no matter how many times a snake shed its skin, it would always be a snake. no matter how hard kit dempsey tried to prove he was no longer a traitor, camp half-blood would always view him as the boy who betrayed them for kronos. but not leo valdez...
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CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: VIGILANTE SHIT
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KIT WASN'T SURE WHAT to make of Camp Jupiter. An instinctual part of him wanted to hate it. There were people everywhere, way too many, both young and old. Kit had never seen a demigod live beyond their twenties, so it was jarring to say the least, being surrounded by families. Parents with their children -- legacies, if he remembered right -- even grandparents... It made him think of his own mother, of an absent family long-since lost. His mother would've liked it there. She would've seen the beauty in it. Desperately, resentfully, Kit turned the other cheek.
Waiting at the front of the crowd in polished armour and a purple cloak was a girl around his age. Brown hair and dark eyes, olive skin and sharp features. She was younger than most of Camp Jupiter's residents, and yet she stood with an authority that even the elderly seemed to accept.
Kit didn't trust her for a second.
"Jason Grace, my former colleague," the praetor -- Reyna -- had a voice as commanding as her stance. "I welcome you home." For a moment, that last word lingered in the air, heavy and daunting. Jason's throat bobbed. Kit was close enough to make out the faint, barely noticeable tremor in his hands quickly hidden as he rose to his full height, took on the stares. "And these, your... friends--"
Jason opened his mouth, ready to introduce them, but was interrupted -- much to Kit's bemusement -- by Annabeth surging forward. She leapt past Reyna, either ignoring or missing the other girl's affronted stare as she closed the space between her and Percy Jackson. He was a sight for sore eyes, and Kit struggled to recognise him in the colours of Rome. Still, he met Annabeth in the middle and pressed his mouth to hers. Kit rolled his eyes as Leo let out a teasing awww.
"Young love," he murmured in Kit's ear as he pretended to wipe away a tear. "Isn't it just touching?"
Kit's mouth twitched but he managed to evade the smirk as he nudged him away from his face. At the same time, Percy murmured something to Annabeth and she responded by judo-flipping him over the shoulder. Kit turned to Leo and smirked, mirroring his previous actions as he said, "There's nothing more romantic than breaking your boyfriend's back. Wouldn't you agree?"
Leo's cheeks burned red.
With her knee pinning Percy's chest, her forearm against his throat, Annabeth exclaimed, "If you ever leave me again, I swear to all the Gods--"
Percy laughed, amused despite the wary reaction of his Romans friends. The crowd had tensed at Annabeth's actions, a few demigods stepping forward only to be warned away by Reyna's commanding hand. As Percy continued to laugh, murmuring that he missed her, Annabeth's eyes softened and she helped him to his feet.
Kit grimaced, watching a nearby Roman soldier whose arms were bigger than Kit's whole head. Okay, so maybe Annabeth was a bit dramatic. But fortunately for them, the rest of their introductions went smoothly. Jason took the liberty of introducing Piper first -- Kit smothering a laugh as she failed to hide her miffed pout; her lines down the drain -- then Leo, who grinned and flashed a peace sign. Kit rolled his eyes just as Jason said his name.
