In Time {Solangelo}

~ Will ~

He got out of the car and made his way to the door, before he was up the stairs it flew open and his sister raced out. She bounded down the stairs and hugged him, "YOURE BACK!" He laughed and picked her up.

Behind him, his step-father grinned and passed Will his backpack. Lyra clung to him as he made his way up the front steps and inside. The smell of home greeted him and he couldn't have felt happier. He was home.

His mom hugged him longer than Lyra had, but he didn't care. He was home. Lyra dragged him to her room and showed him all her new things. After dinner he put his sister to bed as his mom waited for him in the living room. He sat down beside her, "I'm finally home." She nodded, her blue eyes sparkling.

"I wish you could come more often." She said.

Will nodded, "I wish I could too... but I just can't. I'm lucky not to be so powerful that I get hunted down by monsters."

The corners of his mother's mouth crinkled, "You could take that one of two ways." They shared a smile. "When Lyra asked me to check under her bed for monsters I wanted to laugh." His mom smiled at him, "You did that too Will."

He shrugged, "That's not the point."

His mom laughed again, "I'm glad youre back, even if it's just for a few days."

Will nodded, "I'm happy to be here."

His mom's expression got serious, "What happened at camp... with the war?"

He didn't want to talk about it but his mom had a right to know. As Will explained his mom's expression got stormy. Half way through his explanation her blue eyes darkened, "The what?"

"The Athena Parthenos."

Her eyes grew wide, his mom had wanted to do something involving Greek history if her music career hadn't worked out, it had, but she still loved all the stories and she knew almost everything on the subject. "The Athena Parthenos? All the way from Greece to New York, just to prevent a war... that's amazing."

Will nodded, "I know."

"How did they do it?"

Will explained about the son of Hades and how he had shadow traveled halfway across the world. "He nearly killed himself in the process..." Will added his voice trailing off.

His mom studied him, "You know him?"

"Him who?"

"The son of Hades."

Will felt his mouth go dry, he managed to nod, "Ya, he's a... friend of mine."

His mom smiled, oblivious to Will's sudden mood. "Were you two friends before?"

Will shrugged, "Not exactly... I mean we made eye contact a few times... but he was always trying to distance himself from the other campers, being the son of Hades he was convinced that no one wanted to be his friend or something stupid like that." Will's voice hardened, "He's just so freaking dense..." His voice trailed off as he caught his mom's eye, she was laughing.

"I can tell you care about him."

Will shrugged again, "I guess."

His mom smiled, "Well, what happened next?"

Will told her, he explained about Coach Hedge and his baby, he talked about seeing Nico while scouting the Romans. He told his mom about everything, including Octavian.

His mom's face was sad, "You did the right thing, letting the augur die." She was Will's expression and hurried on, "I'm not saying it was good. I'm saying it was right. The son of Hades was right, there was no stopping that..." she shook her head, "that boy."

"I know." Will continued with his story, he told about Leo and then he stopped. "That's the whole story." he said, that was the truth, his mom had said the war specifically, not 'what happened with the war and after?'

"What happened after?" She asked.

"Well... lots of stuff..."

His mom laughed, "You can tell me later. Now get to bed, Lyra has quite a lot planned for you tomorrow." Will stood and kissed his mom on the forehead, "Love you."

She ruffled his hair, "Love you too."

* * *

He opened the door to his room to find it just as he had left it last time. The walls were still the same buttercream yellow, his books sat on his desk, the posters tacked up on his walls where the same ones he'd had had ever since he could remember. The curtains were open, letting in the last rays of sun. His bedspread was, as always, a light blue. His bed side table was stacked with medical books, his first real stethoscope was hanging above his door frame. It was perfect. Every little thing was perfect. Will thought as he sunk into his bed, except for maybe one thing... the one tiny little fact that he missed Nico di Angelo.