“We believe it was the program director, Ms. Williams,” Mariana said. “Never saw a picture of her so can’t be sure, but she looked the right age for—”
“Shh,” Reyva said.
If it weren’t so loud to walk through the forest, Claire would have suggested they leave the trail—it was the obvious way to approach the dock, and it would be watched. But with the inevitable crunch of leaves and snap of twigs...We’d be heard.
She scanned the forest in front of them.
Listened to the birds.
Kept walking quietly, as aware of every step as when she was en pointe.
The lake was ahead. She could see bits of blue in the spaces between the trees. She wanted to run to it, but she knew this slow and steady approach was smarter. They kept moving, cautiously, down the trail.
“There’s about ten feet between the edge of the forest and the dock, then the dock itself,” Reyva whispered as they approached. “We’ll be exposed for the time it takes to cross it. Gotta move fast.”
“Zigzag?” Mariana suggested.
“Good idea.”
“We can jump in the water,” Claire said. “Swim to the boat.”
“Faster to run.”
“Jack, how quickly can you restart the boat?” Reyva said.
“Um, very, I guess? But I think I really deserve to know what’s going on. You can’t meandead—” He wasn’t whispering.Mariana clapped her hand over his mouth.
Spinning to face him, Reyva said in a furious whisper, “Yes, dead. And if we don’t want to be dead too, we have to escape right now. Got it?”
“Promise we’ll explain everything later,” Mariana whispered in his ear.
Or at least as much as we know, Claire thought,which admittedly isn’t much.Except that people had died, and she didn’t want to join them.
A woodpecker pounded at a nearby tree, and all of them jumped. Claire spotted it high in the branches of a pine, black and white with a patch of red. It pecked again, as loud as a hammer and as rapid as her heartbeat felt.
Closer, she heard the slosh of water as the waves lapped against the shore. The wind was ruffling the surface of the lake, and it flashed as it reflected the sunlight in sparkles. So peaceful. So picturesque. It felt like a lie.
They couldn’t see the dock just yet. But the boat would be tied to a cleat. One of them would need to untie the knot while Jack started the engine. The others could flatten themselves on the bottom of the boat to make themselves as small a target as possible.
It was a risk. But what choice did they have? This was their best chance of escape.
We can’t screw this up, she thought.
“Anyone fast with knots?” Claire asked.
“Got a cousin who loves boats,” Mariana said. “Taught me a bit. I’ll untie it.”
Claire shook her head. Mariana was full of surprises. “Jack,you stay low and start the boat as quickly as possible, while Mariana unties the rope—”
“Line,” Jack corrected.
Claire halted mid-command. “What?”
“On a boat, it’s a line, not a rope.”
That... did not feel like a priority. Did he not understand the seriousness of the situation? He’d seen the burned-down house, and they’d told him about the corpse. “Mariana unties theline, while Reyva and I watch for danger.”
“Or you two could just get in the boat and stay down,” Mariana said.
