Patching Things Up
The wound had looked much worse than it actually was. Every summer a few campers ended up shooting someone with a spectacularly off-target shot. Fortunately, they usually hit an arm or a foot. Nothing too major.
This year Camp Half blood had made it to just past mid-summer with no archery mishaps at all. And then this. This shot had looked scary-bad. The arrow had pierced the torso of the young demigod, entering just below the clavicle, nicking the right lung then and exiting just below the scapula. The wounded son of Hermes had been coughing up impressive amounts of blood when the camp medic had arrived.
Which is why they had sent their fastest runner to the other side of Half-Blood Hill to get the doctor in New Athens. Well, the closest thing to a doctor that New Athens had, anyway. New Athens was only a small village at the moment, but it was growing. It would probably never rival New Rome, but lots of Greek demigods had seen the appeal of having a relatively safe place to live in the company of other demigods.
So Will Solace was what passed for the town doctor, having just finished his second year of med school at Columbia. Next summer he'd be off to his residency in the mortal world. He had a lot of innovations to contribute to mortal medicine someday. Once he'd paid his dues, of course. He just had to live that long.
So far, he'd managed to avoid attacks from random monsters during his time in the city. Once he had start thinking of his dagger as a large scalpel his knife attacks had gotten significantly more effective. But making that work required a close-in approach, which was always chancy. He lacked speed, and a killer instinct.
Percy had clued him in that having a roommate that reeked of humanity would help. So his roommate was an obnoxious, smelly jerk that most of the time Will wanted to punch. Usually, it took a lot to make Will really dislike someone, but this guy had the chops. Still, having to worry that a monster was going to kill you in your sleep was even more irritating. Especially when it was touch and go if you would actually survive the attack.
Having a demigod roommate and companion who could actually kick monster butt would be much preferable. But so far that hadn't worked out too well.
So he had spent the summer in New Athens, reading medical journals and getting his residency applications in order. Until this.
Will could see that the arrow had managed to avoid hitting any arteries or major organs - other than the nicked lung. So once Will removed the arrow, administered a judicious dose of ambrosia and antibiotics, and bandaged the entry and exit wound, an order that the camper be transported to the infirmary for a few days of rest and observation was all that was needed.
Cleaning up, Will found himself with a small gathering of admiring campers. Miles, a dark-haired, first-year camper from the Athena cabin was the most earnest. He was the one that had fired the nearly-fatal shot.
"Thank the Gods you came so quickly. I know it was a terrible shot, but I don't understand what Finn was doing in that part of the range in the first place." Miles looked to his two companions for support. "He shouldn't have been there, right?"
"He's a Hermes kid, of course he's skulking around where he shouldn't be. Somebody probably dared him to steal the target between shots. Right, Will?" Lily batted her eyelashes at Will as she turned to him for confirmation.
Will surmised that Lily had a bit of a crush on him. Either that or her siblings in the Aphrodite cabin had dared her to try to seduce him. Not that she wasn't very pretty, charming and oh-so fashionable. The Aphrodite kids usually were. And at seventeen she was almost old enough to make hitting on a twenty-three-year old seem not completely inappropriate. But Will was finding her overtures more amusing than interesting.
The red-headed kid next to Miles elbowed him in the ribs jovially. "I guess you better stick to sword fighting, Miles." Jake was a child of Dionysus, but he and Miles were clearly buddies. Now that things had turned out alright, he was ready to make a joke out of the whole thing. Maybe throw a party to celebrate how lucky they had been that the injury wasn't worse. Because Dionysus kids thought everything was an excuse for a party.
"I'm not so sure sword training will be an improvement," said Miles. "I hear the last half of the summer the sword-fighting instructor might be Nico di Angelo. The child of Hades." Miles whispered that last bit.
"Nico di Angelo is coming back? Where did you hear that?" Lily pressed quickly. If there was anything Aphrodite kids liked better than fashionable clothes, that would be juicy gossip.
"I overheard Chiron talking to the head counselor of the Ares cabin. They've been complaining that this year's instruction hasn't been rigorous enough."
"Seemed plenty rigorous to me," grumbled Jake.
"Well, that will be scary," Lily said, wringing her hands in mock terror. "I hear he can raise zombies and skeletons and ghosts, even kill a person with a thought." Now both Jake and Miles were starting to look genuinely concerned. They looked to Will for reassurance.
"Do you know him, Will? Does he really do all that stuff?" Miles asked, looking almost as panicked as he had been when Will first arrived on the scene.
"Oh, yes. Constantly. For no reason at all." Will intoned seriously, as he knelt to put away some bandages. "Zombies and skeletons everywhere. Used to be you couldn't get to the latrine at night without battling three or four. But it was even worse when Percy Jackson and Jason Grace were here too. The like, random lightning strikes, tsunamis and hurricanes and stuff made campfire sing-alongs a real downer."
The color drained from the boys faces. There was a moment of silence.
"You're teasing us," Jake concluded finally.
"You think?" Will replied, still bent over his bag. Will stood again and brushed back a lock of golden hair.
Lily scowled adorably at Will - a facial expression only a child of Aphrodite could pull off. How do they do that? Will thought. No wonder the other Apollo kids were always writing poetry about the Aphrodite kids - which worked out, he guessed, since the Aphrodite kids were the only ones outside the Apollo cabin who appreciated good poetry. As long as it was love poetry, anyway. And especially when it was about them.
Lily hadn't given up on tweaking the boys, though. She leaned in and offered conspiriatoriallly, "Still, I can't imagine sword training with him. Just knowing that he can kill you with a look, that he's even been to Tarta . . ."
"Hold up," Will interrupted, giving Lily an annoyed talk-to-the-hand gesture. His attention was suddenly riveted on a dark figure approaching from the other side of the archery field.
A tall handsome young man was walking toward them intently. He had neatly trimmed black hair, and a slightly devilish-looking goatee. He wore a short black overcoat over a black tee-shirt and black jeans. A grey sword hung from his belt. A silver belt-buckle and ring stood out as his only ornaments.
He walked up to Will, stopping so close that he seemed to be trying to pick a fight. The campers all instinctively took a step back. Will held his gaze without flinching.
"So. Di Angelo. You're back," Will said, neutrally. "Staying long?"
"Yeah," said the man, his voice an unexpectedly deep bass. "I finally helped Reyna track down the last of the death spirits. If the Amazons try to corner the market on dark-magic supplies again I'll let Reyna deal with her sister's screw up on her own."
Will blinked. "You're sure. You're really back. For good."
"I'm really back," the dark man replied firmly.
"Good," said Will as he pulled him in for a long kiss. After a long moment, they parted. "I missed you." Will said sternly.
Nico shook his head. "You missed having a son of Hades around. . . Really, Solace. There is something very wrong with you." This time it was Nico that leaned in for a kiss. He sighed softly when he finally pulled away. "And I thank the Gods for it every day."
"Hmm." Will's expression was dubious. He ran a finger along Nico's chin. "What's with the goatee?"
"I'm trying it out. What do you think?"
Will considered. "I'll let you know. . . Later"
Nico gave him an amused look and stepped back. "I've got to check in with Chiron. Dinner at your place?" he asked.
"I don't know about that." Will folded his arms and looked severe. "You think you can disappear for months, then show up with no warning at all and instantly be back in my good graces? What kind of guy do you take me for?"
"I'll read to you from the book of poetry I got you."
Will beamed. "It's a date."
Nico di Angelo looked at the three campers. "And I guess I'll be seeing all of you in weapons training. Be ready," he warned as he turned to walk away.
Jake looked like he was going to faint. Miles managed a "yes-sir" that came out more like a squeak. Lily looked stunned, and a little flustered.
With folded arms and a bemused smile, Will watched the son of Hades walk away. Without breaking stride, Nico called back over his shoulder, "And by the way, tell that disgusting roommate of yours he needs a new place to stay next semester. I am not living with him."
Will laughed. "Yes, sir," he called loudly, while offering a mock salute.
"I'll see you campers later." Will quickly gathered his medical bag. "Have fun in weapons training," he said as he slung the bag over his shoulder. "And try not to put any more arrows in each other," he called back as he jogged away, "I might be busy next time."
