Blue Crescent

Who Dares Wins

Maddison

The loud chattering outside the tent woke me up. I took the blanket off of my face before opening my eyes and noticed that I was left alone. I unzipped the entryway and found all campers jumping and counting under the heat of the sun. Mrs. Shaw was blowing the whistle in her hand, shouting at them for moving too slow—well, for her, even if their legs were exhausted. I looked at my wristwatch and gasped. "Oh! It's already ten!"

Moving towards the campers, I looked for Arthur who looked in my direction just in time. He motioned his head as if telling me to join them, and I hurriedly walked towards him. I struggled to match their pace in doing the jumping jack exercise, and I literally felt like I was going to faint. Ugh, I'm so hungry I could feel my stomach rumbling.

"One, two, three, four, five, stretch your arms! Six, seven, eight, nine, ten, Maddison Greene!" Mrs. Shaw blew the whistle before calling my name.

The campers halted and looked at me. Gosh, this is so humiliating.

"Maddison, come here. I want you to teach everyone how to do jumping jack. That will help awaken your muscles too from sleeping like a dead donkey, hmm?"

I walked slowly towards Mrs. Shaw, glancing at my schoolmates who were silently laughing and scoffing except my teammates of course—who I could see wanting to intervene but couldn't; probably out of fear.

"Here at the center," Mrs. Shaw said, pointing his finger to the ground in front of her.

"Hey Maddie! How was your dream last night? Was it like a serialized Netflix movie that made you wake up this late?" Andrew uttered with a smirk, and everybody laughed with amusement. Creepy. They look like laughing hyenas.

"Maddison?" Mrs. Shaw glared at me.

"I-I'm sorry Mam, I woke up late," I said with my head facing the ground. My hands were trembling, and my body was shaking. I could feel my heartbeat ready to erupt from my chest out of embarrassment.

"Maddison?" Mrs. Shaw asked, but I didn't answer.

"Mam, shouldn't we have some breakfast first? I mean, we can't just possibly give off some sweat with empty stomachs," Arthur said, finally saving me.

"No," Mrs. Shaw answered.

Oops! False alarm. He wasn't saving me at all.

"I am teaching you the value of time. Time is gold. Once wasted, there's no way you can take it back." Mrs. Shaw placed his hands on her back, walking around us as she did her lecture. "The importance of following your schedule and adhering to orders in this camp will determine your grades. As the saying goes, 'do not put things tomorrow what you can do today,'" she said before looking at me. "When it's time to sleep, it's time to sleep. When it's time to wake up, it's time to wake up. And when it's time to eat, it's time to eat," she said, looking at Arthur as she emphasized the last word. "Go on, feed your bellies. Be back on your spot at exactly thirty minutes from now. Move!" she commanded before everyone rushed back to their tents while I was left alone with her.

"Anything wrong, Maddison?" Mrs. Shaw asked.

"N-No Mam . . . I-I'm going back to . . . the tent," I said before turning my heels, walking away from her.

I could smell food!

'Maddison, come quick! I know you're hungry!" Olivia said, poking her head outside the tent with a plate in her hand.

Ah, finally.

I smiled and waved at her. As I was about to get in the entryway, I felt something hit my leg that made me stumble on the ground with a thud.

"Ouch!" I screamed.

Arthur, Olivia, Hannah, and Adrian went out of the tent immediately and caught me lying on my stomach. My forehead hit a stone and bled.

"Oh my god, Maddie," Hannah helped me get up and saw Erin crossing her arms.

"Erin? What's wrong with you?! Why don't you just go back to your team and leave us alone!" Hannah raised her voice.

Groaning, I tried to get up holding my head. I started to panic when I saw blood in my palm. My heartbeat started racing, and I could feel my blood boiling.

"That's what you get for flirting with Arthur, Maddison," Erin said, making a face before turning away.

"Excuse me? Flirting with who?" Hannah said.

Hannah was helping me get inside the tent when I turned back .

"Erin?" I called.

"What? Do you want me to break your bones?" Erin smirked.

I glared into her eyes and clenched my fist so hard that it bled without me knowing. My nails seemed to lengthen, but I ignored it.

"What? You're mad at me? Stay away from Arthur and—"

Suddenly, the skies turned dark as thunder roared into the air. The wind rushed around us, making our hair fly elsewhere as the atmosphere felt dark and eerie. The wind howled louder and louder as the campers got out from their tents. Everyone looked at the sky with fear.

"Campers, pack up your bags and tents. We're going back to the city. Looks like a storm is coming. Move!" Mrs. Shaw ordered before going back to her tent.

"Maddie, let's go," Hannah said, pulling me back to the tent while Arthur, Olivia, and Adrian were telling us to hurry.

My mind was blank, and I couldn't hear Hannah's voice. Yet my eyes were still glued at Erin, cursing the bit*h in my mind. All at once, thunder growled louder as lightning struck a tall tree that caused its branch to break behind Erin. Pointing at a branch falling on her, Hannah shouted, "Erin, look out!"

Erin looked up and immediately moved away, but her leg got caught. "Ahhh! My leg!" she screamed as she fell on to the ground.

The campers heard her voice and circled around us, while some of them rushed towards her. As if waking up from a nightmare, I looked at everyone with confusion as my heart beat faster even more. Erin was screaming in pain, and when I said "screaming," she literally was screaming to death. "My leg! My leg!" she continued to scream, touching her right leg.

Mrs. Shaw came into view with a medical kit and a phone in his hand, calling 911. "198 Blue Crescent road, Middletown. Please hurry, thanks!" Mrs. Shaw said before dropping the call. "Peter, since you're a huge guy, I need you to use your muscles and carry Erin until we reach the road, okay? We will be waiting for the paramedics in that site. Is everyone alright?"

The campers responded with a low "yes Mrs. Shaw."

I moved my steps backwards and saw Arthur and Adrian packing up the tent. Olivia approached me and put some ointment in my wounded forehead before placing a medical gauze. Hannah handed me a bag of chips.

"Sorry, the boys kept all the food at once when the lioness told us to pack up," she said.

"Everyone! Get ready. We need to hit the road before the storm—" Mrs. Shaw was shocked, looking up at the angry skies slowly turning back to blue as the violent winds calmed down.

The campers' eyes went wide upon seeing Erin standing up freely on her own and were surprised to see her unharmed.

"I-I don't know how it happened, but I just felt the pain gone and . . ." Erin said as everybody's jaw dropped with disbelief.

"Are you . . ." Mrs. Shaw couldn't pick up her words.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Totally fine. And that bit*h needs to pay. She did it! She almost killed me!" Erin pointed at me, but I turned a blind eye and fixed my eyes up to the skies

***

Ava

"Are you certain of your plans, Ava?" Orpheus asked.

"Of course. You shall take care of my father's body while I'm away. I shall find Ambrosia's daughter in the future no matter how far it is, and I shall kill her if that's what it takes to take immortality from her and give it to our ruler, my father," I replied. "Only then will he love me as me."

"Ah . . . I see the determination born out of the bitterness of an unloved child in your eyes. How can you find her? Besides, we are not certain how our powers would work in that world that hasn't even existed. How would you know her?"

"I will find her. There must be a way to find her."

"Hmmm . . . good luck, my dear."

I traveled to the future and landed years ahead, but disappointment angered me when I couldn't sense Amara's power. Suddenly, I felt a powerful force as time progressed by. Immediately, I rushed off to travel farther. My heart was extremely delighted to finally find the only answer to gain my father's affection—Amara.

***

Maddison

The air was filled with confusion and tension as everyone looked at me. Some of them couldn't take their eyes away from the skies. To be honest, I wanted to kick the butts of those bullies, and that included the lioness Mrs. Shaw. She was such—Ugh! I didn't know why she hated me that much.

I mean, I had friends I could count on my fingers: One; Hannah, Two; Olivia—I guess? It looked like she was, though. Adrian? No, he didn't like me. Arthur? He had a crush on me, and I could feel it. The rest were demons in my eyes.

Mrs. Shaw turned to look at me. "Is it true, Miss Greene?"

"What? No. How could I do that when Hannah was holding me?" I answered.

"Yes Mrs. Shaw. I was holding Maddie when I saw that branch falling on Erin's spot. I even told her to look out, and that's when she tried to move away from it," Hannah supported.

"Exactly. I saw it too. It was lightning that struck that tree." Olivia pointed at the tree that emitted a little smoke.

"And what happened to that?" Mrs. Shaw asked, pointing at my forehead.

"Oh, this? Nothing. I just . . . tripped over and lost my balance and . . . hit my head on a stone," I responded with my eyes on the ground while Hannah shot daggers at me. I could imagine Erin smirking again.

Mrs. Shaw's phone suddenly rang and she took it out of her pocket.

"Hello Mrs. Shaw, this is 911. The paramedics are on the road right now and they—" the caller on the other line said, but Mrs. Shaw cut her off.

"I think everything's fine now, thanks," she said before ending the call. "Alright, let's move to the deepest part of the woods. I don't know what happened, but it seems like heaven is good to us that the weather just changed dramatically. Maddison and Erin, I want you to be careful next time and no more bedtime stories, please! Now, all of you, take your things and follow me!"

Everyone sighed.

***

Ava

I can sense it. There's power in here somewhere.

I was following the path of a strong energy, checking each future time I land in. It seemed like the energy was drawing me to it, and it felt like part of me belonged to that raging spark. My powers were getting stronger as I got closer to where it could be coming from, and I just couldn't comprehend what it was. The combination of urge and curiosity was just so ridiculous to handle that I was becoming restless.

Come on, where is it? Why do I feel like it's . . . mine? I have to find it.

***

Maddison

FWEET!

After climbing countless mountain trails in the woods, Mrs. Shaw blew her whistle, making everyone stop in their tracks. Catching our breaths and bathing in sweat under the heat of the sun, she unrolled the map in her hand and studied it.

"Mrs. Shaw, I think we're getting farther away from the road. We don't know the dangers in here, I think I want to back out," Andrew said.

"You think so?" Mrs. Shaw lifted her glasses a little. "This is exactly why you joined this camp, isn't it? To teach yourselves the value of courage.

"But Mrs. Shaw, don't you think this is getting out of hand?" Connie said, which made Jeanna nod her head in agreement.

"Out of hand? Didn't you read the letter you signed? This bravery test is your practical test before stepping Junior year.

"A bravery test?" Everyone chorused.

"This was never mentioned to us, Mam. How can a bravery tes—" Rea stopped mid-sentence.

"This is it!" Mrs. Shaw said, tapping the map with her forefinger. "This is the spot. Come on, put up your tents. Move! Troop leaders, make sure to have a pole standing beside your tents with your name on it. From now on, we have to prepare for any unexpected weather disturbance. Though it has no match for us. Come on!" she added and scoffed.

***

Ava

The air smelled strange. I opened my eyes and realized how different the world became before my eyes. I was roaming around the territory trying to trace the energy. It was getting stronger and stronger, and I felt a sickening force inside me.

My eyes caught a figure of a human walking in the woods. She had long curly red hair; alone and innocent. Her heart was scarred with pain and agony just like mine. Suddenly, I felt myself extremely drawn to the human that I began chasing her. She was running away from me like I was a monster. How could this human see me when I'm invisible?

I ran after her at a faster speed when my eyes caught a glimpse of the little light coming from the moon she was following. I focused my eyes on the moon, stopping me in my tracks.

"Ah, new moon . . . What a beautiful surprise." I grinned.