Learn Italian With Nicolo di Angelo!

Last 7 Letters

"Today... Solace...? Solace!" Nico yells, and finally resorts to grabbing Percy. A lot better than a bucket of water, am I right? And wakes Will up the hard way.

"Hey! What was that for?" Will says after screaming so loud that Frank's people could hear it. Poor Chinesians.

"You wouldn't get up." Nico says simply, and grabs his whiteboard.

"First lesson of the day!" Nico starts, cheerily.

"What?" Will asks, annoyed.

"Wake up when I tell you to, or else I'll have to resort to Percy again."

"Okay! Okay! Sorry!"

"First lesson of the day!" Nico started, cheerily, a hint of mischief still lingering in his eyes. "Since slumber seems to have taken hold of you, Solace, we'll tackle the final seven letters of the alphabet with a bit more... enthusiasm."

Will grumbled, rubbing his eyes. "Enthusiasm at this hour? You're lucky I don't sic Mrs. O'Leary on you for this."

Nico chuckled, a playful glint in his dark eyes. "Don't worry, Solace, the only thing siccing me on you today is knowledge. Now, where were we? Ah yes, the glorious latter half of the Italian alphabet."

He grabbed a marker and started writing on the whiteboard he'd conjured, the familiar scent filling the air.

"Up first is 'Q,'" Nico announced, pointing to the letter. "This one can be a bit tricky. It's always followed by a 'u,' forming the sound 'kw' like in 'queen.'"

Will squinted at the letter. "So... same as in English?"

"Yep!"

"Next is 'R,'" Nico continued, writing the letter. "This one's a breeze, Solace. Pronounced just like the English 'R' in 'red.'"

A wave of relief washed over Will. "Thank goodness for a straightforward one."

Nico grinned. "Don't get too comfortable. Here comes 'S.'"

He wrote the letter, then stopped, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Just like 'C,' 'S' can have two sounds depending on the vowels around it. Between vowels, it's pronounced like a 'z' in 'zebra.' But at the beginning of a word or before consonants, it sounds like a hard 's' in 'sun.' Basically, when it comes between 2 different vowels, mainly i or o first, and then i, o, u, and sometimes a afterwards, it will sound like a z."

Will furrowed his brow, processing the information. "So, 'casa' (house) would have a hard 's' sound, but 'isola' (island) would have a 'z' sound?"

"Precisely," Nico said, a hint of pride in his voice. "The Italian language loves to keep things interesting."

Nico continued, writing the letter "T." "'T' is pronounced just like the English 'T' in 'table.'"

Nico wrote the letter "U" next. "'U' is another vowel, Solace. It can have two sounds, depending on whether it's short or long. A short 'u' sounds like the 'oo' in 'look,' while a long 'u' sounds like the 'oo' in 'boot.'"

Will pondered this for a moment, then wrote it down. "Short or long, vowels seem to love messing with me."

Nico wrote the letter "V" next. "'V' is pronounced just like the English 'V' in 'vine.'"

Will copied it down, feeling a newfound confidence in his ability to tackle the remaining letters. "Just one more to go. Easy peasy, right?"

"Almost," Nico said, writing the final letter "Z." "'Z' is always pronounced like a 'ts' sound in 'cats.'"

After practicing a while longer, Will looked at the list of letters and pronunciations in his notebook, a sense of accomplishment washing over him. "Wow, Nico. I actually learned all of that. I can't believe it!"

Nico beamed with pride. "See? I told you you could do it. Now, how about we celebrate with some real breakfast. How about pancakes? Does that sound good?"

Will's eyes widened. "Pancakes? You had me at breakfast. Lead the way, Professor di Morte!"

Nico chuckled at the nickname and together, they headed towards the dining pavilion, ready to continue their language journey, one delicious bite at a time.