The entire camp had been called to the hill. No training. No dinner. Just the sound of the conch echoing across Camp Half-Blood and the uneasy feeling that something was very, very wrong. Torches burned in a wide circle around the clearing. Campers stood shoulder to shoulder — whispering, shifting, confused. Even the Ares kids weren’t loud tonight.

At the center of it all—Chains. Celestial bronze, glowing faintly under the torchlight. And in them stood Chiron. His wrists bound. His forelegs shackled to iron rings hammered deep into the ground. The chains weren’t tight enough to hurt him, but they were unmistakably meant to hold him there.

The sight alone made the entire camp feel wrong. Chiron wasn’t someone you chained. He was the one who untangled problems. The one who fixed things. But tonight he stood silent, head lifted, expression calm in the way someone becomes when they’ve already accepted the outcome.

Above the clearing, the sky churned. Clouds rolled in unnatural spirals, thunder rumbling far too close to the ground. Olympus was watching. Everyone knew it. No one dared speak too loudly, staring at Chiron like they couldn’t make sense of what they were seeing.

Because the accusation was impossible. It had spread through the camp like wildfire only minutes earlier. Chiron had been hiding something. Someone. Someone the gods had ordered locked away. Someone considered so dangerous, so powerful, that Olympus had nearly sentenced them to execution.

And Chiron—Chiron had hidden them anyway. The wind swept through the clearing. Chiron’s tail flicked once against the dirt. His voice, when he finally spoke, was quiet. Not defensive. Not afraid. Just steady. “I regret only that you were forced to witness this.”

The campers shifted uncomfortably. No one understood. How could Chiron betray the gods? He had trained heroes for centuries. He had taught them loyalty, honor, restraint. Why would he risk everything?

The thunder overhead cracked louder. Lightning flickered behind the clouds, illuminating the entire clearing in cold flashes of white. Olympus was growing impatient. Somewhere far above, divine judgment waited. And Chiron still stood silent. Because if he explained why he had hidden you—if he said your name—

The gods might decide tonight was the night they finished what they had once considered. Execution. So he kept the secret. Even now. Even in chains. Even with the entire camp watching.

You were still safe. And if that meant he had to stand in chains in front of the entire camp… Then Chiron would do it without hesitation. He had already been on thin ice as a child of Kronos.. so now.. he was sure to be exiled.. or worse.