•as the world caves in•

•an almost normal day•

I twisted the pink gem on my sword, letting it shrink back down into the ring that it typically appeared as and slid it onto the ring finger of my right hand. I looked back at Annabeth with a grin that was a little too cocky. "I know I'm a daughter of Aphrodite and all, but that doesn't mean I'm bad at sparing. I mean, seriously, Annabeth, that's like the tenth-" 

"Shut up, Coriane!" Annabeth cut me off, blonde stands falling from her ponytail and into her face. She gave an annoyed huff of air as she brushed some out of her eyes. "I just need to train with Luke more." 

And as if right on time, Luke appeared behind Annabeth, that usual smirk on his face as he tilted his head in amusement. "Let me guess, Coriane won again?" 

Annabeth curled her hands into fists as she scowled. "I am not that bad at sword fighting!" 

"You're right, you're not bad," Luke agreed, his voice calm but still laced with amusement. "But Coriane just has a talent with sword fighting, yours is with daggers, that's all." 

But that reassurance did little to change her attitude. "She's a daughter of Aphrodite, she's supposed to fawn over boys and chipped nails, not beat everyone in sword fighting!" 

Okay, ouch. 

I bristled at her words as I scoffed. "That's low, Annabeth. Are you seriously saying that over a sword fight?" 

Before Annabeth could respond, I heard a voice from behind. Firm, but not unkind, and I didn't need to look to know who it was. "Girls, settle down." 

Chiron. 

I looked behind me and at the same time, Annabeth and I muttered a soft; "Sorry, Chiron." 

Chiron looked down at us, one eyebrow raised but I swear there was a smile tugging on his lips. "You two need to learn to not argue over everything. You're supposed to be best friends, what happened?" 

Neither of us knew how to answer. It wasn't like anything had happened, it was just... camp is what happened. Things were different. Chiron was gone all the time, always off somewhere, which left us with Mr. D, and then Grover, one of my longest friends alongside Annabeth was also always gone. 

Things were different, and we could tell, but we couldn't tell the what or the why they felt different. 

Chiron looked down at us for a moment longer before nodding slowly and turning away back to the Big House. 

Luke started to snicker behind us and we turned to see him covering his mouth. "That's the third time this week!" 

"Shut up, Luke!" 

•.•.•.•

Later that night, Silena was braiding my hair. Her fingers worked quickly, just a loose braid before bed. "How was training today?" 

I looked out the window by my bed as I hummed. "The usual. Still doing good, but I could be doing better." 

"Only you, Coriane, could say you needed to be better after beating everyone in camp," Silena mused softly. "You are going to be the best daughter- no, child of Aphrodite ever." She finished the braid, securing the end with a small hair tie before resting her chin on my shoulder. "And don't let anyone, even those Ares kids, tell you that you can't be both the most beautiful girl ever and totally kick butt in the arena."

I smiled softly, tilting my head slightly so it was pressed against Silena. "Thanks, sis." 

"Of course, Cor," Silena whispered before sitting back up. "Alright, now time for bed." 

I nodded as I settled into bed, turning off my bedside lamp as I stifled a yawn, letting my eyes fall shut and I was just about to fall asleep- 

"Coriane!" Someone shouted and swung the door open. Annabeth. "You're going to want to see this!" 

The entire cabin groaned and I quickly sat up and blinked slowly as I grabbed my blanket and wrapped it around me, quickly following after her to the Big House. 

"You are never going to believe this," she murmured, grinning brightly as we walked up the porch, Chiron already waiting with the grimmest expression I had ever seen. 

There was Grover, laying on the ground and passed out, but that was not the strangest thing. 

No, the strangest thing was the boy hanging onto Grover, a boy I had never seen. He had jet black hair and sea green eyes, and I could tell he was barely conscious with the way his eyes were hazy. He looked between Annabeth and I, lips parted as they moved but no sound came out apart from a weak noise of pain before his eyes shut. 

"He's the one, he must be!" Annabeth gasped as she pointed at him and looked at me. "He's who we've been waiting for!"