•as the world caves in•

•sad talks•

Chiron and Mr. D were playing cards when we walked in, and Chiron grinned. "Percy! Coriane! Thalia! Ah, this must be..."

"Nico di Angelo," Percy said. "He and his sister are half-bloods."

"You succeeded then." I felt that lump in my throat, the one I always got when I wanted to cry, and Chiron knew it. "What's wrong? Where is Annabeth?"

"Oh dear," Mr. D said, "not another one lost."

"What do you mean?" Thalia asked. "Who else is lost?"

Grove burst in. "The Hunters are all moved in!"

Chiron frowned. "The Hunters, eh? I see we have much to talk about. Grover, perhaps you should take our young friend to the den and show him our orientation film."

"Yes, sir."

Grover and Nico left. Chiron turned to us. "Perhaps you should sit down and tell us the whole story."

By the time we were done, I had tears down my face because I knew there was something we could've done to protect Annabeth, to keep any of this from happening.

Chiron turned to Mr. D. "We should launch a search party for Annabeth immediately."

"I'll go," the three of us said at once.

Chiron and Mr. D argued over the fact of Annabeth. I wanted to crawl into a ball and cry. Annabeth was the one person who'd always been with me. We'd done nearly everything together, I couldn't imagine her being gone.

"Percy," Chiron said. "You, Coriane and Thalia go down to the cabins. Inform the campers we'll be playing capture the flag tomorrow evening."

"We don't have enough campers," Percy noted.

"It's a tradition, a friendly match whenever the Hunters visit."

"Real friendly," Thalia muttered. We walked out of the Big House. "This is so unfair."

"We'll get Annabeth back," I promised.

"First I found out Luke is lost, now Annabeth is missing. Coriane, I can't help but think-"

"Don't." Percy snapped. I looked over at him. "Sorry, I just don't want any of us thinking that way."

I gave him a reassuring smile as we looked towards the basketball court, where a Hunter and Ares kid were in a heated argument.

Thalia rolled her eyes. "I'll break that up. You two circulate the cabins and tell everyone about tomorrow."

Percy watched her walk away and looked like he had more to say. "I'll go see Silena, you talk to Thalia, tell her whatever you need to say."

Percy nodded, so I walked off to my bright pink cabin. When I opened the door, I heard an excited squeal.

"Oh, Cor! You're back! You never come back for the winter!" Silena's smile faded. "You never come back for winter. What's wrong?"

I kept my smile. "We were getting some other Half-Bloods, that's all."

She frowned. "Something else happened. Tell me now."

"Annabeth is sorta..."

Silena's gaze softened as she had me sit on my bed. "I'm sorry, honey. You'll find her, I just know it."

I nodded. "I think we're all kinda blaming ourselves, but I think Percy is the most. I yelled at him when it first happened."

Silena brushed my hair from my face. "And that's okay. You were hurt, and understandably so. You needed someone or something to blame and he was the first cause your mind could make up. Did you tell him sorry?"