𝙄𝙉𝙁𝙇𝘼𝙈𝙀𝘿; heroes of olympus

mr. spock

ERITH JAY

ERITH JAY HAD two parents, one of which loved her and one of which wished she didn't live there. She had two half-siblings. She had a mother that caressed her cheek and tucked her in at night and cried in the other room and she had a stepfather who tried to forget that her existence was a danger.

Erith held nothing against her stepfather. She understood that her existence was something of a mystery to him and her two half-siblings, who were eight and twelve by now. Erith also understood that she couldn't remain. There were things planned for her, and she had to go.

Erith's mother was a gardener, a ray-of-sunshine person who tried to bury her emotions. They were too strong, though, they burst through the seams of her well put-together surface and caused her to stumble and fall and crash and burn everything.

Erith found herself contemplating her father since she had been claimed a few months ago. He was Apollo, god of the sunshine, and she supposed she could see it in her siblings. She could grasp why he had fallen for her mother for two brief months. He was too emotional, too cracked up. He was too charming and too easily grasped, and too easily lost. Her mother loved that.

After Apollo she had found some sort of commitment in herself and met Benjamin Lov, a man with dark brown hair and even darker brown eyes. He had entranced her mother easily. She wanted commitment and she found herself lost in Benjamin. They had two kids together, Erith's half siblings. One was named Dominick, he was twelve and brusquely rude, but not when it came to Erith. He knew something was different about Erith. He feared her, and she wasn't sure if she got disgust or satisfaction out of it.

The other was named Rhine. He was just eight, and he didn't mind Erith as much as Dominick did. She locked herself in her bedroom alone quite often though, so it wasn't like they had any sort of solid relationship.

She had her life, and her family had theirs. That was how it had always been.

Her mother's name was Hope Jay, which Erith thought was a sort of stupid name, although she never said it out loud. Her mother was too kind to her, too accepting, too willing, too wanting. "Stay, stay, stay," she had pleaded for years, and years, and years. But Erith had to stop staying eventually. Five months ago she and her mother had gone out and she had pleaded with her to let her go.

Her mother had been pained, but had eventually given in. "You'll be safe, right?"

"I'll be safe," Erith had promised. The words already tasted bitter against her tongue, as if her voice knew it was a lie as well as she did.

But Erith knew what she was: a demigod. And demigods were never safe.

So she left. She said goodbye to Rhine, and hugged her mother tightly. And then she was gone.

She lived in New Jersey. It took her a few weeks to get to camp, which included hijacking cars and a lot of monster fights. By the time she arrived, she was trembling, exhausted, bruised and cut in a dozen places.

But she had made it. That was enough.

She had been claimed nearly as soon as she had passed the border. Of course it was Apollo, and of course it made sense: Erith had always been something of a witch when she sang, and she had always been warm and affectionate, and she had always been good at calculating the distance of how hard she'd need to throw something. Her instrumental talent was up there, too.

It had been five months at camp. She had grown to get to know her siblings, and she liked them, for the most part. They treated her well, which she felt was undeserved, but how could she complain when there were finally people that accepted her?