Chapter 20 My Secrets Come back to Bite Me #2
With a wave, he hurried off to join his siblings at their table. They beckoned him over and started whispering and giggling. I got the feeling the whole cabin was going to be insufferably bubbly until further notice.
After lunch, it was more lessons. I was glad for the routine, for the temporary lack of drama and mortal danger, but I also couldn’t shake a sense of dread.
While we did arts and crafts, or speculated whether we’d have chips and queso with dinner, Grant and Silas were still missing.
That shrieking thing in the Wild Zone was still alive.
During music classes, while Argus was out teaching campers how to murder various songs on the reed flute, I sneaked into the Big House and finally managed to spend an hour rummaging through the camp’s archives. Unfortunately, Argus had been right about their files being in chaos.
I learned that in the 1960s, the camp had served four hundred hot dogs a week. (Wow.) I learned ten different uses for unicorn manure. (Eww.) I found a doctoral thesis on the alchemical properties of gorgon hair. But I found nothing about birdlike creatures. Not even one mention of the Wild Zone.
That was bad. And I had a feeling there was more trouble coming….
When it was time for KP duty, I was the last to arrive. As I came down the ramp to the kitchen, I found Harper, Benny, and Zuri all laughing.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“We’re helping Harper come up with ideas to hold his mom’s attention long enough for a conversation,” Benny said.
Harper rolled his eyes good-naturedly. “A mirrored pit so Aphrodite has to stand in one place and stare at herself, or a mother-son spa day where she ‘accidentally’ gets stuck to a chair with invisible chains….”
I snorted. “Are there any ideas where you don’t have to kidnap a vengeful goddess?”
“Well, Zuri thinks I should tell Aphrodite that a girl at camp claims she’s prettier—”
“Yikes,” I said.
“Okay, but hear me out,” Zuri said. “Harper’s mom will follow him everywhere, begging to know who this mystery girl is.” She turned to Harper. “And while you lead her on a wild goose chase, you get to spend time with her.”
“Healthy family bonding,” Harper said with a smirk. “And when my mom finds out I’m lying, she won’t be mad at all.”
Zuri shrugged. “Or will she be incredibly flattered that you went to all that trouble for her attention?”
“I’m pretty sure mad,” Harper said. “But that’s okay.” He smiled sweetly at Zuri. “I can tell her it was all your idea.”
Zuri grimaced. “Oh. In that case, go with Benny’s idea.”
“Which is…?” I asked.
Benny held up his hands defensively. “I just suggested giving her a puzzle box with an awesome prize inside.”
I clapped. “Ooh. Great idea! I love puzzles!”
“Now we know what to get you for your birthday,” Harper said. “I’m not sure my mom loves them, though. Unless they’re puzzles like complicated relationships.”
Benny crinkled his nose. “That’s not the point. While your mom works the puzzle, you talk with her!”
“Benny,” Harper said, matching his tone, “she’d probably just step on the puzzle box to break it open.”
“Not if you made it out of metal,” Benny said. “You could even ask one of the Hephaestus kids for help.” He arched an eyebrow. Then, in case his point wasn’t clear, he elbowed Harper. “Eh? Eh?”
Harper blushed. “I appreciate the ideas, but I don’t want to force my mom to spend time with me.” He let out a shaky sigh. “If she doesn’t want to, then at least I’ll know how she feels about me.”
I frowned. “Harper, you’re one of the best people here. If she doesn’t want to, then she has no taste.” I sidled closer to him.
He smiled and held open his arms. “Coming in for a hug?”
“Actually, I figured if your mom was listening, she might not strike me down if I was beside you.”
The others laughed, and Harper playfully pushed me.
“I’m not sure Aphrodite strikes people down,” Benny mused. “That’s more of a Zeus thing.”
“Fine.” I gazed at the ceiling. “Then I was…trying to avoid her giving me a bad hair day.”
“Oh, KK.” Zuri stroked my head. “How do you explain all the other days?”
I gaped at her while Harper and Benny hooted and laughed.
“You are so dead!” I joked, flinging a dish towel at her.
We continued to laugh and tease one another while we worked, and after a while there was a peaceful lull.
I knew we were avoiding talk about the previous night. It was still too raw, too horrifying. But after wiping off one cup for far too long, I finally cleared my throat and asked, “We’re not done searching for Grant and Silas, right?”
“No way,” Benny said immediately.
“We haven’t reached hero status,” Harper added.
“Am I wearing a skirt made of blue-and-orange feathers yet?” Zuri asked.
I smiled. In that moment, all I needed to know was that the Wild Omada was still on the case.
My good mood lasted until I returned to my cabin.
Then I sat on my bunk and saw what was peeking out from beneath my pillow—a scroll, with its all-too-familiar sigil. If there had been a pine tree in the vicinity, I would have knocked it over with a scream of rage.
Instead, I pocketed the scroll and waited for my cabinmates to fall asleep.
Time crawled, but my thoughts raced. I should have known there would be another scroll tonight. He seemed to know every time I went into the Wild Zone. He was getting impatient, and I was out of time.