The Unclaimed

Chapter 5: A centaur makes the camp think I'm crazy

  The closer we got to the big house, the more I started to regret agreeing to go with Leo. Yeah I wanted to know why they would defend James but after yelling at Chiron I was worried about type of mood they would be in. I had a feeling that the moment we got into the big house there would be lots of yelling. When we got to the door of the big house Leo looked down at me.

    "You ready?" He asked me. I thought about it.

    "Not at all," I responded truthfully while I grabbed the door handle. The second I swung it open I was embraced by Nico in a hug.

    "Thank the gods you're all right," he mumbled to me before he let me go. Next was Will. He knelt down to my level.

    "I'm so sorry for lying." He said and I could tell that he was truly apologetic.

    "Why," I asked him softly. "You and Nico have always been there for me and Michael. You've looked out for us in ways that others haven't. So why would you defend James?" The guilty look on his face told me that he knew what he had done was wrong. As much as I wanted to tell him that I wasn't mad, I refused to lie. Before I could consider to forgive him, I needed to know why.  From behind Will Chiron cleared his throat.

    "I am to blame for that," he said truthfully. I stared at him in shock. He was the centaur who had taught me much of what I know and constantly promised me that everything would be ok, telling me that he was the one who wanted to cover up what had happened to my brother.

    "Why," the word got stuck in my throat. I felt betrayed, I felt angry, and I felt disgusted.
 
     "For the sake of the camp, the truth had to get covered up." He said. "If Michaels siblings found out what happened to him they would, rather rightfully, become angry and try to fight the Ares campers. No child of Ares would take an attack by the Hermes cabin lightly; whether they felt they were being attacked for a just reason or not, they would fight back. The other cabins would be forced into picking sides. It would result in the division of the camp and that would not be good." The moment he started to explain, it was clear to me that he found his reason valid. I could almost understand his perspective, but almost wasn't enough to calm the anger within me.

    "The truth will get out," I said. "The other campers saw what happened at the sword lesson and I practically just announced the truth back at the infirmary." I reminded him. He didn't look concerned by what I said.

  "I was afraid you would bring that up," he said cautiously. "While I assure you that James will be punished for what he did, no one else will remember the event exactly how it happened. By shifting the mist, Mr. D and I were able to change the memories of your fellow campers." I was scared to ask my next question but I asked it anyways.

    "What do they now believe happened?" I was terrified to know what his answer would be. If the other campers didn't know the truth, I had a feeling they believed a reality where I looked the bad guy.

    "They remember seeing Michael helping with the demonstration and then passing out," Chiron said. I knew there was more he wasn't saying so I crossed my arms and stared at him. "Because the blessing of Artemis is so rare, we were unable to erase their memory of your fight with James." He told me cautiously; as he spoke he did not break eye contact with me. I knew that he was trying to judge my reaction to the news.

    "So they just remember me attacking James without a legitimate reason." I said slowly. Chiron hesitated.

    "In a way, yes." I opened my mouth to speak but he cut me off. "When we changed the mist we did make it so it did look, from certain angles, that James hit Michael. The campers who were standing near you have defended you by saying that it did look like James sword had hit Michael by accident from where you were standing." It was obvious that he was trying to provide me with comfort but he was failing miserably.

    "So what, everyone thinks that I attacked James for no reason besides the misconception of an accident?" I asked bluntly. "And I take it that all of the Hermes campers who I yelled at out in front now believe, because this is probably what you told them, that I had a mental breakdown." When he didn't argue with what I said, I knew I was right.

    "How could you do that to her?" Leo asked, for once his tone was a hundred percent serious. "She already has enough issues going on in her life without you making the other campers believe she's gone crazy." His protectiveness over me made me smile. Or at least it did until I remembered why he was protecting me right now. I was already an unclaimed, I was the only person to be blessed by Artemis, and now everyone was going to believe that I was crazy.

    "We had to do what was best for the camp as a whole," Chiron said. "As wrong as James was to do what he did to Michael, we can't have a civil war go on at camp." Leo wasn't letting Chiron off the hook so easily.

    "That doesn't make up for the harassment you've just sentenced Jessica to." He said harshly. "If you had any conscious at all then you would be able to realize what you've just done to her. I'm at the point of almost wishing that I had never brought her to Camp. I always thought of this place as a safe haven for demigods but something has definitely changed since I left here." Chiron visibly winced when he heard what Leo said.

    "I assure you that the other campers will not treat Jessica poorly because of this," his words would have been convincing if he hadn't looked so doubtful. "And there's no where safer for her than here." Chiron insisted. I looked up at Leo, he seemed to be thinking.

    "Maybe she's safe from monsters here but in case you haven't noticed, she can fight and monsters better than all your senior campers." Leo said truthfully. "In fact, I think fighting those monster drains her less than having to constantly fight against her fellow campers does. I mean do you even recognize what she goes through every day? Do you hear the taunts and see her get excluded from events because she's different? I almost hope to the gods that you don't because as pathetic you not realizing is, if you were to realize but haven't managed to put a stop to it than that would be worse." He tried to keep his face expressionless, after all Leo was indeed right. If Chiron had noticed how I was being treated by the other campers and done nothing to stop, then I wouldn't know what to think of him anymore.

    "Jessica has needed to find her own path," without actually referring to the question, Chiron answered it. I looked at him in shock and when I turned to look at Will, Nico, and Leo's faces I saw a combination of shock and disgust in their expressions. "I have done as much as I can to control how the other campers treated her but a lot of it has been outside of my jurisdiction. For a long time I have wanted to do more to help her, but a demigod must learn to defend themselves." He finished mournfully.

    "They need to learn to defend themselves against other monsters," Leo reminded him. "Not against the other campers. Jessica can take down basically any monster she faces, but she shouldn't have to deal with being treated so horribly by other demigods." I heard the dinner bell sound. The room was completely silent.

    "I, I should go to dinner." With that I sprinted out of the room while ignoring all the voices that shouted for me to come back. There was to much tension in that room for me to handle. To much information had just been revealed. I had already distraught because of Michael but now I had no idea what to think anymore.