Clover With Thorns.

A Hurricane, a Loaded Gun, and a High Pain Tolerance.

My name is Mauve Jo Wiley. And I am a half-blood.

Look, I'm not happy about it either. I didn't even believe it at first.

But there's a lot of things in my life that make me wonder about what's real and what's not.

I've never been extremely concerned about my luck. In fact, I had only really noticed it a few months ago, when a hurricane struck my hometown and caused some massive damage. To basically everywhere. Except my house.

The hurricane was a category five. The big kind. Everyone shuffled to get out of town, out of the state, even. But..my grandmother insisted on staying. That she believed it would pass.

Of course, as I wouldn't have been telling you this story if not, it did. Went directly over my house. It was weird, seeing my destroyed neighborhood and school, next to my completely unscathed house. It was like divine intervention.

That's when I noticed the luck. The money I would find on the ground, or the fact my favorite songs would always come on when I was listening to the radio. The way strangers treated me. The four leaf clovers or face-up pennies. The rainbows and bigger halves of a wishbone.

I never thought of myself as lucky until the aftermath of that storm. Honestly, I thought the opposite of myself. I didn't exactly grow up in Disneyland.

For example, my father shot himself when I was three. I don't know why, and I'm not planning to learn. What I do know, is that I found the body. Gross, I know, but who loads a gun and shoots themself with their three year old daughter at home?

And so I moved in with my grandmother. It was nice, of course. But she's begun to not be able to take care of herself. So it's kind of just me and her dog, Moose.

I don't hate my life. Don't get that impression of me. I get that there's kids who have it worse. But I sometimes wish it had gone a little differently, you know?

By saying I wished for something different, I did not mean what happened next.

My grandmother was on her chair in the den, mindlessly listening to the news. I had enough of the anchor's annoying voice and decided to take a walk outside. I was met by a..weird.. wait, no, absurd sight. It was some crazy stuff.

The first thing I saw were his legs. The hairy, disfigured legs. Knees did not bend that way.

It was when we made eye contact that I saw the horns. They were small, poking above his curly brown hair. I thought I was dreaming.

A goat man was at my doorstep.

"Hi, Mauve." He smiled. "I'm Finch."

My immediate instinct was to run, but curiosity got the best of me. And so I responded.

"Hey..F..Finch? How do you know my name? And..sorry if this is rude, what's wrong with your legs?"

He falters. "You don't know?"

Yeah, dude. Obviously I don't know. This feels like a dream. That's what I wanted to say. I actually said.

"Know what?"

Unfortunately, as bad as I wanted to scream and run away from the adult man on my front porch, the people pleaser in me needed to continue the conversation.

Finch smiled. "It's a long story.. I'm surprised nobody has told you."

"Tell me what? I'm..really confused."

His smile falters, but he keeps it upheld for the most part. "Seriously? They didn't tell you anything?... why don't we take a walk?"

My brain was screaming stranger danger. I didn't like anything about this. But I could sense something about him. He didn't pose a threat.

And so I decided to walk.

"Okay.. let's go down to the boardwalk."

It took a few minutes, but we got there. Finch trodded with his goat hooves (still not sure what that's about) and I walked alongside him, carefully.

"Listen to me carefully." He spoke.

"All ears." I smiled.

"You, Mauve Wiley, are a demigod." He said it slowly, like I needed to process each word.

"What?" I laughed and continued walking. "No I'm not."

"But you are. One of your parents, is a god or goddess."

For some reason, my every instinct believed him. "You're right."

"I know."

"What god?" I questioned.

"That..I'm not so sure. But I can try to narrow it down. Who's your mortal parent? If you..have a biological parent you know of."

"My dad." I frowned.

"So, your mom is a goddess?"

"Yeah."

"Well, Mauve, I'll tell you what. The best way to find out is by coming with me."

"..where?"

"To camp." He threw me an orange t-shirt that read 'CAMP HALF-BLOOD'.

"No thanks." I gave the t-shirt back.

"Wh- what? No, Mauve, this..isn't really a choice. Well, I guess it could be. But the choice would be life or death."

"But what about my grandmother? And her dog?"

"..Mauve-"

"You want me to leave my family to go to some camp?"

"You could still visit them."

"No! They need me!"

"Please, listen to me." Finch sighed. "You'll die out here, Mauve. Camp is a safe space for people like you. Where monsters can't get you."

"There's monsters after me?"

I wasn't quite worried about the monsters for myself. I had a high pain tolerance, and was a decent runner..and hider..yeah, I couldn't fight. But, I would be fine. It was my grandmother..on the other hand..that I was worried about.

"Unfortunately." Finch continued, "But they can't reach you at camp. You'll be perfectly fine. Just come with me."
He attempted to pass me the shirt again.

And this time I took it.

"Fine."