Okay, so I recently reread the Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus/Trials of Apollo books and this plot bunny has been eating me since I started and so now the only way to get rid of it is to start writing it. Basically I'm taking things into my own hands. This will be a bit AU, as in the Trials of Apollo never happens. Things were settled after HoO and, you know, as peaceful as they can be for a short time until this story starts. I may keep some parts of the canon post HoO but we'll see. I'm kinda pantsing this one so we'll see where it goes.

This is going to be a mature story. I started reading Percy Jackson when I was in sixth grade and that was eleven years ago. This is my attempt to bring more adult problems into the world of Percy Jackson. The main character (OC) is an adult and this story will deal with some more mature topics, and yes, there will be smut. All possibly triggering chapters will be marked as so at the beginning in the authors note. I have aged up Apollo a bit from the age he appears in the books, and if you wish to know how I'm going to be picturing him in this story, Christopher Mason is my inspiration for Apollo.

With that in mind, let's get to it!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize.

Astra hadn't meant to appear in the middle of a children's summer camp. In fact, she hadn't meant for a lot to happen. But she couldn't dwell much on the past in that moment because she was more concerned with the dozen various swords and arrows pointing at her where she sat in the middle of a strawberry field. It wasn't so much the weapons that worried her; it was the children holding them. They all looked like very real weapons and none of the children holding them were older than sixteen. At least, none of them looked older than that. These days you could never tell.

It had to be past noon, the sun in her eyes and the heat from it bearing down on her. She felt like she would burst into flames, sweat already starting to trickle down her spine. Too much longer and her skin would start to burn. She doesn't know why or how she knows this, but she does.

"Who are you?" The oldest of the group of children is the one to speak. His sea-blue eyes are intense as they stare at her with apprehension.

Who was she? That was a good question. Maybe it's the heat or maybe she really doesn't remember but her mind is coming up blank. She stares up at the dark-haired boy, her thoughts starting to swirl together and melt in her brain. "I...I'm not sure…"

The boy shares a glance with a look with one of the other children before motioning behind him with his free hand to the shadow cast from a two-story farmhouse behind him. "You came out of the shadow. How?"

She frowns. She had come from the shadow? It made little sense to her. And apparently it made little sense to them too. A few of the children glance to the left as the sound of hoofbeats gets closer. There's a man riding a white horse coming over to them. Wait...he is the horse. Where he should have had legs the body of a white horse melded with his torso. Maybe it was the heat. Maybe she was just seeing things.

She wipes the sweat from her eyes, pointing to the shade. "Have to...shade…"

She can't even think in full sentences, her blood feeling like it was boiling. It couldn't possibly be that hot outside. No one else seemed bothered by the heat of the day as the dark-haired boy fills the horse man in on what had happened. She wished she could hear it but they all sounded garbled, like she was listening to a conversation underwater. Her head was pounding and her world felt like it was tipping sideways. Or maybe it was actually tilting sideways.

Chiron looked down at the girl slumped over in the strawberry field. According to those who saw she appeared from the shadow of the Big House suddenly and fell right into the strawberry field, startling several satyrs and dryads. She hadn't appeared dangerous, especially now, but they all knew better. It wasn't every day that someone popped out of a shadow in the middle of their camp. She wasn't mortal. That they knew for sure. But she didn't look particularly dangerous slumped over in the field, half conscious and breathing shallowly. If he looked just right it almost looked like she was steaming.

"Let's get her inside." He finally says, the campers lowering their weapons.

Percy and Jason take one side each, lifting the girl out of the strawberries. She was limp between the two boys, her head hanging as they dragged her into the Big House and back into the infirmary. He sent for Will Solace, lowering himself back into his wheelchair. He wheeled himself into the girl's infirmary room, Percy attempting to cool her down by dabbing a damp cloth across her face but every time the water touched her skin it would sizzle and turn into steam.

"I've never seen anything like it." Percy shakes his head, giving up on the wet cloth. "She wasn't in the sun for more than ten minutes."

"Maybe she pissed off Apollo somehow and now he exacts revenge anytime she steps in the sun." Jason says.

Chiron frowns, looking at the girl. He hadn't thought her very special at first when he'd seen her. But she had managed to shadow travel right into their camp. There was an energy around her, less now in her weakened state but he knew the moment she got her strength back it would be much stronger. He'd met many heroes, trained many of them. He'd spent time around demigods, met some powerful ones. Even Jason and Percy held a different energy than some. But none of them had shared the same energy she did.

The door to the room opens, Will Solace entering. He eyes the girl on the bed before turning to Chiron. "This is her?"

Of course word would have spread across camp already. He wouldn't be surprised if campers weren't standing outside the Big House waiting for news of their mysterious newcomer. Chiron nods to Will. "Yes. Those who saw her arrive said she came out of the shadow cast by the Big House. She was in the sun for no more than ten minutes and this happened to her."

Will moves to the girl's side, looking her over. He placed a hand on her forehead, the other tracing the bright red skin on her arm. It looked as if it was already starting to peel. "Sunburn. Heat stroke. She didn't come through like this already?"

Chiron looked to Percy and Jason. They shared a look before shaking their heads. "No," Percy says. "She looked like she was normal. Not sunburned at all."

"Could it be Apollo's doing?" Jason asks.

Will shakes his head. "I don't think so. It's hard to say though. I think he'd be more likely to just hit her with a plague arrow or burn her to a crisp instantly. I can ask Nico if he knows anything."

"I do not think she is a child of Hades." Chiron says, running his hand down his face. "She is too old. She would have been the one in the prophecy if that were the case."

Will nods. "She...feels different."

"Yes. She does." Chiron agrees. "But I cannot be certain why. Perhaps when she wakes we can get more answers from her. For now we can only go on about our daily as usual." He gives Percy and Jason a look.

He can tell they're both hesitant to leave, curious about the girl. Chiron was curious as well but she was in capable hands now. They would have to wait for her to wake before they could get any answers, if she would give them. They would just have to wait and see.

It's nearly dinner before Astra wakes. She feels dizzy still, like her head is stuffed with cotton and her mouth feels like she'd been licking sand all day. Her vision is blurry but she can make out a form bent over her. She blinks the dizziness away, trying to get her eyes to focus on the person over her. Blonde hair, blue eyes. He's young but she can tell he'll be handsome when he gets older. For some reason his face makes her feel almost melancholy. He feels familiar but in a distant way. Like she's seen him before but she can't place it.

A glass is pressed to her lips, cool liquid touching her chapped lips. She drinks the liquid, thicker than water but flavored like peanut brittle. She feels drained; the light coming in the windows doing nothing to help her headache.

"Can you close them?" She tries to speak, but it comes out weak and garbled, like she had swallowed a cup of lava.

The face above her frowns and she points to the drapes hanging beside the windows. He seems to get the message, cutting off the light not completely, but enough that it was less irritating than it had been before. The boy comes back to her side, sitting down next to her in the spot he'd been before.

"Who are you?" Her voice is getting stronger, whatever she had drank working its way through her, strengthening her slowly.

"My name is Will Solace, head counselor of the Apollo cabin. This is Camp Half Blood. You appeared here earlier today. Do you...remember anything?"

Her confused look must have told him everything he needed to know. He seemed to be speaking a different language. Apollo? Camp Half Blood? It made little sense but at the same time she felt like she should know what he was saying. As far as remembering...she didn't remember. She couldn't remember. She remembered appearing in the strawberry fields earlier. She remembered burning in the sunlight. But she couldn't remember anything else.

"You're older than any other demigod we've had here. At least that I can remember. I would guess you'd be Roman. They have older demigods, even descendants of demigods at Camp Jupiter. But I have a feeling that's not the case. It's never that easy. Can you really not remember anything?"

She thought hard for a moment. Something was coming to her, like a piece of a puzzle trying to fit somewhere in the pieces that were already put together. "Astra. My name is Astra."

Will nods slowly. "Astra. Okay, that's a start. Chiron will want to speak to you…" Astra swung her legs over the side of the bed, sitting up. "You maybe should stay where you are."

Perhaps she should have listened to him. Her entire world listed sideways as she moved, her vision nearly going double again. She could feel Will holding her steady, his hands warm and gentle as he supported her. Something about the way he touched her sent her stomach lurching, something trying to bubble to the surface, a memory fighting its way through the fog in her head, but she can't quite reach it. She steels herself, willing her vision to clear and the world to right itself again.

"I'm alright." She doesn't realize that Will has already let go of her, watching as she shakily got to her feet. She let her center-of-gravity right itself again, her legs taking their time to remember how to stand before she turns to Will. "Now, let's go speak to Chiron."

Will could do nothing but nod, moving to the door. He leads her out of the infirmary, taking her to the main room of the Big House. It looked empty, so he moved out to the porch, thankfully facing away from the sun. He didn't want a repeat of what happened earlier. Chiron is standing next to the porch in his centaur form, speaking with Mr. D who was seated at his usual spot, playing pinochle.

Both men looked up as they stepped out the door, an unreadable expression crossing Mr. D's face. He stood from his seat, looking almost in disbelief. "You're not supposed to be here." He came around the table, but refused to step past the side closest to them. "You're supposed to be with your mother. In Tartarus."