Author: TippierCoffee

Disclaimer: I do not own — nor do I claim the rights to — the Percy Jackson universe or any of its characters. All credit goes to rightful owner, Mr. Rick Riordan.


Unlovable.

The letter came at ten that morning.

Will was outside hanging clothes to dry after a wash. It had been a relatively good day today. The twins hadn't had the energy or care to tease Will and be late for breakfast, the geese had stayed away most of the day and not bothered the chicks and hens, and the horses ran happily in their outdoor area. Sure, Will still had to put up with being called names, and being told he was unlovable, and the words still stung, but today was one of the better days. Will Solace counted his blessings.

Mail days were his favourites. Or, scratch that. The mailman, Hermes, was his favourite. He was kind, probably in his mid-forties, extremely chatty, and always carried around various treats for animals and people alike. Where Hermes kept all his treats, Will didn't know, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know. And though Hermes was a bit floaty, and seemed absent-minded, he listened and gave Will encouragement. It wasn't exactly pity, Will decided. Hermes' eyes never turned that exact shade of sorry for it to be. But it was nice, having a human being Will could talk to sometimes — even if Hermes only caught half of it due to his absent mind.

"Good morning, Will," Hermes gave a lazy smile. "Busy today?"

"I'm busy every day, Hermes. You know that," Will returned his smile and dusted off his trousers. "Got anything good for us this time?"

"Hmm…" Hermes dug around in his postal satchel and presented three letters in total. He flipped through them and looked at Will, sorrow crossing his eyes for a millisecond. "House bills and beauty bills."

Will gave a frustrated sigh and rand his hands through his hair. That would be the end of his good day. "What about the third one?"

"A letter from the King himself."

"What, really?" Will went to Hermes' side peeking curiously at the envelope. A faded yellow with an official stamp. "Wow."

"Indeed," Hermes agreed, voice floaty, spacing out. "This letter is making its rounds throughout the Kingdom. Something about a party for our Crown Prince Nico di Angelo."

"What, like, a birthday party?" Will took the envelope in his hands and turned it carefully. "Didn't he turn sixteen this January?"

Hermes shrugged. "They usually don't invite commoners to the castle. I wonder what this is about."

Will knew he probably should wait till he was inside. Lilith would reprimand him for opening a letter outside the house. Still, his curiosity piqued and he licked his lips, swallowing thick spit. His hands trembled as he looked the stamp over again. An upside-down cross cupping a ball; except the ball didn't touch the cup.

"I could open it and let you know what it says," Will offered.

That caught Hermes' attention. He stood straighter, his eyes flashing hungry, his usually slumped-over stature replaced. Attentiveness looked odd on him when Will wasn't used to it, and it egged him on to complete his dangerous task.

He wedged his fingers below the letter's flap, and carefully tore it open.

The hand writing was neat, cursive, well formulated. Will let his eyes glide over the text, not reading but simply admiring the letters, before letting them find the top again. He read out loud.

"Dear Subject of Hades' Kingdom. It is my utmost pleasure to announce the bachelorette party of my son, Crown Prince Nico di Angelo. As I have been told my health is poor, we will host this party two years before anticipated. The party will take place mid-July, from Friday at 6 pm, to Sunday at 2 am. All bachelorettes between the ages 16 to 18, along with their families, are invited to this marvellous extravaganza. Simply show up with the letter in hand.

"Best wishes, King Hades."

Will's heart hammered in his chest, and he was quite sure Hermes stopped breathing beside him. A party to choose a bachelorette for the Crown Prince?

"Well," Hermes said, closing his post satchel. "I'll have to make sure my daughters don't see that. Being a Queen is hard, demanding work."

"They've got to be joking, though?" Will questioned. "I mean, come on. They have never reached out to commoners before. Why now?"

Hermes gave a shrug and turned on his heel, giving Will a quick wave before sitting back on his bicycle, and off he went, leaving Will alone with the letter in hand.

This is so strange.


There had been a lot of arguing once Will finally made it inside with the letters. Not only did his step mother blame the high house bills — and her beauty bills, somehow — on Will, but he also got a beating once they found out he'd read the invitation by himself outside. Well. The twins had been bouncing in joy for a while, and then beat him.

From then on, the workload had increased. All of a sudden, Will had to tag along to stores for the best fabrics, and take down measures, and look at designs with his sisters so he could sew their dresses, and make the house sparky clean, and still maintain his other chores on top of everything.

The twins still got down late for almost every breakfast, and Will was reprimanded with beatings and verbal assault. Broken China he had to pick up with his bare hands, just to be scolded for bleeding on the floor, and have his face stuffed into the ashes of the fireplace.

He got the task of bathing and grooming Mr. Charles, slaughtering the older hens, brushing and trimming the horses, and cleaning their hooves, plus building a presentable carriage. It was cheaper to force Will to work for hours, rather than buy something, after all. But Will did it. Without complaining.

He worked from five thirty in the morning, as per usual, but stayed awake well past three thirty. He got little sleep, and the signs started showing.

There were rings under his eyes, he often trembled, sometimes he got dizzy and disoriented, but he still kept working.

When the exact date of the party got announced, Will sucked it all up. He didn't care he wasn't a bachelorette, but a party, at a castle? He was thrilled. He'd never done such a thing. Mingling with people, enjoying simple luxuries, maybe dancing with whoever. It didn't matter.

He counted the days, and he kept up his spirit. Even after getting locked in the naughty-room for three and half hours after fainting, revoked of dinner privileges, he kept going. Counting down the days.

His spirit was unbreakable. Even when the sisters tore up their dresses, which he'd worked so hard on, making them exactly like the sisters' designs, he didn't complain. He went with them to town, and got new fabrics, and started over. Even when the twins 'accidentally' destroyed his horse carriage, he started over.

They spread ashes on the floor, and set fire to the barn, and Will had to repair it all, clean it all, fix it all, and he did.

Five days left, and the dresses were done.

Four days left and the carriage was done.

Three days left, and Lilith bought her daughters dresses from a store, because Will was clearly too incompetent to do the simplest of tasks, and they burned Will's second pair of perfectly good dresses.

Two days left, and they decided to rent a coacher and a white-and-golden painted carriage, because Will was too incompetent and foolish to do anything right. They chopped up Will's carriage which he worked so hard on.

One day left, and Will was panicking. Among the chaos of the extra chores and tireless hours with no sleep and little food, Will had forgotten to make himself a somewhat presentable suit. He had nothing to wear to the ball.

Friday morning, the twins were already sitting by their mirrors when he entered to wake them. Their eyes rested on him in their mirrors, as he stood there in their door, frozen.

"You're up," he said dumbly.

"Wow, the Orphan shows sign of intelligence," Summer announced, her voice laced with sarcasm.

"Hell must be freezing over," Autumn snickered, both sisters laughing.

Will was too dumbfounded to take their insults to heart. He simply shuffled further into the room and drew their curtains. He turned to their shared closet and opened it.

"Anything special you want to wear today?" he asked.

The sisters turned simultaneously, their faces equally puzzled and disbelieved. Then, they doubled over with laughter, Autumn snorting every once in a while, Summer wiping away tears in her eyes.

"By the gods above," Summer shrieked with laughter. "How dumb can you actually be, you brain dead moron?"

"Yeah," Autumn supplied. "We're obviously wearing our night gowns until we need to change to our ball gowns. Moron!"

The twins laughed louder still, and Will stood frozen at his spot. Disoriented and convinced he was dreaming. Even his dreams wouldn't let him live without the insults he daily suffered.

Lilith came into the room, looking between her girls. "What is so amusing?"

"Will is just being an incompetent moron as usual," Summer snorted.

"Yeah," Autumn agreed. "He asked us what we wanted to wear today."

Lilith looked at Will with cold eyes, then laughed cruelly, her girls joining her soon after, and Will wrapped his arms around himself, trying to make himself as small as he felt.


Criticism and/or advice on improvement is always welcome and highly appreciated.

~*~TippierCoffee~*~