The Third Camp

Chapter forty: Carrie

"Get out." I repeated.

"No." Wallace crossed his arms. "You have something to explain."

"And what would that be?"

"Who was that girl that I saw sneaking out of this cabin a bit ago?"

I hoped to gods that my face didn't turn red in that moment.

"What are you talking about?" I frowned at him.

"There was a girl here, and she snuck out. Were you aware of her being in your cabin?"

"No, and I'm fairly sure you're making this up."

Wallace dove forward and tore my dog tag from my neck.

"Hey!" I exclaimed.

He quickly said, "Show me the girl who snuck out of the praetor's cabin." And dropped the dog tag on my desk. I was frozen in fear as a projection of Neptuna in the clinic appeared.

Hang on, I thought. That's not from when she had broken ribs. That's from right now!

Neptuna looked paler than a ghost and was obviously unconscious. Her chest rose and fell very little and there were small beads of sweat forming on her forehead.

She's sick, I mumbled mentally. But I've never seen anyone look like that when they're sick! I hope she's alright... Is anyone taking care of her? I swear, by the name of Hera, if they're just ignoring her, I'll kill those healers! Why those little—

"As you can see, there was a girl here. Do you recognize her?" Wallace asked, looking smug.

"She looks familiar, I guess." I kept my composure. "I may have taught her cabin archery once or twice."

"And why might she have been in your cabin?"

"I don't know. But I do know that you should get out." I growled.

"I am not leaving until I get true answers."

"She probably just wanted some tips for archery, most of the campers in her class aren't very good." I rolled my eyes. "Now can you get out?"

"Yes, but first I would like to introduce you to Caleb." He threw me my dog tag and it slipped onto my neck.

"Oh, is this another lame attempt to put a watchdog on me?"

"In a way." Wallace peaked his head out the door and he pulled in a new face.

Before me stood the boy that had taken me to Council in the first place, his eyes wide with fear.

"Well, don't kill each other." Wallace glared at me but for some reason I felt like he was giving Caleb permission to kill me.

Oh, goodie. A new friend.

Wallace quickly left the room, but not before arming Caleb with a sword big enough to be a toothpick for a drakon.

I strode over to my desk and silently started to look through the notes that people had left and trying to get my mind off of Nep.

"Would you like to have a seat?" I asked Caleb after almost ten minutes of him standing awkwardly watching my every move.

He nodded and slowly started walking toward Grace's desk.

"Not over there." I growled.

He eyed me, "You really miss her, don't you? Were you two...?" He slowly walked over to the chair in front of my desk and sat down.

"No." I didn't sound sad, like he might have expected. That was a bad move. I should have pretended that I did want Grace and I to have been a couple. But that was such a lie it was almost comical. Grace was like a sister to me. The only girl I had ever felt for in a romantic way was... Nep and...