Will prided himself on being able to remain calm. Keep his cool. All that good stuff. But the events of the day had really made it hard.

His patient, Jason, had been infected with manticore poison. Now, Will had read about manticore poison. He knew how to treat it. The thing was, he wasn't prepared to treat it. Will had never had a patient infected with it before. He didn't figure that he would ever have to treat it, what with the Doors of Death being moved. However, here he was with an infected patient: Jason Grace, no less.

This particular circumstance had brought Will to a new level of stress. By now, everyone had heard of Percy and Annabeth's return. A huge crowd had formed at the doors of the infirmary, each demigod desperate to catch a glimpse of their long-absent heroes, one of which he had left in the care of Elise.

The only person that Will trusted to know what was going on was Piper. She was helping in any way she could. She had shut up the crowd, she had calmed Annabeth down, and now she was there for Jason, reassuring him everything would be fine. Will overheard her telling Jason this and he instantly felt himself calming down.

Alright, what needs to be done, he asked himself. He had already cleaned the wound and injected Jason with a serum that would slow down the poison. The treatment wasn't as simple as extracting the poison, he needed the antidote. And unfortunately, it was a plant that he did not have.

"How's it looking, Doc?" Nico asked from behind. Will jumped. That kid could sneak up on anyone.

"To be honest, Nico, it's not looking too good," Will admitted. "I was able to slow down the poison, but so far that's all I've been able to do."

A look of concern spread over Nico's face. "Can I help at all?"

Will thought for a moment. "Actually, if you could get Chiron and Rachel over here, that would be great."

"Great. I was headed their direction anyway," Nico announced, and left.

Okay. Whatever he meant by that… Nico was a great kid, even if he was sometimes confusing. And moody. But Will was fine with that. He just wanted to make sure that the son of Hades took care of himself.

But that was not his top priority at the moment. Someone was dying. Slowly dying, yes. Unaware of the fact that they were dying, yes. But dying all the same.

Was there anything at all that could be combined to produce an antidote? He wasn't an alchemist, but he was pretty sure there was nothing. Just a weed with a complicated name. (To save time, he called it Manticore Weed.) There would have to be a quest. It was really the only option.

Chiron and Rachel came through the doors with Nico trailing behind.

"Will," Chiron addressed. "Is something wrong, my boy?"

Will wrung his hands nervously and spoke in a hushed tone. "Well, yes. You see, Jason Grace has been infected with manticore poison, and, as it turns out, we do not have Manticore Weed in stock."

Chiron furrowed his eyebrows. "Manticore Weed?"

"The antidote for manticore poison?"

"Yes, yes, of course. I wasn't aware that it was called that. I thought the scientific term was—"

Will waved aside his words. "I just call it that. The point is that if we don't get our hands on it soon, Jason won't make it."

Rachel spoke up. "Are you proposing a quest, Solace?"

"I know there would have to be a prophecy," Will stated. "But to be completely honest, I would be willing to go without so much as an 'ok' from you. No offense."

Rachel ran her hand through her curly, red hair. "Prophecies don't come to me on demand. It has to really be—" Suddenly, her eyes began to glow green and smoke poured out of her mouth and nostrils. A wheezing, hissing voice spoke from her.

The physician shall travel with thief and with queen

The son of the sky's only hope work to glean

The anger of gods shall one learn to dread

And shall discover the son of Apollo, dead.

Son of Apollo… That was him. Holy Olympus, that was him. He was going to die, wasn't he? He was going to get the Manticore Weed and die. Presumably alone, considering that they were going to find him dead.

A silence lingered in the room. He wished someone would talk. Tell him the Oracle voice was pulling his leg. No one did. They all stared at him in sympathy… He supposed it was sympathy.

Then Chiron cleared his throat. "Will Solace, son of Apollo, do you accept the quest?"

"Don't do it, Will," Nico demanded. "There's got to be another cure."

"There isn't, Nico," Will informed as calmly as he could. "There— there just isn't." He inhaled slowly. Horrible deaths flashed through his mind. He could experience any one of them. But he would save another life. And if he could do that… "I accept the quest."

Chiron nodded solemnly. "Very well, my boy. Now we've only to discover who the thief and the queen are."

Will thought about the people who could possibly go. As far as thieves, Connor or Travis Stoll seemed to be a possibility. Not that he particularly wanted either of them on the quest. It wasn't that Will didn't like them, it was just that he doubted that they'd be too helpful. As far as queens went, who knew?

Piper came through the door. "Will, Jason needs ibuprofen or something."

"I think we've just found our queen," Nico muttered.

Piper's eyes widened. "I'm sorry, did I miss something?"

"Piper, what did Leo always used to call you?" Nico questioned.

"Beauty Queen," she answered, her eyes saddening at the mention of her late friend. "Why?

"It makes sense that she would be the queen," Nico announced. "She would be first in line to help Jason."

As Chiron explained the quest to Piper, leaving out the death part. Her eyebrows furrowed as she weighed the situation. At the end of it, she accepted the quest without hesitation. "If he's really dying, I would go even if I wasn't mentioned I the prophecy. No stopping me."

"Excellent," Chiron said. "Now we've but to find the thief and you can be off. Nico, you said Elise was here."

Nico hesitated before answering. "Yeah, she's… She's in the back."

Chiron left with Rachel in that direction while Piper ran off to help Jason. Nico remained.

"What's wrong with Elise?" Will questioned.

"Nothing's wrong with her. Will, you can't go on this quest. You just heard, you're going to die," Nico pleaded.

Will sighed. "I… I don't have much choice. If I can die saving someone else, that would be the best way to die. For me, anyway. Let's go check on Elise."

"Will—" Nico started.

"Listen, Nico, I don't really want to talk about it. For now, I'm alive, and I've got to stay busy. Let's go check on Elise."

Will walked off towards the back of the infirmary. There was quite a crowd. Annabeth sat next to Percy's bed. Elise stood in the background, twisting her little finger nervously. Chiron was interrogating her.

"How often are you around the infirmary?" Chiron was asking.

"Every other day. I like helping people. It keeps me busy," Elise answered.

"And you say you've never stitched a wound before?"

Elise shook her head. "I have never, before now. Well, I've watched Will do it, but that's it."

Chiron stroked his beard in thought. "Elise, if you were to guess your godly parent, who would you guess?"

Elise shrugged. "I mean, I've thought about it, but to be honest, your guess is as good as mine."

"It makes sense you know," Rachel pointed out. "Apollo was gone before the Giant War, and that's when she came to camp."

"That's very true, Miss Dare," Chiron agreed. He thought a while more. "Elise, I believe your godly parent is Apollo."

Strangely enough, Elise didn't look too shocked. She didn't look to happy. Her face was sort of blank. "Well… Thank you… For telling me, I mean. I should… What should I do, exactly?"

"Well," Chiron said. "How would you like to be in charge of taking care of Mr. Jackson?"

That shocked her. "I, um, I guess I could."

"Very well. He is your responsibility."

Elise looked back at Annabeth, who seemed to be evaluating her. Elise cleared her throat. "I'll do my best."

Then Chiron turned his attention to Annabeth, telling her he was glad she was here, asking her about the manticore attack, etc.

Elise walked over to Will. "Well, as it turns out, we're siblings." She didn't sound very convinced. And to be honest, Will wasn't convinced either.

Will hesitated. "I'm not so sure."

Elise sighed in relief. "Really?"

"Yeah, really. I mean, they seem to be basing your parentage off of the fact that you were able to stitch Percy's wound. Truth be told, I wouldn't have asked you to do it if it wasn't something anyone could do. But for Chiron's sake, let's just go with the whole Apollo kid thing for now."

Elise nodded vigorously. "I can do that." She smiled. "I'll enjoy being your sister, though. For as long as it lasts."

For as long as it lasts… Even if Elise really was the daughter of Apollo, Will would be dead soon.

Will put on a brave face. "Yeah, that'll be fun." There was no need to tell her about the prophecy. There was just a need to find the thief, save Jason Grace's life, and get the quest over with, which would result in his death. No pressure.