The Smell Of Magic

Chapter 6

I woke up in the infirmary. Mady was lying in a bed beside me. I sat up and immediately regretted it. My stomach turned and my head spun. I quickly layed back down. Then I stared up at the ceiling. What had happened last night? I thought. I looked over at Mady and saw that she was coming too. She blinked and looked over at me. She sat up.

"I feel like I'm going to barf," she said and clutched her stomach.

"What happened?" I asked her and she layed back down, facing me.

"I just remember that glowing yellow thing"

"Me too. I don't remember anything after that"

"Same here" And the camp nurse, Amelia, came and handed each of us a cup of water.

"How are you girls doing?" she asked softly and sat on the chair at the end of Mady's bed. I sipped my water and answered.

"Fine" I lied and Amelia saw right through me. She raised her eyebrows and I gave in. "Not so good" I said and sipped my water again as Amelia nodded and turned her attention to Mady.

"How are you feeling?" she asked Mady.

"Like I'm gonna lose last night's dinner," She covered her mouth.

"Keep drinking," Amelia said and went to the counter. I sipped my water slowly, trying to remember the events that took place last night in tent 23. I strained to clear up my memory. Mady, Ivy, Zady, Kahlen and I went tent hopping to tent 23... Kahlen tried flirting with the twins... we almost got caught... the glowing, yellow silhouette... Rowan...my tent mates...

I sat up and almost choked on my water. Are my tent mates ok? Is Rowan ok? I thought.

"Are you ok?" Amelia asked frantically.

"Yeah..." I trailed off then I turned to my sister.

"Do you remember anything?" I asked Mady. Amelia listened.

"We went tent hopping... Greyson and Noah knew who we were... the staff and then the glowing thing..." Mady sounded just as confused and disoriented as I felt.

"Tent hopping?" Amelia asked and I realized what Mady had said. She had just told Amelia that we went tent hopping. We were screwed.

"Shoot," Mady muttered.

"I'm sure Kahlen already told the entire camp what happened," I said. Rumors spread like wildfire at camp especially when your friends with Kahlen.

"I'm not going to punish you for it, especially when you're both clearly ill" Amelia said, taking our empty cups of water. She appeared moments later with a thermometer. She checked our temperatures and gasped when she looked at it.

"You're temperature is 105" Amelia's voice was shaky and the thermometer trembled in her hand.

"What?" I gasped.

"Mady's is 99" the confused nurse said. I turned to Mady and she looked at me, confused. Amelia went to wash the thermometer so, despite my headache and turning stomach, I jumped off the bed and walked over to Mady.

"What was that thing?" She asked and I thought of the spellbook waiting in the tent.

"I'm not sure but I think I know it's source" I said and I could tell Mady knew what I was talking about.

"But why would it only affect us?" Mady asked.

"I don't know that either" I admitted. Amelia was coming back so I retreated to my bed.

"Mady, you can go to your activities but you, Nor, have to go to the clinic" Amelia said. Mady looked at me with wide eyes; I knew she was thinking the same thing as I was. Whatever that thing was last night, it wasn't human. The sickness we have is magic based so it can't be fixed with regular medicine.

"I'm fine" I said and got up with Mady. Amelia didn't believe me for a second. She walked towards me, pushed some Advil into my hands and patted the bed next to me. I sat down and took out an Advil. I watched as Mady waved goodbye and left. I could read her, of course. She was going to get mom's healing potion. Amelia let me get my water bottle from the tent and I met Mady there.

"Thank God you can read minds," Mady said and handed me the potion. No one else was in the tent so I poured a bit into my water bottle, shook it up and took a sip.

"Thank God for this potion or else I'd be in a lab next week." I said and kept drinking.

"We should write to mom" She said and I nodded. Before I headed back to the infirmary, Mady and I made a quick trip to the empty waterfront. I checked that no one was around before I moved my fingers and formed a piece of paper with a letter from Mady and I. It read:

Weird things keep happening and we don't know how to deal with them without using our powers. They were all things that each of us could cause but we didn't. I (Nor) found a spellbook in the library. It's called The Spellbook of The Weird And Wary. Do you know anything about it? Send Clover with the response. We miss her.

Miss you, love you,

Mady and Nor

I folded into a paper airplane, Mady read it and, with a flick of her wrist, sent it off to Tsav. Mom would reply by tomorrow with Clover. I went back to the infirmary before Amelia got suspicious. Mady went to Waterskiing. I went and laid down on the bed and pretended to be sick even though the healing potion had taken effect by now. Amelia checked my temperature and saw that it had gone down.

"Your fever broke," she said and smiled. "I still don't want you leaving here. We have to figure out why you were this sick in the first place" She said.

"It could've just been a heat stroke" I shrugged.

"Maybe" Amelia put her finger to her mouth. The infirmary is under the Dining Hall so when I heard footsteps from above, I knew that lunch had started. A few minutes later, my tent mates and Rowan shuffled in.

"How are you doing?" Ivy asked as Rowan brought me a pizza bagel. I took the plate gratefully and took a bite of the bagel. I was so hungry.

"Better after the Advil" I said and Mady winked at me from behind the others.

"Good," Zady said and they all huddled around my bed.

"Hey, what happened last night?" I asked no one in particular. I knew Mady's point of view but I wanted to hear it from a non-magical being.

"You and Mady just collapsed after the staff left," Kahlen said. "You guys were unconscious so we called for the staff and they took you guys to the infirmary" She continued and I nodded slowly. She didn't mention the glowing figure so I kept it to myself. I figured that seeing things wasn't good for my case so I stayed quiet. I thanked my friends and they left me alone to 'get some rest'. I ate my lunch and went upstairs to put my plate on the counter. The minute I entered the hall, people started murmuring and whispering. I was right about the wildfire.

I went to my tent to grab a book and retreated to the infirmary. Amelia was waiting for me with a cup of cocoa in her hands. I thanked her and gulped it down. I laid in bed, the mug warming my hands and my book open in front of me. It was weird not being in the tent during free time but it wasn't horrible. After free time, I usually had dance but I was still stuck in the infirmary with Amelia giving me water and soup.

Ivy and Mady rushed over to tell me what they did in dance and give me a welcome demonstration. A&C was next though I didn't get to make crafts with my friends. After a very boring Awkward Hour, my tent mates and Rowan came down to see how I was doing. Kahlen handed me a plate of lasagna while each of them recounted what they did today. Just as I did at lunch, I brought my plate up to the Dining Hall only to hear more murmuring. People bombarded me with questions like: 'did you faint?' or 'is it true you saw a demon?'

Questions that I didn't want to answer. I ignored the bustle and made my way back down to the infirmary while the others went off to EP.

Amelia occasionally checked my temperature to find that it got lower and lower. Even so, she insisted I stay the night. I went to my tent to change, brush my teeth and say goodnight to my tent mates. I bumped into Georgina on my way to the infirmary and she gave me a hug. I read for a bit, my eyes were tired from doing nothing all day. Amelia gave me some Advil that I pretended to take and I slowly drifted off to sleep.