"What...it's Hannah?" I murmured, and Chiron remained unmoved.

"Hannah—"

"Swear on River Styx that you will protect us and no one demi-gods will die!" Hannah repeated, and my eyes widened. In Greek mythology, if someone swears on River Styx, then that's a promise they can never break.

"Hannah, I can't promise that. But I can promise I die trying to save every last one of you. I-I-I," he stammered, sighing, "I swear I will try to protect every last one of you. Not that no demi-gods will die, some will be fated to fall."

"I—fine," Hannah scolded, admitting defeat. She finally sat down, angry. I guess she's still sour about Alecia. Hannah must really care about her, they must have a strong relationship.

"Thank you for your time," Eleos chuckled, trying to settle things down.

"Return to your feast, please, and thank you," Chiron mumbled, and he pulled Eleos aside to talk.

"Poor Hannah," Cora sighed, playing with her salad. I nodded, Hannah seems nice but is conflicted about her best friend's death. And she kind of hinted to me that she cares a lot about Alecia. That made me feel guilty for having Alecia's dragger. It was not mine, why should I have it?

"You know, maybe Hannah should get advice," Thomas shrugged, "it always works in the movies. I mean, I dunno,"

"Oh my gods, Thomas, you genius! I nearly forgot to hand in my work!" Elizabeth cried, getting up.

"Okay, you're welcome?"

"I must speak to Chiron, thanks, fire boy!"

"Mind if I get a kis—"

"In your dreams, Thomas," she said, rolling her eyes.

"I called it. But you're missing out, ghost girl," he grumbled, Cora and I laughed. Elizabeth left and soon Cora.

"We better get back to Cabin #11, everyone else is packing up too," he grunted, and I got up, "mind if you grab my crutches for me?"

"Oh, sure," I said, reaching for the crutches that were leaning against the picnic table.

"Wait! Don't press the small button on the side—"

"HOLY CRAP—" I screamed as a blade popped open at the end of the crutch. I dropped it, leaping away.

"Right," Thomas sighed, I panted.

"Oh my gosh, was that a freaking blade installed in the crutches?! That is NOT normal!"

"Well, funny story, I made those blades and installed them. Now pass them to me,"

I carefully picked out the crutches, handing them to Thomas.

"Why do you have blades jabbed in there anyway?"

"So basically," he said casually, leaving his tray, " I can't walk, that's obvious,"

"Well, yeah,"

"But if I can't walk, I need crutches to walk with, so my hands are always occupied. That's a bad thing since a lot of bounty hunters, uhm, want to kill demi-gods. So I made new crutches, my current ones, and made one blade at each crutch. It's not the best weapon, but it's alright,"

"Smart," I replied, nodding.

"That's a first, someone calling me smart," he chuckled, limping. We walked back to Cabin #11 in awkward silence. When we arrived, I turned to Thomas. I made one more question for the night.

"Hey, so why aren't there younger demi-gods? Eleos said to me on the bus I was one of the few who were younger. Even Leah called me an in-betweener. What's the deal about that? Aren't the gods breaking that rule still, so shouldn't there be toddlers or—"

"I think that's enough questions for today," he mumbled quietly, looking anxious.

"But Thomas—"

"Don't ask questions about the way of the world, good night, Amara." he spat and opened the door with his right crutch.

"O-okay," I stuttered, taken back. We entered Cabin #11, seeing more people in the cabin now. Thomas immediately left my side to go to the changing room. I was deciding if I should change now or later. Wait, I don't even have clothes to change out of. Miss. M should have asked me to pack a bit before leaving.

"Amara," a voice said. I quickly turned around to see Cora. She was in blue pajamas and reading a book on her bottom bunk.

"Oh, hi, Cora," I sighed, relieved.

"You didn't pack anything, did you?"

"Yeah," I admitted sheepishly, but Cora just giggled softly.

"Don't worry, you are not the first. I can have Lucas smuggle in a pair of PJs for you," she chuckled, closing her book.

"What Lucas is just your average smuggler?" I laughed, joking around.

"He's a grandson of Hermes, what do you expect?" Cora snickered, " Though, I always thought that Hannah was the troublemaker. Daughter of Hermes, even closer. She's smart, I'll give her that,"

"Yeah..."

"Anyway, you'll need something to sleep tonight. Usually, you can just sleep in your normal clothing but that white shirt of yours looks soggy," she teased, my cheeks reddened.

"Oh, uhm," I stammered, blushing and flustered.

"Follow me," she replied and got off her bed. We walked to the wardrobe, and Cora bent down, running her finger down the drawers.

"Ah, here's my drawer," Cora smiled, and gently opened the drawer. Her drawer had some shirts, pants, a swimsuit(not surprising for a daughter of Poseidon), and one skirt. Wow, you can fit a lot in there.

"Uhhh,"

"Here," Cora said, handing me a pair of clean clothes, "they're not PJs but they're clean,"

"Oh, thanks, Cora," I replied, trying to keep it lowkey, "I'll give it back to you tomorrow,"

"Nah, you can keep it. It's too small for me now,"

"Thank you,"

"Don't mention it, Amara," she grinned. I got up and headed to the changing room. Cora stopped me midway.

"Wait!"

I turned back as Cora nervously spoke.

"I just want to say—uh," she stammered, and I smiled slightly. Was this the apology I'd been waiting for? Oh okay, so Cora doesn't have a reason to say sorry to me but it still counts! Okay? Plus it feels good and slightly refreshing for once.

"Yes, Cora?"

She didn't have the guts to do it.

"I just wanted to say you took the news well, most demi-gods would have freaked out. Eleos told me, uh, see you tomorrow morning,"

I slightly frowned but nodded regardless. I'm pretty sure I had a mini panic attack yesterday when Miss. M and I were on the bus. Hard times

"Oh, thanks. Night,"

"Good night, Amara," she replied, although it sounded more like a sigh. I walked to the changing room and opened the door. I went inside and quickly changed into the clothes that Cora gave me.

It was a bit baggy, as expected since Cora is older than me by three years, but because I'm pretty tall—it fitted nicely. I left the changing room to let the next person in. I was walking to my bunk when a blare screeched.

"LIGHTS OUT, TEN O'CLOCK ON THE DOT! NO MORE WANDERING, GOOD NIGHT," the PA yelled, clicking off. I climbed onto the ladder, stopping.

​"Hey, Cora, good night," I squeaked, trying to be polite.

"Oh," she replied, closing her book cover, "have a nice sleep,"

"That's not creepy at all," Leah giggled in her bunk bed across from ours.

"Be quiet, if it wasn't for Jarvis, I wouldn't have a black eye!" Cora protested as I climbed onto my bed. This feels right at home, I like sleeping in high places.

"Jeez," Leah muttered under her breath. Then all the lights got cut out, and it was pitch black.

"Umm,"

"Don't worry, new girl, Chiron cuts most of the power when it's after curfew," a demi-god boy said. Then there was some rustling before everything became quiet. I fell onto the bed, hoarding the blanket up to my head. I didn't notice this before but the mattress was straws of hay, it has a rough texture. It's kind of pokey but it's firm enough for my back.

"Night guys," a voice yawned, and there was a follow-up of "good nights".

"Night, y'all," Thomas snickered, I could feel people's eyes rolling in the dark.

"Shut up, Thomas," Leah scolded, Thomas scoffed.

"Ugh,"

"Ahem! Good night to you!" Hannah coughed, interrupting their argument.

"Nighty-night!" Cora said cheerfully.

"Bonne nuit, buenas noches!" a girl's voice giggled, speaking Spanish. I should say good night too.

"Good night—"

My head flooded with pain, my stomach hurled, and my eyes spun around the room. No, not again! Was I about to have another dream?

"Amara, are you okay?" Cora asked from below, I tossed to my side.

"Y-yeah," I stuttered, even though I was overwhelmed with emotions. It didn't really feel painful but my head was so scrambled. Then my hearing became shot again. My vision started failing me and I felt as if I was drowning.

Everything to me started fading into black and I felt like I was losing my grasp on reality. No, no, no! Stay awake! Do not close your eyes, I don't want to see people falling off cliffs! My eyes heavily drooped down, and I gave up. I don't know why but I feel like this has something to do with the Poisoner in my guts. I have now become involved, I can't back out now. My eyes shut, and I could feel that something bad was about to happen.

"N-no," I muttered, scared for my life.

"Amara?"

I could feel something really bad was about to start NOW.