Page 1222 - Enders_Game_Full_Book

"Small. Young. But so was the Wiggin boy, I hear. And this one -- somehow on the streets he taught himself to read."
"Ah, Sister Carlotta, you help me fill the empty hours of my life."
"Keeping you out of mischief is how I serve God."
***
Bean went straight to Achilles with what he heard. It was too dangerous, to have Ulysses out of the hospital and word going around that he meant to get even for his humiliation.
"I thought that was all behind us," said Poke sadly. "The fighting I mean."
"Ulysses has been in bed for all this time," said Achilles. "Even if he knows about the changes, he hasn't had time to get how it works yet."
"So we stick together," said Sergeant. "Keep you safe."
"It might be safer for all," said Achilles, "if I disappear for a few days. To keep you safe."
"Then how will we get in to eat?" asked one of the younger ones. "They'll never let us in without you."
"Follow Poke," said Achilles. "Helga at the door will let you in just the same."
"What if Ulysses gets you?" asked one of the young ones. He rubbed the tears out of his eyes, lest he be shamed.
"Then I'll be dead," said Achilles. "I don't think he'll be content to put me in the hospital."
The child broke down crying, which set another to wailing, and soon it was a choir of boo-hoos, with Achilles shaking his head and laughing. "I'm not going to die. You'll be safe if I'm out of the way, and I'll come back after Ulysses has time to cool down and get used to the system."
Bean watched and listened in silence. He didn't think Achilles was handling it right, but he had given the warning and his responsibility was over. For Achilles to go into hiding was begging for trouble -- it would be taken as a sign of weakness.
Achilles slipped away that night to go somewhere that he couldn't tell them so that nobody could accidentally let it slip. Bean toyed with the idea of following him to see what he really did, but realized he would be more useful with the main group. After all, Poke would be their leader now, and Poke was only an ordinary leader. In other words, stupid. She needed Bean, even if she didn't know it.