Worlds Collide

chapter 3 ~ sophie

"...What?" That was the first reaction that Sophie Foster received when she told the demigods that she wasn't a human. Obviously, they weren't going to take it easily, so it could've been worse. And that reaction came from Leo. He started chuckling to himself as everybody continued to stare at me in shock.

"I'm sorry. Can you repeat that please? I thought I heard wrong. I was thinking that maybe you said that... that," The rest of his squeaky sentence was drowned out by his own laughter. But when he looked at the rest of the demigods, he suddenly realized that in fact, he'd heard what Sophie said correctly.

"How... How is that possible?" Jason thought out loud.

"I guess that nymphs and centaurs and gods exist. But a possibility of a creature that is not part of mythology existing never really occurred to me, or really any of us in this case." Annabeth said. Of course she was right. In the Lost Cities, the most mythical and strange beings existed. Hell, a gorgodon literally resides in Sophie's yard!

"Wait. So what I'm hearing is that you're not human. What are you then?" The buff dude asked. This was increasing to Sophie's headache from earlier. Now she would have to explain to all these strangers, emphasis on STRANGERS, about the elves and what Sophie's connection was to them. It was very unlikely that they would take it in a good manner. Not that she thought that they were unkind, she barely knew them. It was easier to explain to Amy because she lived with Sophie for twelve years and she knew that she had never fit in. These people didn't know her, and they didn't know what she had gone through in the past few years.

And that would be a nightmare.

"I'm an elf." Sophie spoke tentatively. She knew first hand that sometimes it was hard to adjust to new realities and that they could be harsh.

Everybody was speechless for long enough for Sophie to count to 82. She didn't like the way that the demigods and satyrs and nymphs were looking at her as if she'd sprouted a second head. Her eyelashes itched to be pulled on, but she looped her index fingers behind her back to stop herself. Somebody cleared their throat.

"You're an elf?" Percy asked. Sophie nodded in return, still feeling the self consciousness from before. "Like the ones that where the little tights and funny hats and are super short?" He added humorously.

Annabeth smacked his arm. "Seaweed Brain, does it look like she works for Santa and lives in the North Pole?" Annabeth laughed.

"You never know, Wise Girl!" He said flirtatiously. Nobody in the room was phased by this, so Sophie guessed that they were dating, or something. It wasn't like she had much relationship experience, plus she had more important things on her mind. Sophie found it funny how hers and Percy's reactions were virtually one and the same. They both started laughing about Santa's elves. Sophie additionally found it strange how well Annabeth and Percy had taken the news. Maybe they'd been through a lot like her and her friends. They also looked older than everyone else, with the exception of maybe Travis and Chiron.

"That was how I reacted when I found out." Sophie voiced her thoughts. In situations like these, communicating was the only way to get out of the muck.

"Wait, what do you mean 'found out'? If you're not human, wouldn't you know from birth?" Piper, the choppy-haired girl asked. Oh, boy. Sophie thought. Not again! Explaining to Amy about her life after she moved to the Lost Cities was hard enough, but with these people that she didn't even know? That was a whole other story. She'd have to go into the small details, details like names and places and events that Amy could piece together. Oh, what she'd give to see Amy again. Sophie's thoughts continued to spiral into a mass of craziness.

"Um, yeah," Sophie responded bluntly, "Like you, you probably weren't told from the moment that you were born that you were a demigod. For me, it was more like my parents didn't know that I was an elf." The silence was deafening.