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“It’s true,” Rhiannon admits. “It’s always been sort of a dream.”
“You thought you’d escape your past, right?” Coral goads. “You thought you’d become brand-new people. Shiny happy.”
But then Lenna has a thought. She looks at Rhiannon. “If Coral gave you my name to recruit, why didn’t that set off alarms? Why didn’t you see it might be…a setup?”
“She didn’t give me your name, exactly,” Rhiannon sounds miserable. “She just said to look for a friend. I came up with you all by myself. I’m so sorry. I’m an idiot.”
“I did give her Sarah’s, though,” Coral adds. “But that was different—Rhiannon and Sarah had never met. And I conveniently left the Gillian connection out of it. That’s Rhiannon’s fault not to look up Sarah’s background. Guess she was too desperate to follow my instructions and didn’t care.”
“I…” Rhiannon trails off, sounding distraught. “I didn’t have the money to stay. I had nowhere else to go.”
But Lenna still doesn’t understand. If Coral wanted to punishher, why not just do it in California? She thinks of all the walks she took with the baby on her own, the desolate neighborhood. Then her heart twists. “Please tell me where Jacob is?” she begs.
“He was already hurt.” Coral’s voice cuts deep. “You’ve exposed him to the sun all day. Subjected him to the dust storms. Kept him up at strange hours, and, if I recall, placed him in the arms of a complete stranger the very first day you arrived. It’s not like you’re the world’s best mother.”
“Coral, listen,” Rhiannon interrupts. “We want to help. Whatever you need. Just,please,you don’t have to do this.”
Coral scoffs. “My mom needed help, too, but you overlooked it. A social outcast who wasn’t your vibe. None of you actuallypaid attention.”
“But I did pay attention,” Lenna begs. “And if I could change what happened, if I could take it back…” Tears roll down her cheeks. “You have to believe me.”
“I mean, sure, of course you regret itnow,” Coral says dejectedly. “You need to understand: We’re all at fault. We all lied. We all did things that are terrible.All of us.I’m the bad guy right now, fine, but so are all of you.” She straightens. “Anyway. Gang’s all here. I’m kind of loving this.”
She steps toward them. A shiver goes down Lenna’s spine. Her heart starts to race. In all of her fears of her past coming to a head, she’d never thought it would be quite this harrowing. But now it’s time to face what she’s done. Time to learn what Coral has been plotting all these years.
“People know we’re out here,” Sarah warns in a shaky voice. “And they must knowyou’regone, too. They’re going to figure out what’s going on.”
Coral waves her hand. “Marjorie thinks I’m in my room. I have a feeling, in all the chaos, she’s not too concerned about looking for her little scullery maid.”
Lenna swallows hard. The dog lets out another growl. “Cosmo,” she says, touching him gently.
But Cosmo doesn’t let up. Coral reaches behind her for an object, and Lenna flinches at a glint of metal. It’s an iron golf club. Shethwacksit against the rock. The dog yelps. “Okay. Back to back. Do it now.”
Sarah whimpers. “Wh-what are you going to do?”
“No more questions.”
She knocks the club against the rock again. Sarah shifts toward Rhiannon. Rhiannon sniffles as she pivots. Lenna presses her back against her friend. She can smell the dried sweat on Rhiannon’s body. The fear. She can feel the bones of her spine.
Coral checks that their hands are secure. Then she begins to wrap heavy twine around their waists to keep them all together. After she’s finished, she stands over them, hands on her hips, the rope trailing from her hands.
The dog snarls as Coral shifts from woman to woman. At first, Lenna thinks his anger is directed at Coral, but then she notices his body is positioned toward something outside the cave. When Lenna breathes in, she smells something…strange.It’s not something she’s smelled before, but there’s something familiar about it. Something hormonal.Musk.
She cocks her head, listening. There’s that familiar shuffling of sharp, sturdy hooves.Javelinas.They’re out there. Moving in a herd.Close.
The dog beside her stiffens, tipping his nose to the air. He snarls toward the mouth of the cave. Lenna knows what Cosmo smells. Suddenly, there’s a shadow of…something.And suddenly…there.That low-profile beast. The edge of a snout.
The dog is really barking, straining under Lenna’s knee, where she’s trying to pin him so he won’t make trouble. Coral stares at it murderously. “This thing has to fuckingstop.”
Another snout. A cluster of bodies. Eyes shining into the darkness,seeingthem. Coral pivots, and just like that, Cosmo leaps out from under Lenna’s knee and toward the animals, his teeth bared. Coral twists to grab him, and when her back is turned, Lenna stretches her leg toward the golf club that Coral abandoned in order to tie them up. It takes every effort of strength, but her foot makes contact. She hears the club clatter across the rocks, out of Coral’s immediate reach.
A howl rises up. When Lenna turns again, fear strikes her—she worries the pigs have gotten the dog. But it’s Coral who tips forward at the mouth of the cave. A javelina chomps into the flesh of her calf.
“What the fuck!” Coral beats at the snorting animal. It rears back, squealing, tusks raised. Lenna winces. Then she hears something off in the distance. A tiny wail. Her heart cracks in two.
“Jacob?” she splutters, looking toward the cave’s opening. She turns to Coral, still on the ground. “Wh-where is he?” Adrenaline surges through her. It sounds like he’s just outside. On a rock? In that swirling dust? “Please let me see him. He’s not safe.”
Coral is still on the ground, clutching her calf. From the distant wails and squeals, Lenna guesses that the javelinas have moved on. She hopes the dog is okay. Coral is panting, and there’s a layer of sweat on her forehead. She’s clearly in pain and trying not to show it. Blood seeps through her khaki cargo pants, black and thick, dripping onto the rock.
