Prologue
The first time Jason had met the coroner's son was when his mother had died, when both of them had been really young. Hades' Funeral Parlor was the newest and only funeral home in their town. They had showed up at the best time, just in time for his mother's funeral. Jason had been twelve at the time, and the other boy, Nico, had said he was nine.
"Hi! I'm Nico di Angelo and I turned nine last month. Look at what I got for my birthday!" The small boy, who only came up to the bottom of his rib cage, shoved a spread out hand of cards in his face. Jason wasn't sure if the boy understood that he was here while his father discussed funeral details. Why did Thalia have to go talk to the coroner's daughter?
"Do you see this card right here?" Jason smiled politely, just wishing that this kid would stop talking to him. "This one's my favorite because he has the same name as my dad. He owns this place!" Well that stopped Jason in his tracks. This ADHD kid was-
"Nico!" A girl's voice hissed. The two boys turned to see Nico's sister, an olive-skinned girl with long brown hair and a green beanie. Thalia was standing right behind her and gave Jason a head nod in greeting.
"What Bianca?" The boy whined, shoving the cards into his jacket pocket. Jason had to flinch at the movement; how could he do that to those poor cards? Jason had his own trading cards sitting in a binder under his bed, not the same type as Nico's, but the same thing applied: don't damage the cards!
"I don't think he wants to hear about your stupid cards. I'm really sorry about your mother by the way," Bianca told him sincerely, her brown eyes wide with sympathy, but Jason never got a chance to thank her.
"They're not stupid Bianca! They're Mythomagic!" Nico's face was starting to get red with anger, or maybe it was because of the way he was puffing out his cheeks, but whatever it was, it was the first time he had laughed since his mother had died. "Hey, don't laugh at me," Nico pouted, puffing out his cheeks again, and suddenly Jason couldn't stop laughing. Thalia and Bianca had joined in, not to his extent, and eventually Nico even joined in
"S-sorry," Jason said through his panting, but Nico just shrugged it off..
"I suppose I can forgive you this time, but I won't go so easy on you next time, son of Zeus."
"How did you-"
"Thalia! Jason! Time to leave!" His father, Zeus, barked, already heading towards the door. The children said goodbye to each other, and Jason lay in bed smiling, thinking about his first and last (for now) encounter with the coroner's son.