Chapter 4: Memories

I want to thank each and every one of you who reviewed, favorited, and/or followed! Reading all the nice things you said got me through fall quarter of school. But sorry for the wait. I know its been some 8, 9 months. Told myself I was going to work on this during Winter Break, did not work on it at all. However, inspiration spikes when it's midterm time. So in between studying and destroying my stress ball, I worked on this! Enjoy! I also have the general outline of the last five chapters done. So hopefully I'll get to updating this faster. (No, but seriously, your guys' reviews kept me writing. So again thank you.)

Warnings: none I can think of.

"Travis? Travis!" Will stumbled out of the tent.

"Travis, where are you?" He prodded around, eyes shooting to all sides. The ghastly wailings and screams are gone but it still echoed in his mind as he looked left, right, up, and down but there was no sign of Travis.

The worst case scenarios played through Will's mind. The monster regenerated and found them. He's chewing Travis apart right now. Any second now he's going to turn and find a bloody pile of jagged bones and severed flesh.

Then he heard it.

A snicker.

Coming from behind him.

Disbelief filled Will— cause there's no way he would ever be that immature. No way, no way, no way —but it quickly grew into anger, rage, fury as he limped back over to the tent. Behind it was no other than Travis Stoll, bent over with both hands over his mouth, sniggering like a two-year-old.

"You—you—you BASTARD!" Will screamed, blood rushing to his ears.

Travis dropped his hands and burst into a laugh. "Ahahahah! You fell for it! Oh, my gods, your face was so priceless!"

"What the heck is wrong with you! I, I, I was really scared!" Will yelled, throwing the can of tuna he had grabbed on his hurry out. "I thought you were in trouble!"

Travis did not flinch and smacked the can away.

He stood up, still laughing. "I know! I wish Connor was here to see this with me! Your face was so red, it's like a tomato. Kind of how Nico was when he saw that arrow of love!"

"I can't believe you!" Will bellowed, a hand burying in his hair.

Travis grinned, entirely unbothered, and it grated on his nerves so damn much. How could anyone be so malicious? So cruel? How can —

"Wow, you're pretty upset. You never got this mad. Had a bad dream?" Travis sniggered.

And Will snapped.

"I've been dealing with your obnoxious pranks since day one, but this is by far the worse. You think everything is a joke! Everything is so funny! Hahaha! But you never think about the other people! How did you think I feel when I heard that scream? " Will shouted, voice trembling. "I-I-I thought you were dying, Travis. I thought you..."

But his words trailed off when wide blue eyes bored into his and he's back in the kitchen, face to face with a toddler, peering at him with those same wide, sea eyes. The toddler tilted his head and reached forward with pudgy hands—then he blinked and he's back in the forest.

What was that?

Travis blinked several times, his face completely blank. "Okay, okay. Sorry, didn't mean to make you upset or anything."

His mouth twitched upwards and he shrugged his shoulders, "But you have to admit. It was funny."

Will squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath. Calm down. Calm down. Calm down.

"Let's just go find the pegasi," he said and walked away, head low.

"Can you wait for me to pack up the tent?"

"No."

His head pounded in time with his heart and Will wished for Advil, or some kind of medicine to stop that jackhammer in the back of his head.

Damn that Stoll. What was his problem? I never bothered him. Why is he doing this? Because he hates you .You're useless. You've done nothing to help and you're slowing him down.

Shut up, Will told himself and continued limping forward, dragging the crudely made splint through the dirt and twigs. He cursed as it snagged on the shrubs.

I'm the innocent one. I'm not the one to blame. Travis shouldn't have played such an awful prank. Not after he was nearly killed by a chimera. Gods, does he have no tact? No compassion?

No— oh crap, I have no idea where Starlight and Lollypop is.

Will groaned and kicked the dirt with his good foot. What should he do? Go looking for them by himself? He was walking away from the setting sun yesterday so today he walks towards the rising sun. That's how it works right? Wait, was he walking towards the sun yesterday? What if he's wrong? Should he take the chance? It's a 50-50 chance… no. I can't. Starlight's hurt. I can't waste time. Travis's basically a walking GPS. I'll find them faster if I'm with him.

Will walked back to the clearing, but paused when he saw it was empty.

No.

He must have taken a wrong turn. There's no way anyone can pack up that fast. Will backtracked, retracing his steps. But he ended up in the same empty spot.

And to make matters even worse, he sees the can of tuna he had thrown.

He's gone. He's really gone. In the two minutes I was gone, he packed everything up and left. How is that even possible?

"Travis?" Will called, hoping he was nearby. No response and Will groaned. This whole day is turning out to be a nightmare.

Nightmare.

And he remembered his dream.

That child...was that really Travis? There's a lot of babies with blue eyes and lots of energy. Tons. Just because one looks like, acts like him, doesn't mean he is him.

But what if it is him? Maybe that's why he's a year rounder.

Or what if it was just a crazy dream I had? Yeah. That also could be it. Just a crazy dream induced by the stress of nearly dying.

Will was jolted out of his reverie when a bush rustled to his right.

"Travis?"

But nothing came out and Will concluded it was probably a rabbit. A mosquito buzzed near his face and Will swatted it away. He sat down, reaching forward and snagging the can of tuna.

Now that he's thinking about it, he is pretty hungry. And tuna is packed with protein, so it's not like junk food. Like Percy once said, "Food is food" right before gobbling down a sand-caked sandwich. Will grimaced as he pulled the lid back and took a sniff.

He bleched. Gods, does he hates seafood.

The bush rustled again and Will paused. Slowly, he leaned forward and undid the knots on his splint, taking the tennis rackets into his hands. Yeah, if a monster comes I'm sure the sight of a dude with two flimsy rackets will scare them off. At least it's better than nothing.

Nothing came out but Will knows better than to stay in one place too long. Scents will linger. Monsters will come. And it'll be like a huge party with him as the pig with the apple. He tested his ankle, pressing it softly against the ground, and sighed in relief as the pain felt nothing more than a sore.

Being a son of Apollo really does come with its benefits.

Now if he can only do something about the pounding in his head.

Will stood up, black dots filled his vision, and he was out before he felt the ground.

"I didn't want to do this but you left me no choice. Man, you would think if someone was having a headache worthy of birthing Athena, they would take a nap."

When Will opened his eyes, disoriented, he was no longer in the forest. In fact, he was nowhere. The entire world was encased in a realm of pure, snowy white. There was no ground, no sky. No darkness nor sun. Everything was white save for him and the dog.

Will stare at it for a good long minute. It had spoken earlier with a voice he's very familiar with.

"Dad?"

"Yup, it's me," the dog said, its mane of golden fur sparkling.

"Why are you in that form?"

"There's no time to chitchat. Hermes can only hide the connection for so long," Apollo said seriously. It's hard to take him seriously. The dog looks so fluffy. But Will tried anyway.

"What's going on?"

"You're in danger, Will. I tried to talk to you last night but Hermes mixed up the dreams. You have to understand," Then Apollo paused, growled, and howled to the nothingness, "Holy Trident, Hermes, figure out the problem yourself. If you don't know, then how would I know!"

"You're going too fast! Slow down, let's start in the beginning. Why am I in—"

"There's no time to slow down! Learn to catch up! Come on, let's go!"

And Will was standing in the kitchen again.

The mother, hair tied back in a messy bun, stood humming in the kitchen and whisking a bowl. There was a calm, almost content look on her face.

Besides Will, Apollo barked in frustration, "Wrong memory! Wrong memory, Hermes! Go further ahead!"

Will watched as a toddler came stumbling through the hallway, babbling nonsense, brown hair shaggy and unkempt. Behind him, a smaller child, on all fours, followed. They bounced around the room, ignored by the mother, and came to a stop at the foot of a bed where a golden retriever was resting peacefully. The wobbling toddler screeched in delight and patted the dog ( patted? more like punched ). The dog swatted the hand away and— is Will imagining it but did the dog just gave a look of fondness?

Then the scene shifted and Will was no longer in the house but rather outside, in the streets, cold and empty, snow falling down in sheets.

"Too far, Hermes! With the way you navigate these memories, it's a wonder how you ever deliver your mail," Apollo howled.

Three children stood on the asphalt. A girl and two boys. They were talking. Then the girl held out a hand, a smile on her lips, gray eyes gentle, her ponytail blowing in the wind.

The two boys shared a look before nodding and clasping their hands around hers. The words, "You'll be safe, I promise," muffled through the snow.

Then Will was back in nothingness again. Apollo paced back and forth, his whines sharp and ear-piercing. "Hermes! Wait, don't go yet, we gotta warn—darn it. This is bad. I don't know when I can talk with you again. Zeus has been watching us like Dionysus does to wine. Will, you need to know, she's a crazy woman. Crazy, but smart. She has the Gods' favor and they promised to help her, especially the spirits. You need to get away from—" Apollo paused, nose in the air and sniffing, "That's imbecilic, little—"

And Will woke up with a splash.

Will jolted awake and headbutted the son of Hermes in the head. There was a shout of pain and more water splashed on Will, something plastic butting into his nose. Shaking water droplets from his face, Will spluttered, "Why did you pour water on me?"

Travis was off to the side, rubbing his head and pouting. "Because you won't wake up. I got worried you fell and hit your head and got a concussion. Or something like that."

"So you decided to wake me up by pouring water down my face?"

Travis blew a raspberry at him. What a child. "It works with Connor. What happened? You were just lying on the ground."

Will coughed and stood up, using the tree as a support, "I was a having— you know what? This was revenge for your prank earlier."

Travis grimaced. "Then at least make sure there are no monsters around ready to eat your face out. Being eaten when pulling a prank is not very fun."

"What?"

Travis looked over his shoulder and Will finally notice the smell of rotting flesh, so putrid and utterly overwhelming he couldn't understand how he missed it. He peered over Travis's shoulders and paled.

"This is the third one I found," Travis said as he stood up and patted his knees, swinging his backpack over his shoulder.

Beyond Travis, a hellhound lay in a pool of blood, an ice pick lodged a foot deep in its skull.

Will sat on the ground, watching Travis dig through his little baggie. He whooped in joy as he pulled a gym shirt. Will wrinkled his nose and pull his knees closer to him. Even 20 feet away he could smell the disgusting scent.

They sat side-by-side.

Travis hummed cheerfully, wiping the blood off.

"That was such a rush. I never had to kill a hellhound like that before. Man, their screeching almost made me feel bad."

Will winced as he remembered the sickening squish as Travis dislodged his ice pick from the skull, bits and pieces of brain matter coming with it. It reminded him of that time Jake had glass in his arm and leg, a botched creation gone haywire.

"Why didn't they turn into dust?"

Travis held up the ice pick to the sunlight, "Only celestial weapons do that. Regular weapons just make them bleed."

"...you're really good at fighting," Will noted quietly as Travis placed the pick back inside the bag.

Travis paused as if waiting for more. When there was none, there was an exuberant, "Thanks!"

Will fidgeted with the ropes from the splint. Camp doesn't teach you how to use anything other than a sword, a spear, a knife, or a bow. That's it. The four main weapons. "Did you learned to fight like that before you came to camp?"

"Nope, never had the need to. My entire childhood was practically monster free save for a few harpies here and there."

"Then where did you learn to fight like that?"

"We had a lot of time as year rounders. Michael," there was a pause and the second name was stated hesitantly, "And Luke taught us how to fight with what we have."

Luke? What about Luke…

Luke Castellan is a touchy subject in camp. There's either two responses to that bastard traitor. One, he's a hero. Or two, he's the devil incarnate and should be burning in the pits of Tartarus for his crimes.

Will's the latter.

But Will knows for certain Travis is the former.

Travis waited for him to say something but when it was evident Will wasn't about to talk anytime soon, Travis sighed, "I'm sorry for my prank earlier. I didn't mean to make you upset. It's just that, well, you know me, no impulse control!"

"You didn't do it because you were mad at me ignoring you last night?"

Travis tilted his head slightly. "No, I don't hold grudges. I definitely don't hold such petty ones like that. But Connor does so watch what you say to him. Clarisse had put Luke and trash in the same sentence once and Connor had the Hecate Cabin charm the toilets to sing opera whenever she's near."

"But why did you prank Sherman after he—Oh, that was Connor."

After Sherman had accidentally given Connor a concussion, the boy had spent a week in the infirmary, bitten by a poisonous spider not native to New York. It had mysteriously disappeared, sending Athena Cabin into a frenzy. Will always thought it was Travis but he supposed it could have been Connor too. Now that he thinks about it, wasn't Connor the one to give Phoebe the t-shirt stained with Centaur blood?

"Just don't run off again if you get mad at me. Apollo knows what your siblings will do to me if I let you become monster chow. Come on, let's get out of here," said Travis, bouncing to his feet.

Will's head shot up. "Wait, what about Lollypop and Starlight?"

Travis scratched the back of his head and looked off into the distance. "Do you really think they're still alive? I mean, I'm a son of Hermes, you're a son of Apollo. We're some of the least attractive monster chow. And pegasi meat is like ambrosia to hellhounds. The fact that hellhounds are attacking us means a lot when there are two pegasi nearby—injured, bleeding, tied down."

"All the more reasons to find them," Will said, standing up. He was struck with a wave of dizziness and pain in the back of his head. For a second the forest disappeared, Travis disappeared, the sun is gone and he's in a dark room, moonlight trickling through the window. In the center, a dog rolled a can of baby food to the infant clapping its small hands. The dog barked, struggling to open the jar with its paws. Then he's back in the forest, with a son of Hermes shaking his shoulder in a not-so-gentle way.

"Hey, you okay?"

Will blinked. What happened? "Yeah, why?"

Travis's eyebrow furrowed. "I said something and you didn't answer. You kinda just stood there with this blank expression."

Will shook his head, I'll deal with this later. Pegasi first. "What did you say?"

"If we were to go back to camp first, we can have more people looking for them and plus your ankle can be treated."

"My ankle is fine." Will batted Travis's hands away. "Besides wouldn't it be too late? How long will it take to get back to Jupiter? A week by foot? It's 500 miles away, right?"

"400 and I can hotwire a car once we reach the tourist part of the forest. It won't take so long."

"Why are you in such a rush to get back to Camp?" Will asked, cocking his head to the side. Travis stared off into the forest with a troubled expression, he's hiding something, then he caught Will staring at him and turned away, a smile masking his worry.

"Alright, alright. We'll go looking for them."

There was a stupid smirk. "But we're going my pace. You slow us down, I'm leaving you behind."

Will rolled his eyes. "Alright, but let's make a deal first. No pranks."

"What, why?"

"Because I rather not mistaken a time when you're in actual danger to you being stupid."

"You're no fun."

Will learned something new about the son of Hermes in the few minutes they were walking.

A great fighter he may be, a stealthy person he is not.

Even if he puts his entire attention into avoiding twigs, tree roots, and the like, Travis still manages to make a ruckus. He trips on every object, existent and nonexistent, there is. Nothing escapes Travis's two left feet.

"I thought Hermes was the God of Thieves. Why are you so bad at sneaking around?" Will teased.

Travis stuck out his tongue, "I'm great at sneaking around, in cities. Where there is actually places to sneak around in. It's too open out here, too quiet. There's no place to hide."

Snap.

"Woah, that's a branch. I didn't—"

Thud.

"I didn't see that rock, sorry."

Scuffle, whoosh, thump.

"That shrub appeared out of nowhere. I swear it wasn't there before."

"Quiet! I hear something," Will hissed.

Travis froze and mouthed, "Monster?"

Will nodded and Travis swung his bag around, pulling out his ice pick. "Hide," he whispered and he was gone, leaving Will alone with the trees.

The leaves rustled almost like a goodbye.

Will never really thought much about his fighting prowess. So what if he couldn't shoot an arrow or last in a sword fight for a minute. So what if he can't really land a solid punch.

It doesn't matter.

He's a healer first and foremost. His main concern is making sure the wound is healed, not monster fighting. But as he crouched on the base of the tree, doing nothing but waiting and digging holes, he began to curse his lack of fighting skill.

As always, Will heard Travis first before he actually saw him.

Curses filled the air as Travis stumbled his way over to Will. He heard Travis complained, "Man, how can anyone ever like the forest?"

Will eyes latched onto the new bloodstains on the ice pick. "Are you hurt?"

"Hm? Oh, no, nope. Perfectly fine." And he swung the ice pick onto his shoulders, striking a pose.

"See? No injuries!"

But Will could see the new cut on his arm. Shallow but still a wound.

"I'm sorry I'm not much help," Will muttered under his breath.

Travis clapped him on the back. "You are helping, though. You have some of the best monster detection sense of anyone I know! Like, if you weren't here I would already be dead. Some monster would probably ambush my butt and the Romans would be looking for the remains of my body. Have you ever notice how most monsters never fully eat the demigods except for cyclops? You would think the monsters would finish us all off but no, they leave the head, the arms, the hip—"

"You have a weird way to comfort someone."

The next dream came an hour later. The pain struck Will and he was out.

When he woke up, he's in the kitchen again. There's the woman, by the kitchen top, a smile on face as she swayed back and forth, a bundle of cloth in her gauntly hands.

"You're so beautiful," she cooed softly. Through the folds, Will could see a tuft of blonde hair.

His world flickered and he's watching the same woman sitting at a desk, focus intensely on the computer screen. The phone ranged and she flicked it opened. "What is your report? New York? I see. Thank you, Chester."

Then he opened his eyes to Travis leaning over him, water bottle in hand.

They walked for 30 minutes before another headache struck Will. He stopped and clutched his head. Travis looked back and asked worriedly, "Are you going to faint?"

"No, I think it's my dad trying to talk with me."

Travis blinked. "So talk with him. Maybe he has something that could help us."

"I did before but it doesn't make any sense."

"What does he say?"

"Well, he's trying to show me something. Memories. They're all about this—" Will blinked and he was back in the kitchen staring at the woman shine a kitchen knife with a warm smile on her face. She whispered to the knife, softly, gently, soon you'll be used, soon you'll fulfill your purpose . It's a sure sign that a few screws are missing.

Then another blink and Will was back.

"Well, most are about this woman. Brown hair, blue eyes, have this high-pitched, grating voice. Is she...I mean do you know her?"

Travis paused. He toyed with the straps of his backpack. "We're wasting time. Let's go."

Will quickly caught up with the trickster, not a very difficult feat considering he's stumbling every other step. "So you do know her."

Travis didn't look him in eye. "Maybe, maybe not. I know lots of girls with brown hair and blue eyes. Miranda if she wears contacts, Hazel if she wears contacts too, Piper, Connor if he dresses up like a girl, myself, you're gonna have to be more specific."

"Shoot, where are they? I know they didn't fall that far away."

"Maybe you're not a great a navigator as you thought."

Travis gave him a look.

"And you're a horrible healer. See how ridiculous that sounds?"

They were taking a break. Will rested his head on his knees as Travis talked about camp, hands moving animatedly.

He likes to ramble, Will noticed. Does Connor ramble? Maybe, I could use that to tell them apart.

"So as we all know Percy's birthday is coming up. And seeing as how he has done so much for camp. We at Hermes Cabin decided to host a party for him! Surprise party so don't go telling him. Chris is going to get the balloons, Cecil the confetti, Mary the cake. Oh man, it's going to be so epic, I wish I could see it. Oh, I mean, yeah, I am going to see it. What I meant is that I have stable cleaning duty during that time. Yeah, that's it. Anyway, Connor is at Camp Jupiter right now, you know for the camp exchange program thing. Can't believe he has to go. There might be two of us but it takes two to run such a big cabin. But he Iris-Messaged me a few days ago and told me how stuck-upped the Mercury kids were. They think they're so much better than we Greeks. What a bunch of lunatics. At least we know how to have fun. All they know is how to count money and manage finances. Like, come on, we could do that no problem and more. Have you ever met Apollo's Roman children? Do you like them? Wait, hold that thought. I got to tell you about this one kid Connor met. Oh man, she is totally sick."

"Hey, Travis. Can I ask you a question?" Will interrupted.

Travis paused in his story, his face turning towards him with that tilt. "Yeah, go ahead."

"It's about your mom," Will stated, watching Travis's face intently. There was no change in expression. He still has that half-smile on his face when he rambles.

"What about her?"

"Is she alive?"

Travis shrugged, raising his hands. "No idea. I haven't seen her in over 10 years. Year-rounder, remember?"

"But do you remember how she looks like?"

"Maybe, why do you want to know?"

"I had this dream last night. There were this baby and mom. She...I don't know how to put it. She tried to commit infanticide?"

"And you believe the baby is me," Travis said, rolling his eyes.

"Well, yeah. It looked a lot like you."

"Come on, Will. Lots of babies look alike. Can you honestly tell two apart? I can't. Which is why I'll probably never work as a pediatric nurse. Well, that and because I probably won't have what it takes to finish college. You know, with my dyslexia and all. Speaking of dyslexia—"

"You didn't answer the question. Was it you?" Will interrupted.

Travis rolled his eyes again. "No, it's not me."

Will narrowed his eyes. There was a tugging in his gut. "You're lying."

"And how do you know I'm lying?"

"Whenever you lie, you roll your eyes to the left. And also dad is the God of Truth."

"And I'm the son of liars."

"So were you that baby?"

"Yeah, and Connor was the mom."

Will pestered Travis, asking the same questions over and over again. "Come on. Just tell me the truth. Were you that baby? It's just a simple yes or no."

Travis rolled his eyes, walking faster. "You're so nosy, Will."

"That's who I am."

"If you ever want to date Nico, you need to stop. You're gonna push him away with your pushiness."

"He'll get used to it. You got used to it."

"Yeah, after I lived with your annoying butt for 6 years."

Will prided himself on his instinctual skills. It always speaks its loudest in times of trouble. So when he glanced at the birds, and his gut panged, Will wasted no time pulling Travis behind a tree.

"Gah! What the Hades— " Travis began before Will place a hand over his mouth.

"Shhh!" Will glared intensely at the trees overhead. "There. In the trees. Those birds."

Travis stilled. "Are those…"

"Yeah, Stymphalian birds."

Birds with razor-sharp feather with the ability to eject the feathers from their wings with the speed of a bullet. The year with Thanatos, those birds attacked Camp. Will still remembers that day. The injuries were horrendous, something beyond his skill to heal back then. It pained him to see his friends in tears and unable to help which is why he made sure to never be in that situation again.

"Here's what we do. We just slowly turn around and crawl...Travis?"

Travis didn't budge. He was still staring at the birds. "Their beaks. They're made of celestial bronze, aren't they?"

Will scowled at the implications of his words. "No, it's not worth it, come on."

"There's three birds. Three celestial weapons. We need that." Travis was still staring at the birds. He fell to his knees, digging through his backpack.

"Travis, no! If you get injured, I-I can't heal you."

"Why?" Travis looked up, his stare innocent and clueless.

"Because…because I'll be drained and probably can't walk for the rest of the day. We'll have to stay here longer."

Travis grinned. "No problem! I'll carry you."

"No, Travis. Come on. It's not worth it." Will tugged insistently at his shirt but he knows it's futile. Travis's mind was set.

"Any celestial bronze is worth it." And he pulled out a slingshot with a couple of pebbles. If Will had any faith in Travis, it was shattered when he saw that.

Travis caught the disbelief on his face and smirked. "Don't worry, Solace. I got this. Stay here and wait."

And he left, the birds screeching immediately. Will could only listen to the fight from behind the tree. The screeching and whistling told him nothing. He wishes Travis would talk. Then at least he would have some idea of what's happening.

Curiosity got the better of him and Will peered his head over the tree. Something flew past his head. When he looked back, he's staring into the face of a stymphalian bird, a pebble embedded in its eye socket.

The last screeching brought Will to look back in time to see Travis shoot the last bird in the eye. He stood in the middle of their bodies, surrounded by feathers embedded in the dirt, some angled and some straight.

Okay, he hates to admit it, but with the way Travis' back is facing him and that circle of feathers, it looks cool.

But then Travis hissed and he turned around a bit, just enough for Will to see that feather lodged three inches deep right in the middle of his thigh.

"Turns out I don't got it. Ow, it hurts."

Will blanched and scrambled out from his spot. Out of all the fucking days I left my medical pack behind .

"Travis, give me your bag."

"Oh, yeah, sure. Here you go, what do you—Holy shit, what are you doing!"

"Pulling it out," Will stated, on his knees with a hand on the quill. By his feet lay gym towels and jump ropes.

Travis took a step back and stammered, "Isn't that a bad thing? I mean, like, isn't the feather keeping the blood in? If you take it out—"

"You don't pull out objects embedded in body parts because there's a hospital a phone call away. We don't have that. What if the feather slices an artery?"

I'm sorry. I should have been more persuasive. I should have been more forceful. I should have argued better. If I had, you wouldn't be here in this situation

"O-okay. That makes sense. Just tell me when you're gonna—Ah! Holy mother of— Son of a— brother of— ow!"

Will took the gym towels into his hands— they smell like shit, are they even clean? — and pressed it forcibly on the wound, looping the rope around it and tying a knot.

"Where did you learn to shoot like that?" Will asked, tying the knot tighter.

Travis huffed out in pain, "Michael and Luke. We used to have contests to see who can shoot down the cans the fastest and farthest." Then he paused and as an afterthought, added smugly, "I beat Michael once."

"Really? After how many tries?"

Travis scoffed, "After my 96th try. Have you ever beat Michael on anything shooting related? No, I don't think so."

Will tied the final knot, grimacing at his handiwork. Definitely not as good as he likes it to be. Should he heal it? Are that specks of blood he sees seeping through? Oh Hades, what if it is?

Travis tossed a beak to Will. "Here, you have one. I'll keep the others. If any monsters come just jam it in anywhere."

Will looked down at the beak in his hand. It was a small thing, literally the length of his palm. "Do you really think this was worth it? We'll need to get in close to the monster to be able to prick their skin."

"Not for me but for you, yeah. You're better at fighting when they're close, right? All you need to do is get a lucky strike in and you're safe," Travis said, smiling warmly at him.

"...Thank you, Travis." Will looked away. He got hurt because of me. Why? I don't get it.

"No problem! Now come on, let's go find Lollypop and Starlight. We should be getting close."