Hearts Crossed - Kayla Knowles (2)

Lavinia III (SON)

Chapter Title: Bakersfield Is The Land Of Unknowns, Just Like My Life Now

I'll admit, I didn't expect that this Cháris dude was able to drive — that definitely caught me off guard for sure. And on the subject of Cháris, I will admit.. he's pretty intimidating. And to be fair, that pretty much describes about half of what the past three days have been for me — finding out new things that have completely shattered what I know about the mythological world and being introduced to people and mythical beings that make Jason, Reyna, and the other major demigods in camp now and in the past look like they've been playing on the easy mode of a cartoon game.

Like, I'm not exactly kidding much at all here — that is generally how I have felt the past three days have been for me. I thought Jason was intimidating, I thought Nico was intimidating just from how cold the Ambassador of Pluto was to everyone, but these four.. they just about made everyone else pale in comparison to them.

It's absolutely scary to know that these four could probably steamroll over the entire camp combined without breaking a sweat — and the fact that all four of them worked well with each other too, despite the rivalry between Colton and Percy, only made the fact even more horrific to know. Obviously, I am well aware that out of the four of them, Colton is the most scary of the four, but that doesn't mean that the other three are scary in their own individual ways.

I mean, first off, there was Luke — the man who had started the last war in the first place. Being an honorary son of the guy you worked with and also manipulated you to help him destroy the Gods was scary enough, but to combine that with also being one of the best, if not the best, swordsman in 300 years is even scarier. Add the fact that he retained his abilities as a son of Mercury too.. and you got possibly one of the most scariest demigods ever imaginable, exceeded only by Percy and Colton.

Michael was in the same boat as Luke. To be fair, being an honorary son of Mars while also a son of Apollo at the same time seemed very ironic if you think about it. He was basically a battle medic with a temper — someone that you probably wouldn't want to piss off.

And then.. there was Percy. He might have been a son of Neptune, but his power was no laughing matter. He seemed to be a natural fighter, even if hamstrung by amnesia. The fact that he could turn the water cannons against the way that he did was amazing to watch, believe me — and also scary to watch. I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of something like that, that's for sure. The amount of feats he had under his belt were nothing to laugh at either. Even if Colton had ended up robbing him of some of them in the end, he still had done some incredible things that not even Jason could have claimed to have done. Defeating the Minotaur as a twelve year old with your bare hands, helping to recover the Golden Fleece, holding up the sky to save Diana.. Percy had gone through hell and back in ways that none of us at Camp Jupiter ever have been through.

The same could be said for Colton in a way. I mean, I wouldn't want to be sent down into the labyrinth by myself — even if it was meant to gather weapons for the defense of your home. The fact that he got off so easy in there thanks to Typhon is almost bewildering to even believe, let alone accept that it happened.

That being said, the way this brown haired juggernaut of a semi-immortal sixteen year old let that mask of seriousness, aggression, coldness, and rage drop whenever he remembered the trauma that brought him into the demigod world or thought about his girlfriend.. it was.. almost like those were the only two things that were a reminder to you that he was still human.

That he wasn't totally a heartless monster like General Grievous.

It was a real wonder, honestly, to know that Kayla Knowles was the lady who kept that rage inside of him in check. How on earth did fate decide that she would be the one to heal the hole in Colton's heart, I have no idea and likely will never know.