Page 74 of The Wild Zone

The other Aphrodite kids wrinkled their noses.

I goggled at Olympia. “Are you some sort of secret genius?”

She smiled again. “Oh, my genius aren’t a secret…geniuses isn’t? Anyway, I’ll come find you later to see if you have any questions about application.”

That sounded more like a threat than a promise. Before I could protest that it wasn’t necessary, Silena cupped her hands around her mouth. “All right, Cabin Ten! It’s time to head to the next activity!”

As the Aphrodite kids scattered to clean up their materials, I made my way over to Harper, my arms now full of combat-friendly beauty products. Silena was just telling him in a quiet voice, “You can sit this one out if you want. It’s more obstacles.”

Harper gave her a curious look. “So?”

“Well, you kind of froze on the obstacle course the other day,” Silena said. “I can’t have you freezing on the lava wall.” She paused a beat. “Plus, we’ll be up against the Hephaestus kids.”

Harper’s eyes lit up. Then he tried to hide it with a casual shrug. “I can climb, no problem.”

Silena looked dubious, but she started lining up her campers to head for the climbing wall. Since I wasn’t quite sure where to go next, and I’d promised Argus I’d try to have a “normal day” at camp, I fell into step beside Harper.

“I think I underestimated your cabinmates,” I said. “Olympia’s a force to be reckoned with.”

Harper smiled. “We might be vain, but we’ve all got a brain.” He leaned in closer. “So why do you really want your scythe to look like it’s Celestial bronze?”

I didn’t answer right away. “If I can make people think I have a Celestial bronze scythe, it’ll show them I’ve got something special.”

“You don’t need a special weapon to be special, Katie,” Harper assured me. “As Olympia might say, you already am.”

We both laughed.

As we strolled across the fields, I could imagine what life at Camp Half-Blood might be like if I didn’t have so many problems looming over me—Grant, Silas, my mom, and Olivia all missing, a cursed ring in my pocket, some kind of monster in the woods, weird scrolls giving me orders, and secrets to juggle…so many secrets. In the morning sunlight on a crisp fall day, chatting with a friend, I felt almost happy.

When we reached the climbing wall, though, Harper’s smile wobbled. He stared at the top, where Shane sat like the king of the mountain, his legs dangling over the side between two miniature waterfalls of molten lava. Shane’s climbing harness accentuated his muscular chest and arms. The glow of the lava made red highlights in his hair. I guessed he was stationed at the top to spot the climbers, because every once in a while he’d shout encouragement at them, or clap, or raise a triumphant fist.

“Now’s your time to shine,” I told Harper.

“Yep,” he said, but didn’t move a muscle.

“Oh, come on,” I told him. “It’s not that high. You’ve got this, easy.”

“Next round!” Shane shouted from above. “Aphrodite versus Hephaestus! Who’s first?”

Everyone from the Aphrodite cabin raised their hands, except for Harper. They apparently all wanted the glory of climbing first and looking fabulous while doing it.

I cringed and whispered to Harper, “I’m so sorry for this.”

Then I gave him a Katie-class shove. I’d only meant to bring him even with his cabinmates, but I guess I put more oomph behind it than I thought. Harper stumble-ran ahead of everyone else and stopped at the base of the climbing wall next to Nyssa Barrera, my scythe instructor from the Hephaestus cabin.

“Yeah, Harper!” Silena called, and the rest of the Aphrodite kids dutifully clapped and cheered.

Once Harper and Nyssa were strapped into their harnesses and fitted with fireproof climbing gloves and shoes, Shane raised his stopwatch. “And…climb!”

Harper moved like a spider monkey. Or Spider-Man. Or both.

Nyssa was only halfway up the wall by the time Harper reached the top.

“Wow!” Shane gave him a high five, even though Harper was competing against his cabin. “That’s a new record, Harper. You’ve got skills!”

Harper practically floated all the way back down as his cabinmates hooted and chanted his name.

Once he was out of his climbing gear, Harper made his way toward me with a dreamy smile on his face.