(A/N: Summer's here.. neither of them realize it.. but they can't outrun their feelings for much longer. Some more Belle in here eventually.. so for -JASONSGRACE , here's another shoutout to you. Anyways, let's dive into things, shall we? Also, this chapter also functions as a list of the Apollo siblings around in this universe, so there's going to be quite a few references to fanfics made by other people in this too.)
Chapter Title: Secret Entrances To Safe Places Should Be Banned
Summer 2008
June 2nd
After the hellhound attack in January, things had been way more tense around camp, even more than when Tantalus had been around. You could see it everywhere you went. Even my sister looked more on edge than ever before.
The attack had shaken everyone up, believe me. Michael and I probably were the only two that hadn't suffered as much as the other campers, because in the months since then, much to his frustration, we were the ones having to calm down many of the other younger kids since we seemed to be among the most stable of the campers, with Charles Beckendorf just below us.
Michael and Jake Mason, from Beckendorf's cabin, are a couple apparently. He let it slip that they had been dating for a few months now, I was honestly happy for the two of them and wished them the best. I became friends with Michael not long after he told me that, which was a couple weeks after the hellhound attack.
But anyway, the signs of stress were everywhere. Kayla seemed to take comfort in me holding her hand more again, Silena was a bit of a nervous wreck after the hellhound attack and suffering from a bit of PTSD - Beckendorf was helping her the best he could and she's doing better now. Travis and Katie seemed to have grown a bit closer as the result of the attack, as have Sherman and Miranda. What that means for those four, I have no clue of knowing.
As winter faded into spring and spring eventually turned to summer, things seemed to improve. The edgy tempo of things decreased, and although a lot of people, especially my siblings, were still on high alert - I for one was taking longer and longer patrol shifts than normal as a precaution, as suggested by Clarisse - things were seeming to return to normal. The fact that we still hadn't found that labyrinth entrance yet was part of what kept us on edge in the Ares Cabin.
Clarisse, Sherman, Annabeth, and I had combed over the woods multiple times since the hellhound attack and we still hadn't found a thing. It was frustrating, honestly, more so to me and Clarisse. Speaking of my sister, she and Chris have been going steady for a few months. Despite being older than Travis and Connor, Chris let them keep being co-counselors of the Hermes Cabin and took over as an assistant head counselor of the Ares Cabin. Ares himself visited a couple of days after Chris took over in the role, which was in April, to officially declare Chris as an honorary son of Ares, which came with the blessing of a couple of Ares' powers to Chris. My sister could never have been more happier, even if still on edge.
Anyways, as the seasonal summer campers started trickling back in on May 30th, you could get a sense that things might heat up once more this summer. A few new kids had joined the ranks in the months between January and June, but along with that came an apparent reported increase in monster attacks in the region. Much of it was concentrated in the NYC area, but reports had been trickling in from nearby Newark and from Philadelphia and other cities in the region. It was concerning to say the least. A couple of the attacks had occurred close to camp as well, shaking up some of the new kids in the process.
In the intervening time, I had gotten to know the kids of the Apollo Cabin - Kayla's siblings - and believe me, they may be scared of snakes because of their dad's past with Python, but god damn it, they are some of the sweetest kids and teens to ever bless this earth.
Lee was the oldest and head-counselor, and thus was the one in charge. He didn't seem to mind many things, and usually left the snake cutting to me when snake days came around, since given my extended patrol hours, I usually was the closest one not doing camp activities or up early or out late when such times came around. On the side, whenever he has free time, he's been giving me piano lessons, due to the fact he had been learning the piano prior to coming to Camp Half Blood and also the fact that we do have a piano in the Big House.
Michael - I've already talked a bit about him, but the spiky haired kid, while short in height, had a fiery temper that meant that his height has never held him back. He was a chill dude once you got to know him, though he was honestly a little annoyed about the fact that Kayla was proving herself to be the best archer of the cabin, since he and Lee had been fighting a back and forth mini-war for the title in the couple of years before Kayla came around.
Austin Lake was also a chill dude, and by god, while he may have been the only jazz saxophone player I've ever been around, he was the best I've ever heard. He seemed to be the sibling Kayla got on with the most, and also the one who as a result, really watched me like a hawk whenever I was with her. To be fair, all of her siblings did that, but he was the one that did it the most. God, his stare felt uncomfortable to be under.
Will Solace.. sometimes I feel like that this kid is the literal personification of an Apollo demigod, I swear. He came to camp only a couple months before I did, and under far better circumstances than I had. He and his mother had been attacked by those same Stymphalian birds that attacked camp last summer when he was ten, and they had been saved by Maron, one of the more prominent satyrs and one of the best at that. This guy had been the mentor of Grover, mind you. Anyway, his mom is still alive, but Will was a little shaken up by it all. Clarisse seemed to be more attached to the kid than any of the other Apollo campers in a familial way (she had saved him from a snake once), so my cabin usually gave him a wide berth so as to not bring my sister's wrath upon ourselves. He started training to become a medic under Yew's guidance last summer.
Alice was what you could call the literal definition of the saying that dark doesn't always equal bad. She may have been a goth kid, unusual for Apollo kids, but that didn't stop the third oldest camper in the cabin from being a sweet soul with limited foresight powers and being able to make a room glow, despite having black hair partially dyed purple in some spots and wearing whatever black and yellow colored clothes she brought with her when she came to camp. She and Kayla got on well, me.. we're getting there.
Victoria was what could be described as a wolf in sheep's clothing. She wasn't a bad person, don't get me wrong, she was a good kid. It's just that her personality was on par with my sister than with any of her siblings. She was also president of my father's fan club - something which I find just weird to be honest. I mean, if there's anyone my father is even going to stick with for romantic reasons, it's probably Aphrodite. Victoria and the fan club were essentially beating a dead horse, to put it bluntly.
Aurora was another child of Apollo that fit into the celebrity category. So similar to Kayla, yet under different circumstances, I will admit. She was a beautiful person, don't get me wrong, but I found her better as a friend than as someone I want to date, which would make me a damn hypocrite if you know.. I fell for Kayla. I don't know if that's how I feel for her.. but..
..moving on.
Aruna was the second oldest camper in the cabin, being a year younger than Lee right now (she was 17 - he was 18), but she definitely fit along well with Kayla - and by extension Aurora. Aruna had also been a young fashion model before she came to Camp Half Blood - although in her and Aurora's cases, they were more singers than archers. Sweet ladies, and arguably good friends. Do hope they find someone good for them.
Of all the kids in the Apollo Cabin, those were the ones (besides Kayla) that I interacted significantly with. I did help them as well as the other kids with their grief after Chris broke the news soon after we arrived back at camp that Mary was dead. Some of the kids I had been never able to interact with - Mary being the most obvious one, but a few others had left prior to now too, including Theo, best swordsman of the cabin - and those left.. I was slowly trying to earn the trust of many.
Half of that was because of the arch-enemy type relationship between my sister and Michael, which did have its comical moments. The other half was simply how on edge the Ares Cabin was - and how it would often lead to my siblings overreacting and mistrust between other campers and my siblings forming as a result. I myself tried to avoid such incidents as much as I could, but given that my siblings were, in Clarisse' words, 'a bunch of walking stone statues on a hive mind'.. they weren't as fortunate as me, Sherman, or Clarisse. (A/N: Feel like that's something that Clarisse would say. Dunno.)
Point is, thanks to Kayla, I was getting very close with her siblings more than I had in the three years prior to her coming to camp. Still though, I had a gut feeling that by the end of this summer, I would be much closer to them than right now. I don't know why I felt like that, just had a feeling.
- — - — - — - — -
Percy arrived at camp around noon today, having escaped a couple of empousai at Goode High School in Brooklyn thanks to a clear sighted mortal named Rachel. Annabeth was with him, and as soon as the two had gotten back into camp, I swear.. there were people going up to the Hermes Cabin to adjust, withdraw, or place their bets on when those two would hook up. Apparently, the activity was most intense on if they would hook up this summer, from what Michael told me.
Now, don't get me wrong, I was all for those two hooking up with each other. There was something about those two from the start when they had met that told you that they were destined for each other. It wasn't as direct as getting a prophecy spat in your face that told you that you were going to end up with a red haired girl, but you could tell that there was something there. I didn't know exactly what it was, honestly, but just looking at them interact, I had to agree.
Either way, now that these two were back, it would be a matter of waiting until sparks started flying between these two. Fortunately for the rest of us, we wouldn't have to spend it being bored.
There was a new guy in camp, not a camper. More like an instructor. Quintus was the name, sounded.. almost roman honestly. Made me wonder if there were other kinds of demigods out there than just us Greeks. Maybe when this whole war with Kronos is over or something, I'll find out.
Anyway.. tall, bearded with a mustache to boot, and with gray hair and eyes - possibly a son of Athena, maybe.. dunno - Quintus looked like he had seen plenty of wars already, which I only suspected further given that he was brought on by Chiron as the new sword master.
The peculiar part about this dude was that he had a hellhound for a pet, called Mrs. O'Leary.
I actually was the first to encounter her and Quintus, funny enough. I was walking up to the staircase that led up to my treetop perches, before the sun rose as I usually did, when I encountered both of them. I nearly blew Mrs. O'Leary's head off with the Whitworth, already having a round loaded in there - something I started doing a couple months ago, loading it at night so I didn't have to in the morning.
He barked "recover arms!" at me, which I recognized as a command from the drill manuals I used, and went from aiming to the last position of priming, out of habit. He then proceeded to explain who he was and that Mrs. O'Leary was friendly, and I quickly warmed up to both of them.
Kayla met up with me once the sun rose, and I'll admit, she was a bit surprised and shocked when I told her about it. But I'll admit, even she found the fact that Quintus had tamed a hellhound as a pet to be.. rather interesting. I'll admit, I did as well.
But either way, it was definitely a shock for Percy and the others who encountered her a bit after Percy and Annabeth arrived back at camp. Percy nearly killed her before Quintus stopped him, from what Michael told me.
The other thing that everyone found interesting about Quintus was that he apparently came from a time when there was no camp for half-bloods, which let me just say, made me feel pretty awesome about it. I never had been able to meet a full grown half blood before, but now.. it looked like I finally got to do so. That's another thing off of my bucket list finally.
Belle also stopped by to check on me and Kayla while we were up there, and I told her about Quintus too. Needless to say, the daughter of Demeter was as surprised as Kayla was when I told her about Quintus having a hellhound as a pet. I should have had a camera because the reactions on both of their faces.. god they were priceless.
"Colton?"
I gotta go, someone is calling me now.
- — - — - — - — -
I open the door. It's Clarisse.
"Quintus has got a new game he wants to let us play.." she said. "He was looking for you."
"Clarisse.. you know full well that I'm not a fan of using swords unless it's.." I started, but she interrupted me.
"He said you can use the Whitworth, bullet for brains. Only normal rounds, none of Beckendorf's specials" she added, then left.
I thought she was done, but then she hollered, "YOU GOT TEN MINUTES, DORK!"
Dork. She called me a dork. Well, not the worst name I've been called here. So I grabbed the Whitworth, traded out my special rounds for the normal ones from the closet nearby, fitted my armor on - normally it's just the chest-plate and chain mail leggings (don't ask me how I managed to get those) - and then walked out of the cabin.
- — - — - — - — -
By the time I got there, almost everyone was ready for the game, and I will admit, pretty much everyone was surprised when they saw me walk up, carrying the Whitworth in one hand and my sword in the other hand.
Quintus smiled. "Ah, Colton.. glad that you could join us.. I see that Clarisse was successful in getting my message to you.." he said to me.
"Indeed she was.." I replied back. "I'm here now. So what are we in for?"
Quintus chuckled, and that's when I noticed the boxes behind him. Interesting.
"Well, I'm glad that you asked, Colton.." he said. "I was just about to tell everyone else when you showed up. So without further ado, I will explain things now."
Everyone was listening attentively, and as my head swerved to check out the crowd, I could see Kayla a good 25 yards away, standing with her siblings plus Belle from Cabin Four.
"Now.. as for what we are about to do.. you will be in teams of two for this, with one exception.." he said, trailing off for a second. I simply rolled my eyes. He's already chosen them.
Everyone got their hopes up. "Which have already been chosen!" he yelled, much to everyone else's disappointment. I couldn't help but let out a cackle.
"AWWWW!" everyone shouted, except me.
"Saw that coming.." I said, laughing a few moments longer.
Quintus simply looked amused. "Pretty observant for a son of Ares.. no wonder Clarisse spoke so favorably of you.." he said, to which I had to blush a bit. Of course my sister would speak about me that favorably. I mean, I'm the one who helped her get that quest for the Golden Fleece last summer.
"Teacher's pet.." I heard Percy mutter from the crowd. My head whipped around in his direction.
"You wanna go, sea boy?" I taunted, making Percy back off. Everyone knew that I would be definitely coming for a fight with Percy, so he did everything he could to avoid that fight.
"Anyway.." Quintus explained. "Your goal is simple. "Collect the gold laurels without dying. The wreath is wrapped in a silk package, tied to the back of one of the monsters. There are ten monsters. Each has a silk package. Only one holds the laurels. You must find the wrath before the other teams. And, of course, you will have to slay the monster to get it, and stay alive."
Guess that's why he allowed me to bring the Whitworth, I thought as I looked down at my gun. Sure enough, when I looked back up at the crowd of my fellow campers, every head was looking in my direction, even Percy was too.
Makes sense, I thought. The team that has me on them would have a huge advantage. Pretty sure everyone is hoping they are in that exception with me now.
"I will now announce your partners," Quintus said. "There will be no trading. No switching. No complaining."
I sheathed my sword, and just loaded the Whitworth then and there as Quintus produced a big scroll of paper and started reading off duos of names.
"Charles Beckendorf and Silena Beauregard. Travis Stoll and Katie Gardner. Sherman Yang and Miranda Gardiner. Chris Rodriguez and Clarisse La Rue.."
Jesus Christ, I thought to myself. This guy was like going by couples and playing matchmaker.
"..Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase. And for the exception.. it'll be Colton Reynolds, Kayla Knowles, and Belle Adair."
I blinked. Wait what? Did I hear that right? Me and Kayla on the same team? With Belle?
Kayla and Belle had walked over to me while I stood there, lost in thought like an idiot. "I think Quintus broke his brain.." Belle said, giggling.
I shook myself back to reality, and started sweating almost immediately when I looked at everyone else. Everyone, except Kayla, Clarisse, Sherman, Chris, Lee, Michael and Belle, were all glaring at me in annoyance. They definitely were not happy I wasn't placed on their team.
"Come on!" Percy called out. "Why does he get the exception?"
Quintus flashed Percy a glare. "What did I just say Mr. Jackson?" he asked him, and that shut him up.
I couldn't help but chuckle. Serves him right, I thought to myself.
"Grover Underwood with Tyson."
I couldn't help but laugh a little. Okay, I did not see that coming.
"Wait what? B-but—" Grover protested, probably not able to believe what had just happened.
"No, no," Tyson whimpered. "Must be a mistake. Goat boy—"
Yeah, this was.. definitely awkward, to be honest.
"No complaining!" Quintus ordered. "Get with your partner. You have two minutes to prepare!"
Considering that Kayla and Belle were with me already, he didn't have to tell them. Even still, I had to admit, Quintus was honestly a bit crazy. And personally, I liked that just fine.
- — - — - — - — -
Walking through the woods with my partners was a bit awkward. Sure, it was hard enough when you're the only guy in your group, but it's even harder when both of them have one arm wrapped around each of your arms on either side of you. Like, holy hell!
So yeah.. I'm both blushing like an idiot and nervous as hell. Because these creatures could be anywhere. Like, anywhere in these woods.
This is just.. uncomfortably awkward. Like, just having Kayla wrapped around my arm just gives me butterflies in my stomach. Maybe.. just maybe.. I do feel something for her.. maybe?
My train of thought is interrupted when we hear a rustling sound in the woods ahead of us. Kayla and Belle release themselves from my shoulders and ready their weapons, Kayla with her bow and Belle with her celestial bronze sword, called ηλιοτρόπιο (Greek for "sunflower"). I aimed the barrel of my gun at the source, a few yards ahead of us, as well.
We didn't have too long to wait before one of the monsters, a scorpion, burst from the bushes ahead of us. Too easy.
Before Belle could hack at it, and or Kayla could fire an arrow, I pulled the trigger.
BLAM!
It was a clean through and through, missing the silk package and killing the scorpion instantly. I was loading another round while Kayla and Belle went over to check. I was halfway through drawing my rammer when Kayla shouted, "NO WAY!"
I paused, rammer pulled out from its stow and in my hand, arm extended to full length, and glanced at them. Kayla held the golden laurels. No way.
There was no way I had just inflicted the kill shot that won us the game. But, I had. I couldn't believe it.
Kayla turned me and beamed. I couldn't help but blush, so much so I nearly missed putting the ramrod in the barrel. I caught myself though.
"This is amazing!" Belle said. "Let's head back to Quintus."
"Indeed.. everyone is going to be so jealous.." Kayla said as well. They jogged past me, leaving me to finish the loading process as I tried to keep with them.
- — - — - — - — -
Long story short, we won. But as soon as everyone had gathered up, I noticed something was wrong. There was no sign of Percy or Annabeth.
Chiron noticed too. "Percy and Annabeth!" he called out. "Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase!"
"They didn't come out, Chiron," Grover said worriedly. "I didn't see them during the game either."
Neither had me, Kayla, or Belle. Chiron had a very concerned look on his face. "Search parties then. Heroes!" he called out. "You will remain with your cabins to search the forest. No one should ever be alone. No groups of less than three people."
Everyone understood and filtered back over to their respective cabins. Clarisse turned to me and I looked her in the eyes. It seemed we were both thinking the same thing. Labyrinth.
We both knew that it was a one in a million chance that those two had found an entrance to the labyrinth. But it seemed to be the only logical explanation to this. Percy and Annabeth couldn't just disappear into thin air.
So we searched, moving in the direction of Zeus' fist. It was me, Clarisse, Sherman, and one of my younger siblings, a boy by the name of Curtis.
"Jackson! Chase!" Clarisse hollered out. We didn't see anything at first, but once we got to Zeus' fist, it was evident that something had happened here. I noticed something on the ground. Silk packages. Three of them.
"Clarisse.." I said to her, and then pointed to the silk on the ground. She noticed and nodded.
"Guess we're in the right place then.." she said, just as a rustling of leaves and such alerted me to others being here, and that's when Percy and Annabeth popped out from behind the rocks ahead of us.
"Where in the gods have you two been?" Clarisse asked them. "We've been looking forever."
Percy looked confused. "But we were only gone for a few minutes.." he said. I was confused. That was impossible.. they had been gone for much longer.. unless..
I turned to Clarisse. She turned to me, horror and realization evident on her face, the same expressions on her face. We both knew. There was no way.. but by accident, Percy and Annabeth had found the entrance into camp from the Labyrinth that we had failed to find for so long.
Chiron came up, and I pulled him aside. "I think they found it.." I whispered to him. "The labyrinth entrance.."
His face paled, before he regained color and galloped over to Percy and Annabeth. I sighed, and felt myself be filled with a sense of dread. At least we finally know how those two hellhounds got in..
I had another thought after that. A lot of people are in for a shock, when the news is made public. I knew then and there.. it was only a matter of time before the next part of my prophecy would be upon me. It's now just a matter of when.
(A/N: In case you're wondering, Colton has a journal so the entire first part of the chapter is basically a journal entry, which is fitting given the chapter prior to the interlude with Ares was from his book that he's working on.
And now, for the number of references and shoutouts:
- Victoria is a character exclusive to the Lightning Thief video game for the Nintendo DS. She is a child of Apollo in-game.
- Alice is an OC character that has appeared in different fanfics both on Fanfiction and Archive Of Our Own, either as a young sibling (per TsarinaTorment) or as an older sibling (per TheTimeTraveler24). This take of mine on her is more in the older sibling category, though I do use some of TsarinaTorment's version of her here too.
- Theo is another character that has appeared in multiple fanfics on AO3 and Fanfiction as well. So shout-out to all who use him as a character too.
- Mary is from laurellins' "Tales Of Camp Half Blood" and like I said before, this won't be the last time we hear of her.
- Aruna and Aurora are OCs from a Luke Castellan fanfic made by Imaginebooks . In it, Aruna is the older sibling and Aurora is the celebrity turned camper (brought by Apollo himself) who turns Luke into a dissected man verbally. It's.. interesting to watch honestly.
Some things about me that have also slipped into this chapter: It is of my opinion that aside from the girls of Percy Jackson (and girls from other fandoms), Apollo kids are just god damn sweet as hell. I'll die on that hill swearing it.
Some bits of the Katie fanfic I used as inspiration for XIV crop up in here as well, and also there is another thing in here that I will come back too once the Battle of Manhattan is over. Try guessing what it is.
Also, a little bit in the second part of the chapter is taken from A03 User TheTimeTraveler24's fanfic "Keep Your Face Always Toward The Sun", which is a rewrite of an earlier fanfic of theirs about Will Solace through the books of the original series. So shout-out to them as well.
Either way, things are heating up now. Destiny is about to force Colton and Kayla to confront their feelings for each other.. and everyone is about to watch the fireworks explode.)