ONE
Calle Valasquez wasn't ready to die. Not here. Not now. Not like this. Not standing in the middle of the pitch-black forcst clutch ing a roll of toilet paper. No. That just seemed wrong. She was only sixteen. But was going to happen. Especaly if that thing that snorting, breathing, hulking thing-managed to pick up her Scent. Callie stood perfectly still. She tried as hard as she could to p her breath shallow, but the terror gripping her heart kept making her want to suck in air, to cough. Her knees quaked and her stomach twisted itself into horrible, ever-tightening knots. Why had she used that straw shampoo this morning? The sugary scent wafted from er thick, dark. meticulously straight ened har or could the thing out there smell her coconut body wade or maybe the chemical odor of the green nail polish she'd applied to her toes in the kirchen after breakfast thinking it was so hiking-appropriate? Callie looked down at her bare, throbbing toes in her new Teva flp flops. Maybe it was her feet They'd been pretty rank when she'd peeled off her sweaty sock s and carefully applied first aid cream and Band Aids to her lavely new oh God. Could it smell her feet? Another snort. This one even closer than the last. She could feel the things presence just behind her like a pulsating warmth. It was so large it radiatl hear. She imagined a huge brown bear with a snout e as her falters band A wild bar awful fangs glint- ing in the moonlight A mountain lion. crouched low and taut primed for the kill. Her instincts told her to run, but her fear kept her fruzen. That and some vague notion from a movie shed once as kid that the best policy in this situation was not to d attention. Dears couldnt see you unless you mmed or was that What was she even doing here being part of thc popular crowd in the timy up town of Mosion Hill, New York. really so important to her that she had to risk her li just because she had some insane need to pruve that she was no longer the nerd she'd been backin Chicago, now she was going to die? The moment Lisa Barton and Penelope Grange had noticed her in the cafeteria that second week of school, when Callie had been the ally new girl shed latched on to them like a life raft in a And that moment had dreetly t 15 one. Calle had never been camping in her life. Had never felt the campag But ths was apparenty what people did fun in upstate New York at last, what her new friends did for f here was having loads and loads of fun. When her boyfriend, Jeremy HiRins-yes, Callie had a boy- friend now, another upside to being newly popul had pieked her up this mo she'd been so nervous she started up a kind of mantra- to through. Yet here she was, evening one, about to get eaten alive. Shevaguerwonderdlf te thing would mal her fiends after was done with her-Hy Callier Jeremy shouted from ther campsite which was probably forty yards from where she was standing"Are you okay There was a rprised snort and. suddenly, the thing took off nto the woods. Callie whipped around in the direction of snap- Fing rwip and crunching leaves, but saw nothin Just some low, weak branchei crushed in the under brush n Carty: She heaved a breath, bent at the waist, and presal her hand to her heart. tears squeezing from Youre okay," she whispered her eyes You're okay, you're okay, you're okay" She was going to live nght. By Sunday she d be back in her dad's car an they d be driving the airport to p ck up her mom after her summer in o'aulo Then, net week. she and her mom would go to New York City for a back-to-school shop- ping trip Callie was going to live to see her mother again. To finish writing at least one of the ten short stories she'd started since To read the rest of the series and finish painting her new bedroom now that she'd finally settled on that pretty aqua alter three mtsguided attempts in the purple family. Everything was going to be fine. Calle stood up straight and turned around. She had no clue which direction she was facing She'd lost her bearings when she'd whirled to spot whatever it was that had crept up on her Was the camp in front of her, bchind here was the skin muddy tal ded taken to get here A low mewl escaped her lips. Callie brought her hands to her head, the soft triple ply of Penelopes toilet paper soaking up her sweat. She thought about shouting our for help, but she didn't want to look like an idiot. Lisa and Penelope had already spent half the day teasing her for not breaking in her hiking boots, for packing her makrup bag and a change of earrings was sitting water bome which ahe knsw a ting the Lachan counter where she'd thought she wouldnt missit on her way ou: the dose didnt warr them ta hink they nendal to babysit her Gery if that was what you could time she had to use ng next to a tree. Ew even call what thed last done If only a total and which was alerting or ut shed left it in the tamal uselessly on a Hanket by the fire. Think Youre a straight A You survivrd getting lost on the Chicago L by yourself old You can figure out which drecion to walk to ret buck to camp r was funny, reall Until she'd always thought of herself as a survivor. Her purents liad been letting her walk home frum with her friends in Chicago unse she was eight. At twelve, one, Yiut her grandmother, and haln t moan rn freaked out or ed once With friends bek in Chic go, she was the leader-tie exact rigl number of pizzas for aparty of fif people, and figure out the tip She hadnt even crumbed when her paren her her dad hud Bxten the at Come l Law and they were moving New Yok kaving behind the frends ilieal had her entire life and the only neighborhood ihed ever called home. Dur seemal upstate New York survival klls were entirely different from outer Loop Chea RD survival skills. Callie looked up. It was past eight o'clock on an August night. The sky was deep ink blue beyond the tangled canopy of branches and leaves, and every last tree trunk looked black in the darkness. Black and exactly the same. okay. Forget pride. Pride was stupid. It was time to shout for her friends. She opened her mouth just as a hand came down on her shoulder.
Two
Callie didn't shour she screamed! He' It's just me Jremy walnalhis high on his face, the bright white illuminating the dark flop of hair over his concerned brown hs cher and disoriented Calle Gaming gren dots momentarily, until she realized that his Milky Way galaxy was of the glow-in in-the dark variety. celle a ruh warm relief The that Jaemy was at least a foot taller than her, with his runner's legs and his broad shoulders was uddenly very comforting. Nothing fazed Jeremy He was smart. ractical reliable funny, and-thank God-here reachalov and hugged him as right as she could. There's something out here," she said into the sofr cotton of his shirt. The little rubbery stars were cool against her skin. Some kind of animal. "Really? Where?" Totally casual Luke she was a to point out some rare vari- ery of plant t seemed that growing up surrounded by mountains had inured her friends to what Callie saw as obvious dangers Jeremy shone his light around them in a circle and Callie grmd his free hand. She held her breath, dreading the thought of feral eyes glittering in the dark. Dont. I don't want to know. Let's just get back to camp
