Chapter 6 I Do My Best to Kill Benny #3
I recognized his voice. He was Travis, the counselor for the Hermes cabin who’d been talking to Clarisse and Silena at breakfast while I eavesdropped behind a pillar. I couldn’t exactly tell him that, though, so I introduced myself.
“Katie Kim,” I said.
“Travis Stoll.” He grinned in a way that made me wonder if he’d somehow slipped a spider down the back of my shirt. “And this is my little brother, Connor.”
“Younger, not littler,” Connor corrected. “Also better-looking.”
Honestly, I could barely tell them apart. Travis was maybe a little taller, but they both had curly brown hair, mischievous blue eyes, and slightly elfin features. If I were casting a movie about leprechauns pulling a bank heist, I would’ve hired the Stoll brothers on the spot.
Travis turned his attention back to Benny. “Porkpie didn’t try to talk to you at all?”
Benny shook his head. “Just whinnies and snorts.”
I realized Porkpie must be the name of the pegasus. “Winged horses can talk?”
Travis gave me an impish look. “To children of Poseidon, yes. Because Poseidon created horses. But I guess we can cross that idea off our list.”
“Maybe try doing a backflip,” Connor suggested to Benny. “Preferably off the roof of the stable. If you stick the dismount, you have acrobatic skills.”
“Which god is the patron of acrobats?” I asked.
“Hermes,” chorused Travis and Connor.
As if to prove it, Travis hopped up onto the fence, balanced on his tiptoes, and did a double flip, landing in the corral.
Connor whistled and clapped. Benny shot me a look like, Help.
“Since he just fell off a horse,” I said, “maybe save the Hermes test for another time so he doesn’t break his neck? Besides, it’s almost lunchtime.”
“Aw, that’s no fun.” Travis tugged gently at the pegasus’s reins. “But I suppose you’re right. Come on, Porkpie. Time to eat!”
The pegasus nickered as if to say About time and then followed Travis into the stable.
I studied Benny. “You sure you’re okay? You going to be able to, uh, get back on the horse?”
He laughed. “I actually like horses. I don’t even mind heights. It’s the falling I’m not into.”
“You’ll get used to it,” Connor said. “And when you’re in the sky, you get a great view for miles in every direction.”
His eyes gleamed like he really did love flying. I remembered Hermes was the god of travelers—basically anyone who moved around a lot. I imagined the Stoll brothers knew every inch of the camp, every secret path, and all the best shortcuts to get from one place to another, which gave me an idea.
“What about the Wild Zone?” I asked. “Can you see that from above?”
Connor arched an eyebrow. “How do you know about the Wild Zone?”
Benny looked at me with a silent warning. He winced like he had an ice cream headache.
“Just rumors,” I said. “And, you know, Clarisse threatening to throw me in there and let monsters eat me if I get out of line again.”
Connor snickered. “That checks out. And no, you can’t see anything of the Wild Zone from the air. The tree canopy’s too thick. You’d have to go into the Zone on foot. And as I’m sure you know, that’s against the rules big-time.”
He grinned, leaning toward Benny conspiratorially. “You sure you didn’t wander somewhere you shouldn’t have when you were breaking curfew last night? You can tell me.”
Benny snorted. “Do I look like that much of a rule-breaker to you?”
Connor’s smile faded. “Sadly, no. But there’s always hope.
I’m just saying, if someone did have the guts to go into the Zone, there are rumors about more than monsters in there.
I’ve heard gossip about treasures—valuable, magic, forbidden stuff.
” He looked from Benny to me. “Any information about the Zone…let’s just say that could earn you a lot of credits at the camp store, which we happen to run. ”
The sapphire ring weighed heavily in my pocket. I remembered the fissure Grant and I had found, and how we’d been about to search it for more goodies when the thing in the trees ran us off.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said.
Connor glanced back and forth between Benny and me. I was pretty sure he knew we were hiding something. He just wasn’t sure what.
“Well,” he said, “you’ll get a look at the border of the Wild Zone tomorrow night, anyway.”
I tilted my head. “Why is that?”
“The cabin-versus-cabin baton race,” Connor said. “The race goes right through the forest!”
With that, Connor went to join his brother in the stables, leaving me alone with Benny.
I clenched my fists. “They’re really going to allow a night race through the woods? After what happened to Grant? That isn’t safe!”
Benny cleared his throat. “This camp is a lot of things, but safe isn’t the first word that comes to mind. You know we fight with actual weapons and train on rock walls that spew lava, right?”
“I know, but…the Wild Zone is different. After what we saw? You don’t believe Grant just left camp on his own, do you?”
Benny frowned. He’d never shared what had happened to him last night, but I remembered how badly his hands had been burned before they’d miraculously healed.
“Maybe this is good,” he said. “With so many people in the forest, maybe someone will come across Grant.”
I really wanted to believe him. I just hoped Grant would be alive when he was found.