Star Fall

Camp Targon

Jinx slips a floppy sunhat on as she ambles down from the bus. She had insisted on wearing her bathing suit on the ride over. The obnoxiously loud colors of her bikini are tempered only by the sheer cover-up billowing behind her in the breeze.
"Alright, nerds," she sighs. "I'm going to find the pool. Time for some cannonballs."
"It's a lake," Poppy corrects her while carefully watching the bus driver unload our gear onto a patch of grass.
"Whatever, Short Stack." Jinx grabs a tote bag graffitied with hand-drawn stars and over-sized guns from the top of the pile. As she passes Lulu, Jinx tugs on the teal butterfly bow in Lulu's hair. "See ya later, Loops."
I look at Poppy.
"She didn't actually bring a cannon, did she?"
Poppy shrugs. "Do you really think she could keep her mouth shut about it if she did?"
I'm about to call after Jinx and insist she stay with the group, when I hear a groan behind me. I watch as the bus driver pulls out the last bag, his arms quivering with the effort. The blue duffel is nearly as big as Poppy. She watches him carefully, her foot tapping out an impatient rhythm in the dry grass.
He sets the duffel down with a little grunt. "What have you got in there, kid? Rocks?"
"Nope." Poppy reaches over and snatches up the handles of the duffel, swinging it over her shoulder with ease. She flashes a toothy, satisfied grin at the bus driver. "A hammer."
Poppy gives me the same smile, I'm sure remembering the challenge I gave everyone before we left, that we're here to blend in and hang out. Be normal. She grabs the handle of Jinx's forgotten wheeled bag and nudges Lulu gently.
"Come on, Lulu. Our campsite isn't going to set itself up," she says cheerfully.
Lulu nods, humming a song only she knows the melody to. She flutters from wildflower to pinecone to pebble, marveling at every treasure the camp has to offer while Poppy maintains her dutiful march down the trail.
The bus starts back up again and then pulls onto the road. I watch until it disappears behind an outcropping of rocks and trees.
"No turning back now, huh, Janna?" All I can hear is a breeze blowing through the pines. I spin around slowly. The last of the other stragglers from the bus are already halfway down the trail to the camp. The bus drop off point is empty. "Janna?"
I finally find Janna standing on the rounded top of a granite boulder that's sunk deep in dirt. She's got her back to me. Her hands are wrapped around her arms and the curls of her lavender hair are bouncing in the invisible breeze.
"Janna?"
I drop my backpack on a clump of grass and clamber up to stand next to her. Down in the little valley below us I can see the bustle of other campers and teams setting up. Between the trees there's the glittery sparkle of Lake Lunari. My bet is that Jinx has already launched herself in there. I feel a smile cross my face as I wonder if she realizes that it's fed by snowmelt.
But Janna's not looking at any of that. She's so tall. I shade my eyes from the sun and look up for a few minutes, straining to see what she sees. It's another piercingly blue summer sky, empty save for the craggy face of Mount Targon and a few white clouds. My elbow brushes her arm as I shift my position.
Janna looks over surprised.
"Oh. Hi," she says, like I haven't been standing next to her for the last five minutes. She smiles, but I can tell that she's still worried about whatever it is that's been bothering her. She looks over to where the bus dropped us off.
"Where did everybody go?"
"Wow." I shake my head. "You really are somewhere else, huh?" I look back at the purplish-gray outline of Mt. Targon framed by a dark fringe of pine. There's still snow on the peak this late in the summer.
Janna rubs her hands over her bare shoulders and sucks in a breath as if she were suddenly chilled. It's not even a little cold. The clear sky and sun overhead make me wish for the first time that I had followed Jinx's advice and just worn a swimsuit and shorts. I fan my face with our camp registration.
"We should get going," Janna says, her long legs stepping down easily from the boulder as if walking on air. She looks back at me as I fumble down the rock. Her smile fades as she glances back up at the sky. "There's a storm coming."
"What?" I try and look back at the sky, but my foot slips on a pocket of loose gravel and the roundness of the rock. As usual, too many things at once. I sit down hard in a puff of dust, the back of my leg scraping on the rock.
"Ow." I wince at the sting. Just what I need. Lulu, Poppy, and Jinx blown to the corners of the camp. Janna feeling like she's on another planet. And now their intrepid leader is going to be taken out by her own two left feet.
"Fantastic," I mumble into my hand as I rub my face.
A cool breeze catches the damp hair at the back of my neck. I look up to Janna offering a healing hand.
"Nope," I say. I manage a smile. "I'm fine. Remember, no powers while we're here."
Janna shrugs. "Better be careful then, we've only got one leader," she says. She looks at me and I'm sure she can hear all the doubt rattling around in my head. She turns back to the trail as I stand up.
"Let's hurry," she calls over her shoulder. "We'd all be lost without you."
I let out the breath I've been holding. That's what I'm afraid of.