"Nico! Hand me some bandages, will you?"
"On it!" Nico tossed him a roll of bandages while still focusing on a camper with a broken leg. It was out of place, so in one quick motion, he set it.
Will looked around the infirmary and realized just how chaotic everything was. There were campers lying everywhere. Some had injuries while others were still sick with hay fever, though almost everyone with hay fever had been cured.
As Will was working, Nico came up from behind him. "Alright, Lilah's leg is doing better, I just-" He cut himself off.
"What is it?" Will asked.
Nico looked down at Will's hands. "Your hands. They're shaking. Are you okay?"
Will sat down in a nearby chair and Nico plopped down next to him. Will let out a shaky breath. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just trying to wrap my head around the fact that my dad is mortal and is almost the same age as me."
Nico nodded. "Yeah, that really is crazy."
"I'm just scared, you know? First it was the communications that went down, then Cecil disappeared, and then my dad strolls into camp in the body of a 16 year old boy with no powers and completely vulnerable."
"He's not completely vulnerable. He's got Meg."
Will put his hands in his lap. "He did, until she betrayed him."
Nico didn't say anything for a minute. "That's true, yes. But I've betrayed someone before. I'm not saying it was the right thing to do, but I did it, and that doesn't necessarily mean I was bad, it was just something I felt like I had to do at the time. Sure, I regret it. But she's young and confused, just like how I was. I have a feeling everything's going to be fine with those two."
"I hope you're right. I just don't want him to be alone."
"Yeah. Being alone isn't so great."
Will scoffed. "I could've told you that years ago."
"I don't think anyone could've gotten through to me back then. I was in a self-imposed exile. I didn't think I deserved anyone."
"Well I'm glad you got past that."
"Me too." He got back up and walked over to some of the campers in the infirmary. Will was impressed how well he was doing at helping them all.
After taking a couple of deep breaths, Will got up to go check up on some of the patients. Damien White was still lying in the bed next to Chiara's. He had told Damien multiple times that there was nothing wrong with him. No injuries or sickness, but he kept insisting that he didn't feel well. He was a bad liar.
After dismissing a couple of campers from the infirmary, Nico convinced Will to go to bed. He tried to refuse, but the two boys made a compromise. If Will went to bed, Nico would as well.
Once Will got back to his cabin, he decided to take a shower. While washing his hair, he thought about everything that had happened in the last couple of days.
One moment, Nico and Will were talking on the porch of the Big House. The next, he was rushing over to help the guy who passed out.
Once he was hauled into the infirmary, Will turned to the young girl the guy came with. A few campers including Nico stood next to Will and all turned to look at the girl, as well.
"Hey, what happened?"
The girl looked to be around 12, but she was short. She wore a green dress with leggings, and she had a serious expression behind her rhinestone glasses. "Lester here started hallucinating in the forest and I had to drag him out and save his butt."
"Lester? That's who this guy is?"
"Yep. That or Apollo, I guess."
Will's hands stopped in midair. "What do you mean, Apollo?"
"You know, the god of the sun and all that. Aren't you guys supposed to know this kind of stuff?" The girl said.
"Yeah, I know who Apollo is. He's my dad."
"Oh." The girl didn't seem surprised.
"So you're saying this guy is my dad?" Will said, pointing to the teenage boy. Though there was nothing wrong with the boy's appearance, Will was sure Apollo wouldn't want to look like that.
"Are you sure? Apollo hasn't been heard from in 6 months."
She shrugged. "It's him."
"Well, why are you guys here? How is he hurt? How does he know you?" Will ran a hand through his blonde hair. "And who are you?"
"Meg. We're here because Lester said this was a safe place. I met him when I found him in a dumpster."
"Okay Meg, why do you keep calling him Lester?"
She shrugged again. "Said it on his ID. Lester said he was kicked out of Olympus and now he's bound to me. He's got to do what I say." Meg pointed a finger to herself.
"Alright, Meg. How about you settle in, okay?" Will turned to one of the campers next to him. "Can you please take Meg to see Chiron?"
Will turned to look at Nico, fear in his eyes. "You heard what the girl said? I'm not imagining this?"
Nico looked just as surprised as Will. "Yeah, I heard what she said. Looks like we have a problem on our hands."
Will stepped out of the shower. He still couldn't believe his dad was mortal. What was that supposed to mean? Will sighed. It wasn't 6 months ago that they had stopped Gaea from rising. Now this? Will was afraid this was going to be the start of another war. And there was going to be more sacrifice.