Three Worlds Clash

Chapter six

A/N: I just noticed I missed chapter three and accidentally skipped ahead to chapter four :/ I'm just going to leave it, no one will notice, right?

Annabeth Chase's POV

"Okay, try this: when you block with your sword, the enemy is jabbing, leaving a chink in their armor visible. So when you block--"

"Slice the sword away, and then stab. They won't see it coming, and the element of surprise is key in battles."

Sophie finished my sentence perfectly. I was training her to fight with a sword, and she was picking it up quickly.

No wonder she was a child of Athena, she was picking up these battle tactics faster than I could teach them.

"Yes, that's exactly it. Try it on your boyfriend, Keefe."

Sophie scoffed, but fumbled nervously and almost dropped her sword.

"He's not my boyfriend, he just--"

"Held your hand to and from dinner last night, and gave you a kiss on the cheek before you went to bed?" I smiled when Sophie's mouth dropped open.

"I am the older sister. I know all. I see all. Through the window right in front of my bunk."

Sophie sighed.

"Okay, okay, but don't tell anyone. We're trying to keep it a secret so that we don't ruin any friendships. It's a long story."

I  bet I could guess part of it, but I didn't. I turned my mind back to sword fighting. 

"Try that technique on this dummy first, then you can try with Keefe-not-you-boyfriend, okay?"

Sophie glared at me but nodded. 

Being the oldest is one of the greatest joys of life.

Sophie blocked and stabbed, just like I taught her to. Then she confidently walked over to Keefe and tapped him on the shoulder. From the distance, I couldn't hear what they were saying, but I heard Keefe laugh and then they started walking over.

"Hey, Annabeth, how much do you want to bet that Foster here is going to beat me?"

"I'd bet my boyfriend, actually. How about you two spar and settle it?"

Keefe grinned wickedly. He and Sophie trotted down to the sword-fighting arena. Percy came up behind me.

"What'd you bet this time?"

"You."

It took a minute for him to digest that. Then he gasped.

"Really? Again? You got really close last time, Selina almost lost."

I smiled confidently.

"She's my sister, I think she'll do just fine. Wait, why are you all wet?"

Percy shrugged.

"Linh caught me off guard. She's extremely good with dropping water on your head from a distance."

I rolled my eyes and turned back to the pair of dueling demigods. Before I blinked, Sophie had disarmed Keefe and pretended to stab him. Keefe dropped to his knees on the ground.

"Oh darn, I have been slain. Oh well, at least I got killed by a cutie."

I could practically feel Sophie blushing. I smiled wickedly at Percy.

"I win."

"You win."

He gave me a kiss before running off to find Linh. Keefe took up a sparring match with my half-brother Malcolm, so Sophie came back to me.

"Did I do okay?"

"Are you kidding? You did great!"

I gave her a high-five, which she joyously returned. Then, Her features tightened, and she turned toward the direction of the forest and stared into it. She was so frozen, she looked like a victim of Medusa's paralyzing stare. Then she blinked and snapped out of it.

"Fitz just sent me a transmission. He says that something is wrong with Tam and Nico, he said they went into the forest and he heard them yelling for help."

She reached up her hand and tugged out an eyelash.

"Do you think it's a trap? It could be monsters, right?"

I thought about that for a second. The possibilities were endless.

"Maybe. Let's get Will Solace and Percy first, we might need backup."

"Okay. Let's go!"

We ran to the infirmary first, where Will was checking out the last patient from the monster attack yesterday. He looked up immediately when he saw us.

"Nico?"

"And Tam, in the woods."

"Let's go"

Will grabbed a med kit and his bow, and we ran to the beach to look for Percy. Luckily, he was there, trying to teach Linh how to stay calm under water.

"Percy, Nico and Tam are in the woods, they might need help, and--"

"Not my favorite cousin! Let's go!"

Percy and Linh joined us too. Linh insisted that she should be there if her brother needed her.

We all ran to the forest together.

"I'm going to try and track Tam's thoughts," Sophie said. She stopped and leaned against a boulder. She closed her eyes. "Here we go..."

The strained look was very clear, and once she would have fallen over if Percy hadn't helped steady her.

"Are you sure I can't--"

"It's okay, Will. She can do this."

He sighed and crossed his arms defiantly. Finally, Sophie opened her eyes.

"Found them... not far from here.."

She was huffing and puffing, but Sophie still picked up her running pace and took off deeper into the forest. She darted around rocks and lept over trees, avoiding shadowy areas for some reason. 

"Whoa!"

She abruptly halted in a small clearing. Linh couldn't slow down quickly enough and accidentally ran into Sophie. She was about to say sorry when she gasped too.

"What--?"

I started to say, but when I looked into the clearing I didn't need explanation.

It was Tam and Nico, collapsed on the ground surrounded by golden dust of dead monsters.

Tam wasn't moving.