Camp Nowhere (9 page)

A strong gust of wind burst through the campgrounds. In the woods around the camp, the trees creaked and bent.

Uncle Brian raised his eyes to the gray sky. I could see a pale line of pink through the tops of the trees.

“It’s almost dawn,” he said. “In a short while, Camp Evergreen will vanish for another year.”

“And will we vanish with it?” I demanded.

Uncle Brian nodded his head sadly. “Yes,” he whispered.

I swallowed. “And we’ll sleep three hundred sixty-three days a year? And be trapped here forever?”

Uncle Brian nodded again. “I can’t let you go. I can’t take the chance that you will tell someone about us. If you say one word, we will all die. All of us.”

I glanced at my friends. “We’ll take a solemn
oath,” I said. “We’ll swear on our lives, on the lives of the Native American spirits. Never to tell.”

Uncle Brian stared hard at us. “I’m sorry. I cannot allow it. I don’t know you well enough. I have no choice.”

“Please—” I said. My friends joined me, begging with him to let us go.

Uncle Brian raised his eyes to the sky again. “Dawn is almost here. Time for us to go back to sleep.”

“
Nooooooooo!
” Drew’s deafening howl of protest made me jump.

“
No! I won’t! I won’t do this anymore!
” he wailed.

And with a cry, he burst free from the counselors. He leaped forward and grabbed me from behind.

“Hey—!” I cried out in surprise. “What are you doing?”

I tried to wrestle free. But he tightened his arms around my waist and wouldn’t let go.

I quickly realized Drew’s desperate plan.

I felt him jam his hand into my pocket. He pulled out my plastic lighter. Then he gave me a hard shove and sent me stumbling forward into my friends.

“Drew—stop!” Uncle Brian ordered.

Too late.

Drew had the lighter flame high. He swung his hand—and set a shrub on fire.

It took only a couple of seconds for the shrub to
burst into flames. The flames rose high. And lapped at the side of a cabin.

“Stop him!” Uncle Brian screamed.

Drew’s wild eyes reflected the dancing flames. “Let it burn!” he cried. “Let it all burn!”

The flames leaped high off the shrub and licked at the cabin wall.

His dark eyes wild, Drew tossed back his head and screamed again. “Let it burn!
Let it burn!
”

If the camp burned, the sacred ground would be ruined. The bargain with the spirits would be ended. All of us would die.

I didn’t wait to think about it. “Hurry! Help me!” I shouted to my friends.

I grabbed a canvas tent off the top of the stack. I tugged it free and spread it open.

Marty and Charlotte grabbed the other end. “We’ve got to work fast—before it spreads!” I shouted. I pulled the tent to the shrub.

We tossed the canvas over the shrub. Pulled it down over the fire.

The flames danced out around the edges of the tent. I pulled the canvas tighter.

Smothered the fire. Smothered it.

“Yesss!”

Thick, sour smoke sizzled up from under the canvas. But the fire was out.

Choking on the black smoke, Charlotte, Marty, and I staggered back.

“Thank you. Thank you!” I heard Uncle Brian exclaiming.

My chest burned. Tears ran from my eyes. I sucked in breath after breath, trying to clear my lungs.

When I looked up, Uncle Brian appeared to be fading. I could see the cabin and the stack of tents right through his body!

And then the cabins and trees, the faces of the counselors, Uncle Brian, Drew, the ground itself—they all began to shimmer, as if made of glass.

“Run to the river,” Uncle Brian called. His voice sounded muffled now, already far away.

I could see the pink sky through him. As he faded from view, he seemed to be blending in with the sky.

“To the river,” he called. “You saved us—so I’m letting you go. Keep your promise. Keep our secret. Hurry. You must go down the falls to return to your lives.”

The falls? But there
are
no falls, I thought.

“Come on—run!” I felt Charlotte pulling me away.

The five of us started to run, our shoes thudding over the hard ground. After a few seconds, I turned back.

And stared at a black cloud. A heavy mist washed over the camp. Over Uncle Brian and the counselors, over the buildings, the lake, and the trees.

A few seconds later, the mist floated away.

The camp and everyone and everything in it had vanished. The woods stood dark and silent.

My friends and I didn’t speak. We stared in amazement at the dark, empty spot. My whole body trembled. I forced myself to turn away.

And then, without saying a word, the five of us were running. Running full speed through the trees. Jumping over fallen branches and upraised roots. Pushing through tangles of tall shrubs and weeds.

Thrum…thrum thrum…

The drums, soft and distant, started their steady beat as we ran. And we heard the chant of low voices all around us.

Were the voices saying good-bye? Or warning us that we were doomed?

The sky brightened from gray to pink. The ground shimmered under a heavy morning dew.

We ran silently, as if in a dream, as if floating to the river. And when we heard the soft trickle of the water when the river came into view…we gasped in shock.

A roar of thunder greeted us.

No. Louder than thunder. An endless roar.

I turned to the sound—and let out a cry as I saw the falls.

A steep wall of raging white water. Straight down. Straight down from a high rock cliff. Sweeping straight down with such force that curtains of water and mist shot off in all directions, so thick they cut off the sun.

“The falls!” I screamed. “They’re here! They’re really here!”

Had it been here all along, hidden by the ghostly camp?

Charlotte grabbed my arm. “But we can’t ride down that!” she yelled. “It—it’s too steep!”

“It’s impossible!” Marty agreed, shaking his head.

“It’s straight down!” David shouted. “We’ll be killed!”

“We don’t even have life jackets!” Erin cried.

Standing near the shore, we were soaked by spray off the plunging falls. Erin wiped water from her face. Her eyes were wide with terror.

“How do we get up to the top?” Erin cried. “Maybe we could just cross the river down here.”

“No. We have to do it!” I shouted, shielding my eyes as I stared at the raging white wall of water. “We have no choice. Uncle Brian said we have to ride the falls to return to our lives.”

“But we don’t have canoes!” Marty shouted.

“We have to climb up there!” Charlotte cried. “Russell is right. We have to try!”

Marty shouted something. But I couldn’t hear a thing over the roar of the falls.

Huddling together, we followed the shoreline. The rocky ground was wet and slippery. Spray from the falls filled the air with steam. The trees dripped water as we hurried beneath them.

The ground sloped up sharply. We leaned forward, forcing ourselves to climb. My legs ached. My chest throbbed with pain.

Soon, the roar of the falls was behind us. A narrow dirt path curved through the trees. We lost sight of the river, but we continued to climb.

“Where is it taking us?” Erin asked breathlessly.

I struggled to catch my breath. “I hope we’re not lost in the woods again.”

The path curved again—and the trees opened to reveal the river. White-capped waves bounced in a wide channel.

I knew at once where we were. We had climbed to the top. We were staring at the rapids that led to the falls.

We stumbled to the river edge. My eyes searched the rocky shore.

Yes! Yes!

Our canoes!

Were they right where we left them? Had they been there all along?

Waves tossed high in the rapids. White spray flew up from the waves as they slapped hard against the jutting black rocks.

I was drenched by the time I reached the canoes.
I grabbed paddles. Turned and saw David already pushing a canoe toward the water.

He shouted something, but I couldn’t hear.

A high wave crashed over us, rocking the empty canoes.

We’re not going to make it, I thought, staring toward the steep wall of raging water. No one could survive it!

My ears rang from the roar of the plunging water.

Charlotte and David were already in one canoe. Swinging my paddle over the side, I climbed in and took my place between them.

I turned and saw Marty pulling Erin into the other canoe. Her face was twisted in terror. She didn’t want to go.

He was shouting, pleading with her. Finally, she dropped into the front of the canoe, her eyes shut, her whole body tensed against the rocking waters.

A moment later, we were in the water, tossed from wave to wave. “Ohhhh!” I let out a cry as the paddle flew from my hand.

I watched it smack against a rock. Then bob in the tossing water until it went flying over the falls.

Our canoe went into a hard spin. Then rose high on a white-water swell. “The paddles are useless!” I screamed.

I didn’t know if anyone heard me.

A second later, I was screaming. Screaming louder than I’d ever screamed in my life.

But I couldn’t hear it. I couldn’t hear my own scream. The raging explosion of water drowned out all other sound.

The canoe tilted forward—then down.

I tried to pull back. But my body jerked forward. I felt myself lift off the seat.

Felt myself start to fly. Fly from the canoe.

But then I hit back down hard.

And fell with the canoe…plunging faster than a roller-coaster car…

My scream burst from my throat as the canoe shot straight down. And then my breath cut off in a rush of freezing white water.

I heard the
smaaaack
of the canoe.

I flew up again. My arms shot up as if trying to grab the sky.

And then I tumbled forward. Out of the canoe.

I saw Charlotte flying, too. Her mouth open in a silent scream of horror.

We hit the water at the same time. The
slap
took my breath away. Sent a raging stream of pain shooting through my body.

The powerful current pulled me down—so hard I couldn’t raise my arms or kick my feet. The pain swept over me…

Down…deeper into the dark, swirling water.

Drowning…I knew I was drowning.

The force pulled me, pulled me deeper…deeper.

Battered one direction, then the next.

Like a rag, I thought.

It’s snapping me around like a limp rag.

I’m not strong enough to fight it.

The falls defeated us, I knew.

We drowned here.

We vanished. Like the others.

Around me, the water bubbled. It chugged like steam. Wave after powerful wave beat against me.

My chest began to burn. I knew I had only seconds left.

The water tossed me hard against a rock. I gazed up at the churning surface—miles above me.

I shut my eyes.

Waited…waited for the water to fill my lungs…

Waited…

And felt myself lifted.

Felt a powerful force raising me, pushing me up through the tossing water.

I opened my eyes and gazed around.

No one. No one there.

But it felt as if strong arms were lifting me, raising me to the surface.

And in my mind, I heard a voice. A low, soft voice whispering to me: “
You saved our land from fire. Now we shall rescue you and your friends
.”

The spirits?

I burst up to the surface. Gasping and choking. My lungs burning. My chest ready to explode.

And felt the powerful force lift me…lift me over the water.

I was flying. Flying above the tossing, slapping waves.

Still gasping, still struggling to catch my breath, I landed gently on the shore. I turned and saw the others, flying above the river, carried by powerful, invisible arms.

Spirit arms.

And then, soaked and shivering, we were hugging each other. And shouting. Shouting to prove we were alive. Shouting over the roar of the falls that we had defeated, over the steady drumbeats, the heartbeat of the forest.

Back to camp.

A herd of campers stampeding toward us. They greeted us with a thousand questions.

“How are you? Are you okay?”

“How did you get back?”

“How was Forbidden Falls?”

“We’re going next year. What was it like?”

I glanced at my friends, then turned back to the eager faces.

“Forbidden Falls? It’s nothing,” I said. “Really. A piece of cake.”

The sun had gone down, but the air was still steamy and hot. Insects chittered in the trees. A tiny sliver of a moon floated just above the swaying palm trees.

April met her teammates after dinner in front of the meeting hall. Backpacks bulged on their backs. Kristen tilted a bottle of water to her mouth.

Anthony raised the beam of light from his flashlight to April’s face. “You ready?”

April nodded. She tugged her flashlight from her backpack. She gazed around the empty camp. The other two teams had gathered near the ocean.

“I have to tell you something,” April whispered. “I think Marks did something to Josh.”

Anthony rolled his eyes. “Here she goes again,” he muttered.

“April, what are you talking about?” Kristen asked sharply.

“Josh and I had a plan,” April replied, glancing around again to make sure Marks wasn’t around to hear her. “To go exploring. Because we both thought there is something strange on this island. Maybe
someone else living here.”

“Maybe the island is
haunted
!” Anthony sneered. He let out an evil movie laugh.

Marlin shook his head. “You’re definitely weird,” he told April.

“I’m not making this up,” April insisted. “Marks overheard Josh and me making our plan. And today, Josh is gone. Just like that.”

“Josh got sick last night,” Marlin said. “They announced it at breakfast. Stop trying to cause trouble, April.”

“Yeah. We have to get behind these Life Games. Maybe you don’t care about it, but we all want to win the competitions,” Kristen said.

“And the money,” Anthony added. “And we don’t need you messing up our chances.”

“Okay, okay. Let’s all lighten up on April,” Marlin said. He turned to her. “No more crazy talk, okay? Are you ready to start the night hike?”

April saw that they weren’t going to believe her. They didn’t care. All three of them cared only about winning the competition.

They began walking away from the camp, following the sandy path that led into the forest. Under the low trees, the pale moonlight disappeared. The only light came from the beams of their flashlights ahead of them on the forest floor.

“This path leads to the rock caves near the shore,” Marlin said. He and Anthony walked side by
side, bumping each other as they walked. Kristen followed them, swinging her light over the smooth tree trunks.

April walked a few yards behind Kristen. She felt alert, excited. Over the steady chirping of insects, she heard the low warble of birds in the trees.

If only she could stop thinking about Josh…

“I don’t know if the path goes all the way to the other side of the island,” Marlin said. “We’ll have to see when we get there.”

“Well, we can’t follow the shore. It’s too rocky,” Kristen said. “We have to reach Rick and Abby at the little dock by going through the trees.”

“Finding our way back will be the hard part,” Anthony added. “We’ll be completely on the other side of the island.”

“No problem!” Marlin exclaimed. April watched him tug something from his pack. A long, silvery blade glinted in the light of Kristen’s flashlight.

“A machete!” Anthony exclaimed.

“That’s pretty scary looking, Marlin. What are you going to do with
that
?” Kristen demanded.

Marlin grinned. He made wide chopping motions with the big knife. “Kung Fu Warrior!” he cried.

“Hey—watch out!” Kristen stepped back.

Marlin lowered the machete. “This will help us find our way back,” he said. “I’m going to mark the path.”

He stepped up to the narrow trunk of a palm tree.
He pulled the machete back, then swung the blade hard into the soft wood.
Choppp
.

April stepped up beside her teammates and squinted into the light to examine the trunk. The machete blade had sliced a narrow groove, about an inch deep.

Marlin led the way deeper into the forest. Every few paces he stopped and swung the machete.
Choppp
. Another slice mark in the side of a tree.

“We’ll follow the cuts home,” Marlin said. “We’ll be back at the village while the other two teams are wandering around lost, calling for their mommies.” He laughed and swung the blade.

Choppp
.

“Cool!” Anthony declared. “Totally cool.”

The path curved toward the shore. April could hear the waves washing against the rocks. They all stopped as a lizard was caught in the circle of light from Anthony’s flashlight.

The lizard froze and stared up at them, its round, black eyes reflecting the light.

“Ugly little guy,” Anthony said. He raised his boot. “Should I crush him?”

“No way!” Kristen cried, pulling Anthony back. “Let him go!”

“I don’t think he’s ugly. I think he’s cute,” April said.

“Takes one to know one!” Anthony replied nastily.

“Be careful, Anthony,” Kristen warned. “Or April
will use her powers and turn
you
into a lizard!”

“That’s not funny!” April cried angrily. “Stop joking about that, Kristen. I told you, I don’t have any powers!”

The lizard suddenly came to its senses and scampered into some thick fern leaves. The path ended at the edge of the trees. Marlin made one more chop mark, then led the way out of the forest, toward the rock caves.

April suddenly felt a chill run down her back. Josh and I were going to explore those caves this morning, she thought. Did Marks
really
drag Josh away in the middle of the night?

What is Marks afraid of?

The blue rocks—so cold, so eerily cold all the time—were creepy during the daytime. At night, they glowed softly under the moonlight.

As April approached them, the shimmering light made them appear to pulse, to throb—
as if they were alive!

She blinked. Stop thinking crazy thoughts, she scolded herself. She hurried across the wet, sandy ground to catch up to the others.

“Wait up,” she called. And then, as she stepped up beside them, April let out a cry.

A shudder of fear shook her body. She grabbed Marlin’s arm. “Stop!” she uttered, her voice shrill with terror. “Stop! Do you hear it? Voices!”

April pointed. “Voices! From that cave!”

The others stopped. Kristen gasped. The flashlight slipped from Anthony’s hand. Listening hard, he made no attempt to pick it up.

Marlin was the first to laugh.

“April, you jerk,” he muttered.

April realized she was gripping his arm. She let go and backed away. “Huh?”

“Of
course
you hear voices,” Marlin said, rolling his eyes. “It’s the kids on the other team.”

April let out a long whoosh of air. “Oh, wow. Sorry.”

She recognized Dolores from her long, blond hair. Dolores was climbing on a sloping rock hill with her three teammates.

April took a deep breath. Get it together, she instructed herself. Get it together—now.

I’m letting my imagination run away with me, April decided. I’ve got to shape up. I’ve got to relax and try to enjoy my two weeks here.

I’ve got to show my teammates that I’m not crazy.

The three teams were not supposed to explore together. So Marlin turned away from the caves, and led the way back into the trees.

Kristen and Anthony were talking together, still laughing about April’s voices. “Listen, guys—I said I was sorry,” April said. “I’ll shut up. I promise. I won’t say another word the rest of the night.”

“That’s okay,” Marlin said. “Come on, everyone. Let’s try to be a real team. It’s going to be a long
night. Let’s have some fun!”

He swung the machete—
choppp
—and made another slice mark in the smooth trunk of a tree.

“Hey, let me try that!” Anthony said. He grabbed the big knife from Marlin’s hands.

“Watch out—” Marlin cried.

Anthony swung the blade into a tree.
Choppp
. “Cool!” he cried. He pulled the blade back—and swung again. This time, he made an even deeper cut below the first cut.

“Hey—you’re hurting the tree!” Kristen protested.

She grabbed the handle of the machete and tried to tug it away from Anthony. The two of them wrestled with it until Marlin stepped up and took it away from them.

“Just one cut in a tree,” Marlin said. “It’s not for fun. It’s so we can get back.”

“Where are we?” April asked.

The leaves overhead had grown thicker until they blocked the sky from view. The pale moonlight couldn’t break through the thick tangle of trees.

It’s much darker here, April realized. And quiet. The insects had suddenly stopped chirping. April listened for the wash of the ocean waves on the shore. Silence.

“We must be somewhere in the middle of the island,” Marlin said. “If we just keep going straight…”

“But the path ends here,” Kristen said. She swept her flashlight over the trees. “Which way is straight?”

“We have to keep going north,” Marlin said. He pulled off his baseball cap and wiped his forehead with his hand. “Man, it’s hot tonight. Wish we could go for a swim.”

“Which way is the ocean?” April asked. “I—I’m all turned around.”

“I brought a compass,” Anthony said, pulling off his pack. “It’s supposed to point towards the north, right?” He squatted down and unzipped the pack.

Kristen leaned over Anthony and held her light on the pack while he searched through it. He pulled out a water bottle and took a long drink.

“Take your time,” Marlin said sarcastically. “We’re only lost here in the middle of the island.”

“Don’t worry. The other teams are probably even
more
lost,” Anthony said. “Hey—here it is.”

He pulled out a round object on a leather strap. “My grandfather gave me this compass when he came back from Alaska. He was a gold prospector in the Yukon and—”

“Save the family history for later,” Kristen said. She shone her light on the compass. “Well? Which way do we go? Which way is north?”

Anthony squinted hard at the compass dial. He turned it in his hand. Then he turned it again.

Suddenly, he jumped to his feet. “Whoa! I don’t believe this!”

He held the compass up so the others could see. April squeezed between Marlin and Kristen to get a
good look at it.

Inside the dial, the arrow was spinning. Spinning rapidly, round and round.

“That’s impossible!” Anthony cried. “Why is it doing that?”

“Because it’s broken,” Marlin said, frowning.

“A compass can’t break,” Anthony cried. “It’s magnetic. That’s all. It’s just a magnet. What would make it spin like that?”

April stared at the spinning arrow. It looked like one of those crazy clocks in cartoons.

“Put it away,” Marlin muttered. He wiped sweat off his forehead again. “Ow!” He slapped his neck. “Did anyone bring mosquito spray?”

“What time is it?” Kristen asked.

Marlin shone his flashlight onto his wristwatch. He squinted at the watch for a long time. “You’re not going to believe this,” he whispered.

He shook his wrist hard and stared at the watch again. “It—it stopped,” he said. “It stopped at seven-oh-two.”

April raised her watch to the light—and let out a gasp. “Mine too!” she cried. “Look. It stopped at seven-oh-two.”

“Weird,” Kristen muttered. “First the compass, then the watches. That’s
totally
weird.”

“You’re starting to sound like April,” Anthony told her. “Maybe it was…WITCHCRAFT!” He gave his spooky, evil laugh again.

“Let’s find the ocean,” April suggested. “If we keep the ocean on our left, we’ll be heading in the right direction.”

“Then we have to go this way,” Marlin said. He turned to the left and made his way towards the trees.

“No—wait!” Anthony zipped up his pack, flung it onto his shoulder, and ran after Marlin. “You’re all turned around. We want to go
that
way!” He pointed to the right.

“I think Anthony is right,” Kristen said. “Because we came through those trees over there—remember?” She pointed behind her.

April swept her flashlight beam over the ground. “Where is the path? If we could see where the path ended…”

“No, that’s no help!” Kristen cried. “We came through those trees over there. I
know
we did.”

All four of them began talking at once.

“Whoa! Hold it! Hold it!” Marlin shouted finally. He raised the machete high over his head.

April and the other two grew silent. Marlin looked so menacing with that blade glimmering in his hand, April felt a chill.

“We left a trail, right?” Marlin asked, waving the machete over his head. “We left a trail to follow.”

“For when we want to go back,” Kristen said. “But we don’t want to go back.”

“Why not?” Marlin replied. “This isn’t a race. We’re not being judged by how fast we get to the
other side and back.”

“That’s right,” Anthony agreed. “We have all night.”

Kristen squinted at Marlin. “What is your plan?”

Marlin pointed to the trees. “We find the chop marks and we follow them. Back to the blue rocks and the ocean.”

“We go back?” Kristen asked.

Marlin nodded. “Not all the way to the village. We’re not allowed there until dawn. Just to the rocks. That way, we’ll get our direction back.”

“Yes, that’s good,” April chimed in. “Then we can start through the forest again with the ocean on our left.”

Anthony scratched his face. “Go all the way back to the rocks?”

“Why not?” Marlin replied. He pointed to the trees. “We could pick a direction—any direction—and just go. But why take a chance? Besides, it’s not that far.”

“It’s a good plan,” April said. “Let’s stop arguing and do it.”

Marlin slapped her on the back. “Hey—a little team spirit! Now you’re cooking, April!”

Everyone laughed, even Anthony. It made April feel a little better.

Marlin headed to the trees. “Here’s the last chop mark we made,” he said. He shone his flashlight on the trunk in front of him.

The others started to follow him. But all four kids stopped when they heard a sound.

A loud
choppp
.

Nearby. To their right.

They turned toward the sound. “Who’s there?” Marlin called.