Chapter Title: Antics On A Evening

(A/N: This is essentially the next part of the original content I said I was adding to this part of the story due to the newcomers joining the crew. First part will focus on Bryce, then the next part will be Clara, and finally Alyssa.)

Travis will admit this to be honest. He did not see the part about Bryce being a son of Hermes coming. He just didn't. In his defense, from how intimidating and unnerving Bryce appeared to be without even intending to be so, Travis thought that he was more likely a son of Typhon or something. There was just absolutely no way that he could be a son of Hermes. But yet, this was the reality for him right now.

He was having a hard time adjusting to that.

Travis knew that being a demigod was never easy, but then again who was he to complain when in all likelihood, Percy and Colton basically had it hardest of all in addition to being rivals with each other? Sure, the rest of the camp had suffered, but in almost every instance which two demigods were there (aside from Annabeth and Kayla) in the thick of the action? Percy and Colton. The way Travis viewed it, he and the rest of the camp had it easy compared to them, as well as their girlfriends. Michael only had the poor luck of being dragged into all of that in the back half, and he nearly died — if Colton hadn't saved him, they would only be searching for three missing campers, not four.

So, while it shouldn't have been all that much of a problem to simply adjust to the fact that Bryce was a son of Hermes, Travis still found it difficult regardless. Nevertheless, he at least tried to strike up some conversation with Bryce after the campfire gathering was over. "So uh.." Travis started, a bit awkwardly. God, he wished Katie was here with him, or at least Connor. Unfortunately for Travis right now, he was by himself with Bryce as they walked back toward the Hermes Cabin. Connor was managing their siblings at the moment, with the help of Chris. "..welcome to the Hermes Cabin, Bryce.." Travis continued. "I'm Travis, one of your head counselors."

"Are you always this awkward?" Bryce said back to him. Travis simply shrugged his head no in reply. "Really? Huh.. and here I thought they were crazy putting you in charge of a cabin with someone else."

"Actually.." Travis spoke up. "..they are a bit crazy, since like me and Connor.. we basically prank just about everyone else in camp, with a few exceptions."

"Such as..?" Bryce asked, curious.

"Typhon Cabin is a no-go zone.." Travis replied. "Colton would outright beat the absolute shit out of us if he did, and just to be clear, it wouldn't be the first time he's done that if we did."

"He's literally beat the shit of you and Connor.. over pranks? The fuck is up with that guy?" Bryce asked. "I get that he's the Monster King and all.." Bryce shivered just even saying those two words. "..but geez. Talk about being psycho."

"We did actually change Kayla's outfit to a swimsuit one time.." Travis admitted. "..and suffice it to say, he beat both of us up over that."

Bryce's jaw just dropped open. "Was he dating her at the time?" he asked.

Travis simply shook his head no. "He wasn't, and yet he still did so.. which wasn't that surprising. Ever since Kayla first came to camp, he had always been protective over her. Clarisse did a lot to turn him into the man he is today. Kayla only just finished the job. Like, it wasn't his choice that he ended up with her or became the Monster King.. he essentially just got prophesized to do so."

Bryce just stared at him in shock. "Wait.. you're telling me that he got hit with a prophecy that foretold that he and Kayla would fall for each other and that he would become the Monster King?" he asked, shivering twice more at the words "Monster King". Man, he wished he knew why exactly those two words chilled his entire body to the core.

"We didn't know at the time that it would lead to him being the 'Monster King'. but falling for Kayla.. that we did know.." Travis replied. "He told us about himself after the whole fiasco with Tantalus.. that in retrospect though.. honestly should been the first hint at least to me that he was destined to become something much more."

"What exactly do you mean by that last part?" Bryce asked, curious now.

"Well.." Travis began, stopping just in front of the Hermes Cabin, raising his voice over all of the ruckus going on inside of the cabin at this time. "..there was this painting that Kayla and Will made of some of us campers having fun, of a much warmer and nicer time before Luke went and joined Kronos for the Second Titan War." Bryce felt that the words "Second Titan War" sounded familiar to him somehow. "It was a great painting, and it made us all laugh, cry.. generally happy feelings. Of course, Tantalus was so anti-fun back then since the bitch happened to be an agent of Kronos.. so when he came over and found out, he proceeded to rip the painting to pieces and then berated both Kayla and Will."

Bryce simply looked horrified. "So what did I do?" Travis went on. "I simply ran to get Colton. When we got back, I was too busy looking at the sight once more before I simply felt this odd aura emitting from Colton. I turned to him, and believe me when I say, I almost shit my pants looking at him. He looked like he was on some sort of insane steroids, I don't know how else to describe it. Steam might as well have been coming out of his ears like a volcano was actually erupting, because his eyes weren't brown as he looked at me.. no, both of his eyes were literally blood red. I mean, fully blood red."

"How the hell does his eyes go from brown to blood red?" Bryce asked, confused. Travis simply shrugged his shoulders. "I have no clue how honestly.." Travis simply replied back to him. "..but it scared the shit out of me. Dude looked like he could just snap Kronos' neck without a second thought.. he was that pissed off, and understandably so in retrospect.. since they are two things in this world that will make Colton literally fly off the handle and go on a rampage if you dare try to harm either of them. One is his family, which means us and the Gods.. despite his strained relations with some of them.. mainly Zeus."

"Jupiter.." Bryce mumbled.

"Whatever.." Travis continued. "The other thing - and the one most assured to make him go full psycho on you if you ever harm her - is Kayla. It's ironic though that the one person that would make him go fly off on the handle full tilt batshit crazy mode is a girl, because before that prophecy and Kayla came along, Colton wasn't the type to be into girls. He lost both of his parents - biological mother and adopted father - to the Lydian Drakon.."

Bryce nodded, remembering Kayla mentioning how the Drakon at the end of the Second Titan War ended up becoming the catalyst that caused Colton to become the Monster King for the first time. "..and ever since then, the only thing he has ever been focused on up until Kayla came along was simply revenge - mostly thanks to Clarisse' efforts. It's remarkable too - he's an Ares kid, yet Colton was an absolute shell-shocked, traumatized nervous wreck scared out of his mind when he first got to camp. It took the entire Ares Cabin two months to even get him to at least start training - the promise of revenge eventually got him to come out of the cabin."

For the second time in that conversation, Bryce's jaw dropped open in shock. Travis simply chuckled. "Yeah.. I know.. it's absolutely hard to believe.." continued one of the two head counselors for the Hermes Cabin. "..but it's true. The man that became the Monster King started out at camp as probably the weakest Ares Cabin member I had ever seen. But then they got him to start training - and it was soon evident that a monster lurked underneath. He basically flipped personas in a week - started climbing the ranks of how strong he was in rapid succession. He literally wiped the floor with the entire Demeter Cabin in sword skills in barely a week - his rise was astronomical."

"You say all that like you're in a documentary.." Bryce said to him, this time being the one to chuckle. Nevertheless, inside he was still shocked by what he was hearing - and honestly actually starting to regret calling out Leo at the lake for asking Kayla out on the chariot when he knew she was taken. Actually, if he had to be honest, it probably would have been revealed to camp sooner or later, so Bryce guessed that at that moment, he just took one for the team.

"It literally was like a documentary was playing out in front of us.." Travis said back, yawning a bit as he did so. "..then Kayla came along, and basically kicked it - Colton's rise, I mean.. into overdrive. Like, something just clicked inside of him when she came to camp.. and just when you thought his life couldn't get any more insane, it just got more insane. I didn't know actually which was even more unbelievable at the time to believe. Percy's insane feats on his quests, Colton pushing himself to absolutely mind boggling levels at times, or the fact that camp basically had two of the greatest demigods in history at the same time going at each other as rivals basically - though to be honest, Percy seemed more laid back when it came to the rivalry than Colton."

"This whole rivalry between those two.. how exactly did it start..?" Bryce asked, and Travis paused, scratching the back of his head.

"To be honest, none of us really know.. not even Annabeth or Kayla.. neither Percy nor Colton had said anything about it.." Travis reluctantly admitted. "..even though a lot of us suspected that Percy defeating Ares in a duel during his first quest had a lot to do with it.. anyways, after Luke had betrayed camp, Percy and Colton had a conversation before Percy left camp for school that year.. no one exactly heard what either of them said.. but next thing you know.. Colton was coming back down the hill saying to himself and I quote, 'Oh, this rivalry is so on.' It didn't take us too long to figure out that both of them were now rivals with each other."

"Oh.." Bryce muttered. "That's just interesting.. I suppose.."

"Yeah.. it is.." Travis said back, yawning again. "Now come on. I love to introduce you to your other siblings here at camp, Bryce." He turned towards the cabin, and walked towards it once more. Bryce followed for a few moments, then stopped.

(** Monster King Cameo Theme starts playing **)

It felt as if someone was watching him again, from behind him. He turned him.. only for him to find a pair of very familiar white eyes staring right back. The same figure from earlier, indistinguishable in the darkness except from the glowing white eyes, stood in the woods close by simply staring in an emotional-less like manner at Bryce. To Bryce, it was simply creepy to say the least. Then, Bryce blinked, and just like before, the figure was gone.

(** Music ends **)

Bryce at this point was now so confused. What the hell even is that, he thought to himself, and why the hell is it even following me around camp? He started once more towards the Hermes Cabin, now deep in thought as to who that mysterious figure might be, why it made his blood run cold like nothing else had before, and why it seemed interested in him to the point that it had appeared to him for the second time today. He had no idea that he would find out some of those answers before the night was over.