Page 60 of The Wild Zone

Beckendorf turned and headed for the door.

“Wait,” I called after him. “Are you sure Silas didn’t go off on his own? He just got his searcher’s license. He was going to leave to find Pan in a couple of days. Maybe…”

Beckendorf winced in sympathy. “His clothes and travel gear are still at camp. I’m so sorry, Katie.”

“Oh.” I slunk back. “Okay.”

Once Beckendorf was gone, the kitchen filled with heavy silence.

“Katie.” Harper touched my arm, but I shrugged him off. He had this eerie way of reading my emotions, and I didn’t need that right now.

“I’m fine.” I threw back my shoulders. “Now we have even more reason to head to the Wild Zone.” I grabbed two more dirty dishes. “Come on, team! If we finish quick, we can sneak out before curfew!”

I did my best to make it sound like a trip to Disneyland, but nobody else moved. They all wore horrified expressions, like I’d suggested a trip to…well, the Wild Zone.

“Didn’t you hear what Beckendorf said?” Benny slashed the air with his hand. “We can’t go back out there now. Especially not you!”

“Besides,” Harper said, “if there’s a search party in the woods, we’re bound to get caught. I hear the counselor from the Demeter cabin can send out vines all across the forest floor to feel for life-forms.”

I spread my arms wide. “The forest is huge! And these search parties haven’t exactly been good at, you know, finding anyone.” I frowned at Benny. “Also, why especially not me?”

“The two people you traveled to camp with are missing,” he said. “Both of them were taken from the Wild Zone.”

I wrinkled my forehead. “You think something is targeting us in particular? You think I’m next?”

Harper and Benny both nodded.

“At the very least,” Zuri said, “we need to consider the possibility. I’m not saying we don’t go. I think we should.”

“Thank you!” I said.

“But monsters have been known to target specific people.”

The hard edge had sneaked back into her voice, as if she were talking from experience.

I sighed. “Well…good, then! If I get taken, I’ll end up in the same place as Grant and Silas. It’s what I deserve.”

“What? No.” Zuri marveled at me. “Katie, why are you talking like this?”

I dropped onto a stool and started to bury my face in my hands.

“Lava gloves!” Harper warned.

Benny knelt beside me. “What’s going on? You’re acting like it’s your fault Silas is missing.”

I looked up at him. “Because it is.”

Then I shared the conversation I’d had with Silas yesterday.

“He must have searched the Wild Zone during the race,” I said. “If I hadn’t confided in him…”

Zuri held up a hand. “Number one, Silas’s choices aren’t your fault. He’s a satyr. He knows the woods better than any of us.”

“And now he’s gone,” I muttered.

“Number two,” Zuri continued, “you did the right thing telling him. Obviously, he kept our names out of it, but he tried to warn the staff. They didn’t listen. If Silas was taken, it’s on them. The Wild Zone…” She shook her head. “That place should not exist in a camp for kids, even for demigods. There’s too much weird stuff going on in there.”

Benny nodded. “So much weird stuff.”