Chapter Title: My Sister Can Be Very Dumb Sometimes
(A/N: Seven chapters left till Chapter 36! As to why I'm hyped about getting to write Chapter 36, well.. you'll see.. when we get there..
Also, a little bit of information in the tidbit of preview for Book Two I left for Chapter 26.. that also was a prophecy meant to happen to Book Two.. and it is connected to the prophecy from last chapter, Colton's dreams, and Typhon crowning Kayla the Monster Queen.
In the meantime though, Clarisse becomes an idiot! And shout-out to -JASONSGRACE due to some of this involving Belle.)
Kayla and I found a quiet spot up in the trees in one of the sniper perches, where we sat down and just stared at the piece of paper that had hit my face. "How are you holding up?" she asked me.
I looked at her, but I was pretty sure.. even though I was trying to remain calm, my face had anger written all over it right now. "Doing fine.." I muttered before I told how I really felt. "..honestly pissed off that there's another prophecy involving me in addition to the one we're on the last leg of at the moment right now" I added seconds later. Kayla just nodded.
I wanted to scream loudly.
"Today's been one hell of a day, huh?" I say to her, and she nods before blushing. "So we're now king and queen.." she mutters, and I remember that part and I start to blush too.
"I..I.. mean.. to be fair.." I stutter. "..you're a perfect queen, even if we do rule over monsters."
Kayla slid herself over to me and we shared a passionate kiss up there, with her hands wrapped around the back of my head gently. We gently pulled away after a bit of making out with each other, and stared into each other's eyes lovingly.
"So.. what's with the whole talking in each other's heads thing then?" she asked me, and I had to think a good long while about it. "I think.. it's uh.. telepathy or something.. like those empathy links satyrs or fauns can do with other people.." I explained. "Which is.. weird.. since neither of us are a satyr or a faun."
"Indeed.." Kayla replied, looking now inquisitive and deep in thought. "So how in the world do we have this link if we're both demigods?"
"I have no idea.." I replied, and I wasn't even kidding. I had purely not even the slightest idea as to how all this even worked. "This is so weird honestly.." I continued. "Wonder if our dads know that we are.." I paused that thought for good reason. They would absolutely flip if they found out - not to mention Zeus, who let's be clear.. thought about killing me when I found out I became the Monster King. Who knows what he would do if he found that not only had Kayla become the Monster Queen, but the two of us were now also honorary children of the father of monsters. "..on second thought, I am not going to finish that statement.." I finished, and Kayla just nodded. She knew full well what I meant 100% percent.
We were literally in very uncharted waters no doubt there. It was to put it bluntly, like all of camp not thinking much of me when I first arrived here only to find out the hard way that just because a kid of Ares doesn't fit into the typical mold of an Ares kid at camp does not make him any less lethal. The traitor Luke was present for that, he would know from seeing that incident with his own two eyes. Like, he was the only one not involved in it that was actually present when that incident happened.
Anyways, the point here was that we were walking into the unknown with this whole thing from Typhon. Both of us could definitely feel that we were more powerful now. How powerful exactly definitely remained to be seen for real.
"Why us though? Why the two of us to be Monster King and Queen? Why choose us?" Kayla asked bluntly. She was about as confused as me over the question of exactly why Typhon would choose us, kids of Olympians.. kids of people that he hates with a passion. What was so special about both of us that he chooses us, out of all people, to be King and Queen of the Monsters? Like, what even is the logic there?
We had bigger issues to deal with though, so we couldn't afford to waste time debating that - me and Kayla didn't have the luxury to do so. Kronos was coming to New York City any day now.. the only question of course would be when.
Typhon had been going on a rather weird ass course to be perfectly honest. Although pulled by his hatred towards Olympus in the end, he had at first veered west, then northeast, southeast, then back to the west again. It was really, really confusing honestly. Although by now, he had returned to where he had started and was now advancing east towards Olympus. Either way, it was a mess of a situation we were in.
Not to mention the daunting task we as demigods were going to face when Kronos brought his forces to New York City, to Olympus. Manhattan, as you can probably imagine, has the advantage of being an island, but that advantage doesn't mean much when you have first off, multiple points of entry. Secondly, little to no prepared defenses since it is a mortal city. And third, we were low on manpower. Sure, we could get outside help, but not much. Either way.. I had a feeling that we were going to win. The prophecy sent by whoever this 'A' person was definitely gave me that much of a feeling to be honest. Then again, anything could happen in the pending battle. Whatever happened over there, I was going to make sure Kayla and I survived this thing or we die trying. I couldn't imagine living without her in my life.
- — - — - — - — -
Kelli sighs as she approaches the outskirts of New York City, her heart heavy. She had been chased by monsters across the United States for over a month now. Along the way, she had done plenty of things in the areas she made her two brief stops in. Most impressive was saving two young Greek demigods from recruitment into Kronos' army by one Alabaster C. Torrington, leader of the demigod part of Luke/Kronos' army, before then killing a group of monsters by herself - including multiple giants - to be able to get the two young demigods to a Satyr so they could be taken to Camp Half Blood. Although she doesn't know it yet, these two demigods will appear in her story again and again going forward.
As to the names of those two demigods she saved, their names were Damien White and Butch Walker.
She breathes a sigh of relief upon seeing Olympus still up in the skies above Manhattan. Good, I'm not too late, she thinks to herself. Not too late to hopefully light the way to change. Hope Colton got my letter.
- — - — - — - — - (Change back to Colton's POV) - — - — - — - — -
August 14th
For some reason the next day, when Chiron called an emergency camp counselor meeting, he requested to Michael, Clarisse, and Katie respectively to bring me and Kayla and Belle along. I had no clue why, but I hope it wasn't for what I thought the reason was. We spoke to no one about what had happened while we were unconscious. No one had questioned why a necklace had suddenly appeared on Kayla's body while we were left alone in the infirmary. No one had.
Still, I was a bit paranoid to be very honest. Zeus being suspicious of me because I had become the Monster King, for whatever reason existed in that head of his, is bad enough.. but for word to get out that Kayla was now my queen, I would hate to be right on saying that knowing that, plus the fact that Typhon had made us honorary kids of his now in addition to our current claims by Ares and Apollo (the godly parents for me and Kayla respectively), would probably send the King Of The Gods over the edge, no doubt about that.
There would come a time when we would tell everyone these secrets. Now was just not the time, not the time at all, no buts about it.
Anyways, we both filed into the rec room of the Big House, which was also used as a meeting room. Why we held our meetings in here, I didn't know. Either way, we stood by the table, in between Michael and Clarisse, holding each other's hands, with Kayla's head resting on my shoulder.
Michael and Clarisse were screaming at each other already, however.
"It's our loot!" Michael shouted, walking around the two of us and getting right up in Clarisse's face. "If you don't like it, you can kiss my quiver!"
"Stop it!" Percy yelled, as he, Belle who had apparently been invited to the meeting too, Annabeth, and Chiron walked in. "What are you guys doing?"
Clarisse glared at him. "Telling Michael not to be a selfish jerk."
"That's perfectly rich, coming from you.." Michael snapped back. I just sighed.
"The only reason I'm here is to support Silena!" Clarisse said. "Otherwise I'd be back in my cabin right now."
"What are you talking about?" Percy asked, clearly confused.
Pollux looked at Percy and responded for all of us. "Clarisse.." he began. "..has refused to speak to any of us, until her.. um.. issue is resolved. She hasn't spoken to any of us aside from Kayla for three days."
In case you're wondering, when it comes to the Apollo Cabin, despite her rivalry with Michael, my sister had opened up a lot to Kayla. So much so that she really trusted her by now. Generally, my siblings really thought of my girlfriend as an honorary sister by now, even if it wasn't official.
"It's been wonderful.." Travis added.
"Travis.." Belle scolded.
"What issue?" Percy asked, still confused.
Clarisse turned to Chiron. "You're in charge right? Does my cabin get what we want or not?"
In case you're wondering what this whole business between Clarisse and Michael was about, recently we had executed a raid on a base of Kronos' forces, located near Bear Mountain along the Hudson River. Defenses were light since - spoiler alert thanks to Kelli's letter - Kronos was concentrating his forces at multiple locations along a broad arc with a radius of about 25 miles from NYC - or Manhattan specifically. One of these happened to be along the Hudson, so the small, under manned garrison stood basically no chance when the full force of both the Ares and Apollo cabins hit them 4 days ago.
Or, to be more accurate about the whole thing, Kayla and I did the heavy lifting - the two of us practically wiping out the entire garrison in a long range engagement before Clarisse and Michael moved in with the others to mop up the survivors. Anyways, among the items (and people) we captured in their base - weapons, arrows, armor, a couple of prisoners of war - both of them enemy demigods, was this flying chariot.
Clarisse had led the raid, sure.. but it was Michael's cabin who had captured the flying chariot. To be fair, we had no clue that the chariot was even in there at all.. Michael had come across it by chance.
Clarisse, naturally, claimed that the Ares Cabin was where the chariot belonged. The Apollo Cabin disagreed, and cursed my siblings so that they could only talk in rhymes. Believe me, I did want to pulverize them when I found out.. since somehow, probably thanks to my relationship with Michael and Kayla, I was spared along with Clarisse.
That's the story of why Michael and Clarisse were even having this argument right now.
Chiron shifted his hooves nervously. I knew what was coming. "My dear, as I've already explained, Michael was correct. Apollo's cabin has the best claim. Besides, we have more important matters-.." he said, before Clarisse interrupted.
"Sure.." she snapped. "Always more important matters than what Ares needs. We're just supposed to show up and fight when you need us, and not complain! WHY, WHY?!"
I felt conflicted and judging from how concerned Kayla was as she tilted her head to look up at my worried face, she felt the same way. On the one hand, Chiron was right. Both Kayla and I knew full well that we had bigger issues to deal with right now, and that simply being petty over a damn chariot was a waste of time.
But on the other hand, I couldn't help but be sympathetic towards my sister. Ever since Percy came along, our cabin had really been diminished in status. Prior to Jackson, prophecies involving kids of Ares were quite common believe it or not. After Jackson, like many of the other cabins, we were only lucky if fate - or clever tactics like me and my sister had employed on that bastard Tantalus over two years ago - threw a child of Ares into the mix on a quest. Right now, Clarisse's quest for the Golden Fleece, the chariot business my sister had with Phobos, Deimos, and Jackson; the prophecy involving me and Kayla, those had been the only quests and prophecies that the Ares Cabin had gotten since Percy Jackson came to camp. Everything seemed to revolve around Percy nowadays, even the Fates seemed to be very.. very fucking generous with how many quests and prophecies they gave this guy.. to be fair, three of the four major quests/prophecies this guy has been on - he's already been on multiple smaller quests by this point - were given to other people, but that didn't stop the man from basically being the main reason those quests even succeeded at all.
He had an insane track record by this point, with possibly the lowest loss quest member rate of anyone at camp right now. So of course, it's no wonder that the Poseidon Cabin was in the limelight right now while the Ares Cabin slipped into the background.
"That would be nice" Connor muttered.
"Connor, come on.." Belle said.
Clarisse tightly gripped her knife. "Maybe I should ask Mr.D.."
Chiron interrupted, but I already knew what he was likely to say. "As you know, our director, Dionysus, is busy with the war.." he says. "He can't be bothered with this."
"I see.." Clarisse said. "And the senior counselors? Are any of you going to side with me?"
I could have been a foreigner visiting camp and with the information I already knew about this whole dispute, still have not been even surprised about what happened next.
No one spoke. None of them met Clarisse's eyes.
"Fine.." Clarisse said dejectedly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get into this when you've just lost.. anyway, I apologize. To you. Nobody else."
Oh, right. The only other person Clarisse even spoke to now was Silena. The two of them had always been really close friends, if I were to be honest here. She was like the closest friend my sister had.
However, my sisters' lack of friends was definitely an issue that if corrected, could have prevented what my sister did next. Clarisse threw her knife angrily at the ping pong table, and then said this. "All of you can fight this war without Ares. Until I get satisfaction, no one in my cabin is lifting a finger to help. Have fun dying."
Clarisse then turned to leave in the silence of everyone else, but something inside of me snapped. Remember when this book said my fatal flaw had been caring too much for others? Right now, it was kicking in and I was seeing red, as I let Kayla's hand go. I walked over, grabbed my sister by the back of her shirt, turned her around, grasped her by the shirt collar, and then effortlessly hoisted her up and slammed her roughly against the wall, drawing cries of shock from everyone.
"C..C..Colton.." my sister sputtered. "What the hell?!"
"MY GIRLFRIEND IS IN THE APOLLO CABIN, dear SISTER.." I snarled in her face, sarcasm dripping as I said the words "dear sister" to her. "IF SHE'S GOING TO THE FIGHT, THEN I'M GOING TOO! I'M STILL IN THAT STINKING PROPHECY FROM THREE SUMMERS AGO WITH HER YOU KNOW! LIKE, ARE YOU INSANE?!"
"I'm saying this as a head counselor, Colton.." she barks back at me, flailing just a few inches off of the ground, which believe me.. is not normal for me. I can lift some stuff sure, but I wasn't yet strong enough to be able to lift my sister a few inches off of the ground.. and not feel sore or tired in my arms from holding her up like that for a while. "..no one in Ares is allowed to go. That's an order."
"Oh sure.." I mocked. "..you think you're doing this for the glory of the Ares Cabin to be restored. How the fuck do you think people are going to view our cabin, and not just our fellow campers - our own father for fuck's sake.." I was really pissed off now. Kayla wasn't tugging on my shoulder just yet, so either she was shocked like the others or I was really, really pissed off this time around. "..when we win and this cabin did nothing to contribute to victory? ALL BECAUSE OF A DISPUTE OVER WHO GETS A CHARIOT!"
She shoved me back with all of her might, causing me to let go of her. She was really mad now. "This is my decision. No ifs, buts about it. You're staying here Colton. We're done here.." Clarisse said. She grabbed my hand, trying to drag me away. I yanked it back.
She looked at me, flabbergasted. "What are you doing?" she asked. I simply walked back to Kayla and held her hand in mine, glaring at my sister. "I'm an Ares kid.. yes.. but I love Kayla Knowles with all of my heart.. so come hell or high water, I'm going to the battle that's to come and doing everything possible to make sure the love of my life doesn't die, whatever it takes. Whatever it costs."
Kayla looked at me in adoration and happiness, and some of the other girls looked at me with similar expressions. Silena even gave us a thumbs-up, much to Clarisse's frustration. "Ugh.. fine.." she relented. "But it's only going to be you.. the rest of the cabin will side with me." And with that, she left.
There was a long silence for a while before Michael broke it. "Good riddance.." he said, and Kayla had to hug me tightly to keep me from lunging over the ping pong table at her brother for that remark.
"Come on.." Belle protested. "If one cabin backs out of the war, that's so many less campers on our side."
"She's right.." Kayla agreed. "Manhattan is a large place.. we need all the manpower we can get."
"She can't be serious.." Travis said in denial. "Is she?"
Chiron sighed, but we could all tell from his next set of words that even he wasn't convinced of what he was saying. "Her pride has been wounded. She'll calm down eventually."
Percy just looked at Belle and Annabeth curiously, probably still confused about what had just happened. Belle seemed to mouth something to him.
"Now, if you please.. counselors.. and Belle, Kayla and Colton.." Chiron said. "Percy has brought something I think you should hear. Percy - the Great Prophecy."
Percy unfurled a parchment as Annabeth squeezed his hand before letting go, the Athena counselor letting Belle hug her. "A half blood of the eldest dogs.."
"Gods.." corrected Annabeth and Belle at the same time.
"Oh, right." Percy definitely was frustrated at the moment, and I don't think any of us could even blame him right now. Then he read the thing in full.. somehow.
"A half blood of the eldest gods.. shall reach sixteen against all odds. And see the world in endless sleep, the hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap. A single choice shall end his days. Olympus to preserve or raze."
Nobody even said anything again. The reality sunk in.. for better or for worse, the first of two battles to save the world - I hoped somehow no one found out about the second one.. much less have to hear me and Kayla tell them the truth - was upon us now.
Chiron closed his eyes momentarily. "You see now Percy, why we thought it best not to tell you the whole Prophecy. You've had enough on your shoulders-.."
"Without realizing I was going to die in the end?" Percy questioned. "Yeah, I get it." Somehow, I had a gut feeling that Percy might not be the one to die here in this prophecy. I don't know why, I just did for some unknown reason that I can't explain.
Chiron looked at him sadly. Then Belle decided to set up and offer words of reassurance. "Hey, don't say that.." she says to Percy, and Annabeth chimed in. "Prophecies always have double meanings, Seaweed Brain.." Annabeth added. "We don't know if it means you die."
"Sure, Belle. Sure, Annabeth.." Percy replied. "A single choice shall end his days. That has a ton of meanings, right?"
There's a gift for you near your cabin that might help with this, Typhon's voice said in my head, and I fought hard not to make any noise. The fuck was that about?
I turned to Kayla. One look in her eyes and I knew that she had heard it too.
"Maybe we can stop it.." Jake suggested. "The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap. Maybe we could find this cursed blade and destroy it. Sounds like Kronos' scythe, right?"
Something about that particular line of the prophecy sounded off, like it was being said wrong. Again, it was a gut feeling that I don't know how I was having them, they were just there.
"Perhaps we should let Percy think about these lines" Chiron suggested. "He needs time..-"
"No." Percy folded up the prophecy and shoved it into his pocket in anger. "I don't need time. If I die, I die. I can't worry about that, right?"
Belle and Annabeth's hands were shaking. Neither of them could look Percy in the eyes right now. Personally, I wanted to smash his face in with a fist for having such a lack of.. oh, I don't know.. concern about the effect his death would have on others? Like, did this man even think about things ever?
"Let's move on.." Percy stated. "We got other problems. A spy."
This got everyone's attention, including mine. Percy then went on to explain what had happened on the Princess Andromeda when he and Beckendorf went to blow up the boat. Kronos had known both of them were coming, but it couldn't have been Tantalus that told him. He had been sent back down to the fields of punishment, everyone had seen it.
Silena began to cry again after Percy talked about the silver scythe charm Luke/Kronos was using to communicate with someone at camp. Annabeth put her an arm around her shoulders.
"Well.." Connor began nervously. "We've suspected that there might be a spy for years, right? Somebody kept passing information to Luke - like the location of the Golden Fleece. It must be somebody who knew him well."
As much as I wanted to punch Connor for looking at Annabeth the next second, since she had known Luke better than anyone, I knew better. For one, her tears up on Half Blood Hill after the battle last year proved more than enough that she was not the spy. "Um.." Connor continued. "It could be anybody."
"We have to examine every possibility.." Belle said. "..this spy could be literally anyone.." At least I could take comfort in the knowledge that it wasn't me or Kayla. "..it could be someone we least expect, or maybe someone from the Hermes Cabin.."
"Belle.." I started, but it was too late. The damage was already done.
"Woah.. what are you trying to say Belle?" Travis said, annoyed.
Belle's eyes widened and she shook her head furiously. "No, no, no, no.." she clarified. "..I'm not accusing you or Connor. I know neither of you would ever do that."
Connor raised an eyebrow, and that's when he went too far. "You've been acting a little guarded lately.." he said to Belle. "Maybe you're the spy and the seashell pendant actually has a little scythe charm behind it. You wanna show us your necklace, Princess?"
Belle's jaw dropped and for the second time this meeting, my hand left Kayla's as I took a step forward. "WHAT THE ABSOLUTE FUCK IS THE MATTER WITH YOU TWO?! We're all stressed and this spy definitely could be anyone, but that doesn't mean you two can go around pointing damn fingers without evidence!" I shouted at him, before taking Kayla's hand once more. "Morons."
That shut both of them up.
"He's right.." Pollux agreed. "Accusing each other does not help. We need to keep our eyes open for a silver scythe charm on a necklace. If Kronos has one, the spy probably does too."
Michael grunted. "We need to find this spy before our next operation. Blowing up the boat won't stop Kronos forever."
"No.." said Chiron. "It won't."
Kayla and I already knew why. Typhon.
Percy apparently had no idea of this at all, so apparently Belle, Annabeth, and Chiron who also knew - I was not aware of this until now.. showed him Typhon's escape and the Gods fighting him through an Iris Message. Even so, you can tell he was definitely going slower than normal, almost as if he was trying to drag it out for some unknown reason.
"How long until he gets there?" Percy asked, and something hit me. Something I needed to tell Kayla.
Son of a bitch. Typhon is the distraction, I told her telepathically.
Wait what? She said confused. What do you mean?
He's there to lure the gods away from Olympus. Kronos is going to attack soon.. in all likelihood.. the prophecy is about to begin, I told her and she gasped in horror in her mind.
Then that means.. the final battle is about to begin.. she said back to me horrified.
Indeed.. but whatever happens, we're going to make it through this. Together or not at all, Kay.. you mean the world to me. I can't bear living life without you.. you can also blush when we're in bed later.. I said her.
Aww, okay.. she said, a bit disappointed. But I love you too.
"We have to defend Olympus.." Percy insisted. "Kronos has another attack planned."
"He did.." Travis said. "But you sunk his ship."
Him and Beckendorf sunk the ship.
"Maybe you're right.." Percy said, and I wanted to believe him, but I couldn't. They were all completely wrong. Kayla and I knew a lot - Kayla since I told her the rest of what was in that letter privately last night - because of Kelli. We didn't want to panic everyone though. So we kept our mouths shut because of that.
"Well.." Chiron said. "I think that's enough for one night." He waved his hand and the Iris message showing Typhon and the gods fighting him faded.
"That's an understatement.." Percy muttered as the meeting adjourned, and he was right. I had one more gut feeling as me and Kayla headed out though.
The next three days were going to be unbelievable.
And believe me, looking back on this from the future, I still find myself conflicted on how I felt when that proved itself to be all too true.
(A/N: Remember what I said about the fates being wrong? Seems like it's starting to manifest. Will be fun to write, but either way, all hell will break loose soon. And believe me, it will be one hell of a time. But until next time my friends..
Until next time indeed.
Enjoy, and can't wait to see you again!)