Chapter 12 – Kyle

It's late, I know. I finished it YESTERDAY but FANFICTION decided that it wasn't going to WORK! Meh. So, here it is today...enjoy...

Disclaimer: Me no own.


So this was how it felt to fall in love.

Sure, Kyle was only 13. And sure, he had only just met her. But still. Kyle was smitten. Her straight black hair that fell to her waist. Her brown eyes that seemed to radiate life. The way her lips moved when she formed the word 'asinine'.

And, she was a writer. She wrote literature, Kyle appreciated literature. It was perfect! Yes, it was true. He had to admit it now.

Kyle Jackson was in love with Selena Whatsherlastname.

He just couldn't seem to get her out of his mind. He spent his days in camp trying to find a moment where he could talk to her alone, but that stupid Levina kept hovering around her. Why did she have to ruin everything?

Camp was uneventful. Kyle did well in sword-fighting, and he was a natural at anything water related. He hadn't tried the lava wall yet, since he hadn't gotten the chance. The only thing he was really bad at was archery. He could not use a bow for the life of him. Of course, Levina just had to flaunt her archery skills around him, by hitting a bulls-eye after he had nearly hit a centaurs-eye. Chiron had been very nice about it.

Eventually, the camp more or less forgot about the Capture the Flag game. Kyle gained some friends, and Alvin forgave him. Of course, he was put on defense for the next game, but that was to be expected.

He was lying on his bunk, thinking these things over, when he heard footsteps below. He looked over the side and saw Adrian.

"Hey Adrian, sup?" he called. Upon closer examination, he saw that his clothes were smoking and he had a nasty cut on his left arm. "What happened to you?"

"Huh?" He looked down at himself, as if only just realizing how he looked, and when he looked back up he was grinning like a mad man. He smiled as he took a seat on his bunk. "Just tried the rock climbing wall. I swear, it spewed lava at me like 10 times, but I still made it to the top," he said triumphantly. He examined his cut more closely. "Do you think this will leave a scar? I want to have something to show for this." Kyle rolled his eyes.

"You're so stupid."

"If you're so big and brave, why don't you go and do it?" Adrian challenged, rummaging through his drawers and pulling out some clean clothes. There were now bathrooms and showers in each cabin, something the campers were very grateful for. There was only one in the Poseidon cabin, and it seemed as though Adrian was about to use it.

"Don't use up all the hot water!" Kyle called after him.

"No promises," he yelled back. He turned halfway to the bathroom. "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, there's a letter for you," he said dully, starting to walk again.

"Where is it?" Kyle shouted.

"The fountain!" Adrian yelled back, before slamming the door of the bathroom. Kyle scrambled off his bed, swearing profusely. He peered into the fountain and saw a thick, blue envelope at the bottom. Plunging his hand into the cold water, he pulled it out, dripping wet. There was no way he would be able to read it like that.

He focused his mind and imagined all of the water escaping the envelope, leaving it dry. Amazingly, it happened. That was a handy little trick. Smiling to himself, he plopped himself on the blue couch in the corner and propped his feet up, carefully opening the envelope.

Dearest Kyle,

He immediately recognized his mother's handwriting. He flipped through the pages and saw that there were about ten, all filled with writing. After he read the first paragraph, he realized that it was all just his mother fussing over him. He flipped through the pages, not caring to read what she was saying. On the 10th page, he saw his dad's handwriting, and began reading.

Finally managed to wrestle the letter away from your mother, sorry about that. Hope you like camp. I won't ask you anything through this letter, because I'll be seeing you this weekend.

Oh, sorry, forgot to mention. You're coming home this weekend. WITH Levina. No ditching her. And make sure to remind her, just in case she forgets. Did I mention why you're coming home? Nope, I didn't.

It's for the 4th of July.

See you then,

Your parents

P.S, BEWARE YOUR MOTHER! Ouch, she just punched me…oops wasn't supposed to write that apparently. Eh, I'm too lazy to find white-out…just forget it…

Kyle smiled to himself as he read the small note written by his dad. Then he frowned. He had to remind Levina. Not something he was looking forward to. He heard the bathroom door opening and saw Adrian stepping out, rubbing his hair with a towel.

"What did it say?"

"Visiting home this weekend," Kyle said with a shrug as he got up. He walked to the fountain and picked up a bunch of seaweed from the bottom. "And this is for putting the letter in the fountain," he said throwing the seaweed at Adrian. It hit him square in the face.

"Fair enough," Adrian muttered, wiping his face with the towel. "When are you leaving?"

Kyle scanned the letter before saying, "Friday evening." Adrian gave him a strange look.

"Don't you think you should pack?"

"Nah, I'll do it later," Kyle said, waving it off.

"You do realize that it's Friday today," Adrian said, raising an eyebrow. Kyle looked up and swore. "Language child, language," Adrian said, laughing as he leaned against a wall.

"Shut up and help me," Kyle snapped, pulling down the blue duffel bag he had brought to camp and starting to shove his clothes in.

"You just put all your dirty clothes in there," Adrian pointed out with a smirk. Kyle swore once more, dumping the contents of the bag out and onto his bed. He once more began shoving clothes in, this time making sure they were clean. Adrian disappeared into the bathroom and returned with a toilet bag, tossing it to Kyle, who shoved it into the backpack. 5 minutes later, he was completely packed and stumbling out the door. He ran to the Zeus cabin and pounded on the door. No response came. He groaned and kicked a pillar. A loud rumbling came from the sky. Rain began pouring down.

"Oh sure, let the rain in today," Kyle grumbled, walking closer to the door so he was under the cover. There was a shriek behind him and something ran at him, knocking him to the ground. "What the-" Words failed him when he realized that it was Selena. She looked beautiful with wet hair.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, standing up and looking relieved that she was out of the rain.

"What was that?"

"I'm afraid of the rain," she muttered, looking embarrassed. Her eyes got a far-away look. "I've had a bad experience."

"The best way to deal with a fear is to conquer it," Kyle said wisely. He took her hand, making her blush, much to his delight. "Let me help you conquer your fear." He pulled her out of the cover and into the rain. She screamed when it hit her and buried her face in his chest, making him smile.

"Please, no!" she pleaded. "I can't stand it."

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning how to dance in the rain," Kyle quoted. Selena's eyes met his and they connected; gorgeous brown to stormy blue-gray.

"I don't dance," Selena mumbled.

"Then just stand. The point is there's nothing scary about the rain."

"Maybe not to you," Selena said. "You haven't seen as much as I have." She shuddered. "I can't do this, can we please go back."

"Fine," Kyle conceded, pulling her back to the shelter. She shivered, and Kyle noticed that she wasn't wearing her leather jacket. He pulled off his Navy jacket and wrapped it around her.

"I'm not taking your jacket," she said firmly.

"Where's Levina?" Kyle asked, ignoring her.

"She left to go home," Selena said.

"WHAT? Without me?" Kyle yelled, running into the rain. He turned and waved to Selena – who looked stunning in that jacket, by the way – before turning and running all the way home. He arrived outside of his house and knocked on the door. His mom opened it, looking scared to death.

"KYLE! I was so worried!" she shrieked, pulling him inside of the house and wrapping him in a hug. Percy came running into the hallway, Sophia trailing behind him.

"Where have you been?" Percy asked, pulling Annabeth away so she couldn't suffocate him.

"I got your letter late," Kyle explained.

"Didn't Levina remind you?" Annabeth asked.

"No."

Percy and Annabeth exchanged a look before pushing Kyle into the kitchen.


The Jackson family stood on the Grace's porch. The door swung open and Levina peeked out. "Hello Mr. and Mrs. Jackson," she said politely. Sucking up like always. "Hey Sophia! It's been a while!"

"Hello Levina. Do you like camp?" Annabeth asked.

"Yeah, it's great," Levina said. "Come in." Kyle watched as the rest of his family went to join the others. He stepped inside but didn't leave.

"Hello Levina," he said in a fancy voice.

"Shut up Kyle," Levina said sharply.

"Where are your manners?" Levina rolled her eyes and pushed past him, walking into the living room where the other people were.

"Yo, Kyle, sup!" Leo called as he walked in. Kyle grinned.

"The others are in the basement," Jason offered, smiling at Kyle. Just then a small blur of red hit Frank in the face. A cardinal fell to the floor and morphed into 7-year-old Wyatt.

"Wyatt," Frank groaned.

"Can Uncle Leo tell us a story?" Wyatt asked, sitting up straight.

"Don't you want Uncle Percy to tell you a story?" Percy offered.

"Nah…maybe later," Wyatt said, looking at Leo expectantly. Sophia, Jolie and Kenneth appeared from the basement, and soon they were all begging Leo to tell a story.

"All right, all right. Gather around children, Uncle Leo's gonna tell y'all a story," Leo said happily.

"Great," Frank muttered.

"IKR," Leo answered. "Anyways…why don't I tell you the story of the Quest for Buford."

"Who's Buford?" Sophia asked, wide-eyed.

"A walking table," Kenneth supplied.

"Okay. So, it was several years ago. Me, Piper, Jason and Annabeth needed to set out to find Percy, Hazel and Frank, so we could go on this quest to stop potty-face – long story, I'll tell you that one later – and we needed transportation. Your amazing Uncle Leo was building a flying ship. I named it the Argo II, in honor of Jason. The ship's masthead was the head of Festus – another long story – and let's just say that the ship was freaking awesome.

"So one day, I was working on the ship, and I took a break to polish Buford – the walking table. Now, in Buford's drawer there were two syncopators. One original and one spare."

"Why would you keep them in the same drawer?" Sophia asked.

"I was rushed!" Leo said defensively. "Anyways…I didn't have the syncopators anymore, because Buford had run away!"

"Why'd he run away?" Kyle asked.

"Because I made a grave mistake," Leo said, shaking his head. "I polished him with…Windex."

"Oh no, not Windex!" Kenneth shouted in mock horror.

"You don't get it. Buford hates Windex. He prefers Lemon Pledge with extra moisturizing formula. Anyways, he ran away. And without the syncopators, a bunch of deadly fluids would mix, destroying a good portion of the woods. So we went on an expedition to find him.

"Along the way we met a naiad who was freaking out. She told us to beware of her crazy cousins. Well, we kind of needed to find Buford…so we had to go ahead anyways. Worst. Decision. Ever."

"How come you've never shown me Buford?" Kenneth asked suddenly. "You've just talked about him."

"Really? Are you sure? Ah, I'll just introduce you to him later…he's a really great guy."

"Table," Frank corrected.

"Whatever," Leo said, waving him off. "So…we were walking through the woods…and then…Piper spotted Buford. Jason was about to go after him, but I heroically stopped him, ordering him to hide behind a few boulders. And then we saw them…maenads."

"What are those?" Jolie asked.

Kyle knew the answer, and was about to explain it, but Sophia beat him to it. "They're followers of Dionysus, the god of wine. They're crazy and vicious to anyone other than him."

"Exactly. Well, me Pipes and Jace weren't as smart as Sophia here, and we didn't know what they were. They skipped into this clearing and disturbed a drakon. Definition please, Sophia?" Leo asked, looking at her.

Sophia blushed before reciting, "Drakons – not to be confused with dragons – are giant monster serpent-like creatures. They are several millennia older than dragons."

"Yup, those are the ones. So, naturally, we worried that these random girls were going to get eaten alive by the drakon. Then the girls asked the drakon if he was Dionysus. He attacked, because you know…he's a drakon, and the maenads ripped him to shreds. It was so brutal, I almost felt bad for the monster!

"And then…they found us. They asked me if I was Dionysus. The amazingly brilliant Leo thought on his feet and said that he was Dionysus. But then, everything went downhill. The maenads asked me to do the party rituals for them…and, well…I didn't know them…"

"Yes, the amazing Leo failed miserably," Piper added, smirking.

"I got the hokey-pokey right, didn't I?" Leo answered.

"Yeah, you gotta give him that," Jason admitted. Leo beamed at him.

"You see that? Anyways, the maenads realized that I wasn't Dionysus and started chasing us. We escaped into the earlier naiad's brook, where Piper complicated things by saying that we couldn't kill them," Leo continued, pausing.

"Why not?" Kenneth asked eagerly.

"Because their followers of Dionysus. If you kill them, he'll curse you," Sophia answered.

Leo nodded. "Then, the amazing Leo hatched a daring plan." Piper snorted from her spot on the couch. Leo ignored her. "I sent Jason to go find Buford, while me and Piper led the Maenads to Bunker 9.

"Now kids, stay with Uncle Leo, because this is where the action kicks in. Me and Piper reached the bunker, where I gave her a button and told her to climb the catwalks to distract the maenads. I brilliantly put together a trap. We had 12 minutes left. I used myself as live bait. The maenads were about to attack…I yelled at Piper to press the button. And then…"

The kids were leaning forward, hanging on to every word. "What happened?" Wyatt asked impatiently.

"A party began," Leo said eerily. "Disco ball and everything. I bravely launched myself on to the ball, as a golden net trapped the maenads."

"What's a golden net?" Wyatt asked.

"It's made from Hephaestus netting," Sophia explained. "What happened next?"

"There were only 2 minutes left, when finally, Jason returned with Buford. I quickly installed the syncopators, saving the Argo II from exploding."

"What happened to the maenads?"

"Chiron and Argus came to collect them, and shipped them to Atlantic City. Apparently, they had shown up at camp before. Then Jason, Piper, and yours truly, enjoyed their Christmas Eve. The End."

Wyatt began clapping enthusiastically, but no one else joined in. Kyle was thinking.

"So…all of this happened at camp?" he asked. Leo nodded. "So things like that can happen to us!"

"I guess…if you're brave enough."

"Please," Kyle said, grinning. "I'm gonna have adventures that'll make your stories sound about as dangerous as Cinderella."

"Is that a challenge?" Leo asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Aw, come on Leo. Give the kid a break," Jason broke in.

"Hey! I'm not a kid, I am 13!" Kyle protested. He hated being called a kid. "I can do anything you can!"

"Can you fly?"

"Well…no, but that's just because-"

"I can fly," Levina said, hooking on to the opportunity to show Kyle up. He scowled at her.

"Let's go back downstairs!" Wyatt yelled, springing up and running towards the stairs. "Last one down is a maenad!" Nobody followed him.

"Let's go down," Sophia said to Jolie. "Levina, do you want to come too?"

"Sure," Levina said, getting up and following them down the stairs. Kenneth turned to face Kyle.

"Let's go down. Then you can tell me all about Camp Half-Blood!"

"Please. You just wanna be close to Sophia," Kyle said, though he got up and followed him. "By the way, that's disgusting."

"Shut up," Kenneth said, though he turned a little red. "Tell me about camp."

"Okay…what do you want to know?"

"Everything."


So...yeah...I basically retold the Quest for Buford. Why? I have no idea. Lemme know what you think!

REVIEW!~~~

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