Episode 6: Obligatory Camping Trip Part I; Or, Suggestion of Convergent Evolution
It was approximately one week and two days before Narma was set to begin her internship, and she was off to camp.
The bus chugged down the road where it had picked them up from the city center. It was a charter bus but could have passed for one of the old reliables that roosted at their own school. The finishing on the seats was pealing up in chiaroscuro patterns, gum having to be carefully avoided by the position of their legs. She had dared to lay her head against the window and had promptly received a class-three concussion.
She did not enjoy long bus rides.
Rory, on the other hand, was practically ecstatic. She beamed at Narma from the other side of the seat. "Ooh, do you think we're going to make smores? Oh, I would love a smore."
"It's an athletics camp," Narma said flatly, but couldn't keep the wry smile off her face. Her cheek swished against her palm. "I kind of doubt."
Mallory, face painted pale blue by the light of her cellphone, continued to tap away as she spoke. "The schedule explicitly mentions three campfire jamborees over the span of the week," she responded robotically. "I wouldn't say it's out of the question."
Narma sat up, peering across at her teammate.
Mallory Dunbar [MD] opened group chat at 1:46 AM
[MD]: Pack your bags, Ladies. We're going to camp.
Narma Anand [NA] joined the group chat.
[NA]: Nope.
[MD]: "Nope"?
[NA]: I've got my internship.
Rory West [RW] joined the group chat.
[RW]: How r u guys coherent I just woke up
[MD]: I checked for that. Camp runs through the next week, and the Seattle Institute of Design's internship program begins the first week of June. You're not exempt.
[RW]: Whoa, wait, we're going to camp?
[RW]: !
Carmen Rodriguez [CR] joined the group chat.
[CR]: Okay, am I the only person who's going to question this?
[MD]: Your lack of faith wounds me, Carmen. Wounds me to the core.
[CR]: No, I mean, *why* are we going to camp?
[MD]: Oh. Fair.
[MD]: I've tracked down some possible suspects who seem like they could be involved with the creatures. They're going to be present at the camp this week.
[RW]: ! No way!
[MD]: I think it would behoove us to keep an eye on them.
…Mallory went on to tell them that the bus was leaving for camp that day at noon, and that she had managed to hack their way onto the list for the teen-to-adult group. She then sent an email to the camp administrator, complaining that she was just now seeing her name on the list, and even though she got the approval email it wasn't letting her make the payment. Some class-A bullshit, Narma had to admit.
Apparently, the woman bought it because she took the payment info, Mallory's house card coming in handy once again. After that, with the motivation that Mallory might have some kind of inside info as to what was going on, it was then up to them to convince their parents to let them go on a trip within a day's notice.
Narma had played up the "I'm going to be working all summer; this is my one chance to get out"-card super hard.
Miraculously, here they were.
Carmen continued to neurotically tap at the window seal. On the little Narma could see of the girl's own phone screen, there seemed to be a video playing of what Narma recognized to be Bob Ross. Carmen's doe eyes winced when she noticed her watching, and she jerked the headphones from her ears. "Sorry," she sighed, tossing them down into her lap. "This is really rude, isn't it? I'm not trying to block you guys out."
Rory's expression softened, and she lowered her voice. "Hey, the city'll be okay for a few days without us," she said. "We can't just not go anywhere 'cause something might come up. That ain't fair."
Narma raised a finger. "And Celene's keeping watch over the box."
"Oh, yes, my mistake," Carmen smiled weakly, rolling her eyes.
"Celene does know more about this than any of us," Mallory offered, "so that's actually not such a mild statement."
Rory pointed to her, pouting her lip out. "She is right, though,"
Narma's gaze wandered, stopping when she saw the back of the bus. "Why's the bus so empty?"
Mallory remained glued to her screen. "The staff is going to be riding back with the campers. They came up a couple days early to get things ready, according to the administrator."
She seemed awfully relaxed, for someone was supposed to be on a mission. For Mallory, especially, on a mission. Narma narrowed her eyes. "How did you say you found out about this inside person again?"
Mallory's gaze moved, landing on her from over her sunglasses. "They've been present at several of the attacks. It's worth looking into."
She didn't totally believe her, because as shockingly competent as Mallory had proven herself to be at investigation, her judgement and impulse control were dubious at best. Narma flopped back in her seat. Loudly, she announced, "I think Mallory just wants to go to camp."
Rory grinned, and Carmen snickered into her fist. Rory gave a light punch to Mallory's arm. "You just wanted to go to camp," she teased, aww in her voice. "Don't worry, we'll have mad smores.'
The camp was just as one would have imagined it. They rolled up over the final hill to reveal rows of cabins, with a larger building far-right and a smaller paddock out of the way that Mallory was mildly horrified to guess was the showers. Otherwise, there was a fire site in the middle of the space and, leading to their far left, a small lake. She was also not feeling super great about being back on the water, even though they had kicked that the Urchin's ass (she was taking it upon herself to name this one, because that thing was a cryptid, and no one could tell her otherwise.) Still, sacrifices had to be made in the name of the Truth.
And she was going to figure out what the heck was going on if it killed her.
Needless to say, her teammates weren't thrilled.
When they departed the bus and she spotted her target almost immediately, she heard a groan from behind her. Rory made an agonized noise, yelling, "Oh, you have GOT to be KIDDING me!"
"Okay," she amended, for their benefit, "It may only be one person."
Gwen spotted her at the commotion, and infuriatingly only looked mildly surprised. She said nothing, continuing to direct the bus loads to one side or the other by camp-group, based on their differing ages. She was wearing a tight-fitting tank with red piping, the logo on which had to have been the camp's. She wore that green army jacket over top she'd been wearing when they first met. Her braid was tied higher than it had been before. She looked utterly suspicious.
From behind her, Narma spoke up and she turned back to them. "Okay, am I out of the loop or something?"
Carmen paused from kneading between her eyes. "That's the girl that Mallory met at the hospital."
Narma peered back to the girl consideringly. "…well, she's not my type, but you do you."
Rory rose from where she'd slumped forward. "No, no, she—Mallory was interviewing her and she lied about her name." She flicked a thumb towards her. "Yah girl was in a tizzy about it. Geez, is that seriously why we're here? Because this seems kind of stalk-y."
Of course, they weren't taking this seriously. She stared Rory down. "She was nearby two of the attacks. She was also talking to the police about it. She gave them a fake name too."
That seemed to stop them. Rory straightened. "Wait, really?"
There, now she had their attention. True, she happened to know there were some complicated situations running in the background for Gwen, but that information didn't negate the possibility that something was up.
Because something had to be up. The wills of fate knew this was the action she was going to take, and so circumstances had led her in this direction for a reason.
Right?
"She was at the hospital, and when she was at the police station, we were only a few minutes away from the bus incident, I really don't think it's a coincidence."
"So what should we do about it?" Carmen asked quietly.
They weren't exactly subtle, staring forward from the back of the mass of unloading passengers, looking directly at her with a measure of more concern than they had a few seconds ago, but that can't exactly be helped.
"Okay," Rory held her hands out as if to physically get them all together. "For now, let's just keep an eye on her. Do the camp, play it cool, and if we see anything, say something."
Carmen leaned in. "Should we try to get more information out of her? For instance, should we ask her directly?"
Mallory snorted. "You can try," she said, folding her arms across her chest. "I've been grilling her on and off for weeks to no joy." She rolled her shoulders back. "But I have to go say something. She already knows I'm here—playing keep-away is only going to draw more attention to you guys. Maybe she won't be expecting you guys to be looking into it too. I don't think she'd recognize you."
With that, she marched forward.
The others follow the established groups of small children (yikes) and teen-to-adults to their suitable assignment as the counselors chatted amongst themselves, trying to get it their charges under control. Gwen was stayed where she had been, not bothering to make herself scarce as Mallory approached. Cocky.
"…and she approaches," She clicked a pen on her clipboard. "I shouldn't be surprised. You've managed to track me down everywhere else."
She couldn't help but feel an odd sense of pride—maybe a little bragging wouldn't hurt. "Once you mentioned that the camp was starting this week, it was merely a matter of finding the camps that had athletics classes for children." There were hundreds. "A quick look at the staff told me where you'd be." Hours and hours. She was lying, but it sounded more impressive if she didn't let out quite how much she had obsessed over needing to know. Wasn't cool.
Since when has she cared about being cool?
Gwen's mouth did that thing where it twitched up a little—was this funny to her? Mallory felt her blood boil. "I was wondering when you would show up, to be honest. I knew once I mentioned where I was going that that might be enough, but it's interesting to get a look into your process."
Hold up. Mallory leaned back. "…you wanted me to show up?" She called bullshit; she had to be bluffing.
But Gwen shrugged. "Mm, maybe. What can I say? I can't help but be a little curious to see how far you'll go with this. And all the attention? Kind of flattering."
Mallory felt her ears redden. "This is serious," she hissed. "People are in danger, and I know you have something to do with it. What did you say to the police?"
Gwen pursed her lips tilting her head to the side. "You're making an awful lot of leaps here. Regardless, it's time for check-in." She turned and began to walk away without further ceremony. "Maybe you should ask me tomorrow. For now, get in your group."
Mallory seethed. Defeated, she stomped back over to the teens-and-adults group, where Rory, Carmen, and Narma were sat waiting for her.
"What happened?" Carmen whispered, leaning in conspiratorially as she sat down.
"I don't want to talk about it," Mallory grumbled.
Gwen wasn't leading their group. Unfortunate, but she knew that was coming; she'd seen the group leader list online. As she had predicted, Gwen was helping out with the kids.
The woman who came to stand before them looked heart-droppingly similar to a middle school PE teacher—robust, red-cheeked, and with the classic mop of brown curls atop her head. Unlike that, though, she actually looked excited to be there. "Happy to see that everybody made it! So, this is how it's going to work. Over the course of the week, we will have a series of classes and activities for you guys to do, to make sure you get a taste of the outdoors this summer."
Oh, happy day.
"We've got hiking, archery, you'll get time to use the lake, kayaking, optionally. What else…ah, fishing, volleyball, we have a basketball court if you want it, tennis, golf. Everyone will be attending a survival session with one of our counselors in the woods. Should be a ton of fun." She clapped sharply.
Hm, no fencing. That was…unexpected. She hadn't looked that far into it.
She gestured to the cabins behind them. "When I call your names, you can head off to the cabin number I give you and unpack. After that, meet up in the dining hall, and we'll have a little lunch before we start our first activities."
After a few more exchanged words, the groups stood and began to congregate, eager to prance into the woods already. It seemed they had their orders.
She was just going to have to see how this played out.
Mallory had requested they all be in together, and the administrator had approved, so that wasn't trouble any trouble. She and her three cohorts dragged their gear to Star cabin (which pinged of a little irony, when Carmen thought about it) and quickly unpacked before heading to the dining hall. As they passed through the courtyard towards the facility, though, Carmen caught a glimpse of green out of the corner of her eye. Not unusual in a forest, but this was a bright, pastel shade that hadn't been around since the very beginning of spring.
Across the way, she saw the girl turn the corner into a building a little further down the path. She couldn't tell what the building was for, but there didn't seem to be any others going towards it. And besides, she would have recognized that color in a crowd.
Sylvia? What's she doing here? Weird coincidence. She hadn't spoken to the girl since the bus stop.
No, actually, she realized as her eyes widened a fraction. She had seen her since then, technically. They just hadn't spoken after she loaded on the bus.
Maybe she should mention this? Carmen wasn't sure; an investigator, she was not. Still, it was better to be safe than to be off-guard. She finished the short walk into the dining hall, where the others were already waiting for her.
A tall woman with bleached braids (smaller than Rory's; how did she even get them so tiny?) took center stage in the room, along with a guy with scruffy brown hair and a farmer's tan. As your group leader will have explained, this is going to be where you'll sign up for the classes you want to take. There will be free-form activities in your down time, but some of the classes do have limited availability, so please sign up if you are interested. After that—" she gestured to the filled table behind them. "—take a sandwich from the bar and we will go over some camp rules. Once everybody's eaten, we'll split up and go for our first hike of the week."
The guy spoke up. "Sign-up sheets are coming around. Thank you, guys."
The room quickly dissolved into commotion as folks moved to get their food and sign up for the limited classes. She grabbed food for all of them, and by the time she made it back out of line the sign-up sheet had come around.
"Ooh, archery sounds fun," she heard Rory say as she took her seat.
"Not me," said Narma. "I prefer to avoid projectiles whenever possible."
"Fair."
Mallory was studying the list intently, finger pausing on the names of each of the activity leaders. She must be trying to get in the classes with the girl in the hospital.
Carmen leader down closer to the table. "Hey, guys?"
"What's up?" Narma ask tearing into her veggie wrap.
Carmen pursed her lips. "It might just be a coincidence, but there's someone else here I recognize from the attacks."
Rory paused her own bit, and Mallory stopped reading. The girl pushed her sunglasses up—I really must tell her to try going without them—and said sharply, "Who."
Carmen couldn't help but peer to her either side, as if someone would be listening. Mallory's paranoia must be rubbing off on me a little (though it's not really paranoia if they are actually out to get you, is it? That's an unfortunate thought, thanks anxiety.) "There's a girl here I met just before the bus incident. She introduced herself to me sort of out of the blue as well? She stopped me in the park. That was right before the monster appeared." She fiddled with the corner of her napkins. "You'll know her if you see her. She's got bright green hair."
"That is a little weird." Rory nodded her head side-to-side non-committally. "I mean, Seattle's a big city. What are the chances you met someone and there was immediately an attack in the area?"
"Also, why there?" Narma chewed with a humorous level of concentration. "I know we were thinking they were just going where it was the most heavily populated, but the bus attack doesn't make sense, then. It's just one bus, and the street might be busy but it's not that busy. You know?"
"Hm." Mallory stared down on the paper, her finger tapping over one of the names—it looked like Sarah something. "It might be worth looking into. Good job, Carmen."
Carmen peeled at the wrapper of her sandwich. "Don't get me wrong, she seemed nice, but…"
She let the thought trail off. If she was here to help stop the attacks, then that's what she was going to do.
But she hoped she was wrong.
They finished their lunch, chatting idly. Still, Carmen's gaze kept drifting to the blond counselled across the room, joking loudly with her co-workers as if nothing was wrong.
The first activity of the week was set to a hike up the nearby mountain. That seemed like a lot to start off with right off the bat to Narma, but the others seemed excited about it. Rory didn't seem to be having any trouble, but she was already out of breath. Even with all the combat training they got up to, this was a whole separate hell. She wiped sweat from her forehead.
"See? Rory turned towards her, walking backwards up the incline. "This is fun!"
Carmen, slightly behind them, maneuvered around a jutting bolder. "I can't remember the last time I was anywhere near a forest," she said. "It's so peaceful."
"Pinging those harmony-sensors?" Narma huffed, humoring her. Even if she wasn't built for this bullshit, it didn't mean she didn't want her friends to enjoy it. After all, she wasn't going to get to spend a lot of time with them after this.
"Yeah," Carmen said. "Maybe a little, actually."
Narma shook her head.
Meanwhile, Mallory had trudged on ahead, trying to catch up the girl that was leading the kid's group alongside them, looked perturbed and a little sweaty.
"Yeah, aren't this great guys?" Their own group leader called out; whose name was Deborah. "Getting a little inter-camp bonding going on! We're all going to have a great time this week."
She would never catch up to them. There was a whole sea of children in the way.
She peered down over the ridge. It was, admittedly, beautiful—the valley stretched out before them in a sea of soft green, highlighted with the warm glow of the evening sun. The sky was clear, and the lack of a breeze brought a profound stillness over the scene. Some bird chittered in the woods behind them. Also, there was no city smell out here. That was maybe the best part.
"Meh," Narma proclaimed to the ether.
Carmen snickered behind her.
Rory, who was doing a lot of deep, appreciative lungsful of fresh mountain air, slowed her step. "…do you ever wonder…why we're here?"
"A little too philosophical for me, girl," Narma stepped up beside her.
"No, I mean, here. On earth." From the directionality of the sun, light shown a glint over her eyes, the reddening sky leaving highlights in the thick parts of her violet braids. It was a far-away look, and not one she felt totally at ease with.
Narma took a breath. "Well, sure. I think we all must have, in this whole mess. With the…problems appearing wherever they wish, I at least think we're in place as a force against that."
Rory slowly shook her head. "That's not what I mean. Why here?" Her gaze floated up, above the horizon, drifting up towards the atmosphere. "Trappist-1 is 40 light years from here. 232 trillion miles away." That number, so precise. "So, what are we doing here, on earth?"
The sky stretched out before them. And that…was a really good question, actually.
Day one of Operation Get-Gwen-to-Tell-Her-What-the-Fuck-Her-Deal-is was a total failure.
This might have been a more difficult set up than she was prepared for. With the separation of the groups out to various activities, there were going to be fewer opportunities to interrogate Gwen (or "Sarah") than she had expected. It seemed the only consistent times where they were guaranteed to be in the same room was at most meals, but Gwen was unlikely to spill her secrets in front of her co-workers. There were only a few activities she was able to tell for a fact they were going to have the chance to speak. She was going to have to be really strategic about this.
She slid her jacket off, the scent of her deodorant thick beneath. Damn her dedication to a vibe. Rory and Narma had opted for a night shower and went off at the distressed wooden stalls. Carmen was folding up her clothes from the day to be packed away in the opposite bunk, looking content. A faint sheen of sweat lingered on her forehead, and she looked to be settling down.
Mallory fluffed her pillow with perhaps more aggression than warranted, feeling a sort of pit in her chest. She was disarmed by moments like this—her cohorts seemed to be integrating so well into this environment, but all she could thing about was the work. It made her wonder, sometimes, if there were something she just wasn't getting. What if her efforts were wasted on a false lead here? Perhaps the others were doing the natural thing, taking this opportunity to have a few carefree moments while there was so much waiting for them back home. Maybe she was the silly one, chasing after something that very well may have been nothing but a girl who was expertly trolling her.
She pursed her lips, smoothing out her comforter. She hated, couldn't stand the thought that the people who had never taken her seriously, maybe they were right to feel that way.
God, it was only the first day. Get it together.
A familiar raw feeling as she moved brought her attention to her bra band. Esh, freaking underwire. The burden of having C-cups. She wondered if the others would care if she went without one in the cabin.
Turning, she realized that Carmen probably wanted to change too, and it was a bit of a hike to the stalls just for that. She coughed lightly, getting the girl's attention. When Carmen looked up, she nudged a thumb at the door. "Hey, do you…want me to step out? So you can change?"
There was something unspoken in the question: I know I make you uncomfortable sometimes. It was a fact she was aware of, and while it didn't make her feel her feel great, she could admit it was warranted. She just didn't have a filter, sometimes. It didn't usually bother her, but now she had people that she actually liked. That seemed to like her, sometimes. It was…. different.
Carmen seemed to consider it for a moment, but then, surprisingly, "No, that's okay. I do want to…you mind turning around for a minute?"
Oh. Okay then.
"Yeah, sure. Hold on." Mallory shifted, turning to face the cabin wall. "Just let me know when you're good."
She could hear the shift of Carmen retrieving her pajamas, and the moment of unexpected trust tugged at something in her chest. Damn, she was good at research. Bad at people. "Hey…uh. I hope this doesn't sound weird, but…"
"Hm?"
She hesitated, her hand drifting up to rub over her arm. "I just wanted to say sorry, I guess. I know I act like an idiot sometimes. Like, that embarrassing shit I pulled at the party."
Ugh, that had been cringe-inducing as hell. Usually it took more time for her to be able to look back on something she'd done and think, ew, that was pretty gross, but nope, five weeks this time. A record. Making moves on your new, probably straight teammate who actually tolerates you? New low, good job.
Carmen didn't say anything, so she continued. "But…I just want you to know that that's not all I think of you. I'm not good communicating with people, especially if I admire them. That's not an excuse! Just." I wanted you to know that I have the upmost respect for you and I hope you can forgive me for the dumb shit I pulled just because I can't keep it in my pants. Metaphorically." Yikes, this was getting out of control. Reign it in, mayday, mayday. "I just hate to think that I might be tainting our friendship by not letting you know how important you taking me under your wing in this whole thing has been. I value your guidance, and your strategic contributions to the team are invaluable and you can stop me any time, because it's absolutely possible I will just keep rambling like an idiot if there's no interference please say something—"
"Um?"
The interjection was…watery, that was concerning, and she did a split-second safety glance before turning around. There was Carmen, standing stiffly in her clean pajamas and oh Jesus she was crying, her eyes were all watery. Mallory panicked. "Oh, shit—I didn't mean—" Her hands flew up. "I'm an idiot, an absolute dunce, whatever I said—"
"No! No." Carmen shook one hand at her. Carefully, she brought the hand up and thumbed the moisture from her eye. Glancing away. "I just—no one has ever said that to me before, the—respect thing? Thank you for telling me. You don't know how much it means to me, to hear you say that."
Mallory sat back down, where she had come up crouching like some sort of gremlin. "Oh. Well. You're welcome." It disturbed her that she was reacting like this, and it made her more than a little angry, but not at Carmen. She was just glad though that she hadn't upset her.
Carmen sat back down, folding her hands in her lap. "You wouldn't know, 'cause you weren't around yet. But right around the time the others found me, I was in a really bad place. Meeting the others helped me reevaluate, but I'm still dealing with a lot of the same stuff, mentally? It's just an ongoing thing."
She tightened her hands in her lap, and Mallory felt that same pit in her chest—that maybe she'd really been missing the point here. She'd had an inkling that Carmen wasn't as poised as she appeared, but to know that so recently she'd been on a downslide, was…jarring. "I'm sorry," she said eventually. "Do you…want to talk about it?"
Carmen bit her lip. Then, her head rose, and she smiled. "Maybe later. It's nice enough to know you care."
Rory and Narma burst in through the door just then, shrieking, "THE SHOWERS ARE FREEZING oh my gosh guys we are camping in the ARCTIC—"
Carmen grinned into her wrist. She allowed the moment to dissolve, shelved for a moment when they weren't lightened by the antics of their friends.
There was a time and place. Better to let her decide when she was ready to engage.
On day two, they all stood before the lake with a sense of mutual apprehension.
"If I see white spikes pop out of that thing," Narma said, "I'm out."
After a nice round of morning yoga (which Mallory hated, but Rory herself had thought was kind of fun,) the counselors had brought them to the lake to cool off before lunch. The sun was already high, and it wasn't playing, burning a warm patch along the upper part of her back.
Celene would have enjoyed being out in the sun. Rory felt bad about not being able to bring her, but guarding the Cosmos Treasure Box was important if they weren't going to be around. She would have to do something special for the little cat as soon as they got a chance.
Their counselor Deborah called out over the water. "I'll give you guys a chance to get used to the water, and we can do some races!"
Rory had missed getting exercise for fun.
Carmen shrugged eventually and dove under the water, coming up with a shudder at the temperature. "Well," she said. "We can't sit on the beach all day."
"But we can try," Mallory said with confidence, before laying out her towel and plopping down, hands behind her head. Well, those sunglasses are coming in handy for once, at least.
Carmen stuck her tongue out, teasing. "More fun for us, then. Rory, care to join me?"
Holding back a snicker, Rory hiked her eyebrows way up, like some kind of fussy white lady at a country club, and gave a curtsy. "Why, don't mind if I do," and she flounced into the water. That was a mistake, goosebumps immediately leaping up on her legs. Yeesh! Work harder, sun!
"Splendid," Narma copied, shrieking once she was in the water.
"Suffer," Mallory said flatly.
They paddled around for a while, Carmen going a little bit deeper, while she and Narma were more just goofing around. This was nice, being able to just chill for a little while. The lurking danger at home could take a back seat for like five minutes while she spent some time with her main girl.
Because as much as she liked Carmen for her sincerity and Mallory for her off-beat charisma, Narma was still her best friend. It would probably always be that way. At least, she liked to think it would, even if they were dipping their toes into different parts of the water more recently.
Speaking of which. "Hey," Rory eyed her friend, who was wiping water from her cheek where Rory had managed to nail her only seconds before. "How are things going with that guy of yours?" She waggled her eyebrows a little.
Narma shrugged but didn't look directly at her. Rory thought the whole thing was cute—Narma hadn't shown a lot of interest in anyone since they had met, so it was nice to see her branching out a little bit. "We've been talking a lot. The party on the boat was sort of supposed to be a kind-of-date thing I had initiated, but we know how that went." Narma quirked her thick brow, for once without its coat of gel. She sighed. "I'm just glad he didn't get hurt."
Rory's smile faltered. "Yeah, of course."
Her eyes brightened for a moment. "He was able to swim back because once his uncle's fishing boat sunk and they had to swim all the way to a nearby cruise line and climb aboard. It was wild. And he still does it!"
She laughed. "You guys are cute."
"We're supposed to be going on a date to the pier when I get back, so that should be good." Narma pushed a little ripple through the water, expression turning contemplative. "…do you think this kind of thing can work? With the…way we are?"
Ridiculously, for a second, her first thought jumped to race. Probably because she knew how Narma's parents were about her finding a "nice Hindi boy." Then she realized she was obviously talking about the whole alien super-heroes with magical powers thing. Actually, was that also kind of a race thing? "Yeah," she shot out after realizing she hadn't responded yet, and Narma looked a little less deflated. "Yeah, of course. I mean, it's probably going to be tough, hiding something that big from someone you care about—"
And she was kind of a specialist in that kind of thing recently, wasn't she?
Thrown off, she shook her head, re-grouping. "—but hey, people have had bigger stuff than that come between them, right? And they've made it work."
Narma narrowed her eyes. "I…guess that's true."
And Rory hoped that she didn't think about that too hard, because she hadn't been prepared with an example to defend that statement. But it had to be true, right?
Rory threw out her arm. "Yeah! I wouldn't worry about it, girl. You got this. Also, if he could handle being attacked by a monster on your first date and still want to stick around, the boy is obviously into you."
"Hey b-squad and e-squad."
Rory looked over to see that Mallory had been talked into the water and was staring at them pointedly. "I have been challenged," Mallory said, "and so I must absolutely destroy Carmen at chicken. You in?"
Rory and Mallory were in the water in 40 seconds, Carmen and Narma cackling as evil as they could be from above.
Archery class. Surprise, surprise; it turned out fencing wasn't Gwen's only talent in obscure sports. As they stepped onto the green on the morning of day three, Mallory already knew what she would find there, but it still felt odd to walk up to the target field with Gwen already waiting for her (for them, she meant. For the class she was going to teach.) It had seemed so much like she'd been avoiding her up until then, impossible to catch her alone.
"Ask me tomorrow." I would, if you give me five seconds to speak to you discreetly.
It didn't matter—she was there now. She was finding with a growing sense of urgency that this may have been her only opportunity. The last night had been host to their first Fireside Jamboree, and, surprise, only the older group. She had to make this time count.
"Welcome, everybody," Gwen called from the front. "You may remember me from introductions, but we're going to get to know each other a little better today. My name is Sarah—"
"Bullshit," Mallory grumbled under her breath.
"—and I'm going to be leading you through some basics in archery. Now, people tend to assume that archery is easier than it is, and while it's not hard per say, it does require discipline, and safety is very important. Now, has anyone done archery before?"
A fair few hands, mostly from campers older than them.
"Well, good! It's nice that some of you have some experience. So, I think we're good to get started. If everyone could grab a bow and three arrows, I'm going to show you guys the basics before we actually start shooting."
The others were excited for this, Rory and Carmen chatting energetically to each other as Narma eyed the targets. Still, you could see that they were distracted in the way they gazed wearily to and away, aware now that their teacher had frankly been shady as hell. Mallory in and of herself wasn't exactly zazzed to learn archery, but she had particular stakes and so here she was.
"Thank you. Now, I want to say first of all: I know it's tempting, but do not hold and release your bowstring with nothing in it. Bad idea. That's called dry firing, and it's the quickest way to break your bow. Got it?" Murmured agreement. "Cool. Now, there are a couple different ways you can stand—"
She took them through a number of little technicalities: standing feet parallel or not, nocking the arrow, holding their body straight and picking an anchor point. Usually, she would have been interested in the minutia of this kind of thing, even if she didn't want to do it herself, just because she could appreciate a craft. But today, she only had one goal: get Gwen to freaking talk.
"Okay. If everybody is lined up to the targets, we can try our first shot. Anybody not on target right now, please stand back by a couple feet and you will go next round. Please do not fire until I say. Alright?"
Gwen stepped forward, and Mallory was hyper aware of her position in space as she moved through them to stand behind. The next instructions she called out were from right behind her, maybe a yard or two back. The hair on the back of her neck prickled.
Never mind, fuck it, she needed to make this shot.
"Get ready now," Gwen's voice echoed through the trees from behind her.
Mallory kept the bow firmly wedged between her thumb and forefinger, double checking the arrow's alignment.
"One. Two."
Flashbacks to the fencing studio, a little shot of adrenaline at the memory of Gwen staring her down like she didn't stand a chance, only 1 second in a countdown between her and defeat. She narrowed her eyes.
"Three." The hint of a laugh there?
Fwp.
She lowered the bow—agh, she hadn't checked the target, bad follow through—and looked to the results of her shot.
Well, she'd hit it. Frustration bubbled up to see the arrow sitting just at the inner edge of the first ring. Passable, but not effective. Damn.
"Maybe we should try again," Gwen said. No, she wasn't imagining it, there it was—that same amusement in her voice. "Alright, group two, line up, and then we can do some more rounds. Don't fire until I say so."
Mallory switched out with the team behind her, leaving her standing there with Gwen. The others stepped up, and went through the motions to get ready, the grass squeaking beneath their shoes.
Surprisingly, Gwen addressed her when she came towards her, her voice low as to not attract attention. "Nice shot."
Bullshit, Mallory thought again bitterly. "Something funny?"
Gwen's mouth ticked up. She was wearing some kind of chapstick or something, smirk reddish and shiny in the morning light. "I just noticed you were trying to impress me. I have to wonder about that."
No, she wasn't. Mallory rejected the thought immediately, then paused. Well, no—she could acknowledge that she cared more when she knew Gwen was watching. But it wasn't that she was trying to impress her. It was more that the thought of failing in front of her soured her stomach. Because she was almost like a nemesis at this point, really. That made sense. She fiddled with the frames of her sunglasses, tucked into her shirt. "Sorry, should I want to fail?"
Gwen looked her up and down briefly, as if to size her up. "I could give you some pointers, if you want."
Mallory scowled. "You know that's not why I'm here."
"Oh look, it's time for the next round. Everybody set? Okay, draw back your bow—"
Dammit!
She took them through a couple more rounds of shots, and then moved them out of the lineup to take questions and let those who wanted to keep practicing do so. Mallory tried a couple more times while the questions line thinned out, and managed to get it a little closer, but never on the bullseye.
Eventually, she abandoned her bow; no reason to continue this pretense. According to her watch, they still had another twenty minutes in this session. Nowhere to run.
Gwen was standing off to the side, and she knew the girl saw her coming. "That time already? Alright. Let the interrogation begin."
Mallory cocked a fist on her hip. "You say that as if you intend to answer."
Gwen shrugged, before pulling her braid over her shoulder in a more deliberate position. "I might. Depends on what you ask."
Mallory took a breath. She didn't believe that at all, but she wasn't going to get anywhere if she didn't ask anyways. She replaced her sunglasses. She felt sort of…exposed without them. "Why did you come to this city?"
She waved a hand. "I was investigating."
Okay. Surprise, an answer, but she already knew that. "I had figured," she said flatly. "Can't be professional; you don't look any older than me."
"I suppose that's fair to say."
She narrowed her eyes. Obviously, she was going to dance around this whole thing, even though she was indulging her for some reason. But perhaps she could context clue herself into something that was actually useful. "Why were you at the hospital that day?"
"That's what I was investigating."
Now, hold on. That doesn't make any sense. "You're from Phoenix," she said. "You're telling me you drove 22 hours to investigate an incident that wouldn't happen for another ten hours?"
Gwen seemed caught off guard. After a second, she said, "You're just going off the time we were reported missing. You don't know we had left before then."
"No," Mallory conceded, "but you had to be in the city long enough for it to have been reported in the news."
Gwen folded her arms across her chest. You could tell she was a sports person—the muscles of her biceps were lean and defined. "I'm not changing my answer."
Ugh, there's the first wall, but that could have been telling. You can't know something's going to happen before it happens unless you're involved. Mallory's heart thudded, mind rife with possibility. Was she responsible for the attacks? For some reason, that conclusion didn't fill her with the satisfaction of a closed case the way she had imagined. If she had to put a name to the sensation that rose in her, it was more like a tendril of dread.
She huffed, tightening her fists. "Tell me this," she said. "What did you talk to the police about? What do you know about the monsters?"
Gwen's amused expression had waned, dipping at the edges into unease. Finally, she said, "I didn't interview the police about the monsters."
That—why else would she have been in that hospital room? She shook her head. "You're contradicting yourself," she said. "What did you ask them about, then?"
There was a long pause. And then Gwen said, "I was asking them about the heroes."
Cold dropped into Mallory's gut, like a hunk of ice.
That…hadn't even occurred to her. But…that would make sense, if she was coming into the city about the reports about them, then it wouldn't be weird that she arrived before the first attack took place. Coincidental timing, but not impossible.
It didn't mean she was innocent.
If anything, it made her more of a threat.
What the hell did she know?
"That seems like a lot of trouble," she said, carefully tailoring her expression. "You and your sister pick up and runaway to a new city so you can chase some fake-ass superheros?" Inside, her heart was pounding.
Gwen was quiet for a long moment, eyes trained on Mallory's face. She wondered what she was getting out of her expression. Eventually, she glanced away, brow smoothing, lightening. "Hm." she said eventually. "How about we talk about you for a minute?"
"What? No." She was the one asking the questions here. "Why?"
"You seem to know a lot about me," Gwen's lip quirked up. "Maybe I want to even the field a little. I've been pretty cooperative, haven't I?"
…She had. Surprisingly so. "…depends on the questions."
"Fair enough," Gwen shrugged. "What do you do in your free time?"
…what. The tension fizzled out like some kid's balloon when no one showed up to his Digimon birthday party. That was what she was going to ask? That didn't have anything to do with anything. Still, she found she really couldn't think of anything, except the obvious. She gestured before herself. "This, I guess? Why do you care?"
Gwen squinted at her. She ignored the question. "So you just run around investigating all the time?"
"Yeah. So?"
Gwen frowned, looking skeptical. "Your parents don't care that you're just running rampant?"
Mallory snorted. "Might care, if I had 'em."
Gwen's eyes widened. "Oh."
She could see it coming, so she cut that shit off at the root. "Before you say 'I'm sorry,' don't. That's not my, like, defining character trait, so don't think that gives you anything valuable. Ask better questions."
Gwen's mouth quirked up. "Alright. What's your favorite food and why?"
No hesitation. "Any sushi with wasabi sauce. I enjoy melting my face off."
Gwen grinned. "Raspberry-peach protein shakes are my weakness."
"Oh, fuck off."
Carmen was lining up the arrow again when she heard someone coming up behind her. "Hey, you're pretty good."
She turned, slowly taking the tension out of the string to see their instructor approaching. Carmen blinked, surprised—she'd thought Mallory was confronting her. "Oh. Thank you?"
"Really," the girl who had called herself Sarah stated. She was eyeing the target Carmen had been aiming for. "You have good form. Seems you're a natural." She must have noticed Carmen searching out Mallory in the field, where she spotted her pouting a ways off. She flicked a thumb towards her. "Oh, her? She got mad because I asked her what kind of music she listens to when she's stalking around the city. You mind lining up again?"
Carmen…wasn't sure how to respond to that. "Sure." But hey, perhaps it was better that she was speaking to them more. More opportunities for her to let something slip.
If she was actually hiding anything, that is. It…kind of sounded like she just liked getting Mallory's goat? It easily could have been an act, though.
She drew back the arrow, and she felt the girl's hand cup her arm. "Let your elbow relax a little," She said. Carmen's eyes flicked over, and the girl was focused on the target ahead. "Also, the band is not going to bounce back and hit you. If you can pick an anchor point alongside your face, like your nose or your cheekbone, that's gone to help steady your aim a bit more."
She other hand lightly shifted the position of Carmen's right arm, so that the string was following the curve of her cheek. Carmen shifted her toes, settling a bit until the form felt a bit more natural. "
"Okay," she said. "Try now."
She aimed, and yes, that did feel a little steadier. She let it go.
It wasn't a full bullseye, but it did hit the center target off to the side.
"Yeah!" The girl crowed enthusiastically. "That's what I'm talking about!"
"Hey—"
The cry from off-left was all the heard before someone crashed into her side. It wasn't an enormous amount of force, but it was enough to send her stumbling to the ground. She hit elbow first, and pain went ringing up her arm; she hissed.
"Ay, watch it! No horseplay!"
"Sorry!" Another camper said nearby.
"Geez, I thought this was the adult group," 'Sarah' scolded from above. She kneeled beside her. "Are you okay?"
She brought up her arm, a little of her concern dissipating when the pain didn't get any worse. "Agh, just hit it. I'm fine."
Sarah clenched her teeth, "Yeeah, looks a little scraped too. Can you move it?"
Carmen flexed the arm up and down, only feeling a slight stinging with the ache.
"Okay, doesn't seem broken." Standing, she pointed to a small building a little ways into the camp. "Head to the first aid station, and my sister can fix you up."
Sister? Carmen glanced back to the field, where Mallory had wondered down the range to where Rory and Narma were tugging their arrows free of the target. It seemed a little unnecessary to pull one of them away to come with her. "Okay."
Cradling her arm, she crunched over the path back towards the camp.
The round was quiet, the other group off on the kayak trip with the other counselors. For a second, she got the inkling that she had seen noted this building before for some reason, before she pushed the door open and stepped inside.
"One second," a high, monotonous voice called from an inner room. "The nurse has stepped out, but I can help with basic injuries. If you believe you are having a heart attack, we can call 911—"
"Sylvia!" Carmen as the girl's bright green locks came around the corner. So this is where she's been.
"Oh. Hello again." She blinked at her for a moment, before her eyes gravitated towards her arm and she moved towards the cabinet. "Do you think you are…dying?"
Carmen straightened. "Um. No?"
Sylvia fished into the cabinets, pulling out a roll of gauze and a pad. She turned back to her, primly straight, clasping her hands. "Are. You going. To vomit?"
"No," Carmen shook her head.
"Good, good." Sylvia nodded. "I have to ask for the by-laws. So just the elbow, then."
Okay, well. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm the nurse's assistant," she said simply. "My sister teaches the kids, so I came along too." She smiled faintly. "There are so many bugs in the woods around here, I've added at least a dozen species—" she paused, and her face fell. "I still don't have my beetles."
"That's okay," Carmen said, taking a seat on the room's cot. It eased her mind a little to know that the bugs were some type of collection, but she also didn't know how to feel about the fact that Sylvia was just keeping them somewhere. Then Sylvia's words seemed to catch up to her. "Your sister," she said. "Is that Sarah?"
Sylvia stopped fishing through the cabinets, stilling for a long moment. "…Yes," she said eventually.
Carmen wondered about the reaction for a moment before realizing it might have confused her because Sarah wasn't her sister's real name. So, Mallory was right about that. "She seems nice."
"She cares a lot," Sylvia said, with a new tone Carmen didn't expect—it almost came off a little weary. But Sylvia's intonations were already so minor, it was hard to tell.
Carmen tilted her head. "…a little too much?"
Sylvia loaded the items into a little basket (why not just carry them?) and brought them over, sitting beside Carmen on the office cot. "This might sting." She brought up a little pad of alcohol and cleaned the scrap and yes, ow, ow, that did hurt. A moment later, she discarded the alcohol and delicately placed a little patch where it was bleeding. "A little tender," Sylvia said. "I have an ice pack I can give you."
"Thanks."
The quiet hung as she went to unroll the gauze, the soft kind that didn't stick to itself. She held her hand out for Carmen's arm, and Carmen lifted it slightly so she could wrap.
"I guess," she sighed and it took a second for Carmen to realize she was answering her earlier question. Her gaze flicked up for just a second, pale blue. "You know when you look at someone, and you don't know what they're thinking, and you don't want to look at them because you don't know what they're thinking?"
"Yes, actually," Carmen said, somewhat emphatically, "I know exactly what you mean."
"She's like the opposite." While her voice didn't change, her expression was agonized. "I always know what she's thinking. I've seen the same things on her face—repeating patterns. It either means she's wondering about me, what am I doing, or she's thinking of doing something impulsive again, like baiting that girl here because she wants to teach everybody everything all the time." She taped the wrapping off, then slumped. She closed her eyes, head tipped up to the ceiling. "And she thinks she always needs to teach me the most, ever since we were sisters. But I remember already."
Wow, okay. That was a lot of information. Sylvia had seemed to be focused on her the last time she spoke—maybe she needed to vent a little bit too. "That seems like a lot to deal with."
"She loves me," Sylvia said flatly. "But she's annoying." Her eyes shot open. "I was getting you ice."
She watched Sylvia rise from the cot, going to a refrigerator in the corner. "I hope you work it out," she said quietly. She understood how draining family tension could be—perhaps that's why Sylvia had been willing to listen to her problems in the first place: it was advice she could give, but couldn't follow herself. Still, something she had said remained tacked in her mind. "What did you mean by 'baiting that girl?'"
Sylvia turned around, expression deadpan and aimed just off-center of Carmen's face. "…I think you should go back to camp now, Carmen. You aren't dying, and you're not going to throw up." In a swift motion, she swept across the room and shoved the ice pack in her hand. "Here's your ice."
With that, she was politely kicked out of the room.
