?as the world caves in?

I twisted the pink gem on my sword, watching as it folded into the ring that I wore everywhere. "I know, I know. I'm a daughter of Aphrodite and all, but I'm a good fighter," I smiled to Annabeth. "That's the tenth time in a row I beat you."

"Shut up, Coriane!" Annabeth snapped, blonde stands falling from her ponytail. "I just need to train with Luke more."

"Speaking of..." I trailed.

Luke walked towards us, grinning. "Let me guess, Coriane beat you again?"

Annabeth curled her hands into fists. "Am I that bad at sword fighting?"

"You're not bad, Coriane just has a talent in sword fighting, yours is with daggers." Luke tried to assure her."

"She's a daughter of Aphrodite, she's supposed to just fawn over boys and chipped nails, not beat everyone in sword fighting!"

I gasped. "I can't believe you said that! That is so rude!"

Annabeth crossed her arms. "It's true!"

"I thought daughters of Athena were supposed to be smart and knowledgeable in battle, not be a sore loser!"

"Girls!" A voice chided from behind me. Chiron. "Settle down."

"Sorry..." we muttered.

"You two need to learn to not argue over everything, it's causing issues." He sighed.

His eyes were soft, but his lips were in a thin line.

The one thing I had noticed was Chiron had been done a lot and he seemed different. More tense, not the Chiron I had known. Grover, one of my friends, had also been gone.

Chiron gave us a nod before turning his back and heading to the Big House.

Luke started to snicker. "That's what, the third time you've gotten yelled at this week?"

"Shut it, Luke," we both snapped.

•.•.•.•

Later that night, Silena braided my hair in our cabin. "How's sword fighting?"

"Same as always," I hummed. "Getting better but always room for improvement."

"That's good. I'm glad Luke has been able to teach you so much. You'll be the best daughter of Aphrodite ever,"

"Some of the Ares kids still sneer at me,"

"Let them," Silena shrugged. She then moved to stand in front of me. "They can stare and sneer all they want, but you won't let it bother you. You may be a daughter of Aphrodite but you can be just as good as they are if not better. Plus, you'll look extra pretty while doing it."

I smiled. "Thanks, Silena."

"Now, it's time for bed, Cor."

I rolled my eyes. "Night,"

"Good night,"

Most of our siblings had already gone to bed, so all I had to do was switch off my bedside lamp and slowly fall asleep...

...until Annabeth slammed the door open and switched the main lights on. "Coriane! You're gonna want to see this!"

Everyone groaned and I grabbed a blanket to wrap around myself as I shuffled after her to the Big House.

"You're never gonna believe this," she said, grinning as we walked up the porch, Chiron right there.

Below was Grover, passed out but that wasn't the strangest thing.

The strangest part was the boy hanging onto Grover. He had jet black hair and he was barely conscious with a face contorted in pain.

"He's the one, he must be!" Annabeth said with a little too much enthusiasm.

"He's still conscious," Chiron scolded. "Bring him inside."