Day 1
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I had been calmly seating at the back of the car for almost an hour now, since it picked me up from the main airport of Andalasia, when my driver, Karl, told me we were arriving at the Camp.
At first I wasn't thrilled about going to this Summer Camp. My parents had described it as the perfect place for me, somewhere safe where I could learn to control my power. But it was Anna who had convinced me to give it a shot. The place was called Camp Walt but I had nicknamed it Camp Freak because that was what people who went there were, I included. The camp was reserved for people with special powers and enhanced abilities, like me. I was the only one in my family with magic, the only one with control over ice and snow. Well, control was maybe pushing it. I didn't really control my magic and usually used it without really wanting to at the oddest of time. Which was why my parents had insisted on sending me here. I had just finished high school back in Arendelle and as the future Queen of the country, my parents and the people expected me to get College Degree during the next few years. My goal was to go to a university abroad and leave Arendelle for some time but my parents had refused to let e leave next September if I didn't have a better control on my magic by then. Hence, my presence in this car that was driving me toward Camp Walt.
The car pulled into what I guess was supposed to be a parking. It looked more like a simple clearing in the middle of a forest, but the few cars parked there gave away its function. I got out of the car before Karl could come and open the door for me. As the next ruling Queen of Arendelle, I had been raised following certain rules, namely, let the chauffeur open the door for you. But I knew Karl wasn't going to report to my parent and even if he did, I would be locked up in this Camp for misfits the whole summer, so their lecture about what was expected of the crown princess would have to wait anyway. I helped Karl get my luggage from the trunk and we made our way toward what I supposed was the entrance of the camp. No walls or barriers were to be seen and a simple stone arch saying "Camp Walt" signaled that we were at the right place. A small path started from the arch and led deeper into the forest. We followed the path and after some walking, we arrived in a huge plain were a large number of buildings were scattered here and there. The plain was surrounded by trees from all sides but a small lake could be seen at the far end of the plain and even further, behind the north section of the forest, a few mountains composed the panorama. We didn't stop long to take in the beautiful scenery but directed ourselves toward the first building to our right. It looked like a simple two storey house with an old wooden panel saying "Reception" attached to the wall.
Karl followed me inside the house and waited with me in the hall until an old man with the longest beard I had ever seen walked in the room from one of the doors at the back of the room. He was quite thin and not very tall, but his long white beard almost reached his ankles. He was wearing a Hawaiian shirt with some purple Bermuda short and had sunglasses on his head, holding his long white hair back.
"Aha !" he shouted excitedly before coming closer and grabbing my right hand and shaking it powerfully "You must be Princess Elsa! I have been waiting impatiently for you!" he continued, smiling, before he let go of my hand and walked toward another door on the left side of the hall. He opened it and gestured for me to follow.
I looked at Karl, expecting a reaction from him, but as per usual, he was stoic and immobile. So I followed the old white man into the next room. It was a small office where a big oak desk throned in the centre. It was covered with paper and the rest of the room looked exactly as messy with books, chairs, boxes and even some clothes scattered everywhere. The old man sat down on one side of the desk and pointed at the chair on the other side, signaling me to seat down.
"Welcome, welcome my dear! Welcome to Camp Walt!" he said, moving his hands as he spoke "I'm the camp's director, Merlin. So I know this is your first time here, which is quite unusual. I read in your file that you were 18 and usually camper this old have been coming here for a number of years,"
I frowned. I wasn't old, not compared to him anyway.
"Anyway, it's always a pleasure to have some new campers and I'm sure everyone here will be happy to have some fresh blood as well! So princess, let me explain how the camp works," he continued but this time I interrupted him.
"Please Sir Merlin, call me Elsa," I said calmly. I didn't wish to be Princess Elsa here, no need for me to stand out even more than I already would.
"Of course, of course. I understand. Here you will be Elsa," he said, winking at me knowingly.
That man was very strange. He appeared as an extravagant old man but at the same time seemed to understand things without requiring any explanation. If this was the director, I didn't have much hope concerning the camper and advisors.
"So, Camp Walt welcomes children and teenagers from 10 to 20 years old, sometimes younger or older depending on the case. Usually, children who start coming here, come back every year until their 20est birthday and after that, those who want can stay as advisors. Campers are divided in groups depending on their abilities. The different groups are : Enhanced and Magical. The enhanced camper usually have increased speed, strength or precision, which grants them great fighting skills. Magical camper are the ones with powers, like you. It goes from control over the elements to spell casting. Every camper is unique and therefore has unique abilities.
During the day a number of workshops are offered by our advisors. For campers under 18, a strict schedule is put into place but for those above, the workshops are only recommended. We consider that if you are of age, you are here willingly and you know what workshops you need. If you choose not to attend workshops, or only to attend them some days, you are free to use any Camp facilities, the stables, the lake, the training ground or the research centre. Of course, priority is given to workshops and your utilisation of the different facilities should not hinder them.
Meals are served three times a day and are prepared by the campers. You will be assigned cooking shifts where you will be required to help prepare the meals. Cleaning works the same way," Merlin handed me a small booklet before continuing to explain.
"You will find any complementary information that I might have forgotten in this booklet. On the first page, you have your cabin's number. You will share it with 3 other female campers around your age. Now if you will excuse me, I have our next Sunday Tournament to organise,"
Merlin got up and opened he door leading to the hall for me. I was slightly dumbstruck by the information overload, but I took the hint and left his office. I would have more than enough time to ask questions. Now my priority was to get to my cabin, unpack my luggage and eventually meet my roommates.
Karl was still waiting for me in the hall and he followed me outside without a word, carrying the luggage I didn't manage to grab. I walked down the little pathway that led toward the centre of the plain. The booklet Merlin had given me included a map of the Camp and I quickly identified the buildings on the left as "Activity Buildings". There was at least 10 of them, including stables and what looked like an archery, and together they formed the Activity centre. In the middle was probably the Food Centre, with its outdoor tables and barbecues. On the right, many smaller buildings were scattered, the cabins. I could also see other smaller facilities at the far end of the plain but I didn't know what they were.
I walked toward the cabins area and started looking for my number. I found it right at the end of the area, next to the start of the forest. The cabin was built in light coloured wood and seemed welcoming enough. It would be a complete new experience for me who was only used to sleeping in Arendelle's castle. I decided that it was time for Karl to leave, I didn't really want my new roommates to meet him and start asking questions about who he was. He left without saying a word, just nodding at me ceremoniously before walking away. I sighed. Karl had been appointed as my chauffeur and bodyguard since I was 10 and no matter how hard I tried to build a friendly relation with him, he never talked unless he had to deliver some important information to me.
When he was gone, I knocked politely on the door. I could hear voices coming from inside but I couldn't understand what they were saying. One of the voice got louder and the door was suddenly open. A girl with very long blond hair stood in the door frame. She had big mesmerizing green eyes and a happy smile plastered on her face. She looked quite young with her sun-kissed hair and her little purple sundress.
"Elsa?" she asked excitedly.
Merlin had probably told them my name.
"Yes, that would be me," I answered, trying to sound as friendly as I could. The blond hair girl beamed and exited the cabin to help me carry my luggage inside.
"We're so happy to have you here! It's been ages since someone our age joined the Camp!" she said.
She followed me inside the cabin where two other girl were sitting on beds. One of them had ginger-red curly hair, a skin almost as pale as mine and many freckles. The other girl was Asian and had silky black hair that just managed to reach her chin. She looked very athletic.
"Hello! I'm Merida and this is Mulan," the redhead said in a thick Scottish accent. The Asian girl, named Mulan, smiled at me.
I introduced myself and was immediately drowned in questions.
"Where are you from?"
"How old are you?"
"Why did you come to Camp Walt?"
I answered all questions diligently and in turn learned that Merida was 18, like me, whereas Mulan and Rapunzel were both 19. Merida and Mulan were part of the Enhanced while Rapunzel was Magical and apparently had healing powers.
From that point, we started talking more casually and it felt less like an interrogation and more like a discussion between friends. I learned that both Merida and Rapunzel had been coming here since they were 10 and that Mulan first became a camper when she was 12. They told me that there were a little more than 12 campers above 18, half of them girls and half of them boys. Many of the their older friend had decided they were to old to keep coming and it would be their first summer without them. Mulan proposed to show me the Camp when I finished unpacking and that we could go straight to dinner after that. Rapunzel and Merida were on cooking duty tonight and had to leave soon to go prepare the meal.
"Isn't it hard to prepare enough food for everyone?" I asked curiously. I had never really cooked at home, according to my parents a princess' place wasn't in the kitchen.
"It's alright really, there isn't that many of us. Approximately 40 Campers from 10 to 20 years old and then there is Merlin and the four advisors," Merida said, her head tilted to the side.
"That's still 45 persons," I objected, even more worried about cooking now.
"Don't worry, we are usually 5 on cooking duty at the same time. And Merlin and the advisors help too," Mulan tried to reassure me calmly.
I nodded and asked a few more questions as I finished unpacking. Rapunzel and Merida eventually left us to go to the Food Centre.
"All done!" I said, sighing proudly as I stood straighter and stretched.
"You brought a lot of stuff, it's your own fault if it took you so long to unpack," Mulan joked, designating my three empty suitcases with her finger.
"I didn't really know what to bring, so I brought everything," I laughed.
We left the cabin, which we left unlocked. Apparently, theft wasn't a common thing here. Mulan showed me around, pointing at the main areas and buildings she thought could interest me. She suggested that I tried a few workshops during the upcoming week to see which ones were the best suited to my type of power.
"I would advise you to prioritise Jack Frost's workshops. Him and Flora are the two advisors who focus on the Magical campers, whereas Hercules and Littles Creek teach the Enhanced workshops. You're welcomed to both of course but Jack's abilities seem very similar to yours," Mulan explained.
"Really?" I asked, curious.
"He can manipulate ice and snow and he has a great control over his powers. I'm sure he could teach you a lot,"
Ice and Snow? That was exactly like me.
"I'll definitely go see him then," I agreed without thinking twice about it. It was probably my best shot at learning what to do with my magic.
"You'll see, he's very laid back and cool," Mulan told me, walking toward the Food centre.
"How so?" I asked again.
"Well actually I don't know how his workshops will be, but as a guy, he's really nice. It's his first year as an advisor, he's only 20 and last year he was still a camper," Mulan said, some nostalgy in her voice.
"How many of your friends stopped coming this year?" I inquired gently.
"6 of them, including Jack," she said keeping her eyes fixed in front of her "And including my boyfriend, Shang. Well, I guess he's my ex-boyfriend now anyway," she finished, exhaling angrily.
I didn't ask further questions, as I sensed this was a delicate subject and I didn't know Mulan well enough just yet.
We walked inside the Food Centre were I was surprised to find everyone already seated and talking. It was mostly groups of children chatting animatedly with each other and spreading a light-hearted feeling inside the huge room. Mulan led me to two big round tables that had been pushed together and were 3 girls and twice as many boys were seated.
"Mulan!" one of the guy called happily when he spotted us. He got up from his chair and pulled Mulan into a tight hug. He was huge. One of the tallest and bigger men I had ever seen, with tanned skin and black curly hair falling to his shoulder. Black ink tattoos covered his arms up to his t-shirt and probably continued on his torso since I could see some ink peeking above t-shirt's collar too. After drowning the little Asian in his bear hug, he let go of her and focused on me.
"And what do we have hear? The new girl I guess?" he asked rhetorically before hugging me too.
"I'm Maui!" he introduced himself after releasing me and wiggled his eyebrows playfully.
"Elsa," I chuckled, smiling at him.
"Thanks for keeping us seats guys," Mulan said before seating on one of the two free chairs. I followed her example and took place next to her. On my left sat a brown guy with some braids in his hair and next to him an ash blond girl with incredibly blue eyes.
"Guys this is Elsa, our new roommates," Mulan said, everyone, focusing on her and then on me. She then pointed at each of them in turn "This is Maui, Peter, Blanche, Robin, Sinbad, Sand, Tink, Gaston, Astrid and Hiccup,"
I was pretty sure I wouldn't remember all of their names, but who could blame me really?
The petite girl with her yellow hair in a bun who was seating across from me, Tink, said "We are really happy to have a new addition to the squad. Many of our friends decided they were too old for this and didn't come back this year," she explained to me, echoing Mulan's story.
"Didn't some of them want to become advisors?" I asked, carefully.
"No, Jack was the only one who did," the guy with auburn hair called Robin answered. He pointed toward a table behind me "Jack's the one with the white hair seating at the advisor's table. The Indian guy next to him is Little Creek, the enormous ginger is Hercules and the only girl is Flora. They're all old campers but Jack is the newest one,"
I looked over at the table and saw the four persons he had described seating with Merlin. The girl, the ginger giant and the man with bronze skin looked to all be around 25. The one with white hair, Jack had his back to me but as if feeling my eyes on him, turned around and looked straight at me.
There was no explaining my reaction. When our eyes locked, my heart exploded in my chest and hormones rushed inside me. His gaze sent shivers down my spine and I tensed. He ignited my whole treacherous body with just one look. We starred at each other for a long time, oblivious to what was happening around us and we both only turned back when the food was served.
I was shocked. His facial features didn't look anything like mine but other than that we looked identical. His hair was whiter than mine, something I thought impossible until today, his eyes were a hypnotic ice-blue colour, not so different from my aquamarine ones and his skin was as pale as mine as if we had both been sun-deprived our whole life. And then add the fact that he had ice and snow powers just like me. There were too many elements for this to simply be a coincidence.
All of a sudden, deciding to come to Camp Walt didn't seem to be a bad idea at all.
