Did being friends with a half-vampire witch mean I’d be lightly stalked all summer?
At least I had two people looking out for me, right?
The other girls resumed unpacking and chatting amongst themselves while I stood at the threshold of the cabin, staring at the large built-in bunk beds. Some had already decorated theirs with fairy lights and strings of photos from home. Only a couple remained bare. I offered a sheepish wave to the throng of wary witches, feeling too much like this was some sort of exposure therapy. They all seemed vaguely suspicious of me, but not as outright hostile as Astrid had been.
Faith reached across her bed and pulled out a black tote bag. She rummaged through it for a moment and took out a bottle of sunscreen and a pair of sunglasses. “I have about a dozen bottles of this stuff if you need it,” she said, rubbing in a thick bead of the bright white lotion over her arm. “I get burned to a crisp if I don’t slather it on.”
I had a million questions, but before I could scroll through them all, she perched her glasses on the long bridge of her nose and said, “Hurry up and get changed. Once the sun sets, you’ll want a hoodie.”
Our other cabinmates started gathering their light layers and headed out the door.
“Where are we going?”
“There’s a weekly itinerary in your welcome packet, but you’ll have to read it when we get back.” She pulled a lip gloss from her pocket and glazed it onto her bare lips. “Right now, we’ve got to get to the first-night welcome campfire in five minutes.”
“You can go on ahead, if you want,” I said, looking around to find that half of our cabinmates had already left. I tucked astrand of hair behind my ear. “I guess I’ll introduce myself to them later.”
“Nah, I’ll wait with you. We’ll have loads of time to get to know everyone tomorrow.”
I plopped my duffel at the foot of the bunk she’d volunteered to share with me and held the T-shirt up to get a better look at it.
“Where were you?” Faith asked, crossing her arms and cocking her hip. “I was worried.”
I laughed. It was sweet. She didn’t know me well enough to worry about me, but she was already acting like a big sister, despite being nearly three years my junior. I appreciated how eagerly she’d taken me under her wing though. I wasn’t the best at putting myself out there. In the past, by the time I opened up to any new friend group it was time to move on to the next city.
“I went for an impromptu walk,” I said defensively. “Then got a little lost. But a counselor found me and walked me back to camp.”
“Lost?” Faith leaned closer. “What was this counselor’s name?”
“Sabine?”
Two of the last girls heading out the door stopped and turned, the name catching their interest. “Sabine Stonewood?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Is there more than one Sabine at S-C-U-W?”
“It’s pronouncedskew,” the taller girl with ash-blonde hair said. “Too long to spell out every letter.”
I was about to defend my version of the Summer Camp for Upstanding Witches acronym when the smaller witch with short coils of dark hair said, “Wait, so Sabine rescued you from the woods?” She waved her hands with excitement. “Talk about swoon! I’m getting lost in the woods tomorrow.”
“I’m guessing Sabine is the hot catch of the staff this year?” Faith surmised from studying their faces. “It’s usuallyher older sister, from what I’ve heard. Not to mention, they’re cracking down onmingling. Staff and campers will face dire consequences if they’re caught.”
“Really?” I cut in, surprised. They all looked at me, smug in my exuberant protestation. “I mean, I’m not interested in her,” I clarified thoroughly enough to make it obvious that I was into her. Who wouldn’t be? “But I thought we were all basically the same age, give or take a couple of years. We’re all adults, so why is it a big deal?”
“Imbalance of power, favoritism, inappropriate work behavior . . .” Faith shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s in the SCUW handbook.”
“There’s a handbook?”
“It’s on your bed,” she chided.
“Okay, okay,” I said, pulling my new T-shirt on over my crop top. “So, what’s the TL;DR on Sabine?” I asked the girls who had strayed from the doorway to join our conversation. “And what are your names? I’m Gwen,” I awkwardly added.
You’d think I’d be better at introductions, given how much I’d moved.
“Celeste,” the tall one said, then gestured to her friend. “Ivy.”
Ivy gave me a wave.
Celeste turned back to me. “Okay, so.” She leaned in as if she were telling me the best gossip. “Sabine is obviously very hot, like probably the hottest witch in Maple Hollow, other than Astrid Cunningham.”
