DESTINY ↳ WILL SOLACE

17. We Shop for Water Beds

"What?"

"If that thing in the pit isn't Hades..." Then Will seemed to remember himself because he shook his head. "No. It has to be Hades. You saw the spirits of the dead, and there's only one place they can be. The Underworld has to be the answer. So he sent this thief to get the bolt, but something went wrong—we don't know what—and he failed to bring it to Hades. That would explain why the Furies were after us." Then he frowned. "But that doesn't explain why they attacked us when we're going to them anyway."

"But I wouldn't be going to the Underworld if I wasn't looking for the bolt."

"Unless you had it in your possession," Grover said. "Hades probably thinks you'll use it to threaten, bribe, or blackmail him to get your mom back."

"But even with the bolt accounted for," Will added, "there's still the issue of the second object. Nobody else reported any thefts."

"Unless they were too scared," Percy said. "Or didn't think anybody would help them anyway. Or whatever was stolen is even more dangerous than the bolt and the gods didn't want it getting out."

Will looked frustrated, shaking his head, as if angry with himself for not having figured everything out. Percy knew what everybody was thinking—somehow, even if the Underworld was the answer, Hades wasn't. There was something even darker at play, something more dangerous, but they didn't have time to figure it out. They had just over a day to find the bolt and return it. If Hades didn't have it, it would be too late.

"Percy..." Will hesitated. "That voice, that servant's voice... are you sure you don't remember it?"

She shook her head. "No. Why?"

"Because... well..." He shot a look at Grover, and Percy realized what he was about to say before he said it. "I was thinking it might be Luke."

Grover sighed loudly. "Will—"

"It's just a theory," Will countered. "I'm not saying it is. But he was there, he had access to Annabeth's cap, and it's obvious he hates the gods."

Percy didn't want to believe it either. Even with Will making so many good points against him, Luke had been one of the first people to make her feel welcomed. He had been kind to her when he didn't need to be, pushed her to do her best, brushed off all the whispers about her...

She tried to think back to the voice. It did sound like Luke's, she conceded, but if she thought hard enough, it sounded like Will or Grover's too. Even her own. There was no use in trying to reach for a memory that just wasn't there.

"I don't know," she said at last. "Maybe. I don't remember."

Will must've noticed the frustration in her voice. "It's okay. We'll figure it out later."

He tried for a convincing smile, but even his normally-cheerful attitude couldn't cover the anxious look in his eyes. There was something he wasn't telling her, something that seemed to scare him more than Hades... She remembered the absolute terror on his face when she had suggested it. Percy decided she didn't want to know what, or who, could scare even Will.

As they sat in silence, Percy thought back to the conversation she had with Will, through the Iris-message—about how Camp Half-Blood was becoming the battleground of Troy all over again. Had the campers outright declared sides, or was it composed of unspoken alliances? Were fights breaking out, or were Mr D and Chiron able to keep the campers mostly in check?

A sudden thought struck her and she snuck a glance at Will, frowning. If Athena was backing Zeus and Apollo Poseidon, that meant Annabeth and Will would be on opposite sides. Annabeth, one of Will's best friends. Even if Percy didn't love the girl, she still felt a rush of guilt—it wasn't her fault Olympian justice made no sense, but she didn't want to deprive Will of another friend. Not when he had admitted to her that he didn't trust very many of them.