If Will Solace had thought that school was hard before the Mist was lifted, it was nearly impossible now. He flinched at every little sound, dreading that it was a monster lurking about in the school. He anxiously scrutinized every student, teacher, and other staff to see if there was any possibility of them being anything less than human. Every day after school, he'd come home, appreciate whoever kept the monsters away from his school, and immediately collapse on his bed.

That didn't mean that he didn't have rotten luck in some parts of his day, though. The teachers were piling the homework on more than ever since Winter Break was just around the bend. And to add to that, all anyone in school would talk about was the whole demigods existing thing!

In fact, his friend Arnold was discussing it at lunch with all their friends at their designated table. "They're freaks, you know. Trouble magnets. We're better off without them around us. I mean, just imagine if there was one right here in our school!"

To his demise, everyone at the table agreed with Arnold's declaration about demigods. Will could only sit silently as they all insulted his family. He couldn't do anything without giving himself away.

Brian, another one of his friends, flicked some of his shaggy brown hair back and stated, "My sister really wants to meet a demigod. I don't know how to tell her those hybrids will kill her the second they see her."

Arnold's wrinkled his nose. "Tell her to run. Like the wind."

Everyone laughed. Will forced a laugh that sounded like a garbled hack. Children of Apollo were lousy liars.

Julia, Arnold's girlfriend, hummed. "I don't know, guys. I think it's kind of cool how they fight with swords, daggers, and bows and arrows. I'd really like to try that. But...it's probably best if it wasn't demigods holding the weapons."

"I'll take you to the archery range anytime if that's what you want," Arnold snorted, wrapping his arm around her.

Will kept his mouth shut. After all, why should he stick up for the gods? What did they do for him? The minute the Mist was removed, the gods secured themselves in Olympus and left demigods to fend for themselves.

Well, Poseidon still helped Percy and her mom out, which Will was grateful for, but he hadn't contacted his own father since the last Great War came to an end. Apollo had let himself be deceived by Gaea which resulted in Octavian knowing things he shouldn't have and urged the scarecrow to go down the treacherous track that he did.

Somehow, Will managed to pull through and get to his after-school honors biology class. As usual, the only difficult part in class was understanding the English words. He managed to get all the questions spoken to him correctly and only a few that were written on the board wrong.

Honestly, he had to keep reminding his teacher that he was dyslexic. Today was the day of a big test that concluded a quarter of their grade. He finished it in about 44 minutes. He would have finished sooner, but he had to translate English to make sense in his Greek-speaking mind.

After he handed in the paper, Will felt pretty good...until someone came and ruined his good mood. It wasn't a monster, but by the time it was over, the Son of Apollo felt nostalgic for one.

"Will Solace, stay back," the teacher, Mr. Dupont ordered. He was a french man in his 30's with a tiny pencil mustache that eerily reminded Will of Geryon.

"Ooh, someone's in trouble!" snickered a girl with at least 10 pounds of make-up on her face. Her name was Emily and Will could ashamedly admit that he was fooled by her excessive amount of make-up to call her air-headed.

Emily was definitely smart, yes, but she was also arrogant, bossy, and regarded herself to be superior to anyone, even the teachers. She'd never tell them that, for it would demolish her "perfect angel" rep she had carefully constructed and displayed towards the adults. However, Emily had no problem tormenting the students, especially freshmen. Lately, she had taken an interest in Will. She had asked him out the first free period they had in front of approximately half the school.

Well, if he was being honest, she didn't ask so much as tell.

Will ignored her and stayed back. He went forward to Mr. Dupont tentatively. After all, for all he knew, Mr. Dupont was Geryon in disguise, though it was very doubtful with the Mist disappearing a month ago. Will had to keep reminding himself that monsters couldn't disguise themselves anymore.

"You wanted to see me?"

Mr. Dupont nodded gravely. "Yes. Sit down."

His french accent was always kind of amusing to Will, but his solemn look made Will sit down. Underneath, his legs tensed, preparing themselves for a fight if necessary.

"A classmate has alerted me of a suspicion," he began. Will's heart halted. "She believes you to be a...demigod."

"Why would she think that?" Will asked, wondering who "she" was. Was it someone he knew? How did she suspect him of being a demigod? Or did she just not like him enough to try to get him into trouble?

"During our last oral report in November, I believe, you gave an essay on brain functions, am I correct?" At Will's nod, he continued, "Well it was very informative. You got the highest grade in the class. In fact, it was too good."

Will tried to come up with an excuse for himself, but Mr. Dupont was not done yet. "The government and D.E.P have conducted strict rules that every school nation-wide must obey. When a student shows even the slightest probability of being a demigod, they must be examined; it's protocol, I'm afraid, and my hands are tied. Your presence is required in the main office."

It was then that Will realized his lips felt as dry as the Sahara desert. He licked them and contemplated everything he had just heard. Mentally, he was: No, no, no! This can't be happening! I was going to leave for camp in less than a week!

On the outside, he was much more composed. "Okay. Thank you for trying, Monsieur."

Will pushed the bile back down his throat and made the kind of face one would make if they had been tricked into eating dirt. He rushed to the main office, reminding himself that he only had to play by their rules until he got to Camp Half-Blood. Then, he would be free of mortals and the D.E.P and be back with his girlfriend...as soon as she dropped by for a visit.

Pushing the door open, Will let himself into the office. The woman at the front of the desk, Mrs. Bart, looked up and asked, "Will Solace?"

Will nodded. She pointed her pen to the back door that led deeper into the principal's office. "You are required there."

"Thanks." He was greeted by two people: a serious man with gray hair parted in the middle and his principal. The contrast between the two was extraordinary. Principal Pierre was a pleasant man, but the man in the suit (a person from D.E.P, no doubt) looked as if someone had stuck something up his

"William Solace?" the man in the suit inquired with a raised eyebrow.

Will winced. "Just Will, please."

Principal Pierre smiled tightly, though worry shone in his eyes. That was what Will liked about him, he showed a true fondness for the studentsat least the good onesinstead of just being dull and boring like others were.

"Will, this is Benjamin," he said. "He will be interrogating you. I'm sure this is all just a misunderstanding and it'll all be cleared up quick"

"I do not have all day," Benjamin interrupted bluntly. "Let us get this going, shall we?"

The principal clammed his mouth shut and nodded sheepishly before vacating the room. Will gritted his teeth. Principal Pierre was too friendly to argue, even though that didn't mean he was spineless. It just meant that Mr. Benjamin here was a jerk.

Benjamin pointed to a chair. "Sit."

Will wanted to oppose him so badly. He wanted to see what color his ugly face would become. Red? Purple? Unfortunately, Will knew what to do; he sat.

"Do you know why you are here?"

"Are you asking me that because you yourself forgot?" Will said, trying to fit the role of an unruly teen. Percy was rubbing off on him. He didn't mind.

Benjamin the Boring gritted his teeth. "Do not mock me, boy! I hope that, if you are a demigod, the paperwork does not get passed off to me. I do not particularly mind you having a life of hell. It might teach to you something."

Oh, Hell's already taught me something, alright, Will thought bitterly.

Images of his and Sephie's time in Tartarus crowded into his head like fireflies in a cave, though the comparison almost made him snorta nice cave lit up by fireflies was far from anything in Tartarus. He shoved them aside and focused.

"I have some questions for you. Can you answer them?"

"Maybe I can, but maybe I don't want to," said Will, raising a blonde eyebrow defiantly.

Benjamin sighed in frustration, muttering something about how the next generation was always worse than the last. "I already have your school records. You aren't much of a high scorer unless it's something to do with physical sciences, chemistry, and biology. Interesting."

Will shrugged. "I want to be a doctor when I'm older."

"Pretty high goal for someone who has dyslexia and ADHD," Benjamin the Bossy remarked suspiciously.

"Well I'm not going to let things like that hold me back," Will shot back admirably. "I've wanted to be a doctor since I was a kid."

"An odd ambition," the man muttered, scribbling something down. "So, unusual things have seemed to happen to you. Care to explain that?"

"I just happen to stumble onto odd things all the time and most of that stuff wasn't proved in the first place," Will said fairly. He had this way of sounding entirely blameless, even if he wasn't, and he used it to his benefit. "Besides, I had a...different childhood from most."

Benjamin narrowed his eyes and scanned another section of his laptop. "Family life. Tell me about your parents. Why is it that I have birth records, hospital records, and even musical records of your mother, but none of those of your father, especially seeing as your mother, Naomi Solace herself, told the public he was a man who loved music more than a steady relationship. Do you remember him at all?"

Will looked down and acted dejected. The emotion wasn't hard to bring. "No. Mom told me that she and my dad were just a summer fling. They didn't have time to get to know each other and dad chose his music over Mom."

The agentat least, that was what Will now believeddidn't bat an eye at Will's sob story. "What do you usually do before and after school?"

"I usually practice my archery, study, do homework, play video games, and hang out with my friends."

"Name your closest friends," Benjamin commanded.

Will looked up from his shoes and automatically named his three mortal friends from school: Arnold, Brian, and Julia. He left Sephie's name out of it since she was more than a friend and explaining how he had a girlfriend who lived in New York and had once had a city-wide man-hunt (or woman-hunt, as Sephie had called it) on her once was not going to be easy.

"Thank you," Benjamin replied, not really meaning it. "I am now accessing their files."

Will sat silently as Benjamin accessed his friends' files. There's nothing that can give me away, he consoled himself. Except for the dyslexia. And the ADHD. And the lack of a biological father.

Damn it.

"No girlfriend?" The man asked mockingly.

Will blushed lightly but didn't wilt. "Is being single really considered suspicious? Because I'm pretty sure not dating isn't really a crime."

Benjamin scoffed, Will read his expression and came to the conclusion he had wanted to say something like, A teenager who isn't being crude with their significant other is suspicious.

"I'm sorry." He didn't sound it. "Seeing the answers I've been given, I have no choice but to go through the process for suspected demigods. There is too big of a risk of you being a demigod even if you don't know it, seeing as you are quite unaware of it."

That last part was meant to be a jab, but Will brushed it aside. "But I don't want to be a demigod."

It was true. The only thing he cherished about being a demigod was that it guided him to Sephie and all his friends. If it wasn't for his girlfriend, Will would be cursing his existence right now.

"A private investigator will look into this situation. If it all ends up to be a coincidence and you are not one of those hybrid freaks,"Will flinched and clenched his fists in anger"you will be discharged from the authorities. For now, though, a letter of notice will be sent to your mother. You are not allowed to leave city limits unless a person of greater authority allows you to, which I doubt will happen."

"Can I leave now?" Will asked warily.

Benjamin nodded. "Please do."

Will rose from his seat, nodding curtly at Benjamin, who took no heed to it and left school grounds, nearly running all the way to the school bus.

During the ride home, he reflected on what had just happened. He had to tell his mother, then Sephie. And after telling them, he'd remind them both that he was going to leave for Camp Half-Blood in less than a week.

Yes, that was what he would do.

But right as he strode into his house, he detected something strange. Then, the world turned black for William Andrew Solace.

A/N: Hey, so I don't know if the story is going too fast, but I don't want this to be the kind of story where it takes till the middle of the book before it actually starts, so I hope I'm not going too fast 'cause I plan on filling in finishing this all the way till TLO. Then, I might start the HOO series in a sequel or something. Until then...

Please follow, favorite, and review this. I would really appreciate it!

—TEAMLEO