Nico's P.O.V.
I was almost panicking. No, I was; my dad wasn't here yet and he's always here by six, but it's seven and me and Hazel are still playing in our lonely corner with Legos.
Dad had become distant ever since mama and Bianca died (not anywhere close to the same time, but does that make it better?) and after I told him about that weird man I saw, Hazel and I kept getting picked up later and later. Hazel's my sister too, but I still don't know how that works; Dad won't tell me.
It's eight now and Hazel's starting to panic nearly as much, and as soon as I put an arm around her shoulders, the teacher came over. "Mr. di Angelo, Miss. Lavesque, your father has to work late, so you'll be spending the night." We both let out a gasp and she gave a sympathetic smile. "Don't worry guys, we have another all-nighter; Jason Grace." She gestured to a blonde boy in the corner, talking to a brown haired boy and girl, and I stiffened in fear; I had heard a rumor around school that Jason Grace, 14 years old to my ten, had gotten the scar on his lip from a street fight. I'm not one for rumors, me and Hazel are the subject of quite a few, but how can you deny it with the evidence right in front of you? As if sensing that he was the subject of conversation, Jason turned around and smiled, giving a small wave before going back to his friends.
"But we don't have any clothes!" Hazel protested, as though that would change the situation, and Miss. Iris, the owner of Olympus Full-Time Childcare, continued to smile.
"Don't worry honey; we have pajamas here and your dad will probably be here early in the morning, so you'll be okay." With that she walked off.
It was nine by the time that everyone had left and had eaten dinner. Miss. Iris, who wanted to make this seem more like a fun sleepover (as if Hazel and I had ever had one), went to her room and left Jason to explain the procedure to us. "Okay, so basically, we have to turn the lights out in a half an hour, but aside from that, we can do whatever we want," Jason explained as he handed us some pajamas. We went to go change and I was a bit jealous of Hazel; her clothes fit her well, they had been donated by the one brunette girl, Piper, while mine were donated by Frank, Hazel's only other friend and a rather big guy compared to me, so the shirt reached my knees and hung off my shoulders.
"Where do we sleep?" Hazel asked, stifling a yawn.
"On the rug; I'll get some blankets and covers for us, but honestly Hazel, you're supposed to be sleeping in the other side of the house, the girls' side," Jason explained sheepishly.
"Why not?" I demanded, fear starting to bubble up
Jason faltered for a bit before actually answering. "So, uh, so that we don't do anything."
"What would we do?"
Jason's P.O.V.
Crap! Nice going smart one; you need to remember that this kid is like ten, he probably doesn't know anything! "Uh, yeah, you know do something, like fight," I covered, and for a second I thought he wasn't going to believe me, but he just had a different problem.
"But she's my sister, why would we fight?" he asked in disbelief. What, he doesn't fight with his sister? Thalia would get a kick out of that.
"I thought Bianca was your sister?" Damnit, if the pissed off look on his face isn't anything to go by, then I don't know what is.
"She's dead," he growled, closing off anymore conversation. As I got the covers and pillows I couldn't fight the guilt that was surrounding me; Thalia told me that the new addition to her class, Miss. Artemis' class, was Nico sister, and then she told me that someone in her class had died on one of their many trips, and after that Bianca didn't come here anymore. I handed both of them a cover and a pillow and received only a glare from Nico, but a glare and a mumbled thanks from Hazel.
"Lights out!" Miss. Iris called and I looked at the clock and it really was 9:30. Wow. Time sure flies by when you're being an insensitive asshole. As I crossed over to the light switch I didn't miss the way Nico's eyes widened, hints of fear slipping in, and the way Hazel scooted a bit closer to her. When the room was pitch black I walked over to the rug and plopped down on the other side of Nico; there was no other place and Miss. Iris was already going to be mad that Hazel was anywhere near a male that wasn't related to her, so at least this way it'll be a little bit better.
"Why're you so close to me?" Nico growled quietly, so as not to wake Hazel.
"Because the floor is hard and the rug is too small," I responded, just as quietly. I turned over so that I was facing away from the siblings and closed my eyes, trying to go to sleep, but small tremors were keeping me from it. "Uh, dude, you okay?" I asked, still not turning towards Nico. There wasn't an answer, only the increase of shaking. "Dude, seriously, are you alright?" I asked more urgently, turning to face him. What I saw almost made me want to shake; Nico was curled up in the fetal position, hands covering his ears, shaking slightly (but I had a feeling that he was maintaining control so as not to wake anyone up). "Nico!" I whispered/ yelled, pulling his hands away from his ears. He looked up at me through wide brown eyes. "What's the matter?" I asked forcefully.
"D-dark, the v-voices," he stuttered in reply, reaching up to put his hands back over his ears, but I wouldn't let him.
"Are you scared of the dark Nico?" I asked gently and he nodded. "I think I can help with that," I responded with a smile, getting out of my cocoon of covers. I stood up near the window, facing the dark sky, and focused all of my energy, just like Dad taught me. Soon enough there was a loud crack as the thunder that always came before lightning went off and then the sky was filled with blue light. I turned around, still smiling, to face Nico, but frowned at what I saw; the boy was still shaking and now Hazel was up, her arms around him and glaring at me. "What?" I asked defensively.
Nico's P.O.V.
"You only made it worse," Hazel hissed, her arms protectively around me as I continued to shake. Jason frowned at the accusation and I felt a bit guilty.
"No, i-it helped," I stuttered as I tried to stop my shaking. It was a lie, but Jason smiled, so I guess it was okay.
"Want me to do it again?"
"No!" I answered a bit too quickly, but he wasn't fazed and just returned to the rug next to me, getting back under the covers. Once Hazel was confident that I was okay, she turned around and went back to sleep, and almost immediately after the voices came back. They only got louder as I heard Jason's deep snoring and I tried to ignore the fact that once I 'accidentally' nudged closer to him, the pain and depression from the voices got just a bit better.
Jason's P.O.V.
When I felt Nico cuddle closer to me, I didn't bother to fight the smile that was making its way to my face, stretching my scar.
BONUS: THE NEXT DAY
"Where did you get that scar?" Nico asked, sounding a bit nervous.
"Er, when I was younger, I tried to eat a stapler." I knew there was a blush on my cheeks, burning red with embarrassment, but somehow that didn't matter as Nico laughed so happily, without a care in the world.