They reached their first campsite sometime around 1:40 pm. A small stream trickled by at one end of the clearing. Someone else must have camped here in the past few weeks as the remains of a fire could clearly be seen. The fire pit was surrounded by four large logs that looked like the would made great seats. Half the campsite was in the shade of the trees, a good side for the tents.

The group wasted no time in setting up camp. Cat threw one of the tents towards Kass, then helped Amanda with the other. Amanda’s tent packed down smaller but it was definitely the larger tent once set up. Indi looked at it enviously. She sat cross legged on the ground and watched the others setting up the tents while she wondered what they should do next. Get wood maybe? That didn’t sound that appealing but it would be necessary for roasting the marshmallows. She was glad Amanda hadn’t made her leave those behind. She decided firewood collection would also provide the perfect opportunity to look around, which she was keen to do. However, she didn’t want to start at the task on her own, and so she waited. Once the tents were up the group sat and passed around a block of chocolate, taking a rest before their next task. Finally, Cat spoke.

“Shall we get some firewood?”

Amanda nodded.

“Can’t you just start us a fire in the air?” Kass asked Amanda, their resident firestarter. With a click of her fingers, or less even, Amanda could make a flame appear from nowhere.

“Sure, but without any wood then I’d have to keep it going. I can, but it’s not worth the effort,” Amanda replied.

“I thought you were little miss efficient?” Cat teased.

“But where’s the fun in that?” Amanda grinned and got to her feet.

They all got up and went to look for firewood. Indi followed Cat. Kass and Amanda went off in the other direction.

Between picking up sticks, Indi marvelled at the weird fungi. She had found some bright blue mushrooms nestled among the leaves not far from their campsite.

“Cat, check these out.”

Cat glanced over at what she was pointing at. “They’re probably poisonous.”

“Why do you think they’re blue?”

“Probably to warn people that they’re poisonous,” Cat replied picking up another stick.

“Did you know that some fungi glow to attract beetles which also glow because the beetle thinks fungi are another beetle which it can mate with and then it crawls all over it looking for the other beetle. And while it’s doing that it picks up all the spores from the fungi which it then spreads elsewhere?”

“That’s fascinating,” Cat replied.

“It is,” Indi replied enthusiastically, completely missing the hint of sarcasm in Cat’s tone.

Cat glanced over at her between picking up another stick. “Are you going to help collect wood or are you just planning on staring at fungi all day?”

Indi stood up and stepped away from the mushroom. “I was getting there,” Indi replied starting to pick up a few pieces of wood.

“So is Beltane,” Cat replied.

“I wish,” Indi, who loved any excuse for celebration, retorted with a smile.

They met Amanda and Kass back at the campsite. Cat had the largest pile of logs. She dumped them in the newly made wood pile and then took a seat on one of the fireside logs. She watched the petite Kass carry a small stack of her own over to the pile and dump it on.

“You ever think this might be a good chance to practice your powers?” Cat asked her.

Kass took a seat. “I’d probably just end up stabbing you all with sticks. Besides, you heard Amanda, that’s no fun.” Kass took obvious pleasure in the previously provided excuse. While she was a powerful telekinetic, her ability to control the accuracy at which she moved things was less than lacklustre. As a result, she was afraid to practice, a habit which didn’t help her improve her control at all. It was a vicious cycle. One Cat had tried to break her from but to no avail. Truth was though, Cat didn’t always follow her own advice either.

“Come on, this is hardly enough,” Amanda said when she saw them all sitting down. “Let’s get a few more, then we don’t have to go out again later.”

The others reluctantly got to their feet and went to find more sticks. Soon they had a sizeable pile.

“Now what?” Cat asked as she lay down on one of the fireside logs and stretched out. At almost 1.8m tall she could stretch the entire length of the log. It must have been maybe only an inch or two longer than she was tall.

“Cards?” Amanda suggested. “We could bet those marshmallows of Indi’s.”

“But I want to eat them on the fire,” Indi complained. She was no good at cards. Oh she knew the odds. She could calculate them perfectly and with an eidetic memory she always remembered every card that had been played, but Amanda would want to play poker, and the one thing Indi was terrible at was keeping a straight face. She detested hiding her emotions and she trusted everybody else far too much to spot a bluff. She wanted to be happy when she had a good hand and sad when she didn’t, unfortunately for her that wasn’t the aim of the game.

“Indi’s pile’s not going to last long.” Cat poked her tongue out at Indi playfully.

“It’s true,” Indi nodded, as she took a seat on another of the fireside logs.

Amanda stood, hands on hips, thinking.

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“How about Hearts?” Kass suggested.

“You and Indi?” Cat asked, suggesting teams as she sat up and picked the bits of twig which had gotten caught in her long black hair while she had been lying on the log. It wasn’t that Indi was bad at Hearts, rather Amanda was so much better than the rest of them that everyone wanted her for a partner. In fact, Indi was pretty good at hearts, better than Kass or Cat, but no one could outplay Amanda.

Kass gave a small laugh. “How about 21?”

“I’m sick of it,” Cat complained.

“How about a drinking game?” Indi suggested. “We have hours to sober up.”

Cat laughed but shook her head.

“It’ll help lighten the load,” Amanda mused.

Indi grinned.

“Okay but what drinking game?” Cat asked, hoping it was something that could also be played without drinking.

“Never have I ever,” Amanda suggested.

“Circle of Death?” Kass offered.

Cat frowned.

Amanda grinned. She’d already pulled a bag of wine from her pack.

Kass made a face at the sight of the boxed wine and pulled a small glass bottle of some darker spirit from her bag.

Indi pulled out a glass bottle of Rose which Cat immediately raised an eyebrow at. “It can’t lighten the load very much when you’re carrying glass bottles.”

Amanda laughed and nodded as she shook her a bag of wine “That’s why I brought mine in a bag.”

Kass winced “I’m not sure the taste is quite worth it. Spirits do the trick though, more alcohol per volume,” Kass added holding up her little bottle.

“That’s still glass though,” Cat pointed out. “What is that? Whiskey?”

“Small and reusable though. It’s brandy.”

“I guess I could try some of that.”

“You got something to trade?” Kass asked with a soft and sly smile.

“My dignity,” Cat replied with a laugh, prompting a few chuckles from the others. Then she added more seriously “Just a sip will do me fine.”

“I’ll accept one marshmallow.”

Cat pretended to think. “Done.”

“You too good for my goon?” Amanda teased as she threw the bag at Cat.

Cat caught it, then with a laugh replied, “yes,” and threw the bag back to Amanda.

“I’ll have some,” Indi volunteered as she reached for the bag.

Amanda happily handed it over in exchange for some rose.

They joked around a bit more. Eventually the cards came out and they got a game of snap going, one which turned out to be remarkably even, if not a little violent. When they’d had enough of snap injuries Amanda managed to talk them into a game of poker on the provision that the winner of each round drank. When Cat won a round she declared that Amanda hadn’t specified what and cheekily drank from her water bottle. No one bothered to challenge her on it, they just all fell back laughing.

A couple of hours later they lay in the sun, sufficiently tipsy. Most of them had been sipping wine even when they weren’t winning, except Cat, who had never been fond of drunkenness. Even at a moderate level she rarely ever consumed any. She’d stuck to her one sip and left it at that.

Lightweight Kass got up to go and find a makeshift bathroom in the bush somewhere and almost tripped over one of the fireside logs, causing an eruption of laughter from the others.

“What do you guys want to eat for dinner?” Cat asked as Kass pushed her way into the undergrowth.

“What’s the time?” Amanda asked, rolling over from where she’d been lying on the ground, leaves stuck in her bright red hair. She looked at her watch.

“4pm,” Cat replied.

“Shit,” she lay back down, thinking.

“It’s soo sunny,” Indi commented, starting up at the pretty blue sky. She imagined the fluffy clouds into various shapes. That one was a pony, that one a snake, a train. She closed her eyes. It was nice being outside.

“Pasta I guess,” Amanda said sitting up.

Cat nodded. “Shall we start cooking?”

“Give it an hour. Let me sober up a bit. We’ve got heaps of daylight left. It doesn’t get dark until seven.”

Kass returned from the bush. She stopped at the edge of the fire circle and looked at Amanda and Indi lying on the ground. “You guys look so comfy.”

“Come look at the clouds,” Indi replied, then pointed. “That one’s a sheep.”

Amanda laughed. “They all look like sheep.”

Kass lay down on the ground to join them.

Cat smiled from her seat on the log, rolled her green eyes, and glanced skyward.

A few hours later, having eaten a filling meal of macaroni, veges, salami, and cheese, they all gathered around a fire. Amanda had started it using her powers. All she had to do was focus on the logs and set them alight with her mind. She could keep it going even without a fuel source but it cost her energy, so having something to burn was much better. Indi pulled out the bag of marshmallows and passed them around. She found a stick on the ground and pushed four marshmallows on to it in alternating colours. They got through almost an entire bag. Eventually, only two marshmallows remained but no one wanted any more.

Indi lay on the ground groaning. “I think I ate too many marshmallows.”

Kass nodded in agreement.

“We should have saved some for the other nights,” Cat said forlornly.

“Oh don’t worry, Indi’s got at least a couple more bags,” Amanda replied.

“No, no more,” Kass groaned from the other side of the fire.

Cat laughed.

“I have one more bag of marshmallows, two bags of chocolate coated pineapple lumps, and some chocolate fish,” Indi corrected.

Cat and Amanda laughed. Kass groaned.

“Anyone want these last two?” Indi asked. “We might as well finish the packet."

“Sure.” Amanda reached for the bag. “I’ll have one.” She offered the other to Cat who accepted it without complaint.

It was around 9:30pm when they disappeared into their tents. Indi slipped into her sleeping bag amazed at how quickly it had gotten cold. It wasn’t quite proper summer yet and they were up a little higher than usual. The nights were much warmer at sea level. Sleeping on the ground wasn’t the most comfortable either. She found herself longing for the comfort of her bed. She imagined it would feel amazing when they got back. Kass climbed into her own sleeping bag next to Indi’s.

“Good night,” she said.

“Night,” Indi replied.

Indi lay awake for a while. It was far too early for her. They didn’t even have to leave the campsite until 10am tomorrow. She pulled her phone out and read under the covers so the light wouldn’t bother Kass. There was no reception up here but she had a few novels stored on it. She decided a horror was the most appropriate given their surroundings. This one was about a troop of scouts that got lost in the woods. For some reason regardless of which way they walked they just kept coming back to the same clearing and one by one they were being picked off by something following…

Screech!

Indi jumped at the sound, then had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. It was just an owl. She smiled. The woods were great. She returned to her novel.

The light on her phone suddenly dimmed, her battery was getting low. At least she had a portable solar charger. She could dig it out tomorrow and charge it up in the morning. How many hours had she been reading for? Her phone said it was almost 11:30 pm. Time to put the book down then. She put her phone to the side and slipped quietly out of the tent to go and find a bathroom. She shivered in the cold air and reached back inside the tent for sweatshirt to put over her singlet. Kass stirred and Indi froze, hoping she hadn’t woken her. Kass slept on. Indi stood up outside and stretched, then shivered again. How could it get so cold when it had been so warm earlier? She glanced at the trees. They looked somewhat forbidding in the dark. She shivered again but not from the cold. She inwardly cursed herself for thinking a horror novel was a good idea. This was like that time she had the house to herself and had decided to watch The Grudge. She wandered into the bush, not too far, did her business, and returned as quickly as she could.

She was relieved to return to the shelter of the tent. Kass was moving again when she got back in. Talking in her sleep, whimpering. Indi frowned. Nightmare? Kass whimpered again and mumbled something Indi couldn’t quite make out. Indi poked her. “Kass?”

Kass stirred and her eyes flickered open slightly “Huh?”

“You were talking in your sleep.”

“Oh, sorry,” Kass mumbled. Then she rolled over and fell straight back into a deep slumber.