“That’s what I was doing before you guys stopped us. We will look around the community center and I will then show you guys where the community kitchen is and our sleeping areas,” Sandy says.
“Yes, that sounds good. Just stay out of my area, though. It is not clean, it’s dirty,” Danny says.
“We will, thanks, and we will meet back in the community center. Come on, guys, let’s go to the kitchen first,” Sandy says.
Then we all start walking towards her and Danny goes another way. “Okay, he has gone his way. He has to be keeping Cody somewhere in his bedroom, or his room backs up to the caves. Just like your village area. I just didn’t think about that at all. I can’t believe I never thought of that. Come to think of it, he goes to his bedroom a lot and so do his wereboons, and I have even seen some of his boys going into his room. One time I asked him, ‘What the heck are you guys doing in your room?’ and he said, ‘You know sometimes we like to get away and just hang in my room and listen to the music. You know my room is big, and remember there is a couch and everything in there. It’s just relaxing after a long day.’ Now I know he has him back there somewhere. It’s been years since I have been in his room. He never would let me go in there. So that means he and his boys built into the caves. Can we not get into these caves from your caves?” Sandy asks.
“Last checked, our caves do not run into your caves.
There is a huge wall in between. We just now are discovering that you have caves. I never knew that you guys even had any caves. I agree with you that Danny has built into the caves. That makes perfect sense. Somehow Hollis and Trevor need to be invited into Danny’s room to ‘hang out’, as he calls it. Then they can look around and check out the room. What we can do is search and see if there is another way into your caves just in case we cannot get into the caves from Danny’s room. So, Hollis and Trevor, you have your work cut out. You need to befriend the ones who are invited into Danny’s room. You might need to befriend Danny. Now Trevor, he is already friends with him, so that is one foot closer to getting into that room. This we did not plan for, but now we know where we strongly believe he has Cody, and we can focus more on how to get into those caves. For now we have to not let them know what we are thinking. We have to finish the tour and then get back to the community center so Hollis and Trevor start working their magic. You guys better be ready to play some cards and watch and find out who Danny invites into his room. I am sure he only has a select few and I know he will always have those wereboons with him. It is very important that Max stays with you at all times, Hollis. She will be your extra protection. She will kill for you if she has to. Right, Max?”
Max looks over and growls.
“I feel just from our hour here that we have already gotten a little closer to Cody. Now we need to work fast and we need to be on our game at all times,” Stella says.
“Let’s finish the tour so that we don’t look obvious. We need to start focusing on who is going into that room. Once we start playing cards and they start drinking that moonshine stuff and smoking that pipe, they will loosen up and then we can start getting some answers. Hollis, we need to make sure you befriend Kris. I have heard he likes to talk and that will help us because he will slip up. Now, knowing Danny, he has only let a select few know that he has Cody captured and that even Cody can help make him and others immortal. I am surprised also that he even let us in the village, but I guess I am not surprised now since he doesn’t actually have Cody in the village and he is trying to throw us off by allowing us to hang out. Oh I forgot, we do have a new person in the group and he wants to know all about you. So let’s walk fast around this village. We all know where everything is since both villages almost look the same. You know what I never understood is: why do all the lady folk stay in one area and hardly never use the community room?” Trevor says.
“That’s because the ladies do not like hanging out with the guys because they are loud and become disrespectful. The ladies like it to be peaceful all the time. They work hard in the fields each day and they just want to rest and take it easy. They don’t want to be bothered. Plus, my brother thinks it’s cooler with just the guys hanging out,” Sandy says.
We then walk by a few more places, which look old; there are Indians all over the place and then we walk back to the community room.
“Hey, you guys are back, what did you think of the village? It’s pretty cool with the farmland. We like Trevor’s village: they grow everything we eat and sometimes we swap food with them. The two villages are almost identical: that’s funny how way back when they decided to build these villages and they built them the same. I have always wondered why they just didn’t build one big village for both groups. We all went to the same community school,” Kris says.
“Hey, what are you guys talking about?” Danny says as he walks back up.
“I was just telling Hollis how we mix foods with both villages sometimes, and how we all went to the same school together,” Kris says.
“Yes, both villages have gotten closer over the years. I am surprised we don’t have one main person in charge of both villages. Who knows? Maybe someday soon we will and we will all be one big happy family,” Danny says.
We all just glanced at each other without Danny knowing it. Danny also, for a moment after he said that, had an evil smirk on his face. He does want to take control of everything. He does want to be in charge and controlling everyone. If he becomes immortal, he will be in charge and he will kill people he does not like. I can just see it in his eyes. He wants power and I know I just met him, but he is so transparent. I can tell he will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Kind of scary to know that this guy I just met is willing to kill anyone who gets in his way. When he was in my face, I could see in his eyes and they were dark and cold.
“Well, Hollis, what do you think of the village?” Danny asks.
“Like I told Kris, it is like the other village except for a few little things: the solar panels I am sure help a lot for electricity and they really help a lot in the winter cold months, I am sure. I like the village, especially the community center. Cool-looking place to hang out. I know you guys like to not use electricity much, but it’s too bad you don’t have any video games: I am pretty decent at them and I am sure I would beat you,” I say.
“Wow, a challenge already on your first day here. Well, one day I will play your video games against you,” Danny says.
“Do you have a TV and a video game player? Where?”
I ask.
“I know you think we are backward people and I know you’re surprised because we are Indians and part of an Indian tribe, but we do sometimes relax a little and have fun. What do you mainland people say? ‘We like to let our hair down sometimes.’ So yes, I can make it happen. I do have a TV and I do have a video player. I just don’t have that here in the community center,” Danny says.
“You know both villages are strange: you live off the grid ninety percent of the time, but then when you want to be like the mainland, then you do. I guess you do it so you can once in a while do something you like,” I say.
“Yes, once in a while we need to do something we can’t always do, or we don’t have time to do, or it’s not part of our Indian tradition. Since I am the head of the tribe I do change up some of the things we do, but I try to keep us as close to tradition as possible. We do like to play a lot of cards here. Trevor knows this because he comes over often and plays cards and he is almost as good as I am. He has beaten me only a handful of times, but he does beat everyone else here in the village. There are several guys getting better, so they will give Trevor a run for his money now,” Danny says.
“Well, I can’t wait to get started playing. When are we going to start playing?” Trevor asks.
“We should be able to play soon. I need to go back to my room and will be back in about an hour,” Danny says.
We look privately at each other without Danny seeing us. Then Danny and a couple guys along with his creepy werebo
on leave the room. Kris is over in the kitchen area and that leaves us standing together.
“I wonder why he needs to go to his room now in the middle of the day, and also why does he need to take those guys with him? I bet he is going to check on Cody and he wants to make sure he is fine and that he’s not going to be loud in there. Trevor and Hollis, we have to get you guys invited to go into his bedroom. We also need to go in the caves from our entrance to the caves, and see how far they go now. We need to find how far their caves go and then see where the two caves meet. We might just be able to cut a hole in the wall. We would have to cut a hole when everyone is here in the community room. We would need it to be really loud here in the community room and somehow we are going to need to get the wereboons away from there. We need to think about this. This would be a good way to help escape with Cody,” Stella says. “Sounds like a plan: since I am always watching football we need an offensive plan, and a defensive plan. As a great coach in Alabama says, it’s all about the process. Everything we are doing now is life or death, so we have to make sure we are checking everything. The more I look at these wereboons, the more I see how they can maul us in just seconds,” I say.
I can see after I made a football reference how everyone looked at me and I can see they were thinking ‘What is he talking about?’ I forget they don’t watch football here: they try and live off the grid.
“I agree with Hollis and I am sure we all agree and know that we need a plan. I see he gave us a football reference, but we understand what he is saying from playing soccer, we need a plan to win the game, and we need a plan to win this life-or-death game. So we need to get close to everyone and Hollis and I need to get into that room where Danny and his boys hang out, and we need a couple from our group to see how far our caves go, and see if they now touch together with the caves that are here. My plan would be that when we are finally ready to get Cody out, we get him out through our caves, and I think that’s what Stella is saying,” Trevor says.
“Yes, that is exactly what I am saying. It would be better to take him through our caves because, if not, we would have to bring him all the way through the village here and then down the road to our village and that’s going to be really tough. If we can get him to our caves, then we can get him to our village and safe. So maybe we just need to bust a hole somewhere into their caves so that we have an escape route. We need to get to know their caves so that we know where privately we can bust a hole. Since we don’t want to get caught and we want to blend in, I think we are going to need Max to transform into a wereboon and let her check out the area and see how far we can go. Then maybe, Hollis, we can have you transport into their caves and see also how far back we can go. Now again, we do not even know how far they have built into the caves, so we don’t really know how far to go. Maybe we can put a little camera on Max somewhere and it can film while she walks around the caves. Then we can view them later. We only have another day before the full moon, and then only another day after that for the double moon. We are starting to lose time and we have got to get this somewhat plan going,” Stella says.
“Hey, what are you guys talking about?” Danny says as he walks up.
“Nothing much. Hollis was just saying how impressed he is with everything that you guys have here. He said he loves how we all live off the land and live pretty much off the grid. We were just agreeing with him. I think Anita Kay, Sandy and Stella are going to go back to our village for a few minutes. Hollis and I are going to stay here with you guys, if that’s okay,” Trevor says.
“Of course that is okay. Anita Kay, you sure you don’t want to stay with us?” Danny asks.
We all look over at Anita Kay with a little surprise. It took everyone by surprise. I can see that no one knew that Danny has his eye on Anita Kay. I can see Stella’s mind just agoing. I can see that she is thinking this is another in that we have. “Oh yes, Anita Kay, you can stay here with Danny and the guys if you want. Sandy and I will be back in a little while. I just want to go check on my mom. You know she wasn’t feeling well,” Stella says.
I could see the eyes from Stella saying to Anita Kay, ‘Yes, stay here and get close to Danny.’
“Yes, I could stay here and hang out with you guys. Stella and Sandy, you sure you’re okay with me staying?” Anita Kay says.
“Yes, of course, don’t worry about us. We will be back in a couple of hours,” Stella says.
“Danny, if we are not back in time for lunch, please make sure you get Anita Kay some food along with Trevor and Hollis,” Sandy says.
“Of course, I will take care of my guest,” Danny says.
“Okay then, we will see you guys later,” Stella says.
We wave bye to them and they leave and then we go and sit down.
* * *
CHAPTER 18: HANGING WITH THE WASIOUX
* * *
I am still feeling like I have walked into some type of twilight zone. I am sitting in a room with real-life Indians, and they are also vampires, and there are also wolves mixed with baboons, which are wereboons, which by the way are werewolves. I have a dog that can transfer its body into any other animal at any time, and I can transport from place to place. Also, both villages live off the grid, yet they have some electric and some have TV and modern music, and some do not know anything about music and don’t watch TV at all. I don’t see any computers here at all. It’s just all very strange, and, to top it off, the wereboons and the vampires can kill you. Yep, I am in the twilight zone. It’s just not real.
“Hollis, you look like you’re in deep thought. What are you thinking about?” Kris asks as he walks into the room.
“Nothing really, just looking around at how you guys live partially off the grid, but you do have some electronics like a TV. Actually both villages are that way,” Hollis says.
“Well, the solar panels help a lot for the electricity. We try as much as we can to live off the grid, but we also want to keep up with the world, so that’s why we have the TVs and current-type music. We live off the grid so we can keep a lot of the values our ancestors had. This is true for both villages. Isn’t that right, Trevor?” Kris asks.
“Yes, that is correct. Both villages have a lot of history and cultural values. We do our best to stick to them. All of our food is from the lands. We do not buy them, we mostly make all our clothes here, but there are a few things we buy clothes-wise and a few other things. Both villages are very spiritual also,” Trevor says.
“Speaking of spiritual, we need to smoke our pipe soon. It’s very relaxing and it will give you a very good, relaxed state of mind. Isn’t that correct, Trevor?” Danny asks.
Trevor looks over at Hollis and replies, “Yes, it is very relaxing. It takes you to another world sometimes.”
Then they all laugh. “Kris, can you get our peace pipe and let’s see what Hollis is made of?” Danny asks.
Then Kris leaves the room and I glance over at Trevor and he gives me a little look. A few minutes later, Kris comes back with the long pipe in his hand and a leather wrap of some sort with something in it. He then hands it over to Danny.
“Okay, let me fill up the pipe and then we will light it and then we will get to know Hollis,” Danny says. Then he lights it and I remember what I was taught and that was not to inhale it. Make it look like I am inhaling it, but don’t inhale it. Last time it made me crazy, and if I inhale it I might slip up and tell them why we are really here. I need to hurry and build Danny’s trust. I know this peace pipe will be my test with Danny and he is starting right off with seeing how much he can trust me. He thinks I am going to be a tell-all person. I got to make sure I don’t let Cody down or the rest of us by telling him why we are really here. Also if he finds out my blood type, he will be locking me up and then we will have no chance of getting Cody free, and they will have two chances to become immortal and that we can’t let happen. One chance is one too many. I see Danny lighting the pipe and he has a great big smile on his face. He seems so nice, but really he is
so evil. He then starts passing it around. It starts going to everyone and then eventually to Trevor and now me. What is nasty, besides having to smoke, is everyone putting their lips on it and that is just nasty. I want to wipe it off, but no one else has and I need Danny to think that I am tough. So I put it up to my lips and I can see everyone staring at me; I pull the smoke in to make it look like I am inhaling it like Trevor taught me. I even make the face like Trevor did and then I hand it to Kris who sat down right next to me. He then takes his turn and hands it back to Danny. I then let my smoke out. Everyone I can see is looking at me except for Danny; he is busy so he really can’t see me. No one says anything, so I am guessing I did okay. I see that they are passing around the peace pipe again. I was hoping one time around was enough, but I guess I was hoping for nothing. So I guess I will have to continue to fake that I am inhaling it. It has made its round back to me and I must one more time, and hopefully this is it, smoke this. Then I will just follow Trevor’s lead and act like he acts. I am sure Danny will start asking me questions soon. I then hand to Danny and again while he is taking from me and concentrating on getting his own puff, I let the smoke out. Just nasty, but again nobody says anything, so I guess I am good.
“Okay, the pipe is empty and we have had a lot. So we are done with this now. Sorry, Anita Kay, you did not want any. So Hollis, why are you visiting again?” Danny asks.
I have been waiting for him to start asking me questions: he is testing me now, I know he is. Trying to see if I will have a different answer from what we already told him. He thinks I am drugged up like him and the rest of the Wasioux.
“I thought I already answered that, but right now, I am not sure about anything. I came here to be with my cousins to get away from my parents,” I say.
“Oh yes, I forgot about that. So what do you think so far?” Danny asks.
“It’s been interesting,” I reply.
HOLLIS MCCALISTER SUMMER CAMP Page 21
