Chapter Title: Kayton Can't Stop Stealing The Show
(A/N: Shoutouts to -JASONSGRACE , goddessofwisdom- , Az56796743 , and AO3 user laurellins as their original characters do make an appearance in this chapter, even if not directly stated with dialogue of their own in the chapter — just a heads up here. Also, in a nutshell — this is just Kayton in the spotlight much to Octavian's dismay.)
If there was one thing that I could tell from looking into Annie's eyes right now, it was that she probably wished she had an appetite right now, because the Romans knew how to eat. To be fair, this would be so much better if Thalia was here, but alas.. some things just don't go your way.
Sets of couches and low tables were carted into the forum until it pretty much resembled a furniture showroom. Romans lounged in groups of ten or twenty, talking and laughing while wind spirits—aurae—swirled overhead, bringing an endless assortment of pizzas, sandwiches, chips, cold drinks, and fresh-baked cookies — plus a couple of 8 ounce medium well cooked sirloin steaks because of course, Colton is an absolute carnivore. Guess it did not take long for the chefs here to get word of it.
Drifting through the crowd were purple ghosts — Lares — in togas and legionnaire armor. Along the edges of the feast, fauns — though the look on Annabeth's face definitely seemed like she was trying very hard to not call them satyrs — trotted from table to table, panhandling for food and spare change. In the nearby fields, the war elephant frolicked with Mrs. O'Leary, and children played tag around the statues of Terminus that lined the city limits. Around the perimeter in the hills, one could still see members of the Elite Guard, the Wardens, and even most if not all of the Heralds standing watch on different hills to give advance warning if Gaea sent another force against us.
Even with that part added to it, the scene in front of Annie seemed to be definitely throwing her for a loop from what it looked like. You could tell that all she wanted to do was be with Percy — preferably from the way her non-verbal language suggested, alone at that. From the look of reluctant resignation on her face, she knew she would have to wait though. If our quest was going to succeed, we needed the Romans, which meant getting to know them and building some goodwill, and Annie definitely seemed to understand this full well. Even so, I didn't blame her — because since Thalia was off with Artemis right now, out of the couples reunited here at Camp Jupiter, I was the odd one out as if I still had some work to do before the fates would let me reunite with Thalia.
Now I understand why Colton seems to get more pissed off every time the fates are mentioned now.
It makes complete sense if you think about it. Speaking of that unstoppable boy wonder, as we all sat around each other in the middle of this scene, Colton was with Kayla and Lavinia, simply devouring said sirloin in probably just 5 minutes flat while Kayla just comfortably lounged in the seat next to him, chatting with Lavinia and keeping her arms wrapped around his waist, smiling happily all the while. You could tell that despite the clinginess, Kayla really was enjoying herself — and that kept a happy look on Colton's face, something that seemed to really fix the attention of just about everyone who had never seen him look happy when he is with Kayla just simply stare at him. Jason, Piper, Leo, Bryce, Reyna, Gwen, even that punk Octavian freshly back from burning a teddy bear for the gods couldn't look away — and for good reason.
These two were quite literally, with Percy and Annabeth close behind, the golden couple of Camp Half Blood — and the power couple at that too. The beautiful maiden and the unstoppable beast of a man that would move mountains for her and probably vaporize anything and anyone that stood in his way while in doing just that.
Octavian, though, he had jealousy and envy written all over him. From where I was, sitting between Annabeth who was next to Percy, Frank, Hazel, and Grover who had apparently decided to tag along too even with being the Lord Of The Wild, which sounded badass in my book, and Ethan who was just talking to Chris on my other side, I kept an eye on Octavian making sure he didn't try anything.
As a tornado of food platters settled onto the table, I could just about hear Percy whisper to Annabeth, "I want to show you around New Rome. Just you and me. The place is incredible."
Turning my head to the side to look at Annabeth, you could tell that she didn't look happy. She should've felt thrilled. Knowing how much she loved Percy, I would not have been kidding in saying that just her and him was exactly what she wanted. Instead, however, it seemed that resentment swelled in her throat, as in she really could not believe how Percy was talking so enthusiastically about Camp Jupiter when there was Camp Half Blood.
She tried not to stare at the new marks on Percy's forearm—an SPQR tattoo like Jason's, and by extension, she tried not to look at the forearms of the rest of us either. She wasn't really alone in this either — many of the others from Camp Half Blood who had come along with the exceptions of Kayla, Clove, Cato, Clarisse, Sherman, and Alec also couldn't really look at the marks either from what I could see. I couldn't really blame them — it made the differences between Camps Jupiter and Half Blood all the more apparent to see. At Camp Half-Blood, demigods got bead necklaces to commemorate years of training. Here, the Romans burned a tattoo into your flesh, as if to say: You belong to us. Permanently.
Annabeth seemed to swallow back some words, from what it looked like. "Okay. Sure."
"I've been thinking," he said nervously. "I had this idea—"
He stopped as Reyna called a toast to friendship.
After introductions all around, the Romans and the rest of us began exchanging stories. Predictably, it generally seemed that until we got to the matter of what exactly each of the groups switched between camps had been up to, the Romans wanted to hear the full story of the batshit insane feats of Percy and Colton. I'll admit, it hurt to hear about some of the bad things I had done while following Kronos, it really did. But then again, I was no longer his pawn. I was on the road to redemption with everyone. I still had quite a long way to go but I was getting there.
Octavian, for his part, really couldn't stop trying to call every single thing that Colton had ever done fake. It was almost as if he really couldn't stand the fact that Colton had literally proven himself to be the kind of leader he imagined himself to be and it showed. I don't think anyone else could have made the following people — Chris, Miranda, Lee, Charlie, and Alec — lose their cool the way that they did over his objections.
And believe me, given what Chris, Lee, and Charlie said, I don't think I've ever heard them as mad as they were my entire life.
"Were you there firing bullets like an absolute speed demon when those Stymphalian birds were trying to pick us to mere bones? No.. that's what I thought so shut the fuck up, you selfish entitled prospector" — Lee.
Dude was clenching his fists, looking like he was about ready to grab a bow and riddle Octavian with arrows. And here I thought Michael hated his sibling (Octavian) so bad now.
"Please — anything that you have done here at Camp Jupiter, I swear to god, Colton has done one better over here at Camp Half Blood. So miss me with all of that 'he's making stuff up' nonsense" — Chris.
Clarisse never looked both so angry at Octavian and so proud of Chris at the exact same time.
"Do I look like I even have the ability to admit that what I am saying is false? No, because all of it is well and truly true. I personally doubt you would have been able to not be scared shitless by Kampe and then kill her with a single bullet while she's leaping in mid air.." — Charlie.
You could tell, even Silena was having a hard time keeping him from coming over to Octavian and beating the shit out of him with his fists. Through it all, Colton looked very miffed, glaring holes into Octavian's skull while Kayla just kept her arms wrapped around him and held his hand, looking very displeased with Octavian's antics.
If there's one thing you can do that will instantly get on Kayla Knowles' bad side, it's talking shit about her boyfriend, her hero. Octavian hadn't seemed to get the memo any, if his actions are anything to go on.
It was a tense little while, defused by some well-played comments from Percy that got pretty much everyone except Octavian laughing — as in we were all laughing.. at Octavian. He simply scowled and just went silent for a while, knowing he was beaten.
With all of that now out of the way, Jason now proceeded to explain how he'd arrived at Camp Half-Blood without his memory, and how he'd gone on a quest with Piper, Bryce, Alyssa, Clara and Leo to rescue the goddess Hera (or Juno, take your pick—she was equally annoying in Greek or Roman) from imprisonment at the Wolf House in Northern California, which seemed very ironic given that we had been there during our brief time as amnesiacs. Well.. me, Percy, Colton, and Michael had anyways.
"Impossible!" Octavian broke in. "That's our most sacred place. If the giants had imprisoned a goddess there—"
"They would've destroyed her," Piper said. "And blamed it on the Greeks, and started a war between the camps."
"And like the idiot that you are, augur.." butted in Colton. "..your stupid little stereotypes towards us Greeks make you all the more likely to help her without even realizing it. Now shut the fuck up."
Given what would transpire about less than a half hour later and continue on for the better part of a month and a half, the words that had just came out of Colton's mouth would prove to be brutally and uncannily accurate. It's little wonder why he now regrets not snapping Octavian's neck when he had the chance right here.
"You heard him, Octavian.." Piper continued. "Now, be quiet and let Jason finish."
Octavian opened his mouth, but no sound came out. A lot of gasps came out from both the Romans and even from me, Percy, and Michael. Colton however just looked unfazed — as if he already knew what just happened. The fact that he then turned to Piper and simply just gave her a thumbs up confirmed it. Kayla had likely told him already all about what Piper had.
Annabeth really loved Piper's charmspeak. She noticed Reyna looking back and forth between Jason and Piper, her brow creased, as if just beginning to realize the two of them were a couple.
"So," Jason continued, "that's how we found out about the earth goddess Gaea. She's still half asleep, but she's the one freeing the monsters from Tartarus and raising the giants. Kronis, the big leader dude that the Monster King's forces beat up at the Wolf House: he said he was retreating to the ancient lands—Greece itself. He plans on awakening Gaea and destroying the gods by...what did he call it? Pulling up their roots."
Percy nodded thoughtfully. "Gaea's been busy over here, too. We had our own encounter with Queen Dirt Face."
"Same here.." Colton continued.
Percy recounted his side of the story, well at least up until me and him had gone one way and Colton and Michael had gone the other way for our respective quests. He talked about the four of us waking up at the Wolf House with no memories except for one name—Annabeth, Thalia, Kayla, and Jake respectively for each of us.
When each of them heard that, the three of those four who were present looked like they had to try hard not to cry. Colton's antics, as usual, caught everyone from camp's attention — Kayla couldn't help but smile brightly when he and Percy recounted the war games, including Colton telling about him and Michael meeting Lavinia.
Percy told them how he'd traveled to Alaska with me, Frank and Hazel—how we'd defeated the giant Alcyoneus, freed the death god Thanatos, and returned with the lost golden eagle standard of the Roman camp to repel an attack by the giants' army.
Colton on the other hand told about the quest to retrieve Argonaut — how he, Michael, and Lavinia got most of the way thanks to hitchhiking and Charis, how they had eluded one of the new Giants in Bakersfield, the duel with Chrysaor — which even caught me and Percy as well as everyone except Kayla, Michael, and Lavinia by surprise since he hadn't even mentioned that part let alone anything about what had happened on the quest all up until this point, and the other shocking part of it all, how the Trojan Sea Monster had appeared at the loop with legs, swallowed Lavinia, and how Colton had walked the path of Hercules and also Jason Grace himself by letting it swallow him before cursing out Gaea who tried to break Lavinia to the earth mother's face, and then helping Lavinia 'ascend' and kill the beast.
It was a wild tale that somehow felt as every bit as crazy as the quests that Percy had undertaken. But the part that had everyone from Camp Half Blood just nodding their heads like 'yep, that's Colton for you' was the part about the fight at Camp Jupiter yesterday, and the recollection of that puke-inducing image of Colton as the Monster King just bashing in Polybotes' head with the statue until pieces of his brain were flying everywhere.
Clarisse just smiled in approval. "Figured that the bloody statue had something to do with you.." she just muttered.
"Wow.. you really showed it to him.." Clove added, also in approval. Cato couldn't help but just looked impressed at Colton even as he sat right next to Clove, his eyes drifting in her direction every now and then.
When Colton had finished, Jason whistled appreciatively. "No wonder they made you praetor."
"Well.." Colton started, and Percy looked in a different way too. "Reyna offered it to either of us, and while neither of us wanted it, I ended up getting it anyway."
Octavian snorted. "Which means we now have three praetors! The rules clearly state we can only have two!"
"On the bright side," Percy said, "both Jason and Colton outrank you, Octavian. So they can both tell you to shut up."
"Damn straight it allows me to order him to do that.." Colton said, while he just gave a thumbs-up to Percy in approval.
Octavian turned as purple as a Roman T-shirt. Jason walked over to Percy and Colton and gave each of them a fist bump before walking back over to his seat.
Even Reyna managed a smile, though her eyes were stormy.
"We'll have to figure out the extra praetor problem later," she said. "Right now we have more serious issues to deal with."
"I'll step aside for Jason," Colton said, although you could tell that even he was saying this a bit reluctantly. "No biggie."
"No biggie?" Octavian choked. "The praetorship of Rome is no biggie?"
Percy now turned to Jason, while Colton simply just glared daggers at Octavian. "You're Thalia Grace's brother, huh? Wow. You guys look nothing alike."
"Yeah, I noticed," Jason said. "Anyway, thanks for helping my camp while I was gone — you and the others. You all did an awesome job."
"Back at you," Percy said.
Annabeth kicked his shin. She hated to interrupt a budding bromance, but Reyna was right: they had serious things to discuss, and two people to keep from going at each other's throats at that.
"Do I look like I fucking give a shit, Octavian..?" Colton spat back.
"Why you.." Octavian started, before the toxic atmosphere was temporarily dispelled by Reyna.
"Praetor! Augur! Cease at once!" she commanded.
"You heard her, Colton.." Kayla said, just kissing his cheek. "He isn't worth it.."
Colton looked like he wanted to protest, but backed off anyways — he couldn't go against Kayla even if he wanted to. Likewise, Octavian also reluctantly backed off.
Annabeth now spoke up. "We should talk about the Great Prophecy. It sounds like the Romans are aware of it too?"
Reyna nodded. "We call it the Prophecy of Eleven. Octavian, you have it committed to memory?"
"Of course," he said. "But, Reyna—"
"Recite it, please. In English, not Latin."
Octavian sighed, and then began to recite the entire thing. "Eleven half bloods shall answer the call.. drawing many with them on a journey beyond all. Through heaven and hell many will go.. but to storm or fire the world must fall. The Queen's powers shall unlock when needed most.. and the web of fears shall wilt in its wrath. Love arises to help fall another.. and the gun shall bear the test brought in the mire. Against many he and his forces will stand.. and unleash the rage on where they stand. Between him and the future he demands.. are three usurpers bent on revenge. Two pantheons collide in the tower of hell.. and the Monster King's rage bore forth to save all."
"An oath to keep with a final breath," Annabeth continued. "And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death."
It seemed like everyone's eyes were just rocking back and forth between her and Colton — except for Leo, who had constructed a pinwheel out of aluminum foil taco wrappers and was sticking it into passing wind spirits. As for Colton, you could see the deadly serious look on his face showing that he was well aware how much a lot of the great prophecy fell upon his shoulders. You could also see it in Kayla's eyes too.
Annabeth wasn't sure why she had blurted out the lines of the prophecy. She'd just felt compelled.
Frank sat forward, staring at her in fascination, as if she'd grown a third eye. "Is it true you're a child of Min—I mean, Athena?"
"Yes," she said, suddenly feeling defensive. "Why is that such a surprise?"
Octavian scoffed. "If you're truly a child of the wisdom goddess—"
"She is, dingus.." Colton interjected.
"You meddling brat-" Octavian started.
"Enough, both of you," Reyna snapped, obviously displeased by the already very evident rivalry showing itself between Colton and Octavian. "Annabeth is what she says. She's here in peace. Besides..." She gave Annabeth a look of grudging respect. "Percy has spoken highly of you. And the same could be said for Kayla too."
The undertones in Reyna's voice took Annabeth and Kayla a moment to decipher. Percy looked down, suddenly interested in his cheeseburger. Colton for his part.. the expression on his face now simply just said this is exactly why I refused the offer when she first offered it to me.
Annabeth's and Kayla's faces now seemed to be both hot. Annabeth seemed to want to throw her arms around him, but she commanded herself to stay cool. Kayla, on the other hand, was now glaring daggers at Reyna in jealousy and possessiveness — and believe me, the suddenness she went from being the most carefree happy girl in the world to downright possessive of her boyfriend was so quick it scared you. There is just no other way of describing it.
You could even hear some of the Romans expressing how scary it was. "Holy shit, man.." muttered one quietly behind me. "..that made me piss my pants."
"Uh, thanks," Annabeth told Reyna. "At any rate, some of the prophecy is becoming clear. Foes bearing arms to the Doors of Death...that means Romans and Greeks. We have to combine forces to find those doors. On top of the obvious — such as the parts involving Colton."
"Of course.." Travis muttered. "..because he's you-know-who."
Hazel now picked up something next to her plate. It looked like a large ruby; but before Annabeth could be sure of it, Hazel slipped it into the pocket of her denim shirt.
"My brother, Nico, went looking for the doors," she said.
"Wait," Annabeth said. "Nico di Angelo? He's your brother?"
Hazel nodded as if this were obvious, which to everyone that hadn't come here from Camp Half Blood today, it was.
"Okay. You were saying?"
"He disappeared." Hazel moistened her lips. "I'm afraid...I'm not sure, but I think something's happened to him."
"We'll look for him," Percy promised. "We have to find the Doors of Death anyway. Thanatos told us we'd find both answers in Rome—like, the original Rome. That's on the way to Greece, right?"
"Yeah.. it is.." Colton muttered.
"Thanatos told you this?" Annabeth tried to wrap her mind around that idea. "The death god?"
She'd met many gods. She'd even been to the Underworld; but Percy's story about freeing the incarnation of death itself really creeped her out.
Percy took a bite of his burger. "Now that Death is free, monsters will disintegrate and return to Tartarus again like they used to. But as long as the Doors of Death are open, they'll just keep coming back."
"They keep coming, we just keep killing until we close the doors.." Colton just muttered, and Clarisse couldn't help but chuckle.
"That's my brother.." she said happily.
Clove just smiled, as did Sherman who gave him a thumbs up.
Piper twisted the feather in her hair. "Like water leaking through a dam," she suggested.
"Yeah." Percy smiled. "We've got a dam hole."
Almost everyone that wasn't from Camp Jupiter or hadn't joined after me, Michael, Colton, and Percy had disappeared couldn't help but either giggle, chuckle, or look like they were trying their hardest not to laugh. The Stolls definitely looked like they were trying their hardest.
"What?" Piper asked.
"Nothing," he said. "Inside joke. The point is we'll have to find the doors and close them before we can head to Greece. It's the only way we'll stand a chance of defeating the giants and making sure they stay defeated."
"Yep.. simple or as Sherlock Holmes would say, 'Elementary, my dear Watson'.." Colton muttered, and Kayla couldn't help but giggle at that remark.
Reyna plucked an apple from a passing fruit tray. She turned it in her fingers, studying the dark red surface. "You propose an expedition to Greece in your warship. You do realize that the ancient lands—and the Mare Nostrum—are dangerous?"
"Mary who?" Leo asked.
"Mare Nostrum," Jason explained. "Our Sea. It's what the Ancient Romans called the Mediterranean."
Reyna nodded. "The territory that was once the Roman Empire is not only the birthplace of the gods. It's also the ancestral home of the monsters, Titans and giants...and worse things. As dangerous as travel is for demigods here in America, there it would be ten times worse."
"You said Alaska would be bad," Percy reminded her. "We survived that."
"Plus we all fought hordes of monsters to defend Olympus last year and survived.." Lee added.
Reyna shook her head. Her fingernails cut little crescents into the apple as she turned it. "Percy, traveling in the Mediterranean is a different level of danger altogether. It's been off limits to Roman demigods for centuries. No hero in his right mind would go there." There was also a certain way in how she and Bryce simply traded looks towards each other, as if there were something brewing under the surface for both of them that neither knew was there.
"Uh.. hello.. I think you're forgetting someone.." Clarisse muttered and just pointed towards Colton, who took one look at his sister while he was eating more sirloin, sighed, swallowed the bite he was eating and then just audibly say, "Oh for fuck's sake.."
"Then we're good!" Leo grinned over the top of his pinwheel. "Because we're all crazy, right? Besides, the Argo II is a top-of-the-line warship. She'll get us through."
"I'm holding you to those words Valdez.." Colton said, and Leo just gulped. "If this doesn't live up to it and we die, I'm going to beat your ass in the Underworld."
Leo, for his part, just nodded — perfectly aware of just what he was being held to.
"We'll have to hurry," Jason added. "I don't know exactly what the giants are planning, but Gaea is growing more conscious all the time. She's invading dreams, appearing in weird places, summoning more and more powerful monsters. We have to stop the giants before they can wake her up fully."
Annabeth shuddered. She'd had her own share of nightmares lately.
"Eleven half-bloods must answer the call," she said. "It needs to be a mix from both our camps. Jason, Piper, Leo, and me. That's four."
"And me," Percy said. "Along with Hazel and Frank. That's seven. Colton and Kayla makes nine. So who's the final two then..?"
That was the question on everyone's mind. Everyone except Octavian, that is.
"What?" Octavian shot to his feet. "We're just supposed to accept that? Without a vote in the senate? Without a proper debate? Without—"
"Percy!" Tyson bounded toward us with Mrs. O'Leary hard on his heels. On the hellhound's back sat Ella, looking rather sickly. The amount of concern I had about this now was immediate. Fuck, don't bring her here. Anywhere but here—
He stopped by their couch and wrung his meaty hands. His big brown eye was full of concern. "Ella is scared," he said.
"N-n-no more boats," the harpy muttered to herself, picking furiously at her feathers. "Titanic, Lusitania, Pax...boats are not for harpies."
"Noted.." Colton said simply, no doubt jotting that information down in his mind.
Leo squinted. He looked at Hazel, who was seated next to him. "Did that chicken girl just compare my ship to the Titanic?"
"She's not a chicken." Hazel averted her eyes, as if Leo made her nervous. "Ella's a harpy. She's just a little...high-strung."
"High-strung is only scratching the surface really.." I muttered.
"Ella is pretty," Tyson said. "And scared. We need to take her away, but she will not go on the ship."
"No ships," Ella repeated. She looked straight at Annabeth. "Bad luck. There she is. Wisdom's daughter walks alone—"
"Oh fuck my life.." Colton just said all of a sudden, which only meant one thing knowing him. He already knew what those last four words were a part of.
I groaned. Prophecy time, here we go.
"Ella!" Frank stood suddenly. "Maybe it's not the best time—"
"The Mark of Athena burns through Rome," Ella continued, cupping her hands over her ears and raising her voice. "Twins snuff out the angel's breath, Who holds the key to endless death. Giants' bane stands gold and pale, Won through many's pain from a woven jail."
The effect was like someone dropping a flash grenade on the table. Everyone stared at the harpy. No one spoke.
Around them, the sounds of the feast continued, but muted and distant, as if their little cluster of couches had slipped into a quieter dimension.
Percy, if you didn't count Colton who looked like he was already deep in thought about quite a lot of things now and twitching a bit much to Kayla's concern, was the first to recover. He stood and took Tyson's arm.
"I know!" he said with feigned enthusiasm. "How about you take Ella to get some fresh air? You and Mrs. O'Leary—"
"Hold on." Octavian gripped one of his teddy bears, strangling it with shaking hands. His eyes fixed on Ella, and I really had to keep myself from screaming right now. FUCK, FUCK, FUCK. No, no.. no. Don't you fucking dare Octavian. "What was that she said? It sounded like—"
Oh fuck me.
In case you couldn't tell, I was so over all of this now. I really was — and Colton looked pretty much the same way.
"Ella reads a lot," Frank blurted out. "We found her at a library."
"Yes!" Hazel said. "Probably just something she read in a book."
"Books," Ella muttered helpfully. "Ella likes books."
Now that she'd said her piece, the harpy seemed more relaxed. She sat cross-legged on Mrs. O'Leary's back, preening her wings.
Annabeth gave Percy a curious glance. Obviously, he and Frank and Hazel were hiding something. Just as obviously, Ella had recited a prophecy—a prophecy that concerned her.
Percy's expression said, Help.
"That was a prophecy," Octavian insisted. "It sounded like a prophecy."
No one answered — for at least a moment. Then, the usual suspect decided to respond to Octavian. "Whatever the fuck is going on in that brain of yours, I kindly order you to stop it.." Colton snarled. "..or so help me with the Gods as my witness.. I will fucking make you myself."
It was chilling just to listen him talk like that. It was as if the fight with Polybotes had only managed to make him even more verbally dark when he got mad and serious.
Annabeth wasn't exactly sure what was going on from what it looked like to me, but she seemed to understand that Percy was on the verge of big trouble, and Colton — although trying — needed help.
She forced a laugh. "Really, Octavian? Maybe harpies are different here, on the Roman side. Ours have just enough intelligence to clean cabins and cook lunches. Do yours usually foretell the future? Do you consult them for your auguries?"
Her words had the intended effect. The Roman officers laughed nervously. Some sized up Ella, then looked at Octavian and snorted. The idea of a chicken lady issuing prophecies was apparently just as ridiculous to Romans as it was to Greeks.
"I, uh..." Octavian dropped his teddy bear. "No, but—"
"She's just spouting lines from some book," Annabeth said, "..like Hazel suggested. Besides, we already have a real prophecy to worry about."
"Exactly.." Colton added. "So please, drop it." He simply flashed Octavian one of his trademark smirks that he gives when he gets his way — when he is being rivals with Percy that is — and Octavian simply let out what could be described as a low growl, frustrated at being foiled again.
Kayla simply sighed happily. "God.." she said. "I love the fact that this boy is all mine."
Annabeth now turned to Tyson. "Percy's right. Why don't you take Ella and Mrs. O'Leary and shadow-travel somewhere for a while. Is Ella okay with that?"
"'Large dogs are good,'" Ella said. "Old Yeller, 1957, screenplay by Fred Gipson and William Tunberg."
Annabeth wasn't sure how to take that answer, but Percy smiled like the problem was solved — when obviously, it wasn't. Colton's face told you all you needed to know on that front.
"Great!" Percy said. "We'll Iris-message you guys when we're done and catch up with you later."
The Romans looked at Reyna, waiting for her ruling. Annabeth was holding her breath, and Colton's hand just slowly seemed to be going for a sword just in case.
Reyna had an excellent poker face. She studied Ella, but Annabeth couldn't guess what she was thinking.
"Fine," the praetor said at last. "Go."
"Yay!" Tyson went around the couches and gave everyone a big hug—even Octavian, who didn't look happy about it. Then he climbed on Mrs. O'Leary's back with Ella, and the hellhound bounded out of the forum. They dove straight into a shadow on the Senate House wall and disappeared.
I breathed a sigh of relief.
"Well." Reyna set down her uneaten apple. "Octavian is right about one thing. We must gain the senate's approval before we let any of our legionnaires go on a quest—especially one as dangerous as you're suggesting."
I noticed Kayla was now practically squeezing Colton's hand with a look of concern on her face while the man himself looked like he was using every fiber of his being not to scream.
I just facepalmed. Why do these people have to be so headstrong to the point that it might as well be a liability sometimes?
"This whole thing smells of treachery," Octavian grumbled. "That trireme is not a ship of peace!"
"Dude, just let it go.." Connor grumbled. "Quit being a dick."
Octavian didn't say anything, he just glared back at Connor in response.
"Come aboard, man," Leo offered. "I'll give you a tour. You can steer the boat, and if you're really good I'll give you a little paper captain's hat to wear."
Octavian's nostrils flared. "How dare you—"
"It's a good idea," Reyna said. "Octavian, go with him. See the ship. We'll convene a senate meeting in one hour."
"But..." Octavian stopped. Apparently he could tell from Reyna's expression that further arguing would not be good for his health, especially with the fact that due to his and Reyna's eyes flickering in Colton's direction, both of them were likely aware that even with Kayla's influence, he was getting really close to pulling a Julius Caesar like assassination on Octavian. "Fine."
"Okay then.." Colton muttered, cooling down for now as he got up and then helped Kayla up. "..I'm going to be over at Bellona's temple with Kayla if anyone needs me." He then just scooped up Kayla with one of his arms underneath her shoulders and the other underneath her legs, surprising her, and he was gone jogging a second later just like that.
Again, silence pervaded the area at what just happened. It lasted for a while before Clarisse broke it. "Did something.. happen to him when you all were amnesiac or while he was here?" she asked. "Because last time I checked, apart from our father and some of the other gods, he didn't really care much about the gods — much less enough to be at one of their temples."
None of the Romans really seemed to have an answer here. Michael then just did the talking for them. "I have zero idea.." he just said. "..he hasn't really said anything about why he even went there twice — first before me, him, and Lavinia left on the quest for Argonaut, and again last night."
Leo now got up. He turned to Annabeth, and for a brief second, I could see fear on her face by just looking at Leo. Annabeth blinked, and she looked confused now.
"Back soon," he promised. "This is gonna be epic."
A horrible chill seemed to settle over her, making me worry. As Leo and Octavian headed for the rope ladder, you could tell that she thought about calling them back—but couldn't. As if she thought she was going crazy or something. It was weird.
What happened next, given what lurked up there — and whatever made Annabeth look at Leo in fear — was now all but inevitable.
(A/N: Merry Christmas to everyone this year! Hope you all enjoy this chapter!)