The Girl of A Thousand Colors [UNDERGOING MASS EDITS]

Chapter 4:

Iris Pov
After three days of camp, I'm a little bit surprised. Even with the numerous descriptions I'd read, I'd comprehended them but never really visualized them. The cabins are so homely and unique, and the Big House is so, well, big. And all the mythical creatures! Every time I see them I want to pinch myself! Sometimes I actually do, and it's really annoying. My hair turns this curious, amazing color sometimes just thinking about them-- aquamarine with a gray stripe. My eyes are a grayer shade of the same color.
I don't know why I haven't been claimed yet, but I hope it's soon. Percy had the gods promise to claim their children until... How long? Before I turn thirteen. So three years. Ouch.
So far, Nico is the only one to know I have power over the dead. I've been having lessons with him since that first day. He says I'm a natural at this Hades stuff. Which is good, I just hope I'll never have to use it.
Jonas, Percy, and Nico were the first to know the complete of my lessons. Nico bore this far-off, unreadable stare into the ground, and grunted. Percy beamed at how powerful I was, until the smile melted off of his face. Maybe knew that I was in enough danger given Poseidon's history and my powers from that branch of the family. Percy had been brought so much trouble already, to heritage alone. Maybe he'd realized that should it be an even stronger force on the godly side... That could have unimaginable effects. That, and the fact that I could no longer be his half-sister. But really, I couldn't blame his beaming for going out of light. He would be lonely in his cabin- but then, he's barely in it anyway. Being the only member of his cabin, a well-known hero, and a demigod, he had a schedule. At least he's out of chores from the last Capture the Flag game.
Anyway, about Jonas (sometimes my mind does this thing where it wanders and gets lost and take the train of thought back home, but occasionally I can't find it, so I take the yellow brick road instead). Jonas was a little... Distant. He hasn't been on too many missions, he told me. I'm his fourth. And his third successful mission.
Annabeth also tells me the Hunters are coming to visit soon. Cool! I'll get to meet the famous Thalia! Percy teases her sometimes when I'm around. Talks about how he can't wait to see her reunite with all her "pine cone pals", whatever that means.
Annabeth calls me over.
"There's one thing that puzzles me," she says. "You say that you never met your father, and your mother abandoned you at four." She looks to me. I nod. She continues. "But if your mom is Iris, she wouldn't have stayed with you for four years. And if you never met your dad, there's the possibility that your dad is the godly parent. So, I made this." Annabeth brings out a diagram. It shows the Olympians and many minor gods. All of them bear small post-it notes with words words words scrawled on them. "These are most of the gods," she says. "The red post-it's mean they can't be your godly parent. The ones with green post-it's are the ones most likely to be your godly parent. The rest are possibilities, in blue, and random notes and information are in plain yellow." She tells me about her calculations for a while, until it is time for my daily lessons with Nico. I tell Annabeth she could tell me more later, and that I have something I need to do-which is true, thank goodness, because I could never lie to her.
I should tell her about my lessons. She could find out who my godly parent (if I have one) is. But I want to keep my Hades powers a secret.
If she discovered I was so closely related to death, then what would she think? What would any of them think? She didn't want to become like Nico had: an introverted, gloomy hermit (no offense, Nico).
I arrive at the small place where Nico and I have our practice. Nico isn't there. No problem, I think. He could be busy. With what, I have no idea, but I know enough that it's none of my business.
After a couple minutes, I begin to wander. I haven't had much time to explore the woods lately. Mostly I've hut been trying to juggle training and the classes they have here at camp (Ancient Greek Fluency, Monster Donestication, History with the Myths, Survival Skills, Magic and Science... and the like). It's a lot of fun, but a lot of commitment, too. Isn't that how it always is?
I stumble across a clearing. From following the river north (the safest path without getting lost--I learned that yesterday), I find a boulder by it and a field. On the boulder sits Nico. Tears rain down his cheeks onto the ground. In his hand is a picture of a girl with long black hair and beautiful big dark eyes like Nico's. She waves cheerily at the camera with one hand, the other around a smiling younger boy- her brother. Nico, I think. And Bianca. When she was alive and happy and there for him and nobody else was. The two of them, for so very very long. And then--
I pause my train of thought so as not to drown myself in misery or morbidity. After a moment, I sit down next to him. I hug him, and he leans into my embrace. "Sister?" I ask.
He nods. I look at his face. He doesn't look back. Maybe he feels lonely, and maybe he feels guilty. "You still have a family, you know," I say. "Percy, Annabeth, Chiron, Thalia. Me. Us." he shakes his head wordlessly and continues to cry. I wish I had better social skills. "Well, then maybe I can be your sister, too."
Softer, I murmur, "Just like they are,"
Nico's tears take a little while to dry up, but when they do he looks at me curiously. "What do you mean--"
"I'll go get you some of my water." I interrupt. He'll ask more questions, I know, but I'd rather get on with the lesson already.
Nico takes the hint that it's more than context clues, and clams up. He sits while I retrieve my new Camp Half-Blood water bottle (the Stolls stole it for me as a welcome gift, being as thoughtful as they are).
Nico gulps down half my water bottle before he stops for air. Then he stands, summons a pile of bones, and teaches me about I learn a lot about the history of bones (i.e. oracle bones) and how to summon them and blah blah blah, but at least we try to make the boring, depressing stuff more fun with some well-placed puns. Nico's got a lot of backbone telling all of these spine-splitting jokes; he really cracked me up. For example.
I can't get away for long from his curiosities for too long, though. Sometime when I'm sorting animal bones from human ones, Nico brings up the subject that's my most sore.
"So you really don't know who your birth family is? No clue?"
I put down a tiny animal bone. "I--first, can you keep a secret?" "A secret? Of course." "Then I have a couple hints."
I sit with my back against a tree. Nico sits in front of me, so that his Hades aura wouldn't affect the tree or wither it.
"I'm no Iris child, of course. Iris kids can't summon skeletons. I can charmspeak, summon the dead, control water, I'm fireproof, etcetera. But I don't think I can do anything too big. I think I'd burn out if I tried to bring down a thunderbolt.
Then the horn sounds, signaling dinner.

A/N: Time Lapse of 5 minutes, at the Pavilion.

Percy Pov (The one you've been waiting for!)

As I scrape my food into the fire, I glance around. Iris isn't there. Then I see her. She's walking towards me from the forest. She and Nico are deep in conversation. I wonder what they're talking about, but as soon as I'm in earshot, they stop talking and notice me. Nico tells Iris, "I'll meet you in my cabin later." and then he leaves. "What was that about?" I ask. Iris shrugs. "Nothing important." I have a sneaking suspicion that it's more than she's letting on, but I don't push her. Iris brightens. "I'm hungry! Let's eat!" she grabs my hand and drags me over to the pavilion. She picks up her plate, scrapes off a portion of her meal, and plops down next to me. I'm confused. Shouldn't she be sitting with the Hermes cabin? After all, she hasn't been claimed yet. As if reading my mind, Iris says, "I told Chiron that I want to get to know the other campers, to see if I'm one of them. I sat with Annabeth the first day, the Stolls on the second, and now I'm sitting with you." "Oh." I can't help but feel dissapointed. It would be nice to know that she would be sitting with me for more than a day. It gets lonely being the only one in your cabin and table. Iris notices my dismay. "Oh, don't mope. I'll be coming here more than once even when I get claimed." she tells me. I light up. Iris laughs and gestures to her food. "Aren't you eating?" I smile and dig in. With my mouth full, I ask, "Faht if goffy fareht?" (A/N: "What is godly parent?") I swallow. Iris giggles. "I don't know yet. Annabeth has a chart this big" -she puts down her fork and extends her hands widely-"about who she thinks it is. She says there's a slim chance that it's Iris, but the immortal is probably my dad." Her dad? She could be a Poseidon kid! But how would she charmspeak? "Do you have any seperate theories?" I question.
She gulps. She turns a bright violet. She doesn't want to tell me, I can tell. She tells me about having Hades lessons with Nico and being similar to Pandora.
It's kind of hard to take in, especially since I wouldn't imagine the bright and colorful Iris bunking with doom-and-gloom Nico. I don't have anything against that, of course, but their personalities are so starkly different I'm surprised that Miss Taste-the-Rainbow can summon the dead.
The dead. With Happy Meals.
Oh spirit, accept my fries!
But that was dollar menu!
Shhhh! Nobody needs to know!
And her being like Pandora--since Pandora is made of clay, I wouldn't have thought anything as colorful as Iris would be a big pile of rock in the shape of a human. Wasn't Pandanpra created to wreak havoc and punish the humans and Prometheus. Iris can't be that heartless.
But anyway, when she's done telling her story, I nod. She asks that I keep this a secret. "You can't tell a soul, alright? Not Annaveth, or Grover, or Chiron. Not anyone."
I understand her wanting to keep this a secret. If it were me, I'd want it too. "I won't. But if they somehow find out, don't blame me." I tell her. Iris nods in understanding. We eat the rest of dinner in silence. We keep our thoughts to ourselves, even though I'm practically bursting with questions. When I finally decide on one, I ask, "How do you keep track of what your hair and eye color change to?" Iris's fork clatters to the plate. She pulls a tiny notebook out of the shoulder bag she's always carrying around. She sets the tiny thing on the table. The whole thing is a chart. There are four categories. "Hair color, Eye color, Highlight, Emotion." Iris says. I stare in amazement at how full the small book is. Pages after pages after pages of small calligraphy. Pencil, drawn over in different colors of pen. Anxiety, Sadness, Excitement, you name it, it was there. Then I frown. Something is missing. Anger. I hesitate before asking, "Um... Have you ever gotten angry?" Iris sighs and shakes her head. "No, I have never gotten angry, although sometimes I wish I could." Im surprised, because I'd have thought someone had at the very least stolen her ice cream. But no anger, not tantrums, no terrible twos--it was really surprising. Iris notes my shock. "I get that reaction a lot." she informs. I'm significantly less surprised. "Do you really think you were blessed like Pandora?" Unexpectedly, she shakes her head. "No." "Then how else do you explain the power?" Iris calmly puts her notebook back into her purse. "I can't tell you." She picks up her tray and stand up. "At least, not yet." She drops her plate and tray into their places for washing and recycling. Then she leaves. I shake my head.
But I know that I may never know.