in a soft voice. “The invisibility devices are sorted. And we’ve got the big experiment planned for the excursion. What do we take with us into the vortex?”
“Sounds scary: into the vortex. What if the vacuum battery doesn’t give us enough juice and we can’t get out again? Will our skeletons keep spinning in it forever?”
“Oh rubbish Katherine MacDougal! The battery is working just fine. Don’t get all scaredy-cat on us. What kind of scientists worry about something like that?”
“Yes, okay,” Katherine said, but she didn’t sound at all convinced.
“Stop going nuts on us, please, we still have so much to do,” Chryséis said.
“Actually, we don’t need that much. Just a few provisions. Food, sleeping bags. Stuff like that,” Trevor said.
“Good idea. Chris, why don’t you write down a list?” Katherine was back on track.
“Sure, why not.” Chryséis scribbled on a serviette. “If it doesn’t work out, we’ll just try again some other time. At least we’ll be all packed up.”
“Not a chance. We’re going in Carter Valley as planned.” Trevor wondered for a second, if they would really manage to do it in such a short time. But then he relaxed. Sure they would manage.
“Okay then, next weekend then. We need some food, at least snacks and something to drink. Any ideas?”
The rain was letting up now and the sun broke through the thinning cloud blanket. Bradley Benson laughed out loud. He sat at a table with Holly and two other girls not far away. The three friends jumped, but Bradley didn’t pay attention to them.
“He’s making me all nervous,” Chryséis said.
“Oh, just ignore him,” Trevor growled.
“Talking about food provisions—,” Katherine said, “I just received a food parcel from home. Fancy some toast with anchovy paste?”
“No thanks Your Royal Highness that’s too British for me. I can do without yucky English food. How can anyone get used to that fish paste stuff and brown yeast spread and what not?”
“Thanks a lot! It can’t be that bad, if so many people in Britain like it!” Katherine snarled back.
She fought an uphill battle to get her friends interested in delicacies from England.
”And in any case, what about yucky American food?”
Trevor stopped a full-blown argument about food.
“I’ll get some chips from the tuck shop. What about you, want some? Thai Chili or Sour Cream and Onion?”
“Thai Chili for me, please.” Chryséis rather enjoyed the occasional junk food.
“Okay, I’ll have some Thai Chili, too,” Katherine squeaked still offended. She mumbled something under her breath about ignorance and pampered American taste buds, but then she also enjoyed her potato chips.
Later at dusk, Trevor searched for another time warp in the school garden. He didn’t tell the girls. They wouldn’t like it after all the trouble with Natasha. But what if Katherine was right and things didn’t pan out? He had to find out. By himself.
The warp was weak. He detected some faint vertical waves, but no sign of a vortex. Trevor managed to keep the waves going for half a minute.
Not a bad result so close to the school building. He was convinced that the device would do its job in Carter Valley. During the week, Katherine and Trevor were busy with last-minute changes in the lab, while Chryséis made a provisions list. On top of the list, she wrote plastic water bottles and cans of soft drink. They were useful even when empty.
Then emergency food like granola bars, peanuts, beef jerky and dried fruit. Chryséis wrote down lighters and matches; toothbrushes, water purifying tablets and aspirin. Something for stomach problems, antiseptic cream, lip balm, underwear and sandals. An old discman, which could also record and three music CDs. One CD for each of them.
A palmtop computer with memory stick (the vacuum battery could now be used for recharging) and a tiny digital camera. A Swiss army knife would come in handy and sunglasses, plastic bags and paper tissues. Then the smallest and lightest Sherpa sleeping bags available. She read the list again.
Was that overkill for a short trip? Maybe, but better safe than sorry.
A Frisbee maybe... no, a rainfly which could be folded really small… and moon bags. An electric stunner as self-defense might be good, or pepper spray. But they were too young to buy these at the shop. Chryséis wrote ‘make a plan’ next to these items. She trimmed and changed the list until it looked about right.
After dinner, they went over the list together and started packing in secret. The girls couldn’t keep their activities hidden from Sally Holfield, though.
“Why are you packing so much stuff for a daytrip?” their roommate wanted to know. Chryséis had to think on her feet. “Just to be prepared,” she answered curtly.
“Prepared for what?”
Chryséis just shrugged her shoulders and stuffed a Frisbee into her daypack. Sally was puzzled. Gifted kids often did things differently, she thought, forgetting that she was also a gifted kid. So Sally kept quiet.
All the excitement had an undesirable side effect on Chryséis, though. She had one of her rare sleepwalking episodes. Getting as far as the passage window, she turned around, nearly mistaking a cupboard in the passage for the dorm room. Being sound sleepers, neither Sally nor Katherine noticed anything.
It was just strange that Chryséis lay sleeping on the floor rug next to her bed in the morning.
There was another more serious incident, however. Sally saw a pretty aliceband with a little black box on Chryséis’s bedside table. The virtual invisibility device!
Admiring the fab hair accessory, Sally put it on in front of the mirror, stroking her light brown hair back for effect.
She was about to touch the critical button when Chryséis walked in. Seeing the horrified look on her roommate’s face, Sally handed the aliceband over without a word and ran red-faced from the room. “How could I have been so stupid, Katie? On the bedside table!” she said to Katherine the next day. They had just finished lunch and were on their way to the lockers.
“Odd that Sally should touch your stuff like that.”
“Do you think Holly put her up to it?”
“Nah, I think she just wanted to look pretty.”
“Well, lucky nothing happened,” Chryséis grunted. “We must be careful with Holly hovering and watching us and all. Anyway, where’s Trevor?”
“Oh, he got a link by the golf course and decided to take a little trip on his own.”
“What?!” Chryséis’s eyes grew wide with surprise.
“Lighten up. It’s a joke. Trev’s in his room to change. He has tennis this afternoon.”
“I thought for a moment... oh, don’t do that to me. You nearly had me there.” She nudged her friend playfully and they started laughing.
“Nearly? Hah…”
“Yes nearly. Think of all the green scales he’d have seen this time...”
Holly and Natasha passed them looking blankly ahead. Chryséis narrowly avoided Natasha’s shoulder. Icy stares flew between them. “Wonder what they have to laugh about,” Natasha said in a spiteful tone.
“Well, we’ll know soon enough,” Holly smirked. “Sally was a bit unhappy this morning. I’ll speak to her later. I’m sure she’s in for a bit of a deal.”
She still suspected the girls of playing the frog prank on her and couldn’t wait to pay them back.
“Good