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CHAPTER ONE
age nine
I was six years old when I first met Caspian Donahue.
I was playing dress up at a wedding, and he was being…him.
You shouldn’t do that, Tatum.
Come here, Tatum.
Stay with me, Tatum.
Just because he was four years older than me didn’t make him the boss. So what if he was friends with my older brother? So what if his family had more money than God? So what if all the other girls thought he was cute? None of that made him special. He was just another boy.
Even though he wasn’t.
Caspian was different from the rest, and everyone knew it. All because of his last name.
And since that day at the wedding, it seemed like he was everywhere, all the time, following me around and telling me what to do. Like now, when he’d pulled me out of bed, dragged me to his cabin, then disappeared.
He’d told me to stay put, and I’d rolled my eyes at him. I didn’t want to sleep in Caspian’s bed. I wanted to go back to my own.
To most people, Crestview Lake was the perfect place for a weekend getaway. The still water and tall trees were a peaceful change from where we lived in New York City. But there were things out there, things in the woods beyond the row of cabins, things that might hurt me. At least that’s what my dad always said. I was supposed to stay away from the woods.
Once a year, we all got together for the Crestview Regatta. Twelve families. Twenty-four cabins all lined up around a massive lake. The grown-ups had their side, and the kids had ours.
Caspian’s cabin was just like mine. It had a full-sized bed with a plaid comforter, a fireplace, leather chair, and a dresser with a TV on top. He’d left the lamp on for me, but I didn’t want to be here. I didn’t want to be at Crestview Lake at all. I wanted to go home.
I waited.
He never came back.
I waited longer.
Finally, I decided I wasn’t waiting anymore. Whatever Caspian wanted could be taken care of tomorrow after the regatta. I was going back to my bed.
It was quiet when I stepped outside into the darkness. Not the peaceful quiet I usually liked but the kind of quiet that made me think something bad was going to happen—the kind of quiet we had after my pet hamster died and no one knew how to tell me.
It was late, after midnight if I had to guess. The sky was dark, darker than usual because the stars were hidden behind the clouds. Like even they knew better than to be out right now. Everything was still, including the branches on the tall trees behind me. Nothing moved. Nothing made a sound. Nothing was there to warn me if trouble wanted to chase me into the forest. I knew I shouldn’t be outside alone. This wasn’t our home, where I was always safe.
I should’ve just waited for Caspian to come back.
The grass was wet against my bare feet, making me wish I had grabbed my slippers in case I needed to run. It was cold, too cold for June. My favorite Hannah Montana nightgown suddenly felt too thin, too small. I wanted a blanket to wrap around my body, to protect me from the chill in the air. Mostly, I just wanted to go back to bed. I wanted to climb under the covers and pretend like it didn’t feel as if someone was watching me. I hugged my arms around myself while the wind started to whisper, like it was trying to tell me its secrets.
The flickering of flames down by the water caught my eye.Why was there a fire in the middle of the night?Everyone should be asleep.
I took a step closer, hoping to feel some of its warmth from here. My eyes narrowed, focusing on the fire, trying to see if that was where Caspian had gone. I took another step, creeping closer and closer.
But there was nothing.
No one.
The fire was just… there, and I had no idea why, or who started it. My heart thumped faster and faster as I watched the flames dance against the night sky. With every breath, it seemed like they grew bigger and bigger.
A gust of wind blew my long, dark hair across my face and sent a shiver all the way to my bones. I tucked the strands behind my ears and stared past the fire onto the glass surface of the lake. There were boats on the water, three of them total, all in a line. Each boat had one person standing tall in the middle. Their faces were hidden in the shadow of a dark hoodie, but I saw their figures in the moonlight. All three of them were boys, and all three about my brother’s size.What are they doing?It looked like they were about to jump into the water. I wanted to scream at them, to tell them not to jump, but the sound got stuck in my throat.
One of the figures turned his head.Is that Lincoln?Why was my brother on the lake?
