Out of the Shadows: A Solangelo Fanfiction

Chapter 14: Technical Difficulties

   The day after everyone that decided to go home left, there were only about 20 campers left, and 4 campers from the Apollo cabin. Will, Austin Lake, Kayla Knowles, and Brooke Moore. The Apollo cabin was pretty empty without everyone else.

   Will sat on his bed and thought about what Lou Ellen told him. "Hey, make sure to let us know when you finally get with Nico. We'll want to know all the details."

   Will shook his head. Those two could be so annoying sometimes.

   Then he ran after her as she was walking up the hill. "Wait!" He had called. "I guess if I managed to start dating him, I'll tell you, but how do I even ask him out?! I've never been in a relationship before! What am I supposed to do!"

   Cecil just shrugged and smirked. That seemed to be his way of things. "I don't know, Will! I've never been in a relationship before, either."

   Will sighed. "You sure are a help, Cecil. Goodbye, Lou."

   His talk with the two just left him more confused than ever. He really liked Nico, but what if him admitting it made him stop hanging out with Will? If it was a choice being his friend but not his boyfriend vs. nothing at all, he would gladly take the first option. But what did he even have to offer? He was only okay with a bow, his only musical talents consisted of guitar and whistling and couplet cursing, and yeah he was good at healing and calming people down, but doctor skills aren't useful on the battlefield. What was all that compared to Nico's skills? He could go on and on about Nico's abilities.

   Brooke walked into the cabin and plopped herself onto Will's bed. "What's wrong, big brother?"

   "Oh, you know, the usual. Moping over my lack of talents and thinking about how I'm nothing compared to Nico and who would actually want to date a loser like me."

   "Will! Nico is literally a son of the big three, of course he has more talents than you! And for what it's worth, I'd rather have your talents than just being able to be really good at archery and singing good."

   Will smiled weakly. "Thanks, Brooke. You're always really helpful."

   "Of course I am! Anyways, how many people have you told about your crush on Nico?"

   "Um, just you, Daisy, Kayla, Austin, Lou Ellen, and Cecil. And my mom doesn't know I have a crush on anybody, but I did come out to her on a visit when I was 12."

   Brooke laughed. "You have a loud mouth, don't you?"

   "I guess I do, huh?"

   Brooke was about to say something when Nico came to the door.

   "Hey, what's up, Nico?" Will asked him.

   Nico looked like he had just been running. "Chiron needs to see you. He needs to see all of the cabin counselors, or the ones that are honorary counselors while the other one is away for the school year. Immediately."

   "What? Why?"

   "I don't know. He just told me to come get you and the other counselors."

   Brooke looked at Will. "Go."

   Finally, after everyone was rounded up in the rec room of the Big House, Chiron came inside, wheelchair form. In all, there was Sherman Yang from the Ares cabin, Miranda Gardiner from the Demeter cabin, Connor Stoll for Hermes, Paolo Montes for Hebe, Chiara Benvenuti for Tyche, Damien White for Nemesis, Malcolm Pace for Athena, Nyssa Berrera for Hephaestus, Holly and Laurel Victor for Nike, Drew Tanaka for Aphrodite, Nico for Hades, and more.

   "Hello, everyone. Thank you for coming as soon as you could. I have bad news for everyone."

   Some of the counselors started whispering to each other.

   "Quiet, please. As you all know, demigods are supposed to stay away from technology. It causes monster attacks. Well, even though we rarely use phones and computers and such, it seems whenever a demigod tries to use one, it breaks. Which isn't too strange, but also, Iris Messages are no longer going through. Even emails don't work. Satyrs aren't coming back or contacting us. We are no longer even in contact with Camp Jupiter. And worst of all, prophecies are still no longer being spoken and we have lost all contact to the god Apollo. We do not know what happened to him after he, um, got in trouble with Zeus. Hopefully we'll know more when Rachel comes to visit us at Christmas break."

   There were collective gasps, and everyone turned to stare at Will.

   "Oh, come on! It hasn't even been a month since we defeated Gaea!" Someone yelled.

   "Alright everyone, calm down." Will said. Even Nico looked panicked.

   "Well, what are we supposed to do? What does this mean?" Miranda asked.

   "Good questions that I sadly cannot answer." Chiron replied. "All we can do at this time is wait for a sign. With no prophecies, we cannot send out a quest, so we must stay patient. Meeting adjourned."

   Nico was the first one out the door. Will had to run to keep up with him.

   "Nico, what's wrong?" Nico kept walking.

   Will grabbed his arm and turned him around to face Will. He was surprised to see the fear in his eyes. "Nico?"

   "I-I'm just worried about my sister. Hazel. I haven't seen her since the day the Romans left. I hope she's alright. Reyna and Frank, too."

   "I'm sure they're fine. If we're having technology issues, they probably are, too. I wouldn't worry too much."

   "You're right. I'm sure she's fine."

   Nico began to walk away, but Will stopped him. "Oh! I almost forgot! Before Piper left, I asked if she could do you a favor."

   Nico raised an eyebrow.

   "She got 2 of the Aphrodite campers to make a plan to change the decorations of your cabin since I know you don't like it. Drew wasn't included, by the way. They should be ready to decorate your cabin by tomorrow!"

   Nico's jaw was slightly ajar. "Wow. Thanks, Will."

   He grinned. "No problem! Ah, here's Mitchell now! He'll probably show you the blueprints, see if you like them."

   Before Nico could say anything else, Will ran off back to his cabin so he could squeal over the adorable face Nico had made when he heard the news.