The True Purpose of the Trial
"So… what do we do now?" Grover asked.
The others also had confused expressions about what they were supposed to do now as everyone stared at the creature poking its head out of the cooler, which was filled with water to keep it hydrated.
Everyone looked back toward Percy again, who at some point had become the strategist behind all of this, even if technically they were two competing teams.
Even Thalia couldn't help glancing at him for a moment, despite being the leader of the other team. And her gaze landed on the Ophiotaurus again.
Percy, meanwhile, was staring directly at the Ophiotaurus, which looked back at him and let out a small cheerful squeal, almost like a little pet.
"Maybe if we kill the creature, a lot of problems would solve themselves," Clarisse said for a moment, before every gaze turned toward her like she was a monster.
"That's horrible," Bianca told her.
"You're a monster," Grover couldn't help saying.
"She's a daughter of Ares," Malcolm added without anything else, like that alone explained enough.
Clarisse tightened her grip on her spear, as if she was seriously considering who to stab first.
"Okay, okay. We need a change of plans," Percy said, cutting off the fight before it started. "Right now, technically part of the trial is complete. Otherwise we would've already gotten confirmation that the trial ended. But the part about delivering what belongs to death still isn't done. So until we complete that part, the mission isn't over. Which means we need to protect Bessie, find Annabeth, and finish the last part," Percy said in a serious tone.
"Bessie?" Grover asked. "You already named it?"
"Well, she looks like a Bessie, so I think it fits. But let's focus on what matters right now. For now, what matters is getting Bessie somewhere safe. I could send her to Camp Half-Blood, but the gods would probably kill her immediately to stop anyone from using her against them. But we can't exactly take her with us either," Percy added.
"Then what's the plan if we can't leave her at camp or take her with us?" Thalia asked with a serious expression.
"I kind of have a plan. But before I explain it, we need to deal with the one spying on our conversation," Percy said before turning his gaze toward Alison, who was still lying inside the boat.
At the same time, she opened her eyes after realizing she had been caught. And she twisted her body on the ground, trying to attack with her legs. But instantly she realized both her wrists and ankles were tied up with ropes, so she only rolled once before writhing around trying to break free.
"Aaaah!" she shouted angrily, but she couldn't break the ropes at all before ending up lying face down on the ground.
While everyone else stared at her, waiting for her to finish struggling without managing to free herself.
After a few moments of silence and one annoyed snort from Alison…
Percy opened his mouth.
"You done?" he asked calmly.
She shifted her gaze over her shoulder while lying face down to glare at Percy with genuine hatred in her eyes. But then her gaze landed on Bessie for a moment, and the creature seemed frightened by her look, as if it recognized her, retreating into the cooler and hiding its head.
Alison didn't seem surprised to see the creature, since she herself had captured it before.
Instead, she looked back down at the ground.
"It doesn't matter what you want to do to me. I won't tell you anything. You won't win either this stupid competition or the war. And everything you're fighting for will be destroyed right in front of your eyes," Alison said in a mocking tone, almost amused. "Why are you trying so hard?" she said while looking at Percy. "You could just let all of Olympus be destroyed. Once it's done, you and your famous master could finally live peacefully. Aren't you supposed to be enemies of Olympus? You should be happy we're destroying your enemy."
"And you…" she said while looking toward Thalia. "Luke is still waiting for you to join our side after learning the truth. So why are you even still playing along?" Alison asked, showing a faint confusion this time.
"What are you talking about?" Thalia asked with a frown.
Hearing her words, Alison suddenly seemed to realize something before laughing in amusement.
"Oh… so you didn't know. Hahahaha," she said while seeming genuinely entertained to the core of her being.
Then she looked toward Percy.
"You didn't tell her? Well… why would you, right? After all, she's your enemy," Alison said with amusement, as if watching two people kill each other sounded entertaining to her. "Luke always says you act like an idiot, but you're really a monster hiding under that sheep skin. Looks like he wasn't wrong. You're almost as bad as him," she added.
Percy frowned when he heard that comparison. But before he could say anything, Thalia spoke first.
"What is she talking about?" she asked while looking toward Percy.
Even though the two of them didn't actually get along as well as it looked and were competitors in the same trial, right now they were still in an alliance to stop Luke from capturing the Ophiotaurus; Bessie.
Percy looked at Thalia for a moment. He didn't really have anything against her, except for the fact she was Zeus's daughter. And he let out a sigh.
"Do you really want to know?" he asked her in a serious tone.
Thalia stared at him, as if that alone was her answer.
"Do you remember rules five and six about the champions?" Percy asked.
"Yeah. The fifth is the freedom to cheat, interfere, capture, and injure enemies. But the sixth is not killing the champions," Thalia said, summarizing the two rules.
Percy shook his head.
"The sixth is don't kill directly or the trial itself will pass judgment on whoever does it. Chiron specified that part very clearly," Percy said in a somewhat heavy tone.
Which made Thalia and the others frown.
"If we combine that with the previous rule about cheating… well, do I really need to explain more?" Percy said.
"Yes, but what does that have to do with what that girl said?" Clarisse immediately asked.
"I see," Malcolm suddenly said, as if he had connected everything, his face full of extreme shock. Then he looked at Thalia with a bit of pity.
"What?" she asked irritably, not understanding.
"That the moment Luke became a champion in the trial, Zeus knew the whole time. Or rather, he probably allowed him to participate. Because if Luke kills me, you win; meaning Olympus wins. And Luke gets destroyed for doing it, getting rid of a potential enemy. If I kill Luke, the same thing happens. Plus, according to my master's wager, he'll be expelled from this plane. If either one of us kills you, it's still the same. Luke gets destroyed or I get killed and my master gets expelled."
"But the part where Luke kills you is the least likely, because Luke wants you on his side. And the only thing that would ruin that plan is if you killed either one of us. But even if you did, Olympus would still win no matter which one of us you killed."
"In fact, Zeus would probably be genuinely happy if you killed both of us and then accepted the punishment. That way he'd wipe out every possible future enemy. Including… you," Percy said in a serious tone.
"This was never about who completed the trials first, but about who killed who first," he added calmly.
And of course it was that violent.
What looked like a simple competition had, after all, been created back in the age of the Titans, beings who entertained themselves with human suffering.
Thalia froze when she heard that.
Especially because now she understood why she had been chosen as Olympus's champion despite hating Zeus so much.
Because no matter what happened, Olympus still won either way.
And even if she was the one who survived in the end, right now she was starting to doubt whether Zeus would really let her live much longer because of the prophecy.