Heart Pierced - Kayla Knowles (1)

VI. The Temporary Reign Of Colton I

(A/N: There's going to be something funny in the dynamic of these two once they fall for each other, in that every time monsters and villains try to rip them apart, they are only going to either a.) become stronger or b.) have one or both of them claw their way back to each other.

Like, his feelings for her are what's making him be like he was in the last chapter.. essentially turning his fatal flaw into potentially the key to unlocking his full potential. He has no idea.

Also, he's temporary head counselor. Oh boy. Add in a snake day while Clarisse is gone, and you have definitely got some more ship teasing moments. Spread out at random over the first 7 days.

As for their obliviousness, Luke and Percy will unintentionally help them realize how they feel for each other. But I'm saving that for BOTL.

Also this chapter was fueled by listening to multiple versions of the song "Safe and Sound".

Anyways enjoy!)

Day One
Dawn

Being a head counselor was.. for Colton, something that definitely felt like he had stepped into a whole new world. Or to be more accurate, the duties of it were split between Sherman and Colton in a mutually beneficial sibling partnership. Since Colton was more of a loner who preferred to do things his own way, Sherman handled their younger siblings while Colton concentrated on Clarisse's other duties for now.

To his credit, after last night, Tantalus made sure to give Colton a very wide berth to the point of bending his own rules just to make an exception for Colton. So it was when he woke up about an hour before the butt crack of dawn the next morning - having said goodbye for now to Clarisse the night before - and gotten himself changed out of his sleep clothes, gotten himself ready, and headed out of the cabin without waking his other siblings with his gear on and rifle in hand to start a morning patrol, the Harpies simply let him do his thing.

Clarisse had left him a bag of poptarts in his knapsack for him to eat for breakfast, and for all subsequent mornings for a week until she was gone, so he ate it quietly while sitting up in one of his sniper perches, this one directly opposite Thalia's dying tree.

He was lucky that he had fitted his rifle with a homemade silencer the night before, for just as he finished eating, and daylight started to light up the Atlantic Ocean and the grounds before camp, he spotted a medium sized hellhound come out of the woods at the base of the hill to the left of the tree, apparently having also waited for sunlight to at least let it have a sense of direction as to where it was going. Once the sunlight had lit up enough of the area, it started walking up the hill towards the camp, not noticing the demigod hidden in the trees.

He slid out the barrel of the rifle over the top of the wall, peered through the sight at the approaching hellhound, then he fired.

Poof!

Thanks to the silencer, little if any noise was made as the round, a normal bullet this time around, was launched at the monster and the hellhound was killed instantly, falling on its side with a bullet hole through its head, a clean through and through headshot.

He loaded another round quickly, expecting maybe some more monsters to come, but it was evident soon enough that for now, the woods around Camp Half Blood were monster free.

Good, Colton thought to himself. So much the better.

He sat down on his butt, leaning up against the wall, yawning as he did so.

It may not be a perfect day in Camp Half Blood, thanks to Tantalus, but on this morning he could rest easy.

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