Meg McCaffrey

Margaret "Meg" McCaffrey is a twelve-year-old Greek demigod daughter of Demeter, living on her own in Hell's Kitchen, a neighborhood in Manhattan. After Apollo had been forced to live as a mortal for a third time, Meg saves him from being mugged. When she learns that he needs to be a servant to somebody so that the fallen god can return to Olympus, she claims him and travels with the fallen god to help him secure the oracles and regain his godhood.

Early Life
Meg was born to Demeter, the Greek goddess of the harvest, and Phillip McCaffrey, a mortal man and botanist, in Palm Springs, California. She lived in Aeithales, a series of greenhouses built by her father. Her father cared for her greatly.

Fleeing Home
When she was five years old, her father was being threatened by Triumvirate Holdings due to his work in trying to restore the Meliai and the father and daughter were forced to flee after their house burst into flames by orders of Caligula.

Living with Nero
They went east to New York City, where the god-emperor Nero separated her from her mortal father and proceeded to take her in and raise Meg as his own daughter. Before their separation, her father gave her a rose which was supposed to be a gift from her mother.

When she was six years old, Nero killed her father for the daughter of Demeter’s disobedience and crushed the rose, and indirectly blamed the daughter of Demeter for her father's death.

Through his sophisticated manipulation over the years, Nero was able to manipulate Meg into believing that he and the fearsome malevolent Beast were two separate people rather than the same man.

The Tyrant's Tomb
Shortly after flying out of Santa Monica, she and Apollo land in the Oakland Airport and find a hearse waiting for them. Jason‘s coffin is loaded into the back and she rides shotgun. As they drive to camp she enjoys the nature along the way. However they are attacked by an Eurynomos and she orders him to swerve of the road. She has the trees they fall into break their fall. Apollo tells her not to go near it as a scratch will turn her into a zombie. The daughter of Demeter tries to keep it from eating Jason’s corpse but is to weak to do anything. She and Apollo, and Jason, are soon saved by the Roman Lavinia and they go to camp. She, Apollo, Lavinia, and Don, a faun Lavinia made help them, carry the son of Jupiter’s coffin just as they hear a second eurynomos. The four make it to a secret entrance to camp and the girls stand guard while the guys carry the coffin. They are met by Lavinia’s centurion and co-centry Hazel Levesque just as the second eurynomos, along with a third, finds them. They fight them off whi the daughter of Demeter clutches Jason’s diagrams in one arm and slices one of the eurynomos’ arms of. After Hazel kills the last one and learns who died, they solemnly head to camp.

They make it to Camp Jupiter and meet with the praetors Frank Zhang and Reyna Ramírez-Arellano. After Apollo informs them of everything that happened, the two are allowed to stay as guests. He is taken to a spare room above Bombilo’s coffee shop due to being the closest location for herbs he needed to be healed and the daughter of Demeter stayed with him, and started drinking coffee. Meg feels uneasy at Camp Jupiter because it reminds her of living with Nero. She tells him he has been out for a day and a half and that Jason‘s funeral is that night. Frank then arrives and tells them to go to Tyson and Ella to discuss the prophecy from the burning maze. However she ops out in favor of helping Lavinia feed the unicorns.

During the funeral she stands with the fifth cohort as they act as honor guard, mouthing “your late” to Apollo when he and Frank arrive. She eats a hamburger during the feast and tel Apollo to keep his plans to himself un the senate meet the next day.

The following morning she wakes him up and gives him a toga before they head to the Senate House. They sit with Lavinia and the two girls give each other a special handshake. When a quest is decided she is chose to go along with Apollo, Hazel, and Lavinia. The four have lunch on the bell tower of New Rome University as she does cartwheels and demands a unicorn. The four go there separate ways for the day and agree to meet up at the Field of Mars at sundown. She, Hazel, and Lavinia arrive to find Apollo speaking with Frank and the four set out. She talks with Lavinia during the hike and she and Hazel since sometimes evil is underground. After realizing the date 254 is really 500 BCE. They enter it in and go inside. As they make their way to Tarquin, she turns her blades into rings to keep hidden. When they reach the throne room they over hear plans to attack with the emperors and Tarquin calls them out. She charges at him, but he pushes her back with a wave of telekinetic force. When Hazel crushes the undead king they retreat and the daughter of Demeter creates a root latter to escape. When Gazel senses more enemy forces coming, Lavinia hands Apollo over to her and the daughter of Terpsichore points them in the right direction before going off to hold them off.

They take Apollo to the Stables so that the camp’s best healer, Pranjal, can heal him. She stays with him and takes him back to their room to freshen up and for food in the Mess Hall before meeting with Frank and Reyna. The praetors informs them that in order to summon the aid of the gods, they need to sacrifice one. As they discuss plans for a quest she eats jellybeans and feeds some to Aurum and Argentum.

When they return to their room she tearfully explains that she thought she could cure him by taking out Tarquin. Apollo embraces her before she orders him to rest and she goes for dinner. The following day Apollo joins her and the fifth cohort for lunch and tells Lavinia he saw her mother’s shoes. Apollo explains his dream of the destructive capabilities of the emperors, but she ignores it in favor of eating. After lunch she aids the First Cohort in weaponizing the unicorns.

Appearance
When Apollo first met Meg in The Hidden Oracle, he described her as "small and pudgy", with dark hair chopped in a "messy pageboy" style. She wore black cat-eye glasses with rhinestones in the corners, and her outfit made Apollo think she was dressed like a traffic light: red sneakers, yellow tights, and a green tank dress. He also described her voice as "bossy and nasal".

After Sally Jackson cleaned up Meg and dressed her in more appropriate clothes, Apollo realized that she was a shockingly pretty young girl: her dark pageboy hair shone glossy from being brushed, her round face was scrubbed clean of grime, her cat-eye glasses were polished, and she wore new black leggings and a knee-length frock of shifting green hues, along with two gold rings that could transform into two Imperial Gold siccae blades. She also had an elfish springtime aura that reminded Apollo of dryads, and he noted that there was actually a resemblance between her and his first true love, Daphne.

Personality
Meg is brash but playful and often somewhat rude. She can also be tough and easily defends herself, such as when she fended off Cade and Mikey. Apollo describes some of the things she does as “Because Meg”. However, she also hides the more fearful side of herself. In fact, she is terrified of Nero to the point where she obeys him sourly out of fear of herself getting hurt or even worse. She closes up when people ask her personal questions. She is very protective of her past and usually doesn't tell anyone about it unless she wants to. She is also straight to the point and doesn't hide what she wants to say.

Later on, Meg becomes more willing to open herself to emotions, as shown when she saves Apollo from the water snakes in The Oracle of Trophonius through sharing her memories in a heartbreaking song, and pushes past what she is comfortable with to rescue him. Here, Meg is almost selfless as she sacrifices herself even though she isn't prepared for the Oracle and didn't drink from the Lethe and Mnemosyne.

She also demonstrates a sadistic and vengeful side. When going after Caligula she wants to kill the immortal emperor for destroying her home.

Abilities
As observed by Apollo, even for a child of Demeter (one of the six oldest Olympians), Meg was a remarkably powerful demigod, enough to warrant constant supervision. Nero himself trusted Meg with dangerous missions not just due to her fear of him, but also because of her strong powers and exceptional intelligence.


 * -| General Abilities =
 * Dyslexia: Meg’s brain is “hard-wired” for Ancient Greek as opposed to modern English. However, as revealed in The Burning Maze, Meg is unable to read Ancient Greek.
 * ADHD: Meg has inborn battle reflexes.
 * Blade Proficiency: Meg is skilled in wielding her Siccae Blades.


 * -|Demigod Abilities=
 * Chlorokinesis: As a daughter of Demeter, Meg has absolute control over plants, manipulating them to a multitude of effects. This power, combined with Apollo's, allowed her to open the Grove of Dodona.
 * Plant Telekinesis: She is able to telekinetically manipulate fruits and vegetables, thus saving Apollo from two thugs.
 * Plant Sensitivity: She can sense the location of various plants with superhuman precision. This is seen when she was able to quickly detect the odor of a golden apple in the Labyrinth. She later claims to have the ability to "hear" trees growing.
 * Plant Growth Acceleration: She can make plants grow more faster than normal or even in enormous proportions.
 * Plant Teleportation: She can teleport using plants similar to how Nico di Angelo can teleport using shadows although her control over this power is unknown.
 * Wood Sensitivity: She can sense the location of wood with superhuman precision, as she do in The Dark Prophecy.
 * Culinary Arts: As a daughter of Demeter, Meg is a natural cook.
 * Karpoi Summoning: As a daughter of Demeter, Meg is able to summon Karpoi, like when she summoned Peaches.

Magical Items

 * Twin Siccae Blades: Meg was given Imperial Gold siccae blades by Nero that can change into rings that have Crescent symbols.
 * Gardening Belt: Meg has a gardening belt that she keeps seeds for battles in.

Joshua
Meg appears to have a crush of the male dryad as she eyes him whenever she is at Aeithales with him and becomes nervous when he hugs her. After Apollo interrupted their conversation, she looked annoyed at him.

Family
 Meg was close to her father and had a loving relationship with him. She was devastated when he was killed and blamed herself. In reality, Nero was the one responsible for her father's death. However, Nero blamed the death of Philip, her father, on the Beast and convinced Meg that the Beast was a side of Nero he could not control.
 * -|Phillip McCaffrey=

While they have never met, the goddess of the harvest has acknowledged Meg for her fighting abilities.
 * -|Demeter=

Nero took in the daughter of Demeter when she was six. Meg is terrified of the God-Emperor and obeys him solely out of fear. However, she eventually escapes from him and joins up with Apollo. 
 * -|Nero=

Friends
 When she first met the fallen god, she was under her step-father's orders to become his master for his duration as a mortal. She eventually grew to care for him as a friend. During their travels she would annoy him but have his well being at heart.
 * -|Apollo=

Meg first met Leo in The Dark Prophecy. Throughout the book, Meg travels alongside Leo, Calypso, and Apollo to fullfill the prophecy of the Grove of Dodona.
 * -|Leo Valdez=

Meg first met Piper in The Burning Maze. When Piper learned of Meg losing her father and her first home, she hugged Meg and, to Apollo's surprise, Meg thanked her.
 * -|Piper McLean=

Despite only knowing the son of Jupiter for less then a day, the daughter of Demeter greatly admires him. After his death, she safeguarded his diagrams for Temple Hill with her life, going as far as fighting two euryonomos with one hand to keep it safe. 
 * -|Jason Grace=

Eytmology
Margaret is a feminine given name derived from the French name Marguerite, which is derived from the Latin name Margarita, which is derived from the Greek name Margarites, meaning “pearl”.

McCaffrey is an Irish surname that is angilisised from the Gaelic surname Mac Garfraidh, meaning “son of Garfraidh”.

Trivia

 * Much like Luke Castellan, Meg is revealed to be a double agent of the series' main antagonist (Kronos and Nero respectively) near the end of the first book in one of the Camp Half-Blood series (The Lightning Thief and The Hidden Oracle respectively). However, it should be noted that unlike Luke, Meg was shown to be quite apologetic and hesitant when it came to her true allegiance.
 * Meg is the second demigod known to wear glasses, the first being Jason Grace.
 * She had a brief crush on Percy Jackson, but lost interest when he said he had a girlfriend.
 * Meg is the first demigod child of Demeter to be a main character in a series.
 * Meg is the first known demigod to befriend a karpos (Peaches).
 * Ironically, even being a daughter of Demeter, she is allergic to oaks.
 * She is the third known Greek Demigod to use imperial gold weapons, the other two being Chrysaor and Alabaster C. Torrington.