Disclaimer: I don't own anything this is Uncle Rick's world.

Through The Eyes of Solace

Chapter 6

It had been a few months since the war with the Titans ended and things were pretty much the same at Camp Half Blood. Will had spent the remainder of the summer session at camp and then he went back home to Texas. The problem was that things did not go smoothly once he arrived back home. For one thing he was apparently a much stronger/smellier demigod than he was the last time in Texas because he was constantly attacked by monsters which made being at home a challenge.

Will's mother was doing better, her cancer now in full remission and every check up she'd had since showed no indication that the cancer was returning. Naomi Solace was back to her career singing gigs and she was much happier and seeing her so happy made Will happy. He still worried of course, but he knew he knew as a healer he would always worry about the cancer. Still there was another reason his Mom was so happy and that was because she had a new boyfriend and it was getting serious.

Liam was a nice guy and he seemed to really care about Naomi, but Will didn't want a father. As it was Will had an absentee father who had a legitimate reason not to raise his son and it was nothing remotely close to being normal. Will hoped one day he would finally get to meet Apollo but for now he was still proud to call the god his father. Liam as nice as he was would never be that to Will.

Another thing that was challenging was the monster attacks. Liam was a pure mortal so all he saw was a vision that the Mist caused and that caused lots of confusion on his part. It got so bad that Will didn't really want to go anywhere with his mother and Liam because he was running out of explanations and that was a serious issue.

When the school year started Will was ready for a change of scenery and was eager to go to school. The issue was that he was now in junior high and was in a completely new school from where he had been the previous year. His day went pretty well considering he had been attacked by monsters almost daily at this point, but Will was still always on guard and ready for anything.

That day he saw one of cheerleaders putting up a sign for a Sadie Hawkins dance that would be happening at the school and Will groaned. Despite being the son of the god of dance and music, Will avoided them like the plague. For one thing the thought of dancing with a girl was completely unappealing, for another he knew how people in a Texas school would react to seeing Will dance with another boy.

Granted Will didn't really want to date any of the guys in his school, though there were a few he had a crush on. As he grew older he started to realize that he just wasn't attracted to girls and he tried to deny it to himself for a long time but the truth was Will was gay. One day he hoped to have a boyfriend but he knew how hard that would be, since dating a mortal would be nearly impossible and he didn't really have any prospects at camp.

Coming out was a hard thing to do but Will knew it would have to happen sooner or later. He didn't keep things from his Mom and as far as secrets went this was a big one. As it was Will was far from normal being a half god son of Apollo who had both ADHD and dyslexia, and could freaking glow and whistle so loud it would make dogs howl. On top of all those things he was also into boys. He was abnormal even as a half blood, but Will wasn't ashamed of who he was he was just different.

That day when Will got home from school he decided to just get things out in the open. His Mom was in her bedroom putting her makeup on for her gig that night. Before cancer her hair was blonde, albeit a slightly darker color than Will's, but after chemotherapy her hair was now coming in brown.

"Mom, I have something I wanted to tell you," Will said.

"Don't tell me the Titans are fighting again," Naomi said as she put one of her earrings in her ear.

Will forced a nervous. "Thankfully no. This has nothing to do with my other life actually."

That got Naomi's attention and she turned to look at her son. "What is it?"

"First of all I think I need to go back to camp," Will said with a sigh. "The monster attacks are getting worse and it's obvious that as much as I want to live a normal life here and go to school, its starting to become impossible. I will come back to visit of course but I don't really think I can leave here."

Naomi sighed and wiped her carefully so she wouldn't mess up her make up. "I understand Will; in fact I knew this was coming. If you can't be safe here Will then I want you to be in a place where you are."

"Thanks, Mom," Will said gratefully. "There is something else I wanted to tell you too."

"What's that?" Naomi asked curiously.

"I um," Will said and tried to push down his nerves. "I'm gay."

"What?" Naomi asked surprised. "Did you say what I thought you did?"

"I'm gay, I don't like girls the way boys normally do," Will said out loud and then continued out of anxiety. "When you think about it, me being gay shouldn't be a surprise since my Dad has had a ton of boyfriends, I mean-,"

"Will, calm down," Naomi said cutting him off. "I'm not upset. In fact I'm very grateful you told me, I kind of suspected it for awhile."

"You did?" Will said surprised. "How?"

"Mother's intuition," Naomi said smiling. "Now tell me, do you have your eyes on any boy?"


A few days later Will took an Amtrak train back to New York City from Austin. Saying goodbye was hard of course, but Will knew that this was very necessary. He would be continuing to take his classes by correspondence and had his school books with him. He had also sent an Iris message to Chiron to let him know he would be returning as a year round camper. Ultimately he was very grateful that he had a place to go and Camp Half Blood was home to him.

When Will returned to camp he found out that things weren't completely back to normal. For one thing the Hephaestus cabin seemed to be cursed ever since Beckendorf died. They were constantly coming to Will in the infirmary to bandage their multitude of cuts, sprains, and more. Not to mention they had a fire breathing automaton dragon that was loose in the woods and when Jake Mason tried to catch it he ended up with so many injuries that Will had to put him in a body cast.

As alarming as the supposed curse was it was still not the most unusual thing that happened. One winter night they had their normal campfire after dinner, and Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson were there since they had just started their winter break from school. The next morning Percy was gone without a trace and Annabeth was beside herself with worry. They looked everywhere for him at camp and they had even looked in the woods despite the danger from the unhinged dragon roaming around. But Percy was gone, and they found out soon after that Olympus was closed. Even Mr. D was gone which definitely seemed to have Chiron worried.

Will prayed to his father for a sign, prayed that Percy would be found but of course it didn't help. Everyone at camp was on edge, wondering who was next. If Percy Jackson, the Hero of Olympus and most powerful demigod son of the Big Three could be kidnapped than what would happen to the rest of them. Will spent time talking to his siblings making sure they would go out only in pairs if they had to explore the woods at all.

Three days after Percy's disappearance Annabeth came to him.

"Will, I wanted to ask if I could borrow the Apollo cabin's chariot?" Annabeth asked hopefully.

"What?" Will said surprised, thinking of the chariot that had caused so much turmoil before the Battle of Manhattan. "Why do you want to borrow it?"

"I had a vision from Hera," Annabeth said sourly. "She said I would find the answer with a boy with one shoe at the Grand Canyon. Also Gleeson Hedge the satyr has his eyes on three demigods. I hope one is Percy."

"Of course you can borrow it," Will relented, just be careful with it."


Will spent the rest of the days leading his brothers and sisters through their daily activities. Arts and crafts, music class, followed by archery class. For once Will didn't embarrass himself too badly with his archery skills. He managed to hit the bullseye a couple of times but he was still nowhere near as skilled as half of his siblings. Especially Kayla who wanted to go to the Olympics one day and had a father who was an archery coach, she was formidable with a bow and arrows.

Suddenly Will heard a commotion from the lake and he saw something falling from the sky. He slung his bow over his shoulder and ran to the lake. When he arrived he saw that the pegasi were thrashing in the lake and Butch, son of Iris, was cutting them free. Annabeth followed by three wet teenagers followed her out of the water.

He pushed through the crowd, annoyed. "Annabeth! I said you could borrow the chariot, not destroy it!"

Will made a face when he saw the remains of the chariot up close.

"Will, I'm sorry," Annabeth sighed. "I'll get it fixed I promise."

Will gave one last disgusted look at the chariot and looked to the newcomers. There was a tall blonde haired boy, a girl with dark hair and a younger looking guy with curly hair. They were old for new demigods. "These the ones? Way older than thirteen. Why haven't they been claimed already?"

The smallest guy spoke up. "Claimed?"

Will focused his attention back on Annabeth. "Any sign of Percy?"

"No," Annabeth said looking completely defeated.

Of course Drew, the annoying head counselor for Aphrodite had to but in. Will couldn't stand her, she always made head counselor meetings incredibly awkward with her talk about hair, makeup, and celebrities.

The new boys seemed to have no problem dishing it right back at Drew, and Jason found out the blonde boy's name was Jason and the girl's name was Piper. Annabeth always the peacemaker stepped in and put Drew in her place.

"Will somebody tell me what claimed means?" Piper asked.

And then like clockwork, the smaller boy whose name Will found out was Leo, got claimed.


AN: Thank you for reading and thanks to those who have reviewed this story. I estimate one more chapter covering the events of The Lost Hero and then I can move on to my favorite Blood of Olympus. Super excited to get to that and especially to the Solangelo stuff. Planning to have the next one up next week.