Page 19 of The Wild Zone

Clarisse was wrong. He wouldn’t just run away. If he wasn’t back by dawn, I’d find out what happened to him myself. Grant was the closest thing I had to family next to Mom and Olivia.

Mom and Olivia.

Thinking about them made my heart ache. Despite how much we fought, all I wanted was to be with them on our couch right now, listening to Mom sing karaoke terribly while Olivia and I fought over the songbook and who would get to sing next. It didn’t matter. We were all terrible.

I smiled to myself and wiped away a tear.

I needed to get my act together if I ever hoped to see them again.

“No mistakes,” I whispered to myself. “Only successes.”

My mom always said that, and from now on, I was going to live by it.

4

I Narrowly Avoid Human Sacrifice (and Also Bagpipes)

Every morning back home, I’d wake to the smell of freshly made coffee and the sound of the stove fan blasting while Mom cooked breakfast.

My first morning at Camp Half-Blood, I woke to the smell of freshly made body odor and the sound of kids cackling.

“Wake up, Sleeping Cootie!” a boy’s voice sing-songed near my head.

“Mmf. Go away!” With my eyes still closed, I batted the air where I guessed he might be. Then someone caught my swinging arm and dragged me from my cot onto the hard cabin floor.

“What the heck?!” My eyes were wide open now, taking in the half circle of kids surrounding me. They were all dressed in orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirts and shorts or jeans. Clarisse stood at their center, arms crossed, scowling as usual.

“Wake-up is at seven a.m., roll call is at seven forty-five, and breakfast is at eight,” she said. “It is now seven thirty-five. If you ruin my perfect attendance record, I’ll sacrifice you at dinner tonight.”

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. “Instead of…sacrificing me at breakfast?”

I honestly had no idea what we were talking about, but the other Ares kids laughed and hooted like I’d just insulted Clarisse.

Her scowl deepened. “Your smart mouth is saying some very stupid things,” she warned. “You have five minutes to get dressed and join us on the porch.”

Then she pivoted on her heel and stormed out of the cabin. The other Ares kids followed, laughing and pushing one another.

From the back of the group, the boy who’d called me Sleeping Cootie chortled. “Ten bucks she washes out by the end of the day!”

Washes out? Was that a possibility? I couldn’t let that happen.

I stared at Grant’s bunk—still empty, like it had never been slept in. I wasn’t surprised, but I was disheartened. If he’d returned, he definitely would’ve woken me up to let me know.

The wave of trauma from last night came crashing back over me. My insides felt like mounds of burlap trash bags with a giant white earthworm called Guilt tunneling through them. I had to find Grant. But first, I had to get through the morning without becoming a human sacrifice. And I had to do that on two hours of sleep.

I struggled to my feet. I yanked off my pajamas and pulled on a clean pair of jeans and a new Camp Half-Blood T-shirt someone had left on my cot. I glanced at the other cots, all with their blankets tucked in smooth and tight. I hurried to make my own.

A flash of silver caught my eye, followed by a clink-clink-clink as something fell from my blanket onto the floor.

The ring Grant had found.

My arms broke out in goose bumps as I picked it up and shoved it in my jeans pocket. The ring was another mystery I needed to figure out, but first things first.

Two swipes of deodorant and a ponytail later, I put on my shoes and hurried out of the cabin, my laces still untied. The clock on the cabin wall read 7:39, and I would rather have tripped over my shoes than deal with the wrath of Clarisse and her cronies.

As I emerged onto the front porch, I fixed a smile on my face and announced in my most cheerful voice, “Let’s do this!”

The other Ares kids stared at me.