Too Late

Chapter 4

~ Will ~

He woke up cold.

Cold.

Freezing in fact.

He opened his eyes to find that he was in his bed, from the window he could see the sunrise. He looked around the room trying to judge how much extra sleep he could get before everyone else woke up. Yes, all the rumors about the children of Apollo waking up as soon as the sun rose where true, but strangely none of those rumors ever said that everyone fell back asleep as soon as they woke up, at least that was the case in the colder months of the year. As he pulled his blanket up to his chin, he spotted Kathrine across the room, waving at him. She put a finger to her lips, she slipped out of bed and walked over to take her place beside him, "You're luck you know." She said quietly.

Will raised his eyebrows, "I am?"

She nodded, "You have Nico and Nico has you."

"Your point?"

She smiled, "He brought you blankets last night," she picked up one to show him, "and I want one." She patted him on the head and returned to her bed, a navy blue blanket trailing behind her.

* * * * * * * 

He waited at the door and silently watched Nico hurry around, trying to find a sweater. Will smiled to himself as he looked down at the bundle of fabric in his hand, "Hey Nico, I brought you something."

"That's nice." came the reply.

Will sighed and walked over to his boyfriend, "Looking for this?" he held up the sweater.

Nico shot him a look as he grabbed it and put it on, "Let's go."

Will let out a laugh, "You know that's my sweater, right?"

Nico didn't miss a beat, "Really? Well, that's too bad." He shrugged, "It's mine now." Will grinned as he wrapped Nico in a hug, and the son of Hades leaned into him, "You're never getting it back." Nico whispered.

* * * * * * * 

Nico walked down the hallway and went into one of the rooms, where he was going to cut bandages. Will was going to follow when Charlie blocked his path, "I need to talk to her."

Will blinked, confused, "Who?"

"Charlotte." She hissed, "We're leaving after lunch, I need to speak with her before I go."

"We?"

"Yes." Charlie gently slapped him on the arm, "Some of your siblings actually go to school, some of us have responsibilities."

"Must be nice."

Charliecrossed her arms, "Wake up." Her voice sent a jolt through his system, every bit of him, every cell, every molecule, was awake and attentive. She raised her eyebrows expectantly, "So?"

"I need to make sure she's still breathing, then yes, you may."

She smiled, "Good. I wasn't gonna let you say no."

She followed Will into the room where Charlotte lay, her eyes were open and she was staring blankly at the ceiling. Abigail sat beside her, holding her hand, whispering her sister's name over and over. She looked up at Will, but before she could say anything Will spoke, "I told you to rest. I know you want to make sure Charlotte's alright, but you won't be much help if you hurt yourself in the process of trying to help her."

Abigail's blue eyes bored into him. And he continued, "What would she want you to do?"

Abigail smiled, "Fine."

Will nodded, "Charlie go with her, come back after." he turned to Charlotte's twin, "I'll send someone if anything happens."

She nodded as Charlie lead her away.

* * * * * * *

The girl's eyes opened, she turned her head to face him, "Where... where's Abigail?" she murmured weakly.

"She's resting." Will said gently, "She stayed with you all night."

Charlotte nodded slowly as Will gently pushed a square of ambrosia into her mouth. The girls eyes rested on his face, then closed. She looked broken, not physically, but mentally. Her spirit was as fragile as a antique glass vase, a vase that was teetering on the edge of a table. Will looked at Charlie desperately, "You need to help her. I've done all I can."

His sister nodded, and Will watched as Charlie knelt beside the girl, "Charlotte. I need to talk to you." Her eye's opened once more, she looked at Charlie and seemed to be losing her grip on reality. "Will, send someone to go get Abigail, then stay out side the room until I say it's okay to come in." Charlie's green eyes were focused on Charlotte's blue ones as she gave her orders to Will. "And send Nico in here. Now." He nodded, even though she couldn't see it, and slipped out of the room.

"Nico!" He called, the son of Hades appeared in the hallway behind him, Will pointed to the room he's just left and Nico's face fell, "Is she?"

"No, it's fine. Everything's fine." Will said, "Charlie wants your help."

Nico nodded and went into the room without another word.

Will ran out of the infirmary, looking for Abigail, he found her sitting on the steps outside, "What are you doing here?" Will questioned.

She looked up, tears streaming down her face, "Is she alright?"

Will hesitated to tell Abigail how close her twin sister was to death. He didn't believe in sugarcoating things, especially deaths and injuries. He didn't want to give her false hope, as much as he wanted to protect her.

When he said nothing Abigail burst into tears, she said nothing but buried her head in his chest and hugged him, he wrapped his arm around her. "It's going to be fine. Charlie's with her, she may be a little insane, but she knows what she's doing." Abigail let out a laugh, then returned to her crying.

He lead her inside. When they reached the room where Charlotte was Abigail stopped, "Can I go in?"

Will shook his head, "Not yet."

"Alright." Abigail leaned against the wall, as tears fell slid down her cheeks and fell onto the floor. Then she smiled. "I can hear her." Will put his ear to the wall and listened too, he could hear Charlie, she was doing all the talking, but he could also sense Charlotte's spirit strengthening, remembering, wanting.

He caught Abigail's eye and they shared a smile. It was going to be just fine.

"I know how it feels." Charlie was saying, "I was there too. There are so many voices that you think your head might explode, the woods are calling to you and you know that you have to save them. The woods are hurting. So are you."

"What is she talking about?" Abigail whispered.

Will shrugged, "Not sure. But her method is if you talk about a problem it can get fixed more easily. I'm not exactly sure. But she's showing Charlotte that she's not alone. That she's going to make it out of this. That she'll be fine." Abigail nodded, as if she understood what Will had just said.

"Right now you have a choice." Charlie said calmly, "You have too paths you can take, you can leave. Give up. And let the voices take over. Or you can stop. You can tell them to stop. I promise that they aren't hurting anymore. Charlotte, you can let the trees control you, let their voices drive you insane or you can turn around right now and help me. You can stay in this life. Because you are a child of Demeter. You. Can. Stop. This." Charlie's last four words were forceful, they held all the power and love that his green eyed sister had in her.

They heard a gasp and Charlie opened the door.