Solangelo 1

Part 19

WILL

Chiron calls the first head councillor meeting since before the fight against Gaia.
Once again, for no reason except pure exhaustion, I sleep in late. I rush to pull on some clothes and run it the cabin, up to the main house.
'Hey, Hi. Sorry I'm late. I had the night shift. Just woke up.' I say, as I open the door and sit in my chair. There are more people than usual.
Percy, Jason and Nico, as the only ones in their cabin, are the self elected head councillors. Annabeth sits beside Percy, their shoulders just touching.
Nico sits on the sofa, this being his first time in a meeting. He blends into the shadows, but I still see him. I keep glancing back at him, checking he's still there.
'No worries, William. But now you're here, we should talk about your father.' I freeze, look up at Chiron.
'What do you know?' I say, unable to hide the hope in my voice.
'Nothing set. Just my assumptions. But I fear if he doesn't turn up soon we'll have to send a quest.' Chiron says, looking round the room.
'I just want to say this now,' Percy says, 'I'm out. No more quests for me. I need to see my mum, I want to have a life.'
'Same goes for me.' Annabeth says, taking hold of Percy's hand, 'if there's no one else. Then okay. But I don't...I can't...' usually so eloquent with her words, Annabeth is unable to say anything more. I sometimes forget that she, too, went into Tartarus. Percy has an obvious tint to him, a change. But I forget so easily with Annabeth; she seems like her old self.
'Of course.' Chiron says, 'we are at a unanimous decision hat you have done more than your due. Take however long you need. The offer extends to Piper, Jason and you Nico.' He says, looking to Nico on the sofa, 'and anyone else who believes they are not ready.'
'Uh, Chiron.' Rachel says, perking up from where she stands behind Chiron, 'slight issue. I haven't really...since Apollo went awol. Uh, I can't do prophecies. I can't get anything. Nothing. It's driving me crazy.'
'You mean, the power of Delphi has left you?' Chiron asks, instantly alert.
'Not left...just super unhelpful.' She says, 'there can't be a quest without a prophecy. And I can't give prophecies.'
'So what happens to my dad? Is he alive? What does that mean?' I ask, frustrated with the lack of progress.
'Will, all we can do is wait. It's only been two weeks. He might just be taking a long hiatus.' Chiron says. All eyes are on me.
'So we're going to do nothing?' I ask, looking around the room. I avoid Nico's gaze.
'Will, there is nothing-' Chiron starts.
'Bullshit.' I say, 'you all know that if Zeus went missing, or Poseidon, you'd all send for help straight away. My brothers and sisters have been working without break since the end of the war, we go for twelve hour shifts and then sleep for five hours until our next shift.'
'What do I tell them?' I ask, my voice catching a little, 'we've already lost Olivia. I'll go on a quest. This is...Gods. I'm sorry. Okay. I'm just going to...I'm just going to go.' I say, pushing my chair back, and walking out of the room.
I hear Clarissa say my name, but I ignore her. Everyone else stays silent.
I get half way back to my cabin when I stop. I can't go back to my siblings, they'll be expecting answers. And I know they're just as worried about him as I am.
Frustration wells inside me and I go to punch the nearest thing, which happens to be a tree. My knuckles are grazed and my fingers ache. There's a little blood.
'Whoa there, I thought I was meant to be the violent one.' Nico says, coming up behind me. He has his hands up, in a sort of surrender, 'don't hit. Let me see.'
He takes my hand in his. Inspects it.
'This is going to sting for weeks. Never punch a tree. I learnt that one the hard way.' He says.
'You punched a tree?' I ask, unable to think of anything else to say.
He points up to Thalia's tree, the Golden Fleece hanging on its branches.
'When my sister left with Artemis' hunters,' He says, 'I was angry to say the least.'
'Right.' I say, staring at the tree.
'We'll find your dad.' He says, taking a blue strip of cloth he has tied around his wrist to bandage my hand. We could easily go to the infirmary, but I let him, 'my dad's gotten good at answering lately. I'll talk to him, see what happened.'
'You don't have to.' I say quickly. I am aware that any contact with Hades could take Nico away from me.
'It's no problem.' He says, 'but for now, you're going to take a break.'
'I need to get back to the infirmary.' I say.
'No. Annabeth's taking over this shift. You're coming with me.' He says, 'I'm going to teach you Italian.'