"You're saying...you want me to...look at Almaji's past?" Rachel asked slowly. They sat on the porch of the Big House in the rocking chairs, Will having called her in and told her it was an emergency. It was, in his eyes, just not in hers.

Will nodded. "Yep,"

"I can't do that whenever I want to!" she protested. "Is that seriously why you called me all the way here? I thought something was wrong."

"Something is wrong." Will replied weakly. "Nico messed up the Fates and-"

"Excuse me?" her eyes widened. "What do you mean, 'he messed up the Fates'?"

Will laughed nervously. "Maybe I wasn't supposed to tell you that... But I need you to do this for me, Rachel. Please."

"I don't choose what I see, I've told you this. If it's important enough, it'll come." she pulled her hair into a ponytail, the Big House casting shade over them but the sun still shining in all its glory. "So maybe you should get Nico over here or something, in case it does."

"You think it'll be important enough?"

"If what you said about the Fates is true," Rachel admitted. "Just hurry up, already. And I want to know how he screwed up the Fates. You better tell me when you get back."

Will nodded and got up to leave but froze when he saw Rachel go stiff and her head fall back. He hesitantly reached out to touch her shoulder, to ask her if she was okay, but as soon as he touched her his vision went black and his hand felt glued to her.

Nothing made a sound, nothing was in sight. He could smell Camp Half-Blood still as if he was still standing on that porch, but he couldn't even feel it under his feet. His stomach turned upside down and he almost puked, but his hand on Rachel's shoulder kept him upright. She grounded him.

"Will, open your eyes. You'll see what you need to." Rachel's voice commanded, a little too low and gruff for her usual self. He did as he was told, however, not wanting to mess with whatever Apollo magic was going through him. Maybe his dad was doing him a favor, maybe something wanted him to see this. Whatever the case, he saw into Almaji's past that day.

Will opened his eyes to be met with an onslaught of senses. He could see the busy city around him, hear the late night traffic and the drunken imbeciles who walked the streets alone. The rain poured down, soaking him in seconds and splashing against the pavement in powerful bursts of noise. The rainwater went up to his ankles and the sky seemed to refuse to give up anytime soon.

His vision zoomed into a woman running down the street, her bare feet becoming visible for half a second each time the other splashed into the water. She was practically naked, with a dress hanging off her that didn't cover enough to be legal. She was skinny, skin and bones, and her skin sprouted dark bruises every few inches. She looked panicked like she was running for her life, with a baby clenched to her chest wrapped in a ratty blanket.

Will took a step closer, having no doubts that the baby was Almaji. The woman must have been his mother, which would leave the godly parent as male. Even narrowing it down that little was a help.

The woman ran down an alley and dove behind the dumpster, a think piece of metal digging itself into her arm. She winced at first but didn't cry out, instead trying to shush the baby she held. She sung quietly an old lullaby Will barely recognized, her voice breaking and her chest heaving up and down violently. She looked near death.

Will's healing instincts kicked in as he ran to the woman and knelt beside her. He tried to touch her but his hand went right through, and she didn't seem to hear him when he spoke. Of course, it was a memory, but it still made Will sick to think that he couldn't do anything.

"Sage!" a man's angry cry sent Will stumbling to his feet. "Sage, you better come out immediately!"

The woman began to shake in fear but didn't listen, instead curling up around her baby as if that would protect it. A mother's love was powerful, but it couldn't stop physical pain.

"Sage!" the man appeared at the entrance of the alley, the lightning in the sky flashing at his arrival. He looked to be middle-aged with a pedophile-type mustache and a baseball cap on his head. His hands, large and clenched, swung at his sides with every step he took. "I saw you go down here! Where are you!?"

The woman kissed her baby on the forehead before laying him in a little opening at the back of the dumpster, away from the onslaught of rain. She kissed his forehead again, assured him that she loved him, and looked down at the blood gushing out of her arm from that piece of metal. From the look in her eyes and the intensity of her stare, she knew she was going to die soon. And she wouldn't leave her baby with this man.

"Miller!" she ran out from her hiding spot, her eyes wide in terror and her arms trying to hold up her dress. "Have you seen Malik?!"

The man's face filled with confusion. "I've been chasing you for blocks and that's all you have to say?! You were supposed to give the baby to me! Not lose him!"

"I wouldn't have lost him if you weren't chasing me!" she yelled back, her aching heart leaking into her words. "I want my baby!"

Miller stepped forward and grabbed her arm, created a cry of pain from the young woman. "Come with me."

"Where are you taking me?"

"Come with me!" he slapped her hard before dragging her out of the alley, leaving Will alone to stare at where she had left the baby. His real name...Malik...

The scene shifted, and he was plunged into more memories.