Page 98 of Serenity Falls

‘Where’ve you been?’ Milo hissed as he emerged from the shadows at our rendezvous point.

‘Everything ran late,’ I panted. ‘I’m sorry.’ I grabbed my backpack from the bushes. ‘I need to get changed.’

‘Be quick.’

I move around the side of the bush. ‘Can you turn away?’

‘Like I care.’

‘Just do it.’

I struggled out of the dress and dragged on my T-shirt, jeans and sneakers, stuffing the dress and kitten heels into the backpack. I slung it over my shoulder.

‘Ready.’

Milo sprung to his feet. His hair was loose and there was a look in his eyes – wild, kind of crazy.

‘Okay. Let’s do this!’

Ironically, stealing the boat was the easiest bit of our plan. The boathouse was unlocked. We just strolled in, lowered one of the two-person kayaks into the water and climbed in, dumping our rucksacks at our feet.

Within minutes, we were off, steadily paddling out on to the expanse of dark lake. I’d kayaked before, so I sat up front, Milo following my lead. It felt strange, out here, just the two of us on the water. Exposed but also kind of exciting. Overhead, the moon was huge and full, swollen with silvery light. Its twin floated in the dark water, faint ripples dismembering its reflection.

‘Okay?’ Milo asked.

‘Yeah, good.’

‘When you reach the woods, take the river on the right.’

‘Gotcha.’

We continued to paddle in silence, no sounds but the regular swish swash of the paddles. As the lake narrowed, I steered us right, breaking off on to a smaller river that flowed through the woods. We were lucky it was a clear night with an almost full moon or it would have been too dark to see where we were going, something neither of us had considered. We’d brought flashlights, but that wasn’t much help when we needed both hands to paddle. Even with the moonlight it was darker here, the silvery illumination more intermittent between the overhang of the trees.

It was strange. We’d only gone a few metres off the main lake. The river was still wide enough for boats to pass, but it immediately felt closer, creepier. I’d never been down here on the water, I realized. Most people hadn’t. The woods beyond the authorized walking tracks were off limits, with signs warning about swampland and snakes. A sign before the turn-off had warned again about alligators, but in a less friendly way: Danger. Gators. Weirdly, I didn’t think I’d ever seen a gator in the lake, but I knew they must be around. This was Florida. They were as abundant as river rats.

‘We need to go right again up ahead,’ Milo called behind me. ‘You see that narrow opening?’

I followed the way he was pointing with his paddle. We steered the kayak a hard right, just avoiding the jutting bank. I felt the bottom scrape on the lakebed. Shit. We were going to ground or capsize. I wedged my paddle against the bank to steady the kayak and then shoved. For a moment I thought we were stuck, then I felt the kayak give and slide back into deeper water.

‘Nice one,’ Milo said.

I let out a breath. Sweat slid down my brow. ‘Yeah, that one kayaking lesson really paid off.’

We paddled down the small offshoot. Here, the banks were close enough to touch with the paddles, and trees crowded in from either side. I could hear the faint calls and mutterings of nocturnal birds and other creatures. Frogs, ’coons, owls. And then my mind slithered towards thoughts of snakes, anacondas and, inevitably, gators. The banks here were exactly the type of habitat where they liked to hang out. Here they could submerge themselves in the shallow waters, camouflaged by mud and tree roots.

A sudden shriek made us both jump, and I almost dropped my paddle.

‘What the hell?’ Milo muttered.

I caught my breath and let out a shuddering laugh. ‘Limpkin,’ I said, remembering my dad telling me about the noisy night-time birds.

The shriek came again, further away, still raw and agonized enough to send the hairs shimmying up along my arms.

‘Or someone being murdered,’ I added.

‘Comforting,’ Miles replied drily.

‘How far does this river go?’