Missing One
Percy and Thalia headed straight toward Chiron, while the symbols that marked them as champions of their pantheons kept shifting and flickering around them.
Chiron seemed to have noticed it and looked at them seriously. When both of them stopped in front of him, he gave a small nod.
"Good. That means the impartial oracle will arrive at any moment. We should receive them at the center of the camp," Chiron said, his tone genuinely serious.
"An impartial oracle?" Percy asked, confused.
"Yes. Let me explain on the way," Chiron replied, motioning for them to follow.
Thalia glanced at Percy for a moment, her expression serious, and Percy met her eyes briefly before both of them moved to walk at Chiron's sides.
As soon as they stepped out of the Big House, the campers nearby seemed to sense that something important was about to happen. One by one, they began gathering around them with growing curiosity, while Chiron continued explaining as they walked.
"Normally, each pantheon has its own oracles and gods overseeing them. In our case, that would be the Oracle of Delphi, watched over by Apollo himself. But every oracle is tied to the prophecies of its own pantheon, which could make the trial… biased. That's why they bring in an external god. Someone neutral. They present the trials to the champions," Chiron explained, his tone serious, with a hint of concern beneath it. After all, he was about to receive a foreign god; something that had never happened in his entire life.
He even noticed Mr. D, who was usually careless about his duties, standing outside the Big House, looking toward the center of the camp with a relatively serious expression.
"A foreign god… who?" Thalia asked immediately.
"I have no idea. But usually, the ones chosen are…"
Chiron didn't finish the sentence.
Something in the air… simply changed.
A deadly cold suddenly fell over the entire camp.
Even the atmosphere itself seemed to lose its color, turning dull and gray, as if everything had become more somber, more lifeless than it should have been. A chill ran through every camper, dryad, and satyr, while the animals froze in place, as if they had suddenly turned into lifeless statues.
Confusion spread quickly. People looked around, noticing how a cold mist began to creep in slowly. Everyone searched in different directions, as if trying to find the source of that sudden, suffocating sense of death.
Even the central campfire dimmed, reduced to little more than a weak flicker.
"Hey… was she there a second ago?" Percy suddenly asked, raising his hand to point in one direction.
Chiron turned his head quickly, a hint of surprise crossing his face when he saw a figure seated calmly upon what looked like a dark, black throne. The rest of the campers followed his gaze, noticing the sudden presence of someone who felt as if she had always been there.
And when they saw her, some let out quiet breaths of fear, while others swallowed hard at the overwhelming weight of death surrounding that woman.
Especially because half of her body looked like nothing more than a corpse, while the other half was that of a beautiful woman, with long, dark hair cascading down her shoulders, her gaze slowly moving across everyone present. Those who met her eyes felt as if she could see the exact day of their death.
Chiron immediately placed a hand over his chest and bowed slightly.
"I offer my respects to the goddess of death, Hela," Chiron said with complete respect, even if she belonged to a different pantheon, clearly recognizing who she was.
The rest of the campers seemed startled for a moment at the presence of another god in the camp and quickly greeted her with the same gesture Chiron had used. It wasn't exaggerated like that of devoted followers, but it was the kind of respect a god deserved.
Mr. D, in the distance, had a slight frown on his face, but didn't even bother approaching. Hel glanced at him for a brief moment, then ignored him completely, as if he simply didn't exist.
Since the moment she had appeared there without warning, she hadn't shown a single change in her cold expression. Her gaze slowly moved across the camp until it stopped on Percy for a moment.
Percy felt the same thing the others had felt when they were looked at… but it seemed like she held her gaze on him a few seconds longer… before finally shifting it toward Thalia, and then back to Chiron.
"One is missing," she said, her tone as cold as her expression.
That immediately confused Chiron, who quickly raised his head, though it was clear he couldn't even hold the gaze of the goddess of death.
"Wait… what? The two champions who will take part in the trial are already present. Percy Jackson and Thalia Grace," Chiron said, clearly confused.
"One is missing," Hel repeated in the same dull tone, before slightly tilting her head in a direction. "He is already here."
Chiron, still confused, along with Percy and Thalia, turned to look in the same direction as Hel.
A moment later, several figures began to emerge from the forest, making Chiron frown when he recognized them as the campers assigned to guard the perimeter. But they weren't alone. They were escorting someone, surrounding him with their weapons raised, ready to attack at any moment.
Meanwhile, the person in the center walked forward with complete confidence, a friendly smile on his face.
When Thalia and Percy saw him, they were even more shocked than Chiron, their eyes widening.
"Luke?" they both said at the same time.
Luke, as if he had willingly allowed himself to be brought in, looked at them and gave a smile that, for a moment, felt just a little off.
"Hey. I'm not late, right? Wouldn't wanna miss this," he said, casually raising his right hand, as if all of this were nothing more than a game. There, a mark could be seen; one shaped like a broken hourglass, faintly glowing with the same tone as Percy's and Thalia's.
The mark of a champion.
"You've gotta be kidding me…" Percy said, not taking his eyes off the guy who, just a few days ago, had sent an army to kill the campers… and now stood right in front of them, smiling like nothing had happened.
And in that moment…
it became clear that this had never been a fight between two. And this time… it wasn't going to end clean.