Heart Pierced - Kayla Knowles (1)

XLV. Let's Get Ready To Rumble!

So, in face of my sister, I only could respond this way. "It's a long story.. and to be fair, I'm still thinking about why even now, but the point now is that.. we're together.." I started, and Kayla finished it for me. "..forever and always."

Clove simply hugged both of us. "..you both truly deserve each other.." she said simply, and then released us from the hug and walked away.

Kayla kissed my cheek, and I blushed. "I love you so much.." she said. "I love you too.." I said back. That was all I really knew when it came to Kayla Knowles honestly. Her heart was mine and I was the same way for her. We may have been born to gods that were basically different from each other, but as they say, opposites attract.

We were basically the definition of that. Did I mind? Not at all. In fact, to be honest, I'm pretty sure I was going to ask her to marry me when this next war was over. If only had I knew that it was going to be after I had nearly lost her to an asshole Roman Emperor and Legacy Of Apollo — thanks to yet another prophecy taking me away from her after we had dealt with that fucking serpent god and the Giants — before I got the chance.. and even then..  I wasn't going to stop till the new threat was dead before I actually did do it. Add to that trying to prevent that fucking asshole and his cronies from wiping out Apollo's kids.. and suffice it to say, what happened down the road before I did it was arguably.. the most emotional great prophecy I had been through, topping even the current we were under at this time.

Yeah, more bullshit got in my way — namely a war after this one — got in my way before I could even propose to her. But all of that was in the future, a future I had very few inklings of up till this point. Believe me, during next summer, that was when I would start to figure it out.

- — - — - — -

We left Cháris and some of my loyal minions — summoned from the other dimension by his magic — behind at the temple to guard it from intruders. Camp would strip it clean — of any valuable loot, that is — in the following days. I wasn't exactly kidding when I said the place looked like a field day for the Hermes Cabin to enjoy. Pretty sure I could hear Travis and Connor talking about how they were going to bring their siblings here tomorrow. As for what I took for me and Kayla from the vault, I'll tell you later. I have other things to explain and describe currently.

Since the fight that the prophecy had predicted ominously had not occurred at the temple, we were all on edge as we headed back to camp. Basically, it was practically all of us who had set out on this that were walking back to camp — minus Beckendorf, Malcolm, Annabeth, Percy, Travis, Luke, Ethan, Thalia, and Connor.

I don't exactly know why Thalia, Ethan and Luke had decided to stick around really. I'm guessing that with Luke, it might have had something to do with him formerly being a Hermes camper before he had joined Kronos in the past, so that might have been it and the other two just stuck with him due to Ethan being a close ally of him and Thalia being his girlfriend now. I don't really know for sure. I wasn't really paying much attention to that much honestly here. I really wasn't at all.

I was too busy thinking about what my next steps — well, our next steps because me and Kayla were Monster King and Queen respectively — would be in the war against the factions Gaea of Porphyrion to be honest. Because really, that probably was what I should be thinking about at this present time, if you think about it. I wasn't going to make the same mistake Zeus and the Gods had during the last war in not thinking about this threat at all until it had almost cost you all that you supposedly cared about, basically. I'd throw myself into Tartarus on my own free will if I made that mistake, to be honest here.

Either way, with Kayla holding my hand as the remaining part of the group that had set out towards the temple trekked back to camp and clear skies as evening approached on this day, things were looking good.

Really, really good.

Alas, when we got to the base of Half Blood Hill, a flicker of movement off to my right had my head drifting to the right..

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

..and coming straight into eye contact with a human dude, on the far side of the clearing that was the slope of Half Blood Hill facing towards the Atlantic Ocean, that had green, snake like hair and completely white eyes. On either side of him were two more figures. One of them was a guy who also had green, snake like hair and white eyes while the other figure was a girl with long, braided brown hair and a devilish look on her face.

I grimaced and then my eyes grew wide, recognizing instantly who they were.

There was no way.. that those three humans were Porphyrion, Enceladus, and Periboia respectively. There was just no way.

But alas, there they were on the far side of the clearing, visible for all of us to see, or at least me at the moment really. I hadn't really noticed that I had even stopped until I heard Clarisse yell out, "Will, go inform Chiron! Get the Apollo Cabin!"

I snapped out of my stupor and turned my head the other way to find everyone else scrambling about into battle positions. I turned back the other direction and saw the three Giants — in their human disguises — coming across the field towards us. I sighed, gripping the handle of the sword that Typhon had given me in anticipation of what was about to go down here. I had hoped that it wouldn't come to this, but it was a prophecy so here we were anyway. Either way, this would be a first.

I hadn't had an opportunity yet to test the powers of the Monster King, and yet here I was, staring at the opportunity to try it out on my current top three most dangerous foes at the moment. Talk about my luck being crap, because if I lost, I'd likely lose the power of the Monster King here too.

Then the giants now underwent — or started to undergo the transformation from their human forms back into their normal giant forms — and all hell breaks loose.

- — - — - — - Switch To Third Person POV - — - — - — -

Once transformed, the three giants simply stared down at the group of demigods in front of them. Porphyrion wickedly grinned. "Good.. this is very good.. my rival.. caught outside the protective net of his own camp.." he said, letting out a long, evil laugh.

Enceladus tapped his shoulder. "My lord.." he said to him. "One of the demigods just scrambled up the hill into camp. He might be reinforcements to their aid, including the heralds and wardens."

"Go then, you and Periboia.. and keep them occupied.." the former king of the Giants said. "..I have business with the imposter king."

Colton rolled his eyes. Of course this fucking moron would be so ego-driven that he would call me an imposter king, even though I was crowned by Typhon himself, he thought as he drew the sword and held it out with his right hand for now, not saying anything. Kayla stuck close to him, her bow aiming an arrow squarely at the giant in front of them, but she was trembling. She had never seen a giant before, and right now, the former king of the Giants right in front of her and the others looked very terrifying.

"On this night, I will gain the power to exact my revenge!" Porphyrion called out malevolently, just as Colton put his left hand on Kayla's shoulder and just whispered into her ear. Kayla looked at him, surprised for a moment, and then nodded.

She kissed his cheek, and just like during the Battle of Manhattan, a lightning bolt came down and struck the tip of the sword, encasing both Colton and Kayla in a blinding light that forced everyone to turn their eyes away from the scene now unfolding right there.

What followed next, however, left everyone else stunned and shocked when they all saw the result of it all. As Colton transformed, Kayla at his side transformed as well. Once again, for the third time in just over two years, Olympus - and Camp Half-Blood's worlds for the most part - were rocked as Kayla Knowles tapped into the power inside her and transformed into the Monster Queen. Things would truly never be the same again.

(A/N: Remember when I said I was saving Kayla's first time as the Monster Queen in her true form in Book Two? Well, turns out I lied. You're welcome.)