Out of My Heart (The Out of My Mind Series) by Draper Sharon M

Author:Draper, Sharon M.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books
Published: 2021-11-09T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 25

So, we had a snake come to visit us. And now they wanted us to go on a trek into snake territory on purpose? Actually, that sounded like a fair trade—I was up for it, ready to go and check out Cleopatra’s neighborhood.

We were getting a rep as the late cabin—it was Cleo’s fault—but we hit breakfast just in time to gobble down yummy pancakes, slathered in caramel syrup. If they made those every day until the end of camp, I sure wouldn’t complain.

The guys from the Panthers joined us on the hike. That pretty much guaranteed we wouldn’t see even one squirrel or chipmunk or bird on a branch. They hooted and shouted and called to each other as we bumped along the plank-covered walkway toward the woods. If the forest was usually silent, it sure wasn’t gonna be this morning!

“Hey, Firefly Girl!” Noah called out as the Panthers jostled past us. I did manage to wave back, but I’m not sure if he saw. Jocelyn noticed, however.

She grinned at me. “Lightning bug! Lightning bug! Lightning bug!”

I flicked out my hand like it didn’t matter. But I had to work hard to hold in my smile.

The guys tramped just ahead of us the whole time. That’s okay, I thought. We’d save our energy for a real competition! I was impressed with the power of Devin’s chair—must have had shock absorbers too, because he never even bounced. Malik passed us in his solid-gold-looking chair, shouting, “Hey, Falcon Girls! You can’t catch us!”

I didn’t think we were trying to get anywhere fast, but he seemed to think we were in a race. I remember reading about competitions like balloon soccer or something, but so far, nobody had talked about those. It seems to me that Malik, for sure, would love something like that.

Parts of this path were rockier and bumpier and muckier than others. I was glad my dad had switched out my wheelchair tires for ones he called “industrial-strength.” They weren’t as thick as Santiago’s—he could actually roll himself on his own for short distances!—but they were wider and sturdier than my regular wheels—kinda like what BMX bikes have. They can roll easily over rocks and through mud. The wheels on Karyn’s chair were thinner, and I could see the concentration on Kim’s face as she occasionally had to strain to get Karyn through the muck.

Penny had seemed to be sure that I was going to spend my whole time in the “forest,” but this was our first real venture into the actual woods. I’d gotten used to the bright sunshine everywhere, but in here, it seemed like somebody had put the sun on a dimmer switch. It glimmered through the tangled branches above, but sent down more shadows than sunbeams. Pine trees dropped fat cones—plop—right in front of us. Thanks to all the studying I’d done for the Whiz Kids team, I could identify just about every species of trees we passed—birches and black oaks and bitternut hickories.

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