Count Me In

by Sara Leach

  Tess closed her eyes. “Maybe. It’s easy to forget that you three are tougher than you look.”

  Cedar rolled over and hung off his bunk. “What’s going on?”

  Tess stared hard at Tabitha, who ignored her. “Your mom’s hurt,” Tabitha said.

  Cedar hopped across the floor in his sleeping bag. “What happened?”

  Tess held out a hand to stop him. “Relax. I cut my arm yesterday. It’s a little infected, but nothing serious.”

  “Don’t you have antibiotic ointment?” Cedar asked.

  “Mmm-hmm,” Tess said. She walked over to where Ashley still slept and bent over her face.

  “You didn’t use it, did you?” Cedar hopped behind her, still holding his sleeping bag around his chest.

  “I’m worried Ashley will get an infection,” Tess said.

  “But you’re no help to us if you get sick from an infection!” Cedar said.

  Tess waved him away. “I’ll be fine.” She turned her back to him and went downstairs, using her right arm to balance herself on the way down.

  Ashley rolled over in her sleeping bag. “What’s going on?” she asked groggily. Her cheek was blue. One eye was barely visible due to the swelling around it. The other was sunk deep into the socket. She looked like she was dressed as a zombie for Halloween.

  “Mom’s—,” Cedar started to say, but Ashley rolled over and fell back asleep.

  Tabitha chewed her lip. Ashley usually had so much energy. This didn’t seem like her. She climbed down the ladder. “Tess, I think you’d better come upstairs.”

  Tess was sitting at the table, dabbing at her arm with a web of cotton dressing. A long cut, crusted with blood, split her red, swollen arm.

  Tabitha gagged at the sight of it.

  Tess started to wrap a fresh bandage around her arm. “I’ll be right up as soon as I’m done.” She motioned to her first-aid kit with her head. “Bring this up for me.”

  Tabitha nodded and followed Tess as she pulled herself up the ladder, swinging back and lunging up with her good arm at each rung. Halfway up, she rested, her good arm hooked over a rung. After a few deep breaths, she grunted and continued. At the top, she pulled herself into the loft and hurried to Ashley’s side, pushing Cedar away from his spot beside Ashley’s head.

  “What’s going on?” she asked.

  “Ashley won’t stay awake,” Cedar said.

  Tess squeezed the skin on the back of Ashley’s hand and pressed a finger onto her forearm. They’d gotten stuck on the mountain, attacked by a bear and run out of food, yet Tess had never looked truly worried. Now her face was pinched and her head drooped. Tabitha’s stomach twisted in a knot. Was Ashley going to die?

  Tabitha reached behind her for her bunk and fell onto it. As much as her cousin drove her crazy, she didn’t want her to die. She was only thirteen. It wasn’t fair. She should be downstairs, grumping at Tabitha and bickering with Cedar.

  Tess’s voice broke into her thoughts. “She’s severely dehydrated. Cedar, go get us some water.”

  Cedar didn’t move. He had shuffled around to the head of the bunk and was stroking Ashley’s hair, his face knotted with worry.

  “I can do it,” Tabitha said. She hurried down the ladder, filled Ashley’s water bottle and brought it back to Tess.

  Tess held it to Ashley’s lips, but she batted it away.

  Cedar pulled Ashley to a half-seated position. “Drink.”

  This time, when Tess held up the water, Ashley took a few small sips. Her lips couldn’t close over the bottle’s mouth, and water spilled down her chin.

  “Good girl,” Tess said. “Let’s try some more.”

  After another few mouthfuls, Ashley pushed the bottle away and refused to take any more.

  Tess sat back on her heels. “We’ll try again later.”

  Cedar eased Ashley back onto her bed, and she rolled over to face the wall. Tess went down the ladder. Tabitha followed, leaving Cedar sitting on his sister’s bed.

  Tess paced around the hut, cradling her arm. Tabitha sat on a chair by the stove, trying to stay invisible.

  “No food, no medicine,” her aunt muttered. “How much longer do you think we’ll last?”

  Tabitha was pretty sure Tess wasn’t talking to her.

  “Yeah, I’m worried too.”

  Tabitha’s eyes drifted to the box containing her uncle’s ashes. They really needed to scatter them.

  “I’ll be fine, as long as we get out of here soon.”

  Cedar slid down the ladder. Tess stopped pacing.

  “She’s asleep,” he said.

  Tess nodded and sagged onto the bench. After a few minutes of silence she stood again. “I’m going back to bed too. No sense wasting energy.”

  As if they needed reminding. Tabitha nodded. She’d love to curl up with Max by the fire right now. With all the excitement, she’d forgotten about him. She wondered what he was doing out there. Had he managed to avoid the bear?

  She dozed off in her chair and fell into a nightmare. She was chasing Max up a mountain. Every time she caught up to him, a bear jumped out of a bush, swiped her arm and left bloody gashes across it. They healed when Cedar swabbed them with antibiotic ointment, but only long enough for her to chase Max to the next bush and the next bear.

  “Max!” a voice called. She jerked upright, swiveled her head around to see who had shouted. Was it her? Cedar was stretched out on the bench, asleep.

  “No! Max!” It was Ashley.

  Shaking off the fog of sleep, Tabitha hauled herself up the ladder to Ashley’s bed. Her cousin was rolling back and forth on her bunk, her puffy face distorted with fear.

  “No,” she moaned.

  Tabitha stood over her. Were you supposed to wake someone in a nightmare? Or let her sleep? She needed to sleep. But it seemed cruel to leave her in her dream.

  She stroked Ashley’s arm. “It’s a dream, Ashley. Wake up.”

  Ashley kept moaning and thrashing.

  Tabitha grabbed her harder. “Ashley! Wake up!”

  Ashley’s eyes flew open. She jerked her arm away from Tabitha. A look of pure hatred crossed her face. “You! You lost him. You killed him.”

  Tabitha stepped back from Ashley. Did her cousin really hate her that much?

  “You were dreaming, Ash,” Cedar said from behind her.

  Tabitha swung around. How had he gotten there?

  For a moment, Ashley’s face softened. “You mean Max is back?”

  “No. But that doesn’t mean he’s dead.”

  Ashley’s face darkened again. “It’s her fault. Get her out of here.”

  Tabitha pushed past Cedar, not wanting to see the look on Ashley’s face anymore. She slouched on the bench downstairs, watching the rain, wondering if she’d be stuck here until she died of starvation, or if Ashley would kill her first.

  Cedar came down a few minutes later. “I’m worried about her.”

  Tabitha nodded.

  “I think the pain’s making her say things she doesn’t mean.”

  “She’s saying exactly what she means,” Tabitha said.

  Cedar tugged at his ponytail. “My mom must be really tired if she didn’t wake up through any of that.”

  Tabitha nodded. “Do you think it’s because of her arm?”

  “Maybe.” He walked to the window and stared out, as if willing the helicopter to arrive.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Tabitha took up her spot by the woodstove. She shivered. The fire had gone out earlier that morning, and no one had thought to restart it. The room had grown cooler as the afternoon passed. She stood and looked for firewood. “Hey, Cedar, wasn’t there a pile of wood here?”

  “To the right of the stove,” Cedar said without turning around. “In the wooden box.”

  The box had a few small scraps of wood and bark lying in the bottom. “I think we have a problem.”

  Cedar turned. “What now?”

  “We’re out of wood.”

  “So?”


  “Can’t you tell how cold it is? Don’t you think we should keep Ashley and your mom warm at least?”

  Cedar’s head drooped. Then he stood straight again. “You’re right. Let’s go get some wood.”

  “Us?”

  “Who else?”

  Tabitha swallowed. Of course. The wood wouldn’t fly in the door. If only they had a magic wand. She’d give anything to be Hermione Granger right now. “Let’s go.”

  Cedar took the whistle and the wood carrier. Tabitha grabbed a pot and lid. They checked through the window, then opened the door a crack. Listened. No snuffs, snorts, or sounds of small animals being consumed. They crept outside.

  Tabitha let Cedar check around the corner. They both rushed along the side of the building to the woodpile under the eave. Cedar dropped the wood bag on the ground and tossed logs onto it. Tabitha scanned the area behind them, not wanting to be caught by surprise.

  Cedar stopped. Tabitha turned, expecting him to pick up the full bag. He stood with his arms braced against the pile, the half-full bag at his feet.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked in alarm.

  Cedar didn’t answer. His shoulders shook.

  Tabitha’s mouth fell open. Cedar was crying? A sob escaped and echoed off the wall of the hut.

  Tabitha really, really wanted to get back into the hut. But it would be cruel to make Cedar hurry when he was so upset. She peered into the fog. Nothing moved. She stepped closer to Cedar and touched him on the shoulder. “Do you want to talk about it?”

  He shook his head. Tears dripped down his cheeks.

  Tabitha stepped away. Her ears reached into the fog, listening for sounds of the bear.

  After a few minutes, he stood and wiped his arm across his cheeks. “What’ll I do if I lose Mom? And Ash?”

  Tabitha sucked in her breath. How could she answer that? You didn’t say Oh, it’ll be okay to someone who had already lost his dad. They both knew it probably wouldn’t be okay, unless help came soon.

  “We have to get off the mountain,” she said.

  Cedar slumped further. “We can’t.”

  “Maybe the river’s lower,” Tabitha said.

  He spun to face her. “It’s still raining. Even if it stopped, we can’t leave Mom and Ashley like this. And it wouldn’t be safe for one of us to go alone.”

  Tabitha dropped her chin onto her chest. He was right. It wouldn’t solve anything. But she hated being stuck here, waiting. It felt like they were under siege.

  A twig snapped. Tabitha jumped. “Let’s get out of here!”

  Cedar tossed a few more logs into the bag and lifted the handles. Tabitha scurried to the corner of the hut. She checked to make sure all was clear, then ran up the stairs. Cedar bumped up behind her.

  He dropped the bag by the fire, and they both ran to the window. A robin flew past and settled on a tree.

  Tabitha giggled. “Is that what spooked us?”

  Cedar barked out a laugh. “Probably.”

  Something untwisted in Tabitha’s stomach. They were safe this time. Her giggle turned into a laugh. She met Cedar’s eyes.

  “We’re all going mental,” he said.

  “Yup.” Tabitha laughed harder. Cedar started too. It felt so good to laugh that Tabitha didn’t even try to stop. Before long they were both crouched on the floor, holding their stomachs, unable to control themselves.

  “This is crazy.” The words squeaked out of Cedar’s mouth.

  “I know,” Tabitha gasped.

  They both collapsed in another fit of laughing. Tabitha never wanted it to stop, no matter how much her stomach hurt.

  “Cedar!” Ashley called from upstairs.

  Abruptly, Cedar’s face fell serious again. He leaped to his feet, leaving Tabitha in a stunned puddle on the floor.

  He ran to the ladder. “Yeah?”

  “Water,” Ashley croaked.

  Cedar ran up and came back a few minutes later with the water bottle, a crease of worry between his brows.

  “She doesn’t look good. And Mom’s still sleeping.”

  Tabitha sighed. It had felt nice to forget for a few minutes. She pushed herself to her feet. As she stood, the room grew black around her. She reached out, trying to find something for balance, and fell onto the bench. After a few moments, the blackness cleared. Cedar was staring at her with panic in his eyes.

  “What happened?”

  She waved him away. “It’s not a big deal. I stood up too fast.”

  He shoved her water bottle across the table. “You better drink some more too.”

  She nodded and took a sip as he climbed the ladder. She’d never had a blackout in the middle of the day.

  Her stomach grumbled so loudly, she was surprised no one came looking for the bear.

  Ashley and Cedar were murmuring upstairs. Then she heard, “Stay away from her. She’s the enemy!”

  Tabitha shrank onto the bench. She wasn’t sure which was worse: the things her cousin was saying, or the fact that she must be really going downhill if she was saying them out loud. At least before, she’d been sneaky about making Tabitha feel bad.

  She sat with her arms wrapped around her legs and listened to Cedar calm his sister. It began to grow dark outside, and things grew quiet upstairs. She shivered. Cedar didn’t seem to be in a rush to come back. She eyed the fireplace. She might as well try and build a fire herself. It was too early to go to bed—she’d toss and turn all night. Besides, the last thing she wanted was for Ashley to see her.

  She swung open the door to the woodstove. Taking three pieces of newspaper from the stack beside the stove, she crumpled them and placed them on the grate. It took her three tries to make a teepee of kindling that stood on its own. Then she laid a larger piece of wood, one she hoped was dry, across it all, balancing it on the grate so it wouldn’t collapse her teepee.

  She pulled the matches from their perch on the ledge above the woodstove and removed one from the box. She hated lighting matches. If she held them too close to the head, she worried her fingers would get singed when they lit. So she held them farther out, and half the time the match broke.

  Taking a deep breath, she struck the match. Nothing. She struck again. It lit. Carefully she brought it to the fire and touched it against the paper. Not wanting to take any chances, she held it to five different spots of paper, dropping it into the flames just before it burned her finger.

  She sat back on her heels and watched, praying that it would catch and she wouldn’t have to start the process all over again. The paper caught quickly, flames licking the top of the stove. After a few moments the paper burned up and the flames died. She’d failed. What did she think, that she was some kind of mountain woman?

  But then she heard a crackling. A piece of kindling in the back was burning. She sat forward and blew softly, the way she’d seen Cedar do. The flames grew higher, and another piece caught. Before long all three pieces were burning nicely, and the bigger piece was starting to catch too.

  “Did you do that?”

  Tabitha fell onto her butt, startled at the sound of Cedar’s voice. “Yeah.”

  “Wow. I didn’t think you had it in you.”

  Tabitha grinned. Then frowned. Did he think she was completely useless?

  He waved his hands in front of himself. “I didn’t mean it like that. Just that I didn’t know you could build a fire.”

  “Neither did I.” She stood and stepped away from the stove. This camping stuff wasn’t so hard after all. If you didn’t mind starvation, wild animal attacks, dehydration and infections that might kill your companions.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  She and Cedar sat on the floor in front of the fire in comfortable silence. The smell of wood smoke filled the air. As her fire grew stronger, some of the cold seeped from Tabitha’s body, although her backside still felt icy.

  “I’m sorry about Ashley,” Cedar said.

  “Me too,” Tabitha said. “I hope she’ll be okay.”

  �
��I mean about what she said to you.”

  Tabitha shrugged. “At least she’s saying it out loud.”

  “She doesn’t mean it,” Cedar said.

  “I think maybe in her heart she does.”

  Cedar shook his head. “She’s been really messed up since Dad died. It’s like this has put her over the edge.”

  Tabitha nodded, wondering how Cedar could be so calm. Was he letting this flow off him the way he did with the bullies at school? Was that possible?

  He stood and threw another log on the fire, then paced around the room.

  Maybe he wasn’t as calm as he seemed.

  “I’m going to bed,” Cedar said. “I want this day to be over.”

  Tabitha stood slowly, not wanting to black out again. “I can’t believe it, but I’m actually tired.”

  “Yeah.” Cedar closed the doors on the woodstove to make the fire last longer. “Not eating for days does that to you, I guess.”

  Tabitha’s arms were barely strong enough to pull her up the ladder. She stopped with her eyes peeking across the floor and checked to see that Ashley was sleeping before she crept to her bed.

  Cedar leaned over his mom. He pulled back the sleeve of her shirt. “Come look at this,” he whispered.

  Tabitha tiptoed to Tess’s bunk. “What?”

  Cedar pointed to Tess’s arm. A red line snaked from her bandage up toward her arm. “That wasn’t there this morning.”

  “You’re right,” Tabitha said. “What is it?”

  “I think it’s the infection she was worried Ashley would get.”

  “What do we do?”

  “Get that tube of ointment.” Cedar began unwrapping the bandage.

  Tess woke. “What’re you doing?” she asked groggily.

  “Taking care of your arm,” Cedar said.

  Tabitha grabbed the first-aid kit from the end of Tess’s bunk and rummaged through it until she found the ointment. She handed it to Cedar, who squeezed a line of it onto Tess’s arm. The cut was definitely infected. Yellow pus glistened along the scab. Tabitha could almost see the puffy skin throbbing.