Mostly Normal: Only Half of the Story

(Elliot) Act Four, Scene One

Elliot's mismatched eyes slid open. For a second he thought he was in his bed, but then he noticed sky above him and a cool breeze playing through his white-blond hair. The twelve-year-old camper tried to sit up to better see his surroundings, but a pair of cool, gentle hands pushed him back down. A quiet girl's voice said, "Elliot, isn't it?"

Elliot tried to answer, but all that came out of his mouth was a groan. The girl (Elliot couldn't see her face) chuckled slightly. "It's okay, Elliot," she said, "you're fine. Safe. And hopefully yourself again." she chuckled again, a dry sound. "Because if I had to hear another swear word out of your mouth I'd drop dead."

Elliot blinked, stunned. He'd been in that mode? He couldn't remember anything in the past couple of hours. He opened his mouth to say something.

"Unnnnhmmmgh," he managed. The girl bent over him, concerned, and Elliot could finally see her face.

She had shiny dark hair in a pixie cut and soft brown eyes. Her smile was concerned and vaguely sad, though Elliot didn't know why. He blinked at the girl, unable to do much more.

The girl smiled her strange, sad smile again. "I'm Hanna Frank. Daughter of Apollo. My mom's Danish but I'm from the States myself. I'm fourteen years old, this is my third year at camp."

Elliot gave her a questioning look, and she shrugged. "Thought you might want to know the specifics, little man," she said with a wink, "you look like a curious kid. You're twelve, right? Do all the Romans do that weird fine and then swearing thing?"

Elliot shook his head as best he could, wondering why he'd never noticed this chatty Apollo girl before. Now that he thought about it, Hanna wore bright clothing and neon orange glasses. He was even more confused. Did she have a cap of invisibility, like Annabeth, or something? She seemed to like attention, which didn't make any sense either.

"Hanna, lay off the poor kid," said a boy's voice, "you're talking his ear off, and he's only just woken up. Go practice sword fighting or something, will you? I'll take over."

Hanna reluctantly stood up and walked away. A familiar face replaced her, and Elliot managed a smile. "Hey, Will," he tried to say, but all that came out of his mouth was "Ungh."

Will Solace smiled slightly and looked closer at Elliot. He smoothed a sticking-up lock of the twelve-year-old's hair, which was still a little bit damp from his earlier shower.

"Would you mind explaining to me why you and your siblings were acting like that?" Will asked as he dried his hands off with a towel.

Elliot frowned. "We all have MPD, and those were our worst personalities. Ara's death took a large toll on us," Elliot explained with a shrug.

Will's expression became thoughtful. "Well," he said, "for one thing, I'm glad you can actually say stuff again, and for another, why didn't you just tell us about your MPD when you first got here?"

Elliot shrugged again. "I guess we were worried about people laughing at us," he said, "or acting weird and pitying. We can take care of ourselves."

"Like you took care of yourselves earlier?" Will asked skeptically. Elliot sighed.

"Okay," he said, "pretty sure that was a one-time thing. All of us succumbing to our worst personalities at once? That doesn't usually happen."

Madeline sat up with a groan, "What on Olympus happened to us?" she asked as she pulled her bubble-gum pink hair out of her multicolored eyes.

"I- oh Gods," Rio swore as he puked next to the side of his bed, though there was next to nothing in his stomach so it was close to a dry-heave.

"Are you okay, Rio?" Will asked, turning to face the thirteen-year-old, "you were pretty deep in that personality."

Rio took a shaky breath and ran his fingers through his red hair. "I don't know yet," he managed, "I feel kind of sick."

Madeline scowled, though she looked a bit sick herself. "I repeat," she said, sounding peeved, "what on Olympus happened to us?"

Elliot tried to sit up and immediately regretted it, following his brother's example and dry-heaving over the side of his narrow bed. Will patted him on the shoulder and turned to Madeline. "You were acting like a four-year-old, Madeline," he said, "saying something about leaf piles."

Madeline went even paler and clutched her stomach. "MPD," she muttered, "oh my gods, I'm sorry. It's shock and grief."

"Elliot told me earlier that this was triggered because of the loss of Ara, is that correct?" Will half asked, half stated. A tall boy then entered the tent.

"Madeline? Are you okay?" the older girl's boyfriend asked from the doorway. Nora sat up with a gasp and began to rock back and forth in her bed. Rio stood up and walked over to his younger sister, leaving the older one to deal with Fred alone.

Elliot stood and bolted out of the tent, only barely keeping what was in his stomach down. He ran for his spot in the woods, where he knew that hewould be there.