"He's my brother," Thalia confessed. They were sitting in the room that Nico was using as a bedroom in the cape; since he usually slept outside in the summer, it was actually Annabeth's. They were both bundled up in sweaters and jackets, hunched under a sheet tent created by the bed and a couple of nails on the left wall. The electric lantern in the middle of the floor, the only space not occupied by a mass of blankets and pillows, cast golden patches on the sheet, creating a space that felt like the center of the universe. Nico could almost pretend that he was eleven again, Percy was downstairs getting snacks, and Thalia was about to tell him about her latest crush.
Almost.
"Jason?"
Thalia nodded and popped another Mallowmar onto her tongue. "We went to different homes, obviously."
"That makes him my cousin," Nico said, dumbfounded.
"Small world," she grunted, through a full mouth.
" I don't remember him."
"You were too young, dumbass," Thalia said. "You never met him."
"Does he know?" Nico asked. She shrugged. Thalia wasn't good with details. Or people. Or anything, really, except scaring people. She was kind of like Nico in that respect. "Don't you think you should tell him?"
"Would you want to be part of this family?" Thalia pointed out.