Camp Sylvania by Julie Murphy

Author:Julie Murphy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2023-03-30T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

Run, run, run, run, run!

I veer off into the tree line as the tent flaps ripple open behind me.

Looking over my shoulder, I catch a glimpse of Captain B and William knocking foreheads.

“Watch it,” Captain B tells him.

“Where are you going?” he asks her. “You look like a dead squirrel just crawled up your butt.”

“And you look like a dead squirrel,” she tells him.

He hisses in a way that makes me think he might not be entirely human.

I begin to run again, because I’m not about to end up between those two in the woods. Maybe Captain B didn’t see me well enough to make out who was snooping. I was tucked away in the dark after all . . . but I still feel like my stomach is in my throat.

Maybe I can just fly under the radar until Parents’ Day. There’s no way Sylvia can actually keep us here forever. Mom and Dad said so themselves at the airport that they’d see me at Parents’ Day.

As I weave in and out of the trees, I glance over my shoulder to see someone—no, something—chasing me. It’s like a shadowy fog that’s slow moving and yet somehow only a few feet behind me. Even though I’m sweating and it’s a muggy night, the air at my back begins to feel cold. Can vampires turn into fog?

I make a split-second decision to cut back onto the path. At least from there, I can scream for help and stand a chance at waking up other campers.

When I make it back to the path, I look behind me once more, and the figure is gone, but all that means is I can’t see it.

As I speed walk to my cabin I decide that if a counselor stops me, I can say I had to go to the bathroom. But running right now would definitely look suspicious, and the last thing I need is a run-in with Helen. Thankfully my beloved Cabin Three is just a few steps away.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I open my door and immediately lock it behind me, though I’m pretty sure that’s not going to do anything against a camp staffed by vampires.

I don’t even bother changing into my pajamas. Instead I take a running leap into my bed, like I would do when I was a little kid in case there were any monsters lurking under my mattress, ready to yank me into the darkness.

Except this time, not even my bed feels safe. I tremble at every creaking tree branch and whistle of wind. Because I can’t bring myself to look out into our room and risk my imagination filling in what might be hiding in a dark corner, I stare up at the ceiling of our cabin for the rest of the night, hoping that this has all been a bad dream.

“Hello in there,” a voice calls from outside the door. Helen’s voice. “Be a dear and invite me inside. I only want to talk.”

I squeeze my eyes shut and think of home.

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