AN: Thanks to everyone for the favourites and reviews so far, I'm glad that you're enjoying this as much as me. Song of the chapter is Sunshine by Avicii and David Guetta, in memory of my favourite DJ who sadly passed the other day. The song isn't entirely relevant but I just felt like it was fitting (although the name kind of relates haha, plus I can kind of imagine Will moshing out to it). This chapter is a little sad in places but hopefully with some funny bits to make up for it. But anyway, here's chapter 10!
10 - My little sunshine
Will's POV
Will knew that quests would often involve large amounts of travelling, but this was pushing it, even for Will. They had gone for around three hours in the rattling pick up, with Cecil and Lou Ellen discussing pointless subjects in the front. Will would occasionally join their conversations to entertain himself, but he spent most of focus on trying to speak to Nico. So far Will had been unsuccessful in his endeavours, getting one word responses from the glowering teen.
Ever since their ghostly encounter, Nico had acted more reserved than normal, twisting his skull ring frantically back and forth to the point where Will was surprised he didn't have friction burn. Nico gazed vacantly out of the window at the endless fields of crops they were passing, occasionally tracking the movements of an animal he spotted in the field before returning his gaze to the distance. Will had never seen him this gloomy before, and that was something considering his time spent in the infirmary decimating the plants.
Will could no longer stand the restless twisting of Nico beside him and he placed his hand on Nico's to stop him. Nico took in sharp breath as he visibly jumped from his trance, pausing for a short moment before retracting his hand. He shot Will a reproachful look before switching to fiddling with the hem of his leather jacket instead (which, by the way, Will found very flattering). Will returned his hand to his side, before looking to Nico.
"What's up death boy?" Will said, his mouth pulling up into a comforting smile. Nico glanced towards Will before sighing deeply and flopping his head back onto the chair in defeat.
"I'm fine Will, don't worry." Nico attempted to shoot a death glare at Will, but he saw right through the act. Nico's eyes were glimmering with appreciation for his concern. He wondered distantly when the last time was that someone had asked Nico if he was ok.
Will raised his eyebrows in a mocking gesture.
"Sure, sure. I think your melted finger says otherwise." Nico looked down at his hand in mild alarm before realising that Will had been referring to his skull ring. He shrugged and returned to twisting it, although at a much slower pace this time.
"I just... I don't know, Ron got under my skin a bit." Will's brow creased momentarily before he remembered that the ghost's name had been Ronald. Man, if he could touch ghosts, he sure would have slapped that guy hard.
"He was a jerk Nico, don't believe a thing he said." Nico nodded reluctantly but pursed his lips in doubt.
"I know, but there was some truth to what he said. What if... What if my power's failing is my dad's way of punishing me? Gods know I deserve it." Nico hung his head in shame and he gripped his head between his hands, hiding effectively from Will. Will was shocked by Nico's display of emotions, he took a moment to think of an appropriate response.
"I'm sure your dad wouldn't do that. He seems like a pretty sound guy, well except for the whole lording over the underworld bit." Will caught a glimpse of a smirk through Nico's overhanging hair. He gave a small grin and carried on.
"Besides, what would he punish you for? Uniting the Greeks and Romans? Or maybe saving the world? Because I'm pretty sure none of those things deserve punishment." Nico snorted in amusement, but Will could sense that he was troubled by something. But, Nico being Nico, he composed himself and quickly drew back up his mental barriers, almost as though the short exposure to daylight had burnt him. He shot Will a ghost of a smile before returning to the window and twisting his skull ring once more. Will decided in that moment that the fleeting glimpse of happiness he had just witnessed had made him feel better than he ever had in his life.
He would do everything in his power to bring that happiness to the surface again, even if it were only a small smile now and then, it would be worth it.
After a less than enthralling demigod version of I-Spy (including wild centaurs and various venti from Cecil, although the others strongly believed that these were in fact just storm clouds). It was no surprise that Will eventually drifted off into Hypnos' realm, finally succumbing to the boredom. Whiteness engulfed Will, his only sensation the feeling of being sat cross legged on a rough flooring. His surroundings had not even begun materialise before he realised where his dream was taking him. before his surroundings materialised fully. He was definitely not grateful for the reminder, but he was forced to stay seated as his body responded to the dream as it had on this day seven years ago.
Laughter and chatter surrounded him as his class appeared around him, seated in a large cluster on the carpeted floor, all facing the teacher. Many demigods would consider Will's childhood reminiscence a blessing, reminding them of simpler times, but for Will these were the worst days of his life. He had been forced to experience the fateful day relentlessly even after all of this time and he would still feel his emotions bubbling up inside of him as he was trapped in his seven year old self.
The room went silent as the teacher began to teach the children about the human body, showing various annoyed pictures that surely a four year old could understand, asking innane questions that bored Will to no end. One question however finally caught his attention.
"does anybody know what a muscle is?"
The class remained quiet as they puzzled over the new information and Will felt himself begin to fidget, the answer hanging on the tip of his tongue. Don't do it. Will muttered mentally, knowing that his efforts would be pointless but unable to stop his cringing. Young Will could no longer contain himself, shooting his arm up as high as he could reach.
"William, what do you think?" The teacher gestured gently at Will but their face betrayed their feeling of annoyance at his persistence.
"A muscle is a group of tensile tissues that contract and relax to allow the movement of another tissue." He could hear sniggers around him, no doubt from the combination of his geeky answer and his pronounced lisp. His younger self had only recently lost his front teeth (which was very delayed compared to his classmates) and his adult teeth were only just starting to push through. That paired with his small and scrawny stature made him an interesting sight.
Young Will was obviously undeterred by his classmates and ploughed on spouting facts.
"But all muscles have different functions and can be classed into different types. Like the smooth muscle, which encases the intestines and allows peristalsis to occur." The children surrounding him had grown from sniggering to full on laughing at Will, nudging each other and attempting to re-enact Will's pronunciation of medical terms. Again young Will was unaffected by his classmates, suddenly jumping up to stand against the far wall of the class room opposite the door. At this point his teacher had begun to intervene, raising from their chair to no doubt reprimand Will, but he was on a roll.
"The human intestines are a lot bigger than we think they are, the large intestine is just 1.5 metres long, -" he strode halfway across the room before continuing.
"- however, the small intestine is actually 6 metres long." Will proceeded to walk out of the classroom and down the corridor, to demonstrate the length of the tissue.
This was the breaking point for his teacher, as they finally snapped into action, shouting at Will to return to the room at once. Only now did he notice the jeers and nasty comments from his classmates as he stood frozen in place in the corridor, feeling as though the vicious comments were slicing him open. He slowly returned to the room, and settled at the back of the group, remaining silent for the rest of the lesson. Will would only notice this on later reflection, but a boy with dark curly hair had been staring at Will amid the jeering, not through maliciousness, but rather pity.
Time rolled past agonisingly slow as the lessons continued. Will's fidgeting increasing exponentially until he could barely write for the bouncing of his knee. After what seemed like days, the shrill bell for break cut through the teachers sentence and his classmates were nowhere to be seen in a matter of seconds. Will was left shuffling through his items on the desk as he tidied them away for break. He didn't trust to leave his things out unprotected. Will's head shot up as he noticed footsteps approaching him. His body was immediately flooded with energy, his muscles itching to be used to escape. His nerves were quickly dampened as he noticed that was only the teacher that was approaching him. He wasn't sure why he had been nervous in the first place, it wasn't like the teacher was going to turn into a monster or anything. Her elderly joints made audible popping and cracking noises as she lowered herself into a chair in front of Will. He paused briefly in his packing away as he looked to the teacher in alarm, scared of the repercussions for his earlier impulsive act.
"William." The teacher addressed him formerly. He hates his full name, it felt too distant. Only one other person ever called him that.
"Yes Miss?" Will asked inquisitively, feeling like a rabbit caught in the headlights. Trapped with inevitable doom around the corner. The teacher pursed her lips into a thin line, her mouth resembling a prune.
"William what you did earlier was inappropriate. Showing off to everyone about your knowledge -" Will's brow creased in confusion as he interrupted.
"But Miss, I thought schools encourage learning. Surely me explaining to my peers about that would help them as well?" Will questioned before realising what he had done. As he caught his teacher's expression of barely buried rage he shrunk as far as he could into his chair.
"William, don't you dare interrupt me when I'm talking. Never have I seen a child so impulsive as you. Interrupting me, talking over me, and walking out of my classroom!" Will's lower lip trembled as he tried stop the comments from stinging him.
"My ma says I have ADHD." Will mumbled to himself, looking down in shame as he questioned whether this was actually the case. Had his mother just made that up to excuse his naughty behaviour.
"I don't care what you may or may not have. You do not behave like this in my class! Until you learn to behave like the other children in my lessons, you will remain silent unless spoken to. Understood?" Will nodded his head slowly, still not fully understanding why he was in the wrong.
"Right then, head out to to break." Will took it back, the teacher had turned into a monster.
Will sat hunched on the concrete steps to the hall, the hot stones leaving warm imprints in his skin. He was huddling over his book, attempting to completely absorb himself in the words and escape from this place. The words and terms were mostly beyond Will's understanding, but he still read the text, hoping to one day know what the confusing words meant.
He closed the book to once again admire the cover. It was nothing special in ways of appearance, it's dog eared cover detailing all of the systems in the human body. The title stated that the book was for first year medical students, but Will didn't care about that, he still struggled through the text using the pictures as guides. He sat hunched over a particularly complicated page detailing the different areas of the autonomic nervous system when a shadow abruptly fell over him. He looked up to find a boy from his class towering over him. He quickly shut the book in alarm as the boy approached him. His shiny hair dangled around his head as though they were coiled springs.
To Will's surprise, the boy settled himself next to Will on the step before shooting him a friendly grin, Complete with adult teeth Will thought frustratedly.
"Hi." The boy stated still smiling blindingly. Will found that the smile quickly became infectious as he returned it.
"Hi." Will tested, unsure what to say.
"Those kids were mean earlier you know. I thought you sounded really smart saying all that stuff." Will stiffened in shock, unused to this kid of display of defense. He was struggling to think of a reasonable response.
"I'm Jake. Nice to meet you by the way." Jake shot another smile at Will. Will briefly wondered if he could ever smile as brightly as this kid.
"I'm Will." He stated as he returned a sheepish grin, welcoming the unusual friendliness.
"So what were you reading earlier?" Jake asked in confusion, not recognising the complex images on the cover. Will settled into easier conversation over this, this was familiar territory.
"It's an anatomy book of the human body. It's quite hard to read but I still find it interesting." Jake regarded Will with shock as the information sunk in.
"But that says it's for first years. Does that mean University? How did you get that?" Jake seemed to realise he had bombarded Will slightly with his questions and smiled apologetically.
"Yeah it does. And um... It was my dad's. He left it behind before he left." He trailed off, wondering again how his dad could have done that to his ma.
"Well at least it's being put to good use now." Will was feeling so confused by this. How had his day gone from being so rubbish to being one of the best. The bell once again interrupted conversations, pulling the children reluctantly out of the sun into their lessons once again.
"Right then, back to class." Jake stated, before raising an eyebrow at Will quizzically.
"Well, are you coming?" When Will didn't respond, sitting frozen in place on the step, Jake quickly lent down and grabbed Will's hand, pulling him to his feet. As Jake dragged a staggering Will behind him, he had a permanent ear plotting grin and Will was shocked to find that he also did.
The rest of the day passed in a blur of emotions. The discombobulation of shame from his earlier actions paired with feelings of intense joy from speaking to Jake. The end of school came all too soon for Will, as he rushed out of the class, eager to tell his mum about his day. Running out of the class Will quickly grabbed his bag from the pegs and powered towards the door. He turned before leaving to spot Jake, just leaving the classroom with a group of friends. Will's smile died on his lips as he noticed the way the girls were swarming him, asking if he would be playing out later. Will abruptly turned away from the group and ran out of the door, his feelings crushed once again by hopeless dreams.
Will managed to stay composed for the while walk home, but as soon as his mum opened the sky blue door the tears rolled down his cheeks in streams.
His mother brought him to the dining table, quickly shoving a plate of chocolate muffins in front of him. He laughed breifly at her antics before e
the day's events came flooding back to him. He hadn't cried like this in a long time, and he could tell from his mum's expression that she knew it had been bad.
He stared lovingly up at her, taking in her wavy caramel hair, highlighted from many years spent surfing and laying in the sun. Her beautiful eyes almost turquoise in colour (he would later realise as he grew up that he shared flecks of this colour in his own eyes) and her pink pediatrician scrubs smelling like antiseptic and sweets. He wasn't ashamed to admit that his mother was his anchor in the world. She was one of the only good parts. She embraced him tightly, his tears soaking into the clean linen.
"Oh Will. What are we gonna do with you hey?" She muttered as she stroked his hair lovingly, waiting until Will's sobs sputtered to a stop.
"What's wrong honey?" Her southern accent always came through when she said honey and it always made Will feel at home. She continued to stroke his hair, a small sad smile gracing her beautiful features. Will couldn't help but tell her everything, the terrible and the good parts spilling from his lips unbidden. When he had finally finished recounting his adventures, he noticed that his mum's eyebrows had creased slightly, not in confusion but rather curiosity.
"Will honey, you don't need to feel bad about the lesson. You need to understand that... When people don't understand things, they might get mean and take that out on you. And you know why the kids and the teacher were like that Will?"
Will shook his head as he hiccuped breifly.
"Because you're smart Will. You're really smart. You know, one day, if you want to be, you're gonna be a better doctor than your dad or I could ever be and that's not just because you're clever. It's because you care. You care so much and you always will do, my little sunshine." She gave him a smile that was so full of pride Will could barely bring himself to look at her. He hiccuped again as he muttered.
"I love you Ma." Before embracing her tightly, his small arms barely able to reach around her.
"Now, what's this about Jake then?" His mum asked. Will briefly wondered if he had heard a scuffle in the corridor but upon looking at his mum he soon dismissed it.
"Uh. Well, he was nice to me. And yeah that's it really." His mum could see straight through Will's half truth, a smirk lighting her face.
"But he held your hand." She suggested quietly, an eyebrow quirked in amusement.Will shrugged as he reluctantly felt his face grow warmer.
"How did that make you feel Will?" His mum questioned, her voice light as though she were treading carefully.
"Good I guess, I dunno. It kind of made me feel all fluttery inside." Will blushed at the childish description. His mum smiled faintly, attempting to encourage Will.
"Will honey, do you think you might have liked him? As in, as more than a friend?" Will stopped breathing. The question hung in the air oppressively, making him feel jittery. The same energy he had felt from his earlier confrontation returned to him in bounds, his cells charging to an almost unbearable level as it built in his blood.
"I think -" Will begun but was soon interrupted by the slamming if the dining room door onto the cabinet. His uncle strode purposefully into the room, his grey eyes cold and unrelenting. He stormed straight up to Will and his mother, pulling Will's chair back so that he fell to the ground, hard. His mother shrieked as his uncle towered over Will. She attempted to reprimand her elder brother but soon stopped as he landed a hard punch to her face.
Will's uncle Tom had lived with Will all his life, 'looking after' Will when his mum was at her job. She would often apologise to Will when he would hurl abuse at either Will or his mum. Nothing they did could stop him once he was on a rant. Ever since Will could remember, he had asked his mum why they stayed with the jerk. His mum would always give the same hollow sounding reply.
"He's the only family we've Will. He may be a jerk but we need him." He knew that it was unfair, but Will would often get angry at his mum for staying with her abusive sibling not understanding how she could put up with this. Only later in life did he realise just how much stress his mum was under from her hours at the hospital and how little money she actually received for her job. Without Uncle Tom, Will probably would have been in foster care years ago.
Uncle Tom leered over Will, glaring down at him with an almost feral sneer.
"What the heck do you mean? No nephew of mine is a God damned queer!" Will shrunk back with his words, feeling the brief peace he had experienced when speaking to his mum vanish instantly. He felt his muscles all over his body clench in fear.
"You better get out of here pronto William, before I decide what I'm gonna do with you." His uncle turned away from Will to face his mum, leaving his large Sun City Walmart looming in Will's face.
"Naiomi I think we need to speak." He drawled in his strong accent.
Will glanced at his mum, his vision flooded once again by unshed tears. She looked at Will with so much sadness and still unbridled love for her son.
"I'm sorry my little sunshine." She muttered before turning to face her brother.
Will couldn't take this anymore, he'd finally had enough. He needed to get out of here. Out of Sun City, out of Florida, anywhere but here. The molecules in his body hummed with power, a faint glow encircling him as he tensed his calf muscles.
His surroundings seemed to slow to a crawling speed as he glanced one more time at his ma, permanently etching her face into his mind. The way she stood slightly lopsided to the left and how she would flick her hands at her sides when she was nervous. The way she looked at him.
The light built up around him, encasing him, protecting him. He could feel the shadows in the room extinguish and his mum and uncle shield their faces as the light grew. With that, Will ran as fast as his feet could carry him.
Will ran. He ran for hours, never stopping, never pausing to look around him, only looking forward using the light as his guide. Will eventually ran out of steam and felt his legs buckle beneath him as he collapsed onto a grassy hill. He lay on the same ground, gazing blearily up at a large pine tree with the beautiful stars peeking through the needles. He lay there for a few seconds, his body still feeling as though it were in motion, before the light overcame him completely and he passed out.
Will woke with a start, momentarily confused as to where he was and why he was so tall. Then he remembered what had happened. He shook his head to try and escape the dream, searching for the cause for him waking up. He soon found that he had been jolted awake by the commotion currently occuring in the front of the car. If Will hadn't of known better, he would have guessed that they had trapped two harpies in the car with them judging by the amount screeching.
"I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!!"
"YOU'RE NOT EVEN THE ONE DRIVING TOAD BRAIN! BE GLAD YOU HAVEN'T HAD TO SIT WITH YOUR FOOT ON THE GAS FOR FIVE HOURS! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW BAD MY CRAMP IS?!?"
"WELL NO BECAUSE IT'S YOUR FOOT DUR! I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU WANTED TO DRIVE!" Just trying to listen to them was giving Will a splitting headache. He glanced to his right to find Nico bearing a remarkable resemblance to a cat that had just been poked repeatedly. His left eye had a slight tick as he attempted to hold back his annoyance. Will decided he should intervene before the car was derailed by an army of the undead.
"DI IMMORTALS YOU GUYS!" They both fell off their tirades suddenly as though shocked to find that there were other passengers in the car. Will sighed in exasperation, his nightmare still clouding his thoughts. He closed his eyes in hope to gain some sense of clarity, taking a deep breath to try andquell his tremoring hands.
"What in Hera's name happened?" Cecil looked sheepishly at Lou Ellen, his head bowed slightly looking like a puppy that had broken something.
"Lou Ellen wants a break Will. But she's just being an absolute -"
"Ok! I'll stop you there before I have to treat your half transformed limbs again. Let's just stop for a couple of hours and stretch our legs." Cecil and Lou nodded in agreement, happy to get out of the confined space. Nico cut in before Will could continue.
"I don't know guys, I think we should keep going." They all gave him incredulous looks.
"Any reason why or..." Lou Ellen asked, obviously still antsy from her arguement.
Nico shot her a warning glare, hellfire dancing in his eyes.
"Remaining stationary is dangerous for demigods, especially with a child of the big three." Nico trailed off, absorbed in the past. How could someone look so gloomy and still be so hot? Will chastised himself mentally for thinking that way. Nico was a friend, nothing else. Besides more important things were happening at the moment.
Will knew that this was a situation where his leadership was being tested, he would have to make a decision.
"We'll stop at the next town, -" Will ignored Nico's glare as he carried on.
"- and we will look out for danger. Stay vigilant everyone." Will swore he heard Nico mutter something under his breath, possibly in a different language, but he decided against trying to translate it. It was probably uncomplimentary towards lanky blonds.
"Hey look there's a town! I'm stopping here whether you guys like it or not. Sorry but I seriously need to get out of this dam rustbucket." Cecil shouted indignantly at that and gave Lou Ellen a poke in retaliation.
"No way." It was a faint noise, but Will's excellent hearing picked up on it. Nico was looking behind them at a sign they had just passed in shock.
"What is it?" Will asked, trying to tempt an answer out of Nico.
"The town's name... It's North Jackson." Will smirked at that and lent back in his seat.
"Well if that's not a sign from the fates then I don't know what is." The car was rapidly decelerating now as Lou Ellen searched for an appropriate space. Nico muttered under his breath and whether it was intentional or not, Will heard what he said.
"Not necessarily a good sign."
They soon found out that the quest group were all highly oriented around food, finding themselves in a small restaurant named Dino's restaurant seated around a cramped table. Will had opted to face away from the window as looking out at the low to the ground, white washed houses brought back an eery sense of déjà vu. They looked uncannily similar to the house back in Sun City. Will was having trouble reading the menu he was holding as it seemed to shake before him. He was about to blame his dyslexia when he realised that he was trembling again from his bitter memories. He quickly rested his arms on the table to still them and decided to distract from a potentially awkward conversation.
"So, how far have we got to go Cec?" Cecil seemed to be calculating the route in his head, occasionally using his fingers to jot up either hours or miles.
"Considering current congestion rates, I'd say about 17 hours tops." Silence enveloped the group breifly before chaos ensued, voices overlapping in incredulity. Will quickly composed himself, remembering his leadership role.
"Ok, so we should arrive at about 7 tomorrow then? We still have plenty of time guys, there's no need to panic." This seemed to have some positive effect on Nico, diminishing his glare by a minsicule proportion. Lou Ellen was less impressed.
"It's not the time I'm worried about Will, it's my Gods dam legs! I think they'll fall off if I keep at it."
"Well the chances of that are actually almost impossible, although you could get RSI if -"
"Will, it was an expression, not literal." Will but his lip in order to keep back a snarky retort. He could see Nico out the corner of his eye smirking and barely containing a chuckle whilst trying to disguise it by looking at the menu. Will felt himself smile as he saw Nico's mirth.
Their meals had been demolished within minutes of arrival, the sight and smell of the dishes too powerful to ignore. Unimportant conversations filled the gaps, discussing the merits of different footwear in battle (to which Will had very little input) and how Nico could fight in his combat boots. He frowned as though confused by the comment.
"They're heavy, so they're good for kicking." The others seemed disturbed by Nico's comment but Will found it hard to contain his laughter. He just couldn't take Nico seriously when he looked that cute.
Whilst Lou Ellen and Cecil were discussing which pig was the best breed (obviously Lou Ellen started that), Nico and Will sat in comfortable silence. Will looked over at Nico to find him eyeing the desert menu almost guiltily, Will was about to tell him to order something when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to face a burly man with a brown brush like moustache almost covering his upper lip. His badge shined in the restaurant's dim lighting.
"Excuse me Sir. Is that your car parked outside?" The conversations sputtered to a stop between the others as they all began to tense, he knew that they were all thinking the same thing. Monster.
"Uhhh yeah the old pick-up? Yeah." The cop furrowed his brows whilst looking at the unruly group, seeming to decide if he thought they were old enough to have a licence.
"Well... I have information here saying that it's not yours. It was stolen yesterday morning from a farm in Texas. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?" Everyone immediately shot around to look at Cecil. Lou Ellen shoved him and muttered.
"I knew we couldn't trust him. I specifically said was it stolen." Despite Lou Ellen's incriminating actions and the sweat starting to bead on his neck, Will maintained his calm demeanor.
"Sir, I'm sorry we didn't know it was a stolen vehicle, we're just borrowing the car for a road trip." The cop tightened his lips into a grim line as he stared Will down.
"All the same, I'd like to see some ID and some legal papers please." The cop said, his eyes boring into Will's.
Will could see Nico in his peripheral bending over the table to speak to Lou Ellen, his heightened hearing (thanks to Apollo) picked up on their conversation.
"Don't you think now might be a good time for some mist manipulation?" He hissed sassily.
"I'm trying! I've never been as good at controlling the mist. Hang on... I think I've got it."
The air sourrounding the group shimmered for a few seconds before settling. Will was reminded of a mirage formed on a hot day. The cop blinked as he paused rifling through his papers, taking a few steps back in his disorientation. That created a gap for the group to escape if they needed to.
Will turned to congratulate Lou Ellen on her deception, but a shaky voice interrupted him.
"What is that on your belt young man?" The cop pointed to Nico's sword, before glancing at Lou Ellen's sheathed dagger, his face falling in shock. Lou Ellen's face fell in dread.
"Oh no. Guys, I did manage to manipulate the mist. Just not how I wanted to."
They all looked at each other before moving to stand. The cop drew out his gun and pointed it at Nico.
"Put your hands where I can see them and walk to that wall." He pointed to the wall at the opposite side of the room.
They all looked to Will, asking for his decision on whether they should comply with the mortal.
"Do as he says guys." They all walked with their hands raised in submission to the wall, with Nico staying in the centre of the group for some reason. They lined up in single file against the wall facing the cop.
"Ok guys, do you trust me?" Nico muttered to the group. Lou Ellen and Cecil looked questioningly towards Will once again.
"Always have." Will muttered, keeping his eyes on the cop, his gun poised at them as he spoke into his radio.
"Ok, well I'm about to do something stupid." Nico took their hands in a flash and pulled them backwards toward the wall. Before Will melted into the cold of the shadows, he heard a rattling explosion that could only have been gunfire.
AN: Aww poor Will. I actually felt quite sad while I was writing this haha. But anyway hope you enjoyed the chapter. I've already written the next chapter title and I keep on making myslef laugh thinking of it haha. Anyway, until next time.