Chapter11

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Sadie watched with interest as Nico, Percy, and Thalia left the eating area with a sense of urgency and for a second wondered if maybe she and Carter should go after them. Something had happened right before they got up. She hadn't missed Nico's feverish expression, or the grave looks on their face as they hurried away.

"Don't," Carter told her, guessing what she was thinking. "If they needed us, they'd get us."

"That's something you don't see every day," remarked one of the Hermes' campers. "All three of the Big Three's kids collaborating with each other."

"Ten drachma that Annabeth . . . oh never mind," muttered Connor Stoll. Sadie saw the girl she'd learned was Percy's girlfriend go racing after them. "She could have at least given us time to place bets on how long it would take her to follow them."

"The nerve of her," said Travis.

"I have to go to the bathroom," said Maya, the other unclaimed demigod who'd been picked up along with Sadie, Carter, and Piper when they'd been brought to camp.

"Then go," said Travis.

"Go back to the cabin and go, he means," said Connor. "Don't just go here at the table."

"But we're not supposed to go anywhere on our own," Piper reminded them.

"Oh yeah, right." Connor glanced over his campers. "Then you go with her, new girl. And you other new girl, you go too."

"We have names, you know," said Sadie.

"And after you get claimed we'll probably learn them," said Travis.

Sadie scowled but Piper and Maya were already standing up. She glanced at Carter who shook his head, obviously not wanting her to make a big deal out of it, and decided that he was right, it wasn't worth it to pitch a fit or protest now. Besides, she didn't mind being with Piper or Maya. But before leaving she did make it a point to snag the cinnamon scone off her plate, not trusting it to still be there when she came back since she was among the children of the patron god of thieves.

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Nico hesitated at the entrance of Artemis' Cabin, not sure if boys were allowed inside or not.

"Well, are you coming or not?" asked Thalia. She looked at him and Percy who was hovering behind him impatiently.

"We're not going to get transformed into jackelopes if we step inside or anything, are we?" Percy asked.

"Don't be ridiculous," said Thalia. "Come on, already. I want to know what Nico figured out."

"I'd like to know too," said Percy.

"I want to see the body first," said Nico. "I was on the verge of hypothermia the last time I saw her and I want to make sure . . . just let me see her." He didn't feel like trying to explain his hypothesis until he had all the facts.

Inside Artemis' Cabin looked like the inside of a fancy hunting lodge, with polished log walls, stuffed animal and monster heads hanging from the walls, along with weapons, a big stone fire place, and rows of wood framed bunk beds lining the walls. Nico couldn't help but hate it. This was what his sister had given him up for, so by its very nature he found it loathsome.

All of the bunk beds except one had animal skins on them in place of blankets or sheets. The one bed that was covered with a linen sheet was one of the bottom ones, and beneath the sheet was the unmistakable form of a human body. Nico wondered if the Hunters would be making a shroud for Karena, or if that was just a Camp Half-Blood tradition. Not that he cared. But he also wondered if they'd made one for Bianca even though there hadn't been a body to bury or burn . . .

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