Nat crossed her fingers and waited. “Maybe it will work this time,” Jenna said.
Then Clarissa sighed, and Nat knew Clarissa still had no signal.
“Maybe when we reach higher ground,” Clarissa said cheerily.
“Ya-huh,” Jenna said under her breath.
“For all we know, Belle found Chelsea and they’re back with the bunk, devouring s’mores.” Clarissa put the phone back in her pocket.
“Sounds good,” Jenna said.
“Let’s go this way,” Clarissa suggested. Nat knew the CIT had no idea which way she was going. But she didn’t know what else to do besides follow her. Her hand shook as she held back a branch for Jenna. After Jenna went past, Nat lost her balance for a second and let go of the branch. It smacked her in the face with a sharp sting.
She almost started crying. She wished she hadn’t insisted on coming with Clarissa. Why hadn’t she listened when Belle had told them to stay at the campfire?
Because I felt bad about dissing Chelsea, she thought. She hadn’t even given Chelsea the benefit of the doubt before deciding that having her in their bunk was going to ruin the summer. She thought about what Candace had said. Everybody was criticizing Chelsea’s attempts to help with dinner. Clarissa was right. Who’d want to hang out with a bunch of people like Bunk 5A?
“We’re going to be okay,” Jenna said beside her.
“Yeah, but is Chelsea?” Natalie asked her.
Jenna sighed heavily. “You’ve been thinking about her, too, huh? I feel so rotten. I went on like I’m all that—”
“I was right there with you,” Nat interrupted her. “Even after we accidentally hurt her feelings, I was still on her at the campsite. It’s like . . . I have ‘be mean to Chelsea’ on my to-do list.”
“I know.” Jenna groaned. “If she’d just . . .” She trailed off. “I mean, seriously, Nat, she has been hard to deal with. And I know her dad is sick and all, but it seems like every time she could say something nice or something snarky, she goes for column B.”
“Not always,” Nat insisted. “We just wait for it. We look for it.”
Jenna brought the beam of her flashlight close, and Nat saw the troubled expression on her friend’s face. “I blew it with Candace, too. She was so hurt. I’m such a moron. I deserve to be hunted down like a dog and have my arm cut off by a raving lunatic.”
“Jenna!” Nat swatted her forearm. “Don’t say things like that. They aren’t funny. Not right now, anyway.”
Jenna grimaced. “More evidence. Stuff just pops out of my mouth. It’s the curse of Jenna Bloom. I’ll do better. I swear I will.”
“We’ll both do better,” Nat promised.
Slightly ahead of them, Clarissa stopped. She looked up at the moon and then at the dark woods. Back up at the moon.
Back at the dark woods.
“I think we take a left here,” she said.
“She has no clue,” Jenna whispered to Nat. “She’s totally lost.”
“I know,” Nat whispered back. “But what else can we do?”
“Sit down and wait for someone to find us?” Jenna suggested. She and Nat gazed at each other.
“Like Cropsy?” Nat asked under her breath.
“C’mon already—he’s just made up,” Jenna insisted. But she didn’t sound very convincing.
Then, almost as if it had been dumped on them like a waterfall, the fog swirled around them, and Nat couldn’t see a thing except for the gauzy beam from her flashlight. She tried touching her hand to her face and couldn’t even see her fingers.
Her panic went into overdrive.
“Oh, God,” Jenna whispered. “I’m going to lose it.”
“Okay, this is just too much,” Clarissa said, sounding frustrated. “Let’s stop moving around, girls. Just find a place to plant yourself and sit down.”
Nat felt around for something to perch on. She didn’t like stretching out her hands and touching things she couldn’t see, but she didn’t seem to have much of a choice.
“I can’t see anything,” Nat protested. “I can’t even see my feet.”
“It’ll be okay, Natalie. Just sit down,” Clarissa said.
“Okay.” Nat’s fingertips trailed along the rough but level length of a fallen log. “I found a place. I’m sitting.”
“Right beside you, Goode,” Jenna said. She reached over and squeezed Nat’s hand. Gratefully, Nat squeezed back.
Nat muttered, “I am not having a good time.”
“Gee, that’s a bummer,” Jenna replied, “because I was going to suggest we do this for the camp reunion this year.”
They both snorted.
“I’ll try the cell again,” Clarissa announced.
Nat held her breath. It would be so cool if it worked.
“Darn,” Clarissa said after a moment. “No go. Okay, let’s call again for Chelsea. One, two, three . . .”
“Chelsea!” Nat and Jenna could barely make a sound, but Clarissa’s voice was clear and strong.
No answer.
“Let’s try Belle. One, two, three . . .”
“Belle!”
Nothing times two.
“The fog will lift,” Clarissa said. “This way we can rest.”
“Did I mention that Clarissa’s a little too perky on occasion?” Jenna whispered to Nat. Nat chuckled ruefully.
About a minute passed. “Clarissa?” Jenna said. “I have to go to the bathroom. I’ll be right back, okay?”
“Jenna, can’t you wait?” Clarissa asked.
“No. I can’t. I’ve already been waiting forever. I won’t go very far. Just . . . far enough.”
Nat heard Jenna’s movements as she left the log. She waved her hand through the fog, wishing she could clear it away so they could leave.
“Jenna?” Clarissa called.
“I’m fine,” Jenna squawked back.
Nat and Clarissa sat in silence.
“It’s going to be okay, Natalie,” Clarissa promised.
Nat tried to respond. But her throat was closed up and her hands were trembling. Her cheeks tingled. She was really scared.
Jenna came back and sat beside her. It was freaky not to be able to see Jenna even though she was right beside her. She gave Nat’s hand a squeeze and Nat squeezed back.
“I’m freaking out,” Nat confessed.
Jenna squeezed her hand again.
“I mean, I am seriously about to lose it.”
Again, Jenna squeezed her hand. Nat smiled weakly. She wished Jenna would say something—anything—to allay her fears.
Then suddenly, out of nowhere, a voice came out of the thick. “Guys?” It was Belle!
“Oh my God!” Nat cried happily. “Belle!” She squeezed Jenna’s hand and jumped up, waving her hands even though it was pointless because of the thick fog. But she was just so incredibly relieved!
“Belle, here!” Nat and Clarissa shouted. Or Clarissa shouted and Nat squawked. “Here!”
“Belle!” Jenna croaked.
And Jenna sounded as if she were several feet away—too far away to have been holding hands with Natalie.
“Jenna?” Nat shrieked. “Where are you?”
“On my way, Goode,” Jenna got out, still far away. “Belle! Belle!”
“Wait. If you’re over there, then who was holding my hand?” Nat cried. She lurched through the fog and crashed her forehead into something hard.
Cropsy!
She realized a split second before she started screaming that it was a tree trunk.
“Ow!” she moaned. “Ow, ow, ow!”
“Natalie, are you all right?” Clarissa shouted.
“Natalie? Jenna?” Belle said. “Clarissa?”
“There’s someone here!” Nat tried to warn them. “Someone who’s not one of us! And it was holding my hand!”
Then she whacked her head on an overhanging branch.
And something came crashing through the forest.
chapter ELEVEN
Alex’sheart pounded. Her st
omach literally turned over, and the blood raced through her body as she screamed bloody murder. She couldn’t believthe horror of what was happening to her. The one-armed man in the hockey mask—Alex could now tell by his size that he was a man—dropped the chain saw and ran toward her as she quickly staggered backward, deeper into icy Shadow Lake.
“It’s okay. I won’t hurt you,” he said as he reached up and wrapped his hand around the crosshatched mask. But before Alex could even see what the guy was doing with his hand, she let out another scream.
“It’s okay,” he repeated as he lifted the mask to reveal his face. Brown hair, hazel eyes, about eighteen years old . . . Alex recognized him immediately, but she couldn’t quite place him. She did notice, thankfully, that he had two arms—the left one was cinched tightly in a sling across his chest. He wasn’t Cropsy, but who knew what other crazed maniac he might be?
“Hey, what the heck is going on?” she challenged him.
“Look, don’t worry, I’ll explain everything in a minute,” he answered, but his eyes were focused far beyond Alex. He ran to the edge of the water and waved his arms back and forth.
“There’s a hole in your boat!” he shouted, trying to get the attention of the girls in the boat.
“What?” Alex gasped, turning around. But the fog had swallowed up the boat, and she couldn’t see it anywhere.
“You have a hole in your boat!” he boomed again across the water.
There was no answer.
“They can’t hear you,” Alex said. “They don’t have any oars and they can’t get back to shore!”
“I know. Come on.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her back to land.
The eighteen-year-old guy let go of her once they were out of the lake and ran to the other boat. Alex hurried to keep pace. Her legs were numb and she felt a little dizzy, and by the time she reached him, he was pushing the boat through the sandy dirt and into the water.
“Come on, come on,” he said. “We can row out and get them.”
“Do you have oars?”
“Yes. Hurry!”
She splashed back into the water after him. Then he helped her climb in and sit on the wooden bench in the center.
As the boat bobbed on the surface, he climbed in. It rocked from his weight, then smoothed out as he plopped down beside Alex.
“Here,” the guy said. He reached under the seat and handed her a life jacket. “Put this on.” It seemed to be the only one, but Alex took it.
While she put on the jacket, he hefted one of the oars from the floor and tried to slide it through the brass oarlock on the left. She stopped to help him, wrapping both her hands around the oar and guiding it through.
“Thanks,” he gritted. “I broke my stupid arm in an accident.”
Together they threaded the second oar into the right oarlock.
“Do you know how to row? I’m going to need some help.”
“Sure,” she said, taking up her oar.
“Let’s sync up. One, two. One, two.”
They moved the oars together, pushing them back, dipping them into the water. Pushing them back, dipping them into the water.
“That’s good,” he commented. “Let’s keep that rhythm.”
“Okay.” She craned her neck over her shoulder. Her flashlight, still on, was nestled in her lap. She couldn’t see the other boat. Couldn’t hear it, either.
“I’m Jeremiah Wheatly,” he said. “My family owns the ice-cream store in town.” He paused. “Is Clarissa in that boat?”
“Oh.” She remembered now that they’d been teasing about him crushing on Clarissa at the cookout. Had that only been yesterday? Amazing.
“No,” she said. She made a face at him. “You are so dead.”
“We were coming to work on the boats and we heard you guys,” he confessed. “We were going to scare you for fun.”
“Fun?” she repeated, glaring at him.
“Yeah.” He sighed. “I guess it wasn’t all that fun.”
“We?” she continued, ignoring his indirect apology.
“My friend Dan.” He shook his head. “I’m really sorry. Can everybody swim?”
“Yes,” she said. She took a deep breath. “Is that boat actually going to sink?”
“I don’t know,” he replied honestly. “With that much weight in it, it might.”
“Guys! We’re coming!” she shouted.
“Girls!” he yelled. “Camp Lakeview girls!”
There was no answer. She looked at Jeremiah. “Oh my God, do you think they already sank?”
“I don’t think it would happen that fast,” he said. “But let’s row faster, okay?”
She mirrored his movements as his muscles worked through his thin white T-shirt. The fog churned around the boat and they moved into it, then through it, and out into a thinner patch.
“Hello!” he yelled. “Can you hear me?”
Still nothing.
Jeremiah exhaled and glanced over his shoulder, lifting his oar out of the water. “Look around with your flashlight, okay?”
She did as he asked. Mostly the beam bounced off other patches of fog. She didn’t see her friends anywhere.
“Girls!” Jeremiah cried. “Where are you?”
He sighed again, and glanced over his other shoulder. “The current is so fast.”
“So? Is there something else?” Alex asked him suspiciously. “Something you’re not telling me?”
He looked straight at her, and she felt a chill along her spine. “Yes,” he admitted.
She licked her lips. What more could there be?
He took a moment. She waited.
“Our boat—and theirs—is headed toward Dead Man’s Falls,” he said.
Alex blinked at him. “Dead Man’s what?”
“There are three main waterfalls on Shadow Lake. Ghost Falls, Skeleton Falls, and Dead Man’s Falls,” he said. “Ghost Falls goes into a pool, and Skeleton Falls is farther up the lake. But Dead Man’s Falls . . .” His features hardened, and he sucked in his cheeks as if he really didn’t want to go on. “Dead Man’s Falls is on this side of the lake. And it’s well named.”
She waited a beat. When he said nothing more, she said, “Because . . . ?”
“Because if you get swept down into the headwater, you can get dashed against the rocks if you don’t know what you’re doing. And if you make it through that, the height of the drop could easily kill you.”
“Oh my God.” She covered her mouth. “Why aren’t there any signs? Any warnings?”
“There are,” he said. “You guys must not have noticed them. There’s no boating permitted on this lake and, well, locals like us bend the rules because we know where it’s safe.” He looked like he wanted to kick himself. If he didn’t do it, Alex would be happy to do it for him.
“What are we going to do?”
“Hopefully, row to them in time to stop them from going over,” he said. “And stop us, too.”
“How?”
He gestured with his head toward the bottom of the boat. “There’s some rope down there,” he said. “We’ll see what we can do with it once we find them.”
He didn’t have a full-blown plan. She didn’t know why she expected him to, but she was angry with him for not having one. Mostly she was just scared.
Make that beyond scared. Make that on another planet past scared.
She looked back at the shoreline. “Did you see anyone else when you chased us down here? Where’s the rest of my bunk?”
“I don’t know,” he confessed. “Dan’s dog got loose a while back so he went off after him.”
She tried to think of a Plan B. No cell phone, no one else around . . .
“So . . . it’s up to us,” Alex said.
“It’s up to us,” he agreed.
“Oh God—I totally recognize that guy. He’s the dude from the ice-cream shop,” said Brynn.
“No way!” Priya said.
“No way!” Candace repeated.
�
�It’s so crazy. What’s he doing here?” Brynn said.
“I don’t know. This is all so weird and screwed up,” said Priya.
In the fog, on Shadow Lake, all four bunkmates knelt on the floor of the boat, leaning over the sides as they scooped their hands through the water. They were trying to turn the boat around and get back to Alex and the ice-cream guy. They could only hope he was trustworthy.
But as they tried to make headway, the fog had completely surrounded them. Brynn wasn’t even sure they were still heading toward the other boat. She hoped so, because it felt as if the dinghy was traveling at a good speed.
Then she realized that her knees were wet. They hadn’t been wet a couple of seconds ago.
“Hey, is someone splashing?” she asked cautiously.
“No,” Priya said. “It would be hard to splash water into the boat. These sides are pretty high.”
“Not me,” Candace said. “No splashing here.”
“Not me, either,” Alyssa added.
“Well, we’re getting wet,” Brynn said.
“You’re right.” Priya stopped scooping water. “Was there water in the boat when we left?”
“I don’t think so,” Brynn said.
“I don’t think there was,” Candace added.
“We’re taking on water,” Alyssa concluded.
“Then . . . maybe there’s a hole in the boat.” Bending down, Brynn pressed her numb hands against the floor. There was more water than there had been even ten seconds ago. Her chest tightened and her heart went into overdrive. “Oh my God, we’re going to sink!”
“Do you feel the hole?” Alyssa said.
“No! No, I don’t,” Brynn wailed. “Oh, God . . .”
“Wait. Don’t panic. Maybe we can find it and plug it up,” Alyssa soothed her.
“With what?” Brynn asked. Frantic, she kept feeling for the hole. The water was so cold it felt like it was biting the backs of her hands.
“One of our shoes?” Candace ventured. “I’ll donate one of mine.”
Brynn heard shuffling; then something brushed against her elbow. Her hand wrapped around a wet sneaker.
“Thanks, Candace,” Brynn replied.
Brynn was trying very hard not to panic, but they were out on the lake with no way to steer or move themselves, and their boat was taking on water. She wondered how deep the lake was. Some of the girls had gone in up to their necks that afternoon, and they had been very close to shore. She supposed it got deeper farther out. But maybe she was wrong.
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