𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐓𝐇, Clarisse la Rue

𝐢. talks of love and centaurs get sacked

STRENGTH
━━ act two, chapter one.

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

   AFTER SUMMER HAD PASSED THEM BY, and Luke's betrayal was announced, it took a few months for Camp Half-Blood to heal from the news.

   It had shocked all of them. For the whole month after, everyone was different. The atmosphere was less cheery, less like the place's usual vibe. Hermes campers were acting out by stealing more than usual, and people seemed to be more cautious of one another. Nabi didn't berate Connor and Travis' rise in pranks, or point out Silena's slight change in behaviour for the first few weeks.

   Some campers started disappearing, one of them was Chris — he left without a word of his whereabouts, despite previously being a year-round camper. Nabi was a little worried for him.

Scratch that, she was worried sick.

Where could he have gone? He wasn't the first to disappear, but that didn't make it any less harrowing. Nabi was also concerned for the other campers who had vanished, and those that had left after the summer holidays without ever returning.

   Of course, as a demigod... it wasn't a surprise. It didn't mean it hurt any less to think about, though. Half-bloods never lived very long; a misfortune that came with the parentage. But Nabi had an inkling that there was another reason why the amount of campers had dwindled.

"I just... I have a feeling about it." Nabi told Silena, as they sat on her bed in the Aphrodite cabin. The rest of Silena's siblings were chilling there, too.

Currently, Silena was doing her English homework (Chiron assigned them stuff and taught them things in preparation for the real world... c'mon, demigods wanna get into universities too!) whilst Nabi was talking to her, playing with a cat in her lap...

Honey — a soft, ginger cat that Connor and Travis had gifted her for her birthday. Her soft little pet was a 'menace' according to everyone else, but she'd never been anything short of sweet to Nabi. Maybe, they were all just silly liars. No cat could be so cute, and at the same time, secretly evil. Right? Silena scribbled on her work, and mumbled, "Maybe you're just overthinking it."

"Nabi's right, though," A voice from the right — Mitchell, one of Silena's Aphrodite brothers, said whilst putting new sheets on his bed, "there have been less people... coming back. Less than the... the usual."

The 'usual' wasn't very nice to think about, either.

"I... I hope they're okay." Silena muttered, her eyes focused on a bunch of words that Nabi found difficult to read. She must've really enjoyed English or something, because she refused to look up, or maybe she was just as concerned for the missing campers.

Nabi had talked about the people vanishing before, but Silena always seemed to be especially uncomfortable with it. Nabi played with Honey's paws as the cat yawned, cutely. "Yeah."

   Honey meowed, like she was reassuring her too. Nabi smiled down at her.

   "We should stop talking about that stuff," Silena said, "it won't do us any good being... even more worried. How about we talk about something else?"

   "Oh my gods," Lacy perked up from one side of the cabin, spinning in a swivel chair to face them instead of the vanity she was using, "I have gossip, if anyone wants to here it?"