He couldn't have been any more taken back when he heard the news. It was like he had been thunderstruck by one of Zeus's bolts of lightning. Even more accurately: electrocuted and sizzled to a black, charred crisp.

Ever since the war ended, Will had wanted to unlock the barred up enigma he was unsure he knew well, also known as Nico DiAngelo. He was curious, if not nosy or stalker-like. Being caught up in the moment after Nico's announcement, the son of Apollo had gone overboard with his sudden questions. Or that was what it seemed like, watching Nico's face turn bright scarlet. Slightly crestfallen with Nico's embarrassed response, Will excused himself out of the room before things got awkward.

Will supposed there was no more denying it. He sort of had a crush on Nico.

It was the way Nico fought, the few times Will had seen him in battle. The son of Hades didn't bother with any fancy armor, just his threadbare aviator jacket and a glinting stygian iron sword, maintaining a composed attitude the entire time, no matter how dire the situation.

It was the way Nico could raise ghosts and ghouls and armies of invincible skeletons with just a gesture of his arms. He had the ability to shadow travel into realms no other demigod would dare roam. 'Tartarus' and 'alone'? These two words didn't match up, nor they ever would. Just the thought of taking one step onto that unspeakable territory sent a cold shiver down Will's spine.

It was the way despite his Greek heritage, Nico could still be gentle, quiet and angel-like. Di-Angel-o was how Will liked to teasingly put it.

It was the way how Nico handled fear. He never cowered; it was like he was made of a vacuum that sucked up every terrifying emotion possible and discarded it away.

It was the way he dealt with tragedies. His mother's death. Bianca's death. A few years ago, he remembered Nico's grief for his sister. It was anguished and mournful; all the campers felt it. Yet he still helped Percy with his quest, the guy who Nico could have easily blamed for his sufferings and loss.

Will didn't like being cheesy like some of the romance novels the Aphrodite cabin swooned over, but it didn't help with his feelings that Nico was, well, good-looking. Of course, Nico could look better if he actually took his doctor's recommendations to heart (not to brag about Will's own skills). But the side of Will that wasn't health-concerned 24/7 didn't mind the Death Boy's pale face or his unkempt black hair or his shadowy dark eyes. Hypocritical to his normal standards, he quite loved it.

Oh gods. And his smile. Whenever Nico gave one of his extremely rare smiles, it lit up Will's entire world, more than his father's sun chariot could ever do. Will could have sworn he saw the slightest indentation near Nico's cheek that one time he cracked a hilarious joke, almost displaying a cute dimple. If only Nico would do it more often; Will lived for those wondrous moments.

While Will was walking out of the camp's healing institution, he sighed dreamily. If he didn't put away these thoughts away soon, he sensed his arteries and veins would close off, his ventricles would overflow with blood, and his heart would beat too rapidly, leading to a deadly heart attack.

For a brief second, he forgot what he was doing. Why was he leaving Nico's side, wasn't it his responsibility to check on him in the morning? He almost made a 180 degree turn, sure he had made a mistake in his schedule.

But then it hit him. Chiron had planned a Capture-the-Flag game this morning, and he had been nominated co-captain for one of the teams. Which meant he had to meet with the other demigods

He frantically sprinted to the dock by the lake, where they had agreed to hold their preparation meeting.

Note to self, Will mentally jotted down as he ran. Do not daydream about crush for more than five minutes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A half hour later, Will and his capture-the-flag teammates were wrapping up their gathering. Besides the Apollo cabin, members of the Demeter, Poseidon, Hephaestus, Hermes, Hecate, and Hypnos cabin were present. The other co-captain was Percy Jackson, who has been the old-favorite pick for as long as Will could remember. The two had been discussing a potential surprise attack and whether it was possible to pull off.

He didn't mean to undermine Percy's aptitude. Will admired him greatly for being an excellent swordsman, a valiant fighter, and pretty much any other qualities that fell under the hero column. Plus, after all he was a Camp Half-Blood legend now, the source of everyone's awe. But he couldn't help selfishly wishing it was Nico beside him instead, even though Will knew the guy needed and deserved his rest.

The air felt restless, and even though it was almost noon the sky appeared rather grayish, with only a few hints of sunny yellows and deep oranges.

The mood of their team just about matched the weather. After the weird dark-before-afternoon event the previous day, Will could tell some of them were uneasy. It felt... inauspicious.

"Hey, we shouldn't really need to worry about yesterday guys," Travis Stoll, the head counselor representing Hermes, said. "It probably only seems fishy because we got Percy on our side, right guys?"

Silence.

"Okay, um, how about because we have all the cabins with the first letter 'H'? You know, 'H' for 'Halibut'?"

Another round of silence.

No one laughed at either attempted jokes, not even the son of Poseidon. Which, to Will, was rather worrisome because the Stoll brothers had always managed to crack people up, and the fact that Percy usually had a sense of humor and sarcasm.

"Yeah c'mon fellas, brighten up a bit!" Connor Stoll added. "I mean, what could possibly happen? We just won a war against Gaea!"

Connor's point did bring relief to some of the campers, for he actually had logical reasoning. It's not like Gaea was sentenced to one of those 2 hour naps one might take as a child. She was in a long-term coma now.

Still, Percy and Will shared a look. They were both thinking the exact same thoughts. Since when did the Stoll brothers ever agree with each other?

"I don't know about this," Percy said. "I was talking to Annabeth after the sky darkened yesterday and she said this might be a warning from Apollo." Will was suddenly reminded of his missing father, who they haven't seen for several days. "And trust me on my experience, Annabeth is always right."

"True, she has never been wrong about anything," the head counselor of the Demeter cabin, Katie Gardner replied. "But as of now, we haven't the slightest idea of what the warning could be for."

"I guess so..." the son of Poseidon agreed reluctantly. "Annabeth already tried talking to Chiron about her suspicions, but he didn't want to alarm everyone by canceling the competition."

"I suppose we don't have much of a choice," Will said. It seemed like a good time for a son of Apollo to cheer up the team. "Now, we aren't going to let the red team defeat us miserably right? Let's break it down!"

The demigods of the blue team huddled beside one another, arms latched onto the shoulders of nearby friends. As one big (not so happy) family, they shouted a motivating phrase, ending with fists bumping the air.

Whether/Weather or not a storm was brewing above them, they were ready to put on a fight.