Chiron's POV
It was just a normal day at Camp half-blood, the only safe place on earth for my students. It was winter and the days were getting shorter, it was only six but it was already getting dark. I ate at the head table as per-usual. My students had offered up to the gods and were chatting amongst themselves about the events of the past week and who they thought would win capture the flag tomorrow. Mr D hummed some bland pop song mournfully as he inhaled another slab of steak. Rachel our oracle had her thinking face on, her food lay untouched on the table.
I heard the sound of footfall and someone taking deep, wheezy breaths behind me "Chiron" I reared up on my hind legs turned to face my beckoner; it was Freddie from cabin seven, a son of Apollo. All the campers watched as he continued "There's a god or Titan…or…something powerful on the beach, he's carrying something…What do we do?" I hoped it wasn't a Titan. I could do without that sort of drama. And the last time a god had visited they hadn't exactly treated my half-bloods very nice. Apart from that particular incident no gods had visited camp since after the war against Gaia and that was over a decade ago. Nearly thirteen years in fact.
Many of the greatest heroes I'd ever taught were making their way in the mortal world now. I hadn't seen many of them since Annabeth and Percy's wedding and that was eight years ago. Travis and Katie are the two I see most frequently as they live on long-island. They have two sons now; Blayze and Tristan. Both of them are even more light-fingered and sly than their father.
Thalia comes through with the hunters every now and again. Connor married a mortal girl called Evie and lives in North Carolina so he doesn't visit much. Piper and Jason got married quietly in a small chapel in Brooklyn where they now live with their little girl Astrid Phoenix Grace. Leo runs a successful motor company and Nico does a lot of traveling and as far as I know neither hero has settled down yet. I miss Percy and Annabeth most of all, I practically raised Annabeth and now I never see her. As for Percy, he means just as much. He'll always be my favourite hero. I would have been worried something had happened if I wasn't hearing stories about them all the time. It just hurt not to be party to them.
"Chiron?" Freddie asked interrupting my line of thought.
"We wait and see what they want" I ordered. A glowing figure stepped out of the Shadows.
"Dad" The members of cabin seven chorused.
"Hey kids" Apollo gave them a grin that showed his bright white teeth off too perfection, his eyes passed over me "Hey Chiron, Long time no see huh" the sleeping child in his arms squirmed. She couldn't have been more than eight. She was wearing deep blue, flannel pyjamas with seahorses on. Her golden curls reminded me of Annabeth so much it hurt. Apollo carried on talking "Sorry I gotta shoot off, the only reason I'm here is because I promised I'd drop the kid off at the end of my shift"
"Is it another child of yours?" I came closer.
"No" Apollo said abruptly "But I do have a ten year old son in Toronto called Joshua who's going to need a place in seven soon"
The little girl squirmed again and I got a full view of her face. My heart knotted itself and I gasped "Annabeth"
Flashback
"Luke seems to be doing ok, or at least he's acting tough" Grover looked washed out as he reported back to me "Annabeth is going out her mind though, Thalia and Luke are pretty much all she has and now she's just lost one of them" I nodded. I felt for the girl. Losses like this should not have to be dealt with by one so young.
"It is to be expected after what has happened, I will speak to her" I made to walk out the door.
I saw her sitting outside on the porch. Tears tumbled down her cheeks as she cleaned a knife ferociously with the sleeve of her over-sized coat. From the looks of it I would say she had already got it as clean as it would go, but she didn't seem to notice or maybe she just didn't care. She stopped and looked up as I approached. She didn't seem to be fazed by my form, but she did grip her knife tighter.
After a few seconds I spoke "Hello child, I am…"
"Chiron, I know" Her grey eyes were penetrating and ferocious, but there was wisdom there. The kind you do not expect to see in the eyes of a child. 'But this is no ordinary child' I reminded myself. However, underneath all the big girl bravado was the demeanour of a rejected, vulnerable little girl.
My heart melted. I stroked her head and wiped a tear off her chin "Have you been claimed yet sweetie?" I already knew she had been, as if her eyes weren't enough of a give-away of her parentage. I was just trying to get her to open up a bit.
She gave me a small, proud smile and I knew I'd said the right thing "Yes, by Athena, goddess of wisdom and war"
I smiled "You must be very smart then, I bet you were top of the class at school" I kneeled down opposite her.
Her eyes lit up "Yes, I was"
"That's very good, you'll learn Greek in no time" she had stopped crying and was hanging on my every word.
"You think so" She asked.
"I'll bet you anything that you'll have learnt it within the week" I said, and she grinned "Do you want to see your cabin?" I asked. She nodded enthusiastically taking my outstretched hand. I led her toward cabin six and through the door.
"Wow" Annabeth breathed. Her eyes blazed with hope as she took in her surroundings.
I spotted a lanky, honey blonde girl reading on a bed that was pushed up against the right wall "Heidi" I called.
The girl didn't look up but held up a finger as if to say 'wait a minute while I finish the page' she looked up slowly and seeing me jumped onto her feet "Sorry Chiron I didn't know it was you"
"It's not a problem, could you please direct Annabeth to her bunk and give her a little tour of camp half-blood" Heidi nodded.
"Goodbye child" I nodded at Annabeth "You'll do well here; this is your home now"
She looked me in the eyes for a second before throwing her arms around my front, right leg. She stayed there for about five seconds while I stroked her hair. She gave me a sweet smile before running over to Heidi. That moment I knew, she'd turn out to be a good, if not brilliant hero.
The campers began to talk in hushed voices. They know the old stories; they know exactly who Annabeth is. "Yes, she does look remarkably like her mother. But when she wakes up you'll see just how similar she is to Percy" Apollo winked at me and motioned for me to take her off him.
"I didn't know…" I was lost for words.
"Hardly anyone did" Apollo said crossing his arms "Only a few of their closest friends. They didn't want Zeus finding out for obvious reasons"
"She's the child of two of the most powerful demi-gods history's ever known, and even after all this time" I said "Zeus still finds it hard to embrace the unknown" The sky rumbled above us. The demi-gods stopped a talking; a few glanced nervously at the storm clouds.
"Calm down dad" Apollo shouted at the sky like a crazy person, his fists clenched "You know it's true" The sky didn't rumble again. Apollo face lit up "Oh, I feel a song coming on"
"No please don't go to all that trouble. I wouldn't want you wasting your time while you obviously have important godly duties to be getting on with" I half begged.
He nodded "Your right, I should be heading off" I breathed a sigh of relief
"What's her name?" I couldn't tear my eyes away from the little girls face. She really did look a lot like Annabeth.
"Sophia Jackson" he paused before adding "She has permission to stay in whichever of her grandparent's cabins she wants to. I would suggest the Poseidon cabin, I have a feeling she'll feel more at home in there" I looked away as Apollo turned to his true form and vanished.
Just then Sophia opened her eyes to reveal deep green orbs. The light from Apollo must have awoken her. She stretched and looked up at me "You're not Apollo" she frowned.
"No. I'm Chiron, You're at Camp half-blood" She nodded.
"How are you child?" I asked her as I put her down.
"Well in the last twenty-four hours. I've been almost killed four times, been carried across the country by the god of the sun, music and healing and woken up in the arms of a centaur I've never met before. So I'd say I'm doing pretty well" She crossed her arms and sent me an unimpressed look.
Hummm…Sarcastic, disrespectful and impulsive. She may look like Annabeth when she's asleep but she's defiantly Percy's daughter.