Escape from camp half blood

Chapter 4

Nico hated the Hunters of Artemis.

Hated them.

Not so much out of a grudge, because he'd been working hard to avoid holding grudges, but because the mere sight of them drudged up the worst memories of his life . . . or of the few years he'd been rebuilding his memories after they'd all been washed away in the River Lethe. He also hated how to them he was 'Bianca's little brother.'

At least their presence here today was good for one thing. It meant that he and Percy would both definitely be on the same Capture the Flag team as Sadie and Carter.

Nico pulled shadows around himself as he waited for the others to finish dinner, to make sure that no one would see him. He didn't feel like making small talk with Thalia or any of the other Hunters or campers. No, the only people he wanted to talk to were Percy, Sadie, and Carter.

Deep down though . . . deep down he was kind of glad that an emergency had arisen. He knew it was selfish and it made him feel lousy to think that he was benefitting from the fact that Sadie and Carter had made some very dangerous missteps, but was it wrong to be glad that he got to have some high risk, breaking-the-rules fun with his best friends? Nico wasn't sure, and felt guilty about it anyway. The same way he felt guilty about how sometimes he almost didn't care that Bianca was gone, because even though he'd lost his sister, he'd gained a big brother. Those were thoughts that made him hate himself, and thoughts that he would never, ever voice, or let anyone else know . . . except for Anubis who was in his head, but who at least had the decency to pretend he was ignorant of those thoughts.

Nico knew that the parasite god was well aware of all the things he didn't want him to know. It was kind of like trying not to think of elephants, knowing that there was someone in his mind hearing every single thought that went through his head, when it came to the things he didn't want anyone else to know. But Anubis pretended that he didn't know, and Nico pretended that he didn't know that Anubis knew, and that was for the best.

Right now, Nico could barely feel Anubis in his mind, since the god was doing his best to keep the least amount of his soul as possible in Nico while he was at camp. The god had stirred briefly during dinner, sensing Nico's alarm at Sadie's and Carter's arrival, but had retreated again since nothing could be done immediately.

Finally, dinner broke up, and the campers began heading to their cabins to get ready for Capture the Flag. Nico kept himself cloaked in darkness and remained unseen. This allowed him to watch everyone who walked back to the cabins. Brendan Noonan was trying to hit on the Hunters, and Nico took joy in seeing him get kicked in the groin when finally one of the Hunters who was wearing steel-toed-boots had enough. The Ares practically marched back to their cabin, very obviously on a mission. It was obvious that they wanted to break Camp Half-Blood's losing streak, or at least break some of the Hunters' bones. That was one of the reason that Nico liked the Ares kids the best, of all the other campers, except Percy. The other reasons were that they were the only ones whose entire cabin treated Nico decently. The other cabins were all split, with some of them thinking Nico was okay, and others thinking he was a freak.

Then Percy came by with Annabeth and Thalia, trying to defend himself against their combined onslaughts.

"I know that something's been going on between you two," said Annabeth. "Thalia coming to check up on Nico because Bianca asked her to just proves it."

"Nothing is going on," said Percy. "I don't know why Bianca thinks that he's in trouble or that he needs her help, but he doesn't."

"That's not what Bianca thinks," said Thalia.

"I know," said Percy, "I just said that, didn't I? But you're all acting like he's still the same ten-year-old child we had to save from that manticore."