Eternal Spring A Young Adult Short Story Collection Read Online Free PDF Page B

in her voice.
“Ian, get my medical kit.”
    Ian mumbled a charm and the kit appeared in his hand.
    Mrs. L pulled out a syringe and stuck the kid in the arm.
“Scott, carry him to the van. The rest of you get the other campers under
control.”

 
 
    The campers were quiet and the mood had turned gloomy as we
all watched the van pull away.
    “I guess we need to feed them,” Ian said.
    When we got to the kitchen, we discovered that Mrs. L had
been interrupted in the middle of cooking breakfast. Ian grabbed a spatula and
tossed the charcoal-like remains of pancakes from the grill into the sink. He
turned off the grill.
    “What do we do?” I asked Ian as I ran water over the charred
mess.
    “I know where the emergency cereal is,” he said. “We're
covered.”
    I went to the cabinet and pulled out the Styrofoam bowls. “Are
there any fruit loops in there?”
    Ian set three giant boxes of cereal on the cabinet. None of
them were fruit loops. Then with a gleam in his eye, he pulled out another box
and said, “We're saving these for ourselves.”
    Shouts from the other room sent terror through my heart.
    “Ian, help!” Sophie yelled.
    “Something's wrong,” I said, and the two of us ran to help.
    Scott and one of the Gregs were standing with Owen. Only it
wasn't Owen. It was another camper with an elephant trunk.
    “Owen!” Ian yelled. “Where are you?”
    Sophie motioned from across the room. We ran over to see the
real Owen lying on the floor. My heart sank when I saw that he was lashing
about desperately.
    “What happened?” Ian asked Sophie as he crouched beside the
boy.
    “He must have used a charm on Tyler,” she said.
    Owen whimpered, and Ian started feeling Owen's torso, then
his arms and legs. Finding nothing, he gently touched Owen's trunk. “Talk to me
Owen.”
    Owen made muffled sounds, and finally Ian lifted the trunk
to reveal his mouth.
    The boy had fish lips. A tiny little mouth and fish lips
where his mouth had been. The opening was smaller than a dime. Smaller than an
app icon on my iPhone.
    “Oh crap!” Sophie said.
    “He was breathing through his mouth,” Ian said, frantic now.
“He can't breathe through the trunk, and this tiny hole is practically
useless.”
    Owen thrashed on the floor.
    “Get everybody out of here,” Ian said. “Take them to the
great room, Sophie. Emma, when I'm finished, you need to calm him down. Scott,
take Tyler down the lake, he likes to be outside.”
    Oh my God! We were going to have to give Owen a tracheotomy
with a ballpoint pen like they had on that TV show.
    As the kids rushed to follow Sophie, Ian started chanting.
    Owen calmed, and I could see his chest rising and falling as
he breathed.
    “How did you-?” I looked at Ian and saw that he no longer
had a mouth. Instead, he had a tiny fish mouth with itty-bitty fish lips.
      I gasped, and
Ian's face turned a deep red. I could see the misery in his eyes.
    Owen started crying, and I turned back to him.
    “It's going to be fine, Owen. You can breathe now. You don't
have to worry anymore.” I glanced around for Ian but he was gone.
    The boy sat up and threw his arms around me, holding me
tight.
    “You're okay now,” I said, rubbing his back as his tears
soaked my shoulder. “You're okay.” How had Ian done that? He'd assumed Owen's
punishment somehow. I didn't even know it was possible. "Poor baby,"
I said to the weeping boy. Poor Ian. How long was he going to be stuck with
that fish mouth? How would he eat? How would he talk?
     

 
    All day long, I tried to find Ian. He wasn't anywhere to be
found.
    When I finally got my cell phone time that night, I stopped
by the boy's cabin, but he wasn't there either.
    I couldn't think of anything but Ian. I'd comforted Owen
until he'd calmed down. Then he'd spent the day with the director. Who had
taken care of Ian?
    He was a hero. I don't know if I would have done that even
if I had known how.
    Tomorrow morning, the campers would climb back onto