“We have the best healer on the East Coast. Helga could practically raise you from the dead. There is no injury she couldn’t fix.”
Gwen gave me a deadpan look. “What about checking in with my family?”
“There are land lines in the rec center and mess hall if you want to make a call,” I replied. “And we also do fortnightly letters home so you can keep up with your correspondence.”
“Correspondence? I can’t exactly post a handwritten letter to Instagram, can I?” At my confused expression, her eyes widened. “You do have Instagram, don’t you?”
I shook my head. “There are alotof things that we can’t post about our town,” I said. “Most of us find social media futile and frustrating. See? You don’t need a phone.” I reached out to pat her on the shoulder, and she reared away like my fingers had the plague. “It was one dead mouse.”
“That’s all it takes.”
“What does that even mean?”
“I don’t know,” she whined.
“And it died of natural causes,” I added as if that would help.
“I don’t even want to know how you know that.” She let out a disgruntled huff. “This place is making me crazy. I also use my phone for winding down at the end of the day. You know, like, listening to podcasts and reading books on my Kindle app.”
“We have a bookshelf,” I added smugly.
“Or watching movies.”
“You can fall asleep listening to your bunkmates telling stories,” I countered, and she rubbed her forehead like I was giving her a migraine. “I promise the phone detox will get easier. Do you want me to concoct a potion to ease the cravings?”
Her face puckered like she’d just bitten into a lemon. “What do you put into a potion like that?”
“You’ll learn in potions class this afternoon, actually,” I said. “Camp is very useful. I know some of it seems impractical.”
“Like archery,” she muttered.
“Like archery,” I echoed with a chuckle. “But some of the potions will be incredibly useful in your lifetime. Like how to cure a hangover. Or location spells for finding lost keys. Or warding away pests.”
“Actually, I need your help with the pest one, STAT.” She slapped a mosquito that landed on her arm. “I am being eaten alive.”
“Deal.” My eyes dropped to the new friendship bracelet on her wrist in the colors of the pansexual pride flag. “Nice bracelet, by the way,” I added and delighted in the way her ears turned a shade of scarlet.
I tried to adjust my thick stack of bracelets to display the one in the lesbian flag colors more prominently.
Very subtle, Sabine.
As the field came back into view, I saw that her bunkmates all sat in a circle doing divining magic. A very clever time for her to sneak away.
Gwen started walking out across the field when I called, “Still on for magic lessons tonight after dinner?”
Pausing, she looked over her shoulder at me, her sour expression softening ever so slightly. “As long as you don’t bring any more dead animals in your pockets, then yes. And wash your hands!”
11
Sabine
We met at our secret spot, and I was grateful that Gwen hadn’t gotten lost for three hours trying to find it this time. At least now I knew that she could rub the stones on her friendship bracelet and I’d be able to locate her.
It was just after dinner, the summer sun hanging low in the sky. We had an hour before dark and we had to be back in our respective cabins. I enjoyed my evenings in the Harvest Moon cabin, playing cards with the campers and listening to Ophelia play her lyre like a Greek goddess. I knew I’d miss it, these summers hanging out under the conjured air-conditioning on the hot nights with nothing to do, but I could hold the duality of missing something and wanting to experience life somewhere new too.
My thoughts of the city quickly drifted away when Gwen rounded an old elm tree and caught my eye. A hard-won grinwas on her face, her skin looking like golden porcelain in the setting sun.
I heard Iris’s warning in the back of my head. If I got kicked out of camp for “fraternizing” with a camper, I’d have to do yet another summer, which meant it would be another year before I could become a full-fledged member of the coven.
