Chapter Text
MAT
My day was going pretty good before the new kid set himself on fire in front of me. Ah, let me backtrack a bit, you must be confused. About a week after the mysterious bombing at Long Island, New York, I was sitting in class, trying to ignore everyone. “My Chemical Romance” blasted itself in my earbuds before my teacher walked up to the front with a new student. I took out my earbuds and examined the new kid. He was short for our age group, about 5’6, and had a mop of curly hair on his head. His outfit consisted of a white shirt, a brown flannel over it, gray pants with a brown belt, and brown converse. He had pointed ears that made him look like an elf and a look in his eyes that told me he was either going to be part of the “popular” kids group, or hated by everyone by the end of the week. Either way, I wouldn’t like him.
“Everyone, this is our new student.” My teacher said, “Please introduce yourself.” All eyes turned to the new kid, trying to figure out where he would be in the social ranks. The new kid grinned, and I groaned mentally. He’s definitely going to be popular.
“Hi! I’m Leo Valdez.” He said, waving at us. “I moved here from New York.” Instantly, questions started launching themselves at Leo. Several asked if he saw the bombing and others asked why he moved to St. George, Utah of all places. He answered both. “Yeah, I did see the bomb go off. The media made it more dramatic than it really was.” He said, shrugging. “I moved here because it’s cheaper and there’s better quality air here.” Leo added. There were several murmurs of agreement and disagreement throughout the classroom.
“Alright, Leo.” My teacher, Mrs. Rodgers, said. I looked over to find her holding the seating chart. I glanced around the room, seeing which seats were open. There was only one, and it was the seat right next to me. I sighed. “You can sit right next to Mathilda. Raise your hand so Leo can see you, Mathilda.” I raised my hand, and Leo looked over at me then the seat next to me.
“Thanks, teach.” He said, walking over and sitting right next to me. I avoided eye contact while our teacher gave us instructions for our next essay. I smiled to myself, pleased that I could get this assignment done in less than a week by the looks of it. Mrs. Rodgers gave us permission to work, and the class started talking. I opened my laptop and took a quick glance at Leo, who was looking straight at me. I looked at him.
“What?” I said, immediately regretting my bored, snappy tone. Usually if I talked to anyone like that I would either get slapped or looked at weirdly, but Leo just grinned at me.
“So, your name is Mathilda?” Leo asked, tapping his fingers on his desk. I tried to tune out the noise. I sighed, getting ready for the next question. “Like Matilda?” He asked.
“Not at all.” I said quickly, signing into my laptop. “I also go by Mat.” I took my eyes off of my laptop to look at him again. His school chromebook was open, but he’s not typing anything. I follow his gaze to the keys, and something clicks. “Are you dyslexic?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
“Yeah.” He responded, rubbing the back of his head and blushing in embarrassment. I sighed and shook my head, knowing how troubling the school chromebooks are for kids with dyslexia.
“This school won’t give you a chromebook fit for you, so I would just expect to fail all of your classes.” I told him, keeping the fact I’m also dyslexic under wraps. Leo leaned over to look at my laptop, and I saw his eyes widen in satisfaction.
“I can read the keys on your laptop.” He pointed out. I waved his face out of the way, but I was confused. Usually people would ask what kind of language I have on my laptop, or joke about how it looks like I scribbled on the keys. “You’re also dyslexic.” He said.
Despite him not phrasing his words like a question, I nodded. “I had the keys custom made so I could actually do my work in school.” I said, pulling up the form for the essay.
“Do you have ADHD?” Leo asked, looking at me *Still*. I paused, debating if I should answer him. “You do, don’t you?” He said, practically jumping up and down in his seat. I looked around the room quickly and put my hands on his shoulders.
“Okay, yes I have ADHD. Stop jumping around in your seat and sit still.” I told him. Leo settled down a bit, but he was still jumping around in his seat a bit. “Why do you want to know?” I asked.
“Well, I also have ADHD.” Leo responded, closing his chromebook. “We both have ADHD and dyslexia, so we should be friends!” He said, grinning at me. I paused, letting the possibilities flow through my head. Leo becoming friends with the popular kids and abandoning me, Leo becoming friends with the popular kids and humiliating me, Leo becoming friends with someone better and leaving me.
“Wouldn’t you rather be friends with the popular kids?” I grumbled, writing the first couple of sentences for my paper.
“Friends with the popular kids?” Leo asked, then he burst out laughing. Several kids looked at him, but they went back to their own conversations. “Me? Friends with the popular kids?” he said between breaths. “Never!” He said once he's caught his breath.
“Oh.” I said. “Sorry.”
“Hey, don’t be sorry!” Leo responded quickly. He paused, as if thinking. “By any chance, sorry if this is too personal, do you not have a parent present in your life right now?” I coughed in surprise. I looked at him, eyes wide. How the fuck did he guess?!
“Yeah.” I answered slowly. Leo smiles, satisfied with my answer. “Why?” I asked, thoroughly confused by his questions.
“Ah, nothing. Just another thing we have in common.” Leo said, watching me work. For about 20 minutes of class Leo was stalking me while I tried to ignore him and get ahead on my essay. Finally, the teacher told us to stop working and talk with our peers for the last 10 minutes of class. Leo goes straight to talking with me. “So what skills do you have?” He asked. I glanced over at him.
“Well,” I said, thinking for a moment before continuing. “I’m really good at playing the drums and guitar, I can run for long periods of time without getting tired, and skateboarding.” I purposely leave out the fact I can steal things easily. Not how I usually like to introduce myself. “What about you? What are your skills?” I asked him.
“Oh! I’m really good at building things, I have awesome jokes, and I’m really good with fire for some reason.” Leo said with a grin on his face. I raise one of my eyebrows, questioning his skill set.
“You’re good with fire?” I asked.
“You may or may not see why.” He said, a sly smile entering his face.
“Okay…” I said. I quickly shut down my laptop and put it in my bag so no one else in the class could see it. I looked over at Leo, who was staring at me *Again*. “Okay, dude, do you have a staring problem or something?” I snapped. Leo’s eyes widened for a split second, but he quickly put a wide grin on his face.
“Well your hair is distracting.” He says. I reach for my hair, remembering its a light shade of blue with a hint of green in it. “Did you dye it yourself?” He asked. “If so, can you do my hair a bright shade of red?” I looked at him, trying to figure out if he was joking or not.
“I did dye it myself.” I said. “If you want me to dye your hair you need to get your own dye.” Leo’s face lit up. I smiled softly at the sight. Normally people would make fun of my hair, saying it made me look like a boy (That's one of the reasons I gave myself a shag haircut actually) and call me… names. “And it’s easier for me to dye your hair in sections, so It may take a couple of days.” I paused. Did I really just agree to dyeing this guy's hair?
“Sweet!” Leo said, grabbing my hand and making me give him a high-five. I looked at him in confusion. Just as Leo was about to talk again, the bell rang. I quickly got up and left the room, ready to go to my next class.
-
I quickly entered my next class, FACS, and grabbed my worksheet. I walked over to my seat and waited for my friend, Ari, to get here. Students flooded in, all talking to their friends or making new ones. I sighed, wishing someone could talk to me like that. But according to almost everyone in my school, I’m “emo” and a loser. My gray sweater and skull shirt probably didn’t make them think otherwise. Just before the bell rang, I was yanked out of my thoughts by Ari walking in and approaching me.
“Hi, Mat!” She said, using my preferred name. I smiled and waved at her, trying to match her level of energy. She pulled out the chair next to me and sat in it. She then went on to tell me about her day so far. “Okay, so, basically I woke up feeling great! I go to check my phone and it turns out it's because it’s my dog's birthday! Happy birthday Ross! Anyways I got out of bed and I put on my shirt, my favorite white sweater, some baggy jeans, and converse, as you can see, and grabbed some breakfast…” She said, continuing until our teacher interrupts her story.
“Alright. Today you guys are working in the kitchen as pairs. Follow the instructions on the paper. Pick your partners. Come to me if you have questions.” Our teacher said, then chaos breaks out. Immediately, Ari grabs my hand.
“You,” She pointed at me, “Me,” she pointed at herself, “Partners, okay?” she finished. I nodded and we walked over to our kitchen area. “So how has your day been so far?” Ari asked me, putting on an apron and tying her long, straight, light brown hair in a ponytail.
“Odd.” I said. “There’s a new kid and he sits right next to me in Language Arts. He’s super ADHD but he’s also dyslexic.” I told her.
“Huh.” Ari responded. “Like us?”
I nodded. “He also asked if only one of my parents is present in my life. Turns out he also only has one parent.” I walked over to the sink and washed my hands with Ari.
“Weird.” Ari said. She looked around at the kids also at the sink, then tilted her head back at our kitchen in the back of the room. I nodded, understanding. We walked back once we dried our hands. “Do you think he can also see weird stuff… like we do?” She asked in a hushed tone.
“No Idea.” I said, shrugging. I picked up two eggs from the counter and cracked them into our mixing bowl. “He asked a lot of questions.”
“What’s his name?” Ari asked. I looked at her with one eyebrow raised. “If I have him in one of my classes it might be good to be friends with him.” She explained.
“Oh, okay.” I said. “His name is Leo Valdez.” I told her. “He moved here from New York and he even saw that bombing from last week. Told us the media made it more dramatic than it truly was.” I looked over at Ari, and her mouth was wide open.
“He’s from New York?! And he saw the explosion?!” Ari whispered. She leaned in closer and covered her mouth. “One of the monster things I encountered told me about a boy that was involved in the explosion is here…” I looked at her, eyes wide.
“You encountered a monster recently?!” I whispered, also covering my mouth. Ari nodded.
“I managed to shoot him with an arrow, scared him off, but he might be back.” She said, frowning at her failed attempt to get rid of the monster.
“What did the monster look like?” I asked.
“Tall, big, smelled horrible, and had only one eye.” Ari said. “I’m pretty sure he might be a cyclops. From Greek mythology.” She said, recalling the event.
“Alright. Let’s hope he stays away for a while.” I said, mixing some vegetable oil into the mixing bowl. “Maybe Leo could help us if he’s like us.” Ari side-eyed me.
“Maybe. We shouldn’t trust him immediately though.” She told me.
“We might have to if he knows how to kill those things.” I responded.
“Fair point.” Ari said, mixing the brownie mix into our bowl. “Help me with this?” She said, nodding at our brownie glass. I held down the paper while Ari poured the brownie batter into the glass. We put it into the oven and spent the entire class talking about Leo and other monsters we’d encountered.
“Wanna know what sucks?” I said suddenly. Ari looked at me.
“What?” She asked.
“The fact that our school goes on for the entire year!” I said, leaning on the counter. “It’s not fair.”
“At least we get a three day break every month.” Ari said, trying to lift my spirits. She leaned down on the counter beside me. “Besides, nothing about our life is fair.” She added, and I sighed.
“I know.” I responded.
“For example,” Ari continued, “You and I can see monsters that other people can’t. We get called “demigods” by all of them and then they try to kill us! Only us.” I sighed and looked at her.
“I just wish we could actually know what's going on with our lives.” I said. Ari looked me in the eyes, and I could feel my face get hotter. I quickly looked away.
“We’ll find out some day.” She said, reaching for my hand and holding it. “Also, the bell is going to ring, so we should put our stuff away.” I groaned and I could hear Ari snickering.
“See you at lunch.” I told her when the bell rang. She waved at me as I walked out of the class, heading for Math.
-
I stepped into the classroom and quickly went to my seat, not willing to talk to anyone. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw our schedule. It was a catch-up day, so I had a free class period. I looked at my classmates flooding in, but my eyes locked onto a familiar face. Leo fucking Valdez was in my math class. We made eye contact, but I quickly broke it by looking at my desk.
“Mat! How are you?” Leo said, sliding into the empty desk next to mine. I looked over at him.
“How do you have so much energy this early in the morning…” I asked him. He looked at me and grinned.
“It's all ADHD, baby.” He said, leaning back in his seat. I rolled my eyes and grabbed my laptop out of my bag. “Also the teacher wants you to help me with math and stuff ‘cause you’re smart.” He said. I mentally groaned and gave him my laptop.
“Just log in.” I told him. Leo looked at the keys and paused. I sighed and raised my hand. Our teacher came over to help me. “Leo doesn’t know his login.” I told her. She nodded and gave me a paper. I eyed the paper but accepted it. It took a while, but Leo and I eventually managed to get him logged in.
“There we go!” Leo said. He clicked on the assignment that we had to do last week and smiled. “I already know how to do this, actually.” He got out a paper and pen and sped through the assignment, finishing it in around fifteen minutes.
“Nice, give me my laptop back.” I said, reaching for my laptop. I slid it over to my desk and I saw Leo roll his eyes, probably jokingly.
“So,” Leo said, turning in his seat to face me. “I need to ask you a question.” I eyed him suspiciously, but nodded for him to continue. He did. “Have you ever seen things no one else had? Giants with one eye, creatures that no one else notices? If you have, do they attack you?” He said in a hushed tone. He covered his mouth at the side so no one could tell what he was saying. I looked at him with a blank stare and he sighed, leaning back and mumbling something.
“Yes. Yes to both of those.” I whispered. Leo looked at me in shock, but it was quickly replaced with a grin. “The ones that’ll talk to us call us “Demigods”’ I told him. Leo raised an eyebrow in question.
“Us?” He asked. I silently curse my use of words. I said ‘us,’ referring to Ari and I. “You can tell me who, don’t worry.” He said.
“Yeah. I have a friend named Ari who can see the creatures, too.” I said.
“Okay, I’ll see if she’s in any of my classes.” Leo told me, looking around the room. I followed his eyes as they landed on one of the other boys in the class. He grabbed his pencil and quickly wrote a note. Once he was done he handed it to me. It read :
“There may be a monster in this class. Let’s continue this at Lunch. Bring Ari. Meet me outside by one of the trees.”
I read the note and nodded, putting the note into my bag.
“See you at lunch.” I told him, standing up and heading for the door right as the bell rang.
-
Lunch quickly arrived, and I caught up to Ari in the hall. I grabbed her by the shoulder and led her into the girls’ bathroom. She looked at me, mouth open. I stopped her before she could ask any questions.
“I talked with Leo in Math.” I told her. I picked the note out of my pocket and read it to her. When she asked why he was talking about a monster, I told her about Leo and I’s conversation. “Do you think we should meet up with him?” I asked.
“If he knows what's going on, we should.” Ari told me. I nodded.
“Let’s go, then.” I said, walking out of the bathroom. Ari and I made our way through the crowd that usually gathered itself by the “Popular” kids and made it to the door leading outside. We pushed open the doors and stepped outside to find a couple of kids playing basketball. I scanned the area, trying to find Leo. I found him by a tree in a corner. “This way.” I told Ari, walking towards Leo. We reached him and Leo grinned at us.
“Hi! You must be Ari, right?” Leo said, looking at Ari.
“Yep, that's me.” Ari responded. “Mat told me you also know about the monsters that try to kill us?” She said, Leo nodded.
“I do. I also know how to kill them, and a safe place for us Demigods.” Leo said. I had multiple questions enter my mind. How do we kill them? How far is this place? What the hell are Demigods? Ari beat me to the questions.
“Demigods? What the fuck are Demigods?” Ari asked. Leo grinned, a mischievous look in his eyes.
“Demigods are children of the gods.” Leo said. My mouth flew open in shock. “Both of you have a parent that's a god, so monsters try to kill you. My godly parent is Hephaestus.”
“Oh, okay.” I mumbled. “Wait,” I said, louder. “How fair is this safe space?” I asked.
“Glad you guys are taking this well.” Leo paused, looking at Ari’s face. “Mostly.” He shrugged. “The safe space is called Camp Half Blood, and it’s in New York.”
“So how are we going to get there?” Ari asked. “‘Cause there may or may not be an angry Cyclops coming this way.” She said, looking at the street. Leo and I looked over at the street to see an 8 foot tall Cyclops stomping our way, glaring a dagger at Ari. “Yeah, I think it’s extremely angry.” Leo looked at us, then back at the Cyclops.
“Okay, you guys stay here and try not to die while I fight this guy off.” Leo said, grabbing a hammer out of his toolbelt. Wait, since when did he have that on? I would have to ask later.
“Uh, I already tried throwing hammers at monsters. It doesn’t work.” I told him, but Leo just grinned.
“That's why I’m going to use this.” He responded, holding his hand out and lighting it on fire.