Camp Tornado: Part Four

Talia rose to her feet. She looked over at June, and considered waking her. 

But if we’re going to investigate the lake, what if we have to swim? The thought made her gut do a little twisty thing. But she shook it off, and tip toed back out the room, to two very bashful looking boys.

She looked between the two, noting the small bag in Darions hand, “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get going!”

The Dragons Tale Trail was much spookier at night. Every crackle of a branch, every sigh of the wind, and every crunch underfoot sent her mind spiraling through possibilities.

She had brought her notebook, but it was pointless in the dark, and they needed the flashlight to make sure they didn’t take any more tumbles.

“Uh, Talia…” Darion stepped up to stand beside her, “Maybe we should turn back.”

“What are you talking about? We’re almost there!” Talia said, not taking her eyes off the path ahead. “Besides, this was your idea!”

“Ah, see, that’s the thing.” Darion said, coming to a halt, “That wasn’t our plan.” He shifted his bag between his two hands, glancing at the ground.

“What, were you going out for a picnic?” Talia came to a halt.

“Something like that.” Even in the dark, she could tell he was blushing.

Talia thought for a moment, and then it clicked. “Oh. You were going to go on a date.”

“Until you came crashing in.” Darion laughed.

“Well why didn’t you tell me earlier!” Talia cried, throwing her hands in the air, before laughing.

“Better late then never?” He shrugged.
Darion glanced behind him, to where Draco was supposed to be taking up the rear.

“Draco?”

Silence.

“Draco!”

Talia whirled her flashlight all around. Illuminating nothing but empty crevices.

Before Talia could even think about what they were going to do, Darion had started running down the path, shouting Draco’s name.
Talia tensed, then hopped from foot to foot, looking from side to side.
What if Draco wandered off the trail, and isn’t back here, and he get’s more lost.
What if he fell off a cliff, like I did?
What if he get’s eaten by a walking Shark?

Finally, “Darion, wait!”
Talia burst after him, shouting Draco’s name from right behind him.

What if he’s dead, and it’s your fault?
They didn’t sign up for this, they were just going to be idiots for fun.

You wanted to be an idiot so you could have an adventure.

Look where that’s got you.

Trouble, like Mother always says-

Talia slammed into Darions back. He had come to a halt, staring down at his feet.

Talia blinked, then put a hand on his shoulder, “Hey, don’t worry, I’m sure he is-“

Darion shook his head, and pointed down onto the path.
To a long line, as if someone had been dragged down, and pulled into the forest.
“He’s been gone for ages, and we didn’t even notice.” Darion said, “How could I not notice?”

Talia shook him, “Now’s not the time for self-pity and regret, Darion! Now’s the time for search and rescue! Let’s go!”

Talia sidestepped around the trail, and followed it down a slope. Trying to look bright, even as her stomach hurled, and her muscles ached.

Darion stumbled along close behind her, his breathing ragged. Talia tried to think of something comforting, but just as she was about to open her mouth-

Something caught her eye.

Something bad.

Something really, really, bad.

Blood. She saw blood.

Chapter Seven: All Tied Up

Darion gasped, and grabbed Talias arm. He was shaking so hard, Talia nearly fell to the ground.

But she didn’t. Instead, she grabbed Darions hand, and burst off running down the hill, tripping and falling all the way. She slammed into branches, and her foot got caught under roots.
But she kept running.

And she kept dragging Darion along with her.

Because Draco wasn’t dead yet.

Not if she had something to say about it.

They kept going. They kept going until the ground evened out. They kept going until Darion let go of her hand, and ran ahead of her. They kept going, until they stood in front of a Lair.

No, it’s a cave. She reminded herself.

But it looked like a Lair, with broken webs flowing in the slight breeze, the warm, uncomfortable heat that spread from its gaping mouth, like the breath from a dying Dragon, and the shadows creeping out of the edge, like thousands of spiders fleeing from a hole.

For a moment, they stood in front of it. Wondering what exactly awaited them when they entered, and whether they’d ever come out of it again.

“But that’s where the trail leads.” Talia said, her eyes glassy. “And so that is where they must go.”

Darion shook himself, and then walked in. He paused at the mouth, “Are you coming or what?”

Talia stared into the emptiness, “Yeah, I’m coming.”
She walked in, reaching into her backpack to pull out a pocket knife.

She passed the flashlight to Darion as they entered, glancing around.
Just like the outside, there were webs everywhere. The heat got worse and worse the farther they got, to the point that Talia was slick with sweat.
She rubbed her fingers against the smooth edge of her pocket knife, glancing from one edge of the light to the other.

“Odds of survival, zero.” Talia muttered, “But will our heroes defy those odds?”

Darion shot her a look, and she stopped.

Now it was quiet. Too quiet.

And then, from the depths of the cave, came a hiss.

And it got closer, and closer still.
Darion slowly raised the flashlight, the light shaking-

And then before them was a hideous, furry, long and sharp spider.

Talia and Darion screamed. The flashlight dropped to the ground, as Darion backed away.
Talia couldn’t see anything. All she heard was the beating of her heart, and the pounding of her head.

She ran forward to grab the flashlight. But then she heard the scurrying of feet. It felt like a million insects were crawling up her spine.

Then Talia was pinned to the ground, by a long, spindly leg.

“Darion!” She screeched. “DARION!”

The knife fell from her grasp, she heard it thud to the ground.

Darions shadow edged over to the wall. It stumbled over something, and he froze.

“DARION, STOP STARING AT THE SKELETONS!”

Talia returned to fighting against the spider.
But then its eyes turned to look at her, and it pressed its leg harder into her chest.

Talia gasped, clutching at it, trying to breathe, as her vision faded to red.
She barely noticed as the spider wound thread around her, first her feet, then her legs…

Talia turned her head, to stare at where she knew Darion must be. She was getting very tired. All she could do was mouth help.

Right as she was about to faint, she saw the outline of Darion slam into the spider.

What an idiot.

Then Darion climbed the leg, as the spider shrieked.
It stumbled off of her. Talia gasped, fighting for air, and sat up, clutching her chest.

She turned her head, and saw the knife laying feet away from her.
The Spider stumbled closer.

Talia rolled over, grabbed the knife, slid under the spider, and stabbed it.

It hissed. Louder than before. And Talias fear came crashing back into her.

But then it fell forward, thudding to the ground, with Darion still clutching it, covered in mud and silk.

Talia collapsed onto the floor, panting.

For a moment, they sat like that, shaking and crying and laughing all at once.
Talia fought to stand to her feet, and looked down at her wound. She winced. The adrenaline was wearing off, and it was starting to pound.
She dug through her back pack, until she found her First Aid Kit. She dragged out some cotton first, and poured on the alcohol, before partially lifting her shirt to examine the wound.

The blood made it seem worse than it really was. It was more likely that it was the pressure of the spider that almost made her faint.

Still, better safe than sorry.

Talia cleaned the wound, and wrapped it in bandages, wincing all the way.

Darion slid down from the spider, and walked over to Talia.

Darion hoisted Talia to her feet, “Are you Okay?”

“Oh, yes,” Talia panted, “We just battled a giant spider at Summer Camp. I’m doing grand.”

Darion grimaced. “Fair enough.” He looked around, deeper into the cave, “We need to find Draco.”

Talia nodded, and limped along after Darion, clutching her stomach.

What am I going to tell everyone when we come back like this?
Covered in my own blood, and a spiders.

Why is there a spider in the woods anyway? Does Ms. Kemble know about it?
Of course. She knows about the tower, doesn’t she?

Are these even connected?

Talia pulled out her phone, and winced. The screen was shattered beyond repair.

Mother’s going to kill me.

Finally, they heard muffled shouting.

“Draco!” Darion cried, running forward.
Just beyond them was a large web, stretched from one side of the cave to the other, and there was a glowing light emitting from behind it.
“Talia, can you cut these webs?” Darion asked.

Draco was tied up in the webs almost completely, right up to his mouth. He was like a mummy.

Talia stepped forward, and carefully cut the webs apart, until Draco fell forward into Darion.
Draco was crying, and shaking even harder than Darion was.

“WHY is there a giant SPIDER here?” He shouted. “It was going to EAT me!”

“Draco, what happened?” Talia asked, “How come we didn’t hear you getting dragged away?”

Draco stepped back from the two of them, face still red, “I had fallen behind, because you had the flashlight, and I was being careful. And then I realized you guys were way too far ahead of me. I was about to call out to you, when this web grabbed me!” He looked around.
“Where’d it go? Did you kill it?” He asked Darion.

“Of course we did!” He said, “Though Tallfield did most of the Spider slaying.”

“Well,” Draco said, “I suppose I owe you my life.” He wiped his hand free of Spider webs, before shaking hers. “But we are totally going to discuss this. And also, please explain the Lake to me.”

So Talia and Darion filled him in. Draco shook his head the whole time, sinking to the ground.

“If I hadn’t just been kidnapped by a spider, I might’ve called you insane.” He said, folding his hands. “So what are we going to do about it?”

“Well, that’s simple.” Darion said, as Talia opened her mouth, “We get out of this forest, and call the Police.”

Before either of them could react, they heard a voice.

It was quiet, and muffled, “This better not be a wild deer again, or I swear, I will kill that spider myself.”

They all stared at each other, Talia mouthed, Davis.

Chapter Eight: Spider Slicer

Talia jumped to her feet, slicing a space through the web. She climbed through, and beckoned for them to follow.

They ran down the path. Towards the bluish lights. They heard an angry word, and a rush of footsteps.

“Go, go…” Darion muttered, bringing up the rear.

They put on a burst of speed, and whirled around the corner.
Only to come to a stop.

There wasn’t even a thread of a web here. Instead, the ground was coated in thousands of gold coins.
Talia suppressed a gasp as she looked around. In the middle of the room was a stand of pure black. It was just as dark as the Lake of Evil Souls, but somehow it still shimmered. As if light was fighting to break through it.
A face of a women was carved into the base. Her eyes were wide open, a faint blue light shining from them, reflecting off the gold, making the room seem unearthly.
But that wasn’t what made Talia stare. It wasn’t the gold either.

Hovering above the stand was a long, elegant sword.
It shimmered blue, as if she was seeing it through water.
It was a simple sword. It was pure silver, aside from the hilt, which was a cool blue.

“Tallfield, what are you doing? Hide!”
Talia jumped, and looked over at Draco and Darion, who were busy ducking behind the piles of gold.

“Have you seen this sword? It’s gorgeous!”

Dracos face turned pale, “Talia, don’t touch it.” He hissed.

She looked between them, and then back at the Sword.
“The spider was protecting it.” She whispered.

Darion shook his head in disbelief, “Maybe.”

“I need to take it.”

Draco looked past her, towards the mouth of the cave, and the footsteps pounding closer. “Talia, don’t you dare.”

Too late.
She had already scurried over the gold, and was standing at the base.
Talia reached out her hand, and slowly, surely, wrapped her hands around the hilt. In the middle of the guard, a blue light lit up, in the shape of an eye.

And then she lifted it from the base.

And all was quiet.

And the base opened her mouth, and screamed.

“Ok, so that was a bad idea.” Talia said, stumbling back.
Her voice was drowned out by the screeching. She slid down the gold pile, and ran towards Draco and Darion.

“Talia, drop that sword.”

She froze, and slowly turned around.
“Davis, hi… How’s it going?”

He was super pale, practically white. “What are you doing out here? It’s two o’ clock in the morning.”

Talia laughed nervously, “It’s funny that’s what you’re worried about.”

Davis didn’t laugh. “Talia, I don’t want to hurt you.”

Talia tensed, and clutched the sword closer. “Why is there a giant Spider in the middle of the forest?”
Davis didn’t answer.
“Why’s there a sword in the middle of the forest?”

“Drop that sword!”

“You’re not answering my questions!”

Davis rose his arm. “One more chance.”

Get into position.

Talia jerked backwards.

Bend your knee. Foot forward.

Her feet fell into position.
The sword rose, pointed at Davis.

He froze, staring at her.

Then his hand caught fire.

Talia didn’t know how it happened. She didn’t know where the voice came from, or why she listened to it.
All she knew was that she wasn’t in control anymore.

Parry, dodge, look out for his fire.

And then-

Twist his arm backwards, pin him against the wall.

And suddenly, Davis was against the wall, his fire flickering away.
And her hand pointing the sword at his neck.

Then, it was as if all feeling flooded back into her arms, and the sword clattered to the ground, and the eye slammed shut.

Talia stared down at it, shaking. Then she looked back up at where Davis had been.
But he was gone.

Chapter Nine: What Now?

Talia sank to the ground. A feeling of blankness enveloping her.

She heard Draco and Darion running towards her.

“What was that?” Draco cried, kneeling down beside her, “Why did you do that? How did you do that?”
Darion reached down to touch the sword, and Draco slapped his hand away, “I told you not to touch it.” He said to Talia.

She was rubbing her hands, “It’s clearly important.”

Draco shook his head in disbelief, then shot a glare at Darion, who had tried to touch it again.

“I didn’t know you knew how to wield a sword.” Darion said, staring at her in awe.

“I don’t.” Said Talia, “I don’t know how I did that.”

“This is bonkers.” Draco muttered, massaging his forehead. “Absolute bonkers.”

“We need to get back to camp.” Talia stood up, and grabbed the sword.

Draco and Darion stared at her as she did so, but it didn’t light up this time.
It remained completely dormant, as they left the cave, and when they passed the spider, and when they walked up the path.

They stayed completely silent, as they jogged down the path, the sword light in Talias hands.

It was still dark, to their relief, as they made it back to the Camp. They slipped past the cabins, bits of voices leaking from them.

With one final burst of speed, the ran into the cabin. Darion slammed the door shut, as Talia collapsed onto the couch, clutching the sword to her chest.
She winced, as her injury burned.

“We need to get out of here." Darion said. “Something weird is going on at this Camp. We need to go and get someone.”

“How?” Draco asked, “We got here on a bus. It took us three hours to get here from the edge of the woods. How long would it take for us to walk?”

Talia bit her lip, “There’s no signal here either.”

“Of course not.” Draco said, pacing the room. “We’re dead. We are so dead.”

Darion shook his head, and sake to the floor, still leaning against the door. “Maybe not. Davis covered for us before, maybe he will again.”

The lights flickered on, and Leaf walked into the room.

“Another nature walk?” They asked, leaning against the door frame.

They exchanged uneasy looks.
“Would you believe us if we said yes?” Darion asked, smiling weakly.

Leaf rolled their eyes, and sat down beside Talia, who was still laying on the couch.
“You have ten minutes to explain, or I’m going to Ms. Kemble.”

The three of them stared down at their feet, before Darion began the tale, the words flying from his mouth.

Draco slipped outside again to the bathrooms, and came back with wet washcloths and a gallon of water. Talia sat up, and washed her face, not paying attention to what Darion was saying.

But she did watch Leafs reactions carefully. They’re eyebrows were knitted tightly, but other than that, their expression didn’t shift. They just leaned forward and backward, nodding along.

“And that explains why Talia has a sword? Right?”

“Yes,” Draco said, “And now we’re all doomed.”

“Sounds like it.” Leaf smirked. “I suppose I’ll have to refrain from telling on you all for sneaking out at night.”

“You still don’t believe us, do you?” Talia asked.

“Not really.” They said, shrugging.

Talia sat up, and partially lifted her shirt, before unwinding her bandages.

Leaf gasped, and jumped backwards.
Talia looked down, and was almost sick, even when she had seen it earlier, with all the blood oozing out.

Leaf stood up, “Fine, then, let’s say I believe you.” They crossed their arms, and looked at each of them in turn.
“What are we going to do about it?”