I'm so sorry about not updating yesterday! As you might have noticed, I try to update once per weekday (except when I have no internet access). But yesterday I was completely exhausted after running a marathon. I hope you all will forgive me? :)
Aside from the author slacking, thanks for the sweet reviews, follows, and favorites! This chapter is the request of Miss Emeralds, where the Horsemen go camping. As you may recall, I went camping a little while ago. I won't spoil anything about this chapter, but I did experience what Merritt and Henley experienced near the end of this chapter during the night.
Disclaimer: Just like how I don't own Hansel and Grettle, I also don't own Now You See Me
Camping
The Horsemen were currently all in the truck on their way to a campsite. Merritt was driving, Henley sat in the front, and Daniel and Jack were crammed in the back. They left early morning and now just pulled up to the campsite.
It was decided last minute, but they agreed that they should do something fun outdoors. Since a day at the beach was definitely not an option due to swimwear problems, Henley suggested that they all go camping.
With the approval of Dylan, the magicians packed their bags and left. The campsite that Dylan arranged was secluded, but still near by their house.
Merritt parked the car and the Horsemen got out. They removed all the gear and supplies from the back.
Jack grinned, "Ah… the great outdoors. I used to camp with my grandpa every weekend. "
"I use to go camping as well," Daniel offered.
The other Horsemen looked at him skeptically.
"What? Don't give me that look. My parents were busy with their jobs, but they made an effort to take us camping," Daniel exclaimed. Well, actually, his parents weren't very wealthy and they could only afford camping in the front yard. And even then, Daniel was only in charge of roasting the marshmallows with Grace. But still, Daniel wanted to take this opportunity to say he knew how to do something.
And it technically wasn't lying since he did actually go camping on real grass under real trees, Daniel confirmed to himself.
"I've never gone camping before. What's the first thing we should do then, troop leader?" Henley teased.
"Well, according to my experiences, pitching the tent is always a good place to start," Merritt suggested.
The Horsemen found a spot off on the side of the campsite and decided to set up their tents there. Their spot was just off the side of the lake and in the shade from the tall trees.
"Okay, we have two tents. So Henley can have one tent and I guess we are all sharing the other," Daniel stated authoritatively.
Jack and Merritt grumbled but didn't protest.
"How do I go about setting up a tent?" Henley asked. She had taken out all the parts to her blue tent and was staring at the diagram on the instructions.
"Why don't Daniel and Merritt work on this tent and Henley, I'll help you on yours," Jack suggested. He walked over to Henley's tent and started putting it up.
"Geez, can you believe Jack sometimes? Who decided that he was the boss?" Daniel complained as he placed the groundsheet down.
Merritt just shook his head. He sometimes wondered how Daniel made it this far in life. Merritt zipped the closed doors and windows. He began to assemble the poles and slip them through the sleeves of the tent. "Okay," Merritt stated, "there's a few more supplies in the truck. I'm going to bring them over, and you finish securing the last pole."
Daniel actually managed to set up the tent pretty well. He managed to have the tent almost completely set up and was securing the last pole.
Unfortunately, a huge gust of wind blew and took the tent.
Daniel tried to catch the tent. He gripped the pole and for a moment brought the tent back down. But the wind still swept the tent up and Daniel began to run around screaming.
Henley and Jack looked up in surprise to see a kite. But as they focused in, they realized it wasn't a kite but a tent. Their eyes followed the string to find that Daniel was apparently flying his tent like a kite on the stretched pole shock cord.
Henley began to laugh, "Daniel, we have a kite with us. You didn't have to use your tent."
"Very funny Henley," Daniel yelled back sarcastically. He continued to hold onto the pole and try and reel the tent back, but didn't succeed.
Henley and Jack had just finished setting up Henley's tent. They went over to try and help Daniel.
The wind picked up and a very strong gust knocked the pole out of Daniel's hands.
Daniel watched in horror as the tent drifted far away.
Merritt came back to the campsite and frowned, "Hey – where's our tent?"
Daniel pointed at the flying tent in the air.
Merritt groaned, "Aw… Daniel! Really? Let me guess, you wrestled against the wind, but alas, you have the arm strength of a daffodil and couldn't hold onto our precious tent?"
"It's alright. We can just all share this tent," Henley suggested. She really wanted to enjoy her first time camping, and she wasn't about to let a runaway tent ruin her trip.
The other Horsemen nodded in agreement. They unpacked the rest of their supplies and set up their sleeping bags.
"What should we do now that we have everything set up?" Henley asked.
"I guess we could spend the afternoon fishing," Jack replied.
And with that, the Horsemen got their fishing rods, rented a small boat, and set out to go fishing. Merritt rowed the boat to the center of the lake and Daniel passed out a fishing rod to each person.
"I can show you all how to do it," Daniel said proudly. "I don't mean to brag, but I once caught a 40 pound yellow fin tuna." He really wanted to redeem himself after the runaway tent problem.
Merritt rolled his eyes, "Okay big shot. We get it. Teach us."
"Attach the bate like this," Daniel demonstrated as he spoke, "then cast our line out and wait."
The other Horsemen followed Daniel's example. Then, they sat there idly.
"So…" Henley began, trying to strike up a conversation as they waited. "We've been together for quite some time now, yet I don't know how you guys decided to pursue a magic career. Why a magician?"
Jack played with the handle of his fishing rod. "Well, when I ran away from home, I worked at a gas station. My second job was just doing magic tricks and pick-pocketing, similar to what I did when I met you all," Jack informed.
"My story isn't that unique. Um… I learned easy magic tricks just off the internet because my sister loved them," Daniel explained. "And eventually, I decided to pursue magic as a career once my ideas for tricks started to go above and beyond the simple Internet illusions."
"I became a mentalist when I met a mentalist. I was so fascinated that he could predict my whole life without even knowing what he was. He decided to take me in as an apprentice and that's how I honed my skills," Merritt shrugged.
"What about you, Henley?" Jack asked, curiously.
"Oh… being an escape artist was just... a hobby…" Henley trailed off awkwardly.
Daniel could tell she didn't want to talk about it. She had never told him about it either. But Daniel figured she would when she wanted to. "It's alright Henley no need to tell us – HEY! I caught something!" Daniel began to reel in his fishing line.
The fish pulled, but Daniel pulled back. Eventually, Daniel flung the fish onto the boat. It was a modest sized Salmon, but their first catch as a team. Everyone cheered and Daniel smiled smugly.
The fish flopped for a while, and slowly stopped moving.
Henley brought her face really close to the fish. "Is it dead?" Henley questioned and she began to poke the slimy fish with her fishing pole.
Suddenly, the fish started moving and flopping around on the boat.
Henley shrieked and started jumping, "Ew! Ew! It's still alive!"
"Calm down Henley, you have to grab it by the tail –" Jack tried to explain.
"Ew! Get it off the boat! Get it away from me!" Henley yelled as she used her fishing rod to brush the fish off the boat. Eventually, she flung the fish off the boat back into the ocean.
"Wow Henley, way to send the fish back," Daniel said dryly.
"Shut up, Danny," Henley muttered. Her cheeks were slightly red from embarrassment. Henley had swam in the same tank as piranhas, yet she couldn't stand slimly fish out of water. She didn't really eat seafood either.
The Horsemen stayed out in the water for a while in hopes of catching another fish. But, their luck had run out and two hours later, they returned to shore.
By now, it was nighttime. The Horsemen gathered around the campsite and ate sandwiches they had prepared earlier. After dinner Henley brought out some graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate.
"Smores!" Jack cheered. He stuck marshmallows on a skewer and held them above the fire.
"Say, don't people usually tell ghost stories around a campfire?" Henley asked. She placed a marshmallow and chocolate chunk between two graham crackers and bit down happily.
Merritt nodded. "Sure. Anyone know a good story?" Merritt asked.
"I have one," Daniel replied. "A long time ago a family went camping in this very campsite. They were taking a midnight hike to look at the stars. However, they got lost and couldn't find their way back. They were really hungry, and the wife said to the husband, 'I really want some peanut butter jelly sandwiches.' The family died from starvation, but people say that you can still hear the family moan 'pppppeeeeeeeaaaaaannnnnuuuuuutttttttbbbbbuuuuuutt tttteeeeeerrrrrrrssssssaaaaaaaaannnnnnddddddddwwww wwwiiiiiiicccccchhhhhhhheeeeeessssssss..' all throughout the night."
The three Horsemen stared incredulously at Daniel and Daniel's story.
Merritt laughed, "Really Daniel? That's your horror ghost story?"
"Peanut butter sandwiches?" Jack asked skeptically.
"Merritt!" Henley scolded. She turned back to Daniel. "Don't worry Daniel, your story was… interesting," Henley finished lamely.
Daniel frowned. "You all clearly don't appreciate my story," Daniel replied angrily, "So I'm going to find someone who does!" And with that, Daniel stormed off and left the other Horsemen.
"Should we go after him?" Henley asked.
"No, he won't go far. He'll probably just cool his head and come back," Merritt assured.
But many hours passed and Daniel hadn't come back. The other Horsemen finished their smores and there was still no sign of Daniel.
"What should we do? Daniel's still not back," Henley said in a panicked voice. She lied on her sleeping bag and turned to her teammates in concern.
"Hm… we can't search for him in this hour. It's too dark, even with flashlights. We'd probably just get lost ourselves," Jack reasoned. He rubbed Henley's back soothingly.
"Our best bet is to search for him first thing in the morning," Merritt concluded. "For now, we should just get some rest." Merritt slipped inside his sleeping bag to get some sleep.
"Alright," Henley said dejectedly.
"I'm going to the bathroom," Jack grumbled. He slipped out of the tent and slugged over to the out house nearby.
Suddenly, a slow but loud and clear moan sounded.
Henley perked up when she heard the moaning. She elbowed Merritt. "Do you hear a moan?" Henley asked.
Merritt stayed silent and listened. He heard the moaning as well. "Maybe a moose somewhere is getting it on," Merritt mumbled. He slowly started to drift back to sleep.
Henley rolled her eyes at Merritt's comment. "What if it's the moaning ghosts from Daniel's story," Henley asked.
"Then you should tell them to pester someone else for peanut butter jelly sandwiches," Merritt muttered tiredly.
"This is serious Merritt! What if it's Daniel? Stuck somewhere… injured… needing help…" Henley worried.
"Relax Henley, there's no point trying to find Daniel when it's pitch black outside. We agreed to look for him first thing in the morning," Merritt reasoned.
"You're right," Henley sighed. She tried to fall back asleep, but the moaning continued.
Merritt also had a difficult time sleeping through the moans. He would toss and turn, but be unable to fall asleep.
It took Merritt and Henley a long time to realize what it was because they were all half awake. The moans continued steadily, reached their peak, and slowly died down.
And the whole time Merritt and Henley were laughing very hard when they realized what the moaning was.
Eventually Jack came back to the tent. "Did you hear that? I was trapped in the bathroom. I dare to leave," Jack shuddered.
"Good call," Merritt agreed. He could imagine Jack with his pants at his knees, sitting on the toilet and just waiting it out while a couple somewhere nearby was having sex.
After a few more minutes of laughing, the Horsemen, minus Daniel, finally fell asleep. The next morning, they woke up right away and quickly continued their search for Daniel.
Jack, Merritt, and Henley searched and searched all over the camping grounds, but couldn't find their annoying teammate.
"Where could he have possibly gone?" Jack exclaimed, frustrated.
"I don't know, but we have to keep looking," Henley said firmly.
"I'm hungry. Peanut butter sandwich..." Merritt complained.
Jack and Henley glared at him.
"Right, sorry. We're being serious here," Merritt mumbled.
The three continued to walk and walk.
Eventually, Jack spotted a house in the middle of the woods. "Maybe we could ask the owners of this house if they have seen Daniel?" Jack suggested.
"Why is there a house in the middle of nowhere?" Henley wondered aloud.
"Oh no. This is like Hansel and Gretel," Merritt stated. "We're going to go inside then next thing you know, we're being made into soup by a witch." Merritt turned around to leave.
Henley grabbed Merritt by the arm. "Come on, be serious Merritt." Henley pleaded. "Do it for Danny."
"Fine," Merritt caved.
They approached the house cautiously and knocked on the door.
"Coming," came a cheery female voice. There was the shifting of pots and pans inside the house.
"Hi," greeted an older lady. She looked about mid-seventies and was holding a tray of cookies.
"Hello m'am. We're sorry to bother you but we're looking for our friend and we were wondering if you possibly have seen him?" Jack explained politely.
"Hm… is your friend a boy with a sleepy bed head, slight beard, and about this tall?" the lady asked and held up her hand to indicate height.
"Yes!" Henley stated quickly. "Have you seen him?"
"Seen him? Goodness," the woman laughed. "He's right here." She moved aside and revealed Daniel sitting at the woman's kitchen table surrounded by desserts.
Daniel looked up when he noticed people at the door. He turned red when he found out it was his teammates. "Hey guys…" Daniel muttered sheepishly, crumbs coming out of his mouth. He was holding a half eaten cherry pie slice.
"Daniel!" Henley screeched. "We were worried sick and you have been here stuffing yourself with pastries?" She exclaimed in disbelief.
"Geez Daniel… gained some weight?" Jack teased and pointed at Daniel's stomach.
"Um…" Daniel paused awkwardly. "I guess I should explain. After I left you guys, I wandered a bit. I think I was lost. But then I found this house and I asked to stay the night."
Henley turned to the old woman, "We're very sorry about the trouble our friend has caused."
The woman grinned a little, "No worries. Honestly. He's been a great guest and I'm hoping he'll stay a while."
Merritt backed away slowly from the house, "Oh no. She's plumping you up. Daniel, you fool! She's going to eat you!" Merritt turned and ran back to the campsite.
"Goodness, your friend has a wide imagination," the woman laughed. She placed her cookies onto a plate and put the tray back into the oven. "Don't tell him the story about the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or he might never come back."
"Yes, sorry about that," Henley said. "He's been on the edge." She didn't want to be rude to the stranger.
"Oh it's quite alright dear. Say, would you like some cake as well? I have plenty. I'm a… chef," the lady replied.
Jack jumped into a chair right away. "Sure!" he cheered.
Henley sat down cautiously, "Hm… I suppose." She felt that something was a bit off. After all, Merritt was a mentalist. He would be a good judge of character and if he ran out of there, then something might really be wrong.
"Good, good. I'll go make some tea," the lady replied. She went over to her kitchen. As the lady put her teapot on the stove, she glanced out the window and saw Merritt still running.
"Stupid boy," the lady muttered. "I suppose I'll just have to make sure that one of them lasts to dinner. Maybe the boy. He looks like he has some delicious muscle in him."
"What was that?" Henley asked from the kitchen table.
"Oh nothing," the lady replied quickly. She turned away so that the Horsemen wouldn't see her evil smile.
