Chapter 21: Camp of Hard Knocks
"Well, girls, you did a good job. I hope we can keep working well together. Soon, we'll arrive back and the two of you can get more rest."
Unfortunately, none of them was really listening to Luna as they were so sleepy. Luna used her powers to revert their military uniforms back into their pajamas. Then a ding came from Vanessa's phone which made the girls more alert.
The app notification said "Destination has been reached. Return home?"
Vanessa clicked "Yes", and they got sucked into the phone!
Soon, the phone reemerged in midair, floated down to Vanessa's bed, and spat the girls out. Vanessa and Angel were already sitting upright on the bed. They looked at each other in shock then bumped their heads on the upper bunk.
"OW!"
Miranda got woken up by the noise and exclaimed "WHAT THE F*CK?!"
Agnes was awakened by the commotion and proceeded to put her glasses on.
"What's the matter Miranda?" she asked in a tired tone.
"What…There's no earthquake?" Miranda looked around at her surroundings.
Agnes looked at Vanessa and Angel then frowned. "What are you guys doing up this late?"
Vanessa spoke up "Um…Sorry, I, I mean we had trouble sleeping and I showed Angel a funny video. That's why we bumped our heads on the bottom of Miranda's bed. Sorry about that. ~"
Angel was surprised at how quickly Vanessa came up with the lie.
Agnes said "You guys should try to get some sleep. Tomorrow's a big day."
Afterwards, Angel scurried back to her bed and everyone went back to sleep.
That night, Vanessa had a strange dream. In the dream, she was a little girl again and was walking behind Annie, imitating her words. It looked like her cousin was reciting a spell repeatedly. The dream felt so real and she had a feeling that it happened a long time ago. Vanessa wanted to text Annie about the dream, but Agnes was like a drill sergeant, rushing everybody to get ready and headed to the dining hall that she forgot about it.
While everyone was having breakfast, older camp members were passing out agenda papers. It really was like being in school again because the papers had classes listed on them.
Vanessa couldn't help looking at the paper as she was eating. The first item on the agenda was the power screening the lady at the administrative table told her about.
"So, is the power screening like a test to determine what our powers are?"
Agnes answered "Yes, but also to determine what level your powers are in a more detailed report once the screening is over."
"Do they like, scan you through an X-ray machine?"
"Sorry, it's a surprise."
When it was time for the power screening, Vanessa and her roommates were all separated into lines that headed to different rooms. This was like registering into the camp all over again except the people who came out of the room either looked angry or frightened out of their wits. One person in particular, an Asian boy around Vanessa's age with a silver undercut fade that was black at the roots was shaking.
She could hear the people in line asking him about his condition.
"Yeah, I'm fine…" It was summer, but one could clearly see his breath in the air, containing bits of ice. Did that mean he had ice powers?
Then they asked him about the power screening.
"That sh*t was tough man, that ain't no f*cking test, that was f*cking survival. I'm just lucky to make it out alive. I guess this is the catch for coming to a rich school's camp for free. Good luck to y'all." The boy patted an Asian boy with glasses on the back and his ice breath gave him the chills.
The people who asked the silver-haired Asian boy and Vanessa who was close enough to hear the conversation all got more anxious than ever.
So, that was why everybody who came out of the power screening room had those expressions! The power screening was a survival test! Was this even legal? Sure, poor Harry Potter had to use magic in the face of danger but to be lucky to make it out alive?
"Darn it Agnes, this is not the kind of thing you keep surprises about!" thought Vanessa.
She started to pray to Buddha and the silver-haired Asian boy who was on his way stopped to laugh at her. It was loud, so she could hear him. Maybe to a guy who just had an encounter with the face of death, it was funny, but it irritated her, and she tried to ignore him.
Unbeknownst to her, the Asian boy was now covering his mouth and shaking from laughter. It could've been easily mistaken as shaking from pain. The volunteer who was assigned to take people who got shocked from the power screening took the boy away to see the nurse.
Towards the end of her prayer, someone gave her a smack on the shoulder!
"Hey! Why would you do that?!"
Queenie asked, "What are you doing?"
"Well, there was this guy who took the power screening and he said it was like a survival test and that he was lucky to be alive."
"The Asian boy with the silver hair just now? He just got really spooked. It's not a survival test…Maybe?"
"Well, that doesn't help Queenie." Vanessa went back to praying.
"Don't worry, it's like a simulation at best and there will be people to take you to the nurse."
"I'd prefer not to go to the nurse…"
Queenie wished her luck and quickly left afterwards. After a few more people entered and exited, it was finally her turn…
One question immediately entered her mind: Why was the room so dark? When it was this dark, anything could pop out at her and she would be caught off guard, game over.
Suddenly, there was a flash of light. It kept disappearing and reappearing. But the thing was, the light seemed to be getting closer each time. Then a dark silhouette appeared!
"Ahhh!" She put her hands up as if to keep the figure away and she sent the mysterious figure flying across the room…
