"So . . ." said Sadie once she and Nico had been sitting in silence for awhile. And by silence that means Nico's teeth had stopped chattering.

"Hmm?" asked Nico. He sat with his feet curled under him, probably to try to keep warm. His jacket was still in tatters, and Sadie noticed that he was still wearing Percy's blue sweat shirt beneath it.

"He's been gone awhile, hasn't he?"

"He probably went to the woods with Chiron," said Nico. He didn't seem overly concerned.

"So is it true?" asked Sadie.

"Is what true?"

"That Percy is like Achilles?" she asked. "That the only way you can hurt him is if you cut him in the heel?"

Nico paused and Sadie got the feeling that he was deciding whether or not to tell her the truth. "Yes," he said at last. "He's almost invincible. That's why he was able to shrug it off so easily when you hit him in the head last month."

Sadie laughed but her heart wasn't in it. "Hey Nico?"

"Hmm?" said Nico again.

"Who do you think it is?"

She watched as Nico's face fell and felt a little bit bad about asking, but she didn't think that Nico hadn't been considering that question already.

"I don't know," said Nico. "I should have some kind of idea, I know, but I don't. None of the campers have anything to gain doing this. Nothing that I can think of anyway. The Hunters don't either. I don't like them but I don't think they'd ever kill one of their own unless she betrayed them all. The only reason I can think of that anyone would do something like this is to cause trouble between the campers and the Hunters, and maybe start a feud between us but . . . but I can't think of who that would benefit."

"Do you think . . . that the House of Life could be behind this?" asked Sadie.

Nico shook his head. "I don't think they could get past the camp's borders."

"Carter and I got past them."

"You had an invitation," said Nico. "Or an implied invitation. Getting invited into a chariot by demigods, that is then driven into camp by demigods makes it pretty clear that you're welcome here. Just like putting a god in your head then walking across the borders lets the god be here too."

"It could be them. It's not impossible," said Sadie. "They'd certainly benefit from conflict between you and the Hunters."

"Only if they were planning on starting something," argued Nico. "And considering how much trouble they went to in order to avoid starting a war last month, I don't think they'd be charging back toward war this month."

That was true, Sadie had to admit.

"But . . ." Nico looked troubled. "If someone was doing this without any real reasons . . . I mean if they had their own reasons, but their reasons were illogical . . . Then it might be someone from the House of Life."

"You're thinking of Aziza," guessed Sadie, and she could see by the way Nico visibly went paler that she had guessed right. "You think she's behind this."

"I never said that."

"But you were thinking it," pressed Sadie.

"I was trying not to think it actually," said Nico, sounding like he was trying to use a dry tone, but his voice caught and he looked more scared than anything else.

Sadie didn't blame him. Not after what Aziza had put him through. In their first meeting Aziza had pretty much killed Nico. His soul had been sent to the Egyptian Halls of Judgment, which was where the whole mess with getting his soul fused with Anubis' had started. He'd been in a coma for four days because of her. At their next meeting she'd tried to burn him alive. Then when she finally did succeed in capturing him she'd tortured him. She'd put a collar around his neck with a healing spell on it that negated the energy that kept him alive, or as alive as any child of the underworld whose powers were as developed as Nico's could be. And when that energy was being destroyed he'd been in too much pain to even move. Sadie still remembered the defeated look on his face and the agony in his eyes as he just lay there, waiting for his life to completely drain away.

She'd actually had a couple dreams where she'd been back in that cell, but in her dreams her plan for getting the collar off Nico didn't work. She dreamed that she had to just sit there and watch him die, and when she woke up the emptiness of his eyes continued to haunt her.

"But if Aziza's here we need to think about it," said Sadie. "We have to consider that she might be involved."

"How would she have gotten into camp?" asked Nico.

"Someone could have invited her in. Stranger things have happened."

"But if she was here she'd be coming after me," said Nico. Something painful flickered in his eyes. "She wouldn't go and just kill two random girls, or if she did she'd leave something for me to find, some kind of sign so I'd know it was her. She'd want me being tormented about it . . . about her."

Sadie nodded. Nico had a point. And honestly she hoped he was right. She didn't feel like running into Aziza the sadistic bitch anytime soon.

"So what then?" she asked. "Who does that leave?"

Nico shrugged. "Someone else whose reasons aren't reasonable? A demigod serial killer? Or a demigod who's cracked? I don't know. But . . ."

"But what?"

Nico buried his face in his hands looking exhausted. "I feel like I'm missing something. Like there's something I should be seeing that will point me in the right direction. But I can't figure out what."

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

Breakfast was a fun affair with lots of screaming and shouting, and arguing. At first Chiron tried to get everyone to hold off on the discussion of what was going on until after breakfast, where they'd take the meeting to the arena, but that proved impossible. Mainly because Thalia was not willing to agree to that. One of her Hunters had been killed and no one had any idea who did it.

What she did know was that Karena, the Hunter who'd been killed, had been assigned to keep an eye on Nico from 4 am until breakfast, and that Karena had been killed while following him. And according to Annabeth Sadie and Carter had been with him while Karena was murdered.

"We want to know what you and the two new demigods were doing," said Thalia, loud enough for everyone to hear. "One of our sisters was killed following you. We have a right to know why."

Nico looked at her irritably. He still wore his aviator jacket even though it would have been of better use in a scrap pile. "We were just going for a walk," he said. "I thought I'd show them the beach."

"Why?" demanded Thalia, even though she didn't buy it. She couldn't prove that he was lying unless maybe she could catch him in a lie.

"Because they like the beach!" said Nico.

"How do you even know that? And why sneak out with them right before dawn?"

"Because dawn is the best time to see sunrises," spoke up Sadie. "Nico doesn't really care for them, but I for one love them."

"How do you three even know each other?" Annabeth wanted to know.

"I already told you," shouted Nico. "We met outside of camp. They never wanted to come to camp before and they were doing fine on their own, so I didn't try to pressure them to come."

"Why keep it a secret that you knew them then?" asked Annabeth.

Nico lowered his gaze to the ground and muttered something.

"Speak up," ordered Thalia.

"I said I wasn't sure if they'd want to be my friends at camp!" yelled Nico. "Not after they found out what so many of you idiots think of me!"

That made Thalia feel guilty. She actually almost considered backing down, but she had her duty as the lieutenant of Artemis.

"We were probably right to think that way about you, you know," said a girl whose name Thalia had learned was Drew over at the Aphrodite table. "Do you think anyone believes it was a coincidence that you found both bodies, Corpse Breath?"

"What do you mean by that?" demanded Nico.

"That's going too far," Percy spoke up over Nico. "We all know Nico can pinpoint corpses. And reanimate them to fight for him. And even call them out from the Underworld if there aren't any around for him to bring to life. So yeah, it's no coincidence that he found them because him having that power kind of comes with being the son of Hades."

"You know on TV they say that the person who finds the body is usually the one who killed them," said Drew sweetly.

"Do you want me to come over there and slap you again?" asked Sadie, standing up at the Hermes table.

Thalia watched as Carter tried to pull her back down. Those two had been keeping out of the spotlight, and Thalia was pretty sure that it was deliberate. That Nico and Percy were making sure people were watching them so that Sadie and Carter would avoid scrutiny. But was it because they didn't want their friends being ostracized at the camp? Or did they have other motives?

"We do not believe that Nico di Angelo is the murderer," said Thalia, speaking for all the Hunters. "Even if his sister had not been one of our sisters, and were he not my cousin. His actions at the Battle for Mount Olympus made it clear where his allegiances lie. And all that aside, he has had witnesses to give him an alibi when both murders occurred. I myself was with him when Martina was killed. Annabeth was with him when Karena was killed. It could not have been Nico. No matter how much some ungrateful lowlifes dislike him, trying to place blame on him when it obviously was not him is only going to help the real killer remain undetected."

"Thalia is right," spoke up Chiron. The centaur stepped forward to address all of the campers. "And an investigation will be conducted. I have already contacted several of our former campers who now have careers which will be of help to us in this matter: a daughter of Athena whose research has made great breakthroughs in criminal forensics, and a son of Dionysus who . . . writes very thrilling detective stories when he is inebriated."

This announcement was met with silence.

"Both of them should have arrived by this time tomorrow, but until then, no, until the culprit is caught, we will be enforcing stricter security measures," said Chiron. "From now on all campers are to remain with their entire cabin at all times. If measures arise which require one person to separate from their cabin, they must be accompanied by at least two other campers."

"Why two?" demanded Drew. "Isn't one enough to overpower the murderer?"

"Not if that one person you're with is the murderer, genius," Nico told her, earning himself a dirty look.

"At least I have people who'll willingly be with me," said Drew. "The only people you think are your friends don't want to be seen with you in broad daylight."

Percy was the first one to speak up in Nico's defense, though Thalia noticed Sadie looking like she was about to go on the warpath, and from the look on Carter's face, he wasn't going to stop her this time.

"Shut up, Drew," said Percy. "No one asked for your opinion. And Nico will be with me since neither of us have other cabin-mates. The two of us will be more than a match for anyone else here." He looked at Chiron to get this approved.

The centaur nodded. "That would probably be the wisest course of action."

"If Nico gets sick of Percy he can always come join Ares cabin," said Clarisse, speaking for her table. There were nods all around from the Ares kids.

Thalia felt as though she should have spoken up too right then, but she couldn't. Nico was a boy. Her Hunters wouldn't welcome him, even if he was Bianca's little brother. Of course, Thalia didn't think there was a chance in Hades he'd ever take the Hunters up on an invitation, so it wouldn't have hurt anything if she offered, but still . . . it was the principal of it all.

"Security measures aside, until our investigators arrive, activities will continue as normal," said Chiron. "With the exception of our Capture the Flag games. The Hunters, of course, are allowed to come and go as they please, or as Artemis dictates, however I think it is correct to say that they intend to stay until this is resolved?"

Thalia nodded. "We intend to make sure that whoever killed our sister pays with their life."

Chiron didn't look extremely pleased about that, but Thalia didn't know what else he had in mind for the murderer. Imprisonment? That would be risky where a demigod was concerned. Human prisons weren't that great at holding demigods, and Camp Half-Blood wasn't exactly outfitted with dungeons. Exile was probably what the centaur had in mind, but that was far too merciful in Thalia's opinion.

By chance she glanced at Nico and caught his eye. His expression was just as dark as hers, and Thalia remembered that the Aprhodite daughter who'd been killed had shown Nico kindness. Something that seemed to be a rare commodity for him in this camp. From the look in his eyes, she could tell that he too intended to take revenge.

Now it seemed they'd be competing in two things. Who would get to kill the murderer, and who would give up first as Thalia attempted to make him spill his secrets.