Between Light and Darkness

Chapter 3

As they entered the classroom, Percy dragged Nico to the front of the room. The teacher was in a wheelchair with a blanket over his legs. He was holding a bronze sword, as if he was waiting for someone to attack him. 

“This is Chiron. He is the greatest teacher of all time.” Percy smiled at Chiron. 

“And who might you be?” Chiron asked with a tone a voice more gentle than Mrs. Dodds. 

“Nico DiAngelo. I just moved here.” Chiron nodded. 

“Well, Nico. I’m going to ask you to stay up front while class is starting so you can introduce yourself. Tell everyone where you are from and a few other things about you.” Nico started shaking his head, before Chiron cut him off. “I know it’s awkward, but it’ll still be good to put yourself out there.” 

“Plus it only takes a couple seconds.” Percy tried reassuring Nico. “And if English gets too hard, just speak Italian. Chiron can translate.” Chiron nodded, agreeing with Percy. 

“For now though, go ahead and put your stuff in the third seat back in the second row.” Nico nodded, heading over to the seat he was directed to. Annabeth sat directly in front of Nico.

“How is your first day going so far?” She asked politely.

“English is too hard,” Nico whined. The one good thing about his house was he can speak italian and his father understood what he was saying.

“I’m guessing it’s not your first language.” Annabeth chuckled a bit as Nico shook his head. Percy walked over, sitting in the empty seat next to Annabeth. 

“Class is about to start, better get up to the front of the room.” The bell rang as Nico went back to stand next to Chiron. He was signaled to start talking. 

“I’m Nico DiAngelo and I just moved from Italy.” He wasn’t sure what else to say. 

“Do you have any hobbies?” Chiron asked. 

“Not really,” Nico said shrugging. He went back to his seat before Chiron could tell him otherwise. 

“Thank you for that. Anyway, we started the new unit the other day, so we will be talking about greek mythology. Does anyone have a favorite god or goddess?” Both Annabeth and Percy raised their hands. “Ms. Chase?”

“Athena, the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy.” Annabeth spoke clear enough for the entire class to hear. Chiron nodded, accepting her answer. He then signaled for Percy to speak.

“Poseidon, god of the ocean,” he said. Annabeth made a face at Percy, which he either didn’t see or chose to ignore. Chiron spoke about the greek gods for a bit before breaking them off in groups.

“Get into your usual groups and talk about which god or goddess would be your parent if you were a demigod. Nico, go ahead and talk with Percy and Annabeth.” As soon as the groups broke off, another student made their way over to the small group. The blonde sat next to Nico. Annabeth smiled at him before turning to Percy.

“Let me guess, Seaweed Brain. Your godly parent would be Posiedon.” 

“Of course, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Also, Athena… Really?” Annabeth pushed Percy so he lost his balance and nearly fell out of his chair. The three friends laughed while Nico sat confused at the group’s dynamic. “How about you, Will?” 

“I guess, Apollo.” Will shrugged. “He’s the god of medicine, so he could help me with a medical degree.” The group turned to Nico in unison, only adding more to his anxiety. They reminded him of the twins from “The Shining”. 

“Uh…” Nico said. Yep, that was smooth. He mentally facepalmed himself. “I guess, Hades? That’s already my dad’s name…” He just about died. His reasoning was horrible. Percy shrugged.

“That’s fair.” He turned back to Annabeth. “You know, Poseidon is better than Athena. Poseidon can control water and Athena can...read.” Annabeth turned a light shade of red.

“You know very well that Athena is better. Sure Poseidon can control water, but didn’t Athens like her better? Or was it named after Poseidon?” The two got into an argument about who was better. About halfway through, Chiron called attention back to the front of the class. Will moved back to his seat. 

“So, now that we all think we know who our godly parent is, we are going to take a personality test to see if we are correct.” Nico sat confused. Isnt this supposed to be history class? Chiron called Percy to pass out the papers. “Don’t forget to answer honestly.”

Everyone sat there for a few minutes filling out the paper, as if this was a normal occurrence in this class. Nico did the best he could to answer, but some of the questions made no sense. “Che diavolo?” he whispered to himself. Would I rather have a saber tooth tiger or a bald eagle as a pet? After he answered all the questions, Nico tallied up all the points and turns out Hades would have been his godly parent.

“Please get back into your groups and share your answers,” Chiron said. Will walked back over, carrying his paper. 

“I was right, I got Apollo.” He said smiling. They took turns talking about how they were correct. Percy was particularly sad when the bell rang in the middle of their conversation. 

“But I actually enjoy this class,” Percy said, fake crying. Annabeth laughed and smacked him upon the head.

“Stop being so dramatic.” She laughed a bit before gathering her stuff and walking out of the classroom. She waited outside the door for Percy and Nico. 

“Wait up,” Percy called after her. He stuffed his supplies into his backpack and nearly drug Nico out of the classroom.