Page 11 of Glimmer in the Darkness

But when he peeked into the dining room, he saw her standing in front of the sideboard, staring at his family’s last portrait.

Tears streamed from her eyes.

They looked… authentic.

She must have heard him because she wiped her cheeks. “Being back here. It’s…”

Again, she didn’t finish the thought. Maddening.

“Was anybody there?” she asked.

“Somebody had been.”

“It’s weird, right? That somebody would follow me off the trail?”

“Were you recognized?”

She looked out the window that faced the forest. “I didn’t get close to anyone, at least not that I saw. Even if I had”—she flipped off her baseball cap and stepped closer to him—“do you think anybody would recognize me?”

He turned on the dining room light and took in her features once more. She looked like a different person. Fresh and young and innocent, though she was a decade older than the last time he’d seen her. “Your eyes are distinctive.”

She put the cap back on. “I wore my sunglasses until it got too dark to see.”

After a moment, he broke eye contact, walking into the kitchen.

She followed. “What happens now?”

“I don’t know.” He sat at the old round table that his mother had bought a million years ago. “I didn’t think you’d still be here.”

She pulled out the chair beside him and sat. “You sorry I am?”

“Why are you?”

“Obviously, I wasn’t going to tell you I was in town. I know it puts you in a terrible position.” She traced a scratch on the table with her fingernail. Even her nails were different. Back in school, they’d always been short, bitten to the quick, and painted black. These were manicured and pale pink.

Pink. This girl who’d eschewed all color ten years prior wore pink nail polish.

“Even though I hoped you knew I would never hurt your sister, I couldn’t count on it.”

“If you hadn’t run—”

“I wasn’t going to tell you I was here, but now that you know, I need help. I’ve been trying for days to find that cave, but they’re far, and… and I pretty much stink at this hiking thing. And…” She focused again on the scratch on the table. “To be honest, I don’t even like going up there in the bright daylight. I’m terrified to camp. I want to save Ella, but I fear…”

Fear. He understood that too well.

“Will you help me?”

“No.” He tried to think through his options, but there weren’t many. “I don’t know.”

She pushed back from the table and stood. They watched each other for a moment and, as much as he told himself he should, he couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away from her.

“Okay, then.” Walking through the dining room, she snatched her backpack from the floor and slid it on. At the front door, she turned. “I’m searching again tomorrow morning. I’ll leave at seven.”

“Don’t do that.” A strand of his long hair covered his eyes, and he pushed it back, wishing he’d put it in a ponytail. “Look, I need to think. If we’re going to do this, let’s not do it blindly. Let’s try to figure out where we’re going.”

“How?”

“There are people who know the mountain better than I do.” He needed more information—about Mt. Ayasha, about the investigation, and about Cassidy.