The hike to the campsite was much more pleasant than the Ranger Walk had been. It was a nice flat trail, for one thing. For another, the sun was nice and low. It was very refreshing.
“The campsite is just over this ridge,” Ms. Juniper said. Just as the sun set in front of us, we reached a large clearing in the pine forest.
It was beautiful. Gum unrolled his sleeping bag and lay down. Sam immediately pulled out a deck of cards and started shuffling. Egg snapped lots of photos of the sunset.
I knew none of those pictures would do the scene justice, though. It was too beautiful for a camera. So I sat down on a rock in the middle of the clearing and tried to enjoy it.
Ms. Juniper and a few of the kids got a campfire going. Then she passed out hot dogs and veggie dogs to roast. It wasn’t the tastiest meal I’d ever had, but it was a lot of fun.
“This is an amazing field trip,” I said. “I can’t wait to fall asleep staring up at that sky. I’ve never seen so many stars!
“Don’t get too comfy,” said Anton. He crouched down next to me. “We might have to run if a cougar comes to eat us.”
“Very funny,” Sam said. She didn’t even look up from her card game. “Now buzz off.”
Anton walked off. We could hear him laughing as he wandered toward his sleeping bag. He’d set up with his thug friends, just inside the tree line.
I climbed into my sleeping bag—it’s got a cozy flannel lining inside, and pictures of cats, of course. Lying on my back, I stared up at the sky. The stars were so bright. I decided that when this trip was over, I’d buy ten packs of glow-in-the-dark stars to hang on the ceiling of my bedroom.
I was completely relaxed and happy. I probably would have fallen asleep smiling.
But then there was a flash of light not far away, just a few feet into the forest. Then a low voice, just like the one we’d heard at the studio, boomed through the cool night air: “Go home! We are the spirits of the Lakota people. Go home!”
Everyone screamed this time, except Sam. Sam isn’t really scared of anything. Egg calmed down quickly. He and Gum asked me if I was okay.
“I think so,” I said, looking around the area. “My heart is going a mile a minute, though.”
Gum sat next to me. Egg grabbed his camera and took lots of pictures with the flash. As the flash went off and sent bright light into the woods, we could just see people moving around.
“I see them!” Sam said. She darted into the woods.
The low voice screamed, like it was scared or in pain. There was another flash of light, but this time it wasn’t from Egg’s camera.
“What was that?” I hissed.
Gum shook his head and said, “I don’t know.”
Then the light flickered a little. Something crackled. Suddenly there was a little orange explosion. Then the woods were lit up in an orange glow. Something in those woods was on fire.