Jason was having a horrible day, even before he was electrocuted at the Grand Canyon.
The boy had woken up in the backseat of a school bus, groggy and unsure where he was. He blinked, realizing that he was holding hands with a girl he didn't know. Jason supposed that wasn't the rotten part. The girl was kind of cute. Even so, Jason was more concerned with the fact that he had zero memories. He sat up slowly, trying to think.
Dozens of kids were sprawled out in the seats in front of Jason, listening to music on their iPods or phones, talking with their friends, or sleeping on the uncomfortable seats. They all seemed to have been around Jason's age. Fifteen, sixteen? Okay. Him not even knowing his own age was a bit freaky and caused Jason to worry.
The bus rumbled along a bumpy road. Out of the windows, desert rolled by under a bright blue sky. Jason was certain that he didn't live anywhere close to a desert. He tried to think back to the last thing he remembered, which was nothing.
The girl squeezed Jason's hand, giving him a concerned look. "Jason, are you okay?" she asked. "Are you feeling all right?"
She wore grey jeans, leather boots and a black, soft looking jacket, unbuttoned so Jason could see her pale pink shirt. Her hair was a dark shade of brown, curling the more it reached the ends. Her eyes were a warm brown, anxiety written all over them.
Jason let go of her hand, causing the girl's face to twist into a frown, looking ready to receive terrible news. "Um, I don't—" Jason started to say, only to be interrupted.
"All right, cupcakes, listen up!" a voice from the front of the bus yelled out.
The guy was clearly a coach. His baseball cap was pulled low over his hair, so his beady eyes were visible. He had a wispy goatee and a sour face. His buff arms and chest pushed against a bright orange polo shirt. His nylon workout pants and Nikes were spotless white. A whistle hung around his neck, and a megaphone was clipped to his belt. He would've looked pretty scary if he wasn't five foot.
When he had stood up, one of his students yelled, "Stand up, Coach Hedge!"
"I heard that!" the coach practically growled, scanning the bus for the one that had insulted him. Then his eyes fixed on Jason and he scowled.
A jolt went down Jason's spine. The coach must've knew that Jason didn't belong on the bus. Jason was afraid that the coach would call him out and demand to know what he was doing on the bus. And if that were to happen, Jason wouldn't know what to say.
"Did you do something?" the girl said, whispering softly into Jason's ear.
Jason didn't answer.
Coach Hedge's eyes left Jason, much to his relief. The coach cleared his throat. "We'll arrive in five minutes! Stay with your partner. Don't lose your worksheet. And if any of you precious little cupcakes causes any trouble on this trip, I will personally send you back to campus the hard way."
He picked up the baseball bat and made like he was hitting a homer.
Jason looked at the girl next to him, to find her already staring at him with a perplexed expression on her face. "He always does, silly. Where kids are the animals."
She chuckled at the end of her statement as if it was an inside joke shared between the two of them.
"This is some kind of mistake," Jason said. "I'm not supposed to be here."
Again, the girl's face twisted into a frown.
The boy in front of them turned around and laughed. "Yeah, Jason, we've all been framed! I didn't run away six times. Estella didn't shoplift a bunch of shit. Piper didn't steal that BMV.
The girl next to Jason merely started to nervously mess with her hair.
The girl next to the other boy, however, glared at him in annoyance, with a heated blush. "I didn't steal that car, Leo!"
If that girl was Piper, then the girl next to Jason is Estella.
"Oh, I forgot, Piper. What was your story? You 'talked' the dealer into lending it to you?" He raised his eyebrows at Jason and Estella like, Can you believe her?
Leo looked like a Latino Santa's elf, with curly black hair, pointy ears, a cheerful, babyish face, and a mischievous smile that told you right away this guy should not be trusted around matches or sharp objects. His long, nimble fingers wouldn't stop moving—drumming on the seat, sweeping his hair behind his ears, fiddling with the buttons of his army fatigue jacket. Either the kid was naturally hyper or he was hopped up on enough sugar and caffeine to give a heart attack to a water buffalo.
Piper, on the other hand, wore faded jeans, hiking boots, and a fleece snowboarding jacket. Her chocolate brown hair was cut choppy and uneven, with thin strands braided down the sides. She wore no makeup like she was trying not to draw attention to herself, but it didn't work. She was seriously pretty. Her eyes seemed to change color like a kaleidoscope—brown, blue, and green.
"Anyway," Leo said, "I hope you've got your worksheet, 'cause I used mine for spit wads days ago. Why are you looking at me like that? Somebody draw on my face again? Estella-"
"I didn't," Estella quickly stated.
"I don't know any of you," Jason said.
Leo gave him a crocodile grin. "Sure. I'm not your best friend. I'm his evil clone."
Estella stared at Jason, as if trying to find any lie in his eyes, and then she crossed her arms.
"Leo Valdez!" Coach Hedge yelled from the front. "Problem back there?"
Leo winked at Jason. "Watch this." He turned to the front. "Sorry, Coach! I was having trouble hearing you. Could you use your megaphone, please?"
Coach Hedge grunted like he was pleased to have an excuse. He unclipped the megaphone from his belt and continued giving directions, but his voice came out like Darth Vader's. The kids cracked up. The coach tried again, but this time the megaphone blared: "The cow says moo!"
The kids howled, and the coach slammed down the megaphone. "Valdez!"
Piper stifled a laugh. "My god, Leo. How did you do that?"
Leo slipped a tiny Phillips head screwdriver from his sleeve. "I'm a special boy," was all he answered with.
"Guys, seriously," Jason pleaded. "What am I doing here? Where are we going?"
Estella bit her lip. She looked really worried, and Jason would have felt bad, if he knew what was going on. "Jase, please tell me you're joking—"
"No! I have no idea—"
"Aw, yeah, he's joking. Don't worry, Stell," Leo said. "He's trying to get me back for that shaving cream on the Jell-O thing, aren't you?"
The what exactly?
Instead of asking that though, Jason just stared at Leo blankly.
"No, I think he's serious," Piper said, looking between Jason and Estella.
Estella tried to take ahold of Jason's hand, but he pulled away. He instantly regretted it when he saw the hurt expression on Estella's face.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I don't—I can't—"
"That's it!" Coach Hedge yelled from the front. "The back row has just volunteered to clean up after lunch!"
The rest of the kids cheered.
"There's a shocker," Leo muttered.
But Piper and Estella both kept their eyes on Jason.
"Did you hit your head or something?" Piper asked.
You really don't know who we are?" Estella sounded crestfallen.
Jason shrugged helplessly. "It's worse than that. I don't know who I am."
The bus dropped them in front of a red stucco complex like museum, just sitting in the middle of nowhere. A cold wind blew across the desert. Jason hasn't paid much attention to what he was wearing, but it wasn't nearly warm enough: jeans and sneakers, a purple t-shirt and a thin black windbreaker.
"So, a crash course for the amnesiac," Leo said, in a helpful tone that made Jason think this was not going to be helpful. "We go to the 'Wilderness School'"—Leo made air quotes with his fingers. "Which means we're 'bad kids.' Your family, or the court, or whoever, decided you were too much trouble, so they shipped you off to this lovely prison—sorry, 'boarding school'—in Armpit, Nevada, where you learn valuable nature skills like running ten miles a day through the cacti and weaving daisies into hats! And for a special treat we go on 'educational' field trips with Coach Hedge, who keeps order with a baseball bat. Is it all coming back to you now?"
"No." Jason glanced apprehensively at the other kids: maybe twenty guys, half that many girls. None of them looked like hardened criminals, but he wondered what they'd all done to get sentenced to a school for delinquents, and he wondered why he belonged with them.
His eyes made their way onto Estella, who was staring at the ground, fiddling with her hands. She especially didn't seem like the delinquent type, not with her meek demeanor.
Leo rolled his eyes. "You're really gonna play this out, huh? Okay, so the four of us started here together this semester. We're totally tight. You do everything I say and give me your dessert and do my chores—"
"Leo!" Piper snapped.
"Fine. Ignore that last part," Leo went on. "But we are friends. Well, lil Stella over here is a little more than your friend, the last few weeks—"
"Leo, stop it!" Piper hissed, gesturing for Leo to look at Estella, whose face was as red as a tomato. Jason could feel his face burning, too.
"Jason must have amnesia or something," Estella said, her voice high pitched in panic. "Shouldn't we tell an adult or do something?!"
Leo scoffed. "Who, Coach Hedge? He'd try to fix Jason by whacking him upside the head."
The coach was at the front of the group, barking orders and blowing his whistle to keep the kids in line; but every so often he'd glance back at Jason and scowl.
"Leo, Jason needs help," Piper insisted. "He's got a concussion or—"
"Yo, Piper." One of the other guys dropped back to join them as the group was heading into the museum. The new guy wedged himself between Jason and Piper and knocked Leo down. Estella was just behind Jason. "Don't talk to these bottom-feeders. You're my partner, remember?"
The new guy had dark hair cut Superman style, a deep tan, and teeth so white they should've come with a warning label: do not stare directly at teeth. permanent blindness may occur. He wore a Dallas Cowboys jersey, Western jeans and boots, and he smiled like he was God's gift to juvenile delinquent girls everywhere. Jason hated him instantly.
"Go away, Dylan," Piper grumbled. "I didn't ask to work with you. I'm working with Estella. Go tag along with another group."
"Ah, that's no way to be. This is your lucky day!" Dylan hooked his arm through hers and dragged her through the museum entrance. Piper shot one last look over her shoulder like, 911.
"I better go catch up..good luck I guess..." Estella said. She looked at Jason one more time, debating something, before sighing and hugging her supposed boyfriend, and then letting go quickly, a light blush on her face. Then she rushed to catch up with Piper and Dylan.
Leo got up and brushed himself off. "I hate that guy." He offered Jason his arm, like they should go skipping inside together. "'I'm Dylan. I'm so cool, I want to date myself, but I can't figure out how! You want to date me instead? You're so lucky!'"
"Leo," Jason said, "you're weird."
"Yeah, you tell me that a lot." Leo grinned. "But if you don't remember me, that means I can reuse all my old jokes. Come on!"
Jason figured that if this was his best friend, his life must be pretty messed up; but he followed Leo into the museum.
They walked through the building, stopping here and there for Coach Hedge to lecture them with his megaphone, which kept making him sound really weird—though Jason was too freaked out to laugh.
Leo kept pulling out nuts, bolts and pipe cleaners from the pockets of his army jacket and putting them together, like he had to keep his hands moving at all times.
Jason was too distracted to pay much attention to the exhibits, but they were about the Grand Canyon and the Hualapai tribe, which owned the museum.
Some girls kept looking over at Piper, Estella and Dylan and snickering. Jason knew instantly that they were the popular clique. The stereotypical popular clique, where they were big bullies.
One of the girls said, "Hey, Piper, does your tribe run this place? Do you get in free if you do a rain dance?"
The other girls laughed. Even Dylan managed a smile. Piper and Estella weren't laughing, though. Piper's hands were in her snowboarding jacket, but he wouldn't have been surprised if she were clenching her fists. Estella put a comforting hand on Piper's shoulder and whispered in her ear, though Jason couldn't imagine what she told her.
"My dad's Cherokee," Piper finally said. "Not Hualapai. Course, you'd need a few brain cells to know the difference, Isabel."
Isabel's eyes widened, feigning surprise. "Oh, sorry! Was your mom in this tribe? Oh, that's right. You never knew your mom. But I suppose that's why you're such good friends with the fatherless scum." Isabel pointed a finger in Estella's direction, who blushed in embarrassment while Piper shot daggers at Isabel.
"Don't call her that,"Piper said and charged at her, but before a fight could break out, Coach Hedge barked out, "Enough back there! Set out a good example or I'll break out my baseball bat!"
The group shuffled onto the next exhibit, but the girls kept calling out little comments to both Estella and Piper.
Piper and Estella tried to ignore them. Mainly, Estella was holding onto Piper so she wouldn't punch one of them.
"Aw, are you guys in loooove?" one of the girls teased.
"Of course, look at the way she's holding her arm."
"Fucking dikes."
Jason narrowed his eyes. If neither Piper or Estella were going to defend themselves, then he was going over there to defend them himself. He might not remember Estella or Piper, or what either of them meant to him, but he knew that he hated mean kids.
Leo caught his arm. "Be cool. Piper doesn't like us fighting her battles. Besides, if those girls found out the truth about her dad, they'd be all bowing down and screaming, we're not worthy!"
"Why? What about her dad?"
Leo laughed in disbelief. "You're not kidding? You really don't remember that one of your best friend's dad—"
"Look, I wish I did, but I don't even remember her, much less her dad," Jason told him, trying not to sound too annoyed at his lack of knowing literally anything. "But how would Estella feel if I defend her?"
Leo signed. "She'll feel bad."
"Oh."
"Yeah." Then he whistled. "Whatever. We need to talk when we get back to the dorm."
They reached the far end of the exhibit hall, where some big glass doors led out to a terrace.
"All right, cupcakes," Coach Hedge announced. "You are about to see the Grand Canyon. Try not to break it. The skywalk can hold the weight of seventy jumbo jets, so you featherweights should be safe out there. If possible, try to avoid pushing each other over the edge, as that would cause me extra paperwork."
The coach opened the doors, and they all stepped outside, immediately being in awe of the sight.
The Grand Canyon was now spread before them, live and in person. Extending over the edge was a horse shaped walkway made of glass, so you could see right through it.
"Man," Leo said, "that's pretty wicked.
Jason had no choice but to agree. Even with his amnesia and feeling like he was in the wrong place, even he knew that it was an impressive view.
The canyon was bigger and wider than you could appreciate from a picture. They were up so high that birds circled below their feet. Five hundred feet down, a river snaked along the canyon floor. Banks of storm clouds had moved overhead while they'd been inside, casting shadows like angry faces across the cliffs. As far as Jason could see in any direction, red and gray ravines cut through the desert like some crazy god had taken a knife to it.
As soon as that thought crossed Jason's mind, he got a piercing pain behind his eyes. Where had he come up with the idea of a crazy god? It felt like he got close to something that he should know about, something important. It felt like he was in danger.
"You all right?" Leo asked. "You're not going to throw up over the side, are you? 'Cause I should've brought my camera."
Jason grabbed the railings, shivering and sweating simultaneously, but it weirdly had nothing to do with the storm or heights.
"I'm fine," Jason managed to say. "Just a headache."
Thunder rumbled overhead, a cold wind almost knocking him sideways.
"This can't be safe." Leo squinted at the clouds. "Storm's right over us, but it's clear all the way around. Weird, huh?"
Jason looked up, seeing that Leo was right. A dark circle of clouds had parked itself over the skywalk, but the rest of the sky in every direction was perfectly clear. Jason had a bad feeling about that.
"All right, cupcakes!" Coach Hedge yelled. He frowned at the storm like it bothered him too. "We may have to cut this short, so get to work! Remember, complete sentences!"
The storm rumbled, and Jason's head began to hurt again. Not knowing why he did it, he reached into his jeans pocket and brought out a coin—a circle of gold the size of a half-dollar, but thicker and more uneven. Stamped on one side was a picture of a battle-ax. On the other was some guy's face wreathed in laurels. The inscription said something like ivlivs.
"Dang, is that gold?" Leo asked. "You been holding out on me!"
Jason put the coin away, wondering how he got it, and why he had the feeling that he may need it soon.
"It's nothing," he said. "Just a coin."
Leo shrugged. Maybe his mind had to keep moving as much as his hands. "Come on," he said. "Dare you to spit over the edge."
They didn't try very hard on the assignment. Jason was too distracted by the storm and his own mixed up feelings, as well as his lack of memories. For another thing, he didn't know a single answer to any of the questions.
And Leo wasn't any help. He was too busy building a helicopter out of pipe cleaners.
"Check it out." He launched the copter. Jason figured it would plummet, but the pipe-cleaner blades actually spun. The little copter made it halfway across the canyon before it lost momentum and spiraled into the void.
"How'd you do that?" Jason asked.
Leo shrugged. "Would've been cooler if I had some rubber bands."
"Seriously," Jason said, "are we friends?"
"Last I checked."
"You sure? What was the first day we met? What did we talk about?"
"It was ..." Leo frowned. "I don't recall exactly. I'm ADHD, man. You can't expect me to remember details."
"But I don't remember you at all. I don't remember anyone here. What if—"
"You're right and everyone else is wrong?" Leo asked. "You think you just appeared here this morning, and we've all got fake memories of you?"
That's exactly what I think, a little voice in Jason's head told him.
But that was crazy. Everyone seemed to know him—or at least acted like they did. Everyone except...
Coach Hedge...
Before Leo could protest, Jason headed across the skywalk.
Their school group had the place to themselves. Maybe it was too early in the day for tourists, or maybe the weird weather had scared them off. The Wilderness School kids had spread out in pairs across the skywalk. Most were joking around or talking. Some of the guys were dropping pennies over the side. About fifty feet away, Piper was trying to fill out her worksheet, but her stupid partner Dylan was hitting on her, putting his hand on her shoulder and giving her that blinding white smile, leaving Estella to do the paper herself. They both looked uncomfortable, for different reasons. Estella caught Jason's eye, then quickly looked away, acting as if she was writing something down.
Jason walked up to Coach Hedge, who was leaning on his baseball bat, studying the storm clouds.
"Did you do this?" the coach asked him.
Jason took a step back. "Do what?" It sounded like the coach had just asked if he'd made the thunderstorm.
Coach Hedge glared at him, his beady little eyes glinting under the brim of his cap. "Don't play games with me, kid. What are you doing here, and why are you messing up my job?"
"You mean...you don't know me?" Jason said. "I'm not one of your students?"
Hedge snorted. "Never seen you before today."
Jason was so relieved, that he could cry. So he wasn't going insane. He really was in the wrong place. "Look, sir, I don't know how I got here. I just woke up on the school bus. All I know is I'm not supposed to be here."
"Got that right." Hedge's gruff voice dropped to a murmur, like he was sharing a secret. "You got a powerful way with the Mist, kid, if you can make all these people think they know you; but you can't fool me. I've been smelling monster for days now. I knew we had an infiltrator, but you don't smell like a monster. You smell like a half-blood. So—who are you, and where'd you come from?"
Most of what the coach said didn't make sense, but Jason decided to answer honestly. "I don't know who I am. I don't have any memories. You've got to help me."
Coach Hedge studied his face like was trying to read Jason's thoughts.
"Great," Hedge muttered. "You're being truthful."
"Of course I am! And what was all that about monsters and half-bloods? Are those code words or something?"
Hedge narrowed his eyes. Part of Jason wondered if the guy was just nuts. But the other part knew better.
"Look, kid," Hedge said, "I don't know who you are. I just know what you are, and it means trouble. Now I got to protect three of you rather than two. Are you the special package? Is that it?"
"What are you talking about?"
Hedge looked at the storm. The clouds were getting thicker and darker, hovering right over the skywalk.
"This morning," Hedge said, "I got a message from camp. They said an extraction team is on the way. They're coming to pick up a special package, but they wouldn't give me details. I thought to myself, Fine. The two I'm watching are pretty powerful, older than most. I know they're being stalked. I can smell a monster in the group. I figure that's why the camp is suddenly frantic to pick them up. But then you pop up out of nowhere. So, are you the special package?"
The pain behind Jason's eyes got worse than ever. Half bloods. Camp. Monsters. Familiar yet unfamiliar terms. He had no clue what the coach was going on about, but he felt like he should've.
He stumbled, and Coach Hedge caught him. For a short guy, the coach had hands like steel. "Whoa, there, cupcake. You say you got no memories, huh? Fine. I'll just have to watch you, too, until the team gets here. We'll let the director figure things out."
"What director?" Jason said. "What camp?"
"Just sit tight. Reinforcements should be here soon. Hopefully nothing happens before—"
Lightning crackled overhead. The wind picked up with a vengeance. Worksheets flew into the Grand Canyon, and the entire bridge shuddered. Kids screamed, stumbling and grabbing the rails.
"I had to say something," Hedge grumbled. He bellowed into his megaphone: "Everyone inside! The cow says moo! Off the skywalk!"
"I thought you said this thing was stable!" Jason shouted over the wind.
"Under normal circumstances," Hedge agreed, "which these aren't. Come on!"