Riley closed the door and went back to her logbook. She'd started scribbling down the names of all the kids at the camp - Sadie, Jacob, Jean-Paul, Marigold, Autumn.
"Do you know any of their last names?" She asked, and Abby shook her head.
"Should you really be doing this?" Abby asked from the bed, which was far softer than it had any right to be. "They just saved our lives."
"And they had nothing to gain from it. Makes me suspicious."
"You're paranoid. They're just scared kids, like us." Abby ran her hands through her long hair. "Ugh, I'm greasy. Gotta take a shower."
The bathroom was competently made - there was a sink, a toilet, and a shower that led water through a plastic pipe with holes poked in it. Surprisingly enough, the water in the makeshift shower was warm. Jacob must've hidden a heater somewhere.
After putting on new clothes - the ones that survived the fall without being slashed and poked by the branches as they'd fallen weren't many, so pickings were slim - Abby finally felt like a human again. Riley didn't want to at first - "I'll take shower in New York" - but came around when she realised how badly her hair clung to her sweaty skin.
When Riley came out of the bathroom, she'd changed her hair. She was still wearing most of it in a bun, but had cut off a lot. A few blonde strands framed her face. She was wearing a flannel - red and black plaid - and was holding her USGS hoodie in her hands, bunched up.
"Cute hair thing."
"Thanks" she said and blushed. "I mean, I didn't get the chance to dye it."
"Red wouldn't have been your colour anyway."
There was a knock at the door, and Riley flinched. She was way too jumpy. Abby opened the door, coming face to face with Sadie.
"Hey. Settling in well?"
"I think so." Abby said. "Riley's still a little... y'know. Apprehensive."
"Eh, give her time. Dinner's ready, though. You two coming?"
"Sure." Abby nodded.
It had taken some convincing, but eventually Abby and Riley opened the door to Sadie's treehouse. Inside, the space was warm and alive with chatter. Marigold was setting down mismatched plates on a large wooden table that looked handmade, while Jean-Paul arranged cutlery with precise attention to spacing. Jacob sat in a corner, eyes slightly unfocused as he presumably calculated something about the room's dimensions. Autumn wasn't there.
"Come in, come in!" Sadie said and motioned them to sit at the table. She placed a large pot in the middle, effortlessly despite it being made of cast iron and filled to the brim with pasta. "Made spaghetti."
"Looks great" Abby said and sat down, with Riley taking the seat next to her but not saying anything. "Did you make this?"
"Mari grew the tomatoes," Sadie said. Marigold just sneezed and rubbed her nose.
"Can't have you people starve to death just because I have allergies."
Abby twirled some spaghetti onto her fork, watching Riley pick at her food. Under the table, she nudged her friend's foot with her own. Eat something, she tried to convey. You need it.
"I can tell her that for you," Jean-Paul offered.
"JP, stop mind-reading." Sadie repeated. He ducked his head, focused on his plate. Must've been more of a curse than a power, Abby wondered. JP didn't say anything, but nodded gently.
"So," Marigold said between sniffles, clearly trying to change the subject. "You guys can both teleport? That's cool. Must be useful."
"Sometimes," Abby said when Riley didn't answer. "Though apparently not useful enough to avoid falling out of the sky."
"That was my fault," JP said quietly. "I didn't mean to interrupt you. But your thoughts were so bright, so scared. I just... reached out without thinking."
"It's okay," Abby said automatically, though she felt Riley stiffen beside her. "We survived. Though I still don't understand how."
"That was Autumn." Jacob adjusted his glasses, his eyes going out of focus again, before his irises glowed slightly and he snapped back to reality. "Terminal velocity for two bodies of your approximate mass and surface area, accounting for air resistance and the angle of descent, would have resulted in... well. Let's just say it's good she caught you."
"Caught us?"
"She slowed your fall." Sadie said. "How she did that is up to her to tell you."
Riley looked around. "Where is she, actually?"
"She likes to keep to herself" Jean-Paul said. "In her treehouse, probably. She'll get a plate later, when we're all asleep. She always does."
"Oh." Riley's shoulders tensed slightly. Abby noticed she kept glancing at the door.
Jean-Paul suddenly looked up from his plate. "You're wondering if she's watching us right now," he said matter-of-factly. "She is. She always is. From her treehouse she can see everything."
"JP!" Sadie shot him a look. "What did we say about reading thoughts without permission?"
"I try my best, okay? She's just... thinking so loudly."
"You stay out of my head, all right?" Riley snarled at him.
"So," Abby ventured, "how did you all find this place?"
Sadie exchanged glances with Marigold before answering. "Most of us just... ended up here." She paused, twirling spaghetti around her fork. "Though I guess that sounds crazy."
"You were first, I take it?" Riley asked, choosing to participate in the conversation.
Sadie nodded. "I needed some place to feel safe after-" she stopped herself. "I mean, just needed a safe place. To rest. Be myself. Built myself a little cabin down on the clearing, out of logs. It's still down there. Few weeks later, others started showing up."
Sadie got up from her chair, walking to a wall covered in polaroid photos. "Like they were drawn here. First was Eric - he could turn invisible. Stayed for three months before his parents found him." She touched one of the photos gently. "Then came the twins, Anna and Michael. Anna could walk through walls, Michael could see through them. Left after six months to live with their aunt in Oregon."
Abby got up to look at the photos while Riley stayed seated, though she was clearly listening intently. The wall was a mosaic of moments - kids laughing, building treehouses, playing in the forest. Some faces appeared multiple times, others just once or twice.
"What happened to all of them?" Abby asked softly.
"Life happened. Some went home when they were ready. Others found different places to be. A few..." Sadie's voice caught slightly. "A few got caught. But most of them are okay now. We try to keep in touch when we can."
"Caught?" Riley asked and looked up. "By the government?"
Sadie nodded. "Sometimes. Police, park rangers, their parents themselves. Never pleasant." She took a photo off the wall. "Jesse." A girl with red hair and a leather jacket. "Telekinesis. Helped us build the houses, before Jake arrived. At some point, the feds showed up, combed through the forest. They almost found us, too." She put the polaroid back on the wall. "Jesse knew they were after her, and she left with them. Haven't heard from her since."
"Why here?" Riley asked. "I mean, Mount Rushmore, of all places?"
"It's actually Six Grandfathers," Sadie said. "Kinda hate the name Mount Rushmore Superhero Camp, actually."
Riley raised an eyebrow. "Six Grandfathers?"
"I'm Lakota. Sioux." Sadie explained. "Used to live in a reservation maybe fifty miles from here, before I came here. This mountain, it's... sacred to my people. My grandmother used to tell me stories that this was once a big community, hundreds of years ago. Felt only right to take this place back a little."
"I'm from Minnesota." Marigold said, sniffling. "When I ran away from home, I took some camping gear, and kept dreaming of a mountain with faces. Thought I was going crazy before I saw it on a sign, then made it here. Sadie took me in."
Jacob adjusted on his chair, then chimed in as well. "Me too. Was here on a school trip, and the faces just... fascinated me. And then I noticed how weird the trees were growing, and the treehouses, made my way there, rest is history."
"Autumn joined us just a few weeks after that, and JP is our newest recruit. Well, until now."
"And if you ask me, you're not gonna be the last." JP said. "Plus, meeting new people is always exciting. I know you don't want to, but I really hope you'll stay."
"We're going to be out of your hair as soon as we can" Riley said. "Thanks for all you did, but we can't stay."
"Abby wants to stay." JP said, and Abby immediately blushed.
"I... I like it here. It feels safe. Feels like... home, a little bit."
"Fine." Riley said and stood up, "If you want to stay, you can. But I'm leaving."
With that, Riley left the treehouse. At a loss for words, the other teenagers looked to Sadie for guidance. "She'll be fine. She just needs to adjust."
"You say that," JP says, munching on his pasta. "But she fully intends to teleport to New York."
Abby laid down her fork. "I should check on her."
"Stupid. How can she be- argh!" Riley muttered to herself as she stuffed her things back into her camping bag. Abby entered their treehouse. "Don't try to convince me to stay. It won't work."
"So what, you're just going to go to New York? Alone? Barely any money? That sounds like a good way to get yourself killed, if you ask me. Or worse."
"Good thing I'm not asking you then" Riley answered, with venom in her voice. "If you think hanging out in the middle of nowhere playing space camp will stop our dad from catching us, you're welcome to stay."
"Please just give it a few days, okay? At least until tomorrow, it's already the middle of the night in NYC and I don't like it here either, but-"
"Don't bullshit me. You love it here." Riley snarled. Tears were forming in the corner of her eye. "You've been here for barely a day and you've already made friends. But not me! Nobody wants to be friends with the weird girl."
"Ri, they just don't know you yet. They could become your best friends, if you just let them."
"You know what, it's better that way. Everyone who tries to be my friend gets hurt in some way."
"Not me." Abby said. "I'm your friend, and I'm doing fine."
"You're two thousand miles away from home, and you fell out of the sky onto the forest floor getting here. Not exactly fine."
Abby put her hand on Riley's shoulder, grabbing her as hard as she could. "Please. Stay. For me?"
Riley shook her head. "I can't."
"Just- one night, okay? Please. I promised I'd look out for you."
Riley wiped away her tears with her jacket sleeve and dropped the bag on the ground. "One night."
"That's all I ask."
"I'm glad you decided to stay. Even if it's just until tomorrow." JP said, back at the dinner table. Riley hadn't said anything, but you didn't need mind reading abilities to see that that was the most prominent thought on her mind right now.
Riley cracked a faint smile. "Don't think I'm going to be able to sleep."
"I can make you a tea for that, if you want," Marigold said and sneezed. "Or something stronger, if you prefer."
"That's all right" she quickly answered. "So... what do you actually do here? I mean, you all."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean... you're a superhero camp, right? Saving the world and all?" Abby joked around.
"Yeah, that's the other reason I don't like our name" Sadie answered. "We... don't. We just hide out here. Live our lives."
"But you could do more." Riley said. "I mean, actually help people. Together."
"I know, but we don't. Powers aren't toys, they come with responsibilities." Sadie explained, firmly. "Rule number one here. Don't use your powers to hurt other people, no matter how much you think they deserve it."
An awkward silence fell. Sadie clearly didn't want to talk about it, but that didn't stop Riley from asking anyways. "Feels like there's a story there."
Sadie sighed and went over to the polaroid wall again. This time she looked for a specific photo. On one of the lower rows, she found it. A girl with short white hair. "Freya. She was... one of the strongest people I ever knew. In terms of powers and soul. She could create force fields, even managed to fly using them. Tried to stop a domestic violence situation and ended up crushing the guy's ribcage when he pulled a gun. She's in juvie now."
"And what about the ones who are still here?" Riley asked suddenly. "Like Autumn? What's her story?"
A uncomfortable silence fell over the table. JP opened his mouth, but Sadie shot him a warning look.
"That's her story to tell," she said firmly. "Just like yours is yours to tell. Nobody here has to share anything they're not ready to."
She stood up and walked to a cabinet, pulling out a thick leather-bound book. "But if you want to know more about the camp's history..." She set it on the table, opening to reveal pages of polaroids, notes, and what looked like letters. "This is our archive. Every kid who's passed through, everything we've built. The good and the bad."
"No kidding." Riley said and glanced over at the book. Abby knew that look - she couldn't wait to go through it all, dissecting every little detail, copying the most important pages over to her own log.
"You're welcome to write in it yourself."
"Thanks." Riley said. "...do you mind if I borrow it?"