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‘I hope I’ll see you again?’<br />
‘Oh, you will,’ Nico promised. ‘I’m going to be <strong>the</strong> flower boy at your wedding, right?’<br />
‘Um …’ Frank got flustered, cleared his throat and shuffled <strong>of</strong>f, running into <strong>the</strong> doorjamb on <strong>the</strong><br />
way out.<br />
Hazel crossed her arms. ‘You just had to tease him about that.’<br />
She sat on Nico’s bunk. For a while <strong>the</strong>y just stayed <strong>the</strong>re in comfortable silence … siblings,<br />
children from <strong>the</strong> past, children <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Underworld.<br />
‘I’m going to miss you,’ Nico said.<br />
Hazel leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder. ‘You too, big bro<strong>the</strong>r. You will visit.’<br />
He tapped <strong>the</strong> new <strong>of</strong>ficer’s badge that gleamed on her shirt. ‘Centurion <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Fifth Cohort now.<br />
Congratulations. Are <strong>the</strong>re rules against centurions dating praetors?’<br />
‘Shhh,’ Hazel said. ‘It’ll be a lot <strong>of</strong> work getting <strong>the</strong> legion back in shape, repairing <strong>the</strong> damage<br />
Octavian did. Dating regulations will be <strong>the</strong> least <strong>of</strong> my worries.’<br />
‘You’ve come so far. You’re not <strong>the</strong> same girl I brought to Camp Jupiter. Your power with <strong>the</strong><br />
Mist, your confidence –’<br />
‘It’s all thanks to you.’<br />
‘No,’ Nico said. ‘Getting a second life is one thing. Making it a better life, that’s <strong>the</strong> t<strong>rick</strong>.’<br />
As soon as he said it, Nico realized he could’ve been talking about himself. He decided not to<br />
bring that up.<br />
Hazel sighed. ‘A second life. I just wish …’<br />
She didn’t need to finish her thought. For <strong>the</strong> past two days, Leo’s disappearance had hovered like<br />
a cloud over <strong>the</strong> whole camp. Hazel and Nico had been reluctant to join <strong>the</strong> speculation about what<br />
had happened to him.<br />
‘You felt his death, didn’t you?’ Hazel’s eyes were watery. Her voice was small.<br />
‘Yeah,’ Nico admitted. ‘But I don’t know, Hazel. Something about it was … different.’<br />
‘He couldn’t have taken <strong>the</strong> physician’s cure. Nothing could have survived that explosion. I thought<br />
… I thought I was helping Leo. I messed up.’<br />
‘No. It is not your fault.’ But Nico wasn’t quite so ready to forgive himself. He’d spent <strong>the</strong> last<br />
forty-eight hours replaying <strong>the</strong> scene with Octavian at <strong>the</strong> catapult, wondering if he’d done wrong<br />
thing. Perhaps <strong>the</strong> explosive power <strong>of</strong> that projectile had helped destroy Gaia. Or perhaps it had<br />
unnecessarily cost Leo Valdez his life.<br />
‘I just wish he hadn’t died alone,’ Hazel murmured. ‘There was no one with him, no one to give<br />
him that cure. There’s not even a body to bury …’<br />
Her voice broke. Nico put his arm around her.<br />
He held her as she wept. Eventually she fell asleep from exhaustion. Nico tucked her into his own<br />
bed and kissed her forehead. Then he went to <strong>the</strong> shrine <strong>of</strong> Hades in <strong>the</strong> corner – a little table<br />
decorated with bones and jewels.<br />
‘I suppose,’ he said, ‘<strong>the</strong>re’s a first time for everything.’<br />
He knelt and prayed silently for his fa<strong>the</strong>r’s guidance.