Chapter 7: The Di Angelo Siblings

As soon as he walked through the portal, he was instantly greeted by the cold of the winter and the nightly sky of the USA.

"Brrr. It's kind of cold in here." the boy said as he rubbed his arms.

"Let's get something warmer."

He infused mana into his ring and brought his bag out. Looking inside, he didn't find anything to warm himself up.

Isaiah sighed at his oversight.

"Dammit, I should've figured that it was going to be cold. Stupid Isaiah!" he scolded himself,

"Oh well, good thing we have magic," he said before opening his circuit.

"Root, Shine"

At that moment, turquoise circuit-like lines appeared on his clothes and they were transmuted into a winter coat with warm pants when he used (Alteration). His footwear also changed into boots suitable to walk in the snow. Afterwards, his sparks appeared in between his fingers as he made several hand signs. a small formation was formed in front of him in less than five seconds before he applied it to his clothes. Ever since his teacher brought many kinds of stuff to repair and taught him science, he had awakened a hobby for them. He would then try to combine his love for science and magic by learning enchantment and formations. This formation is a simple heating formation of his invention.

Isaiah sighed in relief when the heating formation got to work, especially when the heat reached his toes. He put his bag back into his ring and started walking through the forest. After five minutes of walking, he finally arrived in front of a large school. He could see the large US flag above the school lazily flapping due to the low amount of wind.

"Damn, it's a lot bigger than I thought." the boy said while looking at the giant school. He saw a banner right above the large oak doors of the school saying,

[School Dance! December 17th, 2006]

The boy nodded before opening the large pair of doors.

*CREEEEEEK*

The doors slowly opened and the boy walked inside the school and found himself inside a large hall.

"Woah." he could only say.

The school was a military one and on the walls were various displays of weapons. Bayonets, swords, shields, you name it. There it was. There was also a lot of pictures and painting depicting various battles the US had participated in. He continued to admire the walls when he heard the sound of music.

He looked at his watch that the Ancient One had gotten him on his birthday. It was nothing expensive, just a simple watch that would last long.

'It's 7:00 PM, now. Seems like the dance has just started.' he thought. He slowly walked towards the source of the music and arrived in front of another pair of doors.

"Gymnasium? Ah, is that where kids learn sports in school?" he asked himself when he saw the sign above the doors

He could now feel the beat of the music tremor from the inside of the school.

"What is this?" he thought, surprised when it felt like the beat of the music resonated in his heart.

"What kind of music can make my body tremor. Is this some sort of magic?" he asked himself, excitement sipping through his voice.

Even with all of his studies, Isaiah Sharpe still lived a sheltered life at Kamar-Taj. It's why when the opportunity to go out presented itself in a vision, he grabbed it. Luckily, the Ancient One allowed it. Thinking of her, he rubbed the spot where she had ruffled his hair.

'What was that? It felt kind of nice.'

Suddenly, he felt two presence approaching the doors. Reacting quickly, he sidestepped and hid at the corner so that the door would hide him when it opened.

The door suddenly opened and the music got suddenly louder when two boys of around fifteen years old came out from the gym. They both looked like they were wearing expensive suits.

"Fuck! All these twelve years old running around is making me sick." the first boy grumbled.

"I know, Ryan. But, it's not like we can do anything about it." the second boy sighed as they continued to walk towards what seemed like the bathroom.

Isaiah who was observing them whispered,

"Fuck? What does that mean? I'm gonna have to ask Teacher when I return."

Seeing the boys about to disappear, he whispered his trigger,

"Root, Shine"

This time, his eyes glowed blue as he cast (Structural Grasp) on the first boy's suit.

When they finally disappeared, Isaiah's clothes transmuted this time into the same suit as the other boy. He then altered it to fit his size.

"So this is a suit. It looks quite nice," he told himself as he examined it.

He took a deep breath.

"Alright, Isaiah. It's time to face the music," he said before adding, "Quite literally."

He opened the door and entered the gym. The full blast of the music resounded in his body while he could see kids running around and going nuts. It was like their crazy-o-meter had been cranked up to a hundred. It was Isaiah's first time seeing people around his age and he was overwhelmed. He saw girls with a ton of make-up on their faces. The boy didn't know if they were trying to look pretty or trying to imitate Ronald Mcdonald. He saw the boys going crazy as they screamed and ran around the gym while the older kids looked uncomfortable at the energy created in the room.

'Do kids my age act like this? Am I supposed to act like this?' the boy thought genuinely confused. "Nah, they look weird."

Despite being overwhelmed, he quickly stepped away from the door and blended in the crowd. He observed the various students interacting with each other. He saw a pack of girls catch some boys like hunters. They would them leave him with lipstick marks and ribbons in here while giggling away and to find their next prey. Although, Isaiah was pretty sure they weren't kissing marks. It was more like they took the boy's face and painted graffiti with nothing but lipsticks.

'How do they walk in those?' he thought seeing the high heels for the first time. 'They don't even look like they were made for standing, let alone fighting!'

At that moment, he saw a tall boy with curly brown hair and eyes. He wore a red cap with baggy jeans and sneakers. He also had a T-shirt that said "WESTOVER HALL: GRUNT".

"Is that his name? What kind of name is Grunt?" Isaiah thought.

The boy looked anxious as he fidgeted around like he was waiting for something and,

'Is that metal?' thought Isaiah confused at what the boy sneakily ate looking skittish.

He looked around and saw that no one seemed to notice. They are more focused on the party. Suddenly, the goat boy's head turned in his direction and started to sniff the air. Seeing his clue to leave, Isaiah walked away. He didn't want to be caught just yet.

He squeezed through the crowd until he finally arrived in front of a place that made him grin, the food section. Isaiah could see tons of food across the tables. Snacks, desserts, sandwiches, anything was there. At Kamar-Taj, the food was always the same. So seeing all the different food had made him excited. He quickly grabbed a plate and filled it up before finding a corner to eat it before going to a corner of the room and happily eating.

The cheese melted and the tomato sauce exploded in his mouth as he took a bite of a triangular-shaped piece of food. He chewed the dough as the flavour of mushrooms touched his tongue before swallowing.

'What is this? This tastes so good." he looked at the pizza with awe.

And before he realized it, his plate was already empty.

he suddenly shook his head,

"Wait-Wait-Wait-Wait! I didn't come here just for food." he looked from his plate and looked around the room.

"Now, where are they?" he whispered.

He tried to find them, but the sheer number of kids made it very difficult. He walked through the crowd once more to increase his chances when he was suddenly,

"Oomph!"

A small boy crashed into him and fell to the ground. Some kind of cards fell to the ground and scattered. Raising an eyebrow, Isaiah looked at who crashed into him and, to his surprise, was an olive skin and dark-haired boy. He bent down and offered a hand to the boy,

"Are you okay?" he asked.

This was his first time interacting with someone around his age. He was so used to talking to people who were several times his age that it felt weird.

"Ah, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to crash into you!" the boy furiously apologized.

"Huh... It's okay." Isaiah replied.

He then picked a card that had fallen from the boy's hand. It was not a normal playing card with numbers and symbols. This one had the picture of a buff guy with a white beard and glowing blue eyes as electricity sparked around him and he held a lightning bolt in one hand and looked like he was about to throw it.

"Skill: Lightning and 600 damage. What is this?" he asked more to himself, but the boy had heard him.

"You don't know what Mythomagic is?" he asked him as if Isaiah had asked if the sky is blue.

Raising an eyebrow at the boy, he shook his head.

"No, what is it?"

The eyes of the smaller boy's eyes widened in shock at the question.

"Oh my god! You don't know what Mythomagic is! Have you been living under a rock" he said?

Isaiah's eyebrow twitched and he shook his head once more,

"No. Am I supposed to?"

The small boy quickly picked up his cards before facing Isaiah once more.

"It's like that best game ever!"

"Game?"

"Yeah, come I'll show you!" the olive-haired boy quickly took his hand and pulled him towards the benches. Isaiah didn't know what to do as it was the first time talking to another child, so he simply followed him. They sat down on the bench and the boy started explaining the game.

"This game is about Greek mythological figures. Each player will have a deck of cards and they will have to place the cards to defeat their opponents using the effects given by the cards," The boy started explaining rapidly before Isaiah could even place a word. So he simply let him. As the explanation continued, he expanded his senses towards Nico. Using his sensitivity to magic, he tried to see what made this child different from the others. As soon as his senses touched the boy, he found it. Energy unlike his own or the Universal energy. it felt more... divine. But this own had a distinct feel towards it. His own mana didn't have a distinct feel which is why he could do so many spells from different categories, but this boy's mana was oriented towards Isaiah was intimately familiar with: Death. However, to Isaiah death was simply the end of things while this boy's death was different. That's when he recalled the books his teacher had given him on Greek mythology. The only figure that had a close relation to death was Hades, the god of the Underworld, Dead, and wealth.

'How does this boy and Hades relate?' he asked himself.

"Hey, by the way, I didn't get your name." the boy suddenly asked.

Isaiah was brought back to reality when the boy in front of him asked a question.

"Oh. My name is Isaiah Sharpe. And you?"

"My name is Nico di Angelo and I'm ten years old. How old are you?"

"Eleven."

"Does that mean, that you are in grade 6?"

Isaiah wasn't familiar with the grading system in the US, with how Nico had asked the question, he assumed that he was supposed to be in a higher grade than him."

"Yeah,"

"So that's why I haven't seen you. That's cool. My sister is in the same grade as you. Have you heard of her? Her name is Bianca di Angelo."

"Sorry, I have never seen her. Maybe, we are in different classes?" Isaiah lied while scratching his cheek.

Nico believed him and shrugged,

"Maybe. Anyway, are you ready? I'll lend you some cards to play."

"Huh, sure."

Although, he was trying to figure Nico out, still listened to the game's instructions. And so, they began to play. In the first few games, Nico had destroyed him. Isaiah's eyebrow twitched in irritation, but he still kept his smile. However, as they continued to play, Isaiah had gotten a lot better and he started beating Nico.

"Woah! Are you sure you've ever heard of this game? You even beat me!"

Isaiah chuckled,

"Nah, I just learned it today, thanks to you."

"Hey, do you think we could play more after this dance is over?" the boy asked him.

Isaiah didn't know what to answer him. One, he wasn't even going to be here the next day. Second, he wasn't even sure if Nico was going to be in this school the next day. As he was mulling on what to answer, he suddenly heard a shout over the music.

"Nico di Angelo!" a feminine voice shouted.

Both boys turned their heads towards the source of the shout and saw a girl stomping her way towards him. Nico's face started to pale seeing the girl while Isaiah quirked an eyebrow.

"I finally found you! Where the hell have you been?" she scolded the younger boy.

Meanwhile, Isaiah examined her. She had the same olive skin tone and silky black hair as her brother. She was dressed in a simple black dress with shoes however she wore a green cap on her head. She was also gesticulating her hands wildly as she spoke. Isaiah found the same energy coursing through her as her ten-year-old. The sorcerer had realized that this was the same girl from the vision and she was Nico's older sister, Bianca di Angelo.

"B-But, I didn't go anywhere. I was just playing Mythomagic with Isaiah." Nico tried to explain himself to his sister.

"Again with those cards? Even if you go to play with someone, you should've told me. Do you know how worried I was because I couldn't find you!"

"S-Sorry." the boy apologized.

Bianca sighed,

"Well what's done is done, but you should be more careful," she said.

The girl then turned towards Isaiah and stared at him. The boy felt sweat roll down his forehead at the way she was staring at her.

"You know, I'm pretty sure someone told me that it's rude to stare at someone," he said.

The girl blushed a little from embarrassment before composing herself.

"Who are you?" she asked or demanded.

Isaiah rose an eyebrow at her question as he didn't know which one it was.

However, he was beaten to the punch by Nico.

"This is Isaiah Sharpe. He didn't know Mythomagic so I was teaching him. Can you believe it?" the boy bluntly stated and, once more, made Isaiah's eyebrow twitch.

Seeing his expression, Bianca sighed again.

"Nico, there are many people who don't know what Mythomagic is. It's not like everyone cares about it," she explained.

"What!? Everyone should know it. They should make it into some sort of international day or something like Christmas." the boy seriously stated while wildly waving his hands.

Isaiah wasn't sure if he would start casting spells with how much hand-waving there on the part of the di Angelo siblings.

Bianca sighed once more at her brother's obsession with the game. Isaiah realized this was normal behaviour in their family. The girl then turned towards Isaiah once more.

"I'm sorry about my brother. He gets very obsessed about his stupid game." "Hey!" "Thank you for playing with him, Isaiah."

"No problem. It was very interesting." the boy replied.

"Now, if you'll excuse me. I need to talk to my brother about something." Bianca said while motioning to Nico

"Oh, okay. See you later, Isaiah! We'll play plenty of Mythomagic!" Nico said before picking up his cards and following his sister.

"Yeah... see you later," Isaiah said waving his hand.

Once they disappeared through the crowd, Isaiah put his hand down,

'Wow! That was so interesting. Is that what they consider being rude?' he thought about his talk with the siblings.

His hands shifted on the bench and he felt a card.

'Oh? It seems like Nico forgot this card.'

At that moment, he felt a wave of power enter the gym. Looking at the door, he saw four teens enter the gym.

He had recognized the punk clothes the eldest girl was wearing. Flanked by her side were Perseus Jackson and the blonde girl. In front, of them, as if guiding them was the goat boy, Grunt."

Isaiah looked at his watch and saw that it was already 9:45 PM.

"So, it's started, huh?"