Launching
Sisters to WitchCamp
By LRS
Genre: Middle grade fantasy
Publisher: MuseItUp
Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-77127-482-1
Number of pages: 118
Word Count: 31474
Cover Artist: Charlotte Volnek
Book Description:
Sixth-grader J.J. learns there are no easy breaks in life.
When J.J. discovers the opportunity to send his maddening sisters off
to WitchCamp, he has fantasies of a delightful summer. However, J.J. and his
friend are soon off on a ride they didn't anticipate -- one that lands them in
a chilling mess of witch hunts and creature feasts.
With his creative ideas, J.J. utilizes their risky escapades to escape.
But making deals with superhuman creatures just lands them in hotter water.
Now it’s up to J.J. to save them all from certain death by being more
imaginative and daring than ever before.
“Ready yourselves for your hunt. Today we will feast on your kills in
Goblinland,” a voice announces.
“I think now is the time to play hooky,” whispers DaveyBoy, the kid who
never misses a day of school.
But we’re flying through the air back to our hut and we land on our
witchy rides before I get a chance to say that I doubt they’ll let us off the
hook.
On all sides of me, witches of all shapes and sizes fly on their
mounts, leaning forward with an excited urgency. I think the trainees are
starved before the missions exactly for this reason—everyone must be much more
eager to hunt when their stomachs are growling.
There’s no driver behind me today. The wind slashes through my wig,
blowing hair in all directions, yet my clips hold fast, and it stays glued to
my head. My mount picks up speed and ascends higher in the air. I feel like I’m
riding a shooting star. I hold on with only one hand and shout out, “Whoopeee!”
The ride ends all too soon for me. We start descending on a gray
colorless land resembling the terrain on the moon.
As soon as we dismount onto a cement covered ground that looks a bit like
a parking lot, our mounts vanish into thin air.
“Where did they go?” DaveyBoy cries out, his head spinning from side to
side.
“Oh, they’re here, hovering above our heads,” a witch with braces and
red lipstick informs him. “They went invisible now so when we scatter, the
goblins won’t have a clue we’re here and come hunting us down.”
There’s a protruding ball in DaveyBoy’s throat. “Do you mean the
goblins will eat us if we get caught?”
“Oh, they’re not like us who enjoy luscious dishes made from different
species of creatures. This group in particular is vegetarian.”
“Phew! I was really scared there for a minute.”
“You can’t let down your guard, though. They may not be interested in
eating you, but you can be sure they’ll kill you if you get caught.”
DaveyBoy stumbles and I get a grip on him to steady him before he hits
the gray cement floor.
“Have your spoons at the ready, and you’ll be fine.” She pats his
shoulder with spoons she’s pulled out of her tall black boots.
DaveyBoy looks at me with a desperate question mark in his pitiful
gaze.
It’s obvious what he’s asking, and the answer is no, I didn’t bring
along my spoons. How was a recruit supposed to know that? No one told us
anything. Gosh, this camp stinks in the training department. “Did any of the
counselors bring along spares?” I ask the girl.
“No such thing, only the spoons assigned to you at your first feast
will work for you.”
“I think this is when we exit the mission,” DaveyBoy announces.
“There’s no going back. Your rides will only return you to camp when
you’ve captured at least one goblin—but all you need is one goblin for the two
of you if you’re a pair, so you should be okay.”
A whisper, carried by the wind, swirls through us. “All witches have
arrived. Hunt begins in three minutes. Ready yourselves.” Coils of rope and an
egg-shaped plastic container dances before each of us. We stick out our hands
and grab on to them. I unscrew the container. Maybe there are some magical
remote controlled bullets in here or something. The lid pops off, and I stare
inside…
Bubblegum. Loads of it.
“A snack? Now?” DaveyBoy asks.
The girl shakes her head. “No, silly, the rope and gum are your
ammunition, especially helpful for those who forgot to bring their spoons. See
what you’ve got to do.” The girl pops piece after piece of gum into her mouth
and chews vigorously, saliva dripping down her chin. She blows a huge bubble,
pops it, and takes the sticky wad out of her mouth and places it back in the
container. “Get it?”
“Not exactly,” I say. “What happens, when you pop the bubble, the
goblin pops?”
“You’re both kinda weird. No, the rope and gum are your trapping
materials. When the goblin gets stuck on the sticky wad, you tie him up with
your rope and drag him back here. Then you’ll be whisked back to camp with him,
and the butchering and cooking spells will take care of the rest. It’s really
quite simple. See?”
What I see is that we’re in for something that will either be the death
of us, or it will turn out to be another summer adventure worth writing home about.
The three minutes are up, and the witches spread out from the circle
and disperse. I motion to DaveyBoy to proceed along with me.
“I’m sweating from fear. What’s the plan, J.J.?”
“I’m thinking. Okay, the fact is we’re at a serious disadvantage, having
no magic spoons.”
He stops in his tracks and takes short deep breaths. I’m too busy
churning the gears in my brain to calm him down. He must have taken sixty-six
breaths when I figure it out.
“Surprise! Our only chance at capturing a goblin is if we use strategy,
and our best shot is to try and catch one unawares. The witches with spoons can
afford to engage in out and out warfare, but we’ve got to play this game
unfairly.”
“You can’t be serious. You know I never cheat.”
Oh boy, do I know. How many times have I tried to encourage him to copy
homework from the Internet after the bullies stole his own work, and he
stubbornly refused to “have a hand in cheating” as he calls it.
“If the goblins here are anything at all like they are in the
fairytales, then I wouldn’t at all put it past them to use some crafty tricks
too. So unless you want to be fuel to feed a goblin bonfire, cheating it is.”
LRS has a master’s degree in psychology. For more than
ten years she pretended to be working while she was on the floor enjoying
playtime with kids.
She has lived on the eastern and western coasts of the
U.S.A, as well as abroad, and currently resides in Canada with her family.
Wherever she is, she can’t pass by a toy store without going inside.
When she's not writing, she can usually be found in
her kitchen, where she’s either baking (and sampling) cookies or stirring a
pot. (Unfortunately, she has yet to find a magical spoon.)
two gift cards
of $10 each to the MuseItUp bookstore http://museituppublishing.com/bookstore/
Thank you Bridgette and Jenny for hosting me!
ReplyDeleteAlso, there's a contest up on my website:
http://www.launchingsisters.com/contest.html
Or, if you don't mind, visitors can leave a comment here, sharing a memorable anecdote of growing up with their siblings, and I'll enter it into the contest.
Thank you!
Wishing you many fun reads,
LRS