Chapter Text
He woke up to the sound of sword fighting in the courtyard, an unnaturally natural sound that, after five days, Nico had become accustomed to. He quickly jumped out of bed and rushed to ready himself, donning his school shirt (an ugly burnt orange color), a pair of black jeans, and his aviator’s jacket. All students were also supposed to have a necklace full of beads to symbolize the passing year, but he hadn’t been there long enough yet. In addition, they were also supposed to have a mandatory “seal of ability” pinned to their shirts stating what type of magic they’re specialized in, Nico’s pin looked like an eye with an inverse cross coming out the bottom, as though the face it belonged to were crying.
Nico left the forum and hooked a right to the mess hall, meeting up with Hazel and Frank. In the mess hall, and in most other places on campus, people with the same abilities tended to stick together. Both Nico and Hazel had been categorized the same, but Frank had a pin that looked like the symbol for ‘boy’, meaning that his sitting with the two of them attracted more than a few stares. Although, since getting their pins, Nico and Hazel seemed to be getting those looks without much help.
“Hey. Sleep well?” Hazel asked. Nico had confided his dream to her a few days ago, now confident that he wasn’t insane.
“Yeah. Been better since getting here.” He said, picking up a roll from her plate and buttering it.
“Hey Frank?” Nico said, redirecting his attention to the oversized bear of a boy currently eating two bagels smothered in cream cheese and stacked on top of one another. “Where are the other kids? The ones with powers like me and Hazel? I see a lot of pins, but none with the little cross thing like ours.”
Frank swallowed (gulped?) and took a moment to answer. “You guys…you have very rare powers. It’s very unusual for someone like you to be born and when you are, people with your abilities usually cause…calamity. Death. The others don’t know you. They’re just being cautious.”
“Great,” Nico said. “So I can bring the dead back and Hazel can…move things. Peers beware.”
Frank, a pained look once again painting his face, corrected, “Actually, she can summon fine metals, jewels, and the curses that usually come along with them.”
Hazel, previously listening quietly, was now looking down at her jewel-adorned outfit, most likely wondering whether the attire was at all cursed. “Well, I’m full. Nico? Classes should start soon. Let’s go.” Nico nodded and they headed off in the opposite direction of Frank.
Nico and Hazel had spent the last week learning about the history of magic, basic examples of sorcery in literature, and the all-too-confusing explanations for what each type of magic was and exactly how and why it works in nature along their usual history, English, Math, and Science courses. Today, however, instead of their usual teacher, a man in a leopard-print shirt was waiting for them outside the big house, where their classes were usually held. “Today, we are going to give you a test to use for a progress report in a month or so. Come with me.”
They took a right and continued for a while, passing a state-of-the-art volleyball facility and an amazing feat of architecture that the man now known as “Mr. D” passively described as the “arts and crafts hut” to arrive at a wall that seemingly reached out to the heavens, with large rocks and spikes jutting out on all sides. At the bottom, a group of kids ranging from ages eight to sixteen were lined up, bumping one another for a better spot. Among them, Nico noticed Frank. He seemed to be in a whole other world, confident and bristling. Suddenly, a loud siren started and all the kids surged forward.
They began swarming the wall, climbing up like a hoard of ants. “Where’s their climbing gear?” Nico asked, shocked. Mr. D just chuckled. “Keep watching. It gets better.” By now, many of the climbers were about a third of the way up, with Frank and another girl leading the pack. Suddenly, the wall began to rumble and large boulders started rolling down the side, crashing into one another and taking the kids down with them. Hazel was holding back a scream and Nico was about to demand the wall be stopped, turned off, destroyed, when Mr. D grabbed Hazel’s shoulder and pointed to a spot near the center of the wall. Frank.
He was jumping from one rock hold to the other like he was born climbing; dancing and spinning between the boulders and holding the lead while the others falling beneath him began jumping from boulder to boulder mid-air until landing at the bottom of the wall and starting again with even greater fervor, calling Frank’s name and demanding bloodshed.
“Not human,” Nico whispered.
“Human,” Mr. D said, “perfectly human”.
Then came the lava, boiling down from the top of the wall and not giving Frank even a moment’s pause. To his left, and a bit further down, the girl began to pick up speed, leaping from handhold to handhold just before each was taken over by the boiling liquid.
In the end, Frank made it to the top only a moment before the girl, warranting a cheer from Hazel. Frank looked down and noticed us. “Oh! Hey, Hazel! Nico! Are you guys gonna climb? I’ll wait for you up here!”
The girl smacked him over the head. “They’re not gonna get that far. Don’t make your girlfriend have to fail in front of you!”
Hazel’s face fell. The girl wasn’t wrong. There was no way that the two of them could do anything of the like. They would simply fall to the pit of lava at the base, if they ever managed to climb it in the first place. Mr. D looked at the two of them and then back up to the top of the wall where Frank and the girl stood. “Well, no time like the present. The lava will cool off in a few, so for your first run, let’s hook you up to some climbing gear.”
By climbing gear, Mr. D meant making Frank tie two ropes to the top of the rock and then having the two lanky, unexercised, somewhat pale children of death and curses feed said ropes through their belt loops. Nico and Hazel were now at the base of the wall, looking up yet still not seeing the whole thing. Mr. D came up behind them and wished them luck. “Just do what you can and then some.” All of the other kids had stayed behind to watch, some making bets on who would get the furthest before falling, others betting on who would give up first. Nico took a step forward, looking for a foothold and promptly fell on his ass before even making it to the next hold. Laughter and cash flow ensued. He tried again and fell again, his body not wanting to leave the earth. He tried once more and this time Hazel joined in, each making it only so far before allowing gravity to take over. Some of the kids started to leave and Nico got that sick feeling in his stomach like he was a child in a group of teenagers, being laughed at and ridiculed for not understanding references that went way over his head. He tried again, this time using his rope a bit more for leverage. He got a bit farther, farther, and farther still until he was at least a quarter of the way up. By then, his hands had started to ache, but finding handholds seemed to be getting easier and he seemed to be making progress.
He looked down to find Hazel getting her footing just a few feet away. He went faster, widening the gap and feeling pretty good about it. He wasn’t going nearly as fast, and his movements weren’t nearly as fluid, but he also wasn’t on his ass. Then the shaking started. Nico held on to the rope for dear life, losing his footing and swinging out, the rope dragging him along the face of the wall, daring him to fall. Nico knew that he wasn’t even close to being good enough to find his way down safely if he were to lose the rope, so he wrapped the rope around his hand and used the wall as a brace to jump between boulders. If last time was of any indication, the lava was going to be coming soon and he needed to find his way up before that became an issue.
Quickly, Nico began using a combination of the wall and the boulders rolling past as impromptu spring boards, leaping his way up with the rope. The lava came in one great wave. He could feel the heat erupting from the rock long before he saw it. As the wall became overrun, Nico resorted to using only the boulders to climb. Looking down, he could see Hazel riding her rope back down to the ground. He continued.
Nico knew something was up when the rumbling stopped. The rocks became few and far between until they were near nonexistent. I guess this is the next step, punishment for those who haven’t finished yet, Nico thought. As he considered what to do next, he came to the stunning realization that he was out of boulders. As he swung towards the wall, Nico prayed that someone would catch him at the last second like in the movies.
There was a thud as his body hit the wall and he soon felt an immense heat cover his body and then cool. He tried to move his arms, but he was entombed. He couldn’t breathe. As he struggled, he broke free, only to find himself surrounded in rock and covered in ash. The space that Nico had fallen into had dried into rock. Pulling himself out, Nico was hit with another wave of lava and that too solidified. Nico could only reason it to be a part of the magic of the wall. Maybe the lava’s just for show, Nico reasoned. It made sense; after all, they didn’t really want to call home to explain to a kid’s parents that their little boy just became one with the earth. Nico carried on, grabbing at the lava to shape it into handles, and was soon at the top, waiving at Frank, who was charging at him.
“The hell was that? What did you do?” he asked, incredulous.
“Climbed the wall,” Nico answered honestly.
“You weren’t supposed to dry it! Gods, we all thought you had died! What were you thinking? Why didn’t you come down when Chiron called you?”
“He called me?” Nico asked, now afraid that he may have done something very wrong.
“Yeah. You couldn’t hear? Hazel went down. Gods, c’mon. Let’s fly down.”
Frank grabbed him and the girl with them and rushed them off the dry side of the wall, turning into a large bird of prey as they fell, giving them a soft landing. Nico, too shocked to scream, quietly whispered “You’re a bird.”
Frank looked at him, obviously still upset from the wall incident. “Yeah, I can turn into animals. I’m a shape shifter, rare, but not abnormal. Y’know what’s abnormal? Playing with lava like it’s clay! The hell?”
Mr. D walked over and stood between the two boys, followed quickly by Hazel and the other spectators, all of them reiterating one another-“Wow! How’d you do that? Freaky! Cool! Kinda cheating, though. Tooootally thought you were dead!”
Nico looked at everyone’s faces and then to Mr. D. “Wasn’t it supposed to do that?” Mr. D chuckled.
“No, that was you. It’s perfectly normal, don’t worry.” Nico thought he sounded like a doctor explaining the woes of puberty.
“Fire resistant. Cool,” Nico said, looking down at himself.
“Not fire resistant,” Mr. D admonished, “if that were the case, then you would be naked, not covered in soot. No, what you can do is way different. Your powers belong to the earth, and allow you to mold it as you please, given the right circumstances. Now, on to the next item on the agenda, yeah?” Nico nodded and let Chiron lead Hazel and himself away from the whispering gaggle of Mars pins.