“I think it’ll just be easier if we fill the buckets halfway and I go it alone,” said Mom.
“But that’s double the trips,” I told her, getting to my feet.
“Sweetie, we haven’t even made one trip.” She pulled the bucket from my grasp and hurried away.
I sighed and sat on the back of an empty cart.
Then I gasped and stood up.
“Mom!” I shouted, reaching down for one of my lead weights. The chain was just long enough for me to load it into the cart. I hoisted the second one in after it. Then I grabbed the handles of the cart and pushed it to the water pump to meet her.
“That’s brilliant!” she cried, placing the full bucket into the cart next to my weights. We both pushed, making it across the yard almost as fast as everyone else.
There was no more laughter from the sidelines.
Mom and I didn’t finish first, but we didn’t finish dead last, avoiding elimination.
“We have to find a way to research the cure,” I told her once we were back inside starting our chores. “Leisure time isn’t until after sunset, and by then it’ll be too late.”
She nodded. “You stay here where Eli can see you, and struggle as much as you can. Really put on a show. I’ll sneak off to the library and see what I can find out.”
“What if he asks where you are?”
“Tell him I’m sick,” Mom whispered. “It wouldn’t be far from the truth. I think the homemade cheese was a bad idea.”
“Gross.” I wrinkled my nose. “Good luck with . . . everything.”
Eli was outside talking with Caleb, so I took a bar of soap and some rags and dragged my weights out to join them.
“Time to do some cleaning!” I chirped happily. “Boy, that was embarrassing what happened to me earlier, huh? I hope I don’t . . . whoa!”
I pretended to trip and tossed the rags wildly about me. Eli pressed his lips together, but the glee in his eyes was obvious. I started to gather the rags and then sneezed into the dirt so that it flew in my face. I coughed for real and wiped at my sweaty brow until the dirt turned to a thin coat of mud.
The things I’d do to win a stupid contest.
Eli let a snicker escape. But Caleb scowled and stormed off to his craft hut.
Eli and I stared after him and then at each other.
“I don’t know if that was about you or me,” I said.
“I did nothing wrong,” said Eli, pushing past me and heading for the barn.
Putting down the rags and soap, I dragged my weights over to the craft hut and cracked the door open. Caleb glanced up from something he was working on but didn’t say anything.
“You didn’t like my tumbling routine?” I asked. “Because my mom and I were thinking about adding it to our comedy show.”
Instead of smiling, his dark expression deepened.
“Don’t talk about your mom to me. She humiliated my family.”
“You know she didn’t mean anything by it. She was just trying to save my family.” I started to approach the table but jerked to a halt when one of the lead balls got caught in the doorframe. Caleb reached down and helped me clear it.
“Still, it was really embarrassing,” he said. “And a lot of people are questioning us now. My mom won’t leave the house because she hates the whispering.”
I chewed my lip. “I’m sorry she feels that way, but in case you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly having it easy either.” I lifted a leg, and the chains rattled.
Caleb frowned and hung his head. “What my dad’s doing isn’t fair,” he said. “I know he’s upset, but he’s handling it the wrong way.” Caleb reached for one of my dirt-covered hands. “And I don’t want to see you get hurt or humiliated anymore.” He poked his head outside before closing the door and turning back to me. “The cure for beriberi is simple. It’s—”
“LA!” I screamed, shoving my fingers in my ears. “LALALALALALA!”
Caleb looked taken aback and mouthed something to me.
“You can’t give me the answer!” I shouted. “It’s cheating!”
He tilted his head to one side and started to speak again.
“No!” I said. “You could get in trouble for helping me. Promise you won’t.”
Caleb sighed and nodded. I took my fingers out of my ears.
“Look, I didn’t come for answers or to make you feel worse,” I said. “I came to make sure we could still be friends. My mom and I would never intentionally hurt someone, and I’m sure if she knew how bad this made your family feel, she’d be apologizing in person.”
Caleb crossed his arms. “Why isn’t she?”
“Because she’s in the library trying to find a way to cure me,” I said. “Except she won’t have much longer if your dad finds her.”
He shook his head. “Don’t worry about that. I’ll talk to my dad.”
“Thanks.” I smiled at him. “I’d hug you, but it would take a while to get there.”
Caleb laughed and took a few steps closer. But instead of hugging me, he leaned in and gave me the quickest kiss on the lips. When he stepped back, he wiped his mouth.
My heart sank into my shackles. “That bad?”
“There was a lot of dirt,” he said, grinning. He dipped a rag in the metal-cooling barrel and dabbed at my face until the stiffness of the mud disappeared. Then he kissed me again. “Much better.”
I smiled. “I should go help my mom. If I die, you and I can’t hang out anymore.”
Caleb walked me to the door. “I could give you the answer,” he reminded me.
“I know,” I said, blowing him a kiss. Then I slowly made my way back into the house.
The library was just past the kitchen, but when I approached the entrance, I didn’t hear the usual mumblings of my mom talking to herself. The room was completely quiet.
Too quiet.
I poked my head inside.
Mom was fast asleep in an armchair by the window. There was a stack of books by her feet with a cup of tea resting on top.
“Again?! You have got to be kidding me,” I growled. “Mom!”
She didn’t budge . . . just snored.
I bent down and removed a shoe. Then I chucked it at her.
“Mom!” The shoe struck her in the leg, but she mumbled something about unicorns and kept right on napping.
I approached her and prodded her. One eye opened and rolled around to take in the whole room. Then it closed and she slumbered on.
“Nice to know I can count on you in an emergency,” I mumbled, shifting the teacup to the floor and grabbing the top book.
The table of contents made no mention of beriberi, but it talked about cures for common ailments. I flipped through the pages and looked at remedies: spearmint for indigestion, lavender for sleeplessness, pine for scurvy . . . but nothing about beriberi.
The sun moved past the window as I continued to search through medical books but found nothing. Soon my stomach began to growl. I thought back to breakfast longingly.
Then I thought about when I’d asked if my eggs and cheese were a cure for beriberi. Eli had said none of those foods would do it.
Which meant some food would be the cure.
I returned to the bookshelves and grabbed anything I could find that referenced food in the title. I didn’t even bother organizing. My sweaty fingers turned the pages, too aware of the shortage of time as my eyes squinted to adjust to the fading sun.
I’d just about lost hope when, in a book about rice, the author mentioned how the rice shouldn’t have the husk removed. Doing so would take away the thiamin content, resulting in beriberi.
“That’s it!” I got to my feet and turned toward the doorway. To my surprise, a small crowd had gathered to watch, including Eli.
“Thiamin!” I shouted. “I need foods rich in thiamin, like unhulled rice!”
Eli regarded me with a look of contempt. “We do not have rice in this section of the world.”
“Legumes have a lot of thiamin
,” commented Aunt Zoe. “And there are plenty here.”
Eli whirled to face her. If looks could kill . . .
“Legumes, then!” I shouted. “I’d eat some legumes . . . once I figure out what they are.”
“Peanuts, dear,” said Aunt Zoe. “And beans.”
“Stop helping her!” shouted Dylan. “That’s cheating!”
I looked to Eli. “All the note said was that we had to find the cure before sunset.”
He opened and closed his mouth several times and blustered before finally barking, “You’re cured!” and fuming away. People followed him, muttering words of disappointment.
Our Christmas card list would definitely be cut down this year.
“Who’s being loud?” Mom whined, and shifted in the chair to look at me. Then she seemed to realize where she was and sat bolt upright. “The cure! I’ve got—”
“No, I’ve got,” I told her, removing the cuffs from my ankles. “No thanks to you.”
Mom paused while rubbing her eyes. “Hey, I was in here all day—”
“Sleeping,” I finished. “While I, once again, had to be the grown-up and fix everything.”
“I didn’t mean to fall asleep,” Mom protested, still talking. “I just had some tea with Angel and then came in here and . . .” She narrowed her eyes, my words finally sinking in. “Excuse me?”
“I’m always the responsible one!” I blurted before I could stop myself. “You never step up and act like an adult. Which is why we’re even in this stupid contest, about to lose our home.”
Mom’s face darkened to a storm cloud. “Oh, you’d better take that back right now, little girl. The only thing I should be getting from you is gratitude for giving you life and keeping you alive every day.”
“Keeping me alive?” I repeated with a sharp laugh. “How many times have your clever ideas almost gotten me hurt or killed? I’d be better off on my own.”
I could see the muscles in Mom’s jaw clench and hear her labored breathing, as if it were taking every ounce of her strength not to throw a couch across the room. Finally, Mom threw her hands up. “Fine! Bye. I hope you can find someone who puts up with your incessant nagging and dream killing.”
I just stood there for a moment, stunned by the harshness of her words. Mom had never said such mean things about me. Good moms weren’t supposed to.
“I hate you! You’re a terrible mom!” I shouted at her.
Her face softened as her expression slipped from anger to pain. Before she could even say anything, I sprinted from the room and out onto the property. Anywhere to get away from the worst mother in the world.
Chapter Twelve
At that particular moment, there were only two voices I would have stopped for. One of them called out to me.
“Tori! Wait a sec!”
I stopped on the edge of the cornfield so Angel could catch up.
“I heard you found the cure. Congrats!”
“Thanks,” I said with a tight smile.
She studied my face. “What’s wrong? You should be thrilled.”
“Thrilled that my mom can’t be relied on for even the simple task of reading?” I snorted, and started walking farther from the manor.
Angel matched my pace.
“She hasn’t been all bad,” she said. “She got the horses back from Dylan, she saved you when you threw fuel on the fire . . . .”
“The worst part,” I interrupted, “is I didn’t even get to eat lunch, so there’s no way I’ll be ready for tonight’s challenge.”
Angel reached into a satchel she’d slung across her body. “Here.”
She fished out a bundled cloth and handed it to me. Inside was a pile of plump blueberries.
“Oooh . . . I love you!” I told her. “Where did you find them?”
She pointed to the woods just beyond the cornfield. “There are bushes overgrown with them. I figured Mother Nature wouldn’t mind if I helped myself.”
I popped a handful in my mouth. “You are amazing. I wish I had survival skills like yours.”
Angel shrugged and did her best to look modest. “I guess my parents rubbed off a little.”
I swallowed and headed into the forest. “I want some more.”
Angel gave me a dubious frown. “The challenge will be coming up soon.”
“Exactly. And I need sustenance. I’ll pick some real quick, and then we’ll go back.”
She nodded. “Okay, real quick.”
“Make a path,” I told her as we pushed into the woods. Dozens of blueberries went from the stem to my mouth as we walked.
“Do you have an extra cloth I can put more in?” I asked. Even if I was mad at Mom, I knew she’d love some berries too.
Angel reached into her satchel again, removing a small handful of items. “Nope. Nothing I can spare.”
I looked at the items she clutched in her hand. Among them were some purple flowers.
“Is that lavender?” I asked, taking a sprig and sniffing.
“Uh . . . yeah.” Angel put everything back in her bag. “I found some growing wild and thought I’d put them in my room. Pretty, right?”
I stared at the petals for a moment.
“Tori?”
“How did you know I threw fuel on the fire?” I locked my eyes on Angel’s. “Mom and I didn’t tell anyone, and we were the only ones outside when it happened.”
Angel blinked at me. “I heard Dylan bragging about his prank.”
I shook my head. “He wouldn’t admit to sabotage. It might cost him the game.”
She shrugged. “Well, I found out somehow.”
I held up the lavender. “I read about this today. Do you know what it’s used for?”
Angel shifted the weight of the satchel on her hip. “Sometimes people use it in cooking.”
“Cooking tea?” I asked her. “Cooking tea that puts people to sleep?”
“I guess . . . .” Angel grabbed my arm. “We should really get back to the others.”
“You!” I jerked free of her grasp. “All this time, you were the one sabotaging me and my mom. Not Dylan!”
Angel forced a laugh. “Tori, don’t be ridiculous! I’d never do anything like that.”
“Sure you would,” I said, my mouth set in a line. “You really want your mom and dad to get off your case about living the natural life. You hate it. If you don’t win this, they’re just going to make you try even harder when you get home.”
Angel shook her head twice and then let out a huge sigh. “Fine! I was the one sabotaging you and your mom. And yes, I really need to win this. You have no idea how insufferable my parents are going to be otherwise!”
“Unbelievable!” I threw the lavender sprig at her. “You know how bad my mom and I need the money! How could you?”
Angel twisted her hands together. “Tori—”
“Don’t talk to me, you . . . you witch. If we lose this and my mom loses her business, it’s all on you!” I turned around, took five steps to the right, and paused.
“I still think you’re a witch, but . . . which is the way out?”
Angel squinted and pursed her lips. “I think . . . that way?”
She pointed at a path so overgrown with foliage, there was no way we’d just come through it.
“Fine, if you want to keep playing your little game.” I crossed my arms. “I’ll just go wherever you go.”
Angel shot me a dirty look and then stepped past me. I followed her in silence as we climbed over logs and swept plants aside. At one point she stopped and I noticed something on the ground.
“Is one of your legs shorter than the other?” I asked.
Angel sighed. “Why, Tori?”
“Because we just walked in a huge circle.” I pointed down at the lavender sprig I’d thrown at her earlier.
Angel stared at it. “Huh. We may be lost.”
“What?!” I cried loud enough to startle a nearby bird from a tree. “I thought I told you to make a path!”
An
gel looked at me, wide-eyed. “I thought you said ‘makeup app’!”
“Why would I say ‘makeup app’?”
“Because I like makeup and I miss technology!” Angel screeched.
I tilted my head back and tried to see a patch of sky, hoping to figure out where the sun was, but the ceiling was nothing but tree branches and darkness. “Okay, well, use your survival skills to get us out of here.”
Angel stood transfixed.
“Please tell me you’re recalling survival knowledge and not peeing yourself,” I said.
“I can’t get us out of here,” she whispered. “I get lost at the mall.”
I sighed and rubbed my eyes. “Is that why you went for a pretzel once and came back with a security guard and a balloon?”
Angel nodded. “I don’t have any survival skills. My parents have been doing it all. They’re the ones who told me about the blueberry bushes.”
I dropped into a crouch and took several deep, calming breaths. We needed to approach the situation logically. “The good news is that we can’t be too far from the property, so someone will eventually find us.”
“And the bad news?”
“We might be dead when they do.”
Angel whimpered. “I miss my phone. It has maps. And the number for the security guard at the mall.”
“Yeah, I don’t think he’d be able to help us navigate the woods, so we have to think.” I studied the trees around us. “Is there any way besides the sun to tell which direction we are?”
“The stars,” said Angel.
“I don’t want to be here after dark,” I said. “Anything else?”
She shook her head. “Nothing that doesn’t require sunlight.”
I thought for a moment, but nothing from my schoolbooks came to mind, and the only idea I could come up with was to wait for help.
“What would my mom do?” I muttered.
“She’d probably climb into the trees and live there,” said Angel. “Start a new dress shop, making leaf fashions for the woodland critters.”
I smiled. “Learn to speak chipmunk.”
“Maybe a little goose,” said Angel, pointing overhead. Somewhere above the forest a flock honked as it flew past.
I gripped her arm and gasped. “That’s it! It’s summertime!”
Angel looked at me quizzically and then suddenly mirrored my excitement. “Geese fly south in the winter, then back north in the summer!”
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