"Rise and shine gorgeous!" Will pulled the curtains in the cheap motel open and smiled brightly at the sunlight. Nico groaned and buried his face in the pillow beside his head and pulled the covers over him. "It's such a beautiful morning!" Will said cheerfully. "The birds are chirping, the leaves are turning colors, fall's coming! Isn't it great?!"
"It would be great if you would close those damn curtains and quit talking." Nico mumbled from underneath the covers.
Will looked over at him with a fond smile, "It's 8 am grouchy pants. It's time to get up. You don't want Percy to wake you up."
"I'm not scared of him. Now let me sleep. No normal teenagers is up before noon."
"You sleep like the dead. Has anyone ever told you that?"
"You think you're funny don't you sunshine?"
Will shrugged with a smile, "It's a gift." The smile on his face instantly disappearing when the door flew open and Perseus Jackson walked in the room dressed in his usual skinny jeans, flannel shirt, and vans. His raven colored hair a mess on his head as usual and a fierce glare accompanying his face like always to match the fierceness of his sea green eyes.
"What are you two lazing around about?! Get up and get dressed! We have a busy day today and I want to be home before sundown! Now get up." Percy spat.
"Fuck off." Nico grumbled.
Will look at Nico's figure with wide eyes, Percy glared and yanked the covers off the bed. "I said get up and get dressed!"
Before he knew it, Nico was climbing out of bed and pulling his jeans up off the floor and up his legs against his will. "How are you doing this?" Nico asked in surprise.
Percy ignored his question and pulled up a chair and turned his glare to Will, "Sunshine! Get the coffee going, I need my morning cup before I rip one of your heads off." Will immediately went to work without having to be told twice. Percy pulled out a cigarette and lit one, inhaling the smoke before letting it out.
"Will Jason be joining us?" Will asked hesitantly.
"He's in the shower cleaning up." Percy took another hit of the cigarette. "He'll be joining us soon."
"You never answered my question." Nico said pulling on his shoes against his will. "How did you do it?"
Percy rolled his eyes, "Do what sleeping beauty?"
"Make me get out of bed and start getting dressed without a second thought?"
Percy let out another puff of smoke, "Concilium." Percy rolled his eyes at the look of confusion on Nico's face. "Mind control."
"It can't be resisted?" Nico asked.
"It can. But it causes increasing intracranial pressure to the point of explosion." Percy said casually before putting out his cigarette and getting up to fix his coffee.
"So it's either give in to the mind control or have your head exploded?"
"If exercised, it can bend the strongest of wills." Percy added. "Sunshine where's the damn sugar?"
"Does everyone of us 'warlocks' and 'witches' posses that power?" Nico asked growing slightly excited. Seemed like a great power he could put to good use against some old bullies of his. And he knows exactly who he's gonna start with.
"No. And don't think just because you have it, you can use it to your advantage." Percy gave Nico a glare as if reading his thoughts. "You can't risk outing us. But no, not all of us posses that power. There's others. Many of us posses more than one power."
"What powers do I posses?" Nico asked curious.
"What is this? Twenty questions or something?" Percy rolled his eyes.
"We don't know. You'll find out in time." Another voice added. Nico turned turned his head to see a blond haired guy standing in the doorway.
"Finally decided to join us, Grace?"
The guy walked over to Percy with a smirk and wrapped his arms around him from behind. "You didn't wait for me you ass."
Percy shrugged him off, "Had to make sure these two were out of bed. And you were in the shower. I got bored and tired of waiting on you."
The guy, Grace, smirked and kissed his shoulder. "You could've joined me."
"You have no idea what personal space is Grace. You would've pounced on me the second I got in the bathroom."
"Why are you so afraid of loving me Percy?" Jason asked, a hint of amusement in his voice.
"We have other matters to discuss Jason other than why I won't sleep with you." Percy got out of Jason's grip and sat back down in his chair.
"So Neeks," Jason smiled.
"It's Nico." Nico mumbled.
"Yeah, I'm gonna call you Neeks. Have any questions?"
"Yeah, where are we going? And why?"
"A school for our kind in New Orleans. Bec-"
"So we can teach you to learn and control your powers." Percy interrupted. "Can't have you killing anymore people with your dick."
"Percy!" Jason glared and slapped his arm. Nico looked horrified and Will just gave him a pity look. "What? It's true. He can't go around killing everyoe he tries to sleep with." Percy took a sip of his coffee and grimaced. "Ugh not enough sugar." Percy put the cup down and lit another cigarette. "Not only would that expose us, a lot of people would be questioning him asking why it happened. He wouldn't be able to explain it. Not good for us or him."
"Do you have to be such an asshole about it?" Jason hissed and took the cigarette out of Percy's mouth and put it out. "And I told you! No smoking! It's disgusting."
Percy groaned, "I know I should've left you for dead. You've been an annoying pain in my ass trying to make me stop smoking ever since we brought you back."
"If I'm such an annoying pain in the ass, then why did you bring me back?" Jason crossed his arms over his chest and glared.
"I didn't." Percy took another sip of his coffee, "Piper felt bad for you and got William here to help. I thought you'd be better off dead and in the ground decaying. But I was outvoted and here you are. Being an annoying pain in my ass. Like always."
"Well you did nurse me back to health." Jason added.
"I'm pretty sure it was Hazel's voodoo and Piper's mind control."
"Or you don't really think I'm a pain in the ass and you actually consider me a friend." Jason said hopefully.
"You're still a pain in the ass Grace, no doubt about it. But you've proven yourself to be quite useful. But put out another one of my cigarettes and I'll put your ass back in the ground myself and make sure you stay there."
"Wait, you're dead?" Nico asked surprised.
"Undead," Jason corrected. "But I'm not a zombie, I was brought back to life by a resurrection spell and Will's Vitalum Vitalis power."
"Wait, so you can bring people back from the dead by a spell?" Nico asked hopefully.
"The resurrection spell isn't always that great, it's often done with undesirable results in accordance with with the witch's power and adherence to the spell. It's pretty much pointless if the body is in too many pieces. It's usually best for the person to just stay dead and rot in the ground." Nico went to argue but Percy stopped him. "Trust me, I know from experience."
"So this school, no one know about it? Like no one ever questioned why a school for our 'kind' existed? How do you even find people to join?" Nico asked curiously.
"Chiron, the one who trains us in our powers, you can call him the Dean I guess, tracks us down by doing research and other methods of his, I'm not really sure. The academy is disguised as a school for behavioral problem kids. The mortals think we're sent there because we need our attitudes fixed. The only people who know what it's truly for, are our families and the descendants of the witches from Salem." Jason said, giving Nico a small smile.
"Witches from Salem? You mean like the Salem witch trials?"
"Yup, those witches. Except the ones who were accused of being witches weren't real witches and they were hanged, burned at the stake, or drowned because of false accusations. The real witches of Salem, left and made their way down to New Orleans where they founded our school where it still stands today. Housing and teaching witches and warlocks on how to discover and control their powers and giving us protection from witch hunters."
"Witch hunters? Those exist?"
"Since Salem." Percy said. "They've been around for generations, trying to eliminate us."
"But how do they know we're still around? Shouldn't we be extinct by now? And how did they find us in New Orleans if everyone was hanging innoncent people in Salem?"
"They know how to recognize a witch when they see one." Will piped up. "When a group of women leave Salem for the south, people are bound to notice. When the witches left, so did others. And we're dying out. Our numbers aren't as large as they used to be."
Percy checked the time on his watch. "Well let's get going kiddos, if we're gonna make it home before sundown, we better leave now. I don't want to be stuck in this shit hole any longer." Percy got up and left the room to gather his things.
"Well, he's a ray of sunshine isn't he? Nico said sarcastically before getting his bags.
"So this is the school?" Nico asked, looking up at the building. "It's huge."
"It has to be huge to fit us all." Percy said opening the gate and walking in the house. Jason following closely behind at his heels.
"Are you sure they're not dating?" Nico eyed the pair suspiciously before turning his gaze to Will. Will grabbed a hold of his bags and walked along side with Nico towards the house. "I'm sure. It's just a one sided attraction is all. Percy doesn't date. Not since Luke at least."
"Luke? Who's he?
"Luke Castellan. Percy's ex-boyfriend. Burned at the stake."
"What?!" Nico's eyes widened. "Why? What did he do that was so wrong that he deserves to be burned?"
"We don't do it often. Only when a witch or warlock purposely seriously harms or kills another. Luke was making deals with witch hunters to overthrow the council and trying to start a war. No one goes against the council like that."
"So for trying to overthrow a council of grouchy old witches and warlocks, he was burned to death? That's kinda overdoing it don't you think?" Nico asked, raising an eyebrow.
"He's killed our people Nico, even tried to kill his own boyfriend two or three times. Didn't sit to well with one of the council leaders, Percy's father Poseidon. When he found out, he vowed for revenge. Luke may have realized his mistakes and what he was doing was wrong in the end and killed the witch hunters, but Poseidon, and the rest of the council, weren't interested in his apology or Percy's pleas. He needed to face the consequences and take his punishment. Burning at the stake."
"So they killed him."
"In front of everyone." Will said sadly. "The council wanted the rest of us to know what would happen if we ever went against them."
"There you are!" Nico turned to look at the voice of the girl standing behind him. "You must be Nico, I'm Piper, I was told to show you around answer any of your questions. Will," the girl, Piper, turned to look at him. "Chiron would like to speak wth you." will nodded and set their bags down in the doorway before making his way out of the room.
"Well let's start."
"Before, at the motel, Percy mentioned powers, and how some of us posses more than one power." Nico said, looking around at the portraits on the walls.
"Yes, what about them?" Piper smiled kindly.
"What are they?"
"There are seven wonders, and to be supreme, one must posses every one of them. Telekinesis, Concilium, Proykinesis, Divination, Transmutation, Vitalum Vitalis, and Descensum." Piper said. "Telekinesis is manipulating objects with the power of the mind. Concilium is another word for mind control; imposition of one's will onto another. Proykiesis is controlling and conjuring fire with the power of the mind. Divination obtains direct knowledge about an object, person, location, or physical event through other means other than the user's physical senses. Being around a person, focusing on specific tasks, searching for info, touching objects. Transmutation is another word for teleportation; moving instantaneously from one location to another without physically occupying the space in between. Vitalum Vitalis is the balancing of the scales between one life force and another. One can transfer their own life force to dead or nearly dead people in order to heal t hem. And descensum is spiritual descent into the netherworld or afterlife. They're able to project themselves directly into Hell, which takes the form of their worst fears." Piper explained.
"Theres's also the rare powers that some of us posses. Resurgence, injury transference, Black Widow, power negation, the sight, and clairvoyance. A witch or warlock who possesses the resurgence power can return oneself or others from the dead to full life. Injury Transference is basically a human voodoo doll; traumatic physical injuries sustained can be sympathetically transmuted to the body of another, by the caster, along with the pain of the injury. The Black Widow causes fatal hemorrhage by sexual intercourse."
Nico looked down, already knowing what power he possessed. "Power negation is cancelling out someone else's magic or voodoo curse temporarily. The sight is seeing significant visions of the past and the future through touch, applies to people and materials in a series of visions or premonitions. And lastly, Clairvoyance is telepathy; reading the mind of others." Piper finished. "Any other questions?"
"What powers does everyone posses? Y'know, so I can be on the safe side and be weary not to anger anyone."
Piper laughed, "Don't worry Nico, no one is gonna hurt you as long as you don't anger them enough." Nico didn't feel so reassured by the thought. Piper sighed, "Well if you must know, Percy's concilium, Hazel Levesque is Injury Transference and Descensum. She's a sweetheart. You don't have anything to worry about with her. Rachel Dare has the sight and divination. Reyna is clairvoyance. She's pretty intimidating. Annabeth Chase has telekinesis and power negation, I'd watch out for her if I were you. Leo Valdez has proykineis, he's pretty cool. He couldn't hurt a fly. Will Solace has Vitalum Vitalis, he's literal sunshine so you'll be safe with him. And I'm concilium and the Black Widow. There's more us but I can't keep track with everyone's powers."
"When do our power's usually appear?" Nico asked.
"They usually appear when we really need them. Sometimes they appear in dire situations, when we're stressed out or scared about something. They don't really come with a warning."
"I have another question."
"Ask away." Piper smiled.
"How would one, just hypothetically asking, perform the resurrection spell?"
"How do you know about that?" Piper asked suspiciously.
"They may have mentioned you and Will brought back that Jason guy.." Nico said quietly.
Piper sighed and mumbled her breath. "Those idiots can't keep a secret to save their lives." Piper gave Nico a small smile. "Nico, I know exactly who you are and why you want that spell. Your Bianca di Angelo's little brother."
"You knew her?"
"No. But I've heard of her. She came here before I did." Piper said sadly. "If you have any questions concerning her, you can try asking Thalia or Percy. They knew her pretty well."
Nico sighed, "Percy doesn't really seem like the approachable type to be asking about one's dead sister."
"He's not really a people person anymore." Piper sighed. "But I can tell you one thing Nico, the resurrection spell won't do you any good now. For one, you need the body, and two, once they're decayed and rotted out it's no use."
Nico sighed defeated. "Well thanks anyway. Who's this Thalia girl and where can I find her?"
"Thalia Grace, Jason's older sister. She's kinda short with short spiky black hair, electric blue eyes, and a death to barbies t-shirt. She's basically the personification of punk rock. You can find her outside under the pine tree we nicknamed after her or with Annabeth; a scary blonde with curly hair and calculating grey eyes. Good luck." Piper gave him one last smile and finished giving in the tour around the house and school.