Solangelo 2

Part 45

WILL

Annabeth and I spend over an hour going back and forth through Central Park. We keep coming across things we've already seen, places we've already been.
'She must be using some kind of magic. We can't have been here already, I've been keeping track of our direction, we can't be here.'
'You think she is? Using magic I mean.' I ask, following her as she sits on a bench and starts to do up her laces.
'Almost definitely. I mean, how many times have you run into a god when they don't want you to find them?'
'Never.' I say.
'Right. If she wanted to see us, she would have shown herself by now.'
'So you're saying we should give up?'
'No.' She says quickly, 'no, not at all. Just regroup. It's almost been an hour anyway, we said we'd meet up after then. Hopefully someone else has been luckier than us.'
'You're probably right.' I say reluctantly, 'I mean, it'll probably take us an hour to find our way back.'
'Gods. I didn't even think about that.' She sighs, standing and leading the way.
Somehow it only takes us a matter of minutes to find our starting point. Annabeth sits on the ground, visibly tired. I guess no one's been sleeping much recently.
Just as I'm about to initiate a conversation, Percy and Reyna appear.
'Hey! Hey, we found her! We found Persephone!' He says, rushing to Annabeth and helping her stand.
'What? Where is she? Will she help?' She asks quickly.
'She says she will. She says she'll do what she can.' Percy explains.
'And she gave us this.' Reyna says, holding out her hand. A small, blue orb sits in her palm, 'She says whoever's holding it when she activated it will appear alongside her. So when she goes down to the underworld in three days, she'll activate it. So one of us can help bring Nico back. He'll be weak.'
'So Will should go.' Annabeth says, looking over to me.
'I mean, I don't want to be cocky but I agree.' I say, 'not that you all wouldn't be able to do it, it's just, if he's weak, or injured, or anything, I'm the best person for that. If we were expecting a fight, then obviously it wouldn't be me, but we're not.'
'Take it.' Reyna says, passing it carefully over to me, 'we all trust you to bring him back. We wouldn't have come this close if not for you.'
I hold onto it tightly, scared to let go and lose it. The others quickly come back and we don't waste much time before Jason takes us back up in the air. Reyna lends him a lot of her energy, as he's still tired from the last trip.
Percy remains rigid the entire journey back, his face a pale white, muttering to himself. From time to time I pass him a bit of ambrosia and he takes it and eats it quickly, never opening his eyes.
When we land, we all mill about slightly, unsure what to do next. The idea of waiting for three days is torture. We all want a way to be useful now. But soon we're all dragged off on different errands. Annabeth sitting a fight between her two younger siblings, Percy retrieving a girl's necklace from the bottom of the lake.
I make my way to the infirmary with Jason and Reyna, where I insist both of them need to lie down for a bit to recover their energy. Neither of them have the energy to disagree.
'Will, we have a fracture over here, do you mind?' Abigail, one of my youngest siblings, asks when I'm in the infirmary. I, on instinct, agree, then realise I'm still holding the orb.
'I'm, Abi, how about you give this one a go? I'll watch over, so you can ask questions if you need. I've just...uh, hurt my hand. So can't use it right now.' I say.
'Really?! You trust me?' She asks.
'Of course. You've been helping or here for months. You can do it no problem.' I say, walking over with her. I spend the next few hours, and days, with Abigail, teaching her, and letting her help out in place of me. She never questions my injured hand, or why I haven't just healed myself. I think she's too caught up in finally getting to help people herself to realise.
On the third day, I'm barely able to concentrate. She asks questions three times before I can think of the reply. My attention keeps drifting to the orb.
The others have made a group watch so someone's always with me when he orb activates. I have a bag with me at all times with medicine and ambrosia, anything I might need. And Nico's sword is beside me constantly so I can grab it and take it with me, just in case.
I'm helping Abigail when my hand starts to heat up. A burning sensation.
'Percy?' I call out, and he's by my side in a second. He passes me Nico's sword and secured my bag.
'You're good. You got this.' He says, looking at me, a slight panic in his eyes, 'just get Nico, and get out of there, okay?'
'Okay. Okay.' I say, 'I got this.'
'You got this.' He says, and I burn up on the spot.