Tales of Camp Half Blood

Tale 28; The First Stage Of Grief, DENIAL

There was a strange hush over the dining pavilion as Chiron stood before them. Everyone had seen Percy being dragged through camp in a half-alive state. And then the counselors had disappeared into the infirmary to have some kind of meeting. Shortly after, Chiron had emerged and ordered everyone to make their way to the dining pavilion for an announcement.

Most of the camp counselors had returned to their siblings with grim looks on their faces, but Connor had yet to see Luke anywhere. It wasn't too much of a worry to him at the moment. Annabeth hadn't emerged from the infirmary either, likely because she was watching over Percy. Luke had probably just opted to stay with her and Percy.

"I'm sure you're all very curious about why I've called this meeting as well as what happened to Percy earlier today," Chiron announced, his words being met with murmurs, "I fear it is not good news."

For a moment Connor thought that perhaps Percy had actually died. It seemed cruel, after everything he had been through and all the challenges he had overcome for him to die in a place where he was supposed to be safe.

Chiron's next words eased his worries before they could spiral any farther, "Percy will thankfully survive, but he was attacked by a very dangerous monster. A pit scorpion from the depths of Tartarus."

There were a few barely contained gasps around the dining pavilion. Connor wasn't really sure what a pit scorpion was, but he knew that if it came from Tartarus there was no way it could be anything good.

"What's a pit scorpion?" Cecil asked in a hushed whisper.

"You don't want to know," Marianna replied, "trust me, you don't want the details you'll have nightmares for weeks," she told their little brother, "just know it's really bad."

Cecil looked a little disgruntled at being brushed off, but Connor couldn't help but agree with Birgitta on this. If this thing was some horrifying powerful monster who had managed to get into camp somehow, then telling their ten year old brother about it would not end well. Connor himself didn't want to know the details otherwise he'd be stuck looking over his shoulder wherever he went for the next few weeks.

He figured if Chiron was explaining this so calmly that meant the monster was gone, so there was no need for concern. They'd obviously patch up whatever hole in the defense allowed it to get in after this. Though Connor silently mourned the fact he hadn't found it before the scorpion. If there was a secret entrance or hole in the camp's security it would have made it so much easier to sneak things in and out of camp- but he doubted that this entrance would exist anymore by the end of the day.

"The scorpion didn't get into camp by itself. Just as the hellhound was summoned at the beginning of the summer, someone inside camp was responsible for letting the scorpion in today," Chiron told them grimly.

"If I find out that was any of you guys," Anissa muttered to them quietly enough so the other tables wouldn't hear, "I'll beat the shit out of you, it's not something to joke about."

"Niss come on," Travis sounded genuinely hurt, "we like to have our fun but we're not idiots, we'd never summon a monster like that into camp."

Connor nodded at his brother's words, they weren't fools. They liked to play pranks and harmless jokes, attempted murder didn't fall in either of those categories. Camp was their home, they'd never put it in danger like that.

"Though I was reluctant to believe it, Percy and two witnesses all confirmed that Luke was the culprit," instantly, the entire pavilion was drowned in sound as the other campers yelled questions or exclamations of disbelief at the prospect. For his part, Connor didn't understand the words coming out of Chiron's mouth. He must have misheard, his ears were playing tricks on him because he had just been thinking about Luke only moments before.