Page 24 of The Wild Zone

Travis—I was pretty sure he was one of the Hermes counselors, and one of the kids who’d been chanting KP.

“He asks a fair question,” said Silena. “Was this because of one of your silly Ares hazing rituals?”

I wanted to leap out from behind the pillar and shout Yes! Clarisse is an evil mastermind! But 1) I’d get so busted for eavesdropping, and 2) weirdly enough, I didn’t think Clarisse had expected any harm to come to us. There was a slight quaver in her voice that made me suspect maybe, just maybe, she was worried about Grant too, even if she’d never admit it.

“Look,” Clarisse said, “the kid probably left on his own. You know his mom and stepdad own Red Roost, right? That defense contracting company? They’re gazillionaires.”

My jaw dropped. I’m pretty sure I moaned like a zombie. “Muhhhney.”

Thankfully, Clarisse kept right on talking. “Grant probably decided demigod training was a waste of time. He could’ve walked to the nearest town and called a helicopter to take him back to the family mansion. I’ll bet he’s drinking carbonated peasant tears and playing Call of Duty right now.”

I scowled at that.

Grant didn’t strike me as some spoiled rich boy. And he’d been excited to get to Camp Half-Blood. When we were on the road with Silas, Grant had spent most of the trip sharing fun facts about ancient Greece, down to the hollow benches they used for communal toilets.

That was when I’d realized Grant had no idea what the word fun meant. Still, he wouldn’t have traveled all the way here just to run away.

As Clarisse continued to attack Grant’s character, I dug my fingernails into my palms, forcing myself to stay quiet.

Finally, Silena sighed. “Look, we’ll drop this for now—at least until the satyrs finish searching the woods. But in the meantime, you should double-check with Grant’s mom and stepdad, see if he actually came back home.”

“And freak them out if he didn’t?” Clarisse said in a tone that clearly meant Sorry, nope, not happening. “Let’s wait. The kid may show up. Who knows?”

I couldn’t stand to listen anymore. Before I could do something rash, like charge from behind the pillar and body-check my own counselor, I turned to march away…and ran straight into Argus and his satyr assistant.

“Eeep!” I blurted, and then quickly pasted on my mom-pleasing smile. “I mean, hi!”

Argus sized me up. He seemed even taller up close, and those blue eyes covering his body were definitely real—and all trained on me. “Katie Kim?”

I swallowed big and smiled bigger. “Yes, sir. How can I help you, sir?”

He didn’t return my smile. “Come with me.”

The satyr assistant gave me a pitying look.

As Argus led me toward the Big House, alarm bells were going off in my head. My inner voice was screaming He knows!

Somehow, he’d found out I trespassed in the Wild Zone. Now I was going to get kicked out. I couldn’t let this happen!

I told myself to keep it together, not panic, but I was already strategizing how best to beat expulsion. Cry? Scream? Beg for mercy? Maybe all three?

It’s not that I necessarily wanted to be at this camp, mind you. It’s that I had to be….

The Big House was…well, a big house—a blue Victorian-style mansion with a wraparound porch and a bronze eagle weathervane on the highest gable. From what I knew of the building, it held the camp infirmary and directors’ offices. Since I wasn’t injured, I could only assume Argus was taking me to his office—the kind of place you’d take someone if they were about to be kicked out.

I followed Argus up the porch steps. With each one, my heart beat a little louder in my ears. When he opened the door to the parlor, my heart stopped entirely.

Under other circumstances, I might have thought it a cozy-looking room. Two cushy sofas faced a coffee table next to the stone fireplace. Watercolor paintings of Greek ruins decorated the walls. Bookshelves overflowed with paperbacks and board games.

But against the far wall, four wooden chairs had been lined up like in a doctor’s waiting area, and in three of those chairs sat Benny, Zuri, and Harper.

Those stinkin’ sellouts.

They must have told Argus everything! They’d probably blamed our Wild Zone trespass on the Ares cabin—which, okay, fair enough, but I didn’t want to get punished just because my cabinmates were bullies. If I got kicked out…

Hold on.

The other newbies weren’t giving me “stinkin’ sellout” vibes. None of them looked guilty. In fact, their expressions were as different as their personalities. Benny’s eyes were as wide as half dollars, like he’d never been in trouble before and had no idea what to expect. Harper fidgeted nervously, drumming his manicured fingers against his knees and tapping his feet against the floor in a pair of brand-new sneakers. And Zuri? She was smoldering with anger. I mean that literally. Wisps of smoke rose from her shirt. The heat radiating from her seemed directed at me. Almost like…