Chapter 21
“Huh?” Archie yawned, blinking sleepily. “Is it morning al—mmf!”
Rufus took his hand away from the other boy’s mouth, putting his finger across his own lips instead. Then he pointed at the open window.
Archie needed no further encouragement. Throwing off his blanket, he scrambled out of bed.
Spencer sat up as the two boys tiptoed past his bunk. “Where are you two going?”
“Uh…” Archie said. “The bathroom?”
Spencer’s eyes narrowed behind his red-tinted lenses. “What, through the window?”
“I am sound asleep,” Ig muttered from the bunk above. “This is all a bad dream. Any idiot who tries to wake me up is going to regret it. Snore.”
Archie eyed the slumbering dorm room. “Spencer, just go back to sleep, okay?”
“Oh no.” Spencer got out of bed, planting himself squarely in front of Archie. “I want to know why you’re sneaking around.”
Rufus tapped Archie on the shoulder. He gestured at Spencer, then Ig, then at the window again.
Archie blew out his breath. “Okay, I guess you can come along. You too, Ig.”
“If you idiots are caught, you’ll all be banned from camp for life.” Ignatius emerged from under his pillow. “On second thought, wait for me.”
One at a time, the four boys climbed out the window. Finley was already outside, flat against the wall of the cabin. His eyes widened when he saw Spencer, but he didn’t comment.
Archie started to say something, but Rufus held up a hand, silencing him. He darted away, bare feet soundless on the hard-packed dirt. The other boys exchanged glances, then followed.
The bathrooms were in a separate building, shared between multiple cabins. A light was on above the door, but Rufus led them all around the back instead. He paused, then let out a soft whistle.
“We’re here.” Estelle emerged from behind a bush, followed by Beth and Tiff. “Did anyone spot you sneaking out?”
“Nope,” Archie replied. “What’s going on?”
Beth’s face was pale in the moonlight. “An emergency.”
“Shan’s gonna leave!” Tiff burst out. “First thing in the morning!”
“What?” Finley exclaimed. “Are you sure?”
Tiff nodded, curls bouncing. “He and Leonie were acting really weird at the campfire tonight. So when they sent us off to bed, I shifted and crept back to eavesdrop. Nobody notices me when I’m a weasel. Well, not unless I run up their leg.”
“Get to the point already, Tiff,” Estelle said. She turned to the boys. “Tiff heard Leonie chewing out Shan. She as good as told him that she knows they’re mates.”
“Leonie and Shan are mates?” Spencer said incredulously. He paused. “Actually, that explains a lot.”
“We’ve known all along,” Finley said to the basilisk shifter. “I’m sorry we didn’t tell you earlier. You too, Tiff. We shouldn’t have excluded either of you.”
“I wish you’d excluded me,” Ignatius muttered.
Tiff waved Finley’s apology away. “It’s okay. Though it was pretty stupid. If I’d known, I would have helped. Anyway, Leonie told Shan he can either come clean, or push off. She basically ordered him to meet her at her cabin tonight. But he didn’t!”
“How do you know?” Archie asked.
“I’ve been tracking them both with my pegasus ability all evening,” Beth said. She twisted the end of her braid. “Shan hasn’t gone anywhere near Leonie’s cabin. I think he went to see Director Zephyr instead.”
“And there’s only one reason he’d do that,” Estelle said. “Rufus, did you manage to sneak a look into his room?”
Rufus nodded.
“Rufus says he’s still there, at least for now,” Finley relayed for those who couldn’t hear the griffin shifter’s telepathy. “But he’s got his suit out of the office. It’s hanging from the curtain rod.”
Spencer was looking lost. “Suit? What suit? Why would Shan have a suit?”
“Because he’s not really a counselor,” Estelle said impatiently. “He’s a secret agent. That’s why he came to camp in the first place.”
“I have questions,” Spencer said. “Starting with: can someone please explain what’s going on?”
Ig heaved a sigh. “Do you want the long version or the short one?”
“Give him the shortest version, Ig,” Beth said. “We don’t have time for anything else.”
“Fine.” Ig rolled his eyes, turning to Spencer. “Basically, you’re surrounded by idiots. Apart from me, obviously. And possibly Leonie. Though the jury’s still out on that one.”
“We need to figure out how to keep Shan from leaving,” Estelle said. “That’s the important thing.”
Finley’s forehead furrowed in thought. “I don’t think he’d leave if he was still worried about the ghost. He must have decided there’s no threat to the camp.”
“Then we just gotta change his mind,” Archie said. “Estelle, can you get the unicorns to help?”
Estelle shook her head. “No good. Can’t get in touch in time. Flash hasn’t been answering my text messages for a while. Either she’s run out of battery packs, or her parents confiscated her cellphone again.”
“And now I have even more questions,” Spencer said to no one in particular.
Beth drew in a deep breath, setting her shoulders. “We haven’t got time to figure out a different way to fake the ghost sightings. We’ll just have to lie again.”
Tiff’s face fell. “You’ve been faking the ghost sightings?”
“I’m afraid so,” Finley said. “We made up the whole thing to force Shan to come back to camp. There isn’t really a ghost.”
Rufus fidgeted.
Estelle looked at him sharply. “What do you mean, that’s not entirely true?”
Tiff brightened. “So there is a ghost! I knew it!”
A variety of expressions crossed Finley’s face as he listened to his friend’s mental voice. “Rufus says it’s… complicated. But there is something in the woods. He’s certain of it. That’s what Shan and Leonie have been investigating. Not our ghost story. He says—wait, really?”
“What?” Archie asked, looking between them.
Finley gulped. “Rufus says Shan can detect lies. He knew right from the start that we weren’t telling the truth.”
“A two-year-old could have spotted that,” Ignatius said.
“Hang on,” Archie said, eyes wide. “Are you saying there’s actually a ghost in the woods?”
“Of course there isn’t,” Spencer said. He folded his arms. “Ghosts aren’t real.”
Finley’s expression also conveyed distinct doubts. “Well, Rufus thinks there’s something out there.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Tiff exclaimed. “Let’s go find it! Right now!”
“That would solve everything,” Beth said slowly. “If we could honestly say we’d seen something strange, Shan wouldn’t leave.”
Archie nodded eagerly. “Plus, it would be awesome.”
“Oh, come on,” Ignatius said. “Even if there is some unknown paranormal entity lurking in the woods—which I highly doubt—how do you idiots plan to prove it before sunrise? What are you going to do, randomly wander into the forest in the hope of bumping into it?”
“Yes,” said Estelle. She exchanged a meaningful look with Beth. “I think that’s exactly what we should do.”
“You know this is a set-up, right?” Spencer muttered to Tiff as they pushed their way through the forest.
Tiff gave him a puzzled glance over her backpack. “What do you mean?”
“Come on. Even you can’t be this gullible.” Spencer scowled suspiciously around at the trees. “Why do you think the others insisted on splitting up into pairs? And sending us off on our own?”
Tiff shrugged, ducking under a low branch. “Because that way, we can cover more ground. They’re really worried about our counselors. If we don’t find the ghost tonight, Shan’s out of here.”
“Oh, I certain we’re going to find something. It’s just not going to be a ghost. I wish I could figure out how Estelle’s planning to get round Shan’s ability. He’s going to know that she’s lying.”
“Unless she isn’t,” Tiff said cheerfully. “Come on, hurry up. We need to get as far away from the camp as we can.”
Spencer sighed. “I really should have listened to Ignatius.”
Nonetheless, he followed. Tiff chose the route, taking care to steer clear of the established trails. The two kids scrambled over fallen trees and wriggled through undergrowth, always heading deeper into the wild.
“Okay,” Tiff said at last. She shrugged off her backpack. “This looks like a good place. Help me move these leaves.”
Spencer sighed again, but started dragging a foot through the leaf litter, exposing bare earth. “How can you possibly think you’re going to find anything out here? Shan didn’t, and he’s an actual special agent. Apparently.”
“Because I have skills he doesn’t,” Tiff said, busy rummaging in her backpack.
She pulled out a large container of cooking salt.
“I’m an expert in the occult. Besides, it’s midnight, we’re in the middle of nowhere without any adults, and you’re a skeptic who doesn’t believe in ghosts.
Of course something is going to leap out and eat your face. ”
“My face? What about your face?”
“I’m the sassy blonde everyone underestimates.” Tiff started pouring out a trail of salt, making a wide circle on the ground. “Obviously I’m going to survive. It would be a terrible cliche otherwise. Besides, weasel, remember? Here, take these.”
Spencer looked at what she’d handed him. “Glow sticks?”
“Well, we can’t use candles. Didn’t you listen to any of Buck’s lectures about forest fires? Space them out around the edge of the summoning circle.” Tiff stepped back, regarding her handiwork with satisfaction. “Perfect. Now all we need is the sacrifice.”
Spencer froze in the middle of shaking a glow stick. “What kind of sacrifice?”
“Relax.” Tiff delved into her backpack again. “I brought a baloney sandwich.”
“This whole thing is baloney,” Spencer muttered. He jammed the last glow stick into the ground. “Can we get this over with? If we don’t get back to camp before the counselors notice we’re gone, ghosts are going to be the least of our worries.”
Tiff arranged the baloney sandwich in the middle of the circle. “Okay, that should do it. Now we need to hold hands.”
“Fine.” Heaving an even bigger sigh, Spencer dutifully clasped both her hands. “But don’t break my fingers when Estelle inevitably leaps out of the bushes with a sheet over her head.”
“Shush. You’re spoiling the vibes.” Tiff closed her eyes. Her voice dropped to a low, spooky monotone. “Hear these words, hear my cry, spirits from the other side—”
“That’s from Charmed! You’re just quoting Charmed!”
Tiff cracked open an eye. “And how exactly do you know that, Mister I’m-so-rational-I-only-read-science-textbooks?”
Spencer’s cheeks flushed. “Uh… my mom watches stuff like that sometimes.”
“If you say so.” Tiff settled back into an attitude of intent spiritual communion. “See how we bring you this offering of finest—”
“Processed lunch meat,” Spencer muttered.
“Will you stop interrupting?” Tiff snapped. “Who’s summoning a ghost here, me or you?”
“Neither.” Spencer pulled his hands out of hers, scowling. “This is pointless. You’re not going to summon anything with a sandwich and quotes from old TV shows.”
Tiff folded her arms. “All right then. If you’re such an expert, you do the summoning spell.”
“Fine,” Spencer snapped. He raised his voice. “Hey! Is there anybody out there!”
Out there… there… there…
The sarcastic words bounced through the trees, echoing. A high, eerie screech came in answer. Both kids started, drawing together.
“I really wish you hadn’t done that,” Tiff whispered.
Spencer swallowed, but straightened. “Estelle! Beth! Stop messing around. I know it’s you.”
The screech came from a different direction this time. A shadowy shape swooped soundlessly out of the trees, landing on a nearby branch. It swiveled its head, then screeched again.
Spencer let out his breath, dropping his hand from his glasses. “It’s an owl. Just an owl.”
“It looks like an owl,” Tiff corrected, not letting go of his arm. “It could be a spirit from beyond the veil.”
“Tiff, it’s a perfectly normal owl. Pair of owls,” Spencer corrected himself, as a second bird joined the first. Another one fluttered out of the darkness, perching nearby. “That is, uh…”
“Spencer?” Tiff whispered, as yet more screeches echoed from the woods. “I don’t think owls usually travel in big flocks.”
Spencer swallowed. “They probably just want your sandwich.”
Two dozen round orange eyes stared down at them. The owls were silent now. Each one was perfectly still.
“Um,” Tiff said. She tugged at Spencer’s arm. “I think we should let them have it.”
“Here, take it!” Spencer kicked the sandwich, scattering slices of baloney. “Go on, shoo!”
None of the owls moved.
By unspoken agreement, both kids slowly stepped back. Never taking their eyes off the owls, they edged away.
And a dry, creaking voice whispered, right behind them: “Run.”