3 Willows by Ann Brashares

Author:Ann Brashares [Brashares, Ann]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-0-385-73813-2
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2009-03-26T16:00:00+00:00

Ama dreamed rough dreams that night, both tedious and strenuous. She went in and out of sleep, too tired to keep track of anything.

The first sting came after dawn. She coiled and scratched her ankle and threaded it into the narrative of her dream. Some time later, the second and third stings came, dreamlike too, but when the fifth through the fiftieth came all at once, she had no choice but to wake up and stick her head out the top of her sleeping bag and scream.

She stripped off her sleeping bag and smacked at her ankles and arms.

Fire ants! Ahhhhhhh! She jumped around and screamed and slapped with superhuman speed and dexterity until she got them all off.

After that she looked up slowly, very slowly. In the full light of day she looked up, expecting to see the rest of the campers watching her insane performance.

But there wasn't anyone around. She was disoriented. She felt the sun on her head. It was later than she'd thought.

She turned around and saw the grassy hill behind her. When she'd fallen asleep she'd been at the edge of the campsite, and now she wasn't.

She must have rolled down the hill. Amazing but true. She saw the bushes where she'd left her pack, uphill and several yards away.

She lifted her sleeping bag and wrapped it around her shoulders. So much for its magical powers of protection. She headed slowly up the hill.

She found her backpack right away, just where she'd left it. She pulled it from the bushes and walked into the campsite. At first, she was relieved that it was empty so nobody could make fun of her for being attacked by vicious ants and rolling down a hill in her sleep. But that relief was short- lived. Where was everybody?

She walked around the clearing. She saw where they'd had their fire, and a few remnants from cooking. This was indeed the campsite. She hadn't woken up in an alternate universe or anything.

She tried to remember the plan for today. They were going to hike down into a canyon, she recalled. They were supposed to get an early start, probably hiking the first hour before sunrise.

The worry -was alive and churning in her intestines, growing by the minute. Had they left her? How could that have happened? Wouldn't they notice she wasn't there? She thought of how often she'd lagged behind the rest of the group. Hadn't they seen her pack? She thought of how she'd carefully buried it in the bushes.

“Hello?” she called out. Her voice sounded timid and small in the forest. “Hello?” she tried more loudly.

Maybe if she started hiking she could catch up with them? She tried to push aside the knowledge that she could barely catch up with them even -when she got a head start. Which direction had they gone in?

The canyon had to be downhill, she thought. Canyons -were made from -water. Water traveled down. Her thoughts raced up and down and around. They couldn't

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