Thirteen.

"Holy cow." Will gasped as he was led out to one of the hills by Luke Castellan. The whole of Camp Half-Blood was laid out before him, tinged with a dance of sparkling gold and wild pink as the sun set; the same colours that were setting the hills of trees aflame.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" The older boy half-smiled.

"Yeah."

"I have a bone to pick with you though, Solace."

"What?"

Luke grinned. " 'Holy cow' "?

Will blushed, "Sorry. I'm a country boy, and all that. My mom loves that expression." He felt a bit low at the thought of his mum alone at home. But she had sent him here in the first place, telling him that it was important. It was a bit silly, but he kind of missed her and hoped that she was doing okay. The stormy look on Luke's face told him that he better change the subject.

"So am I a son of Hermes like you?" He asked, drawing a hand across his mouth.

"Nah. Maybe." Luke waved a hand. "Kids who come here mostly get claimed- and you will, probably- and they stay at our cabin first. Hermes is the god of wanderers and all that."

"Not all those who wander are lost." Will blushed, not knowing why he said that.

Luke grinned. "Where's that from?"

"Tolkien. Lord of the Rings- I've never read past that bit- and even that took me the longest time, normal books are hard already and this one... Well, its really wordy. I just kinda like poetry."

"ADHD and dyslexia." Luke shrugged, ignoring the last part. "Survival mechanisms for us. Tell you more about that at dinner."

"Great, I'm starved."

Travis and Connor were draped over the bed, hanging over the side to look at a sleeping Will who was lying spread eagled on a sleeping bed. Snickering, they dropped a bucket-load of fake spiders all over him and he quickly lurched away, stifling a yelp as he pushed past the rubbery demons.

"Stolls!" He yelled as the two of them began to run. He got up and followed them, racing over the green grass with the pale early morning sun pushing into his sleep-crusted eyes- and then he tripped sideways into the lake.

"Geez." Will muttered as he got up, squeezing the ends of his shirt to get the water out. Without really thinking, he kicked at the lapping water, watching the sun sparkle as drops fluttered around his feet.

He made his way out and was walking back to the Hermes cabin when he passed the Athena kids, sitting in a line on the porch of their cabin, in deep discussion about some mathematical theory or something (he really didn't want to know) when one of the girls- Annabeth, was that her name?- gasped and pointed at something above his head.

A golden bow and arrow pointed at the skies was glowing.

"You've been claimed by Apollo!" She said as Will watched the symbol fade into the air.

"Nice." Will grinned as he felt an odd sort of joy course through him as both he and his wet clothes were being warmed by the rays of the sun.

"So, our newest brother." Lee Fletcher grinned as he led Will through the open door of his new home. "You can have... that bed. And I hope you play an instrument because I have this radical plan and shit- that we are going to form a band!"

"Like that will work," a voice scoffed from one of the beds in a corner. It was a boy- shorter than Will, with a ferrety face and pointed nose. "Like it will work with only three of us." The boy raised a hand at Will who returned the gesture. "I'm Michael Yew, by the way."

"Will Solace. I'm thirteen."

"Same." He pointed a thumb at Lee, "This douchebag over here's fourteen but yeah, that's about it."

Lee shrugged. "I'm sure we'll have more of us coming soon enough. Hey, our dad's Apollo, for the Gods' sake."

"Ew. Don't want to think about it!"

Will laughed and settled on the bed, watching a beam of sunlight as it snaked across the rafters. "Yeah, I play the piano. Not really band material, though?"

Lee grinned as he walked towards the back of the cabin, where a bunch of instruments were clustered, "No problem. We have a keyboard. Not that far off."

"Cool." Will smiled as he crossed over the room to join him. "What do you play?"

"Drums. Plus we all can sing so... Well, we'll have more siblings soon enough, I'll bet. You can sing right?"

"Little bit."

Lee nodded, thinking. "Can you play basketball? Because when this cabin is big enough, I'm going to start a team. We can kick the Ares's kids asses." He paused. " 'Cept for Michael, cause he's short!"

"Screw you, Fletcher!"

Will chuckled, thinking that he was going to like his new family.