The first thing Nico noticed as they returned to the pavilion was that Maya wasn't at the Hermes table. The second thing was that Sadie wasn't there either.

A cold, sinking feeling grew in his stomach and he broke away from Percy, Thalia, and Annabeth, who were walking briskly, but with no real urgency, and sprinted across the distance. "Where are they?" he demanded.

All the Hermes campers looked at him strangely. Some cringed away. Carter caught on quickly that something was wrong and stood up. "Sadie just went back to the cabin with Piper and what's-her-name, the little girl."

"Merda!" Nico shouted the first curse that came into his mind and spun back around. He nearly collided with Percy who'd picked up his pace after seeing something was wrong, then shoved his way between Thalia and Annabeth and took off at a dead run.

Logically, he knew, it wasn't likely that Maya would try anything. Not while there were two people there. Whichever one she didn't kill first would be on guard, or would be a witness to the crime. But he knew that logic and psychopaths didn't always go hand in hand, and he'd learned not to ignore his gut when it was telling him something was wrong.

"Hey, Nico!" Percy shouted but Nico didn't stop or slow down to see what he wanted, and then he heard the sound of footsteps right behind him. Whether it was Percy, Thalia, or both of them and Annabeth and Carter as well, he couldn't tell and didn't really care. Because his sense of urgency was nearly choking him now, telling him that he was going to be too late. Someone else was going to get hurt and if that someone else was Sadie . . .

Faster, faster . . . Anubis, help me! Nico screamed into his own mind.

The god, who'd retreated to the back of his mind after Nico had finished his revelation about who the killer was, snapped into awareness again. Nico? What's wrong?

Nico sent him a condensed stream of information centered around his fear for Sadie's safety. Help me! Help her! Do something!

He felt a similar wave of panic flow from Anubis, but then the god shoved it aside and began to channel more of his essence and strength into his host.

It was risky. Both Nico and Anubis knew that they were playing with fire. Neither knew who might be capable of sensing Egyptian magic, and whether or not they were close enough to feel it, or if they'd recognize it even if they did. But it was a necessary risk. It was for Sadie.

At that moment Nico couldn't think of anything worse than her suddenly not being around anymore. Over the past month and a half, Sadie and Carter had become very important to him. In a world where most people shunned him on principal, he had his work cut out trying to find a place where he fit in. Sadie and Carter had carved out a place in their lives specifically for him. They gave him a place to call home, and treated him like more than a comrade in arms, or a friend. They, along with Percy, were the closest thing Nico had to family. And even though they hadn't known each other very long, they'd been through quite a bit together. Nico and Sadie had especially been through a lot together. Sadie was the one who'd saved his life when Aziza had captured and nearly killed him. She'd taken care of him when he was too weak and too hurt to take care of himself. He couldn't let anything happen to her now. He'd do whatever it took to keep her safe, and was glad Anubis felt the same way.

With power flooding his veins, Nico was able to move at a speed he'd previously have thought impossible. It wasn't as fast as shadow traveling, which he couldn't do during the day, or in the middle of camp, but it was probably the next best thing. The world sort of blurred around him and it felt more like he was flying than running, his feet barely skimming the ground.

He felt his own consciousness being shoved aside and for once didn't fight as Anubis took control of his body. If it meant saving Sadie then he'd let Anubis be in charge for a freaking week if he wanted.

Faster! He told Anubis.

I'm going as fast as I can.

---------------------------------------------

Maya took forever to use the bathroom, so Piper and Sadie sat outside the door, in silence at first, but then they got to talking.

"So what were you doing before you got drug along with us and came here?" Piper wanted to know.

"Traveling around with my brother," Sadie told her. She wished that she could have elaborated and told Piper more, but she knew that now wasn't the time. "What about you?"

"I was at one of those wilderness camp schools where they send juvenile delinquents," answered Piper.

"Huh. I've heard demigods tend to have problems about destroying schools and stuff," said Sadie. "I'm guessing that happened to you too?"

"Er, actually I got sent there for stealing a car," Piper told her, then went on to explain her situation.

Sadie couldn't help but laugh. "Now that's a useful power," she said, more certain than ever now that she wanted Piper on her side. If nothing else, they'd always have transportation when they needed it.

"So you've known about all this demigod stuff for awhile?" Piper asked.

"Er, the demigod stuff . . . yeah, for awhile." It wasn't a lie. A month and a half counted as awhile. "Not too long, but just before Christmas last year my life, and my brother's life got really crazy. A lot of stuff happened and now we kind of have a mission. Then we met Nico and Percy and got in even more trouble, but it worked out in the end. It's good to have friends like them. Hey Piper?"

"Yes?"

"I feel kind of bad about this because I think you're pretty cool, and I think we could be good friends, but Carter and I aren't going to be staying here at Camp Half-Blood."

Piper looked worried. "But everyone says it's too dangerous for us to survive on our own out there."

"It is dangerous out there, in so many more ways than most of the people here know, but that's kind of why Carter and I have to leave."

"That mission you mentioned?" asked Piper.

"Yeah. We have some . . . family things, I guess you could call them, to take care of. Don't tell anyone else, please."

"I won't," promised Piper. "You have a right to go where you want, after all. And I saw you guys in action."

"Nico stays with us sometimes too," Sadie told her. "He's a really cool guy. The people here who don't bother getting to know him are really missing out. So . . . do me a favor? Try to get to know him when he comes to camp."

Piper nodded. "Of course. From what I've seen of him so far he seems like a nice boy."

"He really is," Sadie said. "And he's a really good friend."

The bathroom door creaked open and Maya came out.

"Finally," said Sadie as she stood up. "Let's go back to lunch."

"Just a second," Piper said quickly. "While we're here I need to go too."

Sadie nodded and sat back down.

"Sorry. I'll be quick."

"Don't worry about it," Sadie told her.

Piper shut the door behind her and Sadie leaned back against the wall again. Maya came over and stood beside her.

"So what's your story?" Sadie asked Maya, more because she was bored than because she really cared about how the girl had come to Camp Half-Blood.

"Story?"

"What were you doing before you came here?"

"I was in St. Mary's School for Girls."

"Catholic school, huh?" asked Sadie. "Yeah, I guess they wouldn't be too tolerant of demigods."

"I hated it there. They always kept me locked up and never let me have any fun," said Maya.

"This camp must seem like heaven to you then," said Sadie. Funny how what seemed like a dangerous prison to her and Carter could seem so different to someone else.

"I like it here," said Maya. "I can do whatever I want and no one stops me. Like this."

Sadie glanced toward her to see what 'this' was. If her reflexes had been any slower, things could have ended very badly for her right then and there. It was ironic, but she kind of had all those House of Life freaks and various other Egyptian monsters who'd been trying to kill her since Christmas to thank for developing the reflexes that saved her life right then, because Sadie only barely managed to get an arm up between her throat and the steak knife that Maya thrust at her throat.

"What in Hades?" cried Sadie, using one of Nico's favorite exclamations without thinking about it. "Damnit, kid, that hurt! What were you - Hey!" She blocked with her arm again and cried out again as her skin was slashed open a second time. "What the bloody hell are you doing you stupid Yank?"

And Maya laughed. One of those creepy-kid-in-a-horror-movie laughs of the kind that Sadie and her mates had spent a lot of time making fun of back when she still lived in England and did normal things like watch movies that her grandparents would have freaked if they'd known about. But somehow it was a lot scarier now that she was face to face with one of those disturbing kids with a knife than it had been when she'd seen them on a TV screen, and being seated, with her legs sprawled out carelessly was far from the best position to be in.

Maya lunged forward, holding the knife in both hands and Sadie, to her shame, couldn't hold back a scream.

She did manage to grab Maya's wrists and keep herself from being stabbed, but she ended up falling over with Maya on top of her.

"Uh, Sadie? Are you guys okay?" asked Piper, sounding alarmed.

"Help!" Sadie managed to scream.

Then two things happened at once. The bathroom door flew open at the exact same moment that the cabin's front door flew off its hinges. Piper stepped out of the bathroom then froze in shock at the sight of Sadie, Maya, the steak knife, and the blood that was flowing freely from Sadie's arms. And Nico flew in from the outside, his eyes wild and his expression so fierce that he looked like the world's youngest fallen angel on a mission to smite the hell out of someone. He didn't draw up short in shock when he saw Maya trying to kill Sadie, or even hesitate. He simply attacked.

He tackled Maya, his momentum throwing both of them clean off of Sadie and halfway across the cabin.

Sadie screamed again, this time in fear for Nico, but wasted no time getting to her feet. To her immense relief, she heard a clatter as the knife was knocked from Maya's hands and thudded across the floor. Sadie hurried forward and retrieved it. She didn't really think that Maya would be able to get the upper hand against Nico without it, but didn't want to take any chances.

"Dio boia!" yelped Nico in a pained voice.

"What?" Sadie asked. She hurried forward as Nico pinned Maya down in a painful looking hold. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

"The little brat bit me." Nico looked disgusted, and Sadie felt a wave of alarum as she saw black blood streaming freely down his neck. But Nico didn't seem overly concerned about his own welfare. His disgust morphed into fear as he looked at her again. "Sadie, are you okay? She cut you? Is it bad?"

"It's just a few scratches," Sadie assured him. "She cut me but didn't stab me, so I'm okay. But your throat, Nico . . ."

"It's not as bad as it looks."

"You're bleeding like a stuck pig! And your blood . . ."

Nico's eyes widened as he realized what Sadie had thought of just a moment earlier. He might have said something, but at that instant Maya started screaming like a banshee, horrible painful sounding shrieks like someone was torturing her.

"Shut up, you stu- !" Nico growled as they both turned to look at her. Then he realized why she was screaming and his voice died in his throat.

"Bloody hell," groaned Sadie as she witnessed, for the first time, the effect that Nico's black blood had on a normal demigod's body.

She supposed that they should have been better prepared for the results. They knew that his blood was capable of eating through glass and protective magic spells, and back when they'd been kidnapped by Aziza, Sadie had gotten the idea of using Nico's black blood to burn through the collar that had been sapping his powers. Then Nico had used his blood to burn through the bars of their cell. Sadie had actually been the one to draw his blood that first time, and she'd done it by biting him, and she remembered that her teeth had started to fizzle from just the slightest contact with it. So of all people she really should have expected it. But the only thing other than shock that she could feel as she watched the black blood's effects on Maya was horror.

Because everywhere that Maya was splattered with black blood, her skin began to decay. And since it seemed like she'd gotten a mouthful of the black blood when she bit Nico, it was a really horrible sight. As Sadie watched several of Maya's teeth dropped out of her mouth, and the splatters on her face and arms burned into the little girl's skin, turning it a very corpse-like shade of gray.

"Crap," muttered Nico. He released Maya who continued to scream, so that he could clamp one hand over his throat to try to staunch the bleeding.

"Not good," said Sadie. Without really thinking about what she was doing, Sadie stored the steak knife in her Duat locker and pulled out a piece of rope so that they could tie up Maya.

"Nico! Sadie!"

"Sadie! What's going on? Are you okay?"

"Nico!"

Sadie had just finished calling forth the rope when in rushed Percy, Carter right behind him, and Thalia and Annabeth right behind them.

Sadie and Nico looked at each other, and Sadie knew that they were both thinking the exact same thing.

How the heck are we going to explain this?