Free Forces of Nature by Nate Ball Page A

ghost made all those trees crooked. That’s just so exciting.”
    â€œBut it’s not true! It’s just something they wrote to make the campgrounds sound mysterious to tourists. It’s just a bunch of trees that got bent out of shape. It’s no big deal.”
    â€œWatch this,” Amp said, and he disappeared from sight. “See, nobody will see me,” his voice explained. “I’ll be invisible. Now let’s go hug some trees and see ghosts in the Crooked Forest!”
    Zack pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.
    He knew all too well about the Erdian mind trick that enabled Amp to stop your brain from seeing him. The way Amp explained it, he could make your brain forget you were seeing him at the same instant you were seeing him. Zack had trained himself to block the mind trick when hewanted to, but now he just stared at the empty space above the sock.
    â€œForget it,” Zack said, yanking the sock off the desk and stuffing it in his bag. He heard Amp give an invisible cry and then appear just as he crashed onto the desk.
    â€œOuch!” Amp cried. “That was incredibly rude.”
    â€œSee, you can’t always be invisible,” Zack said with a chuckle, zipping up his bag and heading toward the door. “Under the bed are enough Ritz Crackers and SweeTarts to last you a month. I’ll be back late on Monday night, okay? Are we good?”
    â€œBut I’ll be so bored,” Amp whined, rubbing the back of his head.
    â€œJust stay in here and out of trouble,” Zack said and closed his door.
    Alone in the hallway, Zack pressed on the door to make sure it was securely shut, sighed, shook his head, and headed downstairs.
    There was one more thing he had to do before leaving.

The Ol’ Switcheroo
    â€œJ immy has pinkeye,” Zack’s little brother, Taylor, reported when Zack dropped his bag at the front door. “He can’t go camping with us.”
    â€œNo biggie,” Zack said. “More room in the kids’ tent.”
    â€œBut Jimmy always comes with us,” Taylor moaned. “He just called. Both his eyes are glued shut with pus.”
    â€œGross! Thanks for sharing, Taylor,” Zack said.
    Taylor sighed. “This will be our worst camping trip ever.”
    Zack shrugged. “I’m not so sure. The bar is set pretty low.”
    â€œOh, stop it, you two,” Zack’s mom said, rolling out a plastic cooler stuffed with ice and food.“C’mon, Zack, bring this and your bag out to Dad. Olivia is helping him put everything on top of the car.”
    â€œOlivia? Why?” Zack asked. Helping Dad tie down the tents and bags was usually his job. He looked out the window and saw Olivia on top of the car, helping Zack’s dad thread twine through the handles of various suitcases and tent bags.
    Mom brushed Zack’s hair from his face with her fingers. “Since Jimmy couldn’t go with us, I asked Olivia to come instead. It’ll be so fun.”
    Zack pulled away from his mom. “What?!”
    Zack had planned on having Olivia keep an eye on Amp while he was gone. She was the only other person on the planet who knew about Amp, so her going on this trip threw a major wrench into his plans.
    Plus, when Zack thought about the close quarters of a tent, camping with Olivia might be a little . . . embarrassing. He flapped his arms, trying to think of something to say. “Mom, I can’t sleep in a tent with Olivia. She’s a girl. It’s just weird!”

    â€œYeah, Zack likes to fart when he camps,” Taylor said. “Nobody should be subjected to his weaponized toots.”
    â€œDon’t be crude, honey,” Mom said to Taylor with a tsk-tsk. “Zack can’t help it if he has a sensitive system.”
    â€œI don’t have a sensitive system,” Zack said. “It’s just that . . . I don’t know. It’s just weird,