Darkness had settled over the hero training camp. A figurative darkness that encompassed the inhabitants of the twelve cabins. It had been a crushing blow, one no one had seen coming. But why would they suspect it, apart from the monsters what else was there to fear?
How could they have known the darkness was rising, a single entity that could destroy them all? That their hopes and dreams would prove unfounded? That the day was close at hand, when they would all perish? No one wanted to think of that.
The campfire burned low in pit, the black flames barely reaching the rim, feeding off the somber mood of the assembled teenagers. Small groups sat on the bleachers, huddled together, not from the cold but to share strength in this dark time. Before the fire pit stood Percy, his hands opening and closing as he worked through what he was going to say.
He had never been much a public speaker. He had never been much of a motivator either. Being a social outcast did that to a person. But he had to this time; he had to say something to them. They needed to know what they were up against.
But what? What was he going to say? What could he say that would change what had happened, what was happening to them? He had only been at camp for a few years, others had more experience, knew the situation better. Like Annabeth. She should have been the one doing this, explaining the horrible reality they were facing. Not him, not the kid who stumbled through every near death experience the gods decided to throw at him.
And now the Titans were doing it too.
Percy took a deep breath, looking up over the campers, huddling as they talked in quiet murmurs. None of them wanted to accept it. How could they accept it?
Luke had been there for five years. Luke had joked with them, sparred with them, eaten with them, trained with them. Luke had always been one of them, and now he was a traitor. He turned his back on all of them, because of concept Percy had been unable to grasp, was still unable to grasp.
And the campers now looked to Percy for answers, answers he did not have and could not give. But they still turned to him. A unanimously appointed leader, who had no clue what he was doing.
His hand closed, tightening so his nails dug into his palm. There was so much he could say about Luke. About the boy who had first showed him what it meant to be accepted somewhere, about the boy who had smiled in the face of adversity when everything looked bleak. But that had all been a lie.
Luke had only helped Percy because it benefitted his goals. Luke smiled in those dark times because he had orchestrated the trial. Had he even really been one of them, had there ever been a time when Luke truly felt he was one of the heroes living at Camp Half-Blood?
"Are people born wicked?" he asked himself. It was afterwards he realized he had spoken out loud, earning the undivided attention of the campers gathered the amphitheater. They looked up at him with hope, sadness, worry, trust…
"Are people born wicked?" he asked again, louder. "Or do they have wickedness thrust upon them?"
He could see the others looking around, searching for the answer to his questions. How did people become wicked, turn traitor on their friends and family? Did Percy have the answer? Or were these rhetorical questions?
"After all, he was one of us—one of you—for five years." He could hear them whispering now, their agreements, further questions. They still found it hard to believe, he had been there for so long, and they had not seen the signs.
But how could they see what was never shown? How could they have known that the smile was a sham when it was all they had ever seen from him? Had Luke come to them after he joined Kronos' cause? Had he always lied to them, just to earn their trust and sway them against the Olympians?
So many questions, more than Percy could go through in this short span of time. Finding the answers to those questions would not help stop Luke and his growing army. It would not ease the concerns of the campers gathered before him.
"We all knew him. We fought him in the arena, ate beside him in the pavilion. We were on his team for capture the flag, we joined him the strawberry fields. We laughed with him, and shared our victories with him." Percy swallowed the lump rising in his throat.
"We shared our losses with him. But he would not share with us. It's through no fault of ours that this happened. Had he wanted, Luke could have turned to any of us with his doubts, fears, and whatever else drove him from our ranks.
"It's through no fault of ours that Luke aligned himself with Kronos. Whatever drove Luke, it is nothing we did. It was nothing we could see. Don't blame yourselves, don't wonder what you did wrong. Instead think of what we now have to do." Percy looked around at the campers. Some of them were starting to straighten in their seats. Others still looked close to tears, the Hermes campers were the worst.
It was their brother who had betrayed the camp. They had been closest to Luke. They were the ones who should have seen it coming. They had failed the entire camp because they had allowed Luke to walk so far down a dark path.
"Luke told us he intends to raise Kronos," Percy continued. "I take that as a challenge. We can stop him. We are heroes, and heroes are supposed to defeat the villains, the monsters and whatever else comes our way."
"What about Luke?" the question was quiet and reserved, but the amphitheater was silent, so much so that it was as if the question had been shouted.
What about Luke? Where they just supposed to let him go? Forget that he had been one of them?
"He's a hero too," Percy answered. "He's one of our own. And we never turn our backs on each another."
"We're going to bring him home!" Clarisse yelled, jumping to her feet from her place in the middle of the Ares campers. "And then I'm going to kick his sorry butt all the way to the entrance of the Plains of Punishment! Who's with me?"
The others turned to look at the daughter of Ares, some nodded agreement but were too scared to speak. A few looked outraged at her suggestion. If they intended to bring Luke back, they should welcome him fully.
Percy looked around at the campers, determination growing in him. They would bring Luke back. Even if he made some wrong decisions, he was still family. And you never turn your back on family.
Percy looked to Annabeth, her eyes met his, and he knew what they had to do. "We're going to stop Kronos," he shouted over Clarisse's threats. "We're going to fight a war, and bring Luke home."
The demigods cheered.