Too Late

Chapter 11

~ Will ~

A WEEK AND A HALF LATER

Will woke up alone in his cabin, he stared at the ceiling for awhile until a knock came at the door, it opened before he could respond. Nico stood there, "Head counselor meeting, let's go." His dragged him out of bed and gave him an apple.

"Where were you?"

"I had to go talk to Chiron."

* * *

They all sat around the ping pong table, quiet and still. Waiting for Chiron to come in, he had called a meeting for all head counselors. So here they all were, or most of them anyway.

Connor Stoll, looking lonely, representing the Hermes Cabin. Both Sybil and Drew for cabin ten, Aphrodite, because Piper was still looking for Leo with Jason. Calynn standing in for Clovis. Himself for Apollo, Nico on behalf of cabin thirteen, Hades. Miranda, Nyssa, Sherman Yang, Lue Ellen and all the rest as usual.

Chiron came in with a grave expression on his face, he was in his wheelchair. He rolled to a stop in front of the ping pong table. "Heros." He said, as if that one word was enough to set thing right once more. "We have a problem."

Connor looked up, "Really? When don't we have a problem?"

Sybil nudged him, "You're not helping."

"I wasn't trying to." Connor shot back.

Sybil opened her mouth to retort but Will cut in, "Sybil. Connor. Stop it."

Connor rolled his eyes and continued to mess around with the ping pong ball he was holding. Will felt bad for him, Travis had just left for college, so for once in his life Connor Stoll was all alone. He had Sybil, who was his girlfriend, but he'd never had to live without his older brother before.

Chiron cleared his throat and continued to speak, "The problem is with the woods, as you may have noticed... we've stopped capture the flag for the time being."

"And started sending us into the maze for stupid golden apples." Someone grumbled.

Chiron pretended not to hear, "There is a reason for this." The old trainer said, "And a good one at that." He nodded at Nico, who pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket.

"First off, communication isn't what it used to be, Iris messages aren't working the same way as they used to." A few people nodded.

"Dreams aren't as clear as they could be." Calynn looked up, "No dream visions, not many at least."

Nico nodded, "And no new campers."

Most of the demigods nodded, as if understanding the problem. But Drew wasn't so easily convinced, "So? It's not like new half bloods come every day. Not having any new ones for a few months isn't something to worry about."

Nico arched an eyebrow, "Really? Even with the pact we made with the Romans, that they would come and visit? We've had no word from them."

"It's totally possible that they just forgot." Drew contered.

"I know Reyna." Nico said, "She wouldn't just forget."

Drew scoffed, "If you think you know your girlfriend so well..." She stopped, realizing what she had just said. The daughter of Aphrodite didn't apologize, she simply turned red in the face as Nico smirked at her, "If you're going to insult someone, insult them properly." He reached for Will's hand and he gladly took it, Nico's hand was a little cold, as always, but Will didn't care about that, he never did.

Nico turned back to the group, he still had a cute little smirk on his face, "And on top of all that, we have reason to believe that... The woods," Nico said darkly, "Are alive."

Someone laughed, "What kind of story is that?"

Nico made eye contact, "We live in myths and legends, stories too. How about you hear what I have to say before questioning my words."

The camper nodded, and Will felt strangely proud of Nico, standing up for himself.

Nico unfolded the paper, it was the letter from Charlie. Before reading it he looked up at the group, he looked each person in the eyes one by one, "How many of you knew about Charlie, a daughter of Apollo coming out of the woods, injured and hurt, murmuring strange words."

One by one people raised their hands, "And what about Charlotte Oribs?"

Nods all around the table.

"Any others?"

No one spoke.

Nico nodded, as if he expected that, "Well, there is one other. They disappeared about two years ago... A child of Nemesis. But the difference was... they never came back."

Connor Stoll looked up, "Shelby Lancaster?"

Nico nodded, "Yes."

"I thought they joined the Titans."

"That was what people said, but there was no evidence. Shelby just disappeared at the wrong time, other campers were doing the same thing, leaving without a word and never coming back. Not until the war was over. But Shelby never did."

"They could have died." Someone suggested.

Sybil shook her head, "No, Shelby was never with the Titans, I would have known."

Drew smirked, "I wonder why?"

Will shot her a look, "Drew, I'm sure we would all like you a whole lot more if you stopped talking."

Connor nodded, "I second that."

Drew's face hardened, but she stopped talking.

"Now," Nico said, as if nothing had happened, "I'm going to read something to you."

The son of Hades cleared his throat and began. "When I was taken by the woods I hear voices, so many voices. They were calling to me, begging for help but I didn't know what was going on. It was all too much. I bet that's what happened to Charlotte. She was drawn there by her emotions, she probably wanted something. I did too... And about two years ago there was another demigod who went missing, a child of Nemesis. But the difference was they never came back. I don't want that to happen again. I already told Chiron about my theory of the woods. He understands, that's why he asked Harley to start with the labyrinth training thing. I know it seems a lot harder and dangerous but whatever is in the woods is even worse."

He looked up to see everyone's reactions. Later he would agree with Will that they were, indeed, priceless.