Between Light and Darkness

Chapter 1

Nico woke up early this morning, hoping he could leave before he woke up. He, being Hades DiAngelo, the amazing father of Nico. Nico rushed out of his room, quickly gathering all his stuff, but halfway down the hallway stood Hades. Nico couldn’t tell if he had just gotten home or had been home for hours.

The dim light from the sunrise peeking in through the living room window allowed Nico to see the sinister smile on his father’s face. He dropped his stuff and quickly ran towards his room. Before he got there, a large hand gripped his shoulder yanking him backwards. 

Nico tumbled to the floor, looking up at Hades. He tried scrambling back, but Hades just held onto his jacket, keeping him still. Nico calmed down allowing Hades to start hitting him in the gut. Every time his fist made contact, Nico whimpered. 

Hades continued hitting his son for the next hour. He didn’t have a reason this time, he was just bored. When he got off from on top of Nico, he went into his bedroom and slammed the door. 

Nico pulled himself off the floor. He went into the bathroom to assess the damage. As he lifted his shirt, he could see all the old bruises starting to be covered with new ones. The sight made Nico sick. He brushed his teeth, trying not to aggravate his injuries to much.

He then went back into the hallway to grab everything he dropped. 

The walk to school would have been great, if every step didn’t make Nico cringe. He carried his backpack by only one strap, not wanting to put the other strap on. He looked up at the sky, noticing the clouds moving in front of the sun. The process was slow as the storm slowly made it’s way across the sky.

Goode High School came into sight after 10 minutes. Today was his first day at the new school. His family had just moved from Italy after his sister, Bianca had gotten into an accident. He blinked away tears as he thought about it. Don’t cry, he chided himself. You promised her. 

He made his way to the front office, careful to keep his head down and trying not to give off the “new kid vibe”. He could tell by the looks on people’s confused faces, he was failing miserably. Though, their confusion could be to the shiner he had.

The front office was surrounded by glass windows, allowing the administration to see him approach. He opened the door and was instantly met with a smiling face. 

“Hello there,” the woman behind the desk said. She looked about 18 years old, her brown hair pulled up into a loose ponytail. Her soft brown eyes seemed to give off a caring look. “What can I help you with today, dear?” 

“I need to pick up my schedule,” he said carefully. His eyes landed on a plaque with what he assumed the ladies name was. Hestia Olympia. He couldn’t help but think he had heard that name before. 

“Just one minute,” Hestia responded as she typed something on her computer. “What is you name, hun?” 

“Uh- Nico DiAngelo,” He said awkwardly. Though he had taken English as a class in Italy, he never really paid attention. At home he mostly didn’t speak and Hades preferred itailian. (I don’t personally know itallian, so I will be using google translate. Sorry if I get anything wrong.) 

“Here it is,” she said smiling. “I hope you adjust nicely to this school.” She smiled once more as she passed over the paper, his schedule written on it. Nico nodded slightly as he took his schedule. “If you want me to, I can call down someone to help you around school.”

“Yes please,” he said after looking over his paper and looking over his schedule. She nodded and said something over the intercom. As she put the phone down, she pointed to a seating area.

“You can sit over there for now. If you need anything, feel free to come to me.” Hestia waited till he sat down before going to her computer and boring receptionist work. Nico pulled out his book and started reading, waiting for his guide to show up. 

After just a couple of minutes, a tall guy walked in. His hair was unkempt and he wore a blue t-shirt and “well-loved” jeans. He wore dark blue tennis shoes. Nico didn’t pay much attention to him. He walked up to Hestia and they had a quiet conversation. Nico went back to his book, not noticing the kid looking over his shoulder.

“Can you really read that?” He asked, causing Nico to jump. He looked over, uncomfortable with how close the other kid was to him. Nico could see every detail in his face. He was slightly mesmerised by his sea green eyes.

“Yeah,” Nico said, closing his book and putting it up.

“Cool. What language was that?” 

“Italian.” Nico stood up, wanting to keep everyone out of his personal bubble. 

“I’m Percy. I am here to show you around this amazing school.” He held his hand out, waiting for a handshake.

“Nico.” He shook the other kid’s hand. Percy smiled and headed towards the door. Nico gathered his stuff up, following the other.

“Are you from Italy?” Percy asked. He was acting like a small toddler who ate a ton of candy for breakfast. Nico nodded. He was slammed with a ton of questions, most of which were answered with a head nod. “So, the reason Hestia had me help you is because our schedules are pretty similar. If I don’t have a class with you, one of my friends probably does.”

“Cool,” Nico said, uninterested. He had hoped he had someone that was just going to show him with his classes. Instead, Percy was trying to connect with him. Nico knew he couldn’t make friends while he lived here. They would just end up prying into his home life, and that was too dangerous to put anyone else into.

“Anyway,” Percy said. “First period is math.” They walked in the door together and Percy walked up to the teacher. “Mrs. Dodds, this is Nico. He just transferred schools.” Nico waved awkwardly. She looked up from her book and sighed.

“Good for you. Now go find an empty seat and be ready for some notes.” Dodds went back to her book without a second thought.

“Sorry, she isn’t much of a people person.” Percy chuckled slightly. 

“She she became a--uh--” Nico struggled to find the word. “Teacher?” He celebrated the small victory of remembering the word in his head. 

“I know. It makes no sense. I remember one year, I had this teacher who I swear was inhuman.” Percy began talking to fast for Nico to follow.  This is going to be a hard year. He thought to himself.