Project Integrate Series Boxed Set

by Campbell, Jamie

  “Do you have to do that?” I asked, sick of him almost running into me whenever I slowed down.

  “I’m just walking,” Lochie replied innocently.

  “Yeah, walking into me.”

  “Sor-ry.”

  “Why did you even-” I was distracted as I let my question go unfinished. On the ground, just off the path, were snapped twigs. “Johnny, someone’s been here.”

  I waited until they stopped and gathered, looking at the spot I was pointing to.

  “It’s just a bunch of sticks,” Johnny commented.

  “They’ve been broken clean, an animal doesn’t do that. Somebody has walked down this path and not that long ago, the break is still fresh.” I picked up the twigs and showed them the still-fresh sap in the break. “If none of the other campers came this way, it has to be Heath.”

  “Okay, it means we’re on the right track then. Well spotted, Amery. You should lead the way.”

  They started walking again, each one looking out for the telltale signs. Johnny asked me a bunch of questions as we went, mostly about the finer details of tracking someone. It was nice to be able to share the skills I always hoped I wouldn’t need.

  “So the secret is getting inside their head?” Johnny asked.

  I nodded eagerly, happy he was understanding. “Exactly. At every crossroad, the person has a choice to make. You have to work out what they were thinking to make the same decisions they did. If you can do it correctly, they can lead you right to them.”

  “That’s pretty clever.”

  “It’s logical.”

  By midnight, we decided to take a break. The others had been going all day, the weariness was starting to show in their walk. We rested by the path, our ears always open for the slightest sound in the forest. We hoped for a human noise rather than an animal one. Apparently there were bears in the woods, I was desperately trying not to think about it.

  I took a gulp from my water bottle, letting the cool liquid sliver down my throat. Even in the dead of night it was still warm in the summer air. The physical exertion wasn’t helping either.

  As I screwed the lid back on, I couldn’t help but notice Lochie watching me. He was like the worst stalker ever. I didn’t know why he was hanging around so much when he hated me. Every conversation we’d ever had was an argument. It was like he enjoyed being punished.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, seeing his brow wrinkle as he concentrated.

  “You’re the weirdest person I’ve ever met,” he replied. That was just what a girl wanted to hear, right?

  “Thanks,” I said, sarcasm dripping from the word.

  “No, I mean, not in a bad way. How do you know all this stuff about tracking someone?”

  I shrugged, hoping to come off like it was no big deal. “My parents take me camping… a lot. They think it’s important to know this kind of stuff. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best, kind of deal.”

  “You, camping?”

  I gently punched him on the shoulder. “Yes, I go camping. Why not me?”

  “I don’t know, you just never struck me as a camping kind of girl. I guess we don’t really know a person…”

  “No, you don’t know me at all.” And if he knew exactly what kind of a person I was, he would freak out. Like, spectacularly freak out.

  “I guess I don’t.” He gave me a lopsided grin. “My mom used to take me and my brother camping all the time too. She wasn’t exactly into it but she thought we would enjoy it so we went anyway.”

  “Your mom sounds nice.”

  “She is. Although I think she sends me to summer camp so she doesn’t have to go camping anymore.”

  Mrs. Mercury sounded like a smart woman. “I think I like her already.”

  “She’d like you too.”

  I opened my mouth to ask him what he meant but Johnny beat me to it. Our break was over.

  We all got to our feet without complaint. Our discomfort was nothing compared to what Heath might be going through. Even my aching knee wasn’t going to elicit a groan from me.

  We must have walked for miles throughout the night. We all saw the sun rise over the top of the trees as we headed back to camp for another group to take over.

  When we arrived, the police were there. They were organizing a group of professionals to start the search in earnest. Twenty four hours had passed since Heath couldn’t be found and they were concerned.

  I heard Johnny explain the route we took while he drew it on a map. He reported the track we had been following, suspecting Heath might have gone that way.

  I retreated to my cabin and found it empty, all the girls were either at breakfast or already joining the day’s searching activities. I climbed into bed and immediately fell fast asleep.

  My dreams were a chaotic mess of running through the forest and being chased. A person without a face gained speed on me, constantly reaching out to grab my legs and make me tumble to the ground.

  When I awoke with a start, my heart was pounding. I was momentarily disorientated as music flitted through the cabin. It took a few blinks and a head scratch to realize the noise was coming from my cell phone. I saw the caller ID was Mom and groaned.

  “Amery, thank God,” Mom shrieked down the line.

  “Mom, what’s wrong?” I mumbled, too fuzzy to make sense of her panic just yet.

  “We heard there was a missing child at Camp Soho and were so worried it was you. Are you okay?”

  Great, so they knew about Heath. I was probably only three hours from being picked up by my parents, sooner if they had jumped into the car already. “I’m fine, it wasn’t me. It was one of the boys here, nothing to do with me. Everyone is looking for him.”

  “We’re going to pick you up, I knew sending you to camp was a bad idea. Too much can happen when you’re away from home.”

  I sat up quickly, bumping my head on the ceiling – again. “No, you can’t come, I want to stay. Heath going missing has nothing to do with the project or the Department. Nothing is going to happen to me.”

  Silence. Hopefully that meant she was reconsidering smothering me. She whispered something to my father, they probably had me on speakerphone. I could picture them in the living room at home, having a whisper debate about whether to leave me alone or not. I had eavesdropped on many of their whisper fights over the years.

  “Mom? You still there?”

  “Yes, honey. We want to pick you up.”

  Alarm bells started ringing in my head, at least I was wide awake now. “No! Seriously, don’t. If you pick me up, everyone will know. You want me to fit in and that will be doing the exact opposite. You know the rules.”

  I didn’t have any doubts she was rolling her eyes on the other end of the phone. She hated it when I turned the rules back around on them. “The rules also say we have to protect you. Leaving you in the middle of nowhere while who knows what is going on could constitute neglect. Do you want us to get into trouble with the Department?”

  Just like my misuse of the rules, my parents were always blaming the Department. They made them the big bad wolf in my life whenever they tried to make me do something I didn’t want to do. The problem was I feared the Department more than them so it usually worked.

  But not this time, I couldn’t abandon camp. If I left, they would never let me come back again. “I’m in absolutely no danger. In fact, I’m probably more protected now because the police are here. Please don’t make me come home, please?”

  “The police are there?”

  “Yeah, they’re organizing the search.”

  More whispering between my parents. I briefly wondered if my birth parents would be as protective as my adoptive ones. Considering they gave me up, I guessed probably not.

  I decided to use my best weapon – distraction. “Hey, you’ve looked for missing kids before. How would you go about finding out what happened to Heath?”

  “I would speak to everyone who knew him to find out if it was likely he left on his own recourse o
r not,” Mom answered quickly. “If you can work out the motive for his disappearance, you can decide on the course of action.”

  “Great, thanks, that’s what I’ll do.”

  “Wait, Amery, we want you to come home.”

  “They need me here, I can help.” I probably couldn’t, but they didn’t need to know that. If I could perhaps appeal to their sense of community, I might be able to stay.

  She sighed. “You’ve got one more day. I’ll call you again tomorrow and, if he’s not found by then, we want you to pack your things and we’ll pick you up. Got it?”

  That would be a problem to squirm out of tomorrow. “Fine, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

  “Good, stay safe, honey. We love you.”

  “I love you too. Bye.” I hung up before they could change their minds. If they were really determined to pick me up, there wouldn’t be anything I could do to stop them. All I could do was hope Heath was found within the next twenty-four hours.

  I took a quick shower and visited Nurse White for a new dressing on my knee before grabbing some food. I lingered around the meeting circle, trying to find out if there was any news. According to Ella, they had found no trace of Heath. How did a kid just disappear into thin air like that? It made me shudder.

  With my mother’s advice in my head, I limped through the camp until I found one of Heath’s friends. I had seen Bailey Summit conspiring with Heath on the school grounds for years. If there was a reason behind his disappearance, Bailey should know what it was.

  “Hey, Bailey, how’s it going?” I asked casually, wishing I had paid more attention to my parents’ interrogation techniques. They had tried to teach me and I discarded the information in the not useful pile.

  “Oh, hey Amery.” He seemed friendly enough, that was a good sign considering the circumstances. “What happened to your knee?”

  “Fell over. I’m really sorry about Heath, I know you’re friends.”

  Bailey shrugged, focusing on the ground. “I keep imagining he’ll just walk back in like nothing’s happened, wondering what all the fuss is about.”

  “I pray he does.”

  “At least the counselors finally called the police so we have a proper search and rescue team now.”

  I shoved my hands into the pockets of my shorts, unsure how to proceed. I decided I just had to dive in, there was no sense in beating around the bush. “What do you think happened to him? Was he the type to wander off by himself without telling anyone?”

  Bailey’s eyes shot up to meet mine. “No, not at all. Heath may be pigheaded on the football field, but he’s not stupid. He wouldn’t take off in the middle of the night.”

  “Sorry for asking,” I said gently, knowing his anger wasn’t directed at me.

  He managed a smile. “It’s okay, it’s just frustrating, you know? The counselors didn’t believe me when I told them he was missing, they should have been out looking a lot earlier than they were. Those few hours might have made a big difference.”

  I didn’t like to say the difference between life and death but I knew he was thinking the same thing. So the counselors hadn’t taken him seriously, did that mean campers went missing all the time? Perhaps my parents had a legitimate reason to be so fearful of letting me come here.

  “We’re going to have to keep looking for him, not give up and-” Bailey never got to finish his sentence as the alarm bell sounded in the meeting circle. We exchanged a worried glance before hurrying toward the bell.

  There had to be a development in the search, why else would they call everyone back? Unless someone else had gone missing too. My stomach gripped with fear and dread.

  There were people everywhere in the meeting area. It was hard to believe the entire camp fit there with room to spare just days ago. Now, it was full to the brim with moving bodies.

  I spotted Lola amongst the moving mass and made a beeline for her. “Lola, what’s going on?”

  Her eyes were wide as she stared at me, taking a moment to gather her thoughts together. “They’ve found Heath.”

  CHAPTER 5

  “Found?” I gasped, barely believing it. “Is he…?” My mouth wouldn’t let me say alive.

  “I don’t know,” Lola replied. She was internally preparing herself for the worst news, as was I. I couldn’t imagine how bad it would be if the news came out that Heath was no longer among the living.

  The wait for an update was torturous. In the end, we didn’t get any at all. A group of police officers emerged from the main trail, in the middle of them was someone smaller – Heath.

  Seeing him alive and walking by himself flooded me with relief. He was alright, besides a few scratches and obvious fatigue.

  We were directed to go back to our cabins and have free time until the next meal. Most of the campers did as told, the relief evident on everyone’s face. The few who remained were mainly Heath’s friends. I noticed Lochie lingering too, although why, I had no idea.

  I went to stand next to Bailey as they gathered around Heath. He was sitting with two police officers as a counselor plied him with water and a sandwich.

  He was giving a statement to the police as they took copious notes. His voice was weary, every word long and drawn out. “There were two of them, they were creeping about and looking in the cabin windows.”

  “What did they look like?” The officer, a tall, serious man of about forty, asked.

  “One had blonde hair, the other’s was darker. They were probably about your height.”

  “What were they wearing?”

  “Jeans, a shirt, I don’t know. I wasn’t exactly in fashion police mode.”

  The police officer placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay, take your time. Just tell us what happened then. You saw the two men and then what?”

  Heath took a gulp of water before replying. “I snuck out of my cabin and started following them. I wanted to see what they were up to.”

  “You should have notified one of us,” the counselor interrupted, earning a reproachful look from the police. “Sorry.”

  “Go on, Heath.”

  “They went from cabin to cabin and then started walking into the woods. I was worried they might be planning on doing something so I followed them.”

  “What were you thinking?” The counselor butted in again.

  He was grating on everyone’s last nerve. Heath included. “I didn’t think anyone would believe me if I said anything. I only planned on seeing what they were up to. Then I was going to come back and report them once I knew more.”

  The police officer took control again. “So you followed them…”

  Heath nodded. “I followed them for ages. I was doing a good job of it too, until I accidently stepped on a stick and it cracked. They saw me and realized what I was doing.”

  “What did you do?” Bailey asked, unable to hold back. I knew how he felt. I had a million questions burning away on the end of my tongue.

  “I ran like hell.” He managed a small smile. “They chased me too. I thought I was dead. They didn’t seem like the kind of guys who would play around. I ended up finding a cave-like thing and hid.”

  “That sounds horrible,” Ella moaned. I didn’t even hear her join us.

  “I must have fallen asleep sometime, when I woke up it was daylight and I had no idea where I was. I started walking but I didn’t even know what direction I should go in,” Heath finished explaining. “I’d been walking forever before I saw these guys.” He nodded toward the police. “I didn’t think I’d ever get out of those woods.”

  “We’re so glad you did,” Ella said before bursting over to him and wrapping him in her arms. Heath was a bit bemused but he didn’t push her away. She let him go reluctantly and stepped aside again.

  “Is there anything you can remember about the men when you followed them? Did they say where they were going or what they were doing?” The police officer asked, tapping his pencil on his notepad.

  Heath paused to think it through,
dredging through his memory and trying to find anything useful. “They were talking about a girl they had to find. She was different, she had a mark on her. They were complaining about how difficult it was to see it in the dark. They were going to get more people to come and help look for her.”

  My heart stopped. A wave of nausea rushed over me, making me want to vomit. I stepped back from the group, not needing to hear anything more.

  The men were there for me. I knew it without a doubt. How many normal teenagers had a mark on their skin that would make someone want to kidnap them? I was the only one, they had to be there for me.

  I ran to my cabin, fighting back the tears. It was so stupid of me to think I could have a normal summer like everyone else. I was different, I was reminded of that every single day of my life. I had no business trying to fit in and pretend I was human like all the others. I was there for a reason, I had a job to do, I had no business having a carefree summer.

  When I reached the cabin, I was relieved to find it empty. There was no way I could explain my sudden hysteria to any of my friends. Especially not Lola, she could always see right through my lies. If she knew the truth, she would freak out and we wouldn’t be friends anymore. I couldn’t have that.

  I called my parents and asked them to pick me up as quickly as possible. They readily agreed without any argument. They were probably already walking out the door by the time we ended the conversation. I should have listened to them in the first place, at least then Heath wouldn’t have gone through his ordeal.

  I had put the entire camp at risk by being there. I felt sick to my stomach at what could have happened. I wasn’t worried about my own fate, but of those around me. I could never live with myself if my presence hurt others and that was exactly what might have happened. It already did happen to Heath. If those men had caught him… I couldn’t finish the thought.

  I pulled my bag out from under the bed and started throwing my clothes in it haphazardly. It had taken me three hours to pack before coming to camp but a whole three minutes to pack to go home. I didn’t care about wrinkles and creases this time. I just needed to get out of there so the camp would be safe again.