Slayers by C. J. Hill

type that would set foot in a salon.
    Tori wondered if the group had come here to reinvite her to eat dinner with them. She returned her attention to the people around her, but she tuned them out and strained to hear a few more words of the advanced campers’ conversation. She shouldn’t have been able to hear any of it. They stood too far away. And yet when they spoke again, she heard them.
    Jesse said, “So much for your theory that Tori is a spy.”
    Dirk’s voice held none of the friendliness his smile had. “Just because she’s really here and not snooping around doesn’t mean she’s legit.”
    “I don’t trust her,” Lilly said. “Where has she been for the last five years?”
    “She might have reasons,” Jesse said.
    “If the authorities wanted to snoop around,” Dirk put in, “she’s the type they’d send. We already know she has connections with the government. And she stunk at archery. You said so yourself.”
    Jesse’s voice stayed even. “Dr. B trusts her. So does Bane.”
    Lilly let out a scoffing grunt. “Dr. B is an optimist, and Bane is a horse. Don’t tell me you’re going to trust a horse’s judgment.”
    Jesse nearly conceded the point, but not quite. “The horse is impartial.”
    “And yet it’s still a horse ,” Lilly said.
    “Dr. B is just desperate,” Alyssa added. “He’s trying to make up for the fact that we’ve lost Leo and Danielle.”
    “We haven’t lost them yet.” The pain in Jesse’s voice made Tori look up, as though his expression would explain everything. It didn’t, and the group stopped talking again.
    Tori forced her gaze back to the table and the people around her, not really seeing them as she tried to process what she’d heard. Why
were they worried about anyone snooping around? What was there to find? And why the reference to her archery score—which hadn’t stunk, but had been impressive—well, impressive until Jesse had shot a bull’s-eye without facing the target.
    “She heard us,” Alyssa said.
    “She couldn’t have,” Jesse said.
    “Unless she’s wired,” Dirk said.
    “Or we are,” Lilly said. “Wouldn’t we need to be the ones who are bugged for her to hear us?”
    Then none of them said anything else.
    When Tori looked over again, they had gone. Probably out checking their shoes and clothing to make sure no one had snuck electronic listening devices on them.
    She inwardly laughed at the thought. It served them right for being so paranoid. But why were they? And if they were hiding something, was the camp staff involved, too? She thought of the people she’d met, letting each one drift through her memory. What was going on at this camp that made the advanced campers worry about spies? Drugs, maybe? Steroids?
    Then another thought came to her mind. Dirk wore a red shirt and blue jeans. The thing she’d seen in the woods had been a blur of red and blue.
    Had it been him? If it had been, how had he moved upward so fast?
    She wasn’t sure about anything except one thing. The sooner she transferred to the main camp, the better.

CHAPTER 8
    A fter dinner, the campers had free time. Tori played volleyball with the kids at her table, then went to the camp library to write a paper for her dragon mythology class. Dr. B had assigned an essay and given them the choice of three topics: similarities found in dragon lore; dragon habits and abilities; or methods of defeat. She’d already read all the books on the reading list except for a book Dr. B had written. She decided to skim it to see what his philosophies were so she’d know how to slant—or defend—her viewpoints.
    The library was a small cabin that housed several bookshelves, a few soft chairs, and a row of computers and printers. It didn’t take Tori long to find Dr. B’s book: A Comprehensive Overview of Dragons and Their Ecology . It was a thin hardback with a cover that looked boring enough to scare off the most avid dragon fan. She sat down with it anyway. He’d