Jack drew his knife out.
“Oh, whoa, you’re going to just right here—” Mariana began.
He flipped the fish onto its back, inserted his knife by the tail, and sliced neatly all the way up to its gills.
Mariana turned away. “Yep, he is.”
Claire didn’t want to watch either, but she felt like she should learn. Kneeling, she forced herself to watch. Reyva had no hesitation—she shoved her face forward to see as Jack slit along the fish’s throat, perpendicular to the first slice, and then yanked out the intestines.
“Key, as I said before, is don’t pierce the intestines,” Jack said. “Basically, that’s all the squishy stuff that doesn’t look like what they serve in restaurants.”
“Good to know,” Claire said. “Thanks.”
He slid the blade along the fish’s spine to create two fillets and sliced again to remove the bones. Claire made mental notes on each incision. Luckily, it didn’t look very hard. Just slimy.
Joined by Mariana, Reyva took the fillets to the fire. Jack carried the intestines to shore and deposited them on a rock—“Bait for the fishhooks,” he said—before washing his hands in the lake. Claire watched him out of the corner of her eye. Maybe hehadbeen talking to himself. Nothing he’d said or done besides that had seemed the least bit suspicious. Really, he seemed like a nice guy. Earnest.
He glanced at her. “What? Do I have fish guts on me?”
“No. Sorry. I just...”
He waited for her to spit out whatever it was she wanted to say. The problem was she didn’t know what she wanted to say.Can I trust you?was the real question.
“Nothing,” she said.
Maybe she really shouldn’t be so suspicious. Maybe she should get to know Jack, the way she’d gotten to know Reyva and Mariana. Maybe she should give him a chance and not let her paranoia ruin what was probably their best chance at survival. She wished she hadn’t said anything to Reyva and had just kept her suspicions to herself until she was more certain one way or another. First opportunity she got, she’d talk to her. Tell her to ignore what she’d said.
She joined Reyva and Mariana by the fire. Reyva had stuck the fillets onto sticks and was holding them over the flames. Perching herself on a rock, Claire wondered how she would be able to speak to Reyva without Jack overhearing.
Scooting closer to Claire, Mariana said softly, “You’re wrong about him. He’s stuck here, just like us, and he’s trying his best.”
Okay, so Reyva had clearly talked to her, in the moments while Claire and Jack were on the dock.Great, she thought.Now I’ve really made a mess of things.Everyone was going to be angry with her now for causing problems where there weren’t any. She’d been accused of that before—a school bonfire hadbeen canceled once, because she’d worried out loud about safety in the hearing of a teacher, and the gym had been closed when she’d thought she’d smelled a gas leak. In both cases, if she’d kept her mouth shut, everyone would have been happier. Before Claire could figure out how to reply, Jack hopped over a rock and plopped down beside them.
Cheerfully, as if no one would ever dream of talking behind anyone’s back, Mariana said, “So, we mastered fishing. How about snares? If there’s a way to specify that the snares only catch non-cute animals, that would be ideal.”
“She only wants to eat really ugly bunnies,” Reyva said solemnly.
“Or bunnies with bad personalities.” Mariana held out the uncoiled wire to Jack.
He took it and knelt by the fire. “Okay, first step... we want about three feet of wire per snare.” Using his knife, he cut off a three-foot strip. He held it out. “Who wants to try?”
Claire took it. “I will.”
He cut a length for himself. “Step two, make a small loop at the end. Twist to hold it in place.”
He demonstrated, and Claire mirrored it back to him.
“Push the opposite end of the wire through the slipknot to make a noose....”
“Can we not call it a noose?” Mariana said.
Reyva rolled her eyes. “It’s literally a noose.”
“Bunny neck loop?” Claire suggested.
Mariana glared at her. “A hundred times worse.”
“What’s next?” Claire asked Jack.
