Hearts Crossed - Kayla Knowles (2)

AKP I (TLH)

Alternate Part Title: Annabeth II / Kayla II / Piper II (TLH)

Chapter Title: Piper Has A Weird Vision

Piper soon realized, or rather found out the hard way, that Annabeth's heart wasn't in the tour. To be fair, despite having decided to tag along for this despite barely saying anything at all, neither did Kayla's heart seem to be in it either.

Annabeth talked about all this amazing stuff the camp offered—magic archery, pegasus riding, the lava wall, fighting monsters —but she showed no excitement, as if her mind were elsewhere. Kayla, despite not saying anything at all, was the same way to be honest. Annabeth pointed out the open-air dining pavilion that overlooked Long Island Sound. (Yes, Long Island, New York; they'd traveled that far on the chariot.) She explained how Camp Half-Blood was mostly a summer camp, but some kids stayed here year-round, and they'd added so many campers it was always crowded now, even in winter.

Piper honestly wondered who ran the camp, and how they'd known Piper and her friends belonged here. She wondered if she'd have to stay full-time, or if she'd be any good at the activities. Could you even flunk out of monster fighting? Was that even possible? A million questions bubbled in her head, but given Annabeth's and Kayla's current moods at the moment, she decided to keep quiet.

As they all climbed a hill at the edge of camp, Piper turned and got an amazing view of the valley—a big stretch of woods to the northwest, a beautiful beach, the creek, the canoe lake, lush green fields, and the whole layout of the cabins—a bizarre assortment of buildings arranged like a Greek omega, Ω, with a loop of cabins around a central green, and two wings sticking out the bottom on either side. Piper counted twenty five cabins in all, with what seemed like a twenty sixth cabin under construction. One glowed golden, another silver. One had grass on the roof. Another was bright red with barbed wire trenches. One cabin was black with fiery green torches out front.

(** Monster King Cameo Theme Starts Playing **)

One cabin in particular caught her eye. It was located just a couple down from the cabin that had vines growing all over it. Compared to all of the other cabins, this one looked like a picturesque summer camp cabin at least for a place like this. What made it different than the others was the figure that was sitting on the chair on the porch. He looked like a complete shadow with a human frame, for he was completely black with what seemed to be purely white eyes with a peculiar looking crown on top of their head. From what it looked like to Piper, the figure couldn't be any taller than Jason, for it looked to be about his height. Then she blinked, and just like that, the mysterious figure at the cabin was gone as if it had never even been there at all, but the chair was still rocking back and forth. Piper was so confused now. Who was that?

(** Monster King Cameo Theme ends here **)

All of it seemed like a different world from the snowy hills and fields outside.

"The valley is protected from mortal eyes," Annabeth said. "As you can see, the weather is controlled, too. Each cabin represents a Greek god—a place for that god's children to live. Some kids though here are in these cabins due to be an honorary member.. Kayla is one of these, as is Colton.. for more than one cabin. I'll get to that later."

She looked at Piper like she was trying to judge how Piper was handling the news.

"You're saying Mom was a goddess."

Annabeth nodded. "You're taking this awfully calmly."

Piper couldn't tell her why. She couldn't admit that this just confirmed some weird feelings she'd had for years, arguments she'd had with her father about why there were no photos of Mom in the house, and why Dad would never tell her exactly how or why her mom had left them. But mostly, the dream had warned her this was coming. Soon they will find you, demigod, that voice had rumbled. When they do, follow our directions. Cooperate, and your father might live. Still though, that part about Kayla and Colton was interesting. What had Annabeth meant when she had said that Kayla and Colton were honorary children of multiple cabins?