Chapter Text
Selena cracked the door open and waited for a response, but everything was quiet. Nyx didn’t yell at her to leave him alone, and Mama didn’t pop up to scold her for bothering him. So she was clear.
She eased the door open very very slowly and lifted it past the point where it squeaked if you tried to open it normally. Then she eeled in through the opening and closed it softly behind her with practiced ease.
There was moonlight streaming in through the window, not that she needed it, but it was enough to check if Mama had left supplies in her way, at least. She used it to sneak all the way to Nyx’s bed, suppressing the thought that she had snuck just like this between the Niff cars.
Her idiotic older brother stirred slightly when she put her hand on the bed, but a whispered hiss of “Sleep, Nyxie!” had him settled back down before he truly woke up.
She didn’t dare wrap his arm around her like she wanted, because she knew he needed to sleep, she did. Instead, she nestled as close as she could and hoped the blankets and his steady breathing would work just as well.
Selena jumped as Nyx grabbed her and pulled her closer, but she didn’t cry out. “Come ‘ere” he mumbled, and she wanted to cry.
“You’re supposed to be asleep,” she hissed at him instead. “Sleep, Nyxie.”
"So 'r you," Nyx shot back, voice still thick with sleep. "Nini, Lena."
Selena clutched his arm rather than calling him all the names the dumb idiot deserved for making her worry. “Night, Nyxie.”
It took a while for her heart to calm enough to sleep, but when she did, it was much calmer than what she had struggled to snatch in her own bed. Papa had been right. Older brothers might be dumb, but they were magic. And she still had hers, despite his best efforts.
Everything was going to be okay.