•as the sky falls•

•three•

"Oh my gods this is all my fault!" Annabeth shouted as they hoisted Piped up.

"What do you mean this is your fault?" Coriane shouted, following Rachel to the Big House. "How did you cause this?"

"No; this is definitely mine!" Rachel cried, tears running down her cheeks and slammed the doors to the Big House open. "I think I killed her!"

Coriane looked between Chiron and Jason. "She had a really bad vision."

Annabeth set Piper down and grabbed Coriane. "We'll get a medkit!" The two rushed down the hall and Annabeth leaned close to Coriane. "She took the knife."

"The knife?" Coriane frowned before her eyes widened. "Helen's knife? Annabeth, why would you-"

"She was attracted to it!" Annabeth shrugged, searching through a closet. "It happened when you were calming down in your cabin, I was more worried about you than her, honestly."

"I shouldn't have ran off like that, it'll make us look bad if we run off anytime a name is mentioned." She shook her head as she grabbed the kit. "Everyone dances around names with me and looks at me with pity."

"Coriane, you've gone through more than what a person should go through. People don't want to overwhelm you because of that."

Coriane grabbed the leather pouch. "Come on!" She knelt next to Piper. "Chiron, what happened, I've never seen it."

Annabeth nodded opening the pouch and digging through it and Coriane inspected the girl. "We've heard her prophecy voice but this was different. She sounded like... an old woman. She grabbed Pipers shoulders and told her to-"

"Free her from a prison?" Jason guessed.

Coriane slowly looked at him. "How'd you know that?"

Chiron, who had been quiet this whole time, made a three-fingered gesture over his heart, to ward against any evil. "Jason, tell them. Annabeth, Coriane, the medience bag."

Coriane nodded, handing him the bag as she held Pipers mouth open while Jason explained. Jason said what happened, the room froze for him and a dark misty woman claimed to be his patron.

Nobody spoke.

"You patron." Coriane mumbled. "Not your godly parent?"

"No, definitely patron. She also said my dad had given her my life."

Annabeth frowned. "That storm spirit, he claimed to work for a mistress, maybe that's her?"

He shook his head. "Why ask for my help if she's my enemy? She felt powerful, something about a king rising from the earth on the solstice-"

Coriane felt her pulse pick up. "Not Kronos." She looked to Chiron, pleasing. "Chiron, tell me it's not him."

Chiron looked miserable as he checked Pipers pulse. "It's not him, that threat has ended but..." he closed the bag. "Piper needs rest, we should discuss this later."

"Or now." Jason urged. Sure, you told me the greatest threat was coming. The last chapter. You can't possibly mean something worse than an army of Titans."

Rachel gasped. "That woman was Hera. It was her cabin, her voice. She showed herself to Jason at that very same moment."

Coriane felt her concern turn to hate. "Hera? What more can she possibly want? Why does she keep messing with our lives?"

"Rachel's right. She wore a goatskin cloak, that's a symbol of Juno." Jason nodded.

Chiron nodded in agreement. "Her Roman counterpart, her most warlike state."

"So she's imprisoned, good, who did it, I'll thank them?" Coriane scoffed.

"Coriane," Chiron warned. "Hera is still one of the Olympians, in many ways she is the glue that holds the gods family together. If she truly has been imprisoned and is in danger of destruction this could shake the foundations of the world. If Hera has asked Jason for help..."

"Fine, whatever," Coriane grumbled. "We know Titans can capture a god, Atlas captured Artemis a few years ago. But something worse than a Titan?"

"Hera said she'd been trying to break through her prison bonds for a month." Jason said.

"That's how long Olympus has been closed," Annabeth frowned. "So the gods know something is going on."

"But why me?" Jason asked. "Why use her energy to wipe my memory and plop me into a wilderness school field trip and send a vision for you to pick me up. Why?"

"The gods need heroes to do their will on earth," Rachel explained. "Their fates are always tied with demigods."

Coriane nodded. "Why him though? The point still stands."

"And Piper's involved," Rachel kept on. "Hera sent her the same message. Coriane... this has to have something to do with Percy."

Coriane stood just a little straighter as she turned to the centaur. "Why are you so quiet? What are we facing?"

He didn't respond, only blinked the question away. "I can't help you, I'm sorry."

She was taken aback, her emotions changing every second, anger to concern then back to anger. "You've... you have never kept information from me. Why now? Why when it comes to him?"

"I'll be in my office." Chiron said. "Rachel; watch the girl, take her to the infirmary. Annabeth, tell Jason and Coriane about the Greek and Roman gods."

Coriane snapped her head to Annabeth. "Do you know something?"

Annabeth paled and shook her head. "I don't understand anything, I swear." Annabeth looked to Jason's sword. "Is that gold?"

Jason shrugged. "I told you, I don't remember anything."

Coriane frowned. "Annabeth, Cabin Fifteen."

She nodded. "Exactly what I was thinking." Annabeth looked to her. "Cor, take a break. I can handle this just... I don't know how much you can take."