Spells & Sleeping Bags #3 (22 page)

It rains all night.

Now I understand the hole in the tent.

By the next morning, Poodles and I are both cold and shivering and not in the mood to paddle the four hours back to camp. Especially since the two of us are the worst paddlers ever and Carly seems determined to return with the others.

“Carly, we let you sleep in the other tent, but you
have
to canoe back with Rachel and Poodles,” Rose says, snapping on her life jacket. “They're not strong enough without you.”

“But there's room for me in Liana's boat!”

Rose puts on her I-mean-business face, which is the same as her mean face. “Tough.”

Ha! I silently apologize to the powers that be for every nasty thing I've ever thought about Rose. Carly is a top-notch canoeist and we need her. Unfortunately for us, as mean as Rose was, Carly is now meaner.

“Slide the blade in, Rachel, don't smash it. You keep splashing me.”

“I'm trying, I'm sorry.” Trust me, I want to do my best here. I'm dying to get back to camp as quickly as possible for several reasons. One, Liana is a witch. Two, Liana is evil. Three, I've thought long and hard about the Raf situation, and although I'm not sure whether I hallucinated the kiss, if I didn't, I'm sure that Liana is responsible. Either way, Raf thinks I'm acting crazy, so I have to apologize. Beg for forgiveness. Tell him I had a fever that night and was delirious.

Why did I even doubt him? That was what got me into trouble at the Spring Fling.

“Knuckles facing out, Rachel, knuckles facing out!”

I'm going to knuckle her in the forehead if she keeps this up.

“Can we take a break?” I ask an hour later, exhausted. “My arms are killing me.”

“I don't know why,” Carly snaps. “It's not like they're doing anything.”

I ram my paddle into the water, sending a spray up behind me. That one
was
on purpose.

As we approach the camp, I hear the lunch announcement on the loudspeaker. Perfect. In the mess hall, I'll be able to talk to Raf. Or kiss him. If I'm forgiven.

After dumping my stuff onto my bed, I run to the mess hall and head straight to Raf's table—Raf's empty table.

“They just left on their canoe trip,” Poodles tells me.

“Are you kidding me?”

“ 'Fraid not. Harris went with them. He left me a note.”

My shoulders sag in disappointment. “That sucks.” Now I'll have to wait another day before I talk to him. “At least they'll be back in the morning.”

Poodles shakes her head. “They went on a three-nighter. They won't be back until Thursday.”

“That is so incredibly sexist,” I cry. “They get to go for three nights, and we only go for one?”

“Did you want to stay longer?”

I shudder. “Not a chance.”

But three more nights in a Rafless world . . . I don't know how much more I can take.

After lunch, Rose lets us use the pool showers while bunk fifteen goes to Upper Field. I'm not sure if she's being nice 'cause she thinks we bonded during the canoe trip or if she just can't stand the smell of us, but who's complaining?

Liana, Morgan, and Carly go first, while Poodles and I wait on the pool bleachers.

Morgan and Liana are done first, and Poodles and I take our turn. I hang my bathrobe on the hook outside the stall and step under the burning water. Ah. Feels good. The hot water beats against my back and arms. When I'm done, I reach for my bathrobe.

And reach.

Where's my bathrobe? I push aside the curtain to find the hook empty. “Poodles!” I scream. “Poodles!”

“What? Do you need conditioner?”

“I need my bathrobe!”

“It's not there?”

“If it was, I wouldn't need it, would I?”

“Hold on, I'm almost done,” she says, and turns off the water. Through my peephole, I watch her inspect the pool area. “You're right. It's gone.”

“Liana,” I say. She is obviously responsible.

“That is so evil,” Poodles says, shaking her head. By now Carly is long gone too. It's just the two of us. “Stay here. I'll run back to the bunk and get you a towel.”

Poodles takes off, and I stand there shivering. While I wait, I summon my raw will and try to zap up a bathrobe. I squeeze my eyes shut and try to envision terry cloth. I feel something on my toes, and my eyes pop open. It's a facecloth. A teeny-weeny facecloth, not even large enough to hide my smaller boob.

I turn on the hot water to keep warm. I'm going to kill Liana. Kill her. Or at least get revenge. Don't get mad, get even, right?

After ten minutes, I think I hear a faint knocking at the door and quickly turn off the water. Actually, I have no choice. The water's gone cold.

I stick my head out the shower curtain and hear Poodles shout, “The door locked! You have to let me in!”

She's got to be kidding. Here goes nothing. I check the windowed pool walls to make sure the coast is clear, run to the door, pull it open, grab the towel, and wrap it around myself all in one swift move.

I can't believe I pulled that off.

Or not. From my new position, I see that I had a blind spot from the shower. Prissy and five of her starter camp friends are gaping at me through the window.

Could have been worse. Could have been the starter camp boys.

Even worse, the Lion boys.

“I know you took it.” I'm standing by our bunk bed, still in my towel, jabbing my finger at my cousin.

She looks up from
Vogue
and bats her lashes. “I don't know what you're talking about.”

“Yes, you do.”

“She didn't take your precious bathrobe,” Morgan says. “We were right there. We would have seen her.”

“One of you took it,” Poodles says. “It didn't just disappear on its own.”

More than likely it did.

That's it. I've had it. I can't sit back and take this anymore. No more fooling around. I need to get my magic up to speed ASAP. Fire needs to be fought with fire, not pathetic matchsticks.

This is no longer revenge; this is war!

I need Miri's help. Unfortunately, Miri still isn't speaking to me. I need a plan B.

“Why are you bringing an umbrella?” Poodles asks me the next day as we head to the beach for sailing. “It's not raining.”

“That cloud looks pretty threatening.” I put a hand on my stomach and groan. “You know what, Poodles? I'm not feeling well. I'm going to stop by the infirmary to see Dr. Dina. Tell the sailing people where I am, okay? And Deb, if I don't make it to GS.” Next stop, the Oscars!

I hurry up the road, but instead of going to the infirmary, I sneak into Miri's empty bunk. I aim right for her shelf and quickly rifle through her things until I find what I'm looking for: her faux pencil case.

I brought my own baby powder.

I sneak into the mess hall, break open the invisibility shield umbrella, sprinkle the powder on the pencil case, and spend the afternoon studying.

It's time for a crash course in revenge.

“Omigod!” Carly screams, pointing.

We've just returned from dinner, and as we turn up the hill, a skunk pushes out through the bunk's front door, runs down the stairs, and darts into the woods.

All five of us hurry into the cabin to see what the damage is. We follow the scent into the cubby room.

Carly is close to tears. “Which one did it get?”

Trishelle purses her lips and points to the cubby in the corner—the perfect cubby that looks like it's never been touched.

Liana's face is whiter than my sheets.

“That is such a shame,” I purr. “Really, Liana, I wonder why it chose yours?”

She clenches her fists. “I wonder why too. I can tell you one thing. That skunk is going to be sorry.”

Bring. It. On.

“Wake up, everyone, wake up!” Janice says, storming through our bunk the next morning.

I roll over in bed.

Itch. Scratch.

Scratch, scratch.

My head is itchy. Why is my head itchy?

I scratch again and slowly move my hand in front of my eyes.

A small reddish brown bug scurries down my finger. Lice.

I scream and scream and then scream some more.

“Liana, there's something on your arm,” I hear Carly say. “And your other arm. And on your legs.”

They just got back from the showers and are in the cubby room changing. I didn't join them in the showers because I already spent half a day in the infirmary showers with a bottle of Nix. I spent the other half sitting on the infirmary bench with the nurse and a nit comb. Since my sheets and comforter are still being fumigated, I've been lying on my sleeping bag.

“It's red,” Carly says.

“It's ugly,” Morgan says.

“It's poison ivy,” Liana hisses.

Damn straight.