Unknown (The Secret Life of Cassie Martin #1)(37)
“I grew up around guns,” Jay explains to Parker. “I might not be able to tell what kind it was from this distance, but I can tell you it was a handgun. A rifle would have a deeper sound.”
“They’re probably just telling us it was kids with firecrackers because they don’t want to scare us.” I stand and walk toward the east.
Jay grabs my arm. “Where do you think you’re going, missy?”
“I want to see for sure what it was. Why would people be shooting guns in the middle of the night? Maybe, we can find out.” When I attempt to pull away from him, his grip forms an iron shackle around my wrist.
“We don’t walk up on people that have guns, especially people we don’t know or don’t know their intentions. Besides, you’re covered in glow in the dark paint. You would be a beacon shining at them long before you reached them. If they’re hostiles, the situation could be more dangerous for you.” Jay’s father’s teachings talk to us through Jay.
How many war stories did he hear growing up?
I grab Jay’s chin with my free hand and shake his head back and forth. “Fine. I won’t go after the hostiles. I’ll wait until morning.”
In a very un-Jay like manner, he sticks his tongue out at me. At that moment, Noah and Lucca join us.
“What are you two doing?” Noah asks us.
“Our little monkey thinks she’s going on a scavenger hunt for bad guys tomorrow,” Parker explains to him.
“What do you mean I think I am?” I glare over at Parker. “I will come down here and look around. Don’t worry, I’ll be ready for whatever crazy task we have to do next.”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean that the way it came out. Are you okay with all of us checking it out together? I’m sure you’re quite capable on your own, but at least if something happens, there will be someone else to go get help,” Parker adds trying to sound diplomatic.
“That’s a good idea. We can cover more ground, too.” Now, I’m excited because I want to know what this place is about. Why would people be walking around with guns? Hunters are early morning people. Mr. Smyth knew something was up. There’s no way he had time to find and catch local teens before he made his announcement.
~
The next morning, I encourage everyone to eat quickly so we can get a start on our investigation. We also have a bonus task to do today, leaving us little time to get everything accomplished. I don’t want to be the one to make us miss our goals. They eat slowly, not as enthusiastic as I am. When I threaten to go ahead without them, that gets them moving.
We spend an hour walking around the east side of camp, searching for clues as to what happened. Jay spots areas of high traffic, but we find no burn marks on the ground or shell casings from the shots. The vast forest makes discovering the right area difficult.
Conceding defeat, we move on to our regular task.
Our bonus task, which has to be completed by the end of the day, is to build a container that will support an egg and protect it when dropped from the bell tower at the auditorium. The supply closet near our team room contains all of the supplies we need, so we decide to work inside today.
To keep it fair, we can only use items from the list provided to us, and of those items, we can only use twelve. Parker passes the paper around for all of us to read. The list consists of cardboard, five elastic bands, eight popsicle sticks, one yard of tape, two sheets of construction paper, one plastic bag, ten straws, one styrofoam cup, one poster board, six cotton pads, ten cotton swabs, one pair of socks, one roll of toilet paper, one foot of string, four inches of wire, one box of spaghetti noodles, two balloons, one paper plate, five pieces of tissue paper, two sheets of plastic wrap, and two sheets of aluminum foil. In addition to the twelve items, we can also use glue, scissors, rulers, and pencils.
As we brainstorm ideas, Lucca writes everything on our whiteboard. Everything from parachutes to swaddling it up in all the soft materials flies out from the group. Lucca diligently marks them all down as they’re called out. Once we’ve exhausted our ideas, Parker stops to explain the science behind what we need to do. He discusses gravity, wind resistance, and pressure. At this point, I’m glad we have Parker because I would have gone with the wrap it as tightly as possible in everything possible.
The instructions lay on the desk Parker vacated, so I grab it and read it, then sigh in irritation. We should have read the entire paper before starting.
“Guys. Guys!” I yell to get their attention. They’re all caught up in what to create, and ignore my pleas. I bang my hand on the desk to gain their focus. “We need to read through everything first. The instructions say no parachutes, that the egg has to be visible, and that the visible piece must be the size of a quarter, we can’t make it larger than a piece of paper, but it can be tall, and the egg and the container have to be unbroken.”
The guys all groan as Jay marks the ideas off the list that we cannot do. What’s with guys and skipping instructions or directions?
“Noah, can’t we just go look up how to do this back at the Corral?” I ask. “There’s nothing against that in the rules.”
“It says we can only use the items on the list.” He points out. “A computer is not on there. What fun would it be to have someone else tell us how to do this?”