“We’ll rest a second,” Sam said, scanning the woods behind us. He could totally hide goat horns under that blond thicket of his. Maybe that’s why he kept his hair so long and shaggy. I wanted to think that the incident back at school had been a crazy pizza-induced hallucination, but no…my best friend was clopping around right in front of me, shedding tufts of goat fur and twitching his little tail.ĭid he have horns? Oh, man. Sam had always been faster than me, but now that he had goat hooves, he was even more nimble in the forest. So far, no crazy lion ladies had attacked us, but if I kept running I wouldn’t have to worry about that, because I would die of a heart attack. “I know you have a lot of questions, but we’re not safe here! Come on!”Īfter running through the woods for over a mile, we were nearing the Broken Fork River, a whitewater rapid about eight feet across. “There’s no time, Zane,” Sam said urgently.
“Sam, what does this all mean? What is going on? How-”įrom somewhere in the woods, an angry howl pierced the air-like a large predator cat on the hunt. I flipped to the next page and saw an official-looking form with Zane Carver at the top, and the following words:Īs I looked at the page, I tried to steady my breathing. It had a grainy surveillance-style photo of me above a bunch of personal information: home address, birthdate, family details.
I suspected I might have lost some pages while running from the school to the woods, but the first page was clear enough. Some of the ink had bled, making parts of the report hard to read. That file you’re carrying may have some answers. “When you were summoned to the office, I should’ve realized they’d zeroed in on you.” “Because when a demigod uses one, the signal attracts monsters,” Sam said, like this was obvious information. “Why is everyone so obsessed about me using a stupid cell phone?” I was afraid this might happen when you told me you had used Lexi’s cell phone.” “Not important? How is my best friend turning into a livestock animal not important?” He made that bleating sound like he always did when he was annoyed. He was still rocking the goat fur and the hooves. I hoped Sam would look normal again, but nope. I was still dripping wet from the sprinklers, and my legs were shaking from the adrenaline rush. Fire alarms and emergency vehicle sirens howled behind us in the distance.
I jumped through the broken wall and followed him.īy the time we reached our favorite clearing in the woods, I was gasping for breath. With my luck, I would probably get blamed for destroying the office and disintegrating the guidance counselor…And I couldn’t forget what Sam had said: More monsters will be coming. Sam leaped through the hole in the office wall and ran toward the woods, where he and I had spent so many summers hiding out and playing when we were kids.Ĭould I trust Sam? How could I not? Even if he had suddenly grown furry legs and hooves, he was my best friend. What was in that file? Why had that lion/counselor/monster lady been so intent on killing me? With the sprinklers going, it would soon be ruined. I spotted the red folder nestled nicely in one of the tree branches.
“No time to talk! More monsters will be coming. “Wh-what-how-?” I pointed feebly at his cloven hooves. “Thank the gods you’re safe!” Sam shouted over the sound of the fire alarms. I wanted to sob and laugh at the same time. I wanted to curl into a ball and hide under the shattered counselor’s desk.
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