Chapter 11 I Chuck Things at Other Things #2
“Zuri! Katie!” Clarisse shouted from the far end of the range. “I don’t see any javelins flying!”
Zuri and I returned our attention to the range. We both took aim at a Minotaur-shaped target (even though I’d been informed Percy Jackson had already defeated that monster). My javelin struck the Minotaur (Minotaurget?) soundly in the gut while Zuri’s fell short.
I won’t lie. I was a little proud of myself. In one morning, I’d seen an Aphrodite kid flirt even worse than I did, and I’d done better with a missile weapon than Zuri, the Queen of Archery. Miracles happened. Maybe I could find Grant tonight after all, even if I went by myself.
At the all-clear signal, we trotted out to retrieve our javelins along with everyone else. From the target end of the range, I had a good view of the canoe lake, with a floating object at its center. Make that a flailing object.
I shielded my eyes and squinted. “Is that Benny?”
Zuri followed my gaze. “Yeah, the Stoll brothers heard him say he’s pretty sure he has Cuban heritage on his mortal side. Since Cuba’s an island, they figured he might be another secret son of Poseidon’s, like—”
“Percy Jackson,” we said at the same time.
That kid was so famous, he needed his own TV show.
“But they already ruled out Poseidon yesterday, when Benny fell off a pegasus,” I said. I neglected to mention that I may have had something to do with his fall.
Zuri shrugged. “I guess they’re still hopeful. Like, two Poseidon kids coming out of the Hermes cabin might make them look good or something.”
“So they put Benny in the middle of the lake without a boat or…?” I squinted harder, trying to make out why Benny was flailing around so much. “Ohhh. Is he wearing…pink floaties?”
Zuri nodded. “He can’t swim.”
I winced. “I guess when you live on a farm, you don’t visit a lot of beaches.” I chewed my lip as Benny struggled to keep his head above water. Poor guy. The Stoll brothers were really putting him through the wringer…and what kind of Poseidon kid wouldn’t know how to swim?
I knew Benny was tough, but I also knew how helpless I felt whenever I was out of my element. “Should we go cheer him on or something?”
“Actually,” Zuri said, “I think he’d prefer if everyone pretended they couldn’t see him. When people are in a bad way, sometimes they’d rather be invisible, you know?” Her nostrils flared as she said this. For the faintest moment, she looked a little sad.
My hand crept to the ring in my pocket. This didn’t seem like the right moment to tell her about its powers, but again I wondered about Zuri’s history.
A girl who could glow in the dark and make bull’s-eyes while bending over backward didn’t seem like someone who would ever choose to be invisible.
But maybe she wished she could get out of the spotlight every now and then.
I wondered if my sister had ever felt the same way. For years, I’d envied Olivia—the way she always met or exceeded Mom’s expectations. Was it possible that Olivia sometimes wished she could just be a little more mediocre like me?
I cleared my throat. “Hey, speaking of bad moments, I never thanked you for sticking up for me when I fell in the woods with that burlap sack over my head.”
Zuri waved a dismissive hand. “I’m always happy to regulate on people who punch down.”
“Punch…down?”
“Yeah, you know—when you’re already as low as you can get and someone still feels the need to insult you? I hate cowards like that.” Again, her nostrils flared.
It was almost like she was speaking from personal experience.
I was about to ask her about that when Clarisse’s voice cut the air: “Zuri! Katie! Get off the range—unless you want to be our new targets!”
Zuri rolled her eyes at me. “Like anyone could throw this far but you.”
A warm flush of pride spread through my chest. I wasn’t used to getting compliments.
We jogged back to our starting positions and found Clarisse waiting for us, wearing her trademark scowl. “You think you’re so good, you don’t need the practice?” She curled a lip at Zuri. “Because you definitely need it. Less chatting, more chucking!”
Zuri clenched her jaw in anger, but before she could retort, I grabbed Clarisse’s arm and marched her out of earshot.
“Now can I talk to you about the baton race?” I asked.
Clarisse yanked her arm free. “Don’t start, Kim. Your satyr friend Silas already gave me and the other counselors a lecture about how we shouldn’t go into the woods. Somehow, he got the idea that Grant may have wandered into the Wild Zone.”
I did my best to act surprised. “He did? That’s so wacky!”
I might have oversold it. Luckily, Clarisse was off on a tangent and didn’t seem to notice.
“We can’t not go into the woods. It’s tradition to race there!” Clarisse said firmly. “And the dangers are part of the challenge! And Grant’s probably…fine.” As she said it, though, she knit her eyebrows together.
Was Clarisse actually starting to worry?
“Well,” I said, “I think we should go into the woods.”
Clarisse gave me a suspicious look. “You do?”
“Sure. With a hundred kids running around out there, we have way more chances of someone finding Grant.”
Clarisse chewed her lip. “Alive, preferably.”