Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　　 . ✦　　　 　˚　　　　 . ★⋆.

　　　.   　　˚　　 　　*　　 　　✦　　　.　　.　　　✦　˚ 　　　　 ˚　.˚　　　　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　 　　 　　　　 ✦

  Ever since he was young, Jorah has wondered what it would be like to be great. He wanted so many things; to be good at school, to meet his dad, to have more friends, to be better for his mom, to have everything, to know everything.

  Needless to say, he was curious.

  Jorah Sunne was a curious boy with a curious, curious mind. He often wondered who his father was, why his sister didn’t have the same father he did, why his mother never told him much about his father.

  The first ten years of his life, he didn’t know anything about who his father was – or more specifically, what his father was.

  He had been at the park when a weird-looking caterpillar had come up to him. The thing had turned out not to be a caterpillar, instead being a kerastes (don’t worry, he didn’t know what they were at the time, either).

  Kerastai were spineless serpents with the horns of a ram, they kind of reminded him of horned vipers but a little more deadly for demigods.

  Demigods!

  That’s what he was talking about. Jorah didn’t know he was a demigod until he was ten, the day he got saved by a glowing kid being the day he found out.

  Jorah hadn’t known what to do about a snake attacking him, deciding to scream bloody murder. A boy a few years older than him had seen (or probably heard) him and rushed to help him.

  The boy had taken out a sword before stabbing the serpent. Jorah, stunned into silence, had gaped at him, making the boy snort. “Lee Fletcher, fourteen years old,” he introduced.

  “I’m Jorah Sunne,” he’d stuttered back. “I’m ten.”

  Lee had smiled, asking him about the monster and what he had seen, he had also given Jorah a business card and asked him to go home and ask his mother to take him to a summer camp on Long Island.

  Before he left, Lee told him about the gods, gave him the cliff notes version of how Jorah came to be and Lee explained that his father was the god of the sun, that being the reason he glowed earlier.

. ݁₊⊹ . ݁˖🔅˖. ݁⊹₊. ݁

  Fast forward two years, Jorah had fully moved into camp, being claimed by Apollo a week after arriving. He loved his siblings (Lee, Michael, Will, Austin, and Kayla), loved his cosy little bed in cabin seven, and loved the friends he’d made at camp. Jorah was twelve and the winter solstice was near. Everyone in camp was excited for it.

  It was Jorah’s first trip with camp, since he hadn’t been at camp for the last summer solstice and he hadn’t been at camp full-time before, but he didn’t mind. He had been home to celebrate his birthday with his mom, his mom’s boyfriend, and his sister, Celeste.

  But now was the time he was going to see Olympus, where the gods lived. Maybe he’d see his dad, maybe he could talk to him, maybe he’d even be able to get a hug! By the time they had arrived at the Empire State Building, Jorah was vibrating with excitement, Lee laying a hand on his shoulder to keep him in place.

  “Calm down, Jorah,” his brother told him, unable to keep a smile off his face.

  “I’m calm,” he replied, still vibrating. “I’m so calm!”

  It didn’t look like his brother believed him, if his face were anything to go off of, but Jorah wasn’t deterred; his father was so close by. When Kheiron got the card from the person at the front desk and opened the elevator, Jorah was pulled back by the hand still on his shoulder.

  “The cabin has to stay together, Jorah,” Lee reminded him. Jorah thought of making up an excuse to get to the elevator earlier, but knew that Lee wouldn't budge, so he huffed and turned to Will, striking up a conversation about chickens.

  Lee nudged them when it was finally their turn to get into the elevator, which he didn’t need to do twice; Jorah took off immediately. “Hey!” Lee yelled, trying to get their siblings in before the doors closed (Jorah had been lectured for clicking the button before everyone was inside).

  The feeling of going up wasn’t a pleasant one, Jorah thought. He distracted himself by wondering what Olympus would look like. He wondered if there were statues, and if so, what they looked like. He wondered if the gods had houses on Olympus – actually, did gods have houses? They had temples, but Jorah had never heard of a god having a house.

  When the doors opened, Jorah’s thoughts came to a stop.

  It was beautiful.

  Will tugging on his arm snapped him out of it, looking at his eight year old brother, Jorah remembered what they were here to do.

  Following Kheiron and the other campers around, Jorah tried to listen to the things the kentaur was telling them, but it was difficult to pay attention with everything around him.

  (Seriously, hadn’t Kheiron been teaching demigods for thousands of years now? He had to know by now that they had ADHD.)

  Eventually, they walked past Apollo’s temple – he was pretty sure there were no houses – and Jorah, like everyone would do, stood up on his tippy toes, trying to see if his father was there.

  He wasn't. Which was totally expected, but it still kind of hurt.

  While Jorah was quietly sulking, the tour continued and eventually came to a close. Before they left, Kheiron did a headcount, making sure everyone came back safely.

  On the way back to camp, clouds started swirling in the sky. They assumed it would go back to normal, so everyone ignored it, though Kheiron frowned thoughtfully.

. ݁₊⊹ . ݁˖🔅˖. ݁⊹₊. ݁

  The weather did not go back to normal, instead it only got worse. The Apollo cabin had to celebrate Lee’s birthday inside – that’s almost like treason. It could be a whole article: Kids Of The Sun God Can’t Go Outside For Brother’s Birthday Because It Was Storming.

  Jorah shuddered thinking back to the sorry excuse of a birthday. It was June now, and the weather had somehow gotten even worse. It was obvious the Lord of the Sky was mad, but nobody knew why.

  The weather was horrible, the past days it had been thundering all around camp and many of the little kids had been waking up due to it.

  Working in the infirmary meant being there whenever anyone was brought in, so Jorah was one of the first ones to see the new kid. There had been whispers going around about how he had killed the minotaur without a weapon, but no one really believed it. Jorah had to help Lee look the kid over, before being sent off to bed.

  He slept through the night, only woken up by Michael who said Lee had asked for him.

Chapter Text

˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　　 . ✦　　　 　˚　　　　 . ★⋆.

　　　.   　　˚　　 　　*　　 　　✦　　　.　　.　　　✦　˚ 　　　　 ˚　.˚　　　　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　 　　 　　　　 ✦

  Jorah woke up with Michael hovering over his bed. “What—”

  “You need to go to the Big House, Lee’s waiting for you. He said that the new kid was doing pretty well right now, so he wanted to have you help with some things.” Michael sounded out of breath, his hair ruffled by the wind.

  After shooing away his brother, Jorah got dressed. On his way to the Big House, he passed Annabeth, who was sitting outside on the porch. He tilted his head at her, what are you doing here? To which she frowned and raised her nose: None of your business. Jorah sighed, entering the infirmary.

  “What are you sighing about this time, Jorah?” Lee teased, smiling at his little brother. How Lee had come to the conclusion that Jorah was someone who sighed a lot was a mystery to him. It wasn’t like Jorah sighed every time he sat down — okay, maybe he did, but he had old person bones! He couldn’t help it — or whenever he messed up at archery — it was valid to sigh when disappointed! Not that he did — or… Actually, maybe he really did sigh a lot.

  “Nothing in particular,” Jorah responded. “Did you know Annabeth’s sitting out there?”

  Now Lee was the one to sigh, “I’m trying to keep her out of the infirmary, since she is rather… intense and I’d rather Percy not wake up to her questioning him after a concussion.”

  Percy. “Is that his name?”

  Lee made a confused noise, looking up from where he was crossing something off his to-do list. “Huh? Oh, yes, it is. Could you please get some nectar for when he wakes up?” At Jorah’s nod, Lee turned back to his paper.

  With his new mission, Jorah walked toward the cabinet where they kept the food of the gods. He poured some nectar in the glass (he’d debated whether or not he should use a plastic cup, but ended up having faith in the kid that had beaten the minotaur) he’d picked and walked back to the bed Percy was in.

  For the next twenty minutes, he helped around the infirmary. He cleaned some things, put some stuff out for convenience, and — mostly he just cleaned. At some point, Lee had excused himself to bed, making sure to inform Jorah that ‘should anything go wrong, call Kheiron or me.’

  Yeah, sure. Like anything would go wrong. Other than something happening to one of the campers, or to the new kid, or to Jorah, or—

  Percy was waking up!

  Jorah heard him smack his lips together and mumble something about barnyard animals and food. Jorah went to help Percy drink from the glass, since he didn’t look conscious enough to do it on his own, when the door opened.

  Annabeth walked in, immediately looking at Percy, “What will happen at the summer solstice?”

  “What?” Percy croaked.

  She walked closer, “What’s going on? What was stolen? We’ve only got a few weeks!”

  “Annabeth, leave him alone,” said Jorah. He’d been so stunned at her forwardness that he hadn’t thought of asking her to leave.

  She jumped, “I didn’t see you there, Jorah.” She tried to smile, but it came out more as a grimace.

  “You should leave the patients alone,” he got out, hoping he didn’t sound as annoyed as he was. Well, this was probably what she’d been sitting outside for.

  “I’m sorry,” Percy mumbled, catching both of their attentions, “I don’t…” His eyes closed just as Jorah grabbed Annabeth by the arm to drag her out of the infirmary.

  “Let go of me,” Annabeth hissed as soon as they were outside.

  Jorah cocked an eyebrow, “Why? You were interrogating one of my patients. I know for a fact you’ve been told that you cannot do that.”

  Annabeth’s cheeks puffed up in embarrassment. She looked at the floor, “Just let me go, I’ll go back to cabin six.”

  He stared at her for a moment, studying her face. He didn’t think she was lying — which was great, because, hello? Child of the god of truth? — but he was still hesitant to just let her leave.

  “Make sure you never do that again,” he told her. “If you do, I’ll know and I haven’t decided what I’ll do yet, but know it’s not gonna be in your favour.” Now, a twelve-year-old isn’t that scary, but when that twelve-year-old is responsible for keeping you healthy…

  She nodded, leaving as soon as she could.

. ݁₊⊹ . ݁˖🔅˖. ݁⊹₊. ݁

  The next time Percy was awake, Argos had to come tell Jorah, because Percy had been moved outside.

  By the time Jorah arrived at the porch, he was huffing and puffing. He wasn’t even sure Percy had seen him yet. That thought was confirmed when he jumped at Jorah’s voice.

  “Here, I’ve got a glass of nectar for you.” Percy must’ve been too tired to say anything, because he kept quiet. His eyes widened at the taste of his drink. Jorah was quite curious what the nectar had tasted like to him. “What does it taste like?”

  “You’ve never had it?”

  “Oh, no, I have, but it tastes different to everyone,” Jorah explained. He saw Grover on his way to the Big House.

  “Chocolate-chip cookies,” Percy said. “My mom’s. Homemade.”

  Jorah hummed, “You must love her a lot.”

  Percy furrowed his eyebrows, “What does that mean—”

  “Hey, Percy!” Grover bleated. Percy turned toward his friend, his brow smoothing out.

  “Dude! How are you doing?”

  “You saved my life,” Grover started, confusing Jorah before he remembered that Grover had been there when Percy defeated the minotaur. “I… Well, the least I could do… I went back to the hill. I thought you might want this.” He handed Percy a shoebox.

  When Percy opened it, his face went blank — bad sign — “The Minotaur,” he said.

  “Um, Percy, it isn’t a good idea—”

  “That’s what they call him in the Greek myths, isn’t it?” Percy demanded. “The Minotaur. Half man, half bull.”

  Grover shifted uncomfortably. “You’ve been out for two days. How much do you remember?”

  “My mom. Is she really…”

  Grover looked down. Jorah stood a bit closer to Percy, offering a hand, smiling slightly when Percy took it. Percy stared at the nature around them.

  “I’m sorry,” Grover sniffled. “I’m a failure. I’m—I’m the worst satyr in the world.”

  He stomped his foot so hard it came off. Well, the Converse hi-top came off. The inside was filled with Styrofoam, except for a hoofshaped hole.

  “Oh, Styx!” he mumbled.

  Thunder rolled across the clear sky.

  Percy’s hand tightened around Jorah’s as Grover struggled to get his shoe back on his hoof.

  “It wasn’t your fault,” Percy said when they’d been listening to Grover’s sniffling for almost three minutes.

  “Yes, it was. I was supposed to protect you.”

  “Did my mother ask you to protect me?”

  “No. But that’s my job. I’m a keeper. At least…I was.”

  “But why…” Percy’s hold slackened and his head tilted forward slightly.

  Jorah rushed to get the glass back to Percy's mouth, “Be careful.”

  Percy quickly drained the glass. “How do you feel?” Grover asked.

  “Like I could throw Nancy Bobofit a hundred yards.” The corners of Percy’s mouth lifted as he joked with his friend.

  “That’s good,” he said. “That’s good. I don’t think you could risk drinking any more of that stuff.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It’s nectar,” Jorah broke in. “If you drink too much, you’ll burn up.”

  Percy’s eyes widened, and he mouthed ‘what?’, looking as though he was in his own world.

  Grover rolled his shoulders, “Come on. Chiron and Mr. D are waiting.”

  Jorah decided to leave Grover and Percy on their own for the talk. He was tired and it wasn’t his business.

. ݁₊⊹ . ݁˖🔅˖. ݁⊹₊. ݁

  It was only when he got pushed out of the way by Annabeth, that Jorah decided to look back at the Big House.

  The sky was clear — truly a wonder — and the campers were doing whatever activity they wanted to do at the moment (most of the kids were playing volleyball). On the porch were Kheiron, Mr. D, Grover, and Percy stood. They seemed to be talking, but even from where Jorah was, he could see the discomfort Percy was in.

  Sighing to himself, Jorah walked toward Cabin Seven.

  Once there, he greeted Lee and Will, who were both sitting on the floor doing various things — Lee was looking through a book and Will was making friendship bracelets, colouring a drawing of camp, and ‘bandaging’ a stuffed bear. (Don’t ask Jorah how Will was doing all of this at the same time, he just chalked it all up to being Texan and a pre-teen.)

  Jorah plopped down on his bed, closing his eyes with the thought: luckily I’ll be able to have at least thirty minutes of rest.