WHEN WE DREW NEAR the place we’d left Corey, we realized going straight to him wasn’t wise. We decided to take a look from farther down the shore.
We could hear a boat motor, but the running lights were off. There were people on board with flashlights, though, so we could see where it was.
Did that mean everyone was back in the boat? Did they have Corey?
A distant splash told us someone had gone in the water. Retrieving the bodies? Removing identifying parts from the helicopter? It sounded far-fetched, but if you kidnapped kids in a helicopter that crashed, you didn’t want local fishermen finding the wreckage.
Daniel tapped my arm. I followed his outstretched finger and saw two more flashlight beams strafing the forest right around where we’d left Corey.
I gripped Kenjii’s collar as we crept closer. Another flashlight beam flickered through trees farther down. Three searchers. At least two more on the boat plus the diver.
So how would we get to Corey? Was he even still there? If they’d found him, had they—?
My brain stuttered over the thought.
Shot him? That was the easy way of saying it, like it didn’t mean what I knew it meant. Killed him.
Nicole was dead.
“Nic,” I whispered. “Nic’s—”
“We don’t know that,” Daniel whispered harshly, and I knew that’s what he’d been telling himself. It’s what I’d been thinking, too. Shot. Just shot. Hayley hadn’t seen exactly, so we could keep telling ourselves Nicole was only injured.
Kenjii whined and brushed my hand, and I patted her head.
“Corey,” Daniel whispered.
He meant we couldn’t think about Nicole. Just like we couldn’t think about Rafe. We had to focus on saving everyone else.
Oh God. How had it come to this? Where I had to concentrate on saving the friends I could. Forget the ones I couldn’t. The ones I’d lost. The ones who were already…
Daniel clutched my arm.
“Maya,” he whispered. “I need you.”
I nodded and took a deep breath to steady myself. Then I got us as close to the searchers as I dared, picking my way through shadows too dark for Daniel to see. I stopped, and we hunkered down. I wrapped both arms around Kenjii, whispering for her to stay quiet.
After a moment, a radio crackled.
“No, we haven’t found them,” a male voice said. “And we’re not going to. Even if they stuck around, they’d see us coming from a mile away. Especially after you shot the girl.”
I couldn’t make out the voice on the other end.
“Yeah, well, by that time, they’ll be long gone. If they aren’t fifty feet underwater.”
More unintelligible murmuring as the person on the other end responded.
“Just because you only found Jason and the mayor doesn’t mean they were the only ones who died. The others could have fallen out or floated from the wreck or—”
“Shut the hell up.” Another man’s voice. One that didn’t come from the radio. One that made the hair on my neck stand up. The man in the forest. The man who’d pointed a gun at me. The man who had my eyes and my cheekbones.
“The kids are fine,” the man continued. “They’re in excellent shape. Athletes, all of them. Champion swimmers and runners and fighters. Whatever else the St. Clouds screwed up, they did that right. They made them survivors.”
“I’m sor—”
“You want to keep your job? Then don’t apologize. Just find these kids. Find my daughter.”
Blood pounded in my ears and I grabbed a tree for support, nails digging into the bark.
Find my daughter.
He meant me. I’d known that. From that moment in the woods, I’d known it. I just hadn’t wanted it to be true.
Daniel gripped my shoulder, squeezing until I looked at him.
“It’s okay,” he murmured. “We can do this.”
I could tell by his expression that he hadn’t heard what the man said. He didn’t have my enhanced hearing.
I had to forget what the man said. I’d always known I was adopted. Rick Delaney was still my real dad. He raised me. Nothing else—no one else—mattered.
I whispered to Daniel, telling him the other things that the men had said.
“They’re after all of us,” Daniel said.
“I think so.”
“I don’t get it.”
I think I do. I think it wasn’t any coincidence that my family wound up in Salmon Creek. It wasn’t any coincidence that Sam came here, either. They found me and they found her, and they brought us back to Salmon Creek, with the rest of you. I don’t know what it all means, but I’m starting to understand. I can’t tell you any of that, though. I wish I could. God, I wish I could.
“Maya?”
I wanted to throw my arms around his neck and apologize.
I’m sorry, Daniel. I should have told you earlier. I screwed up and I think I’m still screwing up.
He hugged me and whispered, “It’s okay. We’ll figure it out.”
I pulled away. “I … I think I might have figured it out already. This isn’t the time to explain but… I think Sam might be right about you and her, and I think there’s more to it, and that’s why they’re after us, so you need to be careful.”
“We’ll both be careful,” he said. “We’ll have each other’s back. As always.”
As always.
“We’ll find Corey, then we’ll get out of here,” Daniel continued. “Get to a phone. Call our parents. Go home.”
I’m not sure we can do that. I’m not sure Salmon Creek is still there, and if it is, I’m not sure it’s safe. I’m not sure we can get Corey. I’m not sure he’s still—
“Corey’s fine,” Daniel said, as if reading my thoughts.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m not holding up very well.”
“Yes, you are. We just need to get this done, then you can have a breakdown. I’ll join you.”
I smiled. “Thanks.”
“Anytime. Now, let’s go.”
Like a cougar with a cache, I knew where we’d left Corey. Hayley said they’d moved a little, but he’d be close enough for me to find him.
The three searchers were still at work, but they seemed to be employing a grid pattern, like when a little boy in a neighboring town had gone missing and we’d all joined the hunt, systematically scouring the forest until we found him, scared and exhausted. Once we realized that these searchers were walking a grid, it was a simple matter of waiting until they’d passed the area where we’d left Corey so we could sneak in.
Still they’d abandon the grid if they heard something. So Daniel stood guard with Kenjii, and I got down on all fours and crawled.
When I saw a white shoe peeking from under a bush, I crept closer and whispered, “It’s me.” Corey started at the sound of my voice, then caught himself.
“You guys shouldn’t have come back.”
“We did. Now, shhh, before I regret it.”
I crawled under the branches and gave him a quick, one-armed hug. I whispered that we’d wait a minute to make sure all was clear. Then I said, “We’re going to crawl out of here until we get to Daniel, so he can help you walk.”
“I can walk—”
“Don’t play the hero or you’ll get us captured.”
“That’s so sweet. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.”
“Hey, I hugged you, didn’t I? Now follow me and try not to make any noise.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He leaned down toward my ear. “I like it when you order me around. It’s really hot.”
I stifled a laugh, and for the first time since we’d gotten in that helicopter, I felt a little more like myself.
With his wounded knee, crawling wasn’t easy for Corey. It was more of a half-crawl, half-drag. When we reached Daniel and Kenjii, Corey shakily got to his feet, tested his knee, then slung an arm over each of us. We made our way through the forest, avoiding the flashlights. It was slow. Excruciatingly
slow.
When we finally got back to Hayley and Sam, we sat Corey down and I took another look at his knee. It had scabbed over and was bruising. I touched it, gently, pretending to check it out, as I closed my eyes and concentrated on fixing it.
That was supposed to be one of my powers—healing. It worked with animals, but I didn’t know how it worked or if it would work on people at all. I tried anyway, focusing and brushing my fingertips over his knee, willing it to heal.
There was no way of telling whether it helped. With animals, it was never an instantaneous cure. They just seemed to get better strangely fast. I hoped for the same with Corey.
When I finished rewrapping Corey’s knee, Daniel said, “I know we’re all ready to drop. But if there’s any chance we can put a little more distance between us and them…”
“We should,” I finished.
Sam and Hayley struggled to their feet. I could tell they were exhausted, but they didn’t complain. Maybe they were beyond that.
Daniel put Corey’s arm over his shoulders and we set off again.
EIGHT
WE HEADED FARTHER INLAND, not really going anywhere, just going. No one talked. No one even asked what was going on, why were these people after us, why had they shot Nicole. Reasons weren’t important.
We trudged through the woods, Kenjii and I in the lead. After a while, I let her go ahead and pick the clearest path. The shock of Nicole’s death had dulled my senses. I didn’t see the beautifully gnarled old trees and the delicate new ones. I just saw trees. Endless trees. When I heard the mournful hoot of owls or the staccato patter of paws, I didn’t stop to listen. Even the smell of cedar seemed too sharp, acidic, as I strained to pick up every smell I usually hated on my forest walks—the stink of gas or diesel fumes, the acrid scent of smoke. Signs of life. Human life. There were none.
Even when I managed to pull my thoughts away from Nicole’s and Rafe’s deaths, I still found plenty to dwell on. I thought about Annie and wondered where she was, if she was alive, if she was safe. Could she take care of herself? She was nineteen, but since she began shape-shifting, she’d started regressing intellectually. Reverting to a more animal-like state. That’s why Rafe had been so determined to find the scientists who’d reactivated our skin-walker gene. Because he hoped they could help Annie. Would the same thing happen to me?
I thought about the man on the shore, too. My biological father. I tried not to dwell on that—didn’t matter, wouldn’t let it matter—but those thoughts only led to ones of my biological mother, who’d abandoned me as an infant. I used to say she was giving me a better chance at life, but Rafe told me she’d had two babies. Twins. She gave me up and kept my brother. My twin brother. Were they still out there? Was he still out there? Again, it wasn’t the time to dwell on that. But I did anyway. At least until I started thinking about my parents—my real parents—and worrying about them took over everything else.
I finally snapped out of it when I realized we’d started walking uphill. I blinked and looked around. Fewer trees. More rocks. Ahead? Pitch black. I had to crane my neck way back to see stars dotting the night sky.
“A mountain.”
“Hmm?” Daniel said.
I jumped, and realized he was right beside me. Probably had been for a while. He put his hand on my back to steady me and said, “What’d you say?”
“I know why I couldn’t see lights from the treetop. There’s a mountain in the way.”
“Damn.” Daniel lowered his voice. “Corey’s not going to be able to make it up that. Not tonight.”
“I don’t think any of us could make it up that tonight. Except maybe the two-time island wrestling champ.” I struggled for a smile.
“Don’t count on it. I’m running on fumes here.”
“Let’s find a spot for the night then. We should be far enough from the crash site by now.”
We headed off the deer trail we’d been following and found a clearing next to a dead tree that acted as a windbreak. Once Daniel and I pronounced it suitable, everyone pretty much just collapsed where they stood.
Daniel and I were the last ones standing. When I started to lower myself to the ground, he tapped my elbow and pointed to a spot a few feet away.
“Looks more comfortable,” he said.
There was a slight hollow there, where dried vegetation had collected. As I lay down, I could smell it, sharp and earthy, and the smell comforted me as much as the soft bedding. Kenjii curled up in front of me. Daniel stretched out behind me, close enough that I could feel the warmth radiating from him, and that relaxed me, too. If anyone had asked me five minutes ago if I could sleep, I’d have thought the question was insane, but my head had barely touched the ground before I was gone.
“Maya…”
I rolled over. Dead needles crackled under me. My foot bumped Daniel’s, and he mumbled in his sleep.
“Maya…”
Another restless toss. A branch jabbed me this time, hard enough to make me open my eyes. I could make out the faint gray of dawn to the east.
I blinked and looked around. Corey, Sam, and Hayley were about five feet away, sound asleep.
I yawned and curled up again.
“Maya… Help…”
I bolted upright. A breeze wafted past, and I caught a smell I recognized.
Rafe.
I got to my feet, careful not to wake the others. Kenjii snorted, but she was too exhausted to stir. Once away from camp, I lurched blindly through the forest, following that teasing scent on the breeze, pushing the branches aside, not slowing down to look for a path or even a clear route.
I stumbled into a stream. Icy water filled my shoes, and I slipped and fell to my knees.
“Maya…”
“Where are you?” I called.
“Over here. I’m…” A sharp intake of breath. “Hurt.”
“Okay, stay where you are. I’m coming.”
I broke into a jog. Only no matter how fast I ran, his scent and his voice didn’t get any stronger. I kept going until I tripped over a root and hit the ground hard.
“Maya…”
“Just—”
“Maya? Is that you?”
I pushed to my feet, wincing as I flexed my stinging hands. “I’m—”
“Maya! I need you.”
His voice seemed to come from all around me. I spun, trying to pinpoint it, but he kept yelling, more panicked with every shout, my own panic rising until I flung myself forward—
Hands grabbed me and yanked me back. For a moment, all I saw was the darkness of night. Then it fell away, dawn light filtering through the trees, and I was standing in front of Daniel, his fingers wrapped around my wrist. Kenjii was beside me, whimpering.
“Maya—”
“I have to go,” I said, wrenching from his grasp. “It’s Rafe. He’s out here. He’s hurt and…”
I turned and saw Sam and Hayley, then heard a crashing in the undergrowth. Corey lurched through, using a branch for a cane.
I blinked. Sam and Hayley hadn’t been there a second ago. I hadn’t heard Corey crashing through the bush. It hadn’t been this light out.
I looked up to see the sun now above the horizon. My eyes filled with tears.
“I—” I swallowed. “I—”
Daniel took both my wrists and turned me to face him. “You were sleepwalking, Maya.”
“It just… I could hear Rafe and he was hurt and I was trying to get to him and—” My breath hitched. “It seemed real.”
Daniel pulled me into a hug and I let myself collapse against his shoulder. I kept thinking about how real it had seemed and how I’d never sleepwalked before and…
And what if I hadn’t been sleepwalking? What if I’d been having a vision?
Not that Rafe would really be calling for me. As that cold dawn light hit, I realized how silly it seemed, Rafe just lying there, yelling for me. If he could move, he’d be moving.
But if it had been a vision, that could mean Rafe really was o
ut there. Really hurt. Really trying to find me.
I pulled away from Daniel and turned to Sam.
“Do you know where Rafe fell?” I asked. “Where the helicopter was?”
Her lips parted as if to ask why. Then she gave a soft, “Oh.”
“I don’t mean exactly,” I said. “Obviously, you can’t tell that. But do you have any idea? We were over the island, right? To the south of here? West? Southwest? Did you notice any landmarks?”
“Maya…” Daniel said.
I turned to meet his gaze. “I know I was sleepwalking, but it might have meant something.” I lowered my voice so the others wouldn’t hear. “A vision. Like the one I had with the marten.” I’d had a vision of one of my recuperating animals, telling me how it had been injured.
“That wasn’t—”
Daniel stopped himself. I knew he’d been about to say that it wasn’t the same. He was right. It wasn’t. But when he saw my expression, he couldn’t finish, and when I saw his, I wished I hadn’t said anything.
He looked as if he was in pain. Real pain. Wanting to give me hope. Knowing he couldn’t, and that it wasn’t right to try, wasn’t fair.
“We were too high,” Corey said, his voice uncharacteristically soft. “He…”
“He couldn’t have survived,” Sam finished.
A normal person couldn’t have survived. But Rafe was a skin-walker. Part cat.
When I looked at Daniel, though, I knew I couldn’t say that. The more I clung to impossible hopes, the more I hurt him.
And we had been too high. I could argue and bluster and tell myself maybe, just maybe he’d survived, but I knew better.
Rafe was dead and if I was dreaming of him, that was my guilt talking. He was dead and I felt responsible.
“I—I’m sorry,” I said. “Just… I need to sit down.”
Daniel took a tentative step toward me.
“I’m okay,” I said. “Just give me a minute on my own. Then we’ll go.”
I found a quiet spot where I could sit on a log and recover. Kenjii followed and sat with her head on my lap, dark eyes troubled.
A few minutes later, I heard someone looking for me, and I knew it wouldn’t be Daniel. If I said I needed to be alone, he’d give me that space. When Hayley stepped around a tree, I stood.
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