Disclaimer: I don't own anything this is Uncle Rick's world.
Through The Eyes of Solace
Chapter 4
Will stood with his siblings on the Williamsburg Bridge as the first line of Kronos' army started to march across. He felt the adrenaline and tension run through his body as he pulled out an arrow from his quiver and notched it on his bowstring. He didn't feel like a soldier but today he would be one because his family was depending on him. Will looked to Michael who gave them the signal to get ready. He could see the monsters as they ran forward, there were enemy demigods amidst hellhounds, dracanae, and more monsters he didn't know the names of.
When they had arrived to the bridge the first thing they noticed was how many sleeping mortals were still in their cars. Michael had them pull as many of the mortals to safety as they could. It was hard work of course, but the sleeping mortals were innocent. They also set up traps, and prepared flaming arrows, sonic arrows, and pretty much all their best weapons. Will had gone through all the medical supplies he brought and was ready as much as he possibly could be. He looked at army, counting how many there were. And they were up against his brothers and sisters. This could not end well.
"Fire!" Michael," shouted letting his sonic arrow fly, Will followed suit and shot a telekine noting with satisfaction that it burst into a pile of dust the moment that it hit. He was definitely not the most skilled child of Apollo when it came to archery, but he definitely didn't have any problems taking out a few monsters. Will quickly fired again just as the monsters reached them.
As they fought, they hid behind cars, and sniped as best as they could. Cars exploded and every now and then they were still pulling mortals to safety. The traps that Kayla and Austin had set took out a whole line of hellhounds, and Will watched as Michael took down several monsters all in rapid succession. Will stayed focused and despite a couple of close calls he managed to take out more monsters. At long last it seemed as though the Apollo cabin was winning. In no time they had taken out the remaining monsters and Will sighed in relief and went to tend the injured.
Just as Will was bandaging a cut on Michael's arm, he heard something that chilled him to his very bone. He heard the sound of a horn and looked up to see a new larger army of Kronos heading their way. Leading the way in bronze armor was a beast Will had only heard about in stories. It was same half bull beast that Percy Jackson had killed once years ago.
"It's the Minotaur," Will said in awe and fear.
"Di immortals," Michael gasped, looking up at Will. "Can you find a cell phone? We need to call Annabeth."
Will was relieved when a short time later Annabeth and Percy arrived on pegasi. The horses flew off again quickly and Percy went out to face the Minotaur. Will retreated down the bridge, treating all the wounded he could but it was very limited what he could do in this setting. His siblings retreated and Will focused on his work. He looked up to see that Percy had once again defeated the Minotaur, and then what he saw next scared him more than anything he'd seen that day. Kronos wearing the body of Luke Castellan was riding on a skeletal horse towards Percy Jackson, and for a moment he wondered if this was what the prophecy was talking about. He knew there was a prophecy concerning Percy but he had not heard it.
"We need to pull back," Kayla said in his ear. "The bridge is starting to break."
"What?" Will said in dawning horror as he noticed what she was saying. Some of the suspension cables were breaking. The battle had obviously done lots of damage to the bridge's integrity.
"What about the mortals?" Will said horrified. "We need to pull as many to safety as we can."
"Agreed," Kayla said and they tried to pull as many mortals to safety as they could.
"Where is Michael?" Will wondered, glancing back towards the battle. Austin pointed towards where Kronos and Percy Jackson were fighting. Will couldn't make out exactly what was happening but then he saw Michael hanging on one of the suspension cables with his bow in his hands.
"Break it! Use your powers!" Will heard Michael shout.
He didn't see what Percy did but the next thing he saw was water shoot up high and the bridge shook. Will feared the entire thing would fall into the river but it stopped and he saw what Percy did. There was now an empty hole separating Percy and Kronos. And Michael, Will looked closer in dawning horror. Michael was nowhere to be seen.
Suddenly Percy was running up to Will looking completely devastated and panicked. "Will, can you come with me? Annabeth's injured."
"Of course," Will said. He knew how much Percy cared for Annabeth, those two were definitely going to get together one of these days.
"Everyone else look for Michael, I don't know what happened to him," Percy said, looking so sad.
A short time later Will was riding a motorcycle, sitting behind Percy as he drove like a complete maniac towards the Plaza Hotel. Will had never been this close to the other boy or rather any boy other than one of his siblings and it made him feel strangely jittery. He pushed away those thoughts and focused on his task ahead of him. When he and Percy arrived at the Plaza, and a statue of Pompona yelled at Percy and threw bronze fruit at them and then they rushed inside the hotel.
Soon they made their way through the crowd of demigods and hunters in the opulent hotel and finally reached Annabeth who was pale. Will immediately pulled back the bandage to see how bad the damage was. It was bad but definitely not fatal.
Will sighed in relief. "It's not so bad, Annabeth. A few more minutes and we would've been in trouble, but the venom hasn't gotten past the shoulder yet. Just lie still, somebody hand me some nectar."
Will took the canteen he was given and used it to clean out Annabeth's wound. Then he put some of his silver healing salve on the wound. Finally Will hummed a hymn to his father in Greek and as he did he could feel the energy of the healing magic sap his strength which showed just how bad Annabeth's wound had been. He finally put a clean bandage on her injury and stood.
Will took a steadying breath to keep from passing out. "That should do it, but we're going to need some mortal supplies, "He said thinking about the future. He had to be ready when more of the injured arrived.
Will saw some stationary from the hotel and a pen and started to write a list of supplies. At the very least they would need gauze, rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, and latex gloves. Things that would be essential if this battle continued into the night.
"There's a Duane Reede on 5th," Will said thoughtfully. "Normally I would never steal-"
"I would," Travis Stoll said. Of course the son of Hermes found nothing wrong with looting. It was something that seriously annoyed Will and he glared at Travis.
"Leave cash or drachmas to pay, whatever you've got, but this is an emergency. I've got a feeling we're going to have a lot more people to treat," Will said.
Then he made his way out of the room. He felt weak from healing Annabeth and knew he needed to keep his strength up. He found his way to the dining room where the Hunters of Artemis were eating. He grabbed a plate and sat down at an empty table.
As hungry as he was Will picked at his food while thinking about what happened earlier on the bridge. He knew some of his brothers and sisters were gone, he knew that Michael disappeared. He was incredibly worried.
Before long his siblings showed up and went to sit with him. "We couldn't find Michael," Austin said sadly. "We looked everywhere. I think he fell in the river."
Will looked down and sighed, trying not to show how affected he was by those words. "I figured as much," he said sadly. He thought about Michael and how amazing he'd been as their counselor and also as their brother. This would be an incredibly hard loss to get through, worse even than when Lee Fletcher died the previous year. Right now Will was running on adrenaline but he knew later he would mourn. He would feel this loss keenly for a long time.
"There are only ten of us left," Kayla added.
Will looked up at the faces of his brothers and sisters, noticing that including Michael there were four campers gone. But he knew he couldn't dwell on that right now or he wouldn't be able to do what needed to be done. He saw courage, grief, and fear in his cabin mates faces. He also saw that they were looking to him for leadership. For a second Will wondered why and then he realized that with Michael gone he was the camper who had been there the longest. And that meant that Will was the new counselor of cabin 7. Will felt numb, he never expected to become counselor especially not in the middle of a war. But he knew what he had to do.
"I know we've been through a lot tonight," Will said. "I know we will be grieving the loss of our brothers and sisters for days to come," he looked everyone in the eye. "I also know the battle isn't over and we need to be ready for the next challenge to come. I want everyone to eat, to sleep, and stock up on whatever supplies you can. This war is not over and we are the kids of Apollo, we are vital to this battle not only for our archery skills but also as healers. We all need to be ready. Dad is counting on us."
And as Will looked at his brothers and sisters he realized that maybe he would be an okay counselor after all.
AN: This chapter was hard to write since I'm trying to get the timeline accurate to match The Last Olympian. Definitely will be one more chapter covering TLO at the very least unless I feel I need to stretch it out more. Thanks to everyone who has read this story and left comments. It really encourages me that you are enjoying it. Anyway next chapter should be out next week unless I'm especially inspired.
