Percy totally gets that whole safety in-numbers thing. It keeps kids safe on field trips, deters kidnappers, and all that good stuff. It doesn't necessarily work for monsters. He'd know; he'd been attacked by monsters while in groups of various sizes.

He can't say that he's been eager to split up with Annabeth at any moment on this quest, even in Munich when they were fighting over stitches through a major meltdown. Then again, he knows that Annabeth can take care of herself if a monster shows up. Even if she doesn't like to be alone, she is fully capable of kicking some monster butt.

As her best friend, Will Solace should know this. Sure, Percy can imagine that the poor dude's feeling a little guilty for losing Annabeth after their fight, but she'll get over it and they'll be best friends again... he thinks.

"Will," Percy says, "I'm sure she's fine. Have you tried calling her?"

"I can't!" Will shouts. "She doesn't have her phone!"

Percy does not like the way Will holds Annabeth's sword at his side like he's used it a million times. The wild look in his eyes could convince Percy that Will was actually the one who got it in Tartarus, had he not been there himself.

There's something unsettling about the way the typically upbeat son of Apollo is looking at him, so Percy leads him out into the hall and says, "Why don't you go get Nico and I'll start looking?"

"Why don't you get Nico and I'll start looking?" he snaps.

Percy throws his hands up in defense. "Alright, man, whatever floats your boat."

Will's footsteps in the stairwell echo as he descends, Percy following behind.

He gets off a floor before Will does and searches for Nico's room, except he doesn't actually know which one that is, so he pulls out his phone and calls Nico.

"Hey, everything okay?" Nico asks.

"I don't think so," says Percy. "We can't find Annabeth. She went out for a walk and Will's going ballistic."

Nico sighs loud enough to be heard over the phone line. "Percy, go help Will. Keep him from doing something stupid."

"Uh-huh," Percy says.

"If there actually is danger..." Nico trails off. "Well, have you ever actually seen Will with a sword?"

The answer is yes as of quite recently, but Percy knows what he means. If he remembers correctly, Will used to skip out of sword fighting practices to work in the infirmary, and although healing is a great skill to have, it probably won't help him in this situation.

"I'm on it," Percy says. He runs back into the stairwell and stumbles out of the hotel. How is it that he and Nico are always on damage control after something moderately stupid that Annabeth and Will have done?

He does his best power walking down the paved sidewalk so as not to bring too much attention to himself. He turns Riptide over in his pocket. This churning in his gut tells him that maybe Will's right; maybe something is horribly wrong.

Percy can't lose Annabeth—not again.

He crosses the street, and his nose is filled with the overwhelming smell of sewage. At first, he thinks it's just that city-in-the-morning smell, but then he sees that the sewer is open. Will's sitting on his knees clutching something to his chest. His shirt is stained with monster goo that can only mean Pothos and Annabeth's one night stand Marty McFly were involved in what just happened.

The drakon bone sword lies at Will's side, covered in goo. Percy would like to take a moment to get over his disbelief before talking to Will, but based on the way he's shaking with fear, Percy doesn't seem to have much of a choice.

"Hey, man," he says, patting Will on the shoulder. "What happened?"

Will turns to him, and Percy catches a whiff of something nasty. "He... She's gone."

"Gone like..." he urges.

"I don't know," Will says. "I was up to my ankles in sewage because that's where the dracaena came from and there was no sign of him. I became a biohazard for nothing."

Percy crouches down and shakes the goo off Annabeth's sword. "Hey, not gone-gone. I'm sure we'll find Annabeth. You know she's tough."

Will looks up at him, tears in his sky-blue eyes. Oh no. He's crying, and Percy's good with tears, but he doesn't know Will well enough. This is sort of uncomfortable.

"Should I call Nico?" Percy asks. "He said he was on his way."

"No, I-" Will seems to cut himself off from saying more. Just when Percy thought they had some kind of breakthrough together in the bathroom, he and Will are suddenly back to where they were yesterday. What is it with Percy and having breakthroughs with people in bathrooms? Why can't he have breakthroughs over delicious taco dinners?

"Percy? Will?" a voice calls. Nico!

"Over here!" Percy yells.

Nico skids to a stop in the alleyway. His combat boots splash in a puddle, coating Percy's ankle in questionable water.

"Will!" he shouts. "Will, are you okay?"

Will shakes off Nico's embrace.

"Talk to me," Nico says.

Will turns around and looks at Percy. A certain darkness clouds his eyes that Percy's never noticed in him before.

"Will," Nico says. "You have to help us help you."

"It's not your fault she's gone, man," Percy says. "We're going to get her back; you just have to tell us what you saw."

"No, it's not my fault," Will says, standing up. He grips a wad of red fabric in his balled fist. His eyes narrow at the ground and then at Percy. Something about Will's aura seems particularly strong right now, and it's scary. It's so scary.

He addresses Nico first. "You shouldn't have come here. You know Will can't fight well."

Percy's super confused right now. Sure, it's a little weird when people refer to themselves in the third person. They usually think they're quirky or funny, and even though he finds it annoying, it sort of seems like something Will would do.

This situation, however, is neither quirky nor funny. Will is angry. Scratch that. Will is fucking pissed.

"We were doing perfectly fine until you showed up!" he continues to yell.

It's all starting to kind of come together for Percy. Will's randomly referred to himself in the third person and corrected himself a couple of times today. Will wasn't exactly unwilling to hear Percy out in the bathroom this morning, and while he appreciates that, it doesn't exactly make sense. He's supposed to be mad at Percy because he can see right through him. He can tell that Percy has some feelings for Annabeth, and he's afraid that Percy's going to hurt her.

Annabeth, on the other hand, has made it very clear that she is not afraid of Percy hurting her in that way. She has no reason to fear because she's been in close proximity to him for the past few days.

Will has every reason to distrust Percy, even after a bathroom conversation.

And then Percy remembers his conversation with Annabeth, how she seemed too weird and closed off before...

Before she got in the elevator! She got in the elevator, and Annabeth Chase does not do elevators!

"I can't believe I let you distract me!" Will shouts. "I am such an idiot! You're such an idiot!" He shakes his fist at Percy, and he flinches.

Will's punch would probably be kind of wimpy, but Percy has a feeling he isn't being threatened by Will's punch.

He catches Will's wrist in his fist before he can throw the punch.

"Annabeth?" he asks, not quite believing his own words.

Annabeth snatches her arm back. "Listen, if you don't care, that's whatever. I'm going to get my best friend back."

Nico raises an eyebrow. He looks like he's trying to hide a grimace, which makes sense. He probably would have tried to kiss Will-slash-Annabeth if this had gone on any longer.

"Annabeth, calm down-"

"Don't tell me what to do," she snaps.

Yeah, that was definitely the wrong thing for Percy to say at this moment. "Okay, we want to help you find Will."

"I would really like to find my boyfriend," Nico adds.

"Yeah, see?" says Percy. "But we need to go back to the hotel and gather the rest of our supplies and get some leads first."

Annabeth picks up the drakon bone sword and wipes the remaining monster ooze onto the pantleg of Will's jeans. Yeah, that's definitely Annabeth in there.

"So if you're Annabeth in Will's body," Nico starts, "is Will Will in your body?"

Instead of answering, Annabeth reaches into Nico's backpack and retrieves Percy's water bottle, still filled with saltwater and Zebediah. "This works as a lead. I'm going to get Will. Don't wait up," she says. "I mean, you said it yourself, Percy. You could turn around and get someone from Camp Half-Blood to just take care of Pothos for us."

"We can still go after Pothos," Percy objects.

"I don't give a shit about Pothos!" she shouts. "I just want Will back." Her voice cracks as she shakes the bag around a little. She walks out of the alleyway, and before she disappears around the corner, she yells, "I should not have slept with you!"

Percy turns to Nico. "So what do we want to do about that?"

"You're asking me?" Nico asks. "Uh, okay, maybe... I'm not saying Will's a liar, but if he's losing his mind and it's still him in there, he will absolutely turn around."

"And if it's Annabeth?" Percy asks.

Nico sighs. "I don't know. You're the one who apparently slept with her last night. How the hell did that happen?"

"I'd rather not focus on that part of the story."

"That bad?"

"Nico."

"Fine, fine." He throws his hands up in defense. "I'm going to find Raphael; he's probably eating pigeons out of trees or something. We'll need him if we're going to find Will."

"What about Annabeth?" Percy asks, still staring at the end of the alleyway as if she'll come back any minute.

Nico scoffs. "There's no talking her down. Besides, she can take whatever Pothos throws at her." Neither of them says it, but they know very well that Will might not be able to handle monster attacks. He won't be able to escape Pothos on his own.

With that, he tosses Percy a dog whistle. "Just in case." he rounds the corner and whistles with his fingers in his mouth. "Vieni! Vieni, Raphael!"

Nico is right. It makes more sense to go straight to Will rather than chasing Annabeth. Besides, she wouldn't want to see him anyway. She doesn't want to talk about what happened last night. She said so herself that she regrets it happened in the first place.

Percy doesn't even want to think about what happened last night. It hurts just to think about anything. He just wishes there was some way for his mind to go completely numb for a couple of hours. He'd like to be alone and relax without the burden of his intrusive thoughts about the quest, Annabeth, even Will...

He leaves the alley, checking both ways to make sure Nico can't see him. Fortunately, the son of Hades seems to have covered some ground.

So Percy lets go, walking in the opposite direction until he finds what he's looking for.