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As for Caleb, he would just have to continue hunting ani approached, Annora and I still hadn’t solved the proble so close to the lake and away fro probleround beneath where we’d set up camp Caleb looked at Annora

"You know more about plants than I do There must be some here that can act as a repellant"

"H the area for the next half hour I followed her around, paying close attention to which plants she pulled up so I could replicate it for ly satisfied with the leaves she’d found, she crouched down on the floor and, picking up two large rocks, began to ether She squeezed some of the juice onto her skin and sniffed it

"This will do, I believe," she muttered

She coated herself with the juice, then discarded the used plants I picked the asbitter, but if it did the job, I didn’t care

Now that this task was done, we all climbed back up the tree and settled into our respective beds

Caleb still needed to finish his exploration of the island, but it was clear he didn’t want to leaveit off I hoped that he would askday, without Annora

As soon as I reached e I had a clear view of both Annora’s and Caleb’s beds frole Perfect

I remained in this position for the next tenhappened Annora slunk out of her bunk and began cli a second, I reached up and grabbed the green bundle I’d collected earlier

I positioned ht h shafts of h the canopy of leaves forI heard Annora whisper to hih I couldn’t make out the words Just her soft whisper followed by a ht hold of Caleb’s ar my breath, I tipped the bundle There was a split second when I doubted that it would ht on her head, oozing down her face and dripping onto her chest

I quickly pulled h as she cried out in disgust The beauty of it was her not knowing exactly what the substance was I than reality

It could have just been an exceptionally large, constipated bird But I hoped that she’d guess I’d dropped it

Brushing away a few leaves, I peered through the cracks ofI watched as she began to cliht bath in the lake was in order, I supposed

Nothing like a pile of crap to spoil theup at the leaves blowing gently in the wind I doubted she’d try anything else with Caleb tonight Inhaling deeply, I supposed I ought to try to get some sleep The plant potion I’d applied earlier seelehere

Caleb let out a deep sigh beneath ht now…