Chapter Text
Will Solace was sitting in the back of his mom’s car, somewhere he hadn’t been for years. Worst of all, he was sitting next to someone who he was pretty sure hated him, his step-sister.
It all started with a letter.
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Will was at camp with Nico. They had the whole camp to themselves since everyone went away. The two were together in the Apollo cabin. Nico was reading a book, whilst resting his head on Will’s lap, and Will was playing with Nico’s hair.
The letter came unexpectedly. They were just sitting down and relaxing, and suddenly Hermes appeared with the letter in his hands. He asked for Will to sign a paper that said he had gotten the letter and disappeared as quickly as he appeared.
Will had taken the letter, and it read as follows:
Will, my lovely son.
My tour just finished, and I was wondering if you would join me for the Christmas holidays at your Uncle Bruce’s house. I have someone I want you to meet, and you can finally get the white Christmas you always wanted.
Love, Naomi.
Will was reading the letter over and over again. Trying to make sense of it. It wasn’t as if he couldn’t read the letter, no. He understood it perfectly fine. What he didn’t understand was the fact that his mom was asking him to join her on holiday. Ever since Will came to the camp when he was ten, he had only once been with his mom during a holiday, or anytime.
That one time, their time together had been cut short because of an iris message he received from his half-sister, Alice. She was panicking because no one with healing powers was currently at camp, so she called Will, and Will went over to the camp and healed a huntress named Phoebe.
It was at that moment Will knew that he never could leave again. After all, what would be the risk that came with leaving? He had been thrust into a life he didn’t want, but a life that he had to live. And with that life came the simple fact that he was a healer. No matter how much he himself was hurting, he still had to show up. He didn’t have the privilege to take time off.
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As he watched the buildings and the streets go by, hearing the sound of horns beeping and his mom’s singing. He felt, well, he felt alien.
Even when he had gone on the NYC subway with Nico during their quest to Tartarus, he felt out of place. Even more so now that he wasn’t on a quest.
The question that lingered in his head is a constant one: would he ever fit into the mortal world?
It was something he had been questioning for ages. His childhood, even before camp, was unusual to say the least. He and his mom were constantly travelling, and he rarely ever went to school. Then when he joined camp, he was practically trained to a child soldier.
His whole life was weird and unusual, and it was highlighted earlier that day when he met his step-sister, Maddie.
He remembered when they met, and it was an…interesting conversation.
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Will stepped out of the taxi and was thrust into the mortal world. He saw his mom waving at him. Her long, dark brown curls were tied up into a ponytail, and she was wearing a beat-up Kelly Clarkson shirt and jeans. A man was standing beside her that Will didn’t recognize. He had light brown hair and chocolatey brown eyes. He appeared to be around his forties. He was good-looking and was dressed in a black turtleneck sweater and dark blue jeans.
He was tall, taller than his mom but not much taller than Will, who was six foot two.
Will looked at him and his mom, and he saw how close they stood together, and he knew. He knew that they were together.
He saw a girl, about twelve, standing next to them and holding what Will could only assume was a phone. She had the same hair and eyes as the man beside her, and when she looked up, she looked at him with an expression he hadn’t seen in years: disgust.
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Will sighed as he looked out the window. It was no use dawdling in the past, even if the so-called past was a few hours prior. He watched as the sun went down, listening to his mother’s sweet voice and sitting comfortably in the car. He should have felt safe, but as always, when night grew closer, a sense of unease spread across his body.
He felt every hair on his body raise, his eyes darting around as he felt a wave of fear-induced adrenaline coursing through him. It was like this every time, as the dark curtain of night fell and the stars began to shine. He soon grew to fear the coming of the night, especially after his trip to the depths of the underworld, where he met Nyx.
A silent threat had been made as soon as they dared to fight the goddess; when night came, they would be fearful. Fearing of what could come to them now that they were in the goddess’s domain.
Will watched as they pulled into a driveway of a mansion. The house was grand and luxurious. It was something that Will only thought he would see in movies.
His mom emerged from the car, and his now-stepdad followed. His step-sister did the same, but Will stayed.
A little voice in his head was telling him that something was off about the house. He could sense the presence of someone that might not be human. He could feel that everlasting aura that death left encircling the house.
It was strong and potent; his senses had been heightened ever since his visit to Tartarus. He gripped the handle of the inner part of the car door. He wouldn’t leave. Night had already fallen, and going into a house with such sureness that tragedy had arisen there was not something that a reasonable person would do.
The aura of death wasn’t the most peculiar thing about the mansion, oh no no no. It was the fact that there was also an aura of rebirth and life. To Wills best guess, someone in that house died and came back to life, and those were forces he refused to deal with.
The idea of wandering into a strange mansion brought back memories of Nyx’s mansion. He hadn’t really seen it, well he had. For a small period of time. He saw the inky walls that moved as the beetles that made the house up shifted, the sheer horror that was the mansion. He remembered the pit calling out of him, the voice telling him to jump. He knew better than to jump, of course, but there was still a small part of him that left tempted to. To see what would happen if he did jump off the narrow bridge.
He looked out the car window and saw his mom looking worried, his step dad looking confused and Maddie, his ‘darling’ step-sister looking disgusted. Forcing himself to take a deep breath Will slowly got out of the car, but not before making sure he had his dagger on him. After the whole Tartarus incident he now always had his weapon on him. He wriggled uncomfortably in his clothing; he had been forced to wear a suit and it was awful for him.
Will had never worn anything like the suit and it wasn’t a pleasant experience. He was used to being free and comfortable in the clothes he bore, this was just plain uncomfortable. He slowly but surely walked along with his now family to the front door of the mansion.
The walk was one on silence. Not a comfortable silence but not an awkward one either, it was one that just simply was there.
Naomi walked up the stairs and knocked on the door, a man who was around forty and in a sharp black suit greeted them. He seemed tired and battle worn. It was a look Will had seen before in the older campers, the ones that had survived.
The weariness in the shoulders but still tense with eyes that seemed to be aware of every single little detail. It was the look of someone who had been through many battles and hardships. Will didn’t even have to talk to him to be filled with a respect for the older man. After all, that is what he had been taught. Respect those who managed to make it out alive.
They walked into the mansion and there was a group of people sitting around a grand oak table.