Heart Pierced - Kayla Knowles (1)

XXIII. The Last Moments Of Peace

- — - — - — - — -

Just like the trip into NYC, the monsters again kept their distance from the five of us as we headed back to camp. We could visibly see them, but for some reason, they did not attack us.

"Why are they just visibly standing there?" Austin asked, looking at a hellhound who just glared at us from some trees at the edge of the woods as we cleared the suburbs of Brooklyn. "They smell you all, why don't they attack us?"

Caeli flashed nervous looks around the area, her head moving left then right and then left again, seemingly unnerved by the situation.

"I have no idea.." Michael replied, still carrying the sack of celestial bronze I had assigned him to carry. "It's just so weird."

Austin decided to shift the subject. "So.. you and Kayla, huh.." he said to me, as we all walked down the side of the road. "..gotta admit, you must have had some balls to be able to win the heart of a girl like that. And all that time I was at camp when you were around, you didn't even show any interest in finding someone. What changed?"

I looked at him. "Would you think I was crazy if I told you that I got a prophecy while cleaning the attic that promised we'd end up together?" I asked. Austin thought about it for a good while. "Yeah I would think you are crazy.." he said, drinking some Gatorade.

"Good. Because that's exactly what happened first.." I said, and he spat the Gatorade out, with Caeli gasping. "Shut the front door! Holy shit!" Austin spat out. "When the hell did this happen?"

I proceeded him to tell about what had happened, and by the end of it, both he and Caeli were dumbfounded. "So when did you and Kayla meet up?" he asked.

"Last summer, while Thalia's tree was poisoned.. right at the end of a Colchis Bull attack.. Clarisse killed one.. I got a headshot on the other at point blank range and almost was trampled by it, diving out of the way at almost the last second.. that was when we first saw each other. I decided to pass out for some reason soon afterwards, and it wasn't until a few hours later that we actually met."

Kayla nuzzled into my side suddenly, tears in her eyes and shaking with worry. She was most likely having flashbacks of the summer that almost broke her light, if it hadn't been for me. Caeli and Austin looked on with worry. "She okay?" Austin asked.

I nodded. "Poor girl got hit pretty hard.. nearly broke during those days.. pretty sure it was safe to say I was the one that helped her through it. Between Tantalus, the Stymphalian Birds, and a snake day.. she really clung to me as a lifeline.." I said, and Caeli looked so appalled.

"My god.. poor thing.. I feel awful for not being there.. I could have helped.." she said, and Austin took his girlfriend's hand in his. "Yeah.. that sounds rough.. how bad did it get?" he asked.

"To the point that when the birds attacked, I'm sitting up in my sniper's perch loading and firing my Whitworth like a man possessed, using the monster cluster rounds, almost straight down into the amphitheater area while birds are trying to chew their way through to me, protecting everyone else while Tantalus is sitting off to the side like a useless idiot.. and Clarisse is stuck attempting to win a chariot race.." I said. "..not to mention when I dueled Tantalus to save everyone."

Austin gets in front of me, and just stops, eyes wide. "Hold up.." he said, probably never even believing what I had just said. "..he brought chariot races back? And you dueled him?"

"First of all.. yes, he did and secondly, yes.. because that mf turned out to be an agent of Kronos.. held Mr.D at sword point.. I won though.." I told him. "Just earlier this month, I got sent into the labyrinth looking for weapons.. ended up spending nearly two weeks on Calypso's Island thanks to Percy Jackson.. and once I got back, that's when me and Kayla hooked up."