Read Online Before Wings by Beth Goobie - Free Book Online Page B

leader. She had black shoulder-length hair and her nose was slightly beaked, but she was still pretty and she knew it. Her mouth was wide open; she looked loud, friendly and entirely oblivious to the existence of the three wistful girls in the background. She looked like every best friend Adrien had made during her Camp Lakeshore summers.
    The cabin was suddenly cold. A slight wind had picked up, something different coming through the trees. In one corner of the room, a faint blur shifted, and a shiver ran down the back of Adrien’s neck. Her breath stilled. She raised her eyes slowly, but the room rested empty of anything but the whispering green light. Whatever had just come from between the worlds to watch her was gone, but she knew it had been there. When she breathed again she breathed deeper, as if the air also came from a place beyond this one and she was breathing it in, pulling other worlds closer, until finally she would be able to see them and understand.
    Adrien leaned against the fence at the archery range, watching her roommate. Darcie’s hair was perfectly curled and herneon blue makeup glowed, but she wore a whistle around her neck and was speaking with the voice of authority . “No one,” Darcie said emphatically, “absolutely no one is to step across this shooting line for any reason until I blow the whistle. If you notch your arrow improperly and it falls to the ground in front of you instead of flying through the air, too bad. Sometimes arrows from other people’s bows fly sideways, and you can get hit just leaning over the line. If you’re the stupid sucker who wastes a shot, leave it on the ground. If I catch you crossing that line, even leaning over it before I blow my whistle, you’ll lose shooting privileges, got it?”
    It was mid-afternoon. Connor had finished his morale booster, and staff had gathered for the last workshop of Training Session. It was the only one Adrien had been interested in attending. She hid a grin as Darcie glared ferociously at the group, trying to imprint on them the seriousness of the situation. “Grade five and six girls are the worst ,” she said with disgust. “They get the giggles and forget they’ve got a loaded bow. Someone makes a joke and they turn around to hear it.” Darcie illustrated, whirling suddenly and pointing a loaded bow at the startled crowd. “If you’ve got a cabin of gigglers, you’re going to have to give them a serious talk before they get here. I don’t tolerate gigglers on my range. Understood?”
    When enough staff had nodded, Darcie stopped pointing her loaded bow at them and moved into the proper stance for loading and shooting. Targets had been pinned to four straw bales at the opposite end of the range. They looked a long ways off. Adrien watched in disbelief as her roommate’s first arrow sailed through the air and burieditself in a bull’s eye. The group’s mild clapping grew louder as Darcie repeated this act with her second and third arrows. “It’s a short range,” she said dismissively. “It’s not hard to hit the target unless it’s windy. It’s for kids, after all.”
    Everyone joined one of the lines facing the targets, and Darcie handed the first person in each line three arrows. Adrien stood at the back and watched as arrows began wobbling, wiggling and whizzing through the air. Cheers and whistles accompanied the odd bull’s eye, but no one managed consecutive ones, even Connor, who went first and hit the target every time. Once all twelve arrows had been released, Darcie blew her whistle, and the archers retrieved their arrows and handed them to the next person in line. Then Darcie wailed on her whistle and another round of shooting began.
    Adrien managed to land her first arrow on the target’s outer ring. Her next shot arced high and nose-dived, embedding itself in the ground. Her third flew over the back fence into the trees. “Way to go, Grouch,” called the staff in her line, and turned back to