part and gestures to the cabin in front of us. It’s about the same size as the others, a bit smaller but it has a bigger porch, which is currently being used by 3 teens that are just about Girl’s age. Speak of the devil.
“Whatcha doing~” She calls out, three heads shoot up. As we get closer, details become more clear. A porch swing hangs from the roof and on it sits a boy. His skin is a red kind of orange, almost the color of raw clay. He looks weary, not tired from lack of sleep but more tired of something and worry lines are etched on his forehead. He has on a pair of golden wire glasses that border his forest green eyes. The boy's jaw line is defined and his lips are full, his hair is buzzed on the sides, like Girl's except his only has hair growing in the middle. The sides of his head have little stands of black hair growing in if you look close enough, but the hair that is grown out into dreadlocks and pulled back in a kind of pony tail has been dyed silver. Overall I decide that Dad would not like him. The boy must already be familiar with her because he gives Girl a nod and a short smile, looks down at the girl who sits by his feet for a glance and goes back to his book.
"Where's Derek and Mateo?" No one answers her question, instead a girl who looks to be the youngest of the group cries out.
"Janie! Oh thank the gods, end my suffering please!"
“Hm let me think about it… no.” Girl, or Janie apparently, says before muttering “Scooch” to the boy as she salters over to the swing.
“Please, Aura gave me that chore where I have to enchant the broom to sweep the porch, only using runes.” The girl, looks like she’s about pretend to break into sobs, she has skin that looks mixed between a white person and a colored one, but with a lowered saturation. In her ear instead of a normal earring she has a thick black rubber looking circle around an inch long, that I knew would make Dad scowl and walk off muttering some colorful words. A couple of lightly colored freckles are littered across her slightly rounded cheeks and button nose, they crinkle and flicker as the girl’s expressive faces change with each word. She has brunette hair, pulled back in a ponytail with curtain bangs hanging loose by a orange ribbon tied up in a bow that matches her shirt. Her lips are thinner then both the boy’s and Janie’s, with dimples that appear as she smiles and her eyes are the same brown as her hair and look jolly while practically oozing mischief.
“I’ll ask again, Where’s Derek? Isn’t he the, what do you call it Rune gifted or something?”
The girl tosses her head back with a groan and the broom she had mentioned earlier lays across her lap, the dagger she had been using to carve the broom with, is so loose that for a moment I think that it will slip out of her hand. At the last second she does a hand gesture too fast for me to catch, that flips it around so it sturdily back in her hand, then to Lila and I’s horror she jabs it at her ear. I grab Lila and pull her behind me, but when I turn back there’s no blood. The dagger is gone and instead, hanging innocently from the spot where the dagger should be positioned, is a single gold hoop.
“Amara.” The boy calls out from his spot, sounding stern but as I glance over, he’s not angry. The boy's eyes haven’t even lifted from his book, nor has his hand paused for the slightest moment in his massage of Janie’s shoulder. “Stop scaring the new kids.” The newly christened Amara only sticks her tongue out in response, suddenly I understand why the boy seems so exhausted.
“And to answer your question, Jane, Aura just so happened to “need him inside for something”". Mateo went with him to keep Derek company. Some Best Friend he is!” Amara cries. The last girl finally looks up, her skin reminds me of dark chocolate and her hair is done in the same style as the boy’s. As I look between them I also realize that they have the same nose, cousins maybe? I think to myself. The girl’s hair is dyed a deep red instead of silver, her eyes are different too, an amberlike iris instead of his green ones. Much like everyone else I’ve seen she seems to be covered in scars, this girl even has a fresh cut, only newly closed, on the left side of her forehead just barley distanced from her eyebrow. As always, I easily find something Dad would criticize, the girl has both a nose ring and a lip one, as I glance up to her eyes I realize that my earlier idea of the cause of the boy’s weariness was wrong, Amara isn’t the problem, this one is. Whatever mischief Amara gets up to is nothing compared to whatever she does, if first glance counts for anything.
“Maybe Mateo went inside because he was so repulsed by your bad carving?” The girl snickers before continuing, “Oh and BT dubs, I think Derek uses a pocketknife when carving. Not a dagger.” She finishes with a smirk and twirls a silver bracelet around her pointer finger like a hula hoop. Jane, who had finally started looking relaxed and was now leaned into the boy's massage, peeks an eye open at the sound the bracelet makes and upon seeing it, she shoots up. Jane looks at the bracelet, then her own wrist then backs at the bracelet with a shocked face and finally cries out,
“LEXI” the boy looks over and groans as, “Lexi” snickers and tosses the bracelet at Jane.
“Chill Janie, I wasn’t gonna keep it.”
“Literally when did you take it?”
“When you went to sit down.” A shrug, accompanies Lexi’s statement, like this is a normal thing. Jane glares at her and turns to the boy beside her, who is exchanging an exasperated look at Amara, getting a snicker in response.
“Duke, will you please keep you kleptomaniac sister in check.” Jane asks desperately, her tone hangs heavy on the word “please”.
“Jane, that’s like keeping Percy and Annabeth away from each other, impossible.” The boy, now named Duke, has a low voice that fits perfectly in the deadpan tone he uses.
Kleptomaniac, doesn’t that have something to do with stealing, I think. So she’s a thief, I check my pockets, nothing, but that’s how they should be. My wrist watch however, is no longer on my wrist. It’s a cheap thing, found in a thrift shop, I won’t really miss it. I turn to check Lila, she looks at me confused.
“Are you missing anything?” I ask, speaking for the first time since the torch projections appeared over our heads. Lila gives herself a check over before gasping at her left hand.
“Hey! My ring!” The ring, in question, is a dainty gold painted ring. A small white daisy piece with golden edges rests on its top. It was my birthday gift to Lila on our 10th birthday. Lexi cackles, till her brother and Jane give her a swift kick in unison and she tosses Lila her ring. Then she tosses my watch back to me in a swift basketball hand gesture, pumping her fist when I snatch it from the air, like she’d shoot a hoop.
“Amara, you should probably take your new siblings inside and introduce them to everybody before the boy tackles Lexi.” Duke calls out, having pick up on my anger even when he hadn’t looked up. His voice is monotone, I get the feeling that even if I were to do just that, Duke wouldn’t even blink. Jane doesn’t look my direction either, choosing to continue glaring at Lexi who gives a crooked smile in response, but she adds,
“Agreed. I can feel it from here. Someone needs to get that kid in anger management by the way.” *1* Amara groans, Lexi pipes up in a sing song tone.
“You’ll get out of your chore~” That gets her up. Amara rises, she’s only a foot or such taller than me. Her ponytail swishes as she turns and starts walking to the Cabin’s door, a couple thin braids play peek-a-boo, swinging in and out of view as she walks away. She opens the door and I can see a bright swirling blue and white light in the doorway.
Lila takes the steps first, always the more adventurous one, but even she is scared. Lila pauses on the cobalt blue “Welcome Home” mat; I take her hand and lead her through the door.
*1* Hi, so Jane's character has a special ability, if this is your first time meeting her then read below, if not then continue on! Jane is a minor empath, it's not incredibly strong but she can sense the emotions of the people around her. She can not in turn affect those emotions with her power, only sense them. I use the word sense because her powers are not strong enough that she feels others emotions as her own, more like she just sort of picks up the vibes. She would not sense mild emotions only high or sometimes (on a bad day) average level emotions. It also helps her pick up when people are crushing on someone, she and her siblings love that one.
(READ ME IF THIS IS YOUR FIRST TIME MEETING JANE) Jane Newman, Age 16 (during the main Cabin 17 AU timeline (about 2-3 years after the end of the Second Giant War)). Daughter of Aphrodite, Member of The Band (Lexi, Mateo, Amara, Jane, Duke and Derek). Best friend: Duke. Pansexual. If you're interested in more, I have a mini rant about how Jane represents everything I was hoping on getting from the daughters of Aphrodite (girly girls who care about their looks but are still amazing fighters, basically showing that girls don't have to pick just one side, they can do both!) Also, both the mini rant and some more information about the rest of The Band will be posted in the Deep Dives section.