by Aurora Smith
“You go to my school, too.” Justin said, to me. He knew me!
“Oh, hey,” I said. I was cool, calm, collected…freaking out!
“I feel like this last year has been a lie.” His accent was causing me to go into a dream-like stupor. Puppies were being born all over the world at this very moment because of that smile.
“Yeah, strange seeing you here, Justin.” Dang I should have pretended that I didn’t know his name. He turned to the boy that stood next to him and spoke. “Liam, this is Christina and Maya. They go to my school.” He smiled kindly at his friend, neighbor, dentist’s sister’s uncle, whatever. He nodded but basically ignored us. That strange reaction didn’t seem to faze Justin; he just turned back to us, smiling.
“So what’s the deal, Man?” Dominic asked the question we all wanted to ask.
“Pardon?”
“What are you?” Randy asked, helping his buddy out. Men had no tact.
“Oh.” He laughed, his beautiful shaped eyes wrinkling in the corners. But he didn’t get to answer us because Mr. Torricelli was calling for everyone to go over to him so he could give his beginning of summer camp speech. He was standing in front of the recreation center. His arms were crossed over his chest, resting on his fat belly. He had big round cheeks and a bald head. Mr. Torricelli or more commonly known as Cupid was waiting for his gaggle of summer campers who he knew would soon be torturing each other, and him, with camp pranks. He already looked irritated. He refused to start speaking until all of us were in front of him, looking respectfully excited to hang on every one of his words.
I didn’t know the new count, but last year there had been forty-four campers. Nine of them had a graduation last year. When I say graduation I mean we gave them a little party so that they wouldn’t feel so bad for not being allowed to come back. Nineteen was the oldest you could be to come here, only getting seven short years to be a part of the awesomeness.
“Welcome to Camp Neverwhere. We’re going to have a wonderful summer…” while Mr. Tortellini was talking, I looked over to where Justin was. Vanessa was still standing next to him, her big eyes looking sideways at him adoringly. I caught her eyes and started trying to communicate my displeasure. I closed my eyes and imitated a sleeping person by putting my hands in a praying position and laid my head on them sideways. Then I put my hand out flat, palm up. I used the pointer and middle finger from my other hand to make legs and started walking with them on my palm; slowly at first then faster like they were running from something. I made my face look terrified for the legs. Then I took my flat palm and made it into a fist and started smashing the poor legs until they were being crushed and you couldn’t tell the difference between my two hands and their finger and the shapes they took seconds ago. My tongue was sticking out in a weird way and my eyebrows were down over my eyes. I looked up and Vanessa’s eyes were big, she knew exactly what I was threatening. The boy who Justin introduced as Liam had his hooded head in my direction; his shoulders were going up and down like he was laughing. I smiled at him but he looked away and down to the ground.
Who was that kid? It wasn’t Justin’s little or big brother; our parents couldn’t get pregnant more than once. Maybe a cousin?
“It’s time for teams.” I’d missed his whole speech; poor guy looked bored out of his mind, too.
“Please let me and Justin be on the same team. Please let me and Justin be on the same team. Please let me and Justin be on the same team. Please let me and Justin be on the same team,” I chanted over and over in my head.
“This is weird, right?” Christina said, her face right next to me.
“Ahuh,” I answered as I looked around as people started bunching together and going into the rec center in their summer groups.
“I mean, it’s like we’re in the twilight zone. One minute he’s the pretty boy in school and now he’s here at Camp NW?”
“Weird,” I said, trying to listen to what Mr. Torricelli was saying and where he was putting Justin.
“I mean of all the people in the world to show up…”
“Shhhhhh!” I snapped.
“Geeze. Rude!” Christina said, looking offended. I missed it. Justin was walking into the recreation center with his new group. Without me.
“Whoa!” Randy said, he looked impressed.
“What?” I asked him.
“I thought you said you didn’t know who Justin was?”
“I don’t.”
“Well, his last name kinda’ gives it away.”
“How does the last name Prevot give anything away?” I was confused.
“Prevot? That’s not what Tortellini just said…” But Randy was interrupted and my ears perked up at the mention of my name.
“Group six is Maya Justice, Magnus Lance, Christina Pierce, and Liam Frankenstein.”
Chapter Four
Frankenstein? Like, as in Dr. Victor Frankenstein? The crazy dude who made that big yellow dead guy from the body parts of other dead people?
“What is going on?” I said out loud.
“They’re brothers.” Vanessa said coming up behind us.
“You, I’m not happy with and we both know that’s impossible,” I said to her, not even turning to look at her, but keeping my eyes on Liam’s back as he walked to the front.
“That’s what Justin said, twin brothers, but a Frankenstein I didn’t know! I didn’t actually catch what he was; I was too busy swimming in his eyes and flying in his accent.”
“Ugh. He’s mine.” I whispered and she laughed at me. “Twins? Two Justins? Could it be? Had the world been blessed with that face twice? Did their parents buy a lottery ticket the second after they gave birth? “Justin’s last name is Prevot, though,” I said, trying to be the voice of reason.
“Well obviously they changed it for school! Who goes walking around with the last name Frankenstein?” Vanessa said like I was the biggest idiot ever.
“I guess…”
“Miss Pierce? Miss Justice?” Mr. Torricelli looked at my best friend and me with raised eyebrows.
“Oh, right!” Christina squealed. We both scooted up to the front, dragging our suitcases into the recreation center. We found Magnus and Liam on the other side of the hall, both of the boys sitting awkwardly across from one another.
“Lucky we got together this year!”
“Luck has nothing to do with it.” Christina winked at me. Magnus looked relieved to see us, he hopped up and waved.
“Hey, Magnus,” I said, hugging him.
“Hey!” His grey eyes sparkled kindly and his round, open face looked sincere and happy. He was super cute too. Not Justin cute, which wasn’t cute at all, but Magnus was awesome. I was glad that we were on a team together. He never gave me a hard time for being the Boogie Man’s daughter. He got it though, because Magnus was a Banshee. He was the first male Banshee in the history of the world. Banshees had banshee girls, it was just the way it was, but sixteen years ago out pops Magnus. People made fun of him, calling him a sissy man or a BanHE. But he had something on his side of the court that kept people from being to mean to him; their lack of Banshee knowledge. All they thought they knew was that his kind originated in Ireland and that Banshees’ screams would kill you, but they didn’t know that there are three different kinds of Banshees. They were a trio of death omens if you will. The first was a Bien Neigh, she was usually in her young twenties and she would wash the clothes of the soon to die Irishman. She sounded freaky and I never wanted to meet her. The second Banshee is a middle aged woman who goes around knocking on the door of the one who had just had their clothes washed by Banshee number one. She would knock three times, leaving the door empty when answered. Then you have the screaming Banshee, but Magnus told me her screaming was due to mourning for the lost soul and her job was to take the soul to wherever its final resting place would be. I guess she was actually really nice and her scream didn’t really kill you, but people were really freaked out by the way she looked. I can see that - running int
o an old, white haired lady in the middle of a foggy forest and she is screaming. That would scare anyone.
His mom was the door knocker, which made him more of a future reader. He kept this to himself, though. He let people believe that if he screamed at them then they would die some horrible death. I’ll bet he was killer at doorbell ditching. No pun intended.
All four of us sat down, Liam still with his hood up. What was this guy’s deal? He wasn’t talking to us, or even acknowledging our presence.
“Hi.” I said directly to him, my hand out for him to take.
“Bonjour,” Liam said with the same amazing accent that Justin had, but it was somehow softer and at the same time deeper. He reached his hand out and shook mine. I had to stop myself from recoiling at this touch. His hand was scarred badly; it looked like it had been burned. The skin wove in and out of the tan tones to mix with red and pink, the red curling up and dipping back down. It felt waxy and stiff and I could tell it was hard for his fingers to completely form around my hand like mine had with his. Instant guilt washed over me. I was no better than any of those people on the bus who were making fun of the new kid. I assumed his hood was still up because the burns were on his face as well. Here I was thinking he must have been a jerk, and I was the one being a jerk. I forced a smile, hoping that he couldn’t tell that his skin was freaking me out, although I don’t know how he would; he was still looking down at the ground with massive amounts of fabric around his face.
“Everyone sit down, please.” Liam released my hand and sat down with the rest of our group. The vibe in the room was practically vibrating off of the walls. I blamed Ethan, the great, times a million, grandson of Lightning. Ethan was the funniest guy at camp; he was the best prankster here! I was in the running for close second. Two years ago we had been put in a group together. They made a point now NOT to put lightning and nightmare together anymore. It wasn’t so bad, I mean putting people into an unwakeable sleep while Ethan started every camp fire around camp with a lighting bold which then lit all of the strategically placed fire crackers at 3 A.M. wasn’t THAT bad. Everyone was still talking about it— it was awesome. I’ve never seen so many people running around in their underwear before.
“Welcome to another wonderful year at Camp Neverwhere, where the only responsibility you have is to have as much fun as you can.” Everyone clapped with elation. Most kids went to summer camps; all of them were geared towards a specific thing, like space camp, band camp, basketball camp or bible camp. You name it, they had it. This was a fun camp. A ‘relax and get away from your crazy parents’ camp. Everyone in this camp had to go to school and then was homeschooled to hone their special talents. I always considered myself the least relaxed and in more need of a vacation than anyone else here. They all got at least their sleep to run away too. Me? Not so much. I was in constant guard. All of these kids would be able to go the whole eight weeks without a word from their parents, but I doubted I would go that long without a nightmare; in the end it would be my dad just wanted to drop by and say ‘hi.’
Mr. Torricelli held his hand up, trying to stop the clapping so he could continue. “There are a few rules we need to go over. The first, boys are to stay in their cabins and girls in theirs!”
That will never happen.
“The second, no leaving your cabins at night. No doing anything to your cabin counselors so that you can leave.” I noticed Mr. Torricelli’s eyes lingered on me and was glaring at his nonverbal warning at me. You put Aphrodite in a deep sleep once so you can escape and now you’re pegged for life.
“The third!” he yelled, which meant he was serious and his pointer, middle and ring finger were up in the air above his bald head. “There will be no pranks this year!” This warning was met with momentary silence, then a loud grumble of laughter from every camper in the room. We all knew this wasn’t going to happen, and so did Mr. Torricelli. But a guy could dream, I suppose. Defeated, he slumped his shoulders and spoke again in a monotone, heavy voice. “Please take the next few minutes to get to know your teammates this year.” He sat down at a long table that held our happy faced camp counselors. Those smiles would soon be extinguished, and they would be ready for this summer to be over soon enough.
Christina, Liam, Magnus and I all faced each other. Liam, the obvious new comer, needed introductions. I figured I would start; I was the one who couldn’t wait to meet Justin’s twin brother after all.
“I’m Maya,” I said looking right at Liam, whose face I could almost see. It was definitely scarred, the entire left side of his face looked like his hand. It was still hooded though, so I really didn’t know how bad it was yet.
“Hello, Maya.” He greeted me in English this time, his accent kicking my butt.
“This is Magnus and this,” I pointed to Christina and gave her a smile that I reserved for people that I really trusted and loved, “this is Christina.” She raised her hand in a greeting, smiling sweetly at him.
“I’m Liam Frankenstein,” he said, speaking very politely.
“No way, I thought that’s what Tortellini said!” Magnus sounded impressed. “A Frankenstein?” Liam chuckled at Magnus.
“Vanessa said you and Justin are twin brothers?” Christina asked.
“Yes,” he verified. “He got the looks.” This statement was met with an awkward silence that Liam had the grace to break. “And I got the Frankenstein brain.”
“Whoa, dude. Have you ever created life?” Magnus was enthralled.
“Frankensteins are more than people who bring the dead back to life. We are scientists,” Liam tried to explain in an almost scolding tone, but Magnus wasn’t listening.
“Yeah, but you’ve met Frankenstein’s monster?” he asked and Liam’s shoulders went down.
“Yes, his name is Carl.”
“Carl?!” I yelled. A few heads turned in my direction but I ignored them.
“Well, Carlton.” All three of us started laughing but Liam (from what I could see) didn’t look amused. “What’s funny?”
“It’s just,” Magnus hiccupped. “Carl is such an ordinary name.”
“Oh. When my great, great, great, you get my point, grandfather named him, the name Carlton was given to men who were of lowly birth, or that were ill mannered.”
“I like it.” Christina said, and Liam grunted his acknowledgment quickly.
“What about you?” Liam put his other hand out that I hadn’t shaken— it was also scarred. He wanted us to take our turn, obviously wanting to not be the center of attention any longer.
“I’m a siren,” Christina gave him a sly smile. “But don’t worry, I won’t mess with you, probably.” His hooded head went up and down in a kind of thanks or maybe it was fear. Sirens were freaking scary.
“I’m a banshee.” Magnus said, his voice sounded very ‘come at me bro.’
“And I’m…”
“Excuse me, Mr. Frankenstein?” Mr. Torricelli was at our sides, practically materializing out of thin air to interrupt me.
“Sir?” Liam asked.
“We are inside; please take your hood down.”
“It’s ok, it doesn’t bother us.”
“I wasn’t talking to you, Miss Justice.” He took extra time to glare at me, his least favorite camper since my father, who was his least favorite camper. “Mr. Frankenstein?” He looked back.
Liam looked as though he was trying to think of a way out, but ultimately knew there wasn’t. He put his large, strong, blemished hand up and pulled his hood back till it lay lazily on his back. Mr. Torricelli didn’t seem surprised which made me angry. Liam’s face was just like his hand, if not worse. He had no hair on his head, I assumed it wouldn’t grow on the spots that were burnt and perhaps he shaved the other spots so that he didn’t have patches of hair. His face resembled nothing of Justin’s, except maybe his eyes and his lips. They both had the same amazing blue eyes and both of their lips were full and pointed at the top, they looked like they were sculpted from pink gemstones or something.
The whole left side of his face had the burnt skin, his eye slightly pulled from the distortion. Liam looked up at us embarrassed. I turned my neck around the room and caught Justin’s eyes. He was looking at our group, a protective gleam in his eyes. My heart fluttered. Nice guy. I knew then that he wasn’t a shallow, stupid, pretty boy like Christina always insisted.
“You were saying something, Maya?” I looked over at Liam, shocked again by his face and that amazing voice that didn’t match it.
“Oh, yeah. I am…a—well, I guess I’m nightmare.” I hated explaining who I was. It was awkward at best.
“Nightmare? As in the Boogie Man?”
“That would be the one,” I said.
“Interesting!” Liam leaned in, his hands rubbing together.
“Er…” I said, suddenly weirded out by this new guy with a burned face who was, let’s be honest, a mad scientist, and he was now looking at me like I was the last virgin.
Chapter Five
Christina, Vanessa and I walked together to the girls’ cabin. Four girls got to room together, plus a camp counselor. We three girls always tried to get together and had proclaimed room six as ours. I have no idea why: all of the cabins were carbon copies of each other, but we always had room six and we hated to change now. The fourth roommate was continuously a fun surprise, you never knew what you were going to get. It was usually some girl who didn’t have very many friends and needed someone to room with.
“We only have a few more years here,” Christina said, her words already drenched in disappointment.
“We have two years left, after this year,” I said.
“Hey, maybe I’ll just sing and make everyone believe I’m nineteen forever.”
“You would, too.” I laughed.
“I probably would, but it would get boring without you guys, so I’ll probably bow out gracefully with the rest of you.”