“What? Where did he go? He just transported himself right out of the room. I bet he is in your bedroom, Trevor,” Stella says.
“Wow, you’re right here again. So where did you go?” Trevor asks.
“I went to our room and then back. It was really cool. I went through a wall. It was totally crazy. A different room, I just went to a totally different room. I didn’t feel anything different when I went through the wall. I can’t wait to try it again. Where would you like for me to transport to now?” I ask.
“I would love for you to transport to the community center, but someone would see you transport in and transport out. We cant be reckless: we have come so far. So let’s try it again in the house. Go to the kitchen and get me a glass of water,” Stella says.
“Here you go, here is your water,” I say.
“Wow, you did that so fast. You went into the kitchen and got me water, and just wow, I can’t believe it. You have mastered this pretty fast. I figured it would take you a while to master it since it was all new to you and to us. We have seen a transporter once before and that was my uncle, but the Wasioux ended up figuring it out and they killed him because they thought he was a threat to them: they told us they took too much of his blood, but we knew that was always a lie,” Stella says.
“Now you need to try and take one of us with you. I am not sure if you can. Not sure if only transporters can transport. I am sure the ladies will probably volunteer me, so I might as well be the one you try it with,” Trevor says.
“Yes we were going to volunteer you, Trevor, so if it doesn’t work it’s you that will hit your body or head against the wall,” Stella says.
“I don’t have a problem with being the test subject. It will be fine. We will just try to transport together in the training room first and then we will advance to another room. So, Hollis, when you are ready to transport you and me over to the door, I am ready,” Trevor says.
I reply, “Okay then, I guess I need to hold your hand and then think about the door. So let me see your hand and here we go.”
I think about the door and hold Trevor’s hand probably harder than he wants me to. I just want to make sure I can move him with me.
“Man, we hit hard, but that was cool,” Trevor says.
“What? It worked somewhat. I was able to move you with me. We will have to work on the landing. I have to concentrate for both of us instead of just concentrating on me. We will get this. Sorry about squeezing your hand so hard, but I was just wanting to make sure I was able to transport you,” I say.
“Hey, it was nothing. Now we just need to learn the landing. You can do it. I am at your mercy here, so yes please make sure you concentrate,” Trevor says.
“Okay, you guys try it again. This time concentrate on the landing: it’s very important that we get this. You will need to take Trevor into whatever room they are holding Cody in. I am sure in that room will be Wasioux guarding him and making sure he does not get away and that no one helps him escape. You guys will have to fight when you get in that room and you might have to try and get all three of you out of the room, or at least one at a time. You will have to be superfast when you do this,” Stella says.
“Okay, maybe if I hold onto your arm that might help balance us when we transport. What do you think, Trevor?”
“Sounds good, let’s try it,” Trevor answers. So this time I grab Trevor’s arm and think about going to the other side of the room, and the next thing I know we are there, and we land normally.
“That was a better landing. Now we need to try and transport to our room and then back to here,” I say.
“Then let’s do this. Just make sure you don’t leave me in the wall in between both rooms. That would not be fun,” Trevor says.
“What? Could that happen? Could I leave you in the middle of a wall?” I ask.
“I was just kidding. I am hoping that could never happen. So let’s try this,” Trevor says.
I then grab Trevor’s arm again and this time I think about our room and we make it.
“We did it, now let’s go back,” I say. Then I think about going back to the training room. I grab Trevor’s arm and the next thing I know we are right back in the training room.
“That was awesome. One minute we are here and the next minute we are in the other room, and then back to the training room. It was amazing. We can do this. This is going to work. Now we cannot let anyone know we can do this. We are the only ones in this room. We cannot tell Sandy anything about this. Not that we don’t trust her, but we don’t trust what they will do to her to get information out of her and we can’t trust that. So you have done great at training, Hollis. Now I just need to take you to the Wasioux village,” Trevor says.
“Alright, well, we are not going over there now. We need to think of a plan for when you go over to the village. We first need Sandy to come over so you can meet her, and so she will know that you are our cousin. It will be better when we go over, and Sandy also tells everyone there that Hollis is our cousin and one of her friends. They already respect Trevor, but it will be even better coming from Sandy, since she is part of their family. This will sell our story better and they won’t think anything about Hollis. They will probably just think he is one of us kids. You know they like to say, ‘What are you kids up to when we go there?’ Except for you, Trevor, since you have beaten them several times in cards, they respect that and they don’t see you as a kid now. I guess you need to beat them in cards to get their respect,” Stella says.
“I think right now, since we are done training, we need to go eat some food. I am starving: who is with me?” Trevor asks.
“I think we are all with you, Trevor. It is about time to eat: let’s go wash up and then meet back in the kitchen,” Stella says.
So we all leave the training room, and Trevor and I go back to our room and the girls go to Stella’s room. “I am just ready to lie down and sleep. My brain is fried and it could use a rest,” I say.
“I understand that. I could really do some snoring right now,” Trevor says.
“I heard that: no really, I have heard you snore really loud,” I say.
“Ha, sorry about that. I know I snore. I have woken myself up before from snoring. I am going to wash up and then head to the kitchen,” Trevor says.
“Okay, I will be right behind you. Knock on the door when you are done with the bathroom. Let’s hope I don’t lie down or it’s over, I will be asleep,” I say.
“I will make sure I hurry so you don’t have time to do that. See ya,” Trevor says. Trevor leaves the room and I sit down for a minute. Next thing I hear a knock on the door. I then get up and go the bathroom and wash up and then go to the kitchen. “Oh man, as usual the food looks great. I still can’t get over these spreads of food. It’s just amazing. Thank you, I just cannot thank you enough for the food you make for us,” I say.
“You are very welcome,” Stella’s mom says.
“We are actually trying to fatten you up so we can sell you to the Wasioux by the pound,” Stella says.
“Stella, that is not nice to say,” Stella’s mom says. Then Stella, Anita Kay, and Trevor laugh out loud.
“Very funny,” I say.
“We will finish eating and then hang out and talk about tomorrow and going over to meet the Wasioux. Trevor can give us the low-down on who is who. Sandy can also help with that. We need to know who are the ones that are the most powerful there and who are the weaker ones. When I say weaker, I mean who are the more friendly ones that really like humans. They are the ones who will let their guard down and then not expect anything because they are always looking at the good in everyone and not thinking we can do anything bad. What we need to do is blend in with them, but also we will be looking at everything and everybody. We can’t look obvious, though. We need to be smart, but we need to have them think we are dumb. We need to play their game, but play our game also,” Stella says.
“I agree. One thing I have learned from hanging out with the W
asioux is that they are not that smart. That’s one reason I beat them in cards all the time. They will smell fear, though, but if we act like we don’t care about stuff when we are there, they will not smell the fear. Even though we are not scared, they like to think everyone is. They will let their guard down. It’s just a matter of time. At first they will all be focused on Hollis and trying to figure him out. They will not be even paying attention to us at all. That will be our time to try and look around and see what we can see. I know a lot of the village, but there are areas that they do not let me go in, just like they don’t let Sandy go in. I am not sure what is in that area, but they always say that we don’t go in that area. They try and say it is sacred ground from the ancestors and no one can go in that area, or they will be cursed by evil. So I never have asked to go in the area. I do know some Indians have some strange curses. I don’t mess with any type of curse. I am not sure if they are saying this just to keep us out of that area, but they have been saying that for years. I am about ninety-nine percent right that they have Cody in that area. You will have to befriend one of the top right hands and maybe, just maybe, they will slip up and say something. We will play cards with them and then you can get close to one of them and maybe he will be stupid and say something we want to hear.
Some of them get really stupid acting when they smoke that peace pipe, so we will catch them with their guard down. They are also attracted to Anita Kay and Stella, so we will have to use their attraction to our advantage. Any distractions we can use, we will. So Anita Kay and Stella, we will need you to do some innocent flirting with the Wasioux, we just can’t let them know that you are flirting with them. So please do not tell Sandy. Just let her know you find one of them attractive. You have to sell it to her and not let her know any different,” Trevor says.
“Now you know that’s going to be tough because we are normally talking about how much we don’t like her relatives. It will take a lot to convince her otherwise. We can do it, but we have to be spot on, or she will see right through us. Why again can’t we just tell her we need to get close to some of the Wasioux? You know she will not say anything,” Stella says.
“I agree she will not say anything on her own, but we can’t trust that the Wasioux won’t get it out of her, even though she doesn’t not want to say anything to them. You know they have ways of getting what they want, so if she does not know anything, then she can’t say anything about something she doesn’t know about. This will protect her and this will protect us. Again it is not that we don’t trust her, we just want to keep everyone safe,” Trevor says.
“I agree with Trevor on this, we love Sandy and she is one of us, but since she is their family they might hurt her if they feel she has any kind of information and did not tell them, or warn them at all. She will be coming over first thing tomorrow so we need to decide exactly what we will be telling her,” Anita Kay says.
“We need to stick with what we were telling her about Hollis being my cousin and just here for the summer. We will not tell her anything else. She will then be asking us about how we are going to save Cody and if we have a plan. We are going to just say that we don’t have a plan and we will ask her if she knows anything. We will play dumb and say we are worried about him, but we don’t know where he is and that we have not heard from him. We will ask her to help us find him,” Stella says.
“Okay, so tomorrow it is. You know it’s getting late now and we have a lot of mental stuff tomorrow and we need to be sharp. The full moon is coming soon and we need to get going,” Trevor says.
“Well, let’s all get ready and go to bed, then. Let’s help clean the kitchen and then it’s bedtime,” Stella says. The more I look at her, the more beautiful she looks. I need to stop staring at her. Okay, I am not going to stare at her anymore. We then all start cleaning the kitchen, and before you know it we have it all clean. Trevor and I, along with Max, go to our room, and Stella and Anita Kay go to their room.
“Well, Hollis, you have once again had a full day. I am sure you are beat like I am. I am going to go get ready for bed and then you can have the bathroom,” Trevor says.
“Okay,” I say. “I am tired, you are correct. Max, you’re going to sleep with me. Ha, look at her little tail wag,” I say. Trevor leaves the room for the bathroom. Max and I wait. I don’t want to lie down because I know I will fall asleep. A few minutes later, Trevor comes back and then Max and I go to the bathroom. I brush my teeth and use the bathroom. Then Max and I go back to the room. Trevor is already in the bed.
“I am not asleep, so you don’t have to tiptoe around in the room. So are you ready for tomorrow?” Trevor asks. “I am ready: not sure how it’s going to be to meet real vampires. I have never met a vampire before,” I say.
“The only thing that’s going to surprise you is they are Indians. You will see that they dress and look like Indians. You are not going to see them as vampires, so you are not going to be seeing fangs. Now, if it was a full moon then you would see them as vampires. When they are vampires they will look like what you have seen on TV, or in books that you have read. Again for now you are going to take a step back in time and see Indians, real-life, everyday Indians working on their land. I wish the vampires had not taken them over, because it would have been great if they had been like them. Plus we would not have lost so many lives to the vampires. I am not sure how they feel about being vampires, but they have been turning for years so it is part of their lifestyle. They have been better since we donated blood to them. I know some of them did not like having to bite us, but when you are craving blood, I guess you have no choice at that time. We all seem to somewhat get along and they seem to enjoy me coming over and hanging out. Hopefully they will warm up to you pretty fast. Just again, just speak when they speak to you, or if I am speaking to you. We want you to come across strong, but not too strong that they hate you. Please don’t get all crazy and start chasing after Sandy: we need you to concentrate,” Trevor says.
“Okay, I will follow your lead on everything. As for Sandy, she likes Cody from what you guys say, and if Cody likes her, I would never go for her. Cody and I have a pact and that is we never go after the other one’s girlfriend. So don’t worry about that. I will be focused on checking everything and everyone out. Are they going to be okay with us bringing Max? As you know, she goes everywhere with me,” I say.
“Oh yes, they will like Max. How can you not like her? They will all want to pet her and heck, they might even ask you for her, or even start begging you for her. They love animals. They respect animals. I heard they hate to even kill their animals that they have raised to eat,” Trevor says.
“What about the wereboons? Will they be able to pick up that she is a shape-shifter? Can they like sense that, or smell that on her?” I ask.
“Nope, they will not. They will just see her as a dog and she smells like a dog. They will not know the difference. She will only shift when you ask her to, or if she feels you are in danger and she needs to help you out. She knows what she is doing. Okay, well, we better get some rest. We have another big day ahead of us,” Trevor says.
“Sounds good: I could use the rest. I have never met Indians before and especially never met an Indian who turns into a vampire, and of course I have never met a vampire before. This will all be a first for me. A crazy and strange first at that,” I say.
We stop talking and Max lies down right next to me. She likes to make sure she is touching me, so it makes it hard to move sometimes.
* * *
CHAPTER 17: FINALLY MEETING THE WASIOUX
* * *
T he next thing I know there is light coming into the room from the window. The window shutters are open because it is not a full moon and no one has to worry about the vampires. I hear a knocking on the door and it is Stella.
“Hey, you guys up yet? You got to sleep in this morning. Sandy will be coming over in about an hour to meet you, Hollis, and then we will go over shortly after that and she will tour us around the Wasi
oux village. So rise and shine,” Stella says.
“We are up!” Trevor shouts out. “We will be out there for breakfast shortly,” he says. “Man, I hate getting up early. What about you? Are you a morning person?” Trevor asks.
“No, I hate mornings also. I would prefer to sleep in as long as I can. I can see that Stella loves to get up early,” I reply.
“Oh yes, she loves to get up early and when she does get up early she is ready to go. She also expects everyone else to be just like her and be ready to go. I have told her a lot of times everyone is not like her, and that she is not normal. I tell her that we are all not you and that she is young, and young people like to sleep in. She always says, ‘You can sleep when you are dead.’ Can’t you just hear her say that?” Trevor asks.
“Yes, as a matter of a fact I can see her saying that. By the way, does she not have a boyfriend? She is very nice-looking and I just can’t imagine her without a boyfriend,” I ask.
“Well, she had a boyfriend a couple years back, but she then just stopped liking him. She said that he wasn’t her soulmate and she was wasting her time. After that he and his family moved away. She did get very close to him and at first they were always together. It took her a while to ever trust and care about anyone. So you have the hots for my cousin? Is that what you are saying? I guess I have never looked at her as being attractive, but we have grown up together and she’s my cousin,” Trevor says.
Of course my face is turning really red right now. I know he can see that.
“Wait, what? Why do you say I have the hots for your cousin? She wouldn’t give me the time of day,” I say.
“I can tell the way you look at her and the way she looks at you. I can see that you like her and I can see that she likes you,” Trevor says.
“What? No she doesn’t. She probably likes Cody: all the ladies like Cody and usually I am invisible to them,” I say.
HOLLIS MCCALISTER SUMMER CAMP Page 19
