July-31-14006-Asgard, July-31-13006-Vanaheim, July-31-2007-Midgard. Location: Vanaheim

Nico and I smile crazily at each other as we exit our opposing suites in sync. I am turning six years old today which means we're having Dessert Crepes for breakfast, pistachio gelato after lunch and Tiramisu with dinner. The best part about turning six is that Lady di Angelo agreed to start training Nico and I in formal magic this year alongside our our other magic lessons! Lady Di Anglo wanted me to start today but Nico and I talked about it with her and explained that we're going to wait until we can practice together. Besides Nico can safely use his full magical core on Samhain. That's only a couple months away! I'm already receiving remedial magic lessons in my dreams from my Mother when I'm not having visions. Nico's getting his remedial magic lessons from his Father in his dreams as well but his visions are more along the lines of nightmares. I get really worried about our future from what little he's been able to to tell me.

We rarely get any one on one time together anymore which sucks because we're soulmates. Apparently finding two soulmates slipping away for 'alone time' is scandalous. I honestly don't get why. We're soulmates we're meant to be together. All we want to do is compare our mythomagic cards to our Greek and Norse Religious texts and Mythological books so we can finally figure out where they get the stats from! Okay, and work on our secret code words. We used to share a room and stay up late reading history books and comparing them to mythology and religious texts or inventing languages together. I never did understand what we did wrong there because we still get to stay up late and do all those things. Except the secret language part. It's not a secret if too many people know about it. Now we've been reduced to studying, playing and generally just being together under constant watch. We've actually begun to enjoy doing our homework! Whatever we did it must have been bad.

There's some good to come out of this sordid affair though, Nico and I have gotten more cunning and creative since the new rule was established. For example; after last year's kitchen remodel Nico and I have been secretly learning how to cook from the house elves, so we have our late nights back. We know Lady Di Anglo knows because she's given us the silent treatment about where we've been slipping off to up until now. Our reasons aren't all that simple though, we just don't want to turn every holiday roast into ash or remake whatever that sludge that attacked the kitchen last year was meant to be. We still all eat it when it happens… well mostly. I personally draw the line at the food dissolving my cutlery. My Mother was appalled when I informed her about that particular meal. My Father however was more concerned about the food that fought back when you tried to eat it. I had to explain that it isn't actually sediment. At least I hope not it's one of my favorite dishes.

I come out of my thoughts to see Nico staring off into the clouds practically blending in with the shadows with his favorite black Acromantula silk pajamas with the embroidered skulls on the pockets and his wild jet-black hair unbrushed. If it wasn't for his porcelain skin he'd be invisible. "Hey Nico." I flash him a grin as he blinks out of his cloud. "Race you to the bottom." I yell before making a mad dash for the stairs. We laugh as we race down the five flights of stairs and into the mansion entryway only to freeze in place seeing a scowling Bianca right in front of us. Before we can successfully backup she has her arms around us both and she's dragging us through the hallways by our ears.

"Ow! OW! OW! Bianca please let us go?" We plead with our best puppy dog eyes.

"How many times has mamma told you both no running. It is improper. Especially inside." She states emphasizing the end of each sentence with a sharp tug. "I may not be able to hear you when you run anymore but what if someone had seen you two running?"

"Let us go? Pleassse Bianca?" Nico begs as we walk with her.

"Not this time. Hadrian is turning six today. Six is too old for a proper pureblood to be running. Especially inside. Purebloods don't run nor do we walk do you know what we do?" she asks removing her hands from our ears and stopping in front of the dining room doors.

"You hurt people's ears for having fun?" I ask with a wine massaging my right ear while feeling Nico's pain echoing on my left ear.

"No. Nico do you know the answer?" She asks knowing neither of us has had this lesson yet.

"No." he responds still massaging his left ear.

"We glide, strut and stroll. You will both be leaving with me to go to pureblood walking classes tomorrow. Happy birthday Adrian." she says with a smile before opening the door. "You two have five minutes to get yourselves presentable before coming in." she states as the door closes behind her.

"Do you ever wonder if growing up is a trap?" I ask Nico while I methodically adjust my forest green Acromantula silk PJ's to be ready for company silently hoping there's not a crowd behind the door or something. These aren't the pajamas with gold trim or charmed snakes. It's not even from Vanaheim or any magic community. It was part of my annual 'Christmas' gift from a non-magical designer in Midgard who knew my adoptive parents and has excess Acromantula silk for some bizarre reason. I love the pajamas they're comfortable and covered in silver snakes but the snakes just sit there.

"Everyday." Nico responds while angrily correcting his outfit and making a bigger mess of it.

I grab his hands in my left and he practically collapses on me with silent tears. I know he's holding them back because it's my birthday. We haven't had near enough time together lately. I sigh knowing I'll have to wait until tonight to tell him about my vision and ask him about his nightmares vision. 'I wish we could trade even if just for a night. Maybe when we get older we'll finally be able to share dreams.' I think to myself tightening my grip around his back with my right arm.

We pull apart in time for me to correct both our outfits while Nico wipes away the tears that have escaped him. As one we put on our happy pureblood masks and turn to face the dining room. We only use the dining room when company's over or for special events like this. Which equates to an average of two to four meals in the dining room a week. We sigh and slump slightly in relief when we open the door to find it empty save for Bianca and Lady di Angelo. Nico immediately retakes my hand and we make our way to the middle of the table where a small tiramisu has been set up. I notice Nico and Bianca exchange exited and mischievous glances and pray to Odin that they don't team up on me.

My mouth salivates when the house elves silently summon Lady di Angelo's cooking onto the table. She makes amazing creeps and Bianca won't tell us how she does it. As a pureblood it isn't necessary for her or even expected of her to know how to cook but she does cook for us on special occasions like birthdays and pagan holidays. Personally, I prefer her birthday cooking because she normally burns whatever meat she's making. She holds a more vested interest in politics and battle magic and she's one of the best in her field. Which is totally awesome considering all the cool things we know and places we get to go as a result. The downside is we're all well versed on our joint and separate properties and our political seats in each country. It's still kind of cool though. Because of her I know that by the time Nico and I graduate secondary school the Di Angelo and Silvertongue names will hold over half of the Vanaheim, Asgard, Jotunheim and Midgard's political power. Not that I'm allowed to tell her or Nico that just yet. Father says I need to wait until his or Mother's coronation or she finds out on her own. At the rate Odin and Laufey are taking in deciding new coronation dates for my Mother and Father I'd sooner bet on her finding out on her own. I snap out of my mind startled at Lady di Angelo's shout of "Now!"

I barely catch Nico's manic grin and the near silent sound of apparition before Nico and Bianca shove my face into the Tiramisu. There's a *pop* of house elf apparition followed by a snap of a camera right before I fall and right after I lift my face out of the mini Tiramisu. Nico begins cracking up as I glare at him so I swipe some of the Tiramisu off my face and fling it at him. This in turn causes him to tackle me out of my chair and onto the ground where I roll him under me pinning him to the floor rubbing my dirty face on his black pajama shirt. Nico bursts out laughing before realizing he has on his favorite shirt with the skull on the chest pocket. The glares for a second before wrestling me to the ground again. I however won't stand to be pinned down so we end up taking turns forcing the other onto the floor rolling us back and forth with halfhearted angry jabs at each other faces and chests. We may be angrily fighting but I can feel his happiness, joy and surprise like a background wave within my mind.

"Nikolaos my child, Hadrian dear, there's food to be eaten and presents to be opened." Lady Di Angelo lightly scolds with a smile in her voice.

"We're up!" We say as one smiling happily at one another joy flooding through our bond like a background wave. We fall on opposing sides before crawling away from each other and rushing into our chairs. Lady Di Anglo smiles as we silently spell ourselves clean while putting our napkins in our lap. We spend the rest of breakfast laughing at Bianca's newest story of the mortals from Midgard's Beauxbatons Academy of Magic between bites of crepes, quiche and breakfast potatoes.

After eating we race each other again this time into the main sitting room to the sound of Bianca loudly complaining to Lady di Angelo on why she can't get away with running inside. I sigh in annoyed amusement finding the main sitting room full of presents from everyone from family to government agencies in both the magical and non-magical realms. Inside I'm appalled at how many presents I receive from complete strangers. I know they are safe as they can get through our numerous wards but it is still disturbing. I can see Nico's smiling on the outside but inside he's glaring at the room with me. I look back at the door hearing the faint argument from Bianca who refuses to let any part of her pureblood mask fall. Lady Di Angelo is calmly explaining to her why that can be detrimental to her health and magic before when I decide to tune it out as it is none of my business.

Deciding it is safe to allow my mask to fall completely I turn to Nico with a frown. "Every year!" I complain to him throw my hands up in the air in a dramatic fashion before gesturing to the piles upon piles of presents. "This is too much stuff!"

Nico's mask falls off and he nods his head before cocking it to the side a habit he picked up from me. "Isn't it creepy how we get gifts from complete strangers every year."

I nod my head in agreement remembering having mentioned as much to my Father and Mother last night before slumping in dawning realization. "It's completely creepy and do you know what's worse? I don't even know where I'm going to put all this."

"Do what I do." He says leaning on my side.

"What's that?" I ask tilting my head to rest against his.

"Put them in a box and hide them in one of the extra rooms in your suite." he says with a shrug before pulling away and putting his pureblood mask back on as our family's footsteps draw near.

"Okay." I agree walking over to the first package I see and sitting down on a chaise to open it. I hear the snap of a camera as I tear into the blue wrapping. Dreading the literal mounds of gifts, I will have to open.

After opening all my presents I begin separating them into five different piles. Pile one has the awesome new toys and trinkets I will be keeping. Like my new top of the line fire bolt and lightning racing brooms my Father bought me. Nico is already playing Exploding Snap with Bianca. Both already carefully set the new mythomagic card sets everyone who gave a gift bought onto the table accordingly. Nico will get my extras latter, after all he is the one who got me into the game while I got him interested in actually reading the original myths and legends. The rest will of course be put into storage in case one of ours is damaged. Pile two is stacked high with books ranging from various school's entire curriculum to rare and common books. Pile three has my new language books and lessons. Most of the valuable books are from my Mother. She has a frankly amazing talent at finding extremely rare books and making copies sometimes without anyone noticing. She always sends me one whether she thinks I'll like the book or not. As she says 'To keep an adequate library one must start young.'

Since Nico and I first bonded over religion, myths and legends Lady Di Anglo has had us learning both the myths and the original religious texts in the original languages they were written in. So nearly everyone sends a copy of their family mythology, religious texts and how to worship guides. Often times they claim them to be random book's they stumbled across and really had no idea they owned. Pile four is nothing but legal documents and money. I will need to look through that pile with Lady di Angelo and our family lawyers and curse breakers but it should be safe given that it passed through our wards. Finally pile five holds the undesirables such as unwanted clothing and toys that I will be giving to charity like we do every year. As a personal rule I never give away my books. I've gotten too many valuable books from people who did just that.

Lady Di Angelo finally enters the room just as the house elves are banishing the wrapping paper and unwanted packaging. "Hadrian, you have four more presents. Two are from me and two are from Bianca and Nico's father. We have both written your birth parents and received letters allowing us to be the ones to give you the presents. Be sure to carefully read over the correspondence before opening the gifts."

After reading the letters which confirm what Lady di Angelo says but also state I will be receiving my family's equivalent of the coming of age gifts when it is time I look to Bianca confused. She nods her head in understanding at my silent inquiry. "I had to open mine in secret as we were unsure which gifts you would be receiving or if you would have any at all. Your adoptive parents did live on Midgard after all. Nico will be getting the same gifts as well."

Carefully Lady Di Anglo moves the trunk (with a miniature potions lab, greenhouse, library, wardrobe bedroom and ensuite including the usual bottomless storage area. An odd gift willed to me by a visionary Italian wizard craftsman who claimed his wife, a seer, saw it necessary in my travels ahead.) and sits down atop it two potions. One with a folded tapestry and the other with the highest quality parchment I've ever seen outside my dreams and visions. In her other hand she holds a self-making wand similar to what Bianca received on her 6th birthday and what looks like a bottomless money pouch.

"The money pouch is a gift from my husband. He may be absent in his physical presence in our lives but he is good to us. This pouch is connected to the vault he opened for you when you arrived in our lives. It will never empty. Do not ask me how do not ask me why. I am not currently able to discuss such matters with you children. I only wish now that you are old enough to understand such matters that he is beyond wealthy and despite most everything we own being bought and paid for by my job he can easily care for us should I have allowed it."

"I understand, my Mother handless her affairs in much the same way. It displeases my grandparents greatly. My Father has explained that for her it is a source of great pride and accomplishment. It lets her know that everything she has worked for has not been in for naught. That despite the status she gained from her soul mark and subsequent marriage she has worth on her own."

Lady Di Anglo blinks in surprise before smile fondly. "Your Father is correct. Now I know you are eager for what awaits you in the box however the potions must come first as they take more time. These potions are more accurate than any spell or potion on the market and are very hard to acquire. They will determine everything in your blood from lineage, to any disease you will ever be capable of catching. Simply cut your wrist as you've been taught and allow for 12 drops to fall into each potion, okay?"

I nod my head and make a small cut on my wrist exactly one inch long allowing exactly 12 drops to fall into each potion before muttering a basic; "Episkey" and "Tergeo" before my skin can heal on its own. I know they will know shortly that I am of a higher species than my adoptive parents were however as they are family I do not care. It is not for them that I have taken on the practice of readily healing my cuts and bruises. Nico already knows how quickly we both heal and I am certain Bianca and Lady Di Anglo both suspect as much.

Lady Di Angelo levitates the potions over their accompanying parchment and tapestry before allowing both to dry. She then hands me the wand box which I excitedly open finding a silver and gold wand inside with blank parchment folded in the box.

"Just pick it up and give it a wave Adrian." Bianca advises.

"Remember they have to get a feel of your magic so focus on your core and the flow of your blood and familial ties." Lady Di Angelo adds.

Following their instructions, I pick it up and almost drop it in shock when it turns into a 6 and ½ foot tall scythe made of some black crystal I have barely just tightened my hold when it switches into an Asgardian sword and then into twin Jotun daggers (one held in each hand). Confusingly enough it is not yet finished and changes into a strange green mist before settling on a Vanir Staff that proceeds to shrink down to mimic a Midgardian wand. It has not escaped my notice that each version is made of the same black crystal and glowing with silver runes. Rather distractingly otherworldly crystals decorate each version while literal lightning flashes across the focal points for my power and magic. As I suspected from the appearance and feel of the wand's aurora this is no ordinary self-making wand it is designed for a Goddling. Those were my designated weapons. The weapons that I am able to naturally wield with little to no effort. Not that I'm not going to train my hardest with them.

I look up and everyone including the house elves are frozen in place mouths agape except for Bianca who just turns to look at her mother confused. Lady Di Angelo finally takes a deep breath and looks at me as though seeing me for the first time before looking over to Bianca and Nico and nodding her head in... acceptance.

"What in Hades was that?!" Nico asks his Mama breaking the silence and causing everyone in the room to turn to face Lady di Angelo.

"Mine did something similar remember the bow and arrows followed by that strange sword Mamma?" Bianca asks

"Yes, but the mist, what was the mist?" Lady Di Angelo asks. "How do they all tie together?" she mumbles under her breath.

"Is no one going to mention the actual lighting that came off what was supposed to be his wand?!" Nico demands while the house elves turn to each other and begin to talk excitedly in hushed whispers.

"Not now Nico." Lady Di Angelo says brushing him off while picking up the dried sheet of parchment and tapestry and hurrying out of the room.

"Where is she going with those?" Nico asks confused while we both get up to stare after her through the archway.

We turn toward Bianca when she begins reading. "Wand casing inner, lightning struck petrified wood from the Tree of Death located in… I cannot pronounce nor comprehend the language that location is written in." She looks up at us both seeing our eager faces. "I've had just as many language lessons as you two so we are skipping over it." she states much to our disappointment before looking back down at the parchment. "Wand casing middle, living wood given freely by the Yggdrasil where it touches down in Asgard. Outer wand casing blessed and enchanted black blood diamond 3mm thick."

"My wand has wood found in Asgard? As in the actual home of the Norse Gods?" I ask amazed.

"Does that mean that the Gods actually exist?" Nico asks in an equally excited voice. Inwardly I frown before smirking. He knows. He already knows the Gods exist. He's just surprised the Norse ones do. Does that mean-

"That is what this implies yes. It's safe to say the others do as well." Bianca reminds us before continuing her reading. Nico and I spare each other an ecstatic glance at our simultaneous realization of the other's big secret before refocusing on Bianca.

"Cores: dementors' bone, dementors cape, ice phoenix blood, ice phoenix tears, shadow phoenix tail feather, crystalized phoenix fire, basilisk venom, crushed basilisk fang, crushed horned serpent horn, therstal hair, some of the wielder's blood." Bianca looks over and smiles proudly at me. It's a rare look and very hard to earn seeing as I'm set to a higher standard than her little brother in her eyes. "Looks like we share some cores. I have dementors' bone, dementors cape, shadow phoenix tail feather, crystalized phoenix fire, therstal hair, and my own blood mixed in mine as well."

"Do you think I'll follow the pattern?" Nico asks hopefully.

"We'll just have to wait and see." Bianca states with her usual smile for Nico.

"What are the gems along the sides and at the top I didn't recognize most of them." I ask embarrassed. As a pureblood we are expected to be able to identify most if not all gems and other finer things in life on the spot.

"Uh, large blood diamonds, Asgardian Red, Blue and Green Quartz, Amber from the Isles of the Blessed and Obsidian from Tartarus." Bianca reads raising her eyebrows in surprise as she does so.

"Your wand is so cool." Nico cheers "It has properties from Asgard AND Hades!"

"Can you two read the runes?" Bianca ask hopefully, runes have never been her best subject but she's passable and I know she can read the basic ones on my wand. Still I do ask she asks. It's rare the two of us get along.

"Eihwaz to bring strength and stability into my life and my spell casting. Elhaz for protection and to enhance my connection to the Gods. And since the wand contains my blood the wand is bond to me. So, it can't betray me."

"Which means what?" Bianca prompts already knowing the answer as she also studies under master Achille.

"It can't be summoned from me, used against me in battle or act against my will without my consent." I recite

"Exactly." She praises with a pleased nod.