Chapter Title: You Mean To Tell Me That His Girlfriend Is A Celebrity?!
(A/N: Between Parts I and III of this, you'll get to see how the new arrivals feel about Colton — in person and prior to meeting him. This chapter is one of those, as we start with Piper's reaction.)
As the rather spacious chariot soared through the sky, off to who-knows-where with a blonde girl who looked like she wanted to kill Jason, a redhead that Piper was still trying to accept that she was exactly who she said she was, and an overly buff guy who looked like he could easily throw her, Leo, Jason, and his three friends off of the flying chariot, there was a lot going through said girl's mind right now.
After a morning full of storm spirits, goat men, and flying boyfriends, she probably should be losing her damn mind right now. Instead, all she felt was simply dread.
It's starting, she thought. Just like the dream said.
She stood in the back of the chariot with Leo and Jason, with Bryce and Clara to the right of Leo and Alyssa to the left of Jason. The bald guy, Butch, handled the reins of the chariot, while the blonde girl, Annabeth, adjusted a bronze navigation device and also just gently hugged the redhead, the one who was especially a shock to Piper, since she knew who she was.
I mean, after she heard the name Colton Reynolds, it didn't actually take Piper long to put two and two together as to who Kayla was. The implications of it were hard for her to accept, that was for sure.
Like, there was absolutely no way that Kayla Knowles, daughter of the legendary archer and actor Darren Knowles, was a "demigod" — whatever these people liked to call each other. Also, she couldn't believe that her current boyfriend, who just so happened to be the same guy whose nickname made Jason and his friends shiver like they were staring hell in the face, was among these people too. There was just no way.
But, this was reality for Piper McLean right now and she was having a hard time adjusting. With her father missing and now this, she was having a rough time. Not that she let anyone see, for now at least.
The chariot rose over the Grand Canyon and headed east, icy wind ripping straight through her jacket, causing her to shiver a little. Behind them, more storm clouds were gathering.
The chariot lurched and bumped, and the fact that it had no seat belts and the back was so wide open — made Piper wonder again if Jason would catch her again in his arms if she fell. Out of all the things that she thought about, that had been the most disturbing part of the morning for her — not that Jason could fly, which she will admit was cool, but that he had held her in his arms and yet did not know who she was, as if he himself was a completely different person now from the one she knew.
All semester she had worked on a relationship with him, until finally, he had kissed her. The last few weeks for Piper had been the best part of her life. And then, three nights ago, that dream had ruined everything for her — that horrible voice, giving her horrible news. She hadn't told anyone about it, not even Jason.
Now she didn't even have him. It was like someone had wiped his memory, and she was now in the worst do-over of all time. She really, really wanted to scream right now. Jason just stood right there next to her, looking kind and gentle but always a little sad as he usually did, but he just stared at the horizon, not even noticing her.
Meanwhile, Leo was being annoying, as usual. "This is so cool!" He spit a pegasus feather out of his mouth before asking Kayla a question that had Annabeth turning around in absolute anger, about ready to kill the Latino, "So cutey, are you available?"
Piper rolled her eyes, before the sound of fist meeting face and Leo hitting the floor made her gasp. Kayla had swung her fist and punched Leo square in the face. Blood trickled out his nose now. Bryce guffawed at the sight, while Clara got a smile on her face. Alyssa looked on, a little horrified.
"Honestly Kayla.." Clara said. "..I'm starting to like you.. you and Annabeth both."
"Ow!" Leo shouted, having been punched so hard by Kayla that for a moment he didn't feel the pain of it at all. "What the hell was that for?"
The look Kayla flashed him out of sheer anger, frustration, and pain when she turned around to look at him briefly caused Leo to shit his pants, and that shut him up. "Don't you fucking dare.." she hissed at him. "If Colton was here, you would be dead by now."
Leo gulped, and hoped that wasn't a joke. Annabeth, however, had to go and ruin his chances of it being such, and to be fair, Piper couldn't help but admire Colton more for being such a loyal boyfriend to Kayla and Kayla to him in return. It was absolutely sweet. "She isn't kidding.." Annabeth said simply. "Colton once beat up 93 rich dudes with his own bare hands a couple months after he and Kayla had hooked up at a fashion show in Las Vegas.. and won. Bloody and bruised, but he won."
Clara's smile grew even wider now, while Bryce and Jason both shivered. To be fair, even if the fact that he was the Monster King made even her shiver on the inside, Clara really was actually liking Colton the more she heard about him. Leo honestly looked like he had made the worst mistake of his life, and for Annabeth, there was a small bit of satisfaction at what Kayla had done. Colton would have been proud of her had he seen that.
"So uh.." Alyssa stated, trying to keep cool after having to witness a girl who possibly could be the most beautiful girl she had even seen deck the Latino in the face. "..where are we even going then?"
"A safe place.." Butch replied. "The only safe place for kids like us. Camp Half Blood."
Piper tensed up. "Half-Blood?" she asked in a guarded tone. She was definitely having memories of the kids at the Wilderness School making fun of her for being Cherokee. At least Jason and Leo didn't really give a crap if she was Cherokee and that she liked about both of them, even now. "Is that some kind of bad joke?"
"Not really.." Kayla muttered. Piper couldn't help but feel really bad for Kayla right now, as well as for Annabeth too. She could tell from how they handled it that their boyfriends meant the world to them. She kinda sorta was in the same boat as them currently, so she could maybe relate.
"He means we're demigods.." Jason said out of nowhere, looking like he remembered that somehow despite the utter confusion on his face as he did so.
"Half god, half mortal.." Bryce added, with Clara and Alyssa nodding.
Piper went silent, as she tried to process all of that. Leo meanwhile just held his hands on his bleeding nose.
Annabeth looked back at Jason, and to Piper, it honestly looked like she was impressed. "You seem to know a lot, Jason — as do you Bryce, Alyssa, and Clara.." Annabeth said to them. "But yes, demigods. My mom is Athena, goddess of wisdom. Kayla's dad is Apollo, god of prophecy, healing, archery, music and arts, light, and more. Butch here is the son of Iris, the rainbow goddess."
Leo, despite the bloody nose, choked. "Your mom is a rainbow goddess?" he said.
Butch looked at him, a little bit annoyed. "You got a problem with that buddy?" he asked back to Leo. Bryce couldn't help but sweat a little. For a son of the goddess of rainbows, Butch was a good bit intimidating.
"No.. no.." Leo muttered, shuffling a little bit further back. "Rainbows. Very macho."
"Butch is our best equestrian.." Annabeth said. "He gets along great with the pegasi."
"That's.. honestly good to know.." Alyssa muttered.
"Rainbows, ponies.." Leo muttered. He was definitely having a hard time trying to understand that.
Piper, meanwhile, was still hung up on the whole demigod part. "Demigods.." she chose to mutter out loud now. "You mean you think you're.. you think we're —"
She did not get the chance to finish that statement, for at that moment, lightning flashed — causing Bryce, Clara, and Alyssa to jump. Then, the chariot shuddered. Jason saw white-hot flames now starting to lick up the side, so he looked over the left side and believe him when he says that he definitely was sweating now, for the left wheel of the chariot was now on fire. "Left wheel's on fire!" he called out.
The wind was now roaring, as nervous pairs of eyes now glanced all around. Jason glanced behind them all and saw dark shapes forming in the clouds, more storm spirits now spiraling towards the chariot — except that these looked more like horses than angels.
"Fuck!" Bryce hollered. "Who ordered the numerous Venti?!" He definitely was on edge now, and honestly if he had to die, this definitely was not the way he wanted to die at all right now. This was fucking stupid, in his opinion.
"This is why I hate chariot riding — especially without my Colton.." Kayla wailed as she clung to the right side of the chariot for dear life now.
Piper started to say something once more now. "Why are they —" she started, but was interrupted again.
"Anemoi come in different shapes" Annabeth explained. "Sometimes they are humans, sometimes they are stallions, depending on how chaotic they are. So hold on. This is going to get rough."
"As if the fact that the left wheel is on fire hadn't made that fucking obvious.." Clara hissed in frustration as she and the others, including Leo who kept one hand now on his bloody nose, all gripped the sides of the chariot firmly now.
Butch flicked the reins. The chariot now put on a burst of speed, and the chariot blurred. It was fortunate then for Leo then that Jason was strong enough to keep one hand on the side of the chariot and his other hand keeping Leo on the chariot by being wrapped around his waist, because he'll be honest, if Jason hadn't, Leo might have went overboard. Piper's stomach crawled into her throat. Bryce shut his eyes.
Piper's vision went black, and when it came back to normal, they were all in a totally different place now. One that amazed everyone except the three demigods in front.
A cold gray ocean stretched out to the left. Snow-covered fields, roads, and forests spread out to both the right and to the left as well. Directly below them all, however, was a green valley as green as an island of springtime, ringed with snowy hills on three sides and water to the north. Looking closely, the six Wilderness School kids could all see a cluster of buildings like Ancient Greek temples except way more fancy than what they saw on a projector, a big blue mansion, ball courts, a lake, a climbing wall that seemed to be on fire, and what seemed like a network of wooden pathways in the trees above it all.
Before any of them could process what they were even seeing, that was when both of the wheels came off and the chariot dropped out of the sky. Leo screamed, Kayla was now screaming bloody murder — repeatedly calling out Colton's name, Alyssa hugged Clara in fear, and Bryce was praying that this wasn't the way that he would die.
Annabeth and Butch tried to maintain control, even as Jason just stood there and watched everything around him while he just hugged Piper more out of worry for what would happen to them all than anything else. The pegasi labored as hard as they could to try to hold the chariot in a flight pattern, but they were both exhausted from their burst of speed, and couldn't continue to bear the weight of both the chariot and nine people at the same time.
"Aim for the lake!" Annabeth called out. Piper remembered something that her dad had once told her, that hitting water from up high was about as bad as hitting cement. She knew what she was in for. A very uncomfortable landing.
And then.. BOOM.
In an instant, Jason was ripped from her arms by the impact and Piper was now underwater. The biggest shock for her was the cold. She was so disoriented while underwater now that she didn't know which way was up. She simply just had time to think: this would be a stupid way to die.
Then, a miracle. Faces appeared in the green murk of the water — girls with long black hair and glowing yellow eyes. They smiled at her and a couple reached out with their hands. Piper knew that she had one chance to survive — and right now, these girls seemed to be it. So she took it. She grabbed the extended hands of the girls, and then the girls grabbed her shoulders and hauled her up..
..and out into a whole new world.