The Search for Artemis - By P. D. Griffith Page 0,57

“thank you” would be like her admitting she was wrong—it would never happen. Landon accepted this subtle gesture of appreciation with a gentle nod.

“All right,” Riley started, “spill. I’ve been dying to hear what you did to kill any chance we had at being accepted here.”

Katie Leigh turned her attention to Landon. “I see not much has changed.” She keep her attention on Landon and looked to be ignoring Riley altogether. “But I did say I would tell you at breakfast, and I always keep my word.”

Katie Leigh leaned in slightly. Landon and Riley followed suit and hunched over the table until they were all at a fairly close proximity to one another. Katie Leigh continued a moment later in a soft voice.

“So I was in the Library reading, obviously, when Brock and the Crane boys blundered in. I minded my own business until I could hear them talking to one another. They were trying to look something up . . . poorly, I might add.”

“What were they looking for?” Riley asked.

Katie Leigh stopped for a second and glared at Riley scornfully before turning back to Landon and continuing. “Anyways, I don’t know if you noticed, but we were in the Folklore and Mythology section. Because of the obvious influences antiquity had on this place, I’ve developed quite an interest in the subject since I arrived here. So I was sitting in a chair, reading the Iliad, when Brock ordered the twins to look for anything they could that talked about Artemis.”

“Artemis?” Landon asked. “Like the Greek goddess, Artemis?”

“Really?” Riley interjected, sounding almost ashamed of Landon. “You know who she’s talking about?”

“What? My mom told me all about ancient mythology.” Landon tried to defend himself. “She got a minor in Classics in college so she liked teaching me about it.”

After another rather disdainful look at Riley, Katie Leigh moved on with her story. “Exactly right, only just after they split up, Brock said, and I remember it clearly, ‘He’s got to be mentioned in here somewhere.’ So you can see why I had to say something.”

Riley and Landon sat unresponsive. They were waiting for an explanation.

“He said ‘he.’ He!” Katie Leigh raised her voice, but when the heads of numerous people bolted around to look at them, she crouched back down and whispered again.

“Come on, Landon. You already said it. Artemis is a goddess.” She waited for a nod of understanding, but one never came. “God, you both are dense. Artemis is a goddess. . . . Goddesses are women. . . . Brock called her, ‘he.’ Obviously I had to correct him. I turned around in my chair and just said, ‘She, she’s got to be mentioned in here somewhere.’ I guess he didn’t like that so much because next thing I know I’m being thrown out of my chair and against the bookcase, and that’s it. A minute later and you two were running in. But so you both know, I had everything under control. I am Katie Leigh Chapman, aren’t I? I only screamed because he surprised me.”

“That’s it? That’s why Landon and I are now doomed for all eternity?” Riley appeared to be somewhere between shock and infuriation. “We risked our future happiness all because you couldn’t let a little slip of the tongue go by? I—I can’t even look at you right now. I’ve got to go.”

This time Riley stood up and stormed from the cafeteria, but not without a considerable number of glares and huffs as he made his way to the door. Landon was still sitting on the bench. His eyes moved slowly around in his head, shifting from the upper right and left corners of his socket, as if he were literally attempting to search his brain for an answer.

“So,” he finally started after racking his brain with no result. “Why were they there in the first place?”

“In the Library?” Katie Leigh asked, a bit confused. “I told you . . . to look up Artemis.”

“Brilliant work, Watson. Simply brilliant. I think you’ve cracked the case.”

Katie Leigh’s face shifted to the same scornful glare she’d been giving Riley a bit earlier—she obviously wasn’t a fan of sarcasm.

Landon paid her no mind. “What I mean is, why would they be looking up Artemis? It’s not like mythology is part of our curriculum. It definitely isn’t a part of our training. And as far as I can tell, our tutoring sessions are filled with math and science, not ancient folklore. So why would they