Page 13 of Freak Camp
Toby’s eyes went round.“And the whole thing’s a library?”
“Yep.Aisles and aisles of books, you could probably spend your whole life trying to read them all.”He and Alberto had met up once in the reference section after their latest heist at the corner store, their jackets filled with soda bottles and snacks.They’d spent a triumphant (though quiet) afternoon celebrating how slick they were.
“Jake?”
Jake blinked and looked back at Toby, whose smile had faded a little.“Yeah, sorry.You wanna play cards?”
Toby turned his head, confused.“I d-d-don’t know, Jake.If you want to, of course I’ll ...how do you play?”
Jake stopped moving the cards between his hands and stared.“I mean, it’s cards.Like, war or slap or seven-up or poker.I’m not that good at poker yet, but Dad’s started to teach me and ...”He trailed away when Tobias still looked lost.If anything he looked nervous, shifting back and forth on his heels.“You’ve never played cards before?”
Tobias shook his head and hunched farther over his knees, looking down at his toes like maybe they would teach him the mysteries of a straight flush.
“Hey, don’t worry, that’s cool.I mean, lots of kids don’t play card games.”Okay, so in Jake’s experience everyone knew at least one card game, at least war,something, but he supposed that Tobias couldn’t really hang out with other kids.He was technically a monster, after all.
“I’m sorry, Jake,” Tobias said.“I’m really stupid sometimes.”
“Hey, that’s not true!”Sure, it was still hard to imagine that Tobias wouldn’t have ever handled cards before, but to say that he wasstupidwas just ridiculous.No little kid who read as much as Tobias did could be stupid.He hadn’t even been anywhere interesting in his life, but he knew a hell of a lot more about books and history than Jake did.“Come on, it’ll be easy.You know numbers, right?”
Tobias nodded quickly.“Of course.Becca taught me.”
“Cool.And for war, that’s all you need.”Jake dealt out the cards—just splitting the deck would have been faster, but it felt important to make sure that they each had an even number.Especially since this was Tobias’s first time playing with cards.“We each get the same number of cards.Then we each turn over one card, and whoever has the highest number gets both cards.If we get the same number, we have a war, where you lay down three cards, and then turn over the fourth, and whoever has the highest number then getsallthose cards.And whoever ends up with all the cards in the deck wins.Got that, Toby?”
Tobias swallowed nervously, eyes on the pile of cards in front of him.“Sure, Jake.”
They started slowly, Jake adding explanations when their first queen, jack, or king appeared.
On their second war, Tobias turned over an ace as his final card.He smiled and started to push all the cards toward Jake.He almost looked relieved, which was weird.
“No, you keep those,” Jake said.“You won that war.”
Tobias froze.“But it’s a one.”
“It’s an ace,” Jake corrected.“And it’s higher than anything else.”
“It’s aone,” Tobias said.“That’s too many cards, Jake.I don’t need ...”He waved his hand, which was already considerably thicker than Jake’s.
Jake snorted.“I mean, we don’tneedthe cards.It’s a game, Tobias.I won’t be mad if you win, I swear.After all, somebody always wins.”
Tobias looked down at his thick stack of cards, and he looked a little sick.“Yes, Jake.”
They played, the sizes of their decks varying wildly.Jake had forgotten howlonga game war was.
But when Tobias took the last card, Jake lifted his empty hands and grinned at him.“Look, you cleaned me out.You can’t be that bad at cards.”Then he took in Tobias’s face, which was both blank and made him think Tobias might puke.“Hey, what’s wrong?”
“I won,” Tobias said.“That means you ...didn’t win.I’m sorry.I didn’t mean to.I couldn’t ...”He waved at the ground between them, face pinched.
“Dude, I’m not gonna get bent out of shape because you beat me.”Jake scoffed.“I mean, that’s what happens in card games.Especially war.It’s all chance.Now, poker ...”He smirked, but when Tobias looked even more worried, he dropped the smile.“Come on, that’s a joke.I wouldn’t care even if you beat me at poker.Or anything.”
“But I’m a monster.”
Jake blinked, and he had to stop himself from automatically saying,So what?
Because itdidmatter.Monsters were dangerous, and letting your guard down around one got you dead, just like Mom.
He could hear Dad’s voice in his head, telling him he was a damn fool for relaxing even for a second around a freak.They find your weak points and they rip you up.You can’t trust those sonuvabitches for a second.
Jake reached slowly for the cards and Tobias shoved them into his hands a little too quickly.Like Tobias didn’t want to hold on to them any longer than Jake wanted him to.
