When Colton opened his eyes again, the first thought he could think of was, what the hell just happened?
One moment, he was standing close to the crest of Half Blood Hill with his siblings after he had placed a headshot on a Colchis Bull.. at point-blank range.
The next moment, he was here, lying on a bed in the infirmary, staring up at the ceiling. It was.. mind-boggling to say the least. He blinked once, then twice.. just to see if he was dreaming or something. Nothing changed.
So I'm not dreaming then, he thought to himself. I somehow legitimately passed out in front of my own siblings after looking in the direction of a beautiful girl..
He didn't know why, but the memory of her, the last thing he remembered before he blacked out, seemed to cause his normally somewhat cold, partially empty heart to come alive like he never felt it had before, filling him with an intense feeling of desire, affection, and hunger. It took all of his restraint not to go stir crazy from it before he calmed down. What the hell? That was.. weird, he thought to himself.
Though to be fair, what he had seen had been so beautiful, she probably was a daughter of Aphrodite. From the beautiful red hair dyed partially bright green that flowed down a bit of the way down her back, blue bell eyes like the sea that you could get lost in, the way she carried herself in the lovely black dress that stretched down to her knees with elegance and grace.. even with lots of freckles, every single part of this girl screamed glamorous perfection in his mind, and he didn't know why.
He didn't actually consider any lady that was single at camp to be all that attractive to want to gain their affection prior to now, mind you. Sure, there were plenty of pretty ones at camp, but he just didn't feel like going after them. It was just the way he was, to the point that saying that being a kid of Ares so he was focused on war or that he was too busy training with Clarisse didn't count as excuses.
He must have been thinking a bit too long, because a familiar voice shook him out of his thoughts.
"You mind telling me what the fuck happened to you out there?"
Colton turned, and saw Clarisse standing over him, and just started sweating a bit. His sister was scary, yes.. but to have her standing over you when you're in a bed of any kind.. that was an extra kind of scary, even for him. But still, she wanted an answer, and he had to give her one.
"I'm at as much of a loss as you are in explaining why the hell I passed out after coming into eye contact with a beautiful girl.. because unless that girl was one of the goddesses in their divine form, then I have no clue.." Colton replied, dusting himself off and getting himself up out of bed, standing before his slightly taller and older sister. "How long was I out?"
"Few hours.. more or less.." Clarisse replied. "And that girl wasn't a goddess. She's Kayla Knowles, the daughter of Apollo."
Colton's jaw dropped in shock at what Clarisse said, and he'll admit, for someone who kept in touch with which celebrities were in the spotlight in the world outside of Camp Half Blood, he should have put two and two together sooner.
Kayla Knowles was a name that he was familiar with, because she had come up time and time again, both when he was out of camp and in it. The girl was said to be an archery prodigy, winning competition after competition since she was five years old. It wasn't surprising, considering that she was the daughter of Darren Knowles, a multiple time champion and Olympic Gold Medalist in.. you guessed it, archery. Plus, her father happened to have been an actor in several films mostly because of his archery skills, including even one of the Japanese Godzilla films from the 1990s as a cameo of himself.
Plus, Kayla was a natural beauty, blessed with charm, beauty, and appeal beyond her years, as some people put it. That alone also made it unsurprising that in addition to archery, she had also appeared as a model in several fashion shows from the age of nine, and was an instant hit. For her, who was the same age as him currently, to be the daughter of Apollo.. it was no wonder that Colton's jaw just hung open for a few minutes and Clarisse didn't say anything, for she knew exactly what Colton was thinking. There was absolutely no way.
Finally, she pushed his jaw up and shut with her hand, chuckling to herself. "I would let you continue having your jaw open like an idiot.." she remarked. "But considering that you're blushing like an idiot, I rather you have it closed before you embarrass yourself."
That in and of itself left him flustered, because he didn't realize until now that he was blushing. His brain was both in shock and also too busy processing that Kayla was Apollo's daughter. Finally, he regained enough control over himself to even find the next words to say.
"So how long was it until she was claimed?" he asked her, who simply smiled.
"Claimed the instant she stepped through the barrier.." she replied, causing him to look at her shocked again. "Happened just mere moments after you passed out. I don't know what was in her head, but she's done nothing but be.. interesting to say the least."
"How?" he asked. He would admit, he definitely was curious.
"The second after she met her siblings, she walked straight up to the Big House and has been waiting outside the infirmary for one person" she replied. "You."
Colton didn't know how many more shocks he could take. Everything about today was just one shock after another. "Apparently.. the sight of a guy in armor wielding a Civil War - era sniper rifle and inflicting a kill shot on a large metal bull charging right at him before he escapes being trampled at the last second makes quite the impression, from what she said to me before I came in here.." Clarisse said, smirking all the while, before turning and walking off, but not before stopping at the doorway for a moment.
"Well.." she teased, in a so un-like Clarisse type way. "She's all yours, lover boy." Then she left, leaving Colton alone with his thoughts. Of all the people she's immediately interested in.. it isn't the Cyclopes who stood in front of Percy. It isn't Percy for being well.. Percy. It's me, who nearly got myself killed just taking that Colchis Bull to the grave. Considering that Annabeth has been all over Percy ever since he killed the Minotaur with only its horn last year, that's quite something, he thought to himself.
Then he remembered something else, what the Oracle had said to him one night while Percy and Annabeth were gone.
His prophecy.
He had been cleaning in the attic of the Big House, having been shoehorned into doing it by his siblings much to his chagrin. Why Chiron even let him up there, even though he wasn't there to get a prophecy so he could go on a quest, he had no idea. To be fair, he was the only one in the cabin who wasn't creeped out by the undead lady up there, so that partially explained why his siblings insisted that he had to do it. Anyway, he had been in the middle of cleaning the window on the opposite end of the attic from the Oracle and turned around for a second to change something in his cleaning kit - he couldn't remember what it was. That's when he noticed the Oracle suddenly sit up in her chair, moving her legs. He blinked, not knowing what was happening. That's when, in the usual green mist, the Oracle of Delphi spoke the lines that had changed his life.
Even now, in the infirmary nearly a year later, he remembered it like it was yesterday.
Bulls give way to flaming red hair
Deciding the choice that drives one there
To save camp, he must fight
Once against one, then against many twice
Love builds a bridge strong
For him to guard well and care
When the time comes and war flares
A single kiss will bless them fair
He had kept those words to himself, and hadn't told anyone about it, not even Clarisse or Yang after that night. Why he didn't think of it the minute he determined the intruders to be Colchis Bulls, he had no idea. It didn't matter much now though, to be honest. The ball had been set in motion.. and the one destined to him had arrived.
- — - — - — - — -
He definitely felt like thanking Morpheus for not making him pass out again when he walked out of the infirmary, and almost instantly came into eye contact with her again. She wasn't alone this time like back on the hill earlier. Michael was there in the chair on her left, with Lee Fletcher, the head counselor of the Apollo cabin, there as well.
He'd probably had in been eye contact with her for at least a minute before Lee and Michael chuckled to each other.
"You two going to fall in love or keep staring at each other?" Michael asked teasingly, laughing with his older brother, and much to the two other teens' annoyance.
"Yew, you're lucky I don't have my Whitworth with me right now.. same for you, Fletcher.." Colton replied coldly, glaring at the two male Apollo kids, who just kept grinning like idiots.
"I gotta to hand it to you, being the guy who gets the attention of our newest sibling the day she arrives is quite the feat. Showing shades of Jackson, are you?" Lee teased, and Colton had half a mind to lunge for the Apollo Cabin head counselor at that moment. But, he held himself back.
"I wish you wouldn't compare me to that crazy kid, to be honest.." Colton complained. He really was sensitive to even being put in the same sentence with Percy's name, and that was a part of being an Ares kid he couldn't control. Lee and Michael got up, both black haired boys still looking as devious as the Stoll brothers right now.
"Guess we'll leave you too be.. can't wait to hear how this goes.. oh, the gossip.." Michael laughed as the two walked out of the Big House, leaving Kayla and Colton there to look at each other a bit awkwardly. Finally, it was Colton who, while scratching the back of his head, summoned up enough courage to break the ice.
"Honestly.." he started, looking down at the ground. "..I don't think I ever expected to attract the attention of such a beautiful daughter of Apollo the minute she arrives at camp."
Smooth, Colton. Smooth, he thinks to himself. God, you are an idiot.
"I mean.." she says, and it felt like his heart was pounding against his ribcage. He had never heard her speak before, but god damn it, even the way she spoke was perfection. It was like Aphrodite had given her blessing to this daughter of Apollo in every conceivable way. "..seeing a kid of Ares wielding a rifle against a Colchis Bull was not exactly what I had expected my first experience upon reaching Camp Half Blood to be. It's concerning, to say the least."
Bit by bit, he was feeling calmer in talking to her. "Yeah.. nothing's been the same since the winter of 2005.. not since that traitor Luke started working for Kronos.." he hissed, the bloodlust he felt in pure rage over Luke making its presence felt. By the Gods, he definitely wanted to kill that traitorous bitch.
Kayla gasped, shocked at that remark. "Long story.." Colton said, calming down. "..what happened today and in the future, from tomorrow to who knows how long, is just the consequences of that. Welcome to Camp Half Blood, where fate can throw you front and center of things regardless of what you want. Where in times like these, surviving against the odds is going to be what turns mere children and teens into adults faster than they want to."
Kayla simply nodded, nervous a bit from all of that. "You mind if I stick with you?" she asked, and he nodded without a second thought. "Because honestly, right now.."
She blushed a little, turning her head away. "..aside from my siblings, you're probably the only one I feel safe being around right now."
Colton felt like he could melt into a puddle of butter, and he still had no clue why. This girl.. she was making him feel ways he never felt before, and he wasn't even mad at all. He still kinda wanted to break Lee's face for the remark about comparing him to Jackson though.
"So this makes us.. fast friends then?" he asked, and Kayla simply interlaced her fingers in his.
"Yeah, it does.." she said, smiling.
Outside the Big House, Lee and Michael peered inside from around a corner through a window, both boys not even believing what they were seeing and hearing.
"The Aphrodite cabin are going to lose their minds when they find out.." Michael whispered to Lee, who simply nodded.
"Two potential couples, a new activities director, and a poisoned tree.." Lee replied, feeling both despair and hope at the same time. "The rest of this summer will be very interesting."
Lee had absolutely no idea how accurate he was with that last remark, because as events would soon prove, it would indeed be an interesting summer.