After spending two nights in a cabin, we had packed up our stuff again and trudged down through the woods to the dining hall, where we were going to spend our last night in camp. We re-packed our bags, taking only what we needed for a week in hot weather, and stored the rest in the basement.
"Come on girls, lights are going out," called Shara, the youngest of the counselors. She was black and had a beautiful smile and great sense of humor. She also had a belly-button ring, which fascinated several of us.
Unfortunately for Shara tonight, we had found both a bowl of sugar and a bottle of honey, and for some strange reason were no longer tired. Or maybe we were over-tired - it was hard to tell the difference. But in either case, we were definitely over-sugared.
I heard a startled "eeeep!" from one of the girls a few yards away as someone else started tickling her. Tall, muscular, blonde hair...what was her name again? I couldn't remember - I'd always had a terrible memory for names.
"That's Candy," Amy hissed in my ear, seeing my puzzled expression.
"Oh. Thanks," I said.
"Well, actually," she continued, "It's really Casey, but it's like Rita and Pam..."
"Right." She was referring to one of those name-games that all camps make you play when you arrive. You know the kind - basically they're a chance to show off how bad you really are with names, while tossing a ball around or something like that. This particular game had involved coming up with foods that started with the same letter as our names. For some people though, the foods had stuck and the names hadn't. So instead of Casey, Rita, and Pam, we had Candy, Ravioli, and Peaches...
My thoughts were interrupted by a sudden yell of, "Incoming!" I ducked to the floor just as a chocolate cookie flew over my head, hitting the wall behind me and shattering on impact. Amy and I looked at each other, and wordlessly agreed that it was time to get out of the way. Maybe bed wasn't such a bad idea after all.
* * *
"Kat." I rolled over and tried to stay asleep. Yeah right. We all know how well that works. "Hey Kat."
"Uh."
"Get up."
"Uh?"
"Up. Out of bed."
"Nuh uh."
Whoever was talking to me picked up my alarm clock, which I only now noticed was beeping, and held it in front of my face.
"Turn this off."
I poked it, and it shut up.
"Thanks. Now get up."
"Nnn..."
I was forced out of sleep when something heavy landed on me. I looked up to see Alex sitting on me.
"Come on Kat! Time to go!"
I looked around.
"What the - it's still dark outside."
"It usually is at 3am."
3am? Oh. My brain slowly started itself. I'm going to Florida today...
"Right." I tried to roll over and couldn't. "Geroff," I mumbled. "I'm up already."
She hopped off, and I got up a little more slowly, then just stood there. My brain seemed to have shut off again. I looked around, hoping for a clue...sleeping bag - dining hall - backpack - traveling bag. Hm. Um...
*Must brush teeth* something told me. Ok, fine.
A few minutes I was reasonably awake, although not necessarily happy about it. I stuffed my book and a bagel into my backback, my sleeping bag into my check-bag, and followed everyone else as they crammed their stuff into two passenger vans.
An hour later, the driver and I were the only ones awake as the sun rose over the distant city. I had my headphones on, and something raucous in my CD player, hence my remarkably alert expression. Alert being, in this case, sitting up straight with eyes mostly open.
Actually, I can't give the music all the credit - I was sitting up straight because lying down when you've got a sword strapped to your side isn't very comfortable. Nobody but my friends and I knew it was there, of course. Duncan had proved himself very helpful in that respect...
* * *
"Now, you're taking that with you, right?" he asked me when I told him I was going.
"I can't," I said reluctantly. "I'm going on an airplane."
Duncan grinned.
"You have no imagination," he informed me, bending over to pick something up from the ground. He held it in his hand for several moments, just staring at it. I was about to ask him what he meant when he held out his hand. "Here."
I held out my own hand, and he dropped a small pebble into it.
"What -" I started, and then my hand promptly disappeared. "Ack!" I yanked my arm back, dropping the pebble, as Duncan laughed.
"It's an invisibility amulet," he told me, picking it up again.
"Really," I retorted. "I never would've guessed. Thanks for warning me, man."
He shrugged, leaned over, and dropped it into my scabbard. There was a *whoosh, plink* noise as it slid down and hit the bottom. I watched in amazement as the tip of my scabbard disappeared, and the spell slowly made its way all the way to the top like water soaking into a sponge. Finally all of it was gone, and there the spell stopped. Frowning, I slid the blade that was still in my hand into the scabbard, and it too disappeared as it went, until the even the hilt couldn't be seen.
"Wow," I said. "Cool..." Then I thought of something else. "This will go through airport security and everything?"
Duncan nodded.
"There's a de-materializer in there too," he said.
"Was that supposed to be an explanation?"
He smiled.
"You'll learn about that stuff eventually," he told me. "For now, just trust me. Your magical training hasn't even started yet..."
* * *
I shook my head to clear it as the beginning of the next song startled me out of my thoughts. I knew where we were...
Half an hour, I thought dazedly. Almost there.
But that was just to the airport. Then we still had to get where we were going.
* * *
"No way, my luggage is heavy enough!" I told Monica indignantly a little while later. "I'm not carrying yours too!"
"Beth, please?" she pleaded. I'd forgotten whose brilliant idea it was to call me by my middle name, or at least a nickname for my middle name, but in any case I didn't like it.
"It's Kat," I corrected her automatically. I'd been doing so almost constantly since we arrived at camp. "And no."
Monica was a handful of inches shorter than I was, and a good hundred-and-fifty pounds heavier. She had also ignored the camp's two-bag traveling limit and was struggling towards the airport check-in counter with four. I was determined not to make that, or her, my problem.
A group of 23 people standing in no particular order in a check-in line, with all their bags, takes up quite a bit of space. A surprising amount, really, and the people who walk by don't always see the exact boundaries of the group. As a result, every few minutes we squeezed in tighter as another passerby tripped over whoever's luggage was outermost. Eventually, I was standing with my bag on my feet and several other people's bags squished around me. I was staring at the ceiling when I learned that Little Miss Monica didn't even know her own boundaries, forget those of a group. She forced herself past me to talk to someone, and I tried to step back out of her way, forgetting the bag on the ground behind me. My twenty-something pound backpack didn't help matters as I overbalanced and fell flat on my back over Candy's luggage.
"Whoa, are you ok?" she asked, startled.
"Fine," I answered with a sigh. "But could you give me a hand?" The backpack created that beetle-on-its-back effect so I couldn't get up on my own.
"No prob."
I had to twist sideways to get off her bag as she helped me up, and I'd all but forgotten about the invisible sword at my hip. Speaking of not knowing where your parts are...
"Ouch!" she said suddenly, picking up one foot. "What was that?"
A confused look came over her face as she peered around her feet, trying to figure out what had bitten her. I winced inwardly.
"No idea," I lied, trying to look puzzled while mentally berating myself for being careless. Candy shrugged.
"Oh well, whatever."
Brilliant, I thought as she helped me to my feet. This trip is going to be great, just great...
"Come on girls, lights are going out," called Shara, the youngest of the counselors. She was black and had a beautiful smile and great sense of humor. She also had a belly-button ring, which fascinated several of us.
Unfortunately for Shara tonight, we had found both a bowl of sugar and a bottle of honey, and for some strange reason were no longer tired. Or maybe we were over-tired - it was hard to tell the difference. But in either case, we were definitely over-sugared.
I heard a startled "eeeep!" from one of the girls a few yards away as someone else started tickling her. Tall, muscular, blonde hair...what was her name again? I couldn't remember - I'd always had a terrible memory for names.
"That's Candy," Amy hissed in my ear, seeing my puzzled expression.
"Oh. Thanks," I said.
"Well, actually," she continued, "It's really Casey, but it's like Rita and Pam..."
"Right." She was referring to one of those name-games that all camps make you play when you arrive. You know the kind - basically they're a chance to show off how bad you really are with names, while tossing a ball around or something like that. This particular game had involved coming up with foods that started with the same letter as our names. For some people though, the foods had stuck and the names hadn't. So instead of Casey, Rita, and Pam, we had Candy, Ravioli, and Peaches...
My thoughts were interrupted by a sudden yell of, "Incoming!" I ducked to the floor just as a chocolate cookie flew over my head, hitting the wall behind me and shattering on impact. Amy and I looked at each other, and wordlessly agreed that it was time to get out of the way. Maybe bed wasn't such a bad idea after all.
* * *
"Kat." I rolled over and tried to stay asleep. Yeah right. We all know how well that works. "Hey Kat."
"Uh."
"Get up."
"Uh?"
"Up. Out of bed."
"Nuh uh."
Whoever was talking to me picked up my alarm clock, which I only now noticed was beeping, and held it in front of my face.
"Turn this off."
I poked it, and it shut up.
"Thanks. Now get up."
"Nnn..."
I was forced out of sleep when something heavy landed on me. I looked up to see Alex sitting on me.
"Come on Kat! Time to go!"
I looked around.
"What the - it's still dark outside."
"It usually is at 3am."
3am? Oh. My brain slowly started itself. I'm going to Florida today...
"Right." I tried to roll over and couldn't. "Geroff," I mumbled. "I'm up already."
She hopped off, and I got up a little more slowly, then just stood there. My brain seemed to have shut off again. I looked around, hoping for a clue...sleeping bag - dining hall - backpack - traveling bag. Hm. Um...
*Must brush teeth* something told me. Ok, fine.
A few minutes I was reasonably awake, although not necessarily happy about it. I stuffed my book and a bagel into my backback, my sleeping bag into my check-bag, and followed everyone else as they crammed their stuff into two passenger vans.
An hour later, the driver and I were the only ones awake as the sun rose over the distant city. I had my headphones on, and something raucous in my CD player, hence my remarkably alert expression. Alert being, in this case, sitting up straight with eyes mostly open.
Actually, I can't give the music all the credit - I was sitting up straight because lying down when you've got a sword strapped to your side isn't very comfortable. Nobody but my friends and I knew it was there, of course. Duncan had proved himself very helpful in that respect...
* * *
"Now, you're taking that with you, right?" he asked me when I told him I was going.
"I can't," I said reluctantly. "I'm going on an airplane."
Duncan grinned.
"You have no imagination," he informed me, bending over to pick something up from the ground. He held it in his hand for several moments, just staring at it. I was about to ask him what he meant when he held out his hand. "Here."
I held out my own hand, and he dropped a small pebble into it.
"What -" I started, and then my hand promptly disappeared. "Ack!" I yanked my arm back, dropping the pebble, as Duncan laughed.
"It's an invisibility amulet," he told me, picking it up again.
"Really," I retorted. "I never would've guessed. Thanks for warning me, man."
He shrugged, leaned over, and dropped it into my scabbard. There was a *whoosh, plink* noise as it slid down and hit the bottom. I watched in amazement as the tip of my scabbard disappeared, and the spell slowly made its way all the way to the top like water soaking into a sponge. Finally all of it was gone, and there the spell stopped. Frowning, I slid the blade that was still in my hand into the scabbard, and it too disappeared as it went, until the even the hilt couldn't be seen.
"Wow," I said. "Cool..." Then I thought of something else. "This will go through airport security and everything?"
Duncan nodded.
"There's a de-materializer in there too," he said.
"Was that supposed to be an explanation?"
He smiled.
"You'll learn about that stuff eventually," he told me. "For now, just trust me. Your magical training hasn't even started yet..."
* * *
I shook my head to clear it as the beginning of the next song startled me out of my thoughts. I knew where we were...
Half an hour, I thought dazedly. Almost there.
But that was just to the airport. Then we still had to get where we were going.
* * *
"No way, my luggage is heavy enough!" I told Monica indignantly a little while later. "I'm not carrying yours too!"
"Beth, please?" she pleaded. I'd forgotten whose brilliant idea it was to call me by my middle name, or at least a nickname for my middle name, but in any case I didn't like it.
"It's Kat," I corrected her automatically. I'd been doing so almost constantly since we arrived at camp. "And no."
Monica was a handful of inches shorter than I was, and a good hundred-and-fifty pounds heavier. She had also ignored the camp's two-bag traveling limit and was struggling towards the airport check-in counter with four. I was determined not to make that, or her, my problem.
A group of 23 people standing in no particular order in a check-in line, with all their bags, takes up quite a bit of space. A surprising amount, really, and the people who walk by don't always see the exact boundaries of the group. As a result, every few minutes we squeezed in tighter as another passerby tripped over whoever's luggage was outermost. Eventually, I was standing with my bag on my feet and several other people's bags squished around me. I was staring at the ceiling when I learned that Little Miss Monica didn't even know her own boundaries, forget those of a group. She forced herself past me to talk to someone, and I tried to step back out of her way, forgetting the bag on the ground behind me. My twenty-something pound backpack didn't help matters as I overbalanced and fell flat on my back over Candy's luggage.
"Whoa, are you ok?" she asked, startled.
"Fine," I answered with a sigh. "But could you give me a hand?" The backpack created that beetle-on-its-back effect so I couldn't get up on my own.
"No prob."
I had to twist sideways to get off her bag as she helped me up, and I'd all but forgotten about the invisible sword at my hip. Speaking of not knowing where your parts are...
"Ouch!" she said suddenly, picking up one foot. "What was that?"
A confused look came over her face as she peered around her feet, trying to figure out what had bitten her. I winced inwardly.
"No idea," I lied, trying to look puzzled while mentally berating myself for being careless. Candy shrugged.
"Oh well, whatever."
Brilliant, I thought as she helped me to my feet. This trip is going to be great, just great...