Nico looked down at his cards. He had a couple of gods, a handful of monsters, and a titan or two. Across from him on the bed, Bianca was doing the same thing. After considering her cards, she put down Athena. '100 knowledge, 3,000 attack' his mind supplied without having to look down at the description on the card. He flipped through his hand again until he found his Hail Mary. "Hades," he smiled as he put down the card of their father. "5,000 attack power. I win." She threw down her deck in defeat.
"How are are you so good at this?" Bianca asked before she gathered up her starting cards back together for another round.
"What can I say? I guess I'm just lucky." Nico got playfully shoved. He laughed as he copied his sisters movements, eager to play with her more. He mentally planned how he would demolish Bianca in the following round.
"Hey Bianca?" Nico asked.
"What is it little brother?" From the looks of what he could see through the Iris message, she and her fellow hunters were somewhere cold. The snowy forest behind her reminded him of the time they had spent together in Maine.
"How tall are you?" He asked once he had come out of his reverie.
"Excuse me?" She asked, completely off guard.
"Answer the question, Bi."
"4'9", just as I have been for the past 2 years. Why are you asking me this?"
"I'm finally taller than you." The smile that had broken out on his face had let Bianca know that her brother was serious.
"Oh my gods!" She exclaimed exasperatedly. "This is what you called me about?"
"A whole three inches of height difference is important," he defended.
"GoodBYE!" She swiped her hand through the IM before (and Nico could only guess here) returning to her fellow Hunters for the evening.
"Goodbye, little sister." He said, smiling more to himself.
The di Angelo's looked up at the starry night from their cabin's roof back in Camp Half-Blood. If they were honest, they were exhausted from the day's activities. Nico had returned to Camp, taking a brief pause from reuniting the Greeks with the Romans over on the West Coast. Bianca had returned from hunting out in the Appalachians, Thalia allowing her a day or two away to celebrate Nico turning 18. Not many demigods could claim this, Hades, technically she couldn't. Her body was still that of a 12 year old, just as it was when she and her brother learned about the world of Greek Mythology and how real it truly was.
Bianca looked over at her brother, whose eyes were up scanning the sky. "It's funny how they don't change."
"What?" She asked as she was pulled out of her reverie.
"The stars. Sure, they might multiply." His gaze had fallen on the constellation that was once Zoe. "Even if the get dim, they never leave the sky, not back in Maine or Las Vegas, not even back in Italy."
"I suppose you're right, little brother." At that, he playfully shoved her, a habit he had formed once he became older than her, specifically, when he became taller than her.
"Do you think they'll ever truly fade?" He asked, his voice taking back on its serious tone.
"No, not really," she answered, still watching her brother.