Bear Child (Book 1)

Chapter 22

              22. The Amulet

          We got up so early in the morning that the sun was barely casting any light. In fact, the northern lights were still visible. Amorak was the first of all of us to wake up. I, on the other hand, was the last. "Clair." Sonia whispered, slightly shaking my sleeping body. I ignored her, sleep still on my mind. Seeing that I didn't do anything, she shook me a little harder. "Clair." She repeated louder. "Five more minutes." I muttered sleepily, and I shrugged her off and turned over so that my back was facing her. She gave an exasperated sigh. "Clair!" she hissed, shaking me violently. My eyes snapped open, and I looked around to see Amorak and Alex taking down a tent. Sonia was on her knees next to me, already dressed, glaring down at me. I shot Sonia a look of daggers. "What?" I growled, annoyance plain in my tone. "Finally you're up!" Sonia exclaimed. "Do I have a choice?" I asked groggily. "No, not really." She replied. Shaking my head, I looked up to the sky. It was still dark, but the purplish tint meant that the sun's light was lighting the sky.

          "Sonia, it's not even sunrise yet! What time is it?!" I asked, still not out of my sleeping bag, not daring to leave its warmth. She checked her watch. "3:30 in the morning." She replied. I sighed, turning my back to her as I closed my eyes and tried to fall back to sleep. "Oh no you don't!" Sonia exclaimed, shaking my shoulder. "Ugh! Fine! I'll get up!" I growled. She gave me a triumphant grin before standing up. "As soon as you're done changing, help us pack up the tents." She said. I nodded, getting up from under the warmth of my sleeping bag and into the tent. It was really pointless to set them up if we were going to sleep outside. But then again, like Sonia had said, just in case of anything. Besides, I sure wasn't going to change in the cover the bushes!

          Digging through my hiking pack, I grabbed a brown sweater and put it on, not even bothering to change my jeans. No one would notice the difference. Besides, I had only packed two pairs. The brown sweater was cold when I put it on, but I ignored it and went back outside to help the others. Sonia was taking down her own tent while Alex was putting away the tents that had already been taken down. Amorak was in the distance taking down the cooler of food that hung from a tree. Seeing that my tent was the only one up, I went back inside to grab everything that was inside of it and began to take it down. "Don't forget your sleeping bag." Alex reminded me. I nodded, still trying to pull out the pegs from the ground. Taking out the pegs was the part I hated the most about taking down a tent. Sometimes they just wouldn’t come out!

          "I suggest you three taking out some snacks for your breakfast before you forget." Amorak told us. "As soon as everything's packed up, we're leaving." We all nodded and stopped briefly to head towards the food cooler and get our so-called breakfast. I had settled for some trail mix while Sonia and Alex got nutrition bars. Everything was packed up pretty quickly, and before I had fully recovered from my sleepiness, we headed off into the forest, making our way back to Butte. It was exhausting and not nearly as laid back as before, but we managed to make it all the way back to the truck about an hour before sunset. The entire time, the amulet seemed to way a ton in my pocket, always tempting me to take it out. However, I wasn’t sure I should show Alex and Sonia yet. They might start asking questions.

          We all hopped into the truck, Alex desperately wanting to rest. As soon as he got on the back of the truck, he let himself collapse onto the hay. "Oh come on, Alex! We had breaks! It wasn’t that bad!" Sonia told him. "Weak." I told her, just loud enough for Alex to hear. "Hey!" He exclaimed, glaring at me and Sonia. I just looked at him innocently while Sonia but her lip, fighting back a smile. Sonia climbed on next, and I want the last one on. "You kids ready?" Amorak called. We gave him a thumbs up, and he started up the engine of the old truck. With a protesting wheeze, the engine roared to life. "Clair, I'm going to drop you off first, alright?"  Amorak called back to me. "Why not just drop Alex off first?" I asked. "Well, I'm sure your father will like to have you home before he starts to worry. Beside, you must have . . . things to do, right?" I couldn’t help but think that he was referring to my bear. I nodded, unsure if that was the case. He gave me a look that confirmed my thoughts.