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.
A broken sob to his left had Connor turning to see his little sister Tasha had started to cry, "why are you crying?"
"Connor," Travis said with a shaky voice, "did you not just hear what Chiron said?"
"Luke's a traitor," Birgitta confirmed, a shell shocked look on her face, "no- that doesn't make sense. We've gone to camp with him for five years," she shook her head, looking at Connor and Travis, "he's not like that! You guys know it as well."
Connor opened and closed his mouth, unsure of what to say. Luke was a traitor? He had tried to kill Percy? The image of a murderer didn't fit with the brother he knew. The one who scolded them for causing trouble with a fond smile and ruffled their hair whenever they walked past. He could be a little angry sometimes, mostly about their dad and the gods in general. But he would never turn that anger towards anyone in cabin eleven or the rest of that camp for that matter.
"Got tired of raising two dozen children he never asked to be responsible for I assume," Alabaster snorted quietly.
Lou gave her brother a disappointed look, elbowing him, "Al, don't say that!" She told him softly, "this- it isn't the time for jokes."
Connor felt an immediate stab of panic at his words. Was it his fault? Did Luke do all this because he didn't like them or something?
"If that were true he'd try to murder one of us, not Percy," Travis mumbled darkly, the words brought little comfort though.
"Quiet!" Chiron announced, finally managing to wrangle everyone's attention once again, "for now Luke's whereabouts are unknown and we don't know why he would do something like this. It is clear though that he was the culprit in the theft of Zues's lightning bolt. You all know how strong and cunning he is, I hate to think he would attack you, but you must be on the lookout while in the mortal world."
Luke had been the one to steal the lighting bolt as well? Connor almost wanted to laugh despite the dire circumstances because of course he was. Looking back on it now it almost seemed obvious. No god could steal another's symbol of power, so it had to have been a demigod. Of all the people who could pull off such a task, Luke was one of the only ones with the necessary skills to pull off a theft so insane.
"Chiron said to gather everyone together now," Travis hissed to him, herding Connor and their two other siblings out of the room as he spoke, "I volunteered to come get the little kids."
Connor couldn't begin to know how to process this, but for some reason the first thing that came to mind was, "Where's Luke? Shouldn't he be getting us?"
Travis shrugged as he dragged them down the halls, "don't know. Everything's kinda chaotic right now, you know there was no curfew last night and all, so not everyone was in their rooms when Chiron started gathering us all up."
Back on that fateful night on Olympus, Luke hadn't been with them at first. They had all assumed he had just been out sightseeing or something. The signs had been there the whole time, they'd just been too trusting of Luke to see them for what they were.
"Luke wouldn't do that!" A voice proclaimed, Connor glanced over to see Cecil barely holding back tears with his lower lip wobbling, "he wouldn't!"
"Cecil-" Travis began to say.
"No!" The younger boy cut him off, "how could any of you believe this, Luke is our brother, he would never turn on us!"
The commotion was causing some of the other tables to look at them, well, more than they already were. The moment Chiron had said Luke's name Connor had felt dozens of stares instantly go to the Hermes table. Now all their eyes were on Cecil, pity clear in their expressions.
Luke had been the one to bring Cecil to camp, their younger brother idolized him. The satyr who found Cecil had known a monster was nearby, Cecil was still young so there was a high chance they could have snuck past without it catching wind of his scent, but he hadn't wanted to risk it. So Luke had headed out to Virginia late last year and helped to escort him to camp. Ever since then, Cecil had thought Luke was the coolest person in the entire world.
Connor didn't really know what to say, it was hard for him to believe that Luke could actually do all the shit he apparently did. How was he supposed to comfort Cecil?
In the end, their big sister was the one to handle the situation. Despite the tear tracks on her own cheeks, she put on a brave smile and stood up, "come on Cecil, let's get you back to the cabin for now. We can talk there."
She threw an arm around his shoulder, quickly guiding him away from all the prying eyes in the dining pavilion.
"Yes well," Chiron continued hesitantly, "this is likely just the actions of one demigod, I don't want any of you to stress too much about this. But be on your guard anyways, we never thought Luke would attack Percy and yet it happened. We must be prepared for what seem like impossible scenarios. I give you all leave to return to your cabins and finish packing now."
No one really seemed too concerned with packing their bags anymore. How were they just supposed to go back to life as normal after this? Travis was the first to move, he stood up abruptly from the table, face screwed up in anger and stormed off.
Connor tried to call after him, but his older brother ignored him. Tasha was still crying and Noel looked like she was about to join her. Yvonne just looked shell shocked as she stared at the table blankly. Around them, the other campers had begun to mingle in the dining pavilion. No one seemed to know what to do, but they were all giving the Hermes table a wide berth. Sherman from the Ares cabin was giving all of them a suspicious stare, and with a start Connor realized that he thought they might be involved as well, just because they were Luke's siblings.
Once he was aware of it, he noticed far more uncomfortable glances being tossed their way as the other campers whispered to each other. How could they even think that Connor or any of his other siblings would have helped try and murder Percy? Then again, he didn't believe at first, he still didn't really believe, Luke could have done it. So how could he really blame them, he thought bitterly.
"If Luke is a traitor, how do we know his siblings weren't in on it?" A voice from the Demeter table said. They hadn't yelled, but it seemed to echo through the dining pavilion. Or perhaps that was just Connor's mind playing tricks on him. In any case, plenty of people heard it, and no one was jumping to defend the Hermes kids.
"We should go back to our cabin for now," Anissa muttered angrily, casting a glare towards anyone who dared to look at them.
"Yeah, for all we know they helped him," another voice scoffed, Connor didn't even bother to figure out who it was. He knew the name of every person at camp, he'd known them all since he was six. This was the only place he knew or remembered as home, and yet suddenly everyone's suspicions were thrown on him. All because stupid Luke.
"They wouldn't do that!" Will instantly denied, standing up with an angry look on his face, "I don't know everyone in the Hermes cabin well obviously, but I know Connor and he's not a traitor!" His words didn't seem to convince many of their fellow campers, but Connor appreciated his friend's sentiment nonetheless.
"That's what we thought about Luke too!" Aaron from the Athena cabin scoffed in reply. A flood of voices rose in agreement.
"Enough!" Lee snapped at the rising aggression, "Luke's actions are his. It can't be blamed on any of his siblings and frankly I'm disgusted your first thought was to shift the blame onto them!" He scolded the crowd.
"Yeah! Blaming the other Hermes kids for something their brother did is unfair. These are our friends we're talking about, unless they give us reason to believe otherwise we need to trust them!" Silena leveled the whole pavilion with a disappointed stare.
Connor noticed quite a few guilty looks as the two head counselors told them off. Connor decided to take the moment and run with it before any actual conflict could break out with some of the more aggressive campers and his siblings, "guys, let's go back to the cabin. Some of you still need to finish packing, and I don't wanna stick around while everyone debates whether we're trustworthy or not," he mumbled angrily. Connor wished Travis had stayed, silently he cursed his brother for running off like he did and leaving him to take charge of the rest of cabin eleven.
As his siblings murmured their agreement and stood up, Lou wove her way over to walk by his side, "I'm sorry about what happened with your brother," she told him hesitantly, "Aaron and them are assholes for trying to blame you guys."
"Thanks Lou," he said, but his heart wasn't really in it. He couldn't even blame them, if it was some kid from another cabin who had betrayed the gods, of course the first place he looked for accomplices would be among their siblings.
"Hey," she said, grabbing his arm to bring the both of them to a halt for a moment. She surged forward to crush him in a hug, "it's gonna be ok. I'm sure this will blow over quickly- people will realize they're idiots to think you're a traitor."
"Maybe they're right," Connor glowered as Lou took a step back from the hug, "we're his siblings, we should have noticed something was wrong."
She put her hands on her hips with a scowl, "and do you blame me for not noticing that something was going on with Luke?"
"Of course not!" Connor huffed, "but that's different, you're not a child of Hermes. He isn't your older brother."
"Yeah, but I have lived in the same cabin as him for years. By your logic I would be just as much to blame for not seeing the signs," she pointed out.
"That's dumb because it's not your fault!" Connor hissed.
"And it's not your fault either!" She countered with a smug grin that told him she knew she had won the debate.
Connor stared at her in disbelief, grunting as she abruptly threw her arm around his shoulder, "now stop with all the self hatred bullshit," she demanded as she pulled him along with her, something that she didn't struggle with due to the fact she was currently two inches taller than him- something she loved to lord over both him and Will, who was the shortest of their trio.
"Fine," he shook his head, finding a tiny smile forming on his face despite the horrid circumstances. Lou seemed determined to make sure he wasn't taking Luke's betrayal too hard, and maybe she was right. If none of their other siblings had noticed something either then why should he blame himself for not seeing any of the signs. And Luke was super smart, he definitely wouldn't have made it obvious. Now if only he knew where Travis was he could convince his brother of the same.