Page 25 of The Wild Zone

My mouth fell open.

Did she think I’d ratted them out?

I shook my head and gave her my most innocent look. “No, no!”

“I’m afraid so.” Argus pointed to the empty chair next to Zuri. “Katie, sit. Zuri, these floors are original hardwood and very flammable. Cool it.”

I waited for Zuri’s glowing aura to diminish before I slid onto the chair beside her. She gave me the cold shoulder, which was impressive considering she’d just given me a flaming-hot one. (See what I did there? Much like the harpies, I got dad jokes.)

Argus cracked his knuckles, which fortunately did not have eyeballs on them. “Now, let’s get this unpleasantness over with.”

Benny raised his hand. “Sir, if I could just say one thing on our behalf…”

“No.” All of Argus’s eyes rolled to one side, as if avoiding Benny’s gaze. The swirl of so many blue irises at once made me feel seasick. “The quicker we finish, the quicker you leave.”

I stood. “Mr. Argus, please, sir. We’re new here! If you could just—”

“Katie Kim. Sit. Please.” He had no problem giving me a stern look. “I know you are new. You’ve already gotten in trouble. You’ve been assigned kitchen patrol duty. We can’t have that happen again, and so I’m afraid”—he sighed with deep regret—“you will have to watch the camp’s orientation film.”

I froze in confusion. “The what?”

Harper sat forward in his chair. “You mean you brought us in here to watch a movie?”

Argus scoffed. “Ehh, let’s not disgrace the good name of movies. However, it’s important that you learn the rules of camp.”

“But then why were you acting like we were all in trouble?” Zuri demanded. “I mean…in even more trouble?”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “Your satyr assistant gave me that sucks to be you look.”

Argus drew air through his teeth. “That’s probably because Hobart has seen the film. And no, you’re not in more trouble.” His hundred eyes narrowed. “Unless you’ve done something I don’t know about besides breaking curfew.”

All four of us chimed in at once.

“Nope.”

“No.”

“Not at all.”

“Nope.”

“And I assume you don’t know where the other new camper might be? Grant White?” Argus asked.

We gave him another chorus of denials, though this time we were being honest.

“Well, then…” Argus spread his hands. “Just…watch the film. Zuri, I think you especially will hate it. I’ll be waiting in the next room. See you in an hour.”

With that, he turned off the lights and stepped into what appeared to be a broom closet, closing the door behind him.

It didn’t bode well that he knew exactly how long the video lasted, or that he preferred to wait in a closet until it was over. Still, I felt like I’d escaped a terrible fate. How bad could an orientation film be?

A moment later, a white rectangle of light shimmered into existence in front of us, hovering in midair, projected from nowhere. A scratchy fanfare played over a title card that flickered with orange block letters: Welcome to Camp Half-Blood!

The screen filled with an extreme close-up of a handsome man’s face—perfect white teeth, bronze tan, blue eyes, curly golden hair.

“Oh, no,” Zuri murmured. She slouched low and brought up a hand to shield her eyes.

The camera zoomed back to show the rest of the man. He lounged at the camp’s fire pit, wearing only a skimpy white tunic and sandals, manspreading to a degree that should have been illegal.