Chapter 1
How the hell had we gotten so far off the path? I was no field guide to the Porcupine Mountains of Upper Michigan, but didn’teveryoneknow not to leave the trail behind? I’d followed after Milo when he’d suddenly had Bridge wandering after him, but so that I could bring us back to where we were supposed to be. Not to keep going until we were all lost.
It was a nice view down into a valley at least.
“I blame you.” Bridge pointed a finger at Milo, who groaned and flapped his arms like a bird for some reason.
“Youfollowed him,” I said to Bridge because Milo hadn’t blazed that trail alone.
“And you followedme.”
I opened my mouth to say why, but here came Zalman.
“And I followedyou.” Zalman went and tweaked my goddamned nipple. I flinched and growled at the little shit because heknewI was sensitive there. Why did he always have to fuck with me?
“Alright!” Milo hollered, snatching my attention away from revenge. “You’re hungry, tired, and cranky. I get it. Me, too. Sohow about we look for a place to sit down, have a snack, and enjoy where we are for a while?”
“Okay, Sergeant Milo.” I rolled my eyes at him.
Milo did everything except salute. “That’sCaptainMilo, thank you very much.”
I sighed, grinned, and shook my head. These dorks. I loved them all like brothers, but someday, I swore, they were going to get me in serious trouble.
“Drink your water.” Bridge gave me a glare, and I made a show out of unhooking my water bottle from my backpack. I presented it to him like a fine wine, but he was already staring down Milo. I took a drink, noting that I had probably half a bottle left.
“Huh,” Zalman said, “this looks suspiciously like a fairy ring.”
I saw Bridge get his phone out—no doubt to take more photos—as Milo headed over to the ring of dark gray vesicular basalt that had delicate little purple and white flowers growing in the spaces between the rocks. I frowned at the flowers because they looked like rue-anemone but we should be months too late for them to still be blooming here. And weren’t they usually pink?
Milo chuckled. “I wish.”
I was looking at Milo stepping over one of the pitted rocks like he was going to go into the circle of them. I saw everything, but I couldn’t figure outwhatI’d seen. He’d tripped. He’d started to fall.
He’d disappeared.
Bridge rushed forward, and that got me moving. Maybe he’d seen where Milo had gone. We were close to the edge of an outcropping but not that close. Except, Milo had tripped.
“No!” Zalman hollered and lunged to try and stop Bridge.
The second Bridge stepped into the circle, he vanished, too.
Milo disappeared. Bridge disappeared. I stood there on the side of a mountain staring at a ring of rocks and flowers and took a step back. “What the fuck?” I said and realized I couldn’t quite catch my breath. I took another step away.
“No,” Zalman said again and grabbed my arm, stopping my retreat. “We have to go after them.”
“After them? After themwhere?” I shot an arm out at the empty place where our friends should’ve been.
“It reallyisa fairy ring and?—”
“Jesus, Zal…” I tried to pry his fingers off my arm, but he gripped harder.
“No, listen to me! You saw them vanish. Don’t you dare pretend you didn’t.”
“I’m notpretendinganything. I literally have no idea what just?—”
“So why can’t the answer be a fairy ring?”
I blinked at him. He was losing it. “Because there’sno such thingas fairies.”
