Poseidon's Daughter

Chapter 45 Camp

"My mind is officially blown," Grover heaves out as we appear standing in the middle of camp surrounded by blinding light.

"Mine too", Annabeth echoes with a sigh of relief as we hear thunder rolling in the distance.

"We're back at camp," I state confusedly, "And it seems that Apollo sent us back."

Campers rush out from their cabins, swords in hand as they saw the light display from our arrival. Some came with bows and arrows, others came with spears. Nearly all of them surrounding the three of us.

"Guys, it's just us. We're back from our quest," Grover yells above the ruckus.

"What is going on here?!" bellows a voice coming from the big house. Our very own Centaur, Chiron.

He spots us, relief and worry displayed on his face.

"Rhea, Annabeth, Grover! My heart soars at the sight of you three safely here at camp," Chiron states. "Please, come with me," he says as he indicates to the Big house.

He turns towards the rest of the campers and says, "Thank you all for your swift action at the sudden appearance of our three questers. Please head to bed, we will see you bright and early at breakfast."

In the crowd, I see Luke with a scowl on his face. "Wait! Chiron!" I say loudly, wringing my hands, "We have a problem. Luke is the one who stole Zeus' bolt."

Gasps fill the air, some in disbelief, and some in anger at my statement.

"That is a very serious accusation Rhea," Chiron scolds, now looking straight at Luke.

"It's true," Annabeth adds reluctantly. "Ares was the one behind all of this, but Luke was the one who stole the weapon."

Now everyone is staring at Luke who now looks furious, "So what?! The gods don't care about us. We are only pawns. Look at us! How many of us die before the age of sixteen? How many?! It's all their fault! All of it! It's better that they destroy each other! It's time for us to overthrow those pathetic gods. We can stop this," he heaves in anger, "we can overthrow them as they overthrew their parents. It's how the cycle works."

"Enough!" Chiron boulders, "You have betrayed us Luke. You nearly started a war. We were minutes away from absolute destruction. You speak of selfishness and its true, the gods are selfish, but so are you! Look at how many people have died because of your actions?"

"No Chiron, the gods did this," Luke scowls as he is taken away to the unused camp 'jail'. The big house has a small storage closet big enough for one person. It was filled with some cleaning supplies which some of the satyrs removed, and had 'accidently' dropped one of the damp mops on Luke's head.

No one slept easily that night. No one could truly believe that Luke had betrayed them all. Luke has always been a great leader, and some might follow in his path, and some will stand against his betrayal, fighting even till death.