Chapter 29: Hanging Out

"Finally! I thought the day would never end." Bianca said to herself.

She picked up her books and quickly tried to leave the hellhole called classroom. Ever since she had been introduced to the Greek World, the di Angelo family's life has been hectic. Gods, monsters, demi-gods... all those things literally changed her world. Not to mention the fact that as soon as she was introduced to that world, she had to go on a world-saving quest to save a goddess from the clutches of a titan. A freaking goddess!

Bianca cringed a little when she remembered how she triggered a killer robot simply because she wanted to gift her brother a figurine from its junkyard.

On the plus side, she got to meet new people just like her and gain new powers as well as be the daughter of a god. One of the Big Three to boot. Unfortunately, it also came with a fair bit of trouble such as monsters easily knowing her location due to her "scent" being very strong. The daughter of the Underworld let out a shudder when she thought about being found by simply sniffing her location.

As she left the classroom, she headed for the dorms. Right now, she was attending a boarding school in lower Manhattan called Léman Manhattan Preparatory School. Chiron had helped her get transferred there and it was really convenient since it was close to Camp Half-Blood in case of emergencies.

"S'cuse me. S'cuse me. Coming through." she said as she went through the packs of students in the hallway.

Although the school was excellent, she didn't have friends. Although, she was never one to go and meet new people since she preferred to stay alone and away from the different cliques of students and their drama. It was the same when in her old school. After almost ten minutes of walking, she finally arrived at the dorms. To be honest, she was kind of excited about her "hang out" with Isaiah. She soon arrived at her room and placed the books on her desk. Looking at the time, it was already 3:30 PM.

Usually, students are not allowed to leave the school unless they have their parent's or guardians' permission. Fortunately, today was a Friday and Bianca had permission to leave school and go back to Camp-Halfblood for the weekend since her brother was staying. Bianca and Chiron decided that he would remain there until he was 12 years old to go to school. The centaur would make sure to update him on the knowledge that Nico is supposed to have. Bianca quickly packed her stuff and quietly left the room to go to a secluded classroom where there was always lots of sunlight at this time of the day. After making sure no one was around, she entered the class and took out two golden drachmas as well as a large pyramid rainbow prism. The prism was not very large just a little larger than an adult's first.

'I should've just told him to meet me in front of the school instead of telling him to wait for my call. Now I have to use this to make my call.' she thought with a sigh.

Bianca placed the pyramid in the window still with the most sunlight and brought a nearby white desk closer to the window. As soon as the sunlight hit the prism, it was retracted and transformed into a rainbow. The rainbow didn't go very far. It was only projected to about for at most a few centimeters, but it was enough for Bianca to work with.

She had gotten this idea after passing by a higher grades physics class where a teacher was teaching about reactions using a prism. It was then the girl thought,

'Why not try using it to make an Iris message?'

She told Chiron about her idea and later was interested in it. He bought a prism from a store Bianca hadn't heard about and they tested it. After dropping a golden drachma into the artificial rainbow, they grinned when it sunk into the rainbow. They tried it by calling Nico. At first, there were no responses as if the goddesses were checking the validity of the way the call was made. However, she let the call through since it was technically made through a rainbow. Both teacher and students smiled when the call worked. Unfortunately, since the rainbow was too small, it was hard to since the other side. Bianca could just treat this way of calling as an ordinary phone call without the video since it wouldn't match a call made by mist.

Back to the present, Bianca dropped a coin into the rainbow and asked.

"O Iris, Goddess of the rainbow, please show me, Chiron."

The rainbow warped into a circle and showed the main room of the Big House. Although the Iris message's window was small, she was able to see Chiron, in his wheelchair, reading a book. The latter then turned towards the Iris message.

"Oh! Hello Bianca. Is school finished?"

Bianca nodded,

"Yeah, I just finished around thirty minutes ago."

"Good. Good. Right now, that means you will be coming to camp, correct?" the centaur asked.

At that, Bianca hesitated to answer and Chiron noticed.

"What's wrong Bianca? Did something happen?" he asked concern written all over his face.

The girl quickly shook her head to dissuade the misunderstanding.

"I was just wondering if... it's alright to hang out with Isaiah?"

Chiron raised an eyebrow,

"Isaiah, the sorcerer boy?"

Bianca nodded and Chiron stroked his beard with a hint of a smile.

"Did you ask him?"

Bianca shook her head as she felt her face blushing a little.

"Well.. he asked me."

"Ho ho ho!"

"Chiron! It's nothing like that!" she retorted when she heard the laugh.

Chiron looked at her with a twinkle in his eyes,

"Very well. You may "hang out" with Isaiah, but I want you home before curfew."

Bianca smiled at the approval.

"Thanks, Chiron! See you later!"

"Have fun, Bianca!"

The centaur replied and Bianca blocked the sunlight to end the call. She then created another rainbow and dropped another golden drachma,

"O Iris, Goddess of Rainbow, please show me, Isaiah Sharpe."

When the rainbow finally showed the boy, she noticed that the latter was staring right at her which freaked her out.

"Kya!" she cried out as she stumbled back from the call.

"Bianca?" Isaiah, who had no clue what happened, called.

Bianca looked at him before getting up and turning around while blushing furiously at the embarrassing moment.

"Um, Bianca?" Isaiah called her again.

The girl took a deep breath and turned around before flashing a big smile.

"Hey, Isaiah!"

The latter raised an eyebrow,

"Are... you okay?"

"I'm great!"

"Then... what was that?"

Bianca gave a confused expression,

"What was what?"

"Whatever you just did?"

"What did I do?"

Isaiah was confused and wanted to ask more, but he saw the girl's smile which didn't look like one. To his better judgment, he decided to stop asking.

"So what's up? Did you finish school?" the boy changed the subject.

"Yup! Why don't you come to my school? I'll be waiting for you in front of it."

"Okay. But I don't know where you're school is though."

Bianca nodded and gave her school's name and address.

Isaiah smiled,

"Alright see you soon, Bianca."

"See you soon, Isaiah," Bianca replied and ended the call.

Isaiah seeing the Iris message disappear went to find his teacher. He knocked on his teacher's door.

"Come in, Isaiah."

The latter entered the room and saw his teacher meditating.

"Hello, Teacher."

"Hello, Isaiah. How are you feeling?"

Isaiah looked at his arms which were still wrapped in bandages to cover the burn marks sustained during the battle. Although it didn't hurt as much as when he was first brought to the infirmary, it still irritated him a little

"I still feel a little sore and my magic circuits are recovering."

"That's good. So why have you come to me?"

"I just wanted to ask you if I could hang out with Bianca."

The woman let out a smile,

"Hang out, huh? Sure, you can. It's always good to spend some time with a friend."

"Thank you, Teacher. Then I'll be off." the boy replied.

"Do be careful since you're still injured."

The boy nodded and went to his classroom before reaching for the computer. After searching for the address he went to put some clothes on and entered the Mirror Dimension. He had worn a simple black shirt with black slacks as well as brown winter boots. He had also worn a marine blue winter coat over his shirt. The boy then opened the portal to Bianca's school. After stepping through the portal, Isaiah saw the massive boarding school that Bianca attends. He quickly found a hidden spot and exited the mirror dimension.

Isaiah looked at his watch and saw that it was already 3:45 PM. He looked around and he saw some kids coming out of the school with their luggage. Finally, he spotted her. There she was standing at the entrance with her school bag. She seemed to be lost in thoughts since she didn't sense him even though he arrived right in front of her.

"Hey, Bianca."

"Mm? Isaiah!" she said when she noticed him.

"Hi, Bianca. How are you? It's been almost two months since we haven't seen each other in person."

"I've been great. Although school gets boring sometimes."

Isaiah nodded.

"So what are we supposed to do when we hang out?"

Bianca raised an eyebrow before letting out an amused smirk,

"You can hang out without even researching what hanging out means?"

Isaiah had an awkward smile,

"I guess. I hoped you would explain it to me." the boy responded making the girl giggle.

"Sure, I can do that."

The boy then turned his eyes to the bag,

"Do you want me to carry it?" he asked and Bianca shook her head.

"It's okay. It's not that heavy."

However, Isaiah replied.

"No. No. No. That's not what I meant," he then showed his ring. "I meant to put your bag in my ring so you don't have to carry it right now."

"You can do that?"

"Yeah. It's dimensional storage so I don't have to carry everything I need."

Bianca looked at the ring and shrugged,

"Why not? Thank you, Isaiah," the girl said and gave the boy the school bag and the latter put it in his ring without anyone noticing it.

"Woah! That's so convenient" the girl admired the artifact.

"I know, right!" the sorcerer replied with a little smug smirk.

"Alright, Isaiah. Let's go and start hanging out." Bianca said and started walking.

Confused, the boy followed her,

"Where?"

The daughter of Hades turned looked at Isaiah and spoke,

"Hanging out simply means spending time with friends doing something fun."

"Fun?"

"Yup! What do you do for fun?"

"Read books."

"Sure, what else?"

"Practice magic."

"Anything else?"

Isaiah tried to think about anything, but couldn't find one.

"Nothing else?" Bianca asked.

"Um...nothing else."The girl looked at him bewildered.

"Nothing else?"

Isaiah shook his head.

"You really need more hobbies, Isaiah."

"But I like magic."

"Hobbies that you can share with normal people. That's why let me introduce you to the arcade!"

Bianca said as they arrived in front of a small building.

"Huh? What's an arcade?" Isaiah asked.

Bianca took his hand and guided him inside the arcade. There the bit saw many people, you and old, either furiously tapping at buttons on machines or screaming at screens.

"W-What on earth is this place?" the boy asked in shock.

Bianca put her hands on her waist and gave a large grin.

"This is an arcade. It's a place with many games and prizes. I took Nico here once and he loved it. It's also fortunate that this place is really close to school," she explained.

The demigod then grabbed the boy's hand once more and pulled him up to a man in uniform behind a desk.

"What are we doing here?" Isaiah asked.

"Well, to use these machines you have to put in quarters so we came here to get some by exchanging quarters."

"If you need money, I have some." the boy replied before pulling out a bill of twenty dollars.

Bianca then pulled out a bill of five dollars,

"Why don't you start smaller, first?"

Isaiah nodded and pulled out a bill of five and they both went to the counter.

"Welcome to the Game 1000. How may I help you?" the man in uniform greeted them.

Bianca took both fiver dollars bills and replied,

"I would like to exchange these for quarters, please. Separately," she added.

"Of course."

A few minutes later, the man returned with two small bags of quarters.

"Here you go! Have fun!"

Bianca smiled and turned to Isaiah before giving him the other bag,

"Let's go play some games!"

"Sure!" Isaiah replied with a hint of excitement.

Soon Bianca led the boy around as they played all kinds of games be it a racing game or air hockey.

After two hours, Bianca had a defeated expression.

"Ho...How?" she asked.

Isaiah who was compelling tickets,

"How what?"

"Just how are you this good!? You told me this is your first time! Did you lie to me?" Bianca glared at her friend.

"What? No! It really is my first time!" Isaiah quickly denied her accusations.

Although, his power to instantly understand things helped a lot.

Bianca continued glaring at the boy before sighing,

"I believe you. Otherwise, you wouldn't be asking questions that even a newbie wouldn't ask."

"Hey! Those were honest questions!" Isaiah replied.

*Rumble*

"What was that?" Isaiah asked as he looked around.

*Rumble*

The boy then turned to Bianca who had grabbed her stomach with a red face. A light bulb flashed in Isaiah's mind,

"Let's go eat!" the boy suddenly said and grabbed the girl's hand and pulled her out of the arcade.

When they reached the outside, The boy looked around and saw a Mcdonald's just across the street.

"Why don't we go over there!" the young sorcerer said and they both went inside.

The boy looked around in awe. It was his first time going to a fast-food restaurant. Although sorcerers sometimes follow Buddhist teaching, they don't prohibit the consumption of meat.

"Is this your first time, Isaiah?" Bianca asked after recovering from her embarrassment and seeing the boy's expression.

"Yup! I wonder what its food tastes like." the boy asked himself.

"Then let me show you!" Bianca said and they went to the line.

When it was finally their turn, they saw a lady in a Mcdonald's uniform greeting,

"Welcome to Mcdonald's. How may I help you?"

Before Isaiah could go, Bianca spoke first.

"I would like two cheeseburgers with medium fries as well as a drink," Bianca replied.

The woman tapped on her screen,

"That'll be 7.89$"

Bianca handed her the money and it was now Isaiah's turn,

"See you just have to look at the menu on top behind them and choose whatever you want. Although don't choose too much."

Isaiah walked up to the counter,

"Welcome to Mcdonald's. How may I help you?"

"I would like... uh... two cheeseburgers with medium fries and a drink."

"That'll be 7.89$," the woman said and the bit handed her the cash.

"Please wait while your food is served."

Isaiah joined Bianca who looked at him with a raised eyebrow,

"Why did you choose the same as me?"

"Since you ordered it, it means you think it's good. So I wanted to try what you like."

*Ba-dump*

'What the Hades is this boy saying!' Bianca silently cursed when she heard her heartbeat thump after hearing the boy in front of her.

Soon their food was served and they went to a table.

As soon as Isaiah room his first bite, he raised his eyebrows in surprise,

"This is good!" he exclaimed as the flavors burst onto his tongue. "Although, it's a bit greasy compared to Kamar-Taj's food."

He took another bite,

"This can't be healthy though."

Bianca seeing his expression couldn't help but giggle.

"What?" the boy asked.

"Nothing. It's just funny seeing you like this."

"It's not my fault. This is the first time, I'm trying this."

Bianca continued to laugh.

"So after this, are you going back to camp?" Isaiah asked.

"Yeah. Every weekend, I go back to camp?"

"Every weekend?"

"Yup. My school is a boarding school which means it's a school where students could stay in the dorm rooms during the week instead of going home every day."

"How is it?"

"It's great! Although, classes can be boring sometimes."

"Oh. Well, that sucks."

Isaiah was about to take another bite when his sleeve was pulled back revealing bandages which Bianca saw.

"Hey Isaiah, did you get hurt?" she asked worriedly.

"Hm?"

"Well, I saw bandages on your arms."

Isaiah was confused until he finally remembered his injuries. Looking at his arms, he could see his bandages peek through his sleeves.

"Oh, those! Yeah, about that..." Isaiah had an awkward expression.

"Are you okay?" Bianca asked once more worry becoming more apparent on her face.

"Well, it goes like this."

Isaiah then explained to her what happened in Stonehenge. After fifteen minutes, the boy finally finished his story.

"You fought a demon!" Bianca shouted in shock.

Everyone in the restaurant turned toward her. The girl looked around and shrunk in her sea, embarrassed at her outburst.

"You fought a demon who tried to open a portal to hell!" she whispered-yelled.

Isaiah nodded,

"Yup!"

"That's insane!"

"What about you? What did you do since the last time we saw each other?"

"Nothing compared to you. Chiron enrolled me in this school and I also attend some classes at camp."

"What kind of classes are there in camp?"

"Oh, you know. Archery, kayaking, spars, monster 101. I also tried to learn more about my powers."

"Really?"

"Yup. Although they are not the same as my brother's."

At that Isaiah raised an eyebrow,

"What do you mean? Aren't you both the children of Hades?"

Bianca took a sip of her cola and replied,

"Well yeah. In a general sense, we have the same powers, however, we have different affinities."

"I see. So what's your brother's affinity?"

"Well, my brother is more closely related to the dead. So he can summon skeletons and control them and stuff. He can also control the earth a little. He could create a very weak earthquake."

"Then what about you?"

Bianca showed her hand

"Well. I have an affinity for darkness and shadows as well as control the earth like my brother," she replied as wisps of darkness escaped from her hand.

"That's amazing!"

Faint pink dusted Bianca's cheek at the compliment,

"Yeah well. My powers are not as amazing as yours! I mean you can create portals and destroy a giant robot with a single slash."

"But I had years of training while you only learned about your heritage almost two months ago."

"Fair point."

They continued to talk even when their food was finished. After a long time, Isaiah looked outside and saw that the sun had long set and it was nighttime. Looking at his watch, it was already 6:45 PM. Bianca also noticed the time.

"I think we should go home, now. It is already dark and my brother will be worried if I go home too late."

Isaiah agreed,

"Sure!"

They grabbed threw away their trash and left the restaurant. Even when the sun had set, the multiple sources of light from different places illuminated the street they were on.

"Let me open a portal for you," Isaiah said and they entered the Mirror Dimension.

"Isn't... this the place where you sent those skeletons that were after us?"

"Yup!"

The girl looked around worried,

"Are you sure they are not going to attack us?"

"Uh-huh."

"How are you sure?"

"Yeah. Because I already killed them all."

Bianca let out a sigh of relief.

"Although there are much worse things here than simply skeletons."

The girl's relief turned to panic once more.

"S-Stop fooling around. Just get us out of here."

Isaiah had a mischievous grin,

"Yes, Ma'am."

Isaiah grabbed his sling ring and opened a portal right outside of Camp Half-Blood. They walked through it before exiting the Mirror Dimension. As soon as they arrived in the real world, Bianca slap to the boy's shoulder.

"Don't do that! You almost gave me a heart attack!" she exclaimed.

Isaiah laughed at her expression,

"I thought it was funny."

Bianca sighed,

"You shouldn't joke like that."

"But I wasn't joking."

Bianca's heart ceased once more.

"What?"

"I wasn't joking. There really are creatures of unimaginable power trapped in the Mirror Dimension."

"Then why do you go in there!"

"Because there is nothing to worry about since they can't come out of it anyways. Besides, it's a dimension parallel to ours so it's a vast place making it rare to encounter one of them."

'That doesn't relieve me!' Bianca shouted in her mind.

"Anyways, we are in the forest just in front of the camp."

"Why didn't you open a portal inside the camp?"

"You remember the Winter Council of Gods. They don't want me meddling too much with the Greek World and I'm pretty sure they revoked my permission to enter the camp."

"Oh." Bianca let out a little disappointed.

Suddenly, arms wrapped around her shocking her and she let out a squeak.

"Thank you, Bianca, I had a great time."

"S-S-Sure" the girl stuttered.

Isaiah then backed away,

"My teacher told me hugs are given to close friends or relatives to make them feel happier."

The boy opened another portal showing the inside of his room.

"Anyways, I really enjoyed hanging out with you, Bianca. Let's do it again some other time."

"O-Okay," replied Bianca in a daze.

"And say hi to Nico for me! Bye!"

"Bye."

The boy stepped through the portal and closed it leaving Bianca alone in the forest in a daze. That's when a sudden thought occurred to her.

"Wait."

The girl felt her back and felt nothing on it.

"THAT JERK FORGOT TO GIVE ME MY BAG!" she shouted in realization.

"Oooh. When I get home, I'm going to give him a piece of my min-" "Sorry, Bianca! I forgot to give you your bag."

Isaiah's voice suddenly interrupted her monologue scaring her.

"KYA!" she let out.

"Bianca?"

The girl glared at him before walking up to him,

"Don't scare people like that!" she said before snatching up her bag

"Bye!" she then said before stomping toward the camp.

Isaiah simply watched her go, confused before closing the portal.

'What happened?' he thought.

***

In an office, a woman was speaking to a man who wanted to be anywhere else than the office.

"Tony, the board wanted your opinion on selling the newly created missiles to the US Army."

"Let it be, Pepper. I'm tired." Tony replied getting a little exasperated.

Virginia Potts aka Pepper Potts by her boss was also getting exasperated by her boss's attitude.

"Mr. Stark. You can't postpone this matter anymore."

Tony then nonchalantly waved his hands,

"Then let them proceed. Here I'll sign it."

Pepper sighed and handed him a document which the latter signed without looking at it.

"What else?"

"It is about a party that Elon Musk is host-"

"Don't wanna." Tony interrupted her.

"But-"

"Nope!"

Pepper sighed once more,

"Fine. Next is-"

Pepper was interrupted once more by a British voice appearing in the room.

"Sir, I have news for you."

"Jarvis?" asked Pepper.

Tony twirled on his rotating chair,

"What's up, buddy?"

"I have an update on the [Project Finding Nemo]

At that Tony froze, he turned around and Pepper could see a serious expression on him which was really rare. Most of the time, he had a cocky and arrogant face or the lesser know concentration face for when he worked on an invention. This time, however, he was serious with a hint of another expression she couldn't quite figure out.

"I'll be there, Jarvis."

"Yes, sir," Jarvis replied and his voice disappeared.

Tony turned to Pepper,

"You're dismissed for the day, Pepper. Go home, do something like watch a movie, or sleep. Whatever you want."

"But, what about all these papers?" she asked.

"We'll do it another time." the man said as he got out of his seat and was about to walk out of the room when Pepper called him again.

"Tony. What's [Project Finding Nemo]?"

"Classified."

"What? Bu-"

"Classified. Please don't ask anymore." Tony retorted and left the room.

The assistant saw her boss leave and didn't know what to do. She sighed once again before picking up the papers and she also left the office.

Meanwhile, Tony went down to his workshop and saw the table-computer screen light up. There were multiple holograms of different CCTV videos were shown. One of the videos shows a boy appearing out of a familiar fiery portal. Looking around to see anyone, the boy then exited the place. Another video showed the same boy walking beside a girl his age. Tony continued to watch all the videos showing the boy, including the girl until the last video showed them disappearing through the familiar shattered space.

"When was this, Jarvis?"

"This was today February 14th, 2007 from 3:45 PM to 6:47 PM."

"Was this some sort of date?"

"I'm uncertain about that sir."

Tony let out a slight grin,

"Damn, he's only eleven years old and already picking up chicks."

"Sir."

"Right, sorry. Anyways, find anything on the girl."

"One moment, sir"

A few minutes later,

"Here you go, sir"

A file was pulled up with the stamp of Leman Manhattan Preparatory School Stamp.

"Bianca di Angelo. Twelve years old and born on January 18th, 1995. No existing relatives except for her younger brother Nico di Angelo who is 10 years old. Their parents are unknown and their guardian is a man named Chiron Brunner. Their residence is where it gets complicated, sir"

"Hm? What do you mean, Jarvis"

"Well sir, their address is stated to be 3.141 Farm Road, Montauk, Long Island, New York, NY 10003, United States which is where the Delphi Strawberry Service is located. However, there seem to be no digital devices there thereby preventing me from getting any information."

"Wait. That Delphi Strawberry Service thing is a strawberry producer, am I right?"

"That is correct, sir."

"Then how come there are no digital devices there? How do they communicate with their customers about their products? By mail?"

"I have searched for any communication services, but unfortunately, I have found none. However, I have found something else?"

"What?"

"Have you ever heard of a boy named Perseus Jackson?"

Tony searched through his memories,

"Is... is that the kid that was mistaken as a terrorist a few years back?"

"That is right sir. It appears that the same boy goes to the same location as this farm almost every summer with the only exception being the last December."

Tony remained silent.

'Just what is going on? What happened to Isaiah and who are those kids? Does that girl also have powers just like Isaiah? She didn't look surprised when they entered that shattered space,' he thought.

He grabbed a nearby chair and sat down while palming his head.

"Sir? Are you well?" Jarvis asked.

"One moment, buddy. One moment. I need to think this through."

"Very well, sir."

Tony stayed silent as he mulled in his thoughts. After what seemed like an eternity, he sprung up from his chair and slammed his hands on the holo-table with a determined look.

"Jarvis!"

"Yes sir."

"I've been very busy lately, right?"

"It would appear so, sir?"

"And every hard work deserves to be rewarded, right?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then since I've been working hard lately, I need to reward myself."

"And what would you like to be rewarded with, sir?"

"A vacation. Let's go on a vacation to pick some strawberries."

A moment of silence settled in the room before being broken by Jarvis.

"But sir, it's not strawberry season yet."

"I know. I know."