chapter iii. | new discoveries

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╔═══ -ˋˏ *.·:·.⟐.·:·.* ˎˊ- ═══╗

CHAPTER THREE
new discoveries
╚═══ -ˋˏ *.·:·.⟐.·:·.* ˎˊ- ═══╝

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DOROTHY STILL FELT uneasy about approaching the cabin where she now lives. She stood in front of the space where the door disappears at the slightest touch. It was the clearing of someone's throat that startled Dorothy and had her spinning around. Her eyes focused on the blonde kid at the bottom of the steps that lead up to the cabin. Jason had an unreadable expression on his face, Dorothy used to be good at reading people, this new world had her unsure of everything.

"Jason," Dorothy stated more so for herself, committing it to memory. He nodded, his expression changing again. She's lost her touch.

"Dorothy," He replied in the same tone, "D-Do you want to talk?"

Dorothy blinked in surprise at the question, there was something genuine about him, one of the few things she could read about him was how out of place he felt, Dorothy felt the same.

"I'm not sure if I'll ever stop talking if I start," Dorothy answered honestly, a sense of humor laced in her words to keep the conversation light, "And something tells me you're just as confused as I am right now about all of this."

Jason gave her a hint of a smile at that, the scar on his lip disturbing the form, but still a pretty smile. Dorothy wanted to know where he got it but she knew that he didn't remember. She stepped away from the door and drew closer to her.

"Do you know why Hera chose us?" He asked, making Dorothy frown as she pinched her eyebrows together.

"No." Dorothy shook her head, "But I know I have something to learn from her when it comes to making social calls, I was not expecting her outside my door, I can tell you that."

"I'm sorry about your gang, I can tell they were like family to you."

Dorothy looked down at her boots, they were coated in the faintest layer of mud, if she didn't crash into the lake earlier today. Her thoughts trailed to the gang, remembering how her uncle Arthur taught her to shoot, he was the best shooter in the gang, and Dorothy eventually made her way to second in that standing with the group. She could remember the cooking of Mr. James Taylor, his stew was the best she ever had, he would always use the fish she would catch and always made the venison tender while still retaining the flavor. Though nothing could beat the baking of Miss Catherine Robert's pies, in every town they moved to, she would befriend the richest lady in the area to take advantage of their nice kitchens. Dorothy always had a feeling that Miss Roberts was sweet on her father, but she never had enough evidence to prove that theory.

"They were the only thing I ever knew." Dorothy looked back up at Jason.

His eyes were as blue as a clear afternoon sky in the mountains. Though there was so much going on behind them. Dorothy felt like she was understanding him better. She could see the conflict he was facing. Maybe she didn't lose her touch.

"What are we going to do about this goddess?" She asked softly, they were closer than she remembered, only a few feet away from the empty porch.

"Well, if they don't let me leave, I'll be sneaking out." Jason looked around as he said this, unsure if anyone was close enough to hear, "She stole my memories, I want them back."

There was a pause in the air as they sat on those words. Dorothy felt angry, she was robbed of a life with her gang. They had just scored enough money for them to live comfortably away from the law and other civilians, and Hera went and sent her to that cursed building. If helping her got Jason's memories back and the goddess out of everyone's hair, then Dorothy had no qualms about abandoning the camp.

"If you go," Dorothy said, "I'll ride with you."

Jason's eyes widened at her words, shock was on his face. His face changed once more, a look of the silent agreement was shared between the two and as the sun got closer to dipping below the horizon, a horn blew out. Dorothy's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion as the two looked around, soon after, rows of kids left their cabins, the order in how they lined up was unclear to Dorothy. There were a couple of campers that ran to certain lines and Dorothy began to notice the similarities of other campers, Annabeth was leading kids that came out of the Athena cabin, the number of blonde-headed kids with gray eyes looked peculiar to her, they all must have gotten that from their mother.

In fact, Dorothy just realized how similar she looked to her half-siblings in her own cabin. She realized this because a row of them walked out of the cabin that she was going to go in earlier but got distracted. The girl she pushed aside earlier when she was having her meltdown looked her blue eyes onto Dorothy, a warm, yet sympathetic smile spread on her face.

"Dorothy, right?" She asked, stepping over, the rest of her half-siblings remained in their line, standing a few feet away from the cabin but closer to the pavilion, "I'm Lou Ellen, we're all about to head to dinner, we sit by cabin, other cabins normally have a system in place to see who's at the front of the line but we don't do that here, just join in wherever you like."

Dorothy nodded, she looked over at Jason, he had a slight crestfallen look on his face.

"You're Jason, right?" Lou Ellen asked, he silently nodded, "I heard you haven't been claimed yet but don't worry, I know you will be soon, for now, you'll be with the Hermes cabin-" She pointed in the direction of the long line of kids leaving the only cabin that actually looked like a cabin, "-Connor and Travis Stoll will help you."

Jason nodded to Lou Ellen and gave one more look to Dorothy who offered him a small smile and a tip of her hat before she walked over to Josephine, the only other girl she recognized.

"Trelawney!" Josephine beamed her accent thick, Dorothy realized that she recognized it for what it was now, throwing her arm over her shoulder, "How have you been, did you get a tour?"

"I got a tour of sorts," Dorothy shrugged, "I know where the Hypnos cabin is and the prairie house."

They were nearing the pavilion when Josephine furrowed her eyebrows.

"Prairie house?" She asked, "What prairie house?"

Dorothy pointed over at the house that was a few yards away.

"The Prairie house down yonder," She replied.

"We call that the Big House."

"Well it's big alright, I've never seen a House that tall that wasn't on a plantation, and we called those manors," Dorothy replied as they neared the pavilion, what caught her attention was the fissure in the ground that was shared by the earth and the concrete of the pavilion floor. As if the ground was once ripped open.

"Oh yeah," Josephine pulled Dorothy along so as to not hold up the line, "That happened years before I got here and even the battle of New York, but some kid named Nico Di Angelo did that before disappearing, apparently some skeletons came out."

Dorothy just knew that the alarmed look she wore was noticeable. Nico did that? How old was he when he did? She could only remember the young boy from the hotel that clung to his sister, Bianca. Dorothy remembered thinking how cute Bianca was for a girl just a few years her younger.

"Nico did that?" Dorothy asked, furrowing her eyebrows and looking over at her half-sister as they sat down, she was too invested in the conversation to pay attention to what was going on in front of her, "Do you know how old he was when he did that? And why?"

"Did you know him?" A girl piped up, joining the conversation. She looked like she was supposed to be around thirteen, but the look in her eyes told Dorothy that she had earned a few extra years, probably from a battle or two.

"I do, from the Lotus Saloon, at least that's what it was called when I first got there, there are too many machines in there for it to be a saloon now," Dorothy shook her head as she realized she was rambling, "I was there with him and his sister for a while but then they disappeared from the place, where is Bianca anyways?"

A few more of her half-siblings were in the conversation with them now, solemn looks fell on some of their faces, their lips downturned in various stages of a frown. Dorothy's heart sank at their reaction to her question and she wished that she didn't ask, fearing that the answer was something that she wasn't going to like.

"She became a hunter of Artemis and died on this big mission when they were going to a mountain in California," That same girl from before answered, "Nico was nine, and it's how they found out he was the son of Hades."

Dorothy's stomach turned at the news. The Di Angelo siblings were some of the first few kids that she actually became friends with, sure, Jonathon was her age, but he was always more than a friend to her, until the train incident of course. If it wasn't for the fact that Dorothy hadn't truly eaten in 150 years, the news of Bianca's death would have turned her away from the smell of food but when the rows of girls ran past her, handing out plates of it came by, her stomach growled loudly for everyone around her to hear.

The group of them burst into laughter around her as it happened. Dorothy smiled sheepishly, but everyone was startled by the gasp that left one of the few boys that sat with them.

"She's never had soda," He stated, his hair was dark and like Dorothy, he was one of the few of the Hecate kids with brown eyes. His were round even when they weren't widened for effect.

His hair ran down to his chin and had light waves, his jaw was long, similar to Lou Ellens and Josephines and his nose went down in a slope, it was pronounced by the thick eyebrows that sat above his big brown eyes.

"Soda?" Dorothy asked.

The girls around her all seemed to now share the same expression as him, all now interested in what she has.

"Oh my gods you have to have McDonald's sprite," the first girl spoke again, Dorothy needed to learn their names before she went mad.

"I don't know who McDonald is or what sprite is, but it doesn't sound fun." Dorothy's eyes narrowed as she said this, unsure if the people around her were trying to sabotage her.

"No, Mcdonald's is a restaurant that makes the food really fast," Josephine explained. She grabbed Dorothy's goblet that was placed in front of her.

The girl held it to her mouth, her lips were close to the rim, but not enough to touch it. She whispered something to the cup and set it in front of Dorothy, leaving her to watch as the cup magically filled with a clear liquid, bubbles slowly rising to the top.

"It's boiling?" She asked, looking at her siblings, some looked excited, others amused.

"No it's carbonated," The boy answered, "It's just bubbles, try it!"

Dorothy gave him a wary eye as she brought the goblet to her lips and took a drink. She didn't mean to gasp at the feeling of the bubbles on her lips but she did, it only got worse from there as she slammed the goblet on the table, the drink sloshing over the lip of the cup and spilling onto the table. She coughed and wheezed terribly as she accidentally breathed in the drink, her lungs burned and her face scrunched up in both pain and the unfamiliar feeling of the bubbly drink.

"Are you trying to kill her?" Lou Ellen screeched from down the table, Dorothy heard this over her coughs and the laughter of the kids around her.

"Awe come on Lou, they only had like, three drinks back then, she had to have Sprite as her first drink in the twenty-first century!" The boy defended himself.

Dorothy frowned after she calmed down, furrowing her eyebrow.

"That wasn't my first drink, today," Dorothy argued, making the boy look back at her with a confused look on his face, "Annabeth gave me a plastic bottle with this clear, tasteless liquid in it."

"Do you mean water?" He asked, making Dorothy tilt her head in confusion.

"Water isn't that clear, not unless it's from the river."

A round of disgusted groans sounded out, making Dorothy's confusion settle in deeper.

"No wonder the life expectancy was thirty-five back then," Josephine muttered, "gods, how did you survive?"

"Guns."

Dorothy furrowed her eyebrows as everyone around her stood up with their plateful of food, she only noticed hers in front of her at that moment she did the same as Josephine, looking around to see that kids were gathering at the lit brazier in the center of the pavilion, scraping off a portion of their food into the flame.

"What are we doing?" Dorothy asked as she trailed after Josephine.

"We always scrape off a portion of our meal as a thank you to the gods," Josephine spoke like it was obvious, "Your father's gang was all demi-gods, they didn't practice this when you were all out gallivanting and robbing?"

"We never!" Dorothy scoffed, "we all ate what we could, we didn't get the luxury of food every day, especially out in the desert where the only thing you could hunt were tiny jackrabbits and large lizards."

Josephine's face fell at the sobering fact that the gang really was trying to survive every day. Dorothy only shrugged and looked down at her plate as they stood at the brazier. Dorothy tossed a vine full of grapes to the flame, thinking of her mother as she did. She was expecting a thank you, but considering Hera's visit to her earlier, Dorothy didn't mind the silence as she walked back to her seat.

As everyone settled down, a few ate while others talked, some kids did both. Dorothy was glad she wasn't sitting at that table. Those kids looked mean as they sat with weapons strapped to their back and hips.

Dorothy took one bite of the roast and lost her self-control after that, eating in a record time as she couldn't help but clear the plate. Something deep in her stomach settled, she didn't remember what being full felt like, she hadn't felt that for years, even before she stepped into the curse saloon. She was almost disappointed that she gave away the grapes to the flame but settled for the drink in her goblet. This time, she was better prepared for the drink that made her head fuzzy.

After a few gulps, Dorothy had to cover the burp, though that was hard, her father had taught her manners when she was young but she remembered how he felt that it didn't apply to him, especially after a good meal that Mr. Taylor would make when Dorothy brought home a deer fat enough to last the camp weeks.

If Josiah Trelawney heard the burp that came out of Dorothy, she would've been sent to sit in the tent for the night.

"Pardon me," Dorothy spoke sheepishly, her face heating up with embarrassment as her fingers tapped the table erratically. Here, her half-siblings only giggled, Josephine even let out a belch to match Dorothy. It made the girl smile as Josephine nudged her with her elbow.

"Don't be afraid to relax with us, we want you to feel welcome, you're home now," Josephine smiled.

Dorothy's heart warmed at the sentiment. The idea of not having a family was daunting to her, all she knew was her father's love and the things her mother left behind. And even though her father was no longer around, she had a cabin full of people like her. And that was more than enough.

The sentiment was ruined when it looked like Josephine bit her tongue, a gasp came from the girl's lips, and a "сука!" Dorothy only shook her head and chuckled, finding herself picking up conversations with the kids around her.

When Dorothy first arrived, she didn't know how to make heads or tails of her situation, but as she found herself conversing with those around her, she realized that maybe she could handle this new world. At least she hoped so.

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THE CAMPFIRE WAS the first thing today that didn't make Dorothy feel like she was going insane in another one of her bad dreams. Although even then, it wasn't how she traditionally had them with the gang. She remembers the nights when José had his guitar on him and how he and Jonathon sang campfire songs, despite her hatred that burned similarly to the large fire in front of her, Dorothy longed to hear Jonathon and José sing again.

Instead, she settled for the whole of the Apollo cabin singing, harps and guitars blended beautifully to compliment the song that the whole camp sang, Dorothy didn't understand the words, stuff about a grandmother getting ready for war, the Ares cabin was pointing to random armor pieces they wore to go along with the song. Dorothy was by Jason's side after Josephine shoved her over to the boy, insisting that she stay by his side with an obvious wink that made the both of them blush, though Dorothy blamed the heat of the fire instead of the way her heart skipped a beat.

The two made quick conversations, including Annabeth occasionally but it was mainly Dorothy explaining certain dynamics of her old gang. How despite Mr. Taylor and Miss Catherine being the cooks, they absolutely despised each other, and Dorothy went on about how Miss Catherine was a little too sweet on her father to be a good friend like they said they were. That made Jason chuckle. Dorothy wished Jason remembered things about himself, she would love to know about his past. How kids grew up in the 21srt century as her brother stated earlier. She didn't realize that there was a lull in the conversation until Jason cleared his throat, pulling her from her thoughts.

"So, you robbed people," Jason spoke up again, a wave of heat washed over them as the campers sang a joyful verse. The fire before them grew brighter as the colors changed from red to an orange to a beautiful shade of gold.

"Only the rich ones, or the ones that tried to rob me first," Dorothy grinned, her hat waved slightly with the hot air that blew on them. Jason grinned back as he pushed her hat back on her head, making it snugger.

"You should keep a better hold on that," Jason joked, recalling how he caught her hat earlier when they climbed out of the lake.

"Hey! It stayed on the whole time we fell and even in the lake!"

Jason laughed with Dorothy after that, the fire burned a little brighter with that. Annabeth, on the other side of him, smiled gently, Dorothy caught the knowing look in the blonde's eyes. Normally she would feel embarrassed, but she couldn't care less, she was too happy despite everything to worry about how she looked to others. She has robbed and killed at her young age, what would she care about some teenagers who didn't know her?

The amphitheater steps were carved into the side of a hill, facing a stone-lined fire pit. Fifty or sixty kids filled the rows, clustered into groups under various banners.

Finally, the song ended with a lot of rowdy applause. Chiron trotted up to the fire, a grin on his face, now that she was calm about the centaur's appearance, she could fully take in his features. He had dark, curly hair and a well-kept beard. His bottom half was a white stallion, Dorothy smiled at the fact that she knew what the breed of his bottom half looked like. He had a tight grip on a spear

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