The Probability of Miracles by Wendy Wunder

forearm was pocked with ugly, raised purple bubbles the size of dimes that marked the plodding progress of the disease and its ambitious plot to take over her entire body.
    â€œWhat?” Cam said, sneaking her thumb back into the hole she’d created in the wristband of her sweatshirt to keep her sleeves down.
    â€œDon’t say ‘what.’ You know what I’m talking about. That. On your arm.”
    â€œBug bites,” Cam said.
    â€œWe don’t have those kinds of bugs in Hoboken.”
    â€œAh, but you haven’t been to the Magic Tree,” said Cam.
    â€œCampbell. Should you go get that checked out?”
    Campbell just shrugged. “Let’s go,” she said. “I’m sure Mom’s finished packing.”
    The three of them walked down the narrow, wood-paneled staircase to the front hall. Cam first, then Nana, and Perry trailed behind, jotting something down into her brown notebook from Izanagi. “Miracle number thirteen,” she said as she wrote, “Nana is walking us to the door.”
    â€œYeah, what are you doing, seeing us to the door?” asked Cam. Normally after pretending to be angry and then throwing a faux tantrum, Nana retreated to her bedroom without even saying good-bye.
    â€œJust making sure you get the heck out of here,” Nana joked.
    Outside, it was a glorious day. Their ridiculous rig took up two metered spots on Church Street. Alicia wiped some sweat from her brow with the back of her hand, looking pleased with herself. Everything was packed up and ready to go.
    â€œLet’s go,” she said. “Bye, Ma.” She gave her mother a hug without even realizing how strange it was that Nana had actually made it outside to see them off.
    Perry hugged her grandmother. Nana apologized for the juice.
    â€œI guess it’s our turn,” Nana said. Cam and Nana circled around each other like wrestlers in a ring.
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œYou want to just do one of those exploding fist-bump things?” Nana asked, holding out her fist.
    â€œYou can hug me if you want,” Cam said.
    Nana wrapped her arms around Cam and Cam choked back her tears. “I’m going to be okay, Nan.”
    â€œI already know that about you. You asked me what I believe. I believe that you are going to be okay,” Nana said, and she squeezed Cam one more time. “Now go. I have my ten days of crying to do.”

TEN
    THEY WERE BACK IN THE VAGINA TRAIN AND HEADING NORTH. CAM missed Lily. It had been days since they’d left North Carolina, and still Cam could not get the words he’s using you out of her head. That was probably a little harsh, as was the word desperate . She wished she could take it all back.
    They passed blue sign after blue sign advertising the fast-food options at each exit. Cam still got a little excited, a vestigial feeling from her overeating days, when she saw a good sign—one with four or more restaurants at one exit. But the thought of eating any of that garbage now turned her stomach. She had a metallic taste in her mouth, and she felt nauseous, with a strange pain shooting from her jaw down into the sides of her neck. She wished she could just throw up and maybe feel better.
    After they had gotten through New Jersey and Connecticut, the strip-mall landscape on the side of the road had slowly and thankfully disentregrated until they were flanked on both sides by forest. Aside from her time at summer camp, Cam had never really been flanked by forest before. She peered through the trees, taking snapshots with her eyes of the ancient, falling-down rock walls and the ruins of an old chimney left standing after a cabin fire. Then the forest seemed to get darker and denser until she could barely see through the trees. It was all Hans Christian Andersen-y, and maybe, Cam had to admit, a little magical—as if there might be pixies and leprechauns hidden among the mushrooms or monsters lurking in caves.