The Little Lightning Girl

61-Familiar Scene

"Who are your parents?"

I looked down at Josie as she pestered me on the walk back to the shop that was connected to the Floo Network. Adrian walked behind me, holding up Maya as she limped along the street. Despite her injured state, Carson was practically glued to Maya's side. Like many demigods, it appeared his trust was hard won.

"How 'bout a question for a question?" I proposed to Josie, whose curious eyes sparkled up at me.

She shrugged and tossed her braid over her shoulder, "Fine."

"My mom is a doctor, my dad is Zeus. Now it's your turn. How old are you?"

Josie shrugged, "I'm ten. Are you even American?"

I laughed as we turned a street corner, "Yes, but I only stay here in the summers because my school is in England. What were you two doing on a plane by yourselves?"

The light in the girl's eyes faded just enough that I noticed it and frowned. After a moment of hesitation, I placed my hand on her shoulder in comfort. Josie glanced at my hand and I saw her notice the scars there, but to her credit, she stuck by the rules of our little game and didn't remark on them. I knew she'd seen the scars on my back too, just before I pulled my hair down from its ponytail to hide the worst ones. I'd left the bloodied scraps of my camp t-shirt buried in a street trash can, hoping it wouldn't be sniffed out by dogs or something worse.

She took a breath, "We got kicked out of school in California, so our mom sent us here to live with our aunt so we could go to another school, a military school."

I squeezed her shoulder, "I don't know if Maya told you, but lots of demigods have trouble in school. It has nothing to do with you as a person, your intelligence or anything else."

She looked up at me, hope filling those golden eyes, "Really?"

I smiled at her, then called over my shoulder, "Hey Adrian, how many elementary schools did you get kicked out of?"

He groaned but I could hear the smile on his face, "Four and a half?"

Carson laughed from behind me, "Four and a half?"

"I left one of them before they could kick me out officially," Adrian stated.

I grinned, then leaned down to say to Josie, "See? And don't tell him I said this, but he's one of the smartest people I know."

Josie smiled as I steered her into the shop. We managed to make it into the back room without being spotted by the store owner, thanks to the long line at the register. I dragged Josie and Carson into the fireplace with me, ignoring their confused protesting.

I made eye contact with Adrian before tossing him a sack of Floo Powder that I kept with me, "Remember when you go through to say it clearly or you might end up in Canada."

He saluted me with a smirk but I just rolled my eyes.

Throwing down a handful of powder, I shouted, "The Big House!"

Adrian and Maya disappeared as the green flames encompassed me and the twins. I stumbled out of the fireplace at camp and pulled Josie and Carson with me.

"Whoa! We've moved!" Carson exclaimed, looking around the Big House in wonder.

Adrian and Maya soon appeared, exiting the fireplace much more gracefully than I had.

"And who are these young ones?"

Shit, Chiron was back. He rolled towards us in his wheelchair and stopped in front of me. I mean, sooner or later the guy had to notice that there were two new campers hanging around, but I'd hoped to be able to have time to think about how to explain what had happened. Indeed, it was to me that his eyes turned. But bless her, Maya limped forward to speak.