I slept well, the cold air helping me to fall asleep, and woke far too early to the sound of someone incessantly ringing a bell outside the cabin. Groaning, I shoved myself out of bed and practically fell down the ladder to land on the hard floor below. I heard a giggle and looked up to see Akelka staring at me.

"Good morning," she sang at me. "It's time for breakfast!"

I glanced confusedly at my watch. "No it's not," I mumbled. "It's only six thirty."

She laughed. "Come on! Everyone else is there. That bell was the last warning."

I groaned pointedly and stumbled to my feet, then grumpily made my way outside the cabin. Expecting bright sunlight to barrage me, I squinted, but I was greeted only with thick mist obscuring most of the sun's light. The cold air was what barraged me in a biting wave. I usually loved the cold, but early mornings were the exception.

Tennielle had already gotten her food when I arrived in the dining hall, and she was talking with Kiyenta at a table. I got my food quickly, since there was practically no line left, and sat down with them. After a few attempts to join their conversation, however, I decided to just eat first and try to focus on waking up.

The food was surprisingly good for a lonely camp in a foggy bin of stumpy trees. We had some sort of bean stew, accompanied by a bread roll. It seemed more like a dinner to me, but I was more than happy to eat it. I had barely finished cleaning my plate when Ms. Silver marched into the hall.

"Students, I hope you've finished your meal, because we are beginning our first activity in five minutes. Please meet me outside the cabins."

We walked dutifully outside, half of the class still partially in a stupor. Jared was waiting for us there.

"Good morning," he said conversationally. He glanced upward at the thick, dark sky. "What a lovely day! Perfect to play hide and seek."

I smiled. It was certainly not the worst camp activity I'd ever done.

"I'm going to choose four people to be seekers, and everyone else should hide." He walked around the circle carefully, pointing at the seekers. Kiyenta was chosen. Tennielle and I eyed her playfully, then were startled by Jared as he spoke again.

"Seekers, close your eyes and count. Try to count in unison, please. Everyone else, you're free to hide anywhere we went on the tour. Go!"

I dashed away through the trees, my shoes digging into the wet, sticky ground. Behind me, I heard numbers counted out of sync fading into the distance.

I turned my focus ahead, eyes darting back and forth to find a place to hide. Without realizing it, I veered to the left, then worked steadily in that direction. I saw a hollow log, but moved on for fear of something else being already inside it.

Eventually, I slowed to a halt in front of a massive, leafless tree. It looked like a Halloween decoration, twisting and reaching through the air toward a sky concealed by mist. Its thick trunk stood proudly, anchoring the tree to the ground.

I grinned, then jogged to the tree, beginning to skirt around it. I felt my foot sink into sludgy water and yanked it out, startled. I had stepped into a small lake, more of a pond really, that had been concealed before by fog and browned foliage.

I heard a soft flutter and turned around. There was nothing. I began to look away, but then, overcome by a hungering curiosity, I turned back and focused harder. There, across the pond, was a spot of white shining through the fog.

Slowly, silently, I began to make my way around the pond. I placed one foot down, then the next, toes first, heel second, creeping slowly toward the mysterious white that was too bright in this world of gray cloud. I rounded a tree and jerked to a stop, all memory of the game fleeing my mind.

It was a gorgeous white bird, with perfect, sleek feathers. Its eyes were the brightest silver I had ever seen, shining through the fog not as if they were piercing it but rather as if the fog was carrying their light forward. The Silver Heron, I realized with stupefaction. My hand began to shake as I slowly extended it forward.