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“How did you know I was your sister?” Hazel asked. “Back when I was…you know. Dead.”
Nico didn’t answer at first, looking out at the endless sky that stretched out below them. A fierce blue, almost cloudless. It was warm, and most of the others had gone below deck to escape from the heat. But Nico had found himself enjoying the sun despite himself. Strange, perhaps, for a son of Hades, but getting trapped in a pot would do that for you. He wondered if Hazel loved the sun for similar reasons. There was little light in the Fields of Asphodel.
“I just knew,” he told her.
She looked at him doubtfully.
“Really?”
“You moved like her. Bianca.”
“Oh,” Hazel said. “Really?”
“Yes. Everyone else was just shuffling, but you flitted here and there. Like a bird. Or a deer. But there was a strength to it. I don’t know.”
There was a pause.
“I’m sorry,” Hazel said. “That you didn’t get the chance to get her back. It was unfair.”
“I’m glad,” Nico said. “Bianca deserved to be reborn, and you deserved another chance at life. I miss her, but if I didn’t lose her, I wouldn’t have met you. So it’s okay, in the end.”
Hazel frowned.
“You don’t have to say that kind of stuff, Nico. I’m not going to be angry at you for wanting your sister back.”
“You think I’m lying? Saying something nice just to make you feel better? Does that sound like me?”
“Well…no,” Hazel admitted.
“You’re my sister too.”
She turned her head away, and Nico could hear her crying. He looked out at the sky again, trying to give her some privacy. Guilt started to settle in his stomach. He hadn’t wanted to upset her.
“Thank you,” she said after she’d regained some control over herself. “For choosing me.”
“You saved me from the giants. I think it’s even.”
“Maybe,” she said. “It’s nice, isn’t it? The sun?”
“Yeah. It’s nice.”