Escape From Camp Half Blood

chapter 6

"The Hunters killed Martina!" screamed Drew, a daughter of Aphrodite and a first-class bitch if Annabeth had ever met one.

Murmurs ran through crowd as Chiron arrived and saw what had happened.

"They didn't," spoke up Nico, his voice cutting through all the accusing whispers like a cold wind.

Annabeth watched the son of Hades, as she had been for the past few days, since she'd realized that Nico and Percy were up to something. Nico looked, for the most part, aloof. Like he didn't care what was going on one way or the other. Only someone who knew him would notice the weariness in his eyes and the tenseness of his jaw. Martina, Annabeth remembered, had been the only child of Aphrodite who was both nice and had a mind of her own. Martina had been nice to everyone, stood up for people being bullied, and did what she thought was right regardless of how many times she had to wear the shoes of shame because of it. The Aphrodite cabin had just lost the one decent camper they had, and Nico was feeling that loss even if he was trying not to show it.

"Of course they did!" screamed Drew. "Who else would kill a daughter of Aphrodite? Who else would want to but those pathetic, butch, butt-ugly –"

"You think you know more about death than me?" challenged Nico.

Drew glared at him. "What are you saying? Are you confessing to killing her? Did you use your death touch on her?"

"No, and no again."

"Calm down, Drew, and let Nico speak," ordered Chiron. "Nico, were you the one who discovered Martina like this?"

"I felt her spirit depart," explained Nico again. "Sadie, Carter, and I were facing off with Thalia at the time. We called a truce to investigate and see if there was anyone hurt but still alive who we could help. Martina was the only one we found."

"A likely story!" said Drew shrilly. "You probably killed her yourself, didn't you?"

"How dare you make accusations like that?" shouted the new camper, Piper. "Did you miss the part where he has three witnesses who were with him when they found her like that? Why are you trying to make this harder for everyone than it has to be?"

"Shut up, Dumpster-girl!"

"You shut up, Plastic-face!"

"Why you –"

"Martina was killed by a wound to the back, caused by a small, sharp, cylindrical object," Nico spoke over them. His voice was emotionless as he continued. "It entered her back, on her left side at an upward angle, and pierced both her spine and her heart. She died instantly. She didn't feel a thing."

There were several moments of silence as everyone took this in.

"What do you think the wound was caused by, Nico?" asked Chiron.

"I know what it was caused by," said Nico. "It was an arrow, but –"

People immediately started murmuring again. Annabeth closed her eyes. This was not going to go over well. The Hunters were going to be blamed for this, distrust would be sewn, it would take either a very big common enemy or a miracle to get them past this. She could feel the beginnings of a headache building.

Then Nico offered them that miracle.

"SHUT UP! EVERYONE SHUT UP AND LET ME FINISH!"

It wasn't often that Nico raised his voice. And when an angry son of Hades demands that you shut up, most people are smart enough to shut their traps.

"The arrow wasn't shot," said Nico, his voice back to its normal cool tone. "All you fools seemed to miss the part where I said it entered at an upward angle. So unless someone was lying on the ground, aiming upward when they took their shot, that wasn't how it happened. Someone stabbed Martina with that arrow. And that someone either knows something about human anatomy and the cleanest, fastest ways to kill someone, or was really damn lucky. You can inspect the wound for yourselves. It's precise and almost clean enough to have been a professional hit."