Six Moon Summer

TWO Full Moon

Hallo!! So here is the next chapter! Don't worry, everything will be explained later. Enjoy! ;)

Three months earlier...

Empty buses idled in the parking lot at the bottom of Gray Mountain. Almost everyone had arrived for the first day of camp an hour ago, but one girl came in her own car.

"This is it," announced Rylie's dad. "Camp Silver Brook." He tried to sound upbeat. Rylie could tell he was faking it.

She glared at the camp's entrance. The footpath was marked by a tall sign carved out of a tree, but she couldn't see any cabins from the parking lot. Dense trees prevented sunlight from reaching the ground even though the day was sunny, so the forest looked dreary and dark.

Three months of this: dirt, pine needles, and having to share a cabin with strangers.

"Thanks for the ride, Dad." Rylie didn't pretend to sound happy. Missing the bus hadn't been an accident.

"Come on, it's not that bad. Aren't you excited? You can ride horses and go in a canoe and take lots of hikes." Her dad got to the trunk before she could pick up her bag.

"Yeah. I'm thrilled. Can I have my backpack?"

"Let me walk you in," he said.

Rylie grimaced. "Dad. I'm almost sixteen. I don't need to be babysat."

"Come on, humor your old man."

She rolled her eyes but didn't argue.

They walked up the trail together, backpack slung over his shoulder and her gaze fixed on her pristine leather hiking boots. Rylie's mom said the shoes were a going away present for the summer, but she knew they were actually an apology for the divorce.

The buses pulled away by the time Rylie and her dad reached the top of the hill, leaving their car alone at the bottom.

After living in the city for so long, the forest seemed too quiet. Her footsteps echoed against the slopes of the mountain and her breath was loud in her ears, although it might have been the asthma making her wheeze. Rylie touched her pocket to reassure herself that the inhaler was there. She was probably allergic to everything in the woods.

It was a long walk up the trail on Gray Mountain. Rylie's dad wasn't in good shape, and he was struggling within minutes.

"Look, Rylie," he panted, and she recognized the beginning of another apology.

"Don't worry about it," she interrupted. "Really."

He scrubbed a hand over his balding scalp, wiping the sweat away. "It will all be better by the time you come home in August. I promise."

She didn't reply. What was there to say? It wouldn't be better in August. It would never be better unless she could go back to a house with her mom and her dad. A house where they didn't yell all the time. A house where they didn't get rid of their daughter so their lawyers could fight in peace.

Rylie heard voices before she saw the other campers: four large groups of girls, all around her age. They laughed and chatted, pushing each other around, meeting old friends and making new ones.

Counselors with clipboards led them toward a fork in the path marked by a sign indicating "Silver Brook." The other sign read "Golden Lake."

"Excuse me," said Rylie's dad. "Excuse me!"

People turned to look at them, and Rylie stared harder at her shoes. A counselor broke away from the group. "You must be Rylie! Glad you made it!"

"Thanks," she told the ground.