he time flew past and soon the girls where outside packing the car. They ended up packing the boot twice when they remembered they were going to be picking up Shelly. They waved goodbye and met Shelly at the school. They were all meeting at the school and then they were going to all travel up towards their destination. David, Peter, Darren and John where in one car. Sarah, Bree, Laura where in another. They were also taking some extra gear. The last car had the last four students who were going which was Bek and her brother Craig, Sam and Kyle. They was one other car which was taking their two teachers, Alison Parker and Kieron Tanner. They handed out maps for each car with marked rest stops along the way. They finally got on the road just after noon. Only an hour later than planned.

"It's simple, I'm the driver, I pick the music." Jess argued.
"I see that as fair." Shelly said.
"Hey who's side are you on?" Megan cried out. "Do you even know what Jess listens to?"
"It can't be that bad."
"You have no idea."
"Hey!" Jess exclaimed.
"Now now children." Caitlin said in a teasing tone promptly earning herself a raspberry blown at her from her sister and cousin. Shelly laughed.
"Before you get all judgemental how about you listen to what I picked first." Without further comment Jessica pressed play. The sounds of Live filled the car.
"Oh I love this album. Wait a minute, what mean to say you are not going to subject us to your music?"
"Oh I am not that silly Megan, I know you don't like it so I picked only music that we all liked. Plus I wouldn't be a very good driver if the passengers were to claim mutiny against me." Jessica laughed.
"Arrgh a wise lass ye be." They all laughed and continued their journey in good humour, exchanging jokes and talking about what will happen on the trip.

The trip wasn't two full days worth of driving but the teachers had decided it best to take it slow and had organised an overnight stop for the night. They shared a couple of caravans and rose early the next day. They were about two thirds of their journey in when they stopped for lunch. Despite having left late the day before they had made good time. During lunch Mr Tanner had grabbed the drivers, being Jessica, Darren, Sarah and Craig and gave them more details to the cabins they were to be staying at. It was late afternoon when they got to the main cabin. They all pulled up, Jessica having reverse parked so the boot would be nearest the door. Everyone got out and happily stretched their legs. Bek muttered a comment to Craig about not reverse parking like Jess had as that was a clever idea. They had barely gotten some of the boots open when the guide came out of the house. He stopped short when he saw the Jessica and then shook his head.

"Wonder what that was about?" Caitlin asked.
"No idea, he looked like he recognised me or something. Never seen him though."
Mrs Parker interupted their thoughts. "Listen up everyone, I want you to meet out guide for this trip, Mark." "Thanks. Hi everyone, welcome to the start of Blackshire Mountain. The cabin behind me is the main cabin, it has been standing here for over 50 years. The other cabins are newer. The boys cabin is over to the East and the girls cabin is behind this one, you can take the path up the side just to my right. After your settled you can meet in the main cabin in the large dining room. Tea will be served about half past six."

The girls unpacked and headed for their cabin. There cabin had a little entrance way designed so someone called walk in a little without seeing the bedroom. There was a bedroom off to the left and then a big room to the right which had several beds in it. Just ahead was a rumpus room with a few tables and a couple of couches facing a tv and a door leading through to the showers. Alison had taken the private room and the girls took the open bedroom. There was on each bed a map of the campsite. Above each bed was a small lamp protruding from the wall. There was also a tallboy at the end of each bed. The room was mostly open but there was thin walls between the beds. Privacy could be achieved by pulling a curtain across the front. Jessica took the bed at the end of the room which shared two thin walls. Shelly pinched the other. Megan and Caitlin took the next two near Jessica and the rest of the beds were shortly taken by the others. All the girls grabbed their toiletries and showered and changed and generally freshened up. They then headed over to the main cabin and entered via the back door to walk past the kitchen to the huge dining area, the boys already there.

"Tch, boys, wonder if they even had a shower." Sarah whispered to Bree.
"I think so, look Peter, Craig and David's hair are all wet."

They ate and Mark told them about what they would be doing the next day. He kept looking at Jessica like she was familar. When it was time to head back to their cabins to get some rest Jessica boldly went up to Mark.
"Why do you keep staring at me."
"I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to be rude, it's just that you reminded me of someone I once knew. Her name was Jade."
"You knew Mum?" Jessica asked, surprised.
"You're Jade Pollard's daughter?"
"Yes, but how do you know - Oh, of course, they lived around here."
"Well, sort of. A little way away from here. I met her through a mate of mine, who was dating her at the time. I lost contact with them when she moved interstate to go to the same uni as him."
"I thought Mum and Dad were together since high school," Jessica frowned at Mark.
"Who's your father?"
"Darryl Ross."
"Dazz married her? Gosh! I suppose they were pretty friendly, after he helped her."
"He helped her?"
"Darryl collected me, when..."
Mark trailed off, noticing the look of incomprehension on Jessica's face.
"You'll have to ask your Dad about that, it was a long time ago."
"He's dead," Jessica replied, harshly, frowning at Mark.
"Dazz is dead?"
Mark looked shocked.
"Yes. Four years ago. So how come you recognised me and not my cousins?"
"Your cousins?"
"My cousins. Mum's sister's children."
"Kat has kids?" laughed Mark. "I guess I'm not surprised, really."
Jessica narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously.
"So you knew Aunt Kat too?"
"Everyone knew Kat," laughed Mark, with a slight smirk that caused Jessica to mentally add another black mark against his name. "Who got her to settle down?"
"I think she met Uncle Marc at university. Meg?"
Meg guiltily poked her head back around the door.
"Just wondering where you'd gotten to."
"Where did Aunt Kat meet Uncle Marc?"
"At University," Megan replied, entering the room. "She walked into him or something. Why?"
Jessica gestured at Mark.
"He was asking."
"Why?" Meg looked suspiciously at him.
"You're Kat's daughter," Mark looked at Meg closely. "You look almost exactly like your mothers."
"Who is he, Jess?"
Jessica shrugged.
"I don't know. But he knew Mum and Dad and Aunt Kat."
Meg frowned at him again.
"Come on, Jess. Cait is looking for you too."
The girls looked suspiciously at Mark again, and left the room, despite his invitation to stay. They met Caitlin on the porch, and Jess repeated her conversation with Mark to the twins, and the three of them walked in puzzled silence back to their cabin.
"I guess he must have known them when they lived here."
"I guess so, but it's a little weird don't you think?"
"Yeah, it is. And there was something he wasn't telling me."
"Should we call home?"
"Maybe if he talks to us again."
"Think he will?"
"I don't know, he was a little creepy."
"Let's avoid him then."
"Yeah, good idea."
The girls returned to their cabin and went to bed.

Marc entered the house, and moved by instinct through the kitchen, sensing his wife was out the back.
Kat was kneeling by their herb garden, and Marc smiled as he admired her bottom. She stood, lifted the silver bowl and smiled at him.
"Hello, Wife."
"Hello, Love," Kat replied, walking over to him and kissing him hello.
Marc wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close.
"I love you."
"I love you too. How was work?"
"The usual. What have you been doing?"
Kat shrugged.
"Jade was worried about the girls the other day. So much so that she came here and made protection charms."
"You told me that already."
"I'm just... helping."
"And what are you sensing?"
"They're fine, so far."
"That's good to know. Nice to have a witch in the family."
"We have several, my love."
Together they walked into the house.
"Are you really worried about the girls?"
Kat hesitated a moment, and looked out over their garden.
"Worried, of course, I'm their mother. But more so than normal... I'm not sure. They were fine when I looked to them, despite eating the most dreadful looking food. But Jade was worried."
"Was it her gift?"
"No. Just a general feeling of unease she said."
Marc shrugged and kissed the top of his wife's head.
"She's a mother too."
"I know my love. But you know those mountains don't hold happy memories for me. Or for her. I guess that clouds our judgement."
"Well, if it's any consolation, I'm at ill-ease a little as well. But again, it's probably just because my little girls are out there with all those boys!"
Kat laughed as she tore up the herbs into the pan on the stove.
"They'll be fine. They're big enough to take care of themselves, and the trip doesn't have many dangers. Just bears, and traps, and getting lost, and food poisoning, and car crashes, and drowning, and -"
Marc cut her off with his laughter, and a kiss on her cheek.
"Worry wart."
She smiled at him.
"I'm sure they're fine. Go get changed, dinner will only be a few minutes. Call Mal?"
"Sure."
Marc kissed Kat again, and left the kitchen. Kat frowned slightly at the silver bowl, then shrugged. Her girls were growing up, and her worries were probably unfounded. Kat turned back to the dinner.

Mrs Parker entered the cabin at 6.00 am the next morning and called the girls awake.
"Rise and Shine, Girls, we have a long day ahead of us!"
With much grumbling and groaning, the girls roused themselves from their beds, and the fastest three made their way to the showers.
"Breakfast is in 45 minutes, dress for hiking."
Mrs Parker left the cabin again, and Jess yawned hugely.
"It's far too early to be awake," she grumbled, searching for her toothbrush. "What are we doing today again?"
"Splitting into three groups. Our group is you, Me, Cait, David and Sam, if I remember correctly. The other two are Peter, Darren, Shelly, Sarah and Bree, and Kyle, Craig, John, Laura and Bek. And I'm sure I have that right, because I was reading the lists when I was waiting for you to stop talking to creepy guy. One group is going with creepy guy on a hike to see the local animals and stuff in their natural habitat. One group with Mrs Parker to go on a hike to learn about the local plants, and the other group with Mr Tanner, to learn about the animals."
"Gosh, tough choice. Shame the first is with creepy guy, that would be a clear winner otherwise."
"I don't know that we'll get to pick which order we get to do them in, and we'll have to do each one of them at some point this week," laughed Meg.
"I know," replied Jess, finally having found her toothbrush and gathering the rest of her toiletries for the showers. "I think we need a name for our group."
"Witches in britches!" suggested Cait as the three of them walked to the showers.
"Oh, I'm sure David and Sam would love that," smiled Meg.
"Who said they got a say?" Cait replied with a laugh, and the three girls continued tossing group name suggestions around while they showered, dressed, and made their way to the main cabin for breakfast.

Shortly, the six of them were gathered under the shade of the tree.
"Sorry," smiled Jess, taking a deep drink from her water bottle. "My legs aren't as long as yours."
"It's okay, Jess. This is why we have our buddies, and are being vigilant about letting the rest of the group know how tired we are," Mrs Parker replied. "We have about half an hour left before we get to the clearing, so we'll break here for about 10 minutes, then have morning tea there, if that's okay with everyone?"
Mrs Parker waited for the affirmative from the group, then handed around small chocolate bars.
"How long are the other hikes?" David asked, taking a big bite of his chocolate.
"Mr Tanner's hike is about the same length as this one, a couple of hours. Mark's hike is longer, about 4 hours each way, and overnight, as you know."
"So what will we be doing tomorrow, while we're waiting for the rest of them to come back to camp?"
"Oh, we have activities planned, don't you worry!" laughed Mrs Parker. "Ready to go on?"
The group nodded, and set off up the mountain again.

Jess was most grateful when they reached the clearing which they were to have their morning tea. She grabbed some lunch and then noticing the nearby stream walked over towards it. She sat down by it and taking of her socks and shoes put her feet into the water with an audible sigh. The others having seen her decided to follow suit.
"I wonder how many fish we are killing whilst washing our sweat of our feet." David said jokingly.
"Such a charmer aren't you."
"I try."
They ate in silence and then laid down enjoying the cool water running over their feet. They all grumbled and complained when Mrs Parker told them they would have to get going soon but pulled their feet out and let them dry before putting their socks and shoes back on. They helped each other up in an awkard manner leading to fits of laughter especially when Megan fell into the stream. Even Mrs Parker smiled. Caitlin helped Megan out of the stream. Megan scowled.
"It's a warm day Megan, you'll dry of soon." Caitlin said and Megan smiled.
"I suppose your right. I guess it was funny." Megan beamed at Caitlin and then they headed further up the mountain.

About twenty minutes into the walk Mrs Parker held up her hand and put her finger to her lips for silence and then indicated they should gather close.
"We are nearly there. We need to be a little quieter as we don't want to disturb the animals." They all nodded and followed Mrs Parker futher along the path. Then they reached a cliff edge fenced off so no-one could fall down the three metre drop. They gasped at the view as they slowly moved towards the edge. Caitlan sat on the edge of the cliff holding onto the railing and looked down. To the right there was a mother Grizzly bear with two cubs. She was teaching them to fish out of the stream at the bottom of a waterfall. The cubs seemed more interested in playing than fishing. Jess tapped on Caitlans shoulder and pointed. They all looked at what Jess was pointing at and saw a huge Golden Eagle. Suddenly it dove down and they lost sight of it for a moment before it appeared again, this time with a rat in it's claws. Mrs Parker in a soft voice pointed out various plants and animals. They watched for another half hour fascinated before heading back to the cabins. All the time they chatted about what they had seen. They met up with Mr Tanner and his group for tea and exhanged what they had seen.

After tea they had free time. Megan had chosen to play cards with some of the others, Jess had gone for a walk with David so Caitlin grabbed her sketch book and a pencil and sat in the girls rumpus room. She curled up on the couch with a cup of tea and opened her book to a blank page. She then started to sketch the Grizzly bear and her two cubs. Shelly came in with a book and peered over Caitlin's shoulder.
"Oh wow Cait, that looks amazing."
"You should see my Aunt draw, she has talent."
"So do you Cait."
"Thanks."

The next morning after breakfast they gathered in the big lounge room in the main cabin and Mr Tanner told them about that they would be going on a scavenger hunt. He got them all to write their names down and then paired them off by picking their names out of a hat at random. Jess was paired with Sam, Megan with Peter, Darren and Shelly, Sarah and Caitlin and lastly Bree and David. Each pair was given a different set of things to find and then sent off with another copy of the map of the area.

"So Sam, what is first on our list."
"We need to find a birds nest and mark it on the map."
"Hmm that we can keep a look out for when looking for other things. What else?"
"A pine cone, a rock that has been clearly been affected by a stream, bonus points if we can explain the process when we get back, a fossil..."
"That should be enough to get us started. The stream is this way." Jess pointed and they headed in that direction. "Sam?"
"Hmm."
"Do you like Caitlin?"
"That was a bit direct."
"Sorry."
"It's okay. Yes, I do. Though I think she gets the impression I like Megan. Don't get me wrong Megan is nice but they are completely different people."
"Yes they are. Be good to her okay."
"I will. Hey look, a sparrows nest."