The Grey Sisters by Jo Treggiari

Author:Jo Treggiari
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: PRH Canada Young Readers
Published: 2019-09-23T16:00:00+00:00

TWENTY

— Min —

SETTING UP CAMP TOOK MIN TO HER HAPPY PLACE. She remembered the summer she’d turned eleven. Her parents had decided to drive cross-country, camping all the way.

The first night it had taken them hours to get the four-person tent up. By the end of the first week, Min could do it herself, in the dark.

She surveyed the campsite. The land rose in a gentle washboard ridge here, then dipped, making a snug hollow bordered on one side by aspens. Sitting down on one of the logs she’d dragged over, she couldn’t see the crash site at all, which comforted her.

The tent was up, ground tarps and sleeping bags laid out ready. She’d treed what was left of the snack food and water, built a firepit, and swept the whole area clear of brush and rocks. But now that she was finished, sweaty and a little proud of herself, she noticed the heavy quiet. The dry-skin-scratching noises of leaves whispering together in the breeze. The absence of car or human sounds—radios, TVs. Even the birds seemed hushed. Just one unseen warbler trilling, and that cut off abruptly, leaving Min to wonder if something had just swooped down and killed the bird.

She knew how far sound carried. It made her feel as if the clearing, the campsite were somehow outside the world, in some place where she was caught and time stood still. Could a place be cursed? Before they’d built their straw-bale house, her mom had scattered rock salt in a wide circle and burned sage around the site. “Just in case,” she’d said.

A trickle of watery light caught the silvery underside of the aspen leaves, glimmered there. Min was reminded of the flash glimpsed from the trees while they were peeing. She snugged her arms around her torso and raised her hood, suddenly cold.

Where were Spider and D? Checking her watch, she saw with surprise that two hours had passed. She hoped they hadn’t had to drive all the way to Abbotsford.

Her wrist seemed bare and she realized her leopard bracelet was gone. She tried to remember when she’d last seen it. At the gas station, maybe? In the cabin? That reminded her of the girl from last night and suddenly the silence took on a greater weight, an oppression she could feel in her chest. The mountain loomed, scattering shadows like a tattered net. The peaks stabbed the grey clouds. If she leaned back, it almost seemed as if the mountain was tilted toward her. As if just a push would cause it to topple and crush her.

“Get a grip,” she muttered to herself.

She pulled one of the larger sticks from the campfire pile she’d accumulated, laid it close by. She’d be able to hear anyone who approached. Her mind was racing and she wished she’d braved the car and gone with her friends.

A sharp crack came from behind. Min whirled around, reaching for the stick. An unseen force pushed through the undergrowth, trees bending as it moved.

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