After his rather dramatic introduction, Will Solace instantly started integrating himself into the camp. He wasn't actually as rude as he had first appeared, but he was a bit of a diva. It seemed like he had just wanted to have a memorable first impression, and after that he started being his real self.

And who was his real self?

Well, to be honest, I had a hard time figuring that out myself. He was sweet, but sassy. He was honest, but not always in a nice way. I spent at least a month trying to figure him out, but he was a complicated guy, so I gave up pretty fast and found that we had become pretty good friends.

One spring morning, Will and I decided to do some whittling together to pass time. Will was definitely new at this, so I suggested he start with something easy, like the sun. He had been claimed by Apollo as soon as he had gotten to camp (he was one of the lucky ones), and he was already very proud of his parentage. He was clearly a born healer, and he wasn't bad with a bow and arrow either.

Following his lead of making something about his parent, I decided to carve a little owl. Maybe I could paint it and give it to someone as a gift. Luke's birthday was coming up-

I stopped that thought in its tracks. I hadn't been letting myself think about Luke recently. It made things so much easier to just pretend he wasn't causing problems in my life. Skye had tried to get me to talk about it a few times, but I always shut it down. Eventually she got the message that I didn't want to talk about it, and so did Grover, who Luke had also been drifting away from.

The whole time Will and I worked, we chatted. We made fun of Clarisse a little bit, he gave me an update on the Drew situation (she had expressed her interest in him the day he had shown up and hadn't dropped it since), and I told him the story of the time Grover fell in love with a blueberry bush.

We were having a good time, but then I remembered something I had wanted to ask since he first got here. "Hey, Will?" I asked while he was whittling away at a stubborn corner.

"Mmm?" he responded, not looking up.

"Why did it take so long for Steven to bring you back? Was it him, or did something happen on the way?"

Will sighed heavily and put down his half-constructed sun. I could tell I was in for a dramatic retelling. "All right, fine," he said begrudgingly. "I wasn't going to tell anyone this because it's pretty stupid and embarrassing, but..." he broke off, looking away.

"Will," I scolded. "Come on."

"Fine," he groaned. "I got us arrested."

"What?" I exclaimed, setting down my misshapen owl. "How?"

"Well..." Will began slowly. "When Steven first came to get me, he gave me a knife to use until we got to camp. He said a lot of demigods got attacked on their way to camp and he wanted me to be armed. No monsters bothered us the whole trip, but when we got to the airport to fly back to New York..." he rolled his eyes and sighed.

"What did you do?" I moaned, exasperated.

"Nothing much. I just kind of... put the knife in my carry-on," Will admitted, not meeting my eyes.

"What?" I asked. The story wasn't nearly as bad as he had built it up to be, but still, no one could be that stupid.

"Yeah," he said. "So I went to the gate and put my bag on the conveyor belt, and the next thing I knew we were being handcuffed and brought into one of those airport security rooms you see on TV. It was crazy. They asked us all these questions and I had no idea what to tell them. I didn't have a good reason why I had tried to bring a knife on the plane, so they kept us there forever. I don't even know how many days it was. I didn't even know they were allowed to keep you in an airport that long."

Despite my best efforts, I laughed a little and leaned in closer. "What happened next?"

Will waved his hand. "Steven came up with some story about how it was a family heirloom and we were bringing it to New York to put it in his dad's new house. He said he was my older cousin and he was responsible for me. I guess they felt bad for him, because he told them how much trouble he would be in when our family found out he had gotten us arrested, so they let us go. Kept the knife, though. A bunch of airlines wouldn't let us fly with them, and a lot of other flights were already full, so it took forever for us to get another plane."

I tried to suppress laughter. "Why would you put a knife in your carry-on? Have you ever been on a plane before?"

"Of course I've been on a plane," he said defensively. "I'm just not used to having to conceal weapons. I wasn't thinking. But now Steven's all upset because everyone thinks it's his fault we came back so late."

"So why don't you tell the satyrs the story?" I asked.

"We tried, but lots of people still think it was his fault. Chiron said he should have checked my bags before we left, and Mr. D thinks he's too irresponsible to get another keeper's job anytime soon."

"That's terrible," I said sympathetically. "Poor Steven."

"I know!" Will cried. "I mean, we were only a couple weeks behind schedule! Does it really matter that much?"

I shook my head. "I have no idea how the whole thing works. I just know that a lot of satyrs want to be searchers, and if you don't perform well on your keeper's jobs you won't get a Searcher's License."

"What's a searcher?" Will asked.

"Steven didn't tell you?" I asked.

"We didn't have much time for bonding while we were in custody," he reminded me.

I suppressed more giggles and started on my owl's left ear, explaining the mystery of the great god Pan while we worked.

Drew Tanaka was insane.

The moment Will arrived at camp, she had started talking about how cute he was.

She was always watching him, talking to him, flirting with him. He didn't seem all that interested in her, but when she was around he acted completely different.

When she wasn't around, he was completely nonchalant about the whole thing. He didn't outwardly dislike Drew, he just didn't really like her all that much.

When she was around, however...

Drew seemed to have some sort of effect on Will. Every time she said something, he would smile and nod and agree, no matter what it was. He was completely entranced by her, but the second she left the area he was back to normal.

I started getting suspicious one evening in May when I was practicing at the archery range and Drew strutted by with Will's arm obediently linked in hers.

"Hey, Will," I called, lowering my bow.

Will turned and smiled when he saw me. He raised his free hand to wave, but Drew grabbed his chin and turned it so he was looking right in her eyes, "Don't say hi to her, Will. You're not friends."

I expected Will to say something, to contradict her or at least acknowledge me.

Instead, he looked mildly confused for a minute, then his eyes glazed over and he nodded. "You're right. We're not friends."

Drew smiled smugly. "Good boy," she said, and they kept walking, not even glancing at me.

Suddenly, I flashed back to last year. The exact same thing had happened to me when I started hanging out with Mitchell. I hadn't liked him at all when I was alone, but whenever he was around I couldn't take my eyes off him.

Was Drew using her powers on Will?

As soon as I had the thought, I felt like an idiot for not realizing it sooner. Of course she was. She was Drew. How had I not seen it right away? I had been through this before, I knew what it looked like.

But this couldn't just be amokinesis. It was way more powerful than that. Mitchell had been able to make himself seem attractive to me, but he had never been able to control my actions. Silena had also told me that Mitchell could do much more than most children of Aphrodite.

If Mitchell was considered powerful... what was Drew?