Charmed Forces #19 Page 4

  As soon as Alyssa walked through the door, Natalie jumped up and threw her arms around her.

  “The tumor was benign,” Natalie said. “Tumtum’s going to be okay!”

  “Hurray!” All the girls cheered.

  Alyssa hugged Natalie. She was thrilled. “This day just keeps getting better and better!” she said.

  “Alyssa—you were right!” Natalie said. “How did you know Tumtum would be okay?”

  Alyssa shrugged. “I don’t really know. I just had a feeling.”

  The girls grew quiet. “You had a feeling. That’s weird,” Candace said. “Alyssa’s been right about everything today.”

  “Yeah,” Valerie said. “She’s on a hot streak.”

  “It’s the amethyst,” Sloan said.

  “It must be,” Natalie said. “Alyssa was always kind of intuitive, but now she’s, like, supernatural. The amethyst must be giving her more psychic ability.”

  Alyssa took the stone out of her shoe and looked at it. All the girls did.

  “Do you really think that stone has powers?” Valerie said.

  “I do,” Alyssa said. “Since I found this amethyst, my life has completely changed. I’ve had nothing but good luck today. It’s like . . . like magic.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” Chelsea said. “You just made a few lucky guesses. If you’d asked me, I would have said Natalie’s dog would be okay, too.”

  “Still,” Alyssa said. “Maybe we should keep quiet about the amethyst. I mean, let’s not say anything to anyone outside the bunk. In case there’s something to it.”

  Truth be told, Alyssa had no doubt that there was something to the amethyst’s magic. But she didn’t want to say so too firmly without more proof. She was afraid she’d sound nutty, and more teasing from Chelsea was the last thing she needed.

  “Alyssa has a point,” Jenna said. “If other kids find out that we have a magic amethyst, they might try to steal it as part of a prank. You heard what those girls from 5C said.”

  “That’s true,” Alex said. “They might have been kidding around, but if those girls hear about this, they might actually do something.”

  “Do something?” Candace said. “Like what?”

  “We could wake up one morning to find toothpaste in our shoes,” Jenna said. “For starters.”

  “Ick! No,” Chelsea said.

  “This prank business wasn’t in the camp brochure,” Sloan said.

  “Maybe we should keep the amethyst a secret,” Alex said.

  “I agree,” Brynn said. “That rock is pretty powerful.”

  “Let’s swear,” Alyssa said. “Let’s superswear.” The girls gathered in a circle and linked their pinkies together. “All right—we all swear to keep the existence of this amethyst a solemn secret. We swear to tell no one outside this cabin. Swear?”

  Everyone said “We swear” in unison.

  “Superswear?” Alyssa said.

  “Superswear.” They shook their linked pinkies once, twice, three times, and then let go.

  “Remember—anyone who breaks a superswear will be cursed for the rest of the summer,” Alyssa said. “So we’re agreed: The amethyst is a secret.”

  She gazed fondly at the stone. She was getting very attached to it—almost like a security blanket.

  When she was little, Alyssa had named her blanket Bluie, because it was blue. Not very original, but she was only three at the time. Maybe the amethyst deserved a name of its own, too.

  “I have one more little ceremony I’d like to perform,” Alyssa said.

  “I know,” Sloan said. “Putting a hex on 5C?”

  “No,” Alyssa said. “That’s a good idea, though. Maybe later.” She glanced around the room. “Does anybody have a wand?”

  “A wand?” Gaby said. “Who brings a wand to summer camp?”

  Alyssa went into the bathroom and grabbed a Q-tip. She dipped it in a bottle of pink nail polish to make it look like something besides an ordinary Q-tip. Okay, it looked like a Q-tip dipped in pink nail polish, but it would have to do . . .

  “That’s your wand?” Sloan said.

  “Does anybody have something better I can use?” Alyssa asked. “I didn’t think so.” She waved the Q-tip over the amethyst, chanting, “I hereby dub thee . . .” She paused, trying to think of a good name.

  “Hermione?” Brynn said.

  “Alyssa junior?” Jenna said.

  “Chip?” Chelsea said.

  None of those names felt right. “Amy,” Alyssa said. Amy the Amethyst sounded kind of like Bluie the Blanket. “I hereby dub thee Amy.” She tapped the stone with the wand three times.

  “Amy?” Gaby said. “You’re naming your rock Amy?”

  “Why not?” Alyssa said. “I’m getting attached to her. She needs a name. Besides, I think it suits her.”

  “Her?” Chelsea said. “Alyssa, it’s a piece of stone.”

  “And she’s my constant companion,” Alyssa said.

  From then on, Alyssa tried to take Amy with her wherever she went, but carrying the stone was inconvenient. It made an unsightly bulge in her shorts pocket, and if she held it in her hand, she couldn’t participate in her activities. And she was afraid of losing it on one of the trails or leaving it on her beach towel or something. So, right before dinner, Alyssa decided she needed a hiding place for Amy. A good one, not something obvious like the inside of her sneaker.

  And, just to be safe, she wouldn’t let anyone know where Amy was hidden. Not even her bunkmates. Not even Natalie.

  When it was time to go to the mess hall for dinner, Alyssa held back. “Alyssa, Chelsea, let’s move,” Mandy said. “You’ll be late for dinner.”

  “I can’t get this purple eye shadow right,” Chelsea said. She was stationed in front of the bathroom mirror, focused intently on her eye makeup.

  Alyssa rolled her eyes. She wished Chelsea would hurry up and leave so she could hide Amy without being seen.

  “I’ll be right there,” Alyssa said. “I can’t find one of my flip-flops.” She was sitting on the “lost” flip-flop, waiting for everyone to leave.

  “You go ahead, Alyssa,” Chelsea said. “I’ll catch up.”

  “I can’t go to the mess hall barefoot,” Alyssa said.

  “So wear your sneakers,” Chelsea said. “What’s the big deal?”

  What’s the big deal with purple eye shadow? Alyssa thought, but she didn’t say it out loud.

  Mandy’s face appeared in one of the windows. “Girls. Let’s go.”

  “Ugh.” Chelsea put down her makeup brush in disgust. “I give up. Come on, Alyssa.”

  “One sec. I’ll catch up.” Chelsea flounced out of the cabin at last. Alyssa waited until Chelsea was out of sight. Then she climbed up onto her top bunk. She’d thought of the perfect hiding place for Amy. Even if some evil campers decided to prank them and totally ransacked the cabin, they’d never find Amy.

  Alyssa’s bunk bed was right next to the window. She opened the screen and reached outside. There was a little nook behind the shutter on the outside wall of the cabin that might have once held a flagpole or something. It was just the right size for Amy. And with the shutter open and hiding the spot, no one would ever notice that the rock was there. And even if someone knew about it, who would think to look for it outside the cabin?

  Pleased with her cleverness, Alyssa put on her flip-flops and left for dinner, satisfied that her magic amethyst would be safe and sound.

  chapter FOUR

  “Good morning, Star Children.” Alyssa woke up in a good mood. She pulled Amy the Amethyst out from under her pillow, where Amy would both prevent nightmares and stay securely out of any pranksters’ hands. “And how are everybody’s spirits this morning?”

  “Star Children? Please, don’t start with that crunchy stuff so early,” Chelsea moaned. “Unless that amethyst can tell me how to prevent split ends and make my stomach flatter, I don’t want to hear about it.”

  “I do,” Brynn said. “Alyssa, I need your
help. Can you use Amy to read Jordan’s mind? Please? I’m dying to know if we’re going to get back together, but I can’t tell what he’s thinking.”

  “Make Amy tell me how to win over Donovan,” Gaby said. “What kind of girl does he like? Should I dye my hair blond? Start wearing kneesocks? What?”

  “Can Amy predict whether my team will win the volleyball game today?” Alex asked.

  Alyssa clutched Amy, trying to absorb her bunkmates’ questions and the universe’s answers. “Slow down,” she said. “I’m getting nothing but static.”

  “You can’t just throw questions at an amethyst,” Sloan said. “You have to choose carefully, and give Alyssa time to read the answer. She can’t try to predict everything at once or she’ll get confusing signals.”

  “Thank you, Sloan,” Alyssa said.

  “Let’s get dressed, girls,” Mandy said. “Breakfast starts in ten minutes.”

  “Just make one prediction before breakfast,” Brynn said.

  “All right,” Alyssa said. “I’ll predict what we’re having for breakfast today.” She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. An image appeared in her mind: a plate, butter, syrup, pancakes. Yes, the image of pancakes was so strong, she could practically smell them.

  She opened her eyes. “Pancakes,” she announced. “Today we’re having pancakes.”

  “I don’t care what we’re having,” Mandy said. “If you want to eat anything at all this morning, you better get a move on.”

  Alyssa dressed quickly. When everyone had left the cabin, she quickly slipped Amy into her hiding spot. Then she ran outside and caught up with her bunkmates. As they walked up the path toward the mess hall, Brynn sniffed and said, “You know what? I think I smell pancakes.”

  Candace opened the door and they stepped inside the dining hall. The smell of pancakes filled the room. As confirmation, a CIT set a big platter of pancakes and sausages on one of the tables.

  “Wow,” Candace said. “Alyssa, you were right again!”

  “That’s incredible!” Gaby said.

  “You really have a gift,” Sloan said.

  Even Alyssa was amazed. She’d never made so many predictions correctly before. Amy truly was magic.

  “Welcome to nature,” Roseanne said. Tall, with hair in long, crazy curls, she was an earth-mother type and the perfect nature counselor. “We’ll be studying the natural world in all its glory, both the facts that we know as scientists, and the mysteries that awe us.”

  Excellent, Alyssa thought. The mysteries of nature. Those mysteries interested her a lot now, because Amy’s power struck her as both a fact and an inexplicable phenomenon, a mystery she hoped to understand better.

  A chubby girl with a close-cut Afro and glasses raised her hand. “Roseanne?”

  “Yes, Gwenda?”

  “Are there really any mysteries to nature?” Gwenda said. “I mean, aren’t mysteries really just facts that we don’t know yet?”

  What kind of person thinks that way? Alyssa thought. Reducing awe-inspiring mysteries to a bunch of facts? She recognized Gwenda as a fifth-division girl, but she didn’t know her.

  “Good point, Gwenda,” Roseanne said. “That’s certainly one way to look at it. I’m not sure we can ever know all the facts. The mysteries are what make nature so fascinating. But this is an issue we could argue about for a long time.”

  “I don’t see any argument,” Gwenda said. “Science always moves us forward. In the future people will understand the things that seem mysterious to us. It’s only a matter of time.”

  “Wow, geek city,” Priya whispered to Alyssa. “I’d introduce myself to her except I don’t know how to say hello in Robot.”

  “Before we get started,” Roseanne said, “I want to announce that later in the summer we’ll be holding a nature fair with exhibits from campers about any aspects of nature that interest them. So if you plan to be in nature again next session, you should think about what you’d like to exhibit at your table.”

  As Gwenda dutifully wrote this down in a notebook, Alyssa wondered what her exhibit would be. Probably something uber-brainy, like a demonstration of astrophysics.

  I wonder if there’s some way I could exhibit Amy and her powers, Alyssa thought. That was certainly shaping up to be a wonder of nature.

  “Let’s start by looking at some of the local terrain,” Roseanne said. She held up a pale purplish-blue plant Alyssa immediately recognized. “Here’s something you might find growing in the mountains in this area. Who can tell me what it is?”

  Alyssa and Gwenda both raised their hands. Roseanne called on Alyssa.

  “Lavender,” Alyssa said.

  “That’s right,” Roseanne said. “What can you tell me about lavender?”

  “Well, it’s an herb,” Alyssa said. “Some people believe it keeps away the evil eye. And if you give it to a friend, it helps her stay loyal to you. It’s also good for insect bites.”

  “Good,” Roseanne said. “Anything else?”

  Gwenda raised her hand. “Lavender grows best with lots of sun and low humidity, in slightly salty soil.”

  “Very good,” Roseanne said.

  Low humidity? Alyssa thought. Who cares about that when you’re talking about one of the most powerful herbs of all time? You can practically make love potions out of the stuff, and Gwenda’s talking about low humidity. I’ll never understand science people.

  Roseanne talked about other plants and trees and flowers that grow in Pennsylvania. Gwenda knew scientific facts about all of them. Alyssa knew their mystical and healing properties. Then Roseanne moved on to rocks and minerals. “Western Pennsylvania is still a major mining area,” she said. “People even prospected for silver near here.” She held up a rough piece of hammered silver.

  “Ooh! Ooh!” Gwenda could barely stay in her seat. “Silver’s elemental symbol is Ag on the periodic table. Silver has the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of all metals.”

  “Holy moly,” Alyssa whispered to Priya. “This girl is like a walking encyclopedia.”

  “Wow,” Roseanne said. “We’ve got a real science whiz in this group. Does anyone have anything they want to add?”

  “Lots of people think silver mirrors the soul,” Alyssa said. “It’s related to the moon and connects us to the planets and stars.”

  Roseanne stared at her. Everyone in the group stared at both Alyssa and Gwenda as if they were freaks. Sure, Alyssa thought, Gwenda’s practically from another planet. But I’m totally normal. Still, the way the group looked at her made her uncomfortable. Her own words echoed in her head. Had she said something weird?

  “Lighten up, you guys,” a boy said. “It’s just metal.”

  “I’ve never had such well-informed campers in my nature group,” Roseanne said. “This session should be very enlightening. Okay, you’re free to go. Remember to keep an eye out for all the wonderful plants and minerals around you, and we’ll talk about what you find tomorrow.”

  Gwenda got up from her seat and stopped by Alyssa’s on her way out. “Your contributions to the discussion were fascinating, but irrelevant,” Gwenda said, while Priya looked on. “You realize that none of the properties you mentioned have been proven by any reputable scientist, don’t you?”

  “People have believed them for centuries,” Alyssa said. “Science doesn’t prove everything.”

  Gwenda snorted. “Science is the only way to prove anything. Duh. See you tomorrow.”

  “See you, Mr. Spock,” Alyssa said to Priya after Gwenda left. “Did you ever meet such a science lunatic?”

  “No,” Priya said. “But I never met anyone as superstitious as you, either. I think you’re both crazy.”

  “Hmph,” Alyssa said. “I’m not crazy—I’m psychic! That’s totally different.”

  “Head into the wind. Into the wind, Gaby!” Hank, the sailing instructor, had been shouting at Gaby all afternoon. What did he expect? She’d never sailed before, or not much, anyway. So it was no surprise that she c
apsized about a hundred times and couldn’t figure out which way to push the tiller or which rope tightened the mainsail and which the jib.

  “I’m soaked,” Valerie said. She had agreed to be Gaby’s sailing partner, just for the first day. “And no, I don’t want to take another involuntary dip in the lake. Maybe we should head in.”

  “Aye, aye, Captain.” Gaby let Valerie take the tiller at last. Valerie steered them awkwardly but steadily toward the dock.

  Hank called all the sailors back to dry land for a talk. Gaby watched with envy as Candace expertly tied her boat to the pier. Donovan was already sitting on the dock, talking to some blond girl from the fifth division. To Gaby’s disappointment, the blonde had asked to be his partner, and he’d said yes. Gaby hoped the partnerships weren’t permanent. Valerie was okay, but Gaby hadn’t signed up for sailing to become better friends with a girl.

  Gaby and Valerie joined Candace on the dock. “The girls are all over Donovan,” Valerie whispered. “Today alone I saw Chelsea eating lunch with him and some fourth-division girl interrupting his tennis match to ask him to volley with her. Now blondie here.”

  “All right, sailors, this was a good first day,” Hank said. “I see we have a lot of experienced sailors and a fair number of rookies. This first sailing session will end with a big regatta a month from now, with each boat sailed by a skipper and a first mate. I thought I’d pair up the new sailors with the old hands to make the race more fair. Sound good?”

  Everyone nodded, especially Gaby. If she’d proven anything that day, it was that she did not know how to sail. Which meant she’d be paired with a pro, like, say, Donovan, perhaps? She crossed her fingers.

  “Here are the teams,” Hank said, reading from his clipboard. “Candace, you’ll be a skipper, and Valerie, you’ll be first mate.”

  “Yes!” Valerie and Candace high-fived.