Ruddy slid off the seat and jerked awake for the millionth time.

  Goddammit, he thought. Why did I insist on riding shotgun? This is ridiculous! I hate being this big.

  The seat was too small for him to get comfortable, his ears kept popping from the altitude, his ass hurt, and no one cared how he felt. And to top it off, he was so tired he couldn’t stand it.

  He glanced over his shoulder. Xeke was spread out across the back seat fast asleep - his head in Teri’s lap, one leg pressed into the back of Ruddy’s seat, and the other on the door.

  “Hey, Corey,” Ruddy said. “I’m going to turn into one giant muscle cramp. Can we stop for a few minutes?”

  Corey smiled. “I wouldn’t mind stretching my legs. In fact, we could get some sleep and a fresh start in the morning.” He pointed at the darkening sky ahead. “I don’t like the looks of those clouds, and we don’t want to drive through that in the middle of the night.”

  “There’s a camping area up ahead,” Teri said.

  Ruddy clapped his hands together. “Thank god. I’ve been in this truck so long I probably don’t remember how to walk.”

  Xeke sat up and yawned when Corey slowed down at the camping area. “What’s going on?”

  Teri wrinkled her face. “Ew. You have morning breath.”

  “We’re going to stop for the night,” Corey said. “Get some fresh air.”

  Xeke looked out the window. “Oh, good. I love the mountains.”

  Corey pulled the truck into an old parking lot. Ruddy jumped out before the truck even came to a stop and made a big production of stretching.

  The campsite was overgrown, but the buildings were still in decent shape. The office was boarded shut. A faded sign listed prices for campsites, but someone had painted over it with “No Rangers on Duty.” They found an area with a picnic table and a fire pit.

  “Cool!” Ruddy said. “We can start a fire!” He grabbed logs from an old pile of wood by the picnic table. “Does anyone have a light?”

  Corey pulled a silver lighter out of his pocket and flicked it a few times. “Out of fluid.”

  “No problem,” Ruddy said. He snatched up two small branches and rubbed them together as fast as he could.

  “What are you doing?” Xeke said.

  “Making a fire,” Ruddy said. The sticks moved so fast they were a blur. “What do you think I’m doing?”

  “That’s not going to work.”

  “It works,” Ruddy said. “See?” A little bit of smoke came off the sticks.

  “Yeah it works, but I mean … you have to prepare the firepit first. You need the right kind of wood, and you can’t just rub the sticks together, you need to spin one of the sticks on a notch in the other one. You need to make a bow drill; well, now that I think of it, you wouldn’t need one, you could shapeshift your hands. I can show you how it works.”

  Ruddy’s face tightened. He glared as Xeke restacked the logs with dry leaves stuffed between them.

  “Airflow is important,” Xeke said. “It’s much harder to get a fire started if you don’t have a good foundation of kindling and wood. It’s all about maximizing surface area. Once that’s done, we can ...”

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Ruddy stood up. “We need more wood. I’ll get it.”

  “We’ve got enough ...” Xeke said, but Ruddy had disappeared into the trees.

  Ruddy stumbled in the dark from one tree to the next. Teri? he said.

  Yeah?

  I’m really sorry I made such a fuss about the shoes earlier. I’m tired I guess. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad.

  Don’t worry about it, she said.

  You and Xeke are so good at everything. Corey, too. I’m useless.

  Stop beating yourself up about everything. I had to take care of myself for a long time, and so did Xeke. You’ll get the hang of it—whether you like it or not.

  I guess. I … He bumped his head on a tree limb. Ow!

  Do you want help finding firewood, or do you want to do it by yourself?

  He shrugged. I could use some help, I guess.

  Well, I can’t make you see in the dark, but try this. There’s an owl watching you.

  An image superimposed itself in his mind. He saw himself from above, standing and holding his arms out in front of him like feelers.

  He edged forward. The owl tracked him as he moved. Wow! This is wild.

  Take it slow, Teri said. Seeing through another perspective takes some getting used to.

  Ruddy moved forward and reached out for a log on the forest floor. It was covered in vines. He ripped them away and broke the log in half.

  The owl took flight and he almost fell over as he saw trees rushing by. Woah, I think I’m getting carsick.

  Sorry, Teri said. You scared her.

  Ruddy’s vision returned to normal and he found his eyes had adjusted to the darkness.

  How do you keep up with everything? He hefted the broken log. It’s like the most complicated first-person shooter in the universe.

  She laughed. It was the first time he’d heard her laugh since New Burtchville. Well I’m usually looking through a whole bunch of eyes at once, so I’m not focused on any one viewpoint, she said. Plus I’m still looking through my own eyes too.

  Ruddy shook his head. You blow my mind sometimes. If I had your brain, I’d be … I’d … I don’t know, I’d build a spaceship. Wait, could you do that?

  I don’t think we could get a hold of all the stuff we’d need.

  But you could do it! Ruddy didn’t wait for an answer. That … is … so … cool! You’re like Samantha Carter on Stargate.

  He gathered up a few more logs. They weren’t heavy, just awkward. I bet you could blow up the sun, or build a reactor out of jelly beans and tinfoil.

  When you’re done gathering, the fire is going, Xeke said.

  I’m coming. Ruddy crashed out of the trees. “I got plenty of wood.”

  He dropped the pile on the ground at his feet. He picked one up and went to throw it on the fire.

  “Wait,” Xeke said. “Those logs are too wet to burn. They’ll smoke like crazy.”

  “No, they won’t,” Ruddy said. He yanked a vine off his ankles. “We should burn these stupid vines, too. They’re everywhere.”

  “Oh ... oh, Ruddy,” Teri said. “That’s poison ivy. Stop touching it, you’re getting it all over you.”

  Corey walked over and looked at the vines. “Yep. That’s poison ivy.”

  Ruddy shrugged. “I’m not allergic to it.”

  Corey leaned close to examine the vines. “Oh, you ripped it to shreds. This is bad. Xeke, can you get the rest of it off him? I hope I can fix this. The immune system is complicated.”

  Xeke raised his hand. The vines blew off Ruddy like they had been sucked up by a giant vacuum cleaner. The wad of poison ivy hovered a moment then flew back into the woods.

  “You don’t have to talk about me like I’m a child,” Ruddy said. “I’m standing right here.”

  “You’re going to have strip off your clothes,” Corey said. “Unless we can find some way to wash them out, we’re going to have to leave them. And we can’t let you back in the truck until we’re sure you’re clean.”

  “Woah. It can’t be that bad,” Ruddy said. “It’s just poison ivy.”

  “If you’d ever had poison ivy, you wouldn’t say that,” Corey said.

  “I said I’m not allergic. I don’t see what the big deal is.”

  “It’s not the poison ivy that hurts you,” Teri said. “It’s your immune system’s reaction to it. The more your immune system is exposed, the more strongly it reacts. You’ve got enough on you to almost ensure a reaction. And even if you don’t, you’ll get it all over the rest of us.” She stepped away from him. “And I’m very allergic.”

  Xeke stared at Ruddy and shook his head. “Maybe stopping was a bad idea.”

  Ruddy yanked his shirt off and threw it on the ground. “Whatever. I’m an idiot. We already knew that, right?”

  “It’s going to be fine,” Corey said. “All we have to do is wash it off you.”

  “We’re in the middle of the woods!” Ruddy said.

  Teri pointed. “There’s a creek over there. The water is going to be freezing, though.”

  “That’s good,” Corey said. “Hot water might make it worse. Let’s go. Maybe we can still avoid a reaction.”