Changing the Future

Chapter 14

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Over the next few weeks, I settled back into my camper routine, usually tending to stick with the Hermes cabin. By now, Noah had left camp, and Kyle was the head counselor now. Much to my dismay, he ruled over cabin eleven with an iron fist, threatening all the other kids with permanent cleaning duty and punishing them in training to maintain his place within the cabin's social hierarchy.

Thankfully, the Stoll brothers managed to keep the levity amongst all the campers, pulling an endless amount of pranks on their older brother and always evading capture. Of the two I'd witnessed since my return, the best prank was the one that ended up with Kyle covered from head to toe in pink glitter and in a red cocktail dress. The Stoll brothers had even managed to put makeup on Kyle's face, although it was done rather messily as seen by the lipstick smear that had been across Kyle's forehead. Even better, Kyle had been cursed to wear the dress, glitter, and makeup for three days as apparently the get up belonged to a daughter of Aphrodite after being claimed.

Of course, the Stoll brothers ended up with dish duty for the rest of that week, but I knew it had been totally worth it by Kyle's constant mortification while others stared at him. Had it been anyone else, I would've felt guilty for not helping him out, but he had sided with Holly and tied me to a tree branch by the ankles. That isn't exactly the best way to make friends.

I'd also detested Kyle's dictatorship in the cabin, especially after I'd watched this one son of Iris flinch away from Kyle when his hand had gone to his belt around his waist. I remember feeling anger course through my veins as the kid curled up into a ball, begging for Kyle to stop.

The other kids either ignored the situation entirely or watched with frightful glances, unwilling to do anything to incur the wrath of the head counselor. Needless to say, I quickly put an end to that form of punishment, not even flinching when I felt Kyle's belt wrap around my wrist when I stood over the young boy.

"Get out of the way," Kyle had demanded in a low voice, his eyes glowing with unbridled rage. "This boy must be taught a lesson."

"Not like this," I had said, jerking my hand down, pulling the belt free from Kyle's grip. "You have no right to punish anyone like this, head counselor or not."

"You don't know what he did."

"Enlighten me, then." I then tossed the belt over to the Stoll brothers, giving them a silent order to keep it out of Kyle's hands. They gave me an almost imperceptible nod, Connor quickly shoving it into his pillowcase.

"He called me a heartless psychopath. Me, the boy who saved him," – Kyle jabbed a finger at the boy's direction – "from being dog chow. Where's the gratefulness?"

"It disappeared the first time you hurt me," the boy whimpered, curling into a tighter ball, his hands over his head in an attempt to protect himself. The poor kid thought that Kyle was going to pummel him with his fists instead of his belt now.

"Unbelievable," I muttered under my breath, glaring daggers at Kyle. "What's your problem? Why do you think it's a good idea to hurt these kids?"

"They earned it." Kyle shrugged, not a hint of remorse in his words or on his face. "I don't hurt anyone who follows orders. Isn't that right, guys?"

There were a few mutters of assent, but they were most likely out of fear from becoming Kyle's next target rather than actually agreeing with his statement. It must've sucked living in the Hermes cabin these past few years if Kyle was always like this.