“Dead battery,” Claire pointed out.
“My battery isn’t dead yet. Low, yes. Dead, no. It’s worth a try.” She pressed the power button, and to Claire’s surprise, the screen lit up. “See? I wasn’t just carrying it as a security blanket.”
“Huh,” Reyva said. “Guess it still has some juice left.”
That was odd. All the phones, including Mariana’s, had definitely quit working before, exactly when they’d needed them. “But in the cave...”
“Must have gotten wet and then dried out,” Mariana said.
After all that rain? How was that possible? It should have gottenmorewaterlogged, not less. Regardless, Claire was grateful itwas working now. “Go to the compass.”
“I think I filed it under ‘useless apps,’ unless I deleted it....”
The phone beeped.
“Okay,nowI’m nearly out of battery.” She tapped the screen quickly. “North is—that way.” She pointed toward the trees, and then she shut the phone down, to conserve the last of the battery. “Okay, that’s good, right? We know that’s north. Which direction is the lake?”
None of them knew.
It depended on which way they’d run from Jack, and that had been such a wild flight that they could have gone in any direction. Their only goal had beenaway.
“Right. Yeah. So, problem not solved,” Mariana said. “Never mind.”
Claire felt Reyva watching her. “It’s impossible, isn’t it,” Reyva said. “Us. Surviving.”
She waited for Mariana to speak up and say something optimistic and encouraging. But she didn’t. Instead she just flipped over her socks, drying them as if she were cooking a fish. Her eyes were brimming with unshed tears that clung to her eyelashes like raindrops on a leaf.
And Reyva was still looking at Claire.
So Claire said, “It’s not impossible.”
Just not likely, she thought. She didn’t say that part out loud, but she didn’t have to—she could tell they were all thinking it. Oddly, the shared sense of doom made her feel a bit better.
Whatever happened, she knew now, she wasn’t alone.
Eighteen
Squinting up at the white sky, Claire tried to guess what time it was. Noon? Earlier? Later? The clouds washed out all trace of the sun. She could check on Mariana’s phone, but it wasn’t worth draining the battery just to know. She felt her shirt and decided it was dry enough. Socks were still damp but not terrible.
Mariana also began gathering up her clothes, and then the two of them helped Reyva dress. Claire noticed the sunken circles under her eyes and the way Reyva tried not to hiss when she accidentally jostled her arm. She was in a lot more pain than she was admitting.If it helps her to pretend she’s fine, Claire thought,I’m not going to take that away from her.
“We find a stream and we follow it to the lake,” Claire said. “It worked before.”
The others nodded.
Mariana dumped dirt and wet leaves on the fire and then stomped on it. Smoke curled up and dispersed as it rose up toward the whiteness of the clouds. Whether it dispersed fast enough to avoid notice...We just have to hope it did, she thought. And put as much distance between them and it as possible.
Claire double-checked to make sure they’d gathered what meager few things they had, then checked again, then checked once more until she felt calmer.
All we have to do right now is find the lake, she told herself.One problem at a time.If they found it, they could follow the shore and determine where they were in relation to the Lake House—then they could use the dock as their landmark and walk in the opposite direction of the camp, all the way to safety.
If, if, if.
Slowly, haltingly, carefully, they began their hike. None of them felt like moving quickly, and none of them felt like talking. Claire listened to the birds and wondered if their songs were really cheerful or if they were full of warnings.
Today the very air felt full of warnings.
Claire picked her way over and around the branches and brambles. Everything ached from the fall yesterday, and she’d seen for herself the bruises that had blossomed on her arms, legs, and hips. Mariana had had a vicious black-and-white flower of a bruise on her ribs. And of course there was Reyva’s arm...
