I just remembered a post, where someone said, that Orphanages in the Wizarding World (Harry Potter) are probably in The Know™ because many Wizards & Witches died during the Voldemort Era, leaving their children as orphans and so I must think...
Could the same be applied to CPS in the Riordanverse?
Because when we really think that CHB is a pyramid scheme (no phones>no social network outside of CHB>being stuck in CHB>having to train>going on a quest > dying & ensuring that demigods could never overthrow the gods), then it wouldn't be a surprise.
I mean, everyone knows that CPS isn't always doing the BEST job (or at least could one say that about the German CPS...) but think about it.
Where was CPS when Jason Grace, a two year old just vanished and right after, Thalia Grace, his twelve year old sister? Or when the seven year old Annabeth Chase run away? There must be hundreds of children that just "run away" at a very young age, don't they wonder?
I have ideas how CPS might be influenced for looking away.
- Adult demigods recognize the signs of other demigods and manipulate the mist, so that the mortals don't notice anything
- Mortals in higher positions are in The Know
- Some minor gods are punished the same Dionysus is, just that they have to work at CPS
Summary: Ripley Curbello's father always told her how she was born of the night sky. As it turns out, he was telling her the truth. She is the Daughter of Nyx, Greek Goddess of the Night. After Ripley's father is killed, she is sent on the run. She is all alone but not for long. She finds Annabeth Chase, Thalia Grace, and Luke Castellan. All four of them lost their families or were rejected. All four were alone, but they found love and family together. It was the four of them against the world and Ripley thought it always would be. Ripley must grapple with finding a family, losing them, and her fear of herself. All rational people are afraid of the dark, and Ripley is not different.
Fandom: Percy Jackson
Read on AO3 here
Part 2/14
Chapter Two: Boy, That Sure Was Weird
The running never seemed to stop. No sooner had I outran the cyclops than I heard the roars of something else. I ran straight out of the city, leaving nothing but a trail of tears behind me.
I thought in the woods around the city I would be safe, but it seemed like the monsters only got worse. The first creature I met in those woods would also be the last. It was something straight out of my nightmares, or straight out of the mythology books my Papa used to read. The lion head was the first to see me, roaring to get the attention of its goat half. As soon as they both spotted me, the scorpion tail shot out at me. I managed to dodge, screaming and struggling to run away.
The creature did not hesitate in chasing me. I screamed louder, dodging branches and rocks alike in my effort to get away from it. The creature only continued to advance.
I was right on the outskirts of the city where an old elementary school resided. It had long since been condemned due to asbestos in the walls, but the thing was still standing. I saw the shattered windows and dark halls and I swore it was calling out to me. Something about that building was beckoning to me, promising me safety and hope all wrapped into one package. I don’t know what it was, but I listened, changing my trajectory to sprint straight to the abandoned school.
I swan dived through one of the shattered windows. The broken glass tore at my clothes and skin but my adrenaline was much too high to recognize it. I landed on my hands and knees as the creature roared. It was much too large to fit through the windows and began to run around the school looking for another way in. That gave me enough time to hide.
I ran into the hallways and began to hunt for somewhere to hide. I ran around a corner and nearly fell over the abandoned janitor cart. In it was a broken broom, only the hilt was remaining. A few jagged pieces stuck out of the end. Without thinking, I grabbed it, fully intent on stabbing the creature in the eye before it could get to me.
A roar shook the whole building. Just in that sound alone, I knew it had found its way in. I began to cry harder as I ran around another corner. At that very same moment, another girl ran around the corner directly across the hall.
The two of us froze with several yards still between us. It was not difficult to see her despite how dark it was in that school. It was the dead of night and the city had long since shut off any electricity to the school, but I saw the girl just as well as I would in the middle of the afternoon.
I saw her squint as she tried to make me out. She had to be about my age, maybe a year or two older. She was covered in just as many scrapes, bruises, and gashes as I was and her eyes were just as wide and full of fear as mine. Her jean jacket only had one sleeve left and her knee was bleeding pretty badly. She held a hammer in front of her, a much better weapon than my broken broomstick. Her stormy gray eyes did their best to see anything in the darkness without much luck. She pushed back her dark hair, some of which had fallen out of their braids, whimpering a bit as she did.
“Stay back!” she swung her hammer into the darkness, “I mean it!”
Another roar shook the building, this one sounding much closer. I covered my ears with my hands and let out a shriek. The girl blinked rapidly as I ran up to her, “It’s getting closer!”
“Get away!” she jumped away and flung her hammer around, making me duck, “Get away, monster!”
Another roar made me cry even harder, “I’m not a monster! I’m a girl!”
“What’s a girl doing here?”
“Running away!”
Another roar made both of us start to cry harder. The girl dropped her hammer to her side and reached out to grab my hand, “We’ve got to get out of here, it can smell us!”
“How? It’s too fast!” I shouted as she began to drag me behind her, “We can’t be faster!”
“I don’t know, but we have to try!”
We began to sprint as fast as our short legs would carry us. The girl struggled in the dark for a moment, she seemed to run into more walls than she passed. Eventually, I took the front and began to guide her around all the walls. Neither of us stopped to ask why I could see in the dark but she couldn’t. We were much too hopped up on adrenaline to find anything bizarre about it.
We finally made it to the gymnasium where a wall had crumbled. That was our ticket out, if we could make it through there we could lose the creature in the forest. The two of us kicked through the doors only to come face to face with exactly what we were running from.
The creature stood between us and freedom, illuminated by the full moon. It was pacing up and down the wall, snarling to itself until it saw us. The second its eyes fell on us it roared, stretching out its tail and letting poison drip from the tip.
“A chimera,” the girl breathed.
I held tightly to her hand, “What?!”
The beast roared again and began to charge. Both of us screamed, running back to the doors but finding them stuck from the otherside. The chimera had us cornered.
The girl held up her hammer while I held up my stick. Both of us were sobbing. At that moment, all I wanted was my Papa to come and save me. Instead, the girl and I were left to press ourselves up against the locked door.
The beast lunged and I screamed. Dark shadows surged out from behind us and attacked the chimera. It pinned the creature to the wall, blanketing it just as it did the cyclops. The girl watched the chimera fight against it as she mumbled, “How did you do that?”
“Come on!” I pulled her arm and tried to pull her away, “We gotta go!”
The girl blinked out of her trance and obliged. The two of us held each other's arms as we sprinted from the school.
It took most of the night to make sure we put as much distance between us and the chimera as we could. We only finally stopped running whenever the sun began to rise. With the first rays of morning, we found ourselves at a small creek where we finally took a break. I fell to sit on a rock, breathing heavily and clutching the broken broomstick to my chest. The girl sat next to me a little bit more hesitantly.
“How did you do that?” she asked.
I shrugged, “I dunno. I guess the darkness listens to me.”
“It can’t listen to you, it doesn’t have ears.”
“How do you know?”
“I just do,” she retorted, “Are you some sort of witch? With magic?”
I wrinkled my nose, “I’m not a witch!”
“Then, how did you do that?”
“I dunno. My Papa used to tell me my Mama was what made all those special things happen. He told me she would always protect me, maybe that was her.”
The girl stared at me for a few extra minutes. I swore she never blinked as she bore a hole right through my skull. I began to shift uncomfortably under her gaze but she still refused to break it.
“You’re like me, aren’t you?” she finally broke her silence, “Your mom’s a God just like mine is.”
I furrowed my brow, “Yeah, that’s what my Papa told me.”
“My Dad told me the same thing. Who’s your Mom?”
“Nyx, who’s yours?”
“Athena.”
“Who’s Athena?”
“Goddess of wisdom and battle strategies,” she responded with a grin.
I copied her smile, “Nyx is Goddess of the night.”
“What’s your name?”
“Ripley, what’s yours?”
“Annabeth,” she answered, “Did you run away too?”
I frowned and looked away, “My Papa and I were attacked by a monster. He-he told me to run.”
“Did your Papa die?”
“I think so.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Annabeth didn’t even hesitate, “The monsters- they can smell us.”
“We could take a bath.”
“Not that kind of smell,” Annabeth giggled, “It’s our blood, they can smell that we’re demigods. It’s impossible to hide, trust me, I’ve tried.”
I glanced up at her. A dark shadow came to rest across her face, making her usually bright gray eyes turn the same color as the sky before a storm. I tilted my head in order to look at her through her curtain of dark hair, “Is that why you’re running?”
“My Dad doesn’t love me anymore,” Annabeth responded, “He never wanted me in the first place.”
I glanced up at her, “Why not?”
Annabeth shrugged, “I dunno. I think the monsters scared him, and my stepmom and her two sons. He said they were my fault.”
“I don’t think they’re your fault,” I responded, “You said they could smell us, you can’t stop smelling.”
Annabeth giggled before frowning once again, “I wish my Dad thought the same. I ran away from him and my stepmom. I thought- I thought maybe I could find my Mom and I could make a new family. One that loved me.”
I listened to her intently. It never occurred to me to try and find my Mom. My entire face brightened as I bounced on the rock, “That’s a great idea! I wanna find my Mom too! Maybe we could find them together!”
“That sounds fun,” she cracked a smile, exposing her missing front tooth, “I don’t like being alone.”
“I don’t like being alone either. We could do it together! It’ll be just like we’re our family!”
When your life is so short, things feel much more intense than they truly are. Annabeth and I were kids, she was only seven while I was a year behind her. We didn’t have any concept of relationships nor the time they might need to develop. A kid will love someone with their whole heart from the moment they meet them.
Annabeth and I were both desperate. We were lonely and desperate for the family we lacked. That day, we created a bond that would play a significant role in both of our lives. Despite being just children, we built the one relationship that would never fade away, no matter what happened. Looking back, I’m grateful we made the choice that we did, even if it was made by two desperately lonely kids.
“We could be sisters!” I exclaimed.
Annabeth grinned, “I’ve always wanted a sister!”
“Me too!”
Both of us had the same thought at the same time, we rocketed forward and flung our arms around each other. After squeezing the life out of each other, we pulled apart and exchanged smiles.
