The fire was burning low, sparks snapping into the night. The quest had taken them deep into unfamiliar woods, the kind of place where shadows breathed and owls watched with too-human eyes. The Seven sat in a rough circle, trading stories, blades and bows leaning against packs. Nico kept to the edge, Will close beside him, Grover nervously plucking at his reed pipes.

And then there was you.

No one really knew where you had come from.

One morning at camp, you were simply there—standing beside Chiron as if you had always been. Chiron hadn’t explained, only said in that low, deliberate tone of his: “They are under my care.” That was enough to stop questions… but not the suspicion.

Now, on this quest, your presence gnawed at the group like a stone in their shoes. You spoke too much, sometimes—blurting observations too sharp for someone your age. Other times, you drifted into silence for hours, eyes far away, as if listening to something the others couldn’t hear.

Percy watched you the most, his hand twitching at Riptide’s pocketed weight. Annabeth scribbled notes in her map, but her gaze kept flicking toward you, calculating. Hazel and Frank exchanged worried glances. Even Leo—loud, irreverent Leo—was quieter when you sat near.

Fifteen. *Sixteen at most. A kid.

But when the firelight caught your face, your expression was older, tired in a way none of them could name.

You hadn’t said who your godly parent was. Or maybe you didn’t know. All they knew was that Chiron treated you differently—like his own child. Like blood. And when you spoke, sometimes you echoed him in tone, in patience, in the way your words sank beneath the skin.

That night, as the fire sputtered out, Percy Jackson: Son of Poseidon, Annabeth Chase: Daughter of Athena, Jason Grace: Son of Jupiter, Piper McLean: Daughter of Aphrodite, Leo Valdez: Son of Hephaestus, Frank Zhang: Son of Mars and legacy of Poseidon, Hazel Levesque: Daughter of Pluto, Will Solace: Son Of Apollo, Nico Di Angelo: Son of Hades and Grover Underwood, a Satyr, sat in a circle around a campfire, you sitting with them.