Get Lost! (4 page)

After Genie had inspected their cabins, the kids in 3A gathered on the main lawn to get ready for their hikes. They each had their own water bottles and a bag of cookout food to carry.

Cookie, the camp cook, smiled at Katie as she handed her a bag. “There’s no meat in yours,” she assured Katie. Cookie knew that Katie was a vegetarian. “But I added extra carrot sticks and potato chips. I don’t let kids go hungry.”

“Thanks,” Katie said with a grin.

The class had been split into small groups for their hikes. Katie, Suzanne, Jeremy and George were in the same group.

“Who’s our leader, anyway?” George asked. “Mrs. Derkman,” Suzanne said.

Katie frowned. “I was hoping Tess or Carson could be our leader.”

Just then Genie walked toward Katie and her friends. “Mrs. Derkman has a bad case of poison ivy,” she told them. “She fell in a patch of it while running away from an oncoming fly. I’ll be taking you on your hike.

“Okay, troops. March,” Genie ordered. “Left, right, left, right.”

Katie got in line behind George. He was going very slowly. “You’d better march faster,” Katie told him. “Genie the Meanie is going to yell at you.”

George reached into his pocket and pulled out a hard candy wrapped in shiny paper. “What’s the hurry?” he mumbled as he sucked on the candy. “It’s not like we’re going anywhere. It’s a hike to nowhere.”

“We’re supposed to be looking at the plants and animals in the woods,” Katie reminded him. “See, there’s a chipmunk.” George was not impressed.

After they’d been hiking for a while, Katie marched up to the front of the line. “Genie,” she asked quietly. “Are we anywhere near a bathroom?”

Genie pointed out into the woods.

“Behind that tree. Or that tree. Or any tree,” Genie told her.

Katie gulped. “You mean I have to pee in the woods?”

Genie nodded. “Or hold it in.”

That settled it. Katie ran off in the direction of a huge oak tree surrounded by some high shrubs. She hoped the bushes would hide her.

Suddenly, Katie felt a cold breeze on the back of her neck. The light wind felt great after the long hike she’d been on ...until Katie realized that the wind wasn’t blowing anywhere but on her.

This was no ordinary wind. This was the magic wind!

Oh no
, Katie thought.
Not here. Not in the middle of the woods!

The magic wind began spinning faster and faster, all around Katie. She shut her eyes tightly, and tried not to cry. As the fierce tornado swirled, she held on to the tree. She struggled to keep her feet on the ground. The wind just kept getting more and more powerful.

And then it stopped.

Katie was afraid to open her eyes. What if the wind had blown her away. What if she was all alone in the middle of the forest?

But Katie was
not
alone. The other kids were right nearby.

As Katie opened her eyes, Jeremy stared up at her.

“Genie?” he asked. “Why are you hugging that tree?”

Katie looked down at her feet. Instead of her own bright red sneakers, she saw Genie’s hiking boots. And she was wearing army pants instead of jeans.

Katie had become Genie the Meanie!

Uh-oh.
Genie was in charge of the hike. She was supposed to teach the kids to build a fire, cook the food, and find the way back to camp.

Katie didn’t know how to do any of those things.

“Hey, what happened to Katie?” George asked. “She’s been gone a long time.”

Katie gulped. She knew exactly where Katie was. But how could she explain that to her friends?

“Katie!” Jeremy called into the woods.

There was no answer.

“Katie Kazoo, quit goofing around,” George shouted.

Suzanne began to panic. “She’s missing!”

“Relax, she didn’t go far,” Katie assured her. “I’m sure if we just sit here she’ll come back.”

Suzanne was so scared she forgot to be afraid of Genie the Meanie. “We can’t just sit here!” she declared. “She’s lost in the woods somewhere. We’ve got to look for her!”

Katie didn’t know what to do do. The real Genie probably would have searched for her. That was her job—to keep everyone safe.

“All right. We’ll look for your friend. But let’s be sure to stick together. I don’t want to lose any more of you,” Katie said, trying to sound like the real Genie the Meanie.

As the kids wandered through the woods, searching for their missing friend, Katie tried her best to act like a real head counselor. It wasn’t easy. Katie had never been out in the woods before.

The kids were starting to panic. Katie had to do something to calm them down. She decided to change the subject. That’s what a real head counselor would do—get the kids thinking about something else.

Katie pointed to a patch of leaves on the ground. Each of the green leaves had three parts. “Look at that beautiful plant,” Katie said. She bent down to pick up a leaf.

“Genie, don’t touch that!” Jeremy shouted. “That’s poison ivy.”

Oops! Katie gulped. What a mistake that would have been.

“Very good, Jeremy,” Katie said. “I
meant
to do that. It was a test. I wanted to see if you kids could recognize poison ivy.”

“I don’t want to look at leaves,” Suzanne moaned. “I want to look for Katie.”

“Or what’s left of Katie,” George added.

“Cut that out, George!” Suzanne shouted.

“Make me!” George screamed back.

Katie leaped between them. “Let’s just keep walking,” she ordered.

“Which way?” George groaned.

Katie led the kids down a dirt path. “Maybe she headed east,” Katie told the kids. “We’ll try that way.”

“Uh, Genie,” Jeremy interrupted, as Katie turned to her right. “We’re actually heading west.”

“How do you know?” Katie asked him.

“It’s almost sunset. The sun sets in the west. It’s in front of us right now.”

Katie sighed. She didn’t know any of this stuff. “Of course,” Katie said. “I meant west. We’ll head west.”

“It’s getting kind of dark,” Suzanne moaned, as the kids walked behind Katie.

“That’s just a cloud over the sun,” Katie assured her, trying to sound confident.

“Actually, I think it’s getting dark because it’s about six o’clock,” Jeremy told her. “It’ll be night soon.”

“Oh, no!” Suzanne shouted. “Katie will be all alone in the woods at night!”

“Relax, Suzanne,” Katie said. “We’ll find your friend.”

“Katie’s not just any friend,” Suzanne said. “She’s my best friend. I’m worried about her.” She looked at George and Jeremy. “Which is more than I can say for some people.”

“Hey, she’s my best friend, too,” Jeremy argued.

“But you don’t sound very worried,” Suzanne told him.

“I am too worried,” Jeremy said.

Katie sighed. “Please stop ...Whoa!” Before Katie could finish her sentence, she went sliding down a long, slippery slope. When she reached the bottom, she found herself waist deep in thick, gooey mud!

“
Help!
Quicksand!” Katie shouted out. She looked up at George, Jeremy, and Suzanne. “I’m sinking! Help me!”

George stared down at the head counselor. “I’m not helping her,” he told Jeremy and Suzanne. “Let the quicksand swallow her up.”

“But she’s the only one who knows the way back to camp!” Suzanne declared. “And now she’s sinking into quicksand!”

“She’s not sinking,” Jeremy assured her. “And that’s not quicksand. It’s just a mudslide. We played on one of those at my summer camp. Genie, just grab on to that tree branch and pull yourself back up the hill.” Katie did as she was told. She grabbed on to a low-lying branch and tried to pull herself up. It wasn’t easy. The mud had made her hands slippery, and the hill was steep.

“Whoa!” Katie cried out, as she slipped back down the mudslide. She fell backward, tripped over a rock, and went rolling into the woods.

Finally, she landed in a thick pile of leaves. Frantically, Katie tried to find a path back up the hill. But there was mud everywhere. Every time she tried to move up the hill, she’d slide back down.

And then, suddenly, she felt a familiar breeze hit the back of her neck.

The magic wind was back!

Wild tornado-like gusts swirled all around Katie’s body. She grasped at a nearby tree, but it was out of her reach.

Bam!
The strong wind knocked Katie off her feet. She fell to the ground with a
thud.
The wind was the fiercest it had ever been. Katie grabbed on to a huge rock. Her feet flew up in the air, but she refused to let go of that rock. She held on tightly.

And then the wind stopped.

Everything around her was perfectly calm.

Everything except Genie the Meanie, that is. She was lying on the ground, clutching a rock. And she wasn’t at all sure how she’d gotten there.