by Kieran Scott
Crack.
Hannah and Katie both froze.
“What was that?” Katie asked.
Hannah’s breath was short. “I don’t know,” she whispered.
Snap.
The mist in the trees undulated.
“There’s someone out there,” Katie whispered, and clutched Hannah’s arm. “Maybe it’s Jacob?”
“Oh, God,” Hannah whispered, her eyes wide as she looked at Katie. “Colin?”
And then Alessandra emerged from the fog, thick, viscous mud streaking her haunted face.
Hannah staggered backward and tripped over Katie’s foot, her butt hitting the ground hard, jarring her spine. She felt the tip of the knife nick the back of her thigh, but barely cared.
“No no no no no,” Katie blubbered.
But still Alessandra came. She reached out a hand toward them, her eyes bloodshot. Katie screamed an ear-piercing scream.
“You’re—you’re dead!” Hannah stammered. “You can’t be here! You’re dead!”
Alessandra stopped. She reached up and ran her hands down her face, clearing some of the mud away. When she sighed, Hannah felt a brief blip of hope.
“Calm down,” Alessandra whispered. “I’m not dead. I’m not a ghost.” She glared at Katie. “I just tripped on the hill and it basically became a mudslide. Can you please stop screaming?”
It wasn’t until she spoke that Hannah saw what she was wearing. A dirty pair of jeans and a tank top—completely different from the bathing suit she’d had on when she’d been attacked. Hannah pressed her lips together. She squeezed Katie’s shoulder and Katie turned into her, crying, but quietly.
“What is going on, Hannah? I don’t understand what’s happening.”
“Alessandra,” Hannah said. She was cold and wet and her butt throbbed where she’d collided with the ground. Her chest still hurt from gasping for breath—from the panic and fear—and she could still see the look on Nick’s face as he lay dead in the dirt at Jacob’s house. But somehow she kept her voice steady. “What are you doing here? How are you here?”
She thought about pulling the knife out and checking her thigh, but she didn’t want Alessandra to know she had it—not yet. Not until she figured out if the girl was friend or foe.
Alessandra sighed again and pushed her hair back from her face. “I’m here because I lost my tennis bracelet the other night when I swam out here,” she said. “Have you guys seen anything? And also do you have any food on you? I didn’t eat breakfast this morning. A granola bar? Anything?”
Hannah gaped at Alessandra. It was like the girl was speaking Greek. Backward. And in pig Latin.
“Alessandra, what are you talking about?” Hannah asked, shivering. “We thought you were dead!”
Alessandra blinked and seemed a bit thrown. “Colin didn’t tell you?”
“Tell us what?” Hannah asked, frustration and fury building inside her.
Alessandra looked behind them as if she was waiting for Colin to emerge from the trees. “Perfect. This whole thing got entirely screwed up.”
“What whole thing?” Katie demanded.
“I’m really sorry,” Alessandra said. “It was all a joke. Colin and Raj’s idea. Nick didn’t want to have anything to do with it, but he did come pick me up on his Jet Ski that night, which was nice of him.”
Hannah’s heart gave a pang at the sound of Nick’s name, so casually mentioned. Wait, Nick had known Alessandra was alive? He’d been so freaked out by the story. Was that just an act?
“I’m sorry. What was all a joke?” Hannah asked.
“Everything,” Alessandra admitted, blushing. “There is no lake monster.”
Hannah’s jaw dropped. “But I saw it! More than once.”
“That was an old inner tube Raj messed with to make it look like a creature from the deep,” Alessandra said. “He was pretty much behind that whole part of it. Almost drowned himself trying to make it hover out of the lake long enough for you to see it.”
“Oh my God,” Hannah said, shoving herself up off the ground. “Oh my God! You guys are evil.”
“Is this place even nicknamed Drowning Lake?” Katie asked.
“Yes. That part is true.” Alessandra raised one hand, as if taking an oath. “A lot of people really do think the lake is cursed. That was how Colin came up with the idea. We made this whole plan the night before you guys got here, and Raj enlisted a bunch of his wrestling buddies to help with the stuff in the lake.”
“What stuff?” Katie demanded.
“Like when you thought something was pulling you down during the race with Jacob,” Alessandra said to Hannah. “And then the scraping under the boat and you getting thrown in,” she added, glancing sheepishly at Katie. “That was all them. They’ve all been staying over at Raj’s place so they could get to the lake quickly. Colin or I would text them when you were going in the water and they’d strap on the scuba gear and swim out.”
“I don’t freaking believe this,” Katie said.
Hannah narrowed her eyes. “So, the other night you were … ?”
“Acting.” She paused and shot them a proud sort of look. “Did I mention I’m kind of the star of my drama club?”
Hannah’s stomach was sour. She and Katie stared at each other.
“Raj was under the water with my scuba gear and some pig’s blood from the butcher in town,” Alessandra explained, at least having the courtesy to look apologetic. “After you guys ran off, we swam out here. But Raj, like an idiot, only brought his little crappy Jet Ski, so he went back and sent Nick to come get me. It was a whole big thing. Anyway, I didn’t realize until last night that my grandmother’s tennis bracelet was missing, so I came back out here to look for it. Futilely, apparently,” she said, glancing around at the ground at her feet. “Seriously, nothing? Gum? Mints? Candy?”
“So you staged everything?” Hannah shouted. “The drowning? The blood?” Suddenly her brain went weightless. “So wait, is Nick actually alive? Was that all staged, too?”
Alessandra’s brow knit. “Nick? What do you mean? What happened to Nick?”
“We woke up and found him dead!” Katie shouted. She seemed to be coming back to herself a bit. “That’s what happened to Nick!”
“What?!” Alessandra blurted, clutching her stomach. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“His throat was cut,” Katie snapped. “Colin did it. And then he attacked Jacob.”
“What? No. Colin would never—”
“He did, Alessandra,” Hannah said. Any brief hope that Nick had just been pranking them was fading. “Colin’s insane, and he’s still out there.”
Alessandra was shaking her head back and forth, back and forth. “And Jacob?” she whispered.
“He’s okay. We think,” Katie said, glancing at Hannah. “He was coming after us in another canoe, but we got separated in the fog.”
Alessandra turned away, her hand over her mouth, and when she turned back again, her eyes were full of fear.
“Why kill Nick?” she said quietly. “Why would he—”
“He said it had something to do with Claudia,” Hannah said. “Do you have any idea what he was talking about?”
Alessandra was silent for a moment, and it looked to Hannah like she was thinking something through—like she was trying to figure something out. Then she breathed, “Claudia.”
“What?” Hannah said. “What about her?”
“Who is Claudia?” Katie wailed, throwing up her hands and letting them slap down at her sides.
Alessandra looked away, her eyes distant. “What if that was him?” she said under her breath.
“What if what was who?” Hannah said.
“Who is Claudia?” Katie repeated.
“We don’t have time for me to explain right now.” Alessandra reached into her back pocket and pulled out her phone.
“Is that working?” Katie asked.
Alessandra nodded, her hands trembling as she turned it on. “I for
got to charge it last night, so it’s almost dead, but I think I can make a call.”
She pressed down on the screen and held the phone to her ear, her arm shaking. “Prandya, yeah. It’s me.”
So apparently Prandya was in on the joke, too, Hannah thought, her anger growing. She probably hid her kayak somewhere and just paddled home yesterday when no one was looking. She has been at her house this whole time. Hannah felt, for the first time in her life, that she could truly punch someone.
“Sorry, I know it’s early,” Alessandra continued. “We’re stranded out on the island and we need you to come get us. I only have my Jet Ski.” Pause. “Yes, right now. It’s an emergency. Me, Hannah, and Katie. Listen, Prandya … Nick’s dead. Colin killed him.”
Hannah heard Prandya’s What!? through the phone.
“I think he might have had something to do with Claudia, too.”
Hannah’s stomach twisted.
“I’ll explain later. Just come. And call the—”
Alessandra pulled her phone away from her face and looked at the screen. It was black.
“It died.”
“Can somebody please explain this Claudia person to me?” Katie demanded.
“Claudia was a friend of mine who disappeared the night school ended,” Alessandra told Katie, then looked back at Hannah. “Remember when I told you that you looked like her a little bit?” Hannah nodded, her throat completely dry. “Well, she was going out with Nick, but a couple of weeks before she disappeared, he caught her kissing some summer guy in the park. He wouldn’t tell me who. I think it might have been Colin.”
“But Colin’s not a summer guy,” Hannah said.
Alessandra’s face screwed up in confusion. “Yes, he is.”
“No. His mother manages the theater in town,” Hannah protested. “He said his grandfather owns it.”
“His grandfather does own it, but Colin and his mom only come up here for the summers to help out,” Alessandra said. “Colin’s from Indiana. They get out of school like a month before we do, so he always gets up here in mid-May.”
Hannah’s brain reeled. Colin had never actually told her he lived here year-round. She’d just assumed.
“I should have realized it when he saw your picture and convinced Jacob to invite you here,” Alessandra said. “I noticed how much you looked like Claudia, and he couldn’t stop talking about how beautiful you were …”
“So he has a type?” Katie asked. “You think he goes after blue-eyed girls with brown hair and then murders them?”
Hannah started to tremble.
“Oh my God. Vicki,” Hannah breathed. “Nick tried to tell me, but I ignored him.”
“Who’s Vicki now?” Katie said.
“Colin’s girlfriend from home, he said.” Hannah pressed her eyes closed. “Nick told me to look her up on the internet. He said it was an interesting read.”
“How much you want to bet she looks like you, too?” Alessandra said.
“What if she’s also missing?” Hannah added, feeling sick to her stomach.
“This is bad, you guys,” Katie said. “If this is all true, then Colin is basically a serial killer.”
Snap!
The noise made Hannah jump.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are!”
Hannah’s blood went cold as Colin’s voice carried across the island.
“He’s here!” Katie hissed.
Alessandra grabbed Hannah’s wrist, her fingers like ice.
“Run!”
Hannah ran. She ran like her life depended on it. She ran like she’d never run before. Behind her, Katie tripped and fell, then scrambled to her feet and took off again. It was a good thirty seconds before Hannah realized they weren’t running for the far shore as they should have done, but moving inland—traveling uphill. It was Alessandra who was leading the way, and a sliver of dread suddenly ran down Hannah’s spine. A tree branch snapped back and hit her in the face and she tripped blindly, going down on her knees. A sharp pain took her breath away.
“Alessandra! Stop!”
Hannah rolled over, clutching her kneecap, and her leg brushed up against a hand.
A scream wrenched from her throat.
“What? What’s wrong?” Alessandra asked, hovering over her.
There was a hand sticking up out of the mud. A stiff, gray hand. Part of a body.
Alessandra cried out and Hannah scuttled back on her hands and knees. Rocks tumbled everywhere and Hannah realized through blurred eyes where they were. The rock pile she’d seen before. The one near the lockbox. This had been the rock pile. All the rain and the mudslide Alessandra had told them about must have dislodged it.
Wincing as her knee spasmed in pain, Hannah dragged herself to her feet and clung to Alessandra.
“It was a grave,” she croaked. “The rocks were marking a grave.”
Whimpering, Alessandra took a couple of steps forward, dragging Hannah with her. She paused, looking down at the hand, and let out a wail.
“It’s Claudia.”
“What?” Hannah said.
“It’s her. That gold ring … that’s her mother’s ring.”
Alessandra stopped, doubling over at the waist to catch her breath.
Hannah remembered a fragment of the line from the diary: Mom let me wear her vintage gold ring …
“Oh, God,” Hannah cried. It was Claudia. “We should have gone toward the shore—tried to flag someone down.”
“My Jet Ski is this way. Besides, who are we going to flag down in this fog?” Alessandra shot back. Her eyes were wide and wild, her teeth almost bared.
“There are people fishing out there!” Hannah whispered.
“But they can’t see anything,” Alessandra replied. “They can’t—”
There was a rustling nearby, and Alessandra fell silent. Hannah reached out and grabbed her arm. She glanced around at the trees and her heart all but stopped. She and Alessandra were entirely alone. Entirely. Alone.
“Where’s Katie?” Hannah said.
“She’s right—”
Alessandra turned around and brought her hands to her forehead. “She was right behind you.”
“Oh my God,” Hannah said. She took a few steps back in the direction from which they’d come, carefully avoiding the ruined grave. “Katie!” she whispered, tears stinging her eyes. “Katie!”
There was a twitter and a screech. Animals. Birds. Maybe. Or was it Colin? Was he out there in the fog somewhere, watching them? Taunting them? Or was it Katie? Was she hurt and couldn’t respond?
And then came the voice again.
“Haaaaannaaaah! Come out, come out, wherever you are!”
Hannah jumped and Alessandra made an awful sound at the back of her throat. Colin sounded like he was right on top of them.
“Hannah, come on … I just want to talk to you!”
Hannah and Alessandra locked eyes.
“Does he not know you’re here?” Hannah mouthed.
Alessandra raised her shoulders.
“Come on out! If you do, I won’t drown your sister here,” Colin called out.
Hannah’s stomach crumbled. She leaned her hand on an oak tree to catch her breath, the rough bark cutting into her skin.
“I’m on the beach on the west side of the island.” Colin’s voice was deadly serious. “I’ll give you two minutes and then she’s going under.”
Hannah turned and started for the western shore—the shoreline closest to Jacob’s house. But Alessandra grabbed her arm.
“What’re you doing?” she whispered harshly.
“I can’t let him drown Katie,” Hannah replied.
“What if he’s bluffing?” Alessandra asked.
Hannah’s pulse was going crazy. “What if he’s not?”
“Come here.” Alessandra tugged on Hannah’s wrist, but Hannah resisted. “If they’re really down there, we’ll be able to see them from the top of the hill. Come on!”
Hannah did as she was told.
There was no way she wanted to sacrifice herself to that monster if he didn’t actually have Katie. She and Alessandra sprinted uphill until they came to an outcropping of rock. Alessandra dropped to her knees and then her stomach, and Hannah did the same. They inched to the edge of the rocky shelf and peeked over.
The fog had pulled out about ten feet away from the shore. Colin stood in the water, blood dripping all over the back of his neck. He was soaked from the knee down, a tear in his jeans, and his T-shirt was wet along the hem. Hannah barely noticed any of this, however, because dangling from one hand at the end of his arm was Katie—unconscious, limp, and pale. A ribbon of blood trickled down from her nose and over her lips.
“What’re we gonna do?” Alessandra asked.
In the distance, Hannah heard a boat’s motor roar to life, then another. She could only hope it was Prandya and her family, coming to save the day. The fog made it impossible to tell.
“The fog,” Hannah whispered, an idea springing to life inside her.
“What?” Alessandra asked.
“Hannah! You’re down to a minute!” Colin called out in a singsong voice. She saw his smile and her insides revolted. She couldn’t believe this was a person she’d found handsome just yesterday. Someone she wanted to know better; someone she wanted to be near. Now, he was threatening her sister’s life on top of everything else. And he was taunting her—mocking her—like this was all a game. Well, fine—if he wanted to play, she would play.
“You have ten seconds, Hannah, and then I’m holding her under,” Colin shouted. “Drowning is not a fun way to die … or so I’m told. The body really fights it, hard, and the victim has a lot of time to contemplate the fact that they’re going.” He paused—chuckled. “That’s eight seconds, Hannah. Seven.”
Hannah crouched behind a huge boulder, the tiny pebbles around it cutting into her knees. She ducked as low as she could, terror coursing through her veins. Her plan was crazy. Totally insane. But all she could do was pray that it would work.
She heard a splash as Alessandra stepped boldly out of the tree line.
“Ali? What are you doing here?” The confusion was plain in Colin’s voice. “Where’s Hannah?”