Archived:Audrey Hemlock

History
<!-- History: Fiona Hemlock was an esteemed writer when she went a beach she especially loved one sunny day in New York. Here, it was perfectly serene and beautiful, and a cool ocean breeze swept over it constantly. She had just written a bestselling book about Greek mythology, and she was relaxing on this beach to cool her nerves and to think of ideas for a new fantasy novel she was thinking about writing. The beach she went to was a popular beach, but on the weekdays it was almost deserted. And the weekdays were when Fiona Hemlock chose to go there.

But there, she met a dashing young man, just about her age, who was also relaxing on the beach, taking a dip in the cool water. She was also swimming in the water, so they struck up a conversation and found they had much in common, and they had fun playing a two-person game of Marco Polo, having swimming contests and talking on the beach about nothing in particular whenever they wanted to dry off. He was so handsome, funny, young and enerjetic that Fiona invited the man to a nice Italian restaurant to eat that evening. He accepted.

The dinner went well, and Fiona and the young man were in a relationship for a happy two months, eating out together, talking about Fiona's books, watching soap operas hand in hand, and of course, swimming at the beach. But one day, Fiona found out she was pregnant using the pregnancy test, and she told the news to the man on their next date. The man, caught off guard by her discovery and distraught that he couldn't be with her anymore, told her the truth about himself: He was Palaemon, a minor Greek sea god. Shocked, Fiona begged him to stay with her, but Palaemon knew that once Fiona was pregnant, he couldn't stay anymore, so he gave her a Celestial Bronze sword with a shark tooth set in its hilt that he wanted their child to have, a driftwood shark pendant that would remind her of her heritage, and a note that listed the name of the camp he wanted their child to go to once she was at least 12, the address of the camp, and the directions to Camp Half-Blood from Fiona's apartment in New York City. Palaemon explained as much as he could to Fiona about their demigod child's destiny and what she has to do after her first monster attack, then told her to get some sleep as he went outside to buy some groceries. Fiona was almost destroyed the next day when she awoke, as she realized that Palaemon had vanished off the face of the earth, and that he was gone for good. She had not even known where he had lived. Luckily, though, Fiona was a strong woman and clear-sighted for a mortal, and managed to pull through. Her next book was about a fictional character's struggles in getting through heartbreak over a relationship that couldn't last, and it was an instant bestseller.

Audrey Hemlock was an energetic, smart girl when she was a toddler, and learned how to walk, how to count and how to read briskly and with love for the plot and characters. She was curious about everything in the world, touching everything as soon as it was in touching range and asking about everything. If she didn't get enough information to be satisfied about any objects, though, she liked to bite things, including whoever she'd asked about the object. Once, she asked about her father and who he was, but Fiona replied that one day she'd tell her. Audrey, not satisfied with the answer, pestered her mother more over the next few days endlessly, causing her mother a lot of stress and annoyance, once almost biting her mother in frustration. Being a toddler, though, soon Audrey forgot about her question and stopped pestering her mother, and continued to live life normally.

For a demigod, Audrey lived her life much more normally and with more happiness and a sense of belonging. Soon after she started grade school, she became diligent student in her school, but there were a few problems. One, she had problems reading sometimes, saying that 'the words are just dancing off the page or mixing themselves up', and overall getting frustrated, as she loved to read. Two, she paid little attention to class after first grade, her eyes straying outside the window or to the boy picking his nose more often than to the teacher or the lesson, and saying that class was boring and too easy at times. She also was very hyper throughout the day, doodling in her textbooks or making paper frogs that she gave to her friends or the boy sitting behind her instead of paying attention to class. At age 8, she was diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia.

Fiona was surprised that Audrey had ADHD and dyslexia, as nobody else in the family had either problem, but then remembered that Palaemon said that most demigods had either one or both of the problems (except for some unlucky ones that got lactose intolerance) and began to push her harder, trying to ensure that she wouldn't fail her subjects and have a decent future. Audrey used to be very popular, being the swim team captain and a captivating writer, but she began to drift away from her friends as her mother pushed her to be the best math student, the best language arts student, the best historian,the best scientist, the best athlete, the best writer, etc. Soon, as more people found out she was ADHD and dyslexic, she began to be bullied by other people, friends and foes alike. She tried to tell the teachers or even the principal about it, but they always said that the other students were 'little angels' or hadn't done anything wrong. The few teachers that did anything about it only gave up after a few days of questioning students, saying they couldn't find any proof the bullying was happening. Audrey and her friends stood up to the bullies whenever they were attacked or harassed, but they eventually just began to ignore the teasing remarks (Hey, I have a hard one for you! What's 1+1? or Ohmigosh, there goes the dyslexic person! Let's ask her if she's ever finished a Dr. Seuss book!) and shrug off the hurtful remarks.

However much Audrey cried or threw tantrums at home, Audrey managed to pull through her situation with her mother's help. While Fiona did try to tell the principal about the bullying and stop it, the principal said the same thing over and over to Fiona, and Fiona was too busy writing new books and taking care of Audrey to try to get them a new apartment in a new school district or take the time to investigate the bullying herself. As the bullying continued, although it began to lessen after fifth grade, Audrey began to shut herself off from the world for hours at a time and dedicate herself to overcoming dyslexia, perfecting her swimming strokes and speed, or improving her writing. Mostly perfecting her swimming, though, as she was dedicated to the swim team and considered it one of her only hobbies besides writing. She managed to get some more friends when she went to midde school, and eventually created a close circle of best friends that she studied with, swam with or read books like Moby Dick with.

But as Audrey grew, she noticed a few strange things. One, Fiona refused for her to buy a cell phone for herself, much less use one, and only let her use the computer for school projects and when Fiona was at home. She also noticed that her mother didn't allow her to go over to other people's houses for sleep overs or even hour-long birthday parties without Fiona constantly around. She also wondered why her mother never told her about her father, and never let Fiona read any Greek or Roman myths, even taking the time to excuse Audrey out of any mythology units in class, saying that Audrey scared easily (which she didn't, since she could read murder books with unnecessary gore without ever needing new underwear). Her mother also seemed concerned that she would be out alone in the streets at night, and set a six o' clock curfew for Audrey that would never be eased or removed, no matter how much she begged her mother to change it. And one day, when Audrey had managed to sneak out to visit a friend alone at the local ice cream parlor after six, her mother immediately realized she was gone, and began looking for her. When she did find Audrey coming back from the ice cream parlor, she scolded Audrey for an hour on end and grounded her for a week. Yet, since Audrey was so wrapped up in her own life and studies that she never carefully considered all these nagging things that would've made Audrey suspicious about what her mother was trying to hide from her, which might've delayed the first monster attack.

At age 13, though, just a few months ago, when she was in the auditorium half an hour after school filling out swim team forms and signing up for a few clubs after school, just after she had been hanging out with her friends outside for a bit, the principal's poodle, Mr. Snuffles, was yipping at her from the large doors and scratching at the doors, obviously wanting to get out. Seeing that the principal didn't mind students interacting with Mr. Snuffles and that only the drama teacher, Mrs. Little, was in the auditorium with her (and Mrs. Little could grade papers during 9/11 and not see or hear a thing), she approached Mr. Snufffles carefully to open the door for the poodle. However, when she approached Mr. Snuffles, she saw the poodle suddenly grow, its fur blackening, and jumped back in horror as the poodle grew into a full-sized hellhound!

She tried to kick the hellhound away, but the large monster easily batted away her blows and pinned her down on the floor. Audrey was on the floor, screaming as the monster growled and began to lower its jaws to clamp down on her throat, with Mrs. Little conveniently listening to her Ipod on full volume and sifting through some of the drama club signup forms (even though she couldn't have seen through the Mist anyway and would've just thought Mr. Snuffles was playing with Audrey), and Audrey's thoughts were reeling. As she awaited her doom, scared straight and her mind barely processing what was going on, she looked up at the hellhound's face, and was reminded of a shark's face, with teeth as sharp as daggers and eyes that seemed to seek blood. Her thoughts triggered a reaction in which she thought how nice it would be to grow rows of shark's teeth even sharper than the hellish abomination's teeth laid out in multiple rows, and bite the mutt to at least get it off of her. Audrey, feeling her energy suddenly draining quickly like a bathtub, suddenly grew multiple rows of sharp teeth, dislocated her jaw, and bit the snarling mutt.

The hellhound yipped with alarm and let go, melting into a mound of gold dust. Audrey managed to get up and run to the door, pushing open the doors, now scared sightless, and suddenly very tired. She resisted the urge to curl up and sleep and ran outside, where her mother was waiting for her to come out after signing up for the after-school activities. She was in tears, and she was feeling very dizzy, very tired and distressed from her experiences. However, just like her mother, she was a strong person, and told herself that she wasn't crazy, that she would be okay, that her mother would have all the answers.

Audrey, not sure what she'd just done, killing Mr. Snuffles, who had tried to kill her, told her mother everything about what had just happened, believing that her mother would think she was lying or needed to get a mental checkup. However, to Audrey's shock and surprise, her mother said that she had anticipated Audrey's first monster attack, and was relieved that she got lucky and thought of shark teeth (by chance, but a lucky chance), which in turn unlocked one of her easier to use powers. Audrey was shocked that her mother was taking the news so calmly and even saying that she'd anticipated it, but after a moment's hesitation Audrey asked her who her father was, remembering the question she'd asked her mother all those years ago as a toddler, and all the odd things that she'd noticed but not thought about in her life. Fiona, heartbroken that she'd have to relinquish her daughter so soon to her destiny, hesitated at first too, then told Audrey that her father was the Greek sea god Palaemon, god of sharks. Audrey, shocked to hear this, and not even knowing who Palaemon was/is, almost fainted from the shock, but Fiona said that she had to take her to Camp Half-Blood as soon as possible, as now that she was aware of her powers, her scent would grow stronger and monsters would be more intent on finding her. Plus, since she was so tired and disoriented, they couldn't risk another monster attack, as Audrey was in no shape to defend herself.

As Audrey and Fiona clambered into the family car, Audrey asked Fiona how she knew all this about demigods and the dangerous world they live in, and how her father is Palaemon. Audrey explained everything to Audrey as she drove to their apartment, about how the Greek gods move with the center of power in Western civilization, how they still have affairs with mortal men and woman constantly, how Lamia enchanted demigods to have a distinctive scent that monsters were attracted to and could easily track, how children of the Big Three have a stronger scent that lures monsters to them earlier than other demigods as they realize their powers faster and are supposedly more powerful, how "minor" demigods like Audrey were attacked later, why most demigods have ADHD and dyslexia since they seen too much and their minds are hard-wired for Greek, and a few other legends that Audrey needed to know to survive. While Audrey's mind was reeling, she was also aware that her mother was not  lying, contrary to what she wanted to believe. Fiona had no idea why a satyr hadn't found Audrey before the age of thirteen, and told Audrey that she was going to drive her to camp anyway because she couldn't risk her daughter's life anymore by keeping Audrey with her.

They arrived at the apartment a few minutes after Fiona finished telling Audrey everything she needed to know, and Fiona quickly gave Audrey the Celestial Bronze sword that her father had wanted her to have (it had been locked away in a safe under Fiona's clothes, and Audrey never  snooped in her mother's closet), and took out the old slip of paper that Palaemon had given her many years ago to get directions to Camp Half-Blood. She also gave Audrey the wooden shark pendant that had been in the safe so she would have something else to remind herself of her father. However, Fiona hadn't given Audrey the pendant or even mentioned it before in well-meaning fear that Audrey's powers would be called on because of it much earlier than she could handle them. Fiona helped Audrey pack up her clothes and essential items, all the while telling her about Palaemon, how they met and a few other things about her father to give Audrey energy and purpose to packing up her stuff. When they were done, a few water bottles, three changes of clothes, a bottle of SPF 30 sunscreen, a few toiletries, a small family scrapbook, an old teddy bear and a yearbook or two were in a backpack for Audrey to take to camp.

As her mother drove her to camp, though, Audrey turned the new bronze sword over and over in her hands (luckily, it was sheathed as chapstick, so she didn't cut herself) and thought over her destiny. She wondered about this Palaemon guy and who he was, and if she'd ever get to meet him. She was thinking about what her mother would tell the school system about where she was when her presence was missed, and if she'd ever see her friends again when a Stymphalian bird's feather impaled itself in the roof of the car a mere inch above Audrey's head! Fiona sped up and managed to get to camp before the bird could follow them, but Audrey would never forget the close brush with severe injury. She left the car and crossed the border safely, but is convinced that if she'd stayed outside of camp longer, she would've been attacked by more than just a hellhound and a Stymphalian bird, since her mother had told her so much about her history. She was 13 when she arrived at camp, and was surprised at how old most of the campers were, but did her best to act as mature as possible (resulting in her tripping and falling flat on her face both figuratively and literally several times). She's secretly very scared of the Ares kids, being that she's not very good at any attacking besides the jaw attack, but she isn't scared to walk up to a camper and say hi. -->

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