Page 22 of Freak Camp
“No thanks,” Jake said, holding up his hands to ward off the fruit.“Apples aren’t my thing.”He could see that the fruit was just as much of a treat to Tobias as the candy, which was weird, but he guessed monsters really liked fruit, and anything that was a treat for Tobias should be all his.
As Tobias took an enormous bite into the little green apple, Becca knelt to adjust his shoe, which was threatening to slip off his heel.Smiling to himself, Jake guessed that Tobias had been too busy swinging his feet against the air conditioner to notice it getting loose.
Then Jake saw, with a jolt, that Becca’s right hand ended in a stump.
Witch.Toby’s mom was a witch.Jake felt a surge of fear and adrenaline.He had known Becca was a monster, but had never thought to ask what type.A witch in Aberdeen had gotten Dad so bad they had actually gone to the hospital, and Jake had had to wait alone while they pumped Dad’s stomach for the poison she had given him, hoping that Dad would walk out alive, that he wouldn’t still be coughing up blood.
For a moment, Jake’s breath stopped, his vision went a little gray around the edges, and he had the crazy image of the witch in Snow White handing out poisoned apples to the good, sweet children she wanted to kill.
Jake wasn’t worried about himself.He could call a guard who would shoot her in the head the second he raised an alarm, and even the fastest curses couldn’t do too much damage in that time, not with the ASC’s resources.And something about the way they removed a witch’s hand made it harder for their spells to work.Though maybe that was just because it was harder to doanythingwith only one hand.
No, Jake was afraid at the thought that Toby trusted this witch every day, let her give him food without checking it for spells or poison or dirt, and that helovedher when she was a witch and she had probably killed people, and maybe she had slipped them pretty little apples too.Monsters were liars, after all, and she could be ...
But then Jake stopped and told himself that was stupid.Witches wouldn’t have access to poison in the camp, and Tobias wasn’t falling over snoring or choking or anything.Even Elijah had told him that he should do his research, and he didn’t have nearly enough information about this Becca witch yet.
Besides, even witches wouldn’t poison their own kids.Not usually, anyway.The evil queen stepmother in Snow White didn’t count, because she had never really cared about Snow White.Becca clearly cared about Tobias.Jake could tell.Mom used to smile that same way when she helped him pull on his coat.Sometimes he had pulled it off again just so he could see her face as she buttoned it up.
Finished with Tobias’s shoe, Becca straightened and lifted her remaining hand to rest her knuckles against his forehead.That was all, the barest touch, before she dropped her hand to her side and turned away, walking out of sight around the corner without another word to him.Tobias didn’t say anything either, still eating his apple in large quick bites—it was already nearly gone—but his eyes followed her.
Jake was abruptly homesick, homesick and lonely, and what he wanted more than anything in that second wasMom.
He tipped his head down, away from Tobias, and pinched his mouth together.He wouldnotcry, because he was grown up and Mom wasn’t ever coming back and crying wouldn’t do a damn thing about it, and it wasn’t Tobias’s fault that he missed Mom so damn much.
They’d been talking fine before, but now he didn’t know what to say to Tobias.Missing Mom was a familiar ache, but this new part was weird.He’d never thought about witches being good moms, taking care of their kids the way his mom had taken care of him.That didn’t seem possible, what with them being witches and hurting people.Maybe Becca had learned her lesson when they cut off her hand.
If she had learned her lesson ...Jake wondered suddenly if monsters were ever released from Freak Camp, even though everything he knew told him they weren’t.None of them ever left, because they were always dangerous.But for those who had started as people, maybe they did learn their lesson after a while in the camp, the same way other criminals did ...
Then Jake knew he wanted Becca and Toby to be able to leave Freak Camp, to have a normal life again.Tobias especially couldn’t have hurt anyone.Jake had been convinced of that for a while, even if he couldn’t exactly admit it to anyone.He didn’t know how Tobias had ended up here, but he was positive Tobias wouldn’t try to hurt anyone if he were out.
He wanted that a lot, he realized.He wanted Toby out of this bare, cold, dangerous place almost more than anything else in his life, anything he could actually have, anything but Mom.He wanted Tobias and his mom to be out of Freak Camp, to have a second chance.After all, Tobias still had his mom.Maybe the ASC could watch them to make sure they didn’t hurt anyone or do anything wrong.
But monsters didn’t leave Freak Camp.
Tobias was absorbed by the apple until he had eaten the whole thing, even the core.He only had a handful of little black seeds left in his palm, looking them over as though he might have missed something.Then he looked up at Jake and frowned.“What’s the matter?”
“Nothing.”
Tobias held out the apple seeds.“Are you sure you didn’t want some?I would’ve shared.”
“No, man, it’s cool.”Toby still looked worried, so Jake lied impulsively.“I had a couple this morning.”
“Oh,” Tobias said, eyes going wide and round.“Two?”
Jake tried not to smile.“Do you want me to bring you fruit next time, or another Three Musketeers?I’ve seen apples twice as big as that one.”
Tobias’s mouth dropped open, and he clasped his hands in his lap as he rocked back and forth, overwhelmed.
Jake couldn’t help laughing, and he reached out to tussle Tobias’s hair and pull him over into a one-armed hug.“How about I bring both?Will that work?”He was rewarded by the most dazzling smile Tobias had.He only got a glimpse of it before Tobias buried his face in Jake’s shoulder.
“You’re the best, Jake.”
If he couldn’t have Mom, and he didn’t know what to do with a grandfather, being the best in Tobias’s world was pretty damn good.
***
“It was my birthdaylast week,” Jake told Tobias.“I’m eleven now.”
Tobias didn’t say “happy birthday.”He tilted his head, examining Jake like he might have undergone some critical change.“What’s a birthday?”
