Escape from camp half blood

Chapter13

Thalia took charge of Maya, who was still screaming and flailing about in pain as her face continued to rot, but Thalia had absolutely no sympathy for the girl. Not after Maya had killed Karena and Martina. She snatched up the rope that Sadie offered her and used it to hogtie the little brat.

It was impossible not to pay attention to her injuries, even though Thalia's interest was more clinical than sympathetic. For a few moments she wondered if whatever Nico had done to Maya was actually going to kill the girl. It seemed like it would be an extremely painful death, having your body rot from the outside in. But then the spread of those plague-like sores seemed to slow and finally stop, leaving Maya with a grotesque looking skeletal hand, a splattering of plague-like sores over her arms and neck, and a horribly disfigured face. And maybe it was cruel of Thalia, but she was glad. Maya no longer looked like an innocent little girl anymore. She looked like the monster she was, so less people were likely to feel sympathy for her, or be inclined to show her leniency for her actions.

Finally able to tear her eyes away from Maya's plight, Thalia turned her attention to what the others were doing. Part of what she saw at least made her smile.

Sadie was trying to fend off her brother who was trying to fuss over the cuts on her arm. Piper had torn off the sleeves of her shirt to make bandages, but was standing back a few steps looking bewildered, like she wasn't quite sure what she should be doing, while Carter and Sadie argued it out over whether or not Sadie needed her arms bandaged.

Far less humorous was Nico, who had scooted as far away from everyone else as he could, and kept one hand clamped against his throat. He was still bleeding, Thalia saw. And then she realized with shock and alarm that it was his blood that had caused Maya's plague-reminiscent injuries and disfigurement. The floor was pitted with spots that looked like acid burns wherever his blood had fallen, and Nico's shirt showed signs of being eaten away as well.

Percy was holding Nico's jacket, which they'd probably gotten off of him to save it from the same fate that his shirt was meeting. He looked like he wanted to try to get closer to the younger boy, but Nico's glare seemed to be what was stopping him.

A moment later Annabeth stepped out of the bathroom with the Hermes Cabin's first aid kit.

"It's not as well stocked as it should be," Annabeth was saying. "I think Hermes' kids swiped all the pain killers, but there's some antiseptic and enough bandages."

"I don't need antiseptic," growled Nico.

"You were bitten and the human mouth has so much bacteria in it -"

"And my blood is pretty much acid. Trust me, I'll be fine. Just stay away from me until the bleeding stops."

"Is he okay?" Thalia asked Percy since she knew Nico wouldn't answer her straight.

"Probably," said Percy.

"His blood is what did that?" Thalia motioned toward Maya. "That can't be normal."

"He's the son of Hades."

"I've never heard of any Children of the Underworld having blood with properties like that," Annabeth pointed out.

"How much do you really know about Children of the Underworld at all?" demanded Nico. "As far as I know, there's not any kind of a handbook cataloguing all the different ways we fit the definition of freak."

Thalia sighed, and once again had the feeling that Nico was hiding something. And she really wanted to know what. But despite what she wanted, she had to acknowledge that there were more important things to worry about than that. "Are you okay, Nico?" she asked, speaking the question to him this time. "I know that something freaky is going on with you, and that something isn't right, but for now I'm prepared to drop that issue because it's not as important as your safety. So please, just tell me, are you really all right?"