When Percy Jackson, the newest camper and slayer of the Minotaur, first laid eyes on the purple-eyed girl, she was storming towards the porch he was currently sitting on where he was being taught how to play Pinochle. His teachers were varying degrees of helpful, Mr Brunner, who was actually a centaur named Chiron, was the most helpful, Grover, his best friend who was actually part goat, was next. And perhaps the least useful teacher of the three, though he'd never admit it out loud, was Mr D, the camp director and the god Dionysus, not that he'd figured it out yet.
Percy had long since stopped paying attention to his cards as the bickering sounds of the siblings grew louder and the camp director sighed as the three campers came into view. All three of them were dressed in orange camp-half blood t-shirts and jeans, but the girl with the purple eyes had black hair while the boys she walked with had blond hair and blue eyes. They shared similar features; however, the two boys were identical as one of them bickered with the girl and the other simply walked behind them with an amused smile on his face.
Percy watched as the girl shoved the boy she was arguing with as she marched up the steps of the porch. "Papa!" she called, her voice irritated and angry like waves before a storm at sea.
"What is it this time?" Mr D asked tiredly, and Percy's sea-green eyes widened at the discovery that this child-like man had children.
"Pollux is the worst teacher ever! I can grow the vines, but I can't control them and his methods of teaching me how aren't working and he's blaming me!" she exclaimed as the boy next to her, Pollux presumably, making numerous offended expressions as his twin simply leaned back on the porch railing and watched.
"Because it's your fault! I can only tell you what to do, I can't actually make you do it!" Pollux retorted and she pinned him with a glare, her purple eyes seeming darker.
"Well, then maybe you should teach better! Or at the very least get rid of this stupid deal you two have so Castor can tutor me properly," she snapped, and Pollux opened his mouth to reply but was promptly cut off.
"Boys!" Mr D thundered and silence washed over the squabbling siblings as Grover straightened in his chair, which was a good thing considering that the director turned to him first before addressing his children. "Grover," he said impatiently, "Are you playing or not?"
"Yes, sir!" Grover trembled as he made his move and Dionysus turned his blue eyes on the three siblings.
"You know your sister," he said vaguely. "And you know of her powers, so I'd advise you to take more care in instructing her Pollux," he proclaimed, and the girl smirked in victory. "And Castor, instead of enjoying this, next time intervene, or else I will."
"Of course, Papa," Castor answered diligently as his twin coughed the words,
"Suck up," into his fist, only to have Castor punch the back of his shoulder.
"Now run along boys," Mr D ordered. "Save for my good luck Jewel."
The girl stuck her tongue out at her brothers who returned the gesture before they both squashed her into a hug and made their way off the porch. The mystery girl, however, smiled at her father as she perched herself on the armrest of his chair to peer at his cards, the man seeming more at ease in her presence.
"Isn't it good luck charm?" Percy whispered to Grover who just sent him a wide-eyed look telling him to shut up.
The girl just rolled her eyes as she'd heard his comment, finding his ignorance vexing. Despite how uncaring their father may have seemed, all three of his children had spent countless hours on his lap learning how to play Pinocle. It didn't go against Zeus' rules as he wasn't getting to know them, but rather was teaching them a new skill. Though, even Zeus wouldn't think about interrupting the Dionysus cabin on Pinochle nights. They were even more deadly than the Ares cabin then.
"Now, where were we? Ah, yes, I was about to incinerate this young upstart," Mr D announced as his eyes landed on the new boy and the girl's eyes lit up.
"Oh, can I practice with him first? I still have no idea how to piece people back together and he looks like a promising test subject," she said as her eyes ran him up and down, her gaze cold and calculating but there was something enticing about it. As for her words, Percy found it just like the rest of the conversation, he had no idea what was happening.
"Ah, an excellent idea, Jewel," Mr D exclaimed as he looked up at his daughter, his nickname for her somewhat of an irony. Her name meant gold in the Greek language, a name given to her by her father and yet her father was the one that gave her the nickname Jewel. A demigod daughter of Dionysus was rare, she was rare, and when her brothers got to know her, they saw her as their little gem of a sister, one they'd do anything to protect. And one who'd do anything to protect her brothers. A rare, shining jewel.
Not that this young upstart, as her father had called him, would've had any clue.
Grover said, "P-please, sir. He's just lost his mother. He's in shock."
"A lucky thing, too," Mr D grumbled, playing a card. "Bad enough I'm confined to this miserable job, working with boys who don't even believe.'"
He waved his hand and a goblet appeared on the table, as if the sunlight had bent, momentarily, and woven the air into glass. The goblet filled itself with red wine.
The boy's jaw dropped, but Chiron hardly looked up as the mystery girl gave Mr D an admonishing look. "Papa," she scolded.
"Mr D," Chiron warned, "Your restrictions."
Mr D looked at the wine and feigned surprise. "Dear me." He looked at the sky and yelled, "Old habits! Sorry!"
More thunder.
Mr D waved his hand again, and the wineglass changed into a fresh can of Diet Coke. He sighed unhappily, popped the top of the soda, and went back to his card game, the girl occasionally stealing sips here and there.
"Mr D offended his father a while back, took a fancy to a wood nymph who had been declared off-limits," Chiron explained to the new boy.
"Yes," Mr D confessed. "Father loves to punish me. The first time, Prohibition. Ghastly! Absolutely horrid ten years! The second time—well, she really was pretty, and I couldn't stay away—the second time, he sent me here. Half-Blood Hill. Summer camp for brats like you. 'Be a better influence,' he told me. 'Work with youths rather than tearing them down.' Ha. Absolutely unfair."
"So, then I take it that Castor, Pollux and I are to find a new fourth member for Pinochle tomorrow night?" the girl asked her father teasingly and his expression was blank as he looked up at her as purple fire blazed in his eyes.
"Whoever dares takes my place will be sent straight down to the depths of the Underworld. Hades still owes me one."
The girl only beamed brighter as she pulled a card from her father's hand and tossed it on the table, playing a trick as the boy just looked even more confused, and he was definitely wondering how such a whiny-sounding man could have a daughter like her, even if she was even more intimidating than the other blonde girl he'd met.
"And..." Percy stammered, "Your father is..."
"Di immortales, Chiron," Mr. D said. "I thought you taught this boy the basics. My father is Zeus, of course."
You could see the gears in his mind turning as he tried to put the pieces together of her father's identity.
"You're Dionysus," he said finally. "The god of wine."
Mr D rolled his eyes. "What do they say, these days, Grover? Do the children say, 'Well, duh!'?"
"Y-yes, Mr D," answered the frightened satyr.
"Then, well, duh! Percy Jackson. Did you think I was Aphrodite, perhaps?" he joked, making the girl hide a laugh behind her hand as the boy, Percy, realised why her brother was trying to teach her to control vines - grape vines - and why her eyes were purple. They actually weren't purple, they were more indigo, a shade you might acquire if you poured red wine into the deep blue waters of the ocean.
"You're a god," Percy repeated.
"Yes, child."
"A god. You."
Her father then met the boy's eyes as the purple fire began to rage, no doubt images of horrid deaths caused by madness and grape vines along with sailors being turned into dolphins began to flash through his mind. "Would you like to test me, child?" he questioned before the girl placed a hand on his shoulder, the fire dimming slightly at the touch.
"No. No, sir," Percy said immediately and the fire died a little more as he turned back to his cards, about to say something only for Chiron to set his cards down.
"I believe I win," the centaur announced only for a victorious grin to break out across the god's face.
"I don't think so, old friend," he said as he set down his cards and the girl tallied up the points.
"Sorry, Chiron. The game goes to Papa," she said with a smile that said she wasn't at all sorry about it.
"Well," the director said as he stood from his chair and stretched. "I suppose the one good thing about this camp is my Jewel."
"As it should be," she grinned at her father who rolled his eyes at her, but Percy could see the hint of a smile that tugged at his lips.
"I'm tired," Mr D announced. "I believe I'll take a nap before the sing-along tonight."
"Sleep well, Papa," the girl said as she stood to kiss the god's cheek before sinking into his chair, taking his now abandoned can of Diet Coke for herself. Percy didn't understand the relationship between the two and he doubted he ever would.
But rather than moving inside the farmhouse after saying his goodbyes, Dionysus settled his eyes onto the satyr. "But first, Grover, we need to talk, again, about your less-than-perfect performance on this assignment."
Grover's face beaded with sweat; his nerves apparent in his expression. "Y-yes, sir."
Mr D then turned to the new boy. "Cabin eleven, Percy Jackson. And mind your manners."
The purple-eyed girl shifted her indigo irises to the newcomer, her eyes raking over him the way a predator stalks prey as she learnt his name.
Percy Jackson. She wondered how many ways her father would be able to get his name wrong.
"Will Grover be ok?" he asked Chiron, but she answered first.
"It's a coin toss really," she said casually as she sipped from the silver can. "My father is rather frustrated right now, and this would be Grover's... second, major screw-up. It could go either way."
And her words did nothing to ease Percy's worry and what made him angry was how nonchalantly this girl spoke about him.
"Miss Lynn, I'm sure Grover will be fine. There's no need to further our newcomer's worries," Chiron admonished and her startling eyes shifted to him.
"I'm sure your precious Minotaur slayer can handle it, Chiron," she retorted before taking another swig from the can.
"Who the hell are you?" Percy asked, the girl now being the one to get on his nerves rather than add to them.
"No one of your concern," she snapped, her raven hair flipping over her shoulder.
"Miss Lynn," Chiron said sternly as she leaned back in her chair, rolling her eyes as she chugged what was left in the can before crushing it in her hand. "Percy Jackson, meet Cressida Lynn. Resident of Cabin 12 and daughter of Dionysus," Chiron introduced, not that she was looking at him, or that she cared. "Miss Lynn, perhaps you'd like to return to your cabin? I'm sure your brothers would like to resume your training," he suggested, and she stood, leaving the crushed can on the arm of the chair for Grover or some other satyr to eat, their noses were insanely good at sniffing out any piece of garbage inside the camp borders.
"Gladly," she said as she headed for the porch stairs, but not before she turned to regard Percy with an expression that made him feel so incredibly tiny. "See you at dinner, newbie."
And as jogged down the stairs and back into camp, Percy wondered what happened to her to make her spit the word newbie with such venom the way she did.
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In the hours that led up to dinner, Percy had been warned away from the mysterious girl who was called Cressida Lynn by three different people. Grover, the blonde girl Annabeth, and his new cabin counsellor, Luke. The Mad One, The Lunatic, and The Psycho Girl were just a few of the respective names coined for the girl by the members of camp. And all he was told was that she'd make him lose his mind.
However, what he was told about dinner on the other hand was that it was always an enjoyable affair as over a hundred campers plus satyrs, nymphs and naiads gathered to eat.
Percy was escorted into the pavilion along with Cabin Eleven, the Hermes cabin and patron of travellers, meaning his cabin took in all undetermined campers. So, to say it was crowded was putting it lightly. Also, to say that Clarisse had gotten a little wet when she'd tried to give Percy a swirly and he'd made the bathrooms explode was also putting it very lightly.
Cressida had heard the story and a few of the rumours around it but she couldn't give a damn. She was more concerned about the fact that she'd been successfully able to make a grapevine move and sock her brother in the chest after Pollux kept annoying her. To say Castor had been proud was also an understatement.
Which was why he was now carting around his little sister on his shoulders in victory as she laughed, setting her down on their table that was soon covered in delicious platters of food. A table that Dionysus soon joined his children at. Granted, his children did most of the talking and joking around, but he surely did pipe up every now and again, the debate getting rather loud when it turned to their next game night and Pollux gave a ridiculous suggestion that they don't play Pinochle and chose a different game.
Percy was startled from his relentless staring at the daughter of Dionysus as Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor and silence fell. The centaur raised a glass as he yelled, "to the gods!"
"To the gods!" everyone else echoed as they raised their own glasses.
As the newcomer was ushered to the fireplace to sacrifice some of his food before he ate, he watched, rather jealously, as Cressida and her siblings simply handed their father various grape-flavoured candies which he started tearing into.
"Benefits of having their father as camp director," Luke muttered in Percy's ear and he swore that the older boy sounded slightly bitter as they watched them begin to dig into their food. After making his own offering and praying to a god he didn't know, Percy was finally allowed to eat before Chiron banged his hoof again for attention as he'd moved to sit at table 12 with Dionysus and his kids rather than at the head table to Cressida's dismay. Dionysus got up with a huge sigh.
"Yes, I suppose I'd better say hello to all you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five presently holds the laurels."
The Ares table cheered as they banged on it and hooted like animals - which wasn't a far-off assessment.
"Personally," Mr D continued, "I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have a new camper today. Peter Johnson."
Percy watched as Cressida laughed at the mispronunciation of his name before Chiron cleared his throat and gestured Cressida forward. The girl rolled her eyes as she downed the rest of her drink before pushing her hair out of her face and placing her hand on her father's arm. He continued staring as she stood up and whispered something in his ear.
"Er, Percy Jackson," Mr D corrected as his daughter sat back down, seeming to speak to her cup before drinking out of it again. "That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on."
As they cheered, Cressida couldn't help but glance over at the new kid who, albeit looked out of his element, but also seemed to find himself feeling at home. And compared to her first day, it was as if you were comparing Tartarus to Elysium.
And as a result, she was ready to destroy him during Capture the flag. Something she could say with confidence, seeing as alliances had been made soon after she'd left the Big House that morning. Ares and Athena were leading the two teams, and Athena had already made alliances with the Hermes cabin and the Apollo cabin. Sure, they had the numbers and strategy, but the Ares cabin aligned themselves with everyone else, Demeter, Aphrodite, Hephaestus and Dionysus to name a few. They had the power.
Clarisse may have been the main perpetrator in Cressida's little monikers floating around Camp, but she knew good fighters when she saw one. And she saw what good fighters and athletes in general Cressida and her brothers were. She didn't really have much else to do except train when she didn't have any friends at camp besides her brothers, so of course she was an exceptional fighter.
And come Friday, she was going to put that training to good use.
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The week went by in a blur as Cressida rotated through her usual activities with her brothers. Her brothers knew her resentment towards the other campers and another reason why she loved them more was because they never tried to change that, they never tried to change her. If anything, they helped her. They were smart about it too as well. They didn't let the Athena cabin or anyone allied with them see the full extent of their powers or their athletic abilities. It helped that they tended to shy away from Cressida in the first place.
Granted this sort of went against her promise to deny the camp her help when they needed it, but it was also the only time that she could take out her resentment against them directly without getting in trouble. And right now, Percy Jackson, the newcomer that had managed to disarm Luke, the newcomer that had been so celebrated by the camp for standing up to Clarisse and slaying the Minotaur, was the target of all that resentment.
So, after their usual promise of being safe, because the twins never left each other's side as one would expect, Cressida led the charge of people that would attack the blue team head-on, while Clarisse led another team to look for the flag.
And Clarisse's spear may have been electric, but Cressida didn't need that in order to knock the blue team down like flies. And boy would the Apollo cabin have their work cut out for them, if any of them were still in working condition by then.
However, once the battle was underway and a sufficient number of campers had broken bones, slash marks, bruises and injuries that would definitely be sore tomorrow, she covertly used a grapevine to take her up into the tree branches, any nature-dwelling campers on her side as she began weaving her way through the treetops, looking for a very particular person. Her vines may not be able to move in any other direction other than up yet, but they were useful on some occasions, such as saving her energy from scaling a tree.
With not much of a social life, there was barely any physical skill that she couldn't do, even at the age of twelve. She was also quite the gymnast, as were her brothers. So, navigating her way through the foliage of the trees was cake as she hovered above the ground where Clarisse and the small team that was supposed to be looking for the blue flag were taunting Percy Jackson before they intended to beat the living daylights out of him.
Knowing how Clarisse hated to lose, Cressida was also confident in the fact that while the daughter of Ares was here, there was another team looking for the flag. But then Clarisse started cursing.
Cressida crouched down on the branch she was standing on as she saw the remnants of Clarisse's spear on the ground. She'd underestimated him and now, her weapon was broken, and Luke was hoisting the red banner in the air as he raced for the boundary line.
They'd lost.
And when Annabeth Chase, an absurdly arrogant daughter of Athena appeared as she removed a magical Yankee cap, Cressida's rage doubled.
"I told you. Athena always, always has a plan," Annabeth boasted.
"A plan to get me pulverized," Percy spat back, pissed off about being used as bait.
"I came as fast as I could. I was about to jump in, but you didn't need help," she shrugged nonchalantly, and Cressida was ready to knock to smug smile off her face.
She jumped out of the tree, startling everyone as they moved backwards, and she drew her spear. "I don't think anyone is going to be able to help him," she spat as she advanced on him, Annabeth's eyes wide as she pushed the dark-haired boy back.
But when Cressida brought down her spear, she was met with her brother's sword. Pollux was just in time to intervene as Castor wrapped his arms around his sister, allowing Pollux time to twist her spear from her hand as Castor heaved her away.
"Lemme go! Cas! Castor, let me go!" she shrieked, not caring about the looks the other campers gave her, nor Annabeth's discovery of Percy's lineage.
"Game's over, Cress. Time to give it up!" he strained.
"I want a go at him! He made us lose!" she persisted, but her fighting had died down.
"Next time! Now calm down," he ordered as Pollux sheathed his sword and raised his hands as grapevines rose from the earth and wrapped around her, the vines impossibly tight around her body as they prevented her from moving.
"POLLUX! Let me go this instant!" she growled, his actions only angering her because he knew about her aversion to being restrained, but he saw it as a teaching moment. Maybe if he could get her angry, she could make them move.
Her brother smirked at her. "If only you could control the vines yourself, then you wouldn't have to beg me to let you go."
"You'll be begging for a painless death when I get out of here," she retorted, her panic growing.
"All the more reason to keep you inside," he returned.
"Castor! Do something!" she pleaded, and her brother looked torn for a moment.
"Ok," he said simply before he busted out a handshake with his twin, a handshake only the three of them did, and Cressida began to panic more. "Cress, you're ok. We're not going to hurt you. You're safe," he promised as he saw the tears in her eyes, but before any more could be said or done, a howl ripped through the forest and silence fell across the gathered campers. Chiron shouted in Ancient Greek for someone to bring him his weapon and for the campers to stand ready.
"On second thought," Pollux began as people began drawing their own weapons.
"Get angry. Get very angry, Cress," Castor finished as they both waved their hands, and the vines sank back into the earth as Cressida yanked the pinecone charm that had reappeared on her bracelet back off and her spear grew in her hands. And a hellhound growled from where it stood atop a rock structure. Growled directly at Percy Jackson.
Like hell, anyone or anything was going to decimate the newcomer before she did as she body-slammed him.
Percy fell back into the river as the hellhound pushed Cressida to the ground, its claws tearing through her armour and her flesh as she cried out in pain. But if she was going down, she was taking this beast with her as she drove her spear through its skull before the rest of the campers fired arrows into its back.
"Cress!" the twins called out as they rushed forward, no one else bothering to move as they heaved the dead hellhound carcass off their injured sister.
"Are you ok?" Castor asked after the use of thick grapevines helped move the hellhound off her.
"Of course, she's not ok. Her stomach is torn to shreds," Pollux retorted.
"Shut up. You're not making this any better," Castor fired back.
"Get her to the infirmary," Chiron ordered and Cressida wanted to roll her eyes. Where else were they going to take her?
"I'm fine," she snapped before they helped her sit up and she let out a pained sound, her eyes welling with insubordinate tears.
"Clearly not," Pollux said and Cressida would've scowled at him if she wasn't in so much pain and her life's blood wasn't leaking out of her like a waterfall.
"You will be," Castor promised as he summoned a grapevine to wrap around her torso and serve as a tourniquet to minimise the bleeding.
"Ready?" Pollux asked his brother who nodded. "One, two, three," and they hauled their sister to her feet, each twin slinging an arm over their shoulders.
"Percy, stay away from her!" Annabeth warned as the boy moved forward.
"She just saved my life. I'm gonna help her," he insisted.
"And you'll lose your mind in the process."
"Why does everyone keep saying that? No one will tell me what it means," Percy exclaimed before he turned to the girl who was breathing heavily, the agony evident in her eyes as she wobbled on her feet. "Thank you," he said but her purple eyes were filled with nothing but anguish and disgust.
"I didn't do it for you," she returned as her brothers began leading her out of the woods, the girl cognizant enough to protest against her brothers carrying her to the infirmary. She was no damsel in distress. She realised that no one was going to save her long ago. And she didn't need them to.
She also didn't need to be there to know what Annabeth or anyone else was going to say to Percy about her.
"It means that she's a daughter of Dionysus, Percy," Annabeth answered.
"Yeah, so what? How can a few grapevines make me lose my mind?" he quipped.
"Because Dionysus isn't just the god of wine, you idiot."
"Yeah, there's pleasure and theatre. Still not seeing how I could lose my mind."
Annabeth seemed to be regretting the fact that she pulled Percy out of the range of Cressida's attack with how daft this boy was even after their countless lessons in Greek History.
"Because he's also the god of madness. Ritual madness," she said through gritted teeth before she beheld the look of shock in Percy's eyes. "Still think you can't lose your mind?"
And Percy was still trying to swallow that information as people began blaming him for hellhound and Annabeth confirmed her theory about who Percy's father was before Percy's father confirmed it himself. And as he stood in the river once again, a green trident glowed above his head as the campers began kneeling.
"My father?" Percy asked, completely bewildered.
"Poseidon," Chiron proclaimed. "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God."