“A red converti—Hey! Are you just going to leave us here?” The short kid grabbed the side of the car as Red started to pull forward.
“You can come with us or stay,” Red said, tapping the brakes. “Up to you.”
The boys looked at each other.
Red inched forward. The boys threw their packs in the back seat and jumped in. Red accelerated so fast they tumbled backwards.
“I’m Miss Reilly, this is Red Wilder.” Bridget said over the seat back. “And you are?”
They said their names as they righted themselves. “Neat car,” the one named Ernie said, looking over the Thunderbird’s back seat. “Where are we going?”
Bridget ignored the kid. “They aren’t with Pete,” she said to Red. He should be happy.
A muscle in his jaw twitched. “I still need to find them.”
Bridget could understand how he wanted to talk to Claire after that letter. The campgrounds couldn’t be far. They’d find Claire and Frannie, and if she was lucky she could still get the Thunderbird back to Mammoth before Dr. Sampson notified the park rangers of his stolen car.
The full moon shone on the mirror-smooth water of the lake as they sped along the shoreline. The mountain rose on her other side, dark with trees. It was a peaceful night, and the drive was beautiful, but Bridget could feel the tension coming off Red like a heat wave. He probably wasn’t going to forgive her for what she’d done, meddling in their marriage. She really was sorry she’d ever agreed to Dad’s—
Suddenly, the car began to shake.
Bridget bounced hard in her seat, then hit the door with her shoulder.
The boys yelped in back.
Red wrestled with the steering wheel.
Bridget braced herself against the dashboard as Red jammed on the brakes and the boys crashed into the back of her seat. The car veered sideways and there was a horrible crunching sound.
The car stopped, but... it was still shaking.
Bridget held on for dear life as the road buckled and swelled like ocean waves and a stand of trees on the hill fell with a terrific crash. Her body bounced like she was on a carnival ride. She caught a briefsight of the lake, choppy with white-tipped waves. Then... all was abruptly still.
A distant crash of stone against stone echoed in the dark.
Bridget tried to marshal her jumbled thoughts. What had just happened? An earthquake? She pushed herself upright, but the world was still tilted. Red slumped against the steering wheel. “Red!” She pulled him gently upright.
“What—” he groaned out. “Are you hurt?”
Bridget did a quick assessment. Her shoulder hurt where she’d hit the door, but apart from that she was uninjured. The boys pushed themselves up from the floor. “Are you both okay?” Bridget asked.
“I think so,” Sam answered in a dazed voice. “What happened?”
“Earthquake,” Red said. He pushed open the car door, climbed out of the car and up the bank to the road.
Bridget opened her door and followed. Now that they were safe and the world had stopped shaking, her legs began trembling on their own as she took in their surroundings. Trees lay like matches spilled from a box. The paved road where they’d just driven was buckled and cracked, the white lines zigzagging in a crazy pattern.
“Look.” Red pointed.
Bridget walked forward. A cold shiver prickled up her back. Less than twenty feet in front of them, the road broke off and disappeared into the lake. If they had been just a little farther down the road... She looked back at theThunderbird. She knew she should be concerned about the enormous dent in the front bumper from the boulder that had stopped them from careening down the bank, but she couldn’t bring herself to worry about that just now.
“What is that?” Sam was turned toward the lake, a look of confusion on his face.
Bridget followed his gaze. What more could happen?
A giant wave rushed across the surface of the lake. They watched in silence as it gained in height and speed to pass them, the sound like a rushing wind, continuing on into the dark.
“That’s got to be twenty feet high,” Ernie said, his eyes still pinned to where the wave had disappeared into the dark.
