Page 11 of The Wild Zone

It was only when I put my lip balm back that I realized two things: 1) that weird sapphire ring Grant had found was still tucked into my pocket, and 2) I’d left my dad’s dagger in the woods.

I cursed under my breath. I mean, yes, I’d put the blade to good use, but I had a sneaking suspicion I might need it again….

“Hit the deck!” Harper yelped.

He and Benny dropped into the grass as my dagger rocketed out of the trees, whistling through the air as it sped toward me.

“Katie!” Benny grabbed my ankle, but I didn’t panic. Instinctively, I held out my hand, and the hilt of the dagger smacked against my palm. I wrapped my fingers around the leather grip.

Okay. That was weird. Dagger acquired.

Apparently, Ares had decided to bind the weapon to me in the most annoying, Ares-like way possible. I suspected that now, anytime I thought about needing it, the blade would come flying to find me, cheerfully skewering anyone or anything that stood in its way. Thanks again, Dad.

Harper got to his feet. He gawked at me. “Well, that was the single coolest thing I’ve ever seen.”

I smirked. “You should have seen me throw it at the old lady.”

He and Benny gave me horrified looks.

“The child-eating monster!” I quickly amended. “She just looked like an old lady!”

“You killed an old lady?!” Zuri materialized next to us so suddenly I had to suppress a scream.

“How did you do that?” I demanded.

She shrugged. “Stealth?”

“Next time, could you use your Stealth Lite mode? With fifty percent less quiet?” I was annoyed, but not surprised, to see that she looked completely unscathed from her trek through the Woods of Infinite Death. No scratches. No bruises. No burns. No muddy pants.

“Glad you’re alive,” said Harper. “I mean…of course you are.” He nodded at her bow. “You have a magic golden weapon.”

“Celestial bronze,” Zuri corrected.

I flashed her a thumbs-up. “Fancy.”

“That’s me.” She flicked her wrist, and the bow shrank back into a pendant and chain, which she fastened around her neck. I thought I saw words engraved on the sides of the pendant—maybe names—but I couldn’t make them out in the dark.

I thought about my own pendant, which was very much not magic. It only had my name in Korean. And it wasn’t even a Korean name. I didn’t have one of those like Olivia did. I was just…Katie.

“You meet any monsters in the Zone?” Benny asked Zuri.

She shrugged. “Nothing worse than Clarisse and her cronies.” She scanned our little group. “Where’s the other guy, Grant?”

Benny and Harper turned toward me.

I swallowed the taste of demon-lady dust out of my mouth. “Yeah, so…he should be here soon….”

I told them how we’d gotten separated.

Benny regarded me with wide, incredulous eyes. “He was injured, and you just left him? You’re literally family!”

“I know that, Benny!” I wondered if I sounded as defensive as I felt. The adrenaline was leaving my system, quickly being replaced by crushing guilt. “I was going to double back, but then the old lady who eats kids came after me!”

Benny shook his head. “You never should have left Grant alone in the first place.”

“Okay, easy.” Harper rested a hand on my shoulder. He winced when he touched me, like I’d given him a static shock. “Katie already feels bad about this. Let’s not make it worse.”

Zuri peered back at the forest. “This thing in the treetops—did you get a look at it?”