When Hazel wakes up in the middle of the night, she immediately turns to somebody who's not there. Cheap bedding occupies her bedside floor instead of the dark-haired teenager she'd expected.
She realizes that the lack of noisy breathing woke her up. Her brother's reserved personality deteriorated at night, leaving behind a snoring, unresponsive bundle of sheets. The phrase "sleeps like the dead" comes to her mind and she files it away, knowing Leo will get a kick out of it.
She'd gotten to know her brother's habits, sleeping or otherwise, rather well since Nico joined them on the Argo. He'd refused to use Percy's or Annabeth's room ,and Hazel's offers to share her quarters were reduced to tired pleas by the time he accepted.
Hazel can almost convince herself that they're part of a normal family sometimes. They gripe at each other and argue about meaningless things and tell the stupidest inside jokes.
Sometimes they just talk.
Their conversations have a variety of topics, ranging from 'favorite food' to 'worst fear'. Every once in a blue moon, one of them will wake up gasping. They talk about that too.
Hazel maneuvers through the miniature obstacle course around her bed and over his air mattress to poke her head into the hall. The bathroom lights are off. She pads down the stairs and turns into every doorway, glancing around the room. It isn't like him to just disappear in the night, especially without saying goodbye. She's just beginning to panic when she finally catches sight of him.
Nico is seated, looking through the glass floor of the stables, back against a horse stall. Moonlight filters up and Hazel's vision is tinted silver.
"It's beautiful at night, isn't it? Percy and Annabeth always talked about how amazing it was to watch the sea from up here."
Nico's reaction is miniscule. Some kind of barely suppressed flinch that chills his sister's heart. He half-heartedly tries to pass it off as a nod.
"You're okay?"
Nico takes a breath through his nose and takes half a second too long to look at her.
"Yeah. For some reason I couldn't sleep. Don't worry, I'm fine."
She doesn't waste time pretending to believe him. She slides down next to him and presses her shoulder against his.
Hazel is no expert on comfort. She doesn't even know what's wrong. With Nico it could be anything. Tartarus, his sister, his imprisonment, losing Percy and Annabeth? She doesn't know what she wants to say but she know how to tell him. She does what her brother would if their roles were reversed.
She reaches for him.
He understands.
They settle in a comfortable silence .
Their breathing gets slow and heavy.
For the first time in a long time, it's possible that things might be okay.