“Capture the Flag!” the crowd shouted back.
“That’s right,” the counselor said. “If you are bunking in an even-numbered cabin, then you’ll be on the gold team. If you’re in an odd-numbered one, then you’re on the blue team.”
Finn turned to Molly. “Uh-oh. We don’t have cabins.”
“We’ve got bigger problems than that,” Molly told him.
“What’s wrong?” Finn asked.
“Oh hey, guys,” Tess said. “There you are. I’ve been looking for you.”
“Sorry, we weren’t being good buddies,” Finn said.
“Don’t worry,” Tess said. “The buddy system was just for the hike.”
“Once a buddy, always a buddy,” Finn said.
“Cool,” Tess said. “Well, buddies, I have something for you. Just tell me what color you need.” She held up four bandannas—two gold and two blue. “You wear these around your wrist so people know what team you’re on.”
“Thanks,” Molly said, grabbing them.
“But you don’t need—” Tess started.
“We’ll be right back,” Molly said. She stuffed the bandannas into her pocket and pulled Finn out of sight, behind a tree.
“You’re being weird,” Finn said. “What’s going on?”
“I figured out our work,” Molly said. “When I went outside to eat my lunch, I overheard Danielle and the camp director talking about a fire. It’s over the mountain right now. But if the wind changes, it’ll come here, and that’s where we come in. We need to save the camp.”
Finn shook his head. “PET knows we can’t control the wind,” he said. “We’re no match for a fire.”
“So what do you think we’re supposed to do here?” Molly asked.
“C’mon, guys!” Tess called. “The game is about to start!”
“Right now I think we’re supposed to play Capture the Flag with Tess and the others,” Finn told his sister. He grabbed a bandanna from Molly’s pocket. “I’ll go on the blue team. You take gold.”
He jogged over to the campers wearing blue bandannas, and Molly walked toward the gold team. Danielle had the bullhorn, and she shouted out the rules for anyone who didn’t know them. “Teams, you have five minutes to hide your flags. The centerline is the stretch between cabins three and eight. As the name of the game suggests, whoever captures the other team’s flag first wins. If you get tagged when you’re in enemy territory, you’ll end up in jail. One of your teammates will have to tag you to set you free. Got it?”
“Got it!” the campers all shouted.
“Now, friends, it’s my pleasure to make the announcement you’ve all been waiting for,” Danielle continued. “The team captains! For the gold team, it’s Tamika!”
A girl in braids shrieked and pumped a fist in the air. Her teammates cheered.
“BOOOOOOO!” the blue team cried.
“And for the blue team, it’s going to be…Finn!”
“Me?” Finn asked. “I get to be captain?”
“You sure do,” Danielle said.
“Hooray, Finn!” Tess shouted.
“BOOOOOOO!” the gold team cried.
A siren blasted, marking the start of the game. Campers darted off in different directions, but Molly stayed put. She couldn’t get her mind off the fire.
“Hey, new girl!” Tamika said, trotting up to Molly. “You’re our guard. You think you can handle that?”
“Yeah. Okay,” Molly said.
“Good. Go wait over by the jail in case someone gets tagged.”
“Where’s that?”
Tamika sighed and pointed toward a circle of logs. “Once someone lands in jail, don’t let them get out. I’m undefeated in this game, and I don’t plan to change that today. Capisce?”
Molly gulped and nodded. She jogged to the log circle. Finn was running around in blue territory. Molly shouted for him and waved her arms to try to get his attention. He was too caught up in the game to notice. She tried to send a message through twin-telepathy: Get tagged and come over here to jail so we can make a plan. But that didn’t work, either.
Serafina was sent to jail. Molly guarded her while she thought about things. She wasn’t an expert in wildfires, but she’d read a book about them in first grade. She tried to remember what it’d said….
Wildfires could start naturally, like from a lightning strike. But they were usually started by people who made a campfire and didn’t put it out all the way. A small campfire could end up burning acres and acres of trees. Wildfires were worse when there was a dry spell, because it was easier for the fire to grow.
Molly remembered the patch of dead grass that Danielle had showed them. Dead grass was dry grass. There hadn’t been enough rainfall and that was not good. Not good at all.
The breeze blew a strand of Molly’s reddish-brown hair into her eyes.
Molly tucked her hair behind her ear. She could hear a helicopter overhead. It sounded closer than before.
The fire was coming. Molly was sure of it. So how could she save the camp? Maybe build a barrier? But if she built something, the fire could burn it down. She could make it out of stones, which wouldn’t burn as easily. But there was no way she’d be able to carry them—even if she did have Finn’s help. And right then Finn was too busy trying to capture the flag.
“Hey, Molly!” Tamika shouted. “You let the prisoner out!”
Molly spun around and looked behind her. Serafina was gone. Across the field, she gave Finn and Tess high fives.
“I’m really sorry,” Molly told Tamika. “I got distracted.”
“Do I need to replace you as guard?” Tamika asked. “This is important work, you know.”
Tamika had said the magic word: “work.” But Molly was almost certain that guarding the gold team’s jail was not the work PET had in mind.
WHOOP! WHOOP! WHOOP! a siren sounded.
“Attention, Eureka campers and staff members!” Jeremy shouted into the bullhorn. “This game of Capture the Flag has officially come to an end!”
“But no one won yet!” Tamika cried.
“I’m calling an emergency camp meeting at the flagpole,” Jeremy said. “Right now!”
A pit of dread settled in Molly’s stomach. She was pretty sure she knew what this emergency meeting was about.
“I’m sorry we had to cut the game short, campers,” Jeremy said. “But we’ve learned there’s a fire in the area.”
There was a collective gasp. Everyone started talking at once.
“Quiet down, please!” Jeremy said. “It’s going to be okay. As a precaution, the fire marshal wants us to leave the campground right away. I know we usually travel to and from camp on buses. But we can’t risk the trip through the mountains. Our safest route today will be across the water.”
“You mean we have to swim out of here?” Tess asked.
“I’m a pretty strong swimmer,” Tamika said. “I’m in the kingfish group, after all. But it’s still way too far—even for me.”
“No one is expected to swim,” Jeremy said. “We have enough canoes and rowboats for everyone, as well as life jackets, which everyone is required to wear—no exceptions. As you’ve probably noticed, the wind has picked up, which makes the water a bit rough.”
Nervous murmurs passed through the crowd.
“Too bad the camp bus doesn’t travel on the information superhighway like PET does,” Finn whispered to Molly. “We’d be out of here in a flash.”
“We need to do this in an organized way,” Jeremy said. “We’re going to head to the lake and—”
“Wait,” Toby said. “Shouldn’t we go to the bunks first to get our stuff, and then go to the dock?”
“Your stuff is staying here,” Jeremy said.
“But what about my lucky track sneakers?” Toby asked.
�
��And my charm bracelet?” Tamika said.
“And the tie-dye shirt I made yesterday?” another camper asked.
Danielle took the bullhorn from Jeremy. “Hey, friends,” she said. “I know your stuff is important to you. But it’s too heavy to bring on canoes and rowboats, and it’d take up too much space. Besides, packing takes time that we don’t have.”
“How close is the fire?” Serafina asked in a shaky voice.
Danielle handed the bullhorn back to Jeremy. “It’s close enough that Camp Eureka has been declared a mandatory evacuation zone,” he said. “Once it’s declared a safe zone again, we’ll all come back here. For now, anyone in the guppy swim group, gather by the yellow cone. Dolphins, you’re by the green cone. And kingfish, go to the orange cone.”
The crowd started to move. “We’re not in a swim group,” Finn whispered to Molly.
“We joined up with Capture the Flag teams, even though we didn’t have cabins,” she said.
“That’s true,” Finn agreed.
“But I still think staying here and fighting the fire might be our work,” Molly added.
“We don’t have any firefighter training,” Finn said. “We don’t even have the right clothes.”
Molly looked down at her camp uniform. Finn was right. Shorts and a T-shirt were not good firefighting clothes.
“Besides,” Finn went on. “If it’s not really our work, we’ll be stuck here in a fire, and that’s too dangerous. We have to go. Think of the birds.”
“What birds?” Molly asked.
“The ones we saw this morning,” Finn said. “Something on the ground was making them scared, so they flew up to get away.”
“Oh, the quail,” Molly said. She took a deep breath and detected a whiff of smoke in the air. “Okay, let’s go,” she said.
She and Finn followed the crowd down to the lake. When they reached the boathouse, they hid behind a tree while the counselors did a head count of the swim groups. Since the twins didn’t actually belong to any swim group, they didn’t want to mess up the count.
“Listen up, Eureka campers,” Jeremy said. “We’re going to assign four people to each rowboat and two per canoe. If you’re in the guppy or dolphin swim groups, you must go with an adult—either a counselor or a staff member. Everyone, grab a life jacket.”
The crowd surged toward the boathouse door. “You’re crushing me!” someone shouted.
“FREEZE!” Jeremy shouted. “We need to respect each other and be orderly.”
Finn stepped out from behind the tree. “Hey, Jeremy, my sister, Molly, and I can hand out the life jackets,” he said.
“Thank you…thank you…”
“Finn,” Finn supplied.
“Everyone, line up in front of Molly and Finn,” Jeremy said.
The twins got to work handing out life jackets and making sure everyone was safely clipped in. They put their own life jackets on last, clipping the buckles and adjusting the straps around their waists so they fit snugly.
“All right,” Danielle said. “Swim groups to your cones.”
“So what cone should we go to?” Finn asked.
“Whichever one Tess is in,” Molly said. “Do you see her?”
“Um…,” Finn said. “No, I don’t.”
“Me neither,” Molly said. “When did you see her last?”
“Hmm, let me think,” Finn said. “She high-fived Serafina after she broke out of jail.”
“You haven’t seen her since Capture the Flag?” Molly asked.
“Yeah,” Finn said. “Wait, no. That’s not right. She was at the emergency meeting. She asked a question about having to swim.”
“Oh, right,” Molly said. “So we know she was at the flagpole. We’ll start looking there.”
“The fire is coming,” Finn said. “The boats are leaving.”
“But we’re Tess’s buddies,” Molly reminded him. “Once a buddy, always a buddy. Right?”
“That’s right,” Finn said. “Let’s go.”
Another helicopter flew by, and ripples spread across the water.
“I feel terrible that we lost Tess,” Molly said.
“We’re gonna fix that right now,” Finn said.
There was no time to waste. The twins tiptoed around the boathouse. Once they were out of sight of the counselors and other campers, they broke into a run.
But when they got to the flagpole, there was no sign of Tess.
Molly and Finn shouted for her anyway. “TESS! TESS! TESSSSSSSSS!”
Tess didn’t answer. The only sounds were the flag flapping wildly in the breeze and the roar of the helicopter propellers spinning overhead.
“Maybe there was something Tess didn’t want to leave behind, even though Jeremy said we couldn’t take anything with us,” Finn said. “Let’s go check her cabin.”
They raced back to the horseshoe of log cabins.
“Do you know which one is Tess’s?” Molly asked.
“No,” Finn said. “How about you check the ones on the left, and I’ll take the ones on the right?”
“You got it,” Molly said.
She ducked into Cabin 1. On the opposite side of the field, Finn headed into Cabin 10. “TESS!” they both shouted.
There wasn’t any answer.
They each made their way down the line: Cabins 2 and 9. Cabins 3 and 8. Cabins 4 and 7. Finally cabins 5 and 6.
But Tess wasn’t in any of them.
Molly could feel her heart beating underneath her life jacket. “The fire is getting closer,” she said. “I can smell it.”
“Me too,” Finn said. “But Tess has to be around here somewhere. She couldn’t have just disappeared. She’s not a magic camper, like PET. She’s an ordinary kid, like us.”
“Where should we go next?” Molly asked.
“The mess hall,” Finn said. “She could’ve run in there to get snacks for the trip.”
Molly doubted that Tess would worry about food during a fire emergency, but she didn’t have a better idea. She and Finn raced to the mess hall. Inside, it was eerily quiet. The chairs were stacked up on the tables. The room smelled like lemon cleaner.
“TESS!” they called out.
The sound of their voices echoed through the empty room.
“She’s not here,” Molly said. “What if she really did have a bad appendix? She could be stuck somewhere feeling very sick!”
“You said her stomachache was in the wrong place for it to be her appendix,” Finn said. “Besides, she felt better after swimming time was over. She went on the hike and everything.”
“Maybe I was wrong about the wrong place,” Molly said. “I’m not a doctor. I’m really worried about her, and we’re running out of time.”
“I’m worried, too,” Finn said. “But look here.”
He tapped the map of Camp Eureka that was posted by the mess hall door.
“We’re going to check every single place that’s left till we find Tess,” Finn said. “It’ll go faster if we split up. You take the theater. I’ll take the canteen. We’ll meet back at the flagpole in five minutes, no matter what.”
“No matter what,” Molly agreed.
Finn put his hand on the door handle. “You know, it’s too bad we’re not like those quail that can fly when they sense danger. Then we’d be able to stick together and see the whole camp.”
And with that, he yanked the door open.
“Wait,” Molly said. “That’s exactly what we need to do! We’re going to be like the quail and get a bird’s-eye view of the whole camp!”
“I hate to point this out,” Finn said, “but we don’t have wings.”
“We don’t need them,” Molly said. “Remember what Tess told us about the treehouse? She said she could see the whole camp from up there. It’s right by the…by the…”
“By the what?” Finn asked.
“I can’t remember,” Molly said.
“I’ll check the map,” Finn said. He ran his finger along all the different places. “The volleyball court, the dance studio, the ropes course…I don’t see it.”
“The ropes course!” Molly said. “That’s it! Tess said the treehouse was right by the ropes course.”
WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP! the alarm sounded.
Jeremy’s voice boomed through the speakers. “All remaining staff members to the dock! The boats are leaving in five minutes! I repeat: the boats are leaving in five minutes!”
“Five minutes,” Finn moaned. “That’s practically no time at all.”
Molly grabbed Finn’s hand. “C’mon! Let’s hope we’re not too late!”
The twins ran faster than they’d ever run before. They were at the base of the treehouse in under a minute. But when they got there…
“How do we get up?” Finn asked.
“There’s got to be a rope or a ladder or something,” Molly said.
“I don’t see anything. Maybe this isn’t the right tree.”
“Of course it is. Look up—see the floor of the treehouse? That hole must be the door.”
“So…we’re just supposed to climb up?”
“I guess.”
“I’ll go first,” Finn said.
The wind whipped around them. The helicopters roared overhead. Finn tried not to let all that distract him. It was like when his Little League team played the championship game during the Fourth of July fireworks.
He could hear Coach Russo’s voice in his head saying, “Focus.” Finn gripped the trunk of the tree. He lifted up a foot.
“Hey!” a voice called. “You guys better go to the lake!”
“Tess!” Molly said. “Is that you?”
Tess peered out through the hole in the floor of the treehouse.
“Holy guacamole, it is you!” Finn said. “We’ve been looking all over for you. Have you been here all along?”
Escape From Camp California Page 3