Chapter 6

N

I

C

O

The sound of rain pelting against the window kept Nico awake, sitting up in his bed with his his knees tucked tightly against his chest. Normally, he loved the rain, it hid tears, made it easier to say everything was okay when it really wasn't. The steady beat of it, the wetness, the way it felt slicking down your skin, the smell it left afterwards; rain was usually a calming thing. It washed away the uncleanliness of the world, the soft pitter patter usually made it easier to forget, to loose track of time. But not tonight.

Tonight the rain threw itself against the window, egged on by the harsh, howling wind, like it wanted to tear down and destroy all that Nico had left.

It wasn't that Nico's family didn't have much, they had a lot, actually. Financially, anyways. But the long hallways and endless rooms of the di Angelo/Levesque household just felt empty. Void of life.

Lightning struck outside, making the room suddenly light up for a split second before it plunged back into shadows. Nico hunched his shoulders, counting the seconds before the thunder rumbled across the clouds. He counted seven seconds, which meant it was seven miles away. He was safe.

Nico might have liked the rain, but lightning was a different story. It had killed his mother ten years ago, striking the tall apartment building they'd been living in, the flames had devoured her alive. Ever since, lighting had been one of his phobias.

The door creaked open and his stepsister, Hazel, stood in the doorway, the golden eyes she was named for glowing in the darkness. "I can't sleep."

"Me either."

Hazel shut the door carefully behind her and padded across the room to join him on the bed, sitting across from him.

They were both sixteen and ever been inseparable ever since Hazel's mom, Persephone, had married Nico's father when they were nine. Hazel's dad had left them when she was just a toddler and they had bonded quickly over the fact that they had both lost one of their parents at a young age, and because they both felt like outcasts. Hazel was the only friend Nico had, and aside from Hazel's boyfriend, Frank, Nico was hers.

He told her everything, and Nico was pretty sure Hazel didn't keep anything from him. If she did, it was probably for a good reason, so Nico didn't mind.

"Lightning?" Hazel asked sympathetically.

Nico nodded and muttered, "Yeah." He hugged his knees closer to his chest, "Why can't you sleep?"

"It's partially the noise. . . but. . ." she trailed off, her eyes wandering over to a random corner of the room where a huge pile of Nico's dirty clothes resided. He'd always refused to let the maid clean his room, saying that he could do it himself, even though he never did. Nico was always worried about being an inconvenience to everyone, he just assumed he was a nuisance. That was his-- well, their-- father's fault. Hazel sighed, Hades had never been a good father, and Nico had been around him since birth.

"But what?" Nico pressed, unaware of her concerned thoughts.

"I've just been thinking. . . we could leave if we wanted to--"

"Hazel--"

"Just hear me out. Neither of us are happy here, who would be? We could just run away--"

"Where would we even go? Hazel--"

"We'd find somewhere." she insisted, "We could go and--"

"Bad things happen to kids who run away. We could be assaulted, robbed, kidnapped, raped. It's just not worth it. . ."

Hazel sighed dejectedly, picking at Nico's quilt, "I know. . . I just can't help but think that we could be happier somewhere else."

Her brother nodded his understanding, reaching out and giving her hand a soft squeeze before another bolt struck the earth somewhere in the distance, and he recoiled, pulling his hand back against him and trying to make himself smaller. "I know. . ."

Hazel moved so she was sitting next to him and leaned her head on his shoulder, Nico smiled.

"We just have to stick together." Hazel said softly, "Promise me that we won't ever grow apart."

"I promise." Nico whispered back.

* * * * *

Nico sat on the roof of their huge house, staring out across the neighborhood. A group of kids were playing tag in the park that wasn't too far away. Nico wondered what it was like, being normal, having friends, going to school instead of having some fancy tutor.

He rested his head on his knees, his eyes sad. His old aviators jacket was making the heat of the day absolutely unbearable, but Nico didn't feel motivated enough to take it off. He found himself wondering if Hazel was right, and what it would be like if they did run away.

He let his imagination run free, imagining that some nice family would take them in until they could move out. In reality, Hades would make sure everyone knew they'd gone misssing, and someone would find them and get a huge reward, and then they would be punished, but this wasn't reality, so that didn't matter.

He closed his eyes, constructing that life in his mind, and how things would be afterwards, but all day-dreams have to end eventually, and when Nico opened his eyes, he just felt even more hopeless.

"I thought you might be up here."

Nico didn't turn around to face Hazel, "Yeah. I just wanted to get out of the house." he explained.

She sat next to him, "What are you thinking about?"

"What you said last night." he answered simply, tracing patterns onto his knee with his fingertip, it was more of an excuse to not be looking at his sister than anything else.

She sighed, "It was late. . . Just hopeful thinking, but you were right. We can't run away."

Nico nodded, "I know. . . but I wish we could." He finally looked over at her, the wind had picked up suddenly, and it threw their hair into their faces.

Hazel looked up at the sky, where dark clouds were looming in the distance, a stark contrast to the blue skies directly above them. "It looks like it's going to rain later."

Nico shuddered, pulling his knees closer into his chest, "Hopefully there won't be any lightning."

Hazel rubbed his back comfortingly, "If there is we'll put in a movie. You'll forget it's even there."

They were quiet for the next couple of minutes, looking up at the sky, each of them lost in their own thoughts.

"Hazel?" Nico said uncertainly, his voice barely audible.

She looked over at him, "Yeah?"

"I wish you could have met her."

"Who?" Hazel wondered, and then she mentally kicked herself, there was only one person he could be talking about. "Bianca." she said, answering her own question. She moved closer to her brother, so that their arms were pressed together, it was her way of showing she was there for him. "Tell me about her."

Normally, Nico hated having contact with anyone, but Hazel was different. She was his sister, his best friend, he could trust her. "She was so full of life before she got sick. . ." he said, "We used to play these games that she would make up. . ."

He swallowed, trying not to let his face betray too much emotion. "She was always smiling. Everyone loved her. . . The only time she didn't smile was when Hades yelled, but she always defended me against him. . . and now I wonder. . . Hazel, what if he beat her?" Nico hiccuped, and a tear slid down his cheek.

Hazel wrapped an arm around his bony shoulders, looking angry. "Did he ever hit you?"

At first, Nico wasn't going to answer, but what good would that do? Sometimes things are better kept inside, but sooner or later you'll have to let them out, because if you don't, they'll slowly gnaw you away from the inside. "A couple of times while Bianca was hospitalized. . . When she wasn't there to protect me. That's why I wonder if he hit her too. I was oblivious. . . I don't think. . . I didn't. . . I didn't realize that some of her games weren't just games. I didn't realize that she wasn't acting when she seemed so scared."

"Oh my gosh." Hazel whispered, and Nico started laughing, because 'Oh my gosh' didn't begin to cover it.

"It's okay." he lied, "He's not that bad anymore. Not ever being around and snapping occasionally is a huge improvement."

Hazel shook her head, "Maybe, but he's still a sorry excuse for a father."

"Persephone isn't much better." Nico reminded her.

Hazel huffed, "No kidding. She doesn't care what happens to us, as long as her house is perfectly clean and her bathroom sink is loaded with enough lotions and powders to create toxic fumes."

"Don't forget about Poochikins."

Hazel started laughing, and Nico couldn't help but join in. Poochikins was their mother's white Pomeranian, who hadn't set a single paw on ground outside of the house since the day Persephone had brought him home. She was always dressing him up in these ridiculous outfits, and taking him to absurdly over-priced doggie spas instead of just going to get him groomed like a normal person. The dog was seriously overweight, and was probably the snottiest creature, besides Persephone herself, to have ever walked the earth.

"His little doggie bathing suit." Hazel wheezed.

Nico clutched his stomach, "And the porcelain food dish with his name engraved on it."

"'Kingsly Poochikins the Third.'" Hazel shook her head, "Nico, that dog is the ugliest thing I've ever seen."

Nico grinned, laying back on the roof. Yeah, maybe their parents weren't the best, and their social lives were virtually non-existent, and their mother's dog got more love and affection than both of them combined, but they had each other. Nico silently thanked God for his sisters, without them, he might not have even been there right then, and that thought made him realize that a silent thanks wasn't enough, so he reached out and grabbed Hazel's hand, causing her to look down at him in suprise.

"I never got to thank you." he whispered sincerely, releasing Hazel's hand now that he had her attention.

"For what?"

"For being there for me. You could've easily just ignored me this whole time and focused on your own life, but you decided to help me."

Hazel shook her head, trying unsuccessfully to keep her hair from flying into her face. The clouds were being swept ever closer. "I did that as much for me as I did it for you. I don't think you realize just how much you've helped me. I probably would have gone insane all alone here."

Nico grinned, "Then I guess we have a pretty good set-up, don't you think?"

Hazel laughed, "Yeah, I guess, in some ways, we do." she affirmed. "You know, as soon as we're eighteen, we're going to leave this place."

Nico nodded, they'd discussed this a thousand times in the past, but it never seemed to get old. "Hades and Persephone won't even notice we're gone until Poochikins drops dead when we're not there to feed him."

"And we'll catch the first train out of here and find a place to live wherever it takes us."

"And then we'll finally be free."

Hazel sighed, "Things are going to work out, Nico. You'll see."

"I know they will."