Kendall paced back and forth, adjusting her choker. The thunder and lightning started up outside and more rain and wind beat against the house. The one little candle on Mamaw’s nightstand cast huge Kendall shadows on the wall.
“Well, what do you say? Can we think of another challenge? Allie?”
“We could think of one . . .” I went over and picked up the candle. “But it wouldn’t be epic.” I walked over to Mamaw’s dresser, where she had crowded every square inch with framed photos of our family. I shined the candle close to a few of the pictures of our dads when they were little. “Check these out, Kendall. They look like they were taken around the same time as those other pictures, but there’s no little red-haired boy anywhere.”
Kendall joined me to look. “Maybe they got rid of the ones with Andy so they wouldn’t be sad when they saw them.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. Mamaw and Papaw would want to remember if he was their kid. Plus, this family would never make a spooky camp story out of a family tragedy. I think all the drama with the storm tonight is impairing your judgment.”
Kendall sat down on the bed and sighed.
“Maybe you’re right. But can’t we just make up a different challenge anyway? I’m sure we would all feel more comfortable that way.”
I replaced the candle on the nightstand. Then I went over and put my hand on Kendall’s shoulder.
“This initiation is not about comfort. You think anything we’ve done tonight has been comfortable for Hunter? Think about the mud. He’s been in mud since we got here—and he hates it! But did you see his face out there? He’s proud. The boy deserves to finish out with something epic. He might have failed the last three challenges, but sitting in a dark shed for an hour is something he can actually do. After he comes out, we’ll tell him the story about the gator, and then he’ll be extra proud.”
Kendall looked at me with wide eyes.
“It’s gonna be great. You’ll see.”
This time I grabbed Kendall by the elbow and led her out of the bedroom and into the family room, where Hunter, Ruby, and Lola were drinking hot cocoa.
“Is something wrong?” Lola asked. “I mean, besides the fact that Mamaw and Papaw have disappeared, the river is rising, and we don’t have power.”
“Nothing’s wrong,” I said. “We were just discussing the final challenge.” I turned to face Hunter. “I hope you are feeling brave, kid, because this one is going to be a little scary.”
Hunter drained the last of the hot cocoa out of his mug and stood up straight.
“I’m ready.”
“Okay then.” I walked over in front of the fire and began the explanation. “Hunter, there’s a place on this property that scares the wits out of most everyone in the family.”
“Are you talking about the haunted shed?” The spooky way Hunter said that, mixed with the candlelight in the room gave me goosebumps.
“Hunter, you know about that?” Ruby stared in my direction.
“Only that there’s a lot of weird noises, and people don’t like going in there. But it’s not a problem. I don’t believe in ghosts.”
“Well, that’s a good thing,” I said. “Because challenge four— the final test of your Carroway Cousin fortitude—requires you to stay in the haunted shed for one hour.”
Hunter held his open hands toward the ceiling.
“That’s it?”
“Almost. You also can’t have any lights.”
“So, in the dark, then?”
“Yeah.” I was puzzled as to why he was smiling.
“Cool. I can do that. When do I start?”
“Better be soon.” Lola, who had been standing over by the window, gestured to the view outside. “The river is up to the bench now.”
The bench is Mamaw’s prayer bench, which is about five feet from the stairs leading up to the house. I only remembered one time when the water got that high.
“It’s okay,” I said. “There’s no way the water is going to make it up the hill to where the shed is.”
“He needs a coat and a blanket. There’s not going to be any heat in there.” Lola pulled out a couple of blankets from the hall closet. “And I strongly suggest he have some way to protect himself.”
“From what?” Hunter asked. “A bunch of stuffed animal heads, some rusted tools, and boxes of junk? I’ll be fine”
“You can take the slingshot,” I said.
“Hey, maybe I’ll hunt down a raccoon or something. Can you cook a raccoon? Can I bring my duct tape? That stuff comes in handy.”
I shrugged. “That’s fine with me.”
Hunter made his way out to the mudroom with his slingshot and the roll of duct tape. We all put our coats and boots back on and followed Hunter out the door. Lola lugged the blankets.
“It’s this way, right?” Hunter pointed up the hill, past the barn where I sat while Hunter looked for my Allie-Kit.
“Yeah, that building up to the left.” I pointed my headlamp toward the large, rickety shed in the distance. I thought I heard a groan the minute my light beam fell on it.
“I hope it’s not locked,” Lola said.
I laughed.
“Are you kidding? A burglar would be doing this family a favor by coming and taking everything out of that shed. Stuff in there has to be fifty years old.”
We approached the door. Ruby stepped forward to pry it open. The loud, long creaking sound was worse than fingernails on a chalkboard. We all covered our ears.
“Oh, good,” Kendall said. “I think I just went deaf.”
Ruby shined her headlamp into the dark entrance. “Hellooooo in there!”
Lola grabbed the back of Ruby’s shoulder. “Why did you just do that? What if someone . . . or something . . . is in there? You want them to hear you?”
The thunder clapped, and we all jumped.
Hunter pushed the girls away from the opening. “Like I said, there’s nothing in there but stuffed heads, rusted tools, and boxes of junk. And now, me.” Hunter slapped his chest. “I’m goin’ in. See y’all in sixty minutes.”
He grabbed one blanket from Lola and turned to face the blackness.
“Keep your slingshot loaded,” I said as I patted him on the back. He gave me a funny look.
“You know, in case of raccoons. Or squirrels.” I winked.
Hunter smiled.
And then he disappeared.
“Should we shut the door?” Ruby grabbed the doorknob.
“NO!” Lola was white as a ghost. “What if it gets stuck, and the gator is in there, and Hunter can’t get out? Leave it open.”
“Yes,” Kendall said. “Leave it open. My ears can’t take much more assault.”
We all stood there, staring at each other.
“What should we do now?” Ruby asked.
Then we heard it. A loud groan that sent shivers up my spine.
“GOOOOOO BAAACK TO THE HOUUUUUUSE!”
Hunter.
Just maybe he was going to get the best of us yet.
CHAPTER 24
Waiting and Wondering
Now what?” Lola grabbed her blanket again after we all had taken our wet coats and boots off in the mudroom.
“We need something to take our minds off what’s going on in that shed,” I said.
“Kendall and Ruby, go gather all the candles in the house and bring them to the kitchen island so we have as much light as possible. Lola, help me bring all those albums over. If there are more pictures of this mystery boy, I want to find them.”
The girls hopped into action, and in minutes we were poring over more faded pictures in Mamaw’s photo albums.
“Check this one out!” Ruby pulled one book over so we could all see it. “There’s a section for each of our dads.”
The pictures weren’t very good quality—a lot were out of focus—and most of them were of the same thing—a different boy holding up a fish he had caught or a string of ducks after a successful hunting trip. There were a few of each boy swimming in the
river, and a couple of them eating bowls of gumbo that Mamaw probably cooked.
“Hmm,” Ruby said. “Not much has changed for our dads. They still do all this stuff.”
“Only now they make us do it too,” I said.
“I think it’s pretty fun.” Ruby smiled, flipping through the old albums.
“I prefer to sing,” Kendall said.
“And I hate wearing camo,” Lola added.
“But all in all, we have a pretty nice family.” I closed one photo album and opened another. “I can’t imagine myself living with any other types of people.”
“Me neither.” Kendall smoothed her hand over a picture of her dad.
“Here! I found him again! The red-haired kid!” Ruby lowered her face closer to a photo in the middle of one of the pages. “Yep, that’s him alright! He’s standing next to a tent.”
I grabbed the album and pulled it over to look at it.
“That’s some weird kind of tent. Are you sure that’s the same kid?”
“Let’s compare!” Kendall opened the other album and pulled the crumbling plastic cover open to release the picture. She lifted it off the sticky page and placed it next to the kid by the tent.
“Pictures were such bad quality in the old days,” Lola said. “What is that picture on the tent?”
“It looks like fruit in a cornucopia.” Ruby laughed.
“Let’s see if we can find any more pictures of him.” Lola pulled another album off the stack of about six.
“I’m gonna look in Mamaw’s Bible. Maybe she wrote Andy’s name somewhere else.”
“Good idea, Kendall.” I don’t know why I was encouraging her, but I did want to solve this mystery. “Start looking in the book of Psalms, in all the parts where David is sad or mad. If I lost a son, I’d be reading and writing in those places.”
Kendall cracked the Bible open right in the middle, and flipped a little to the left to find Psalms.
“You can barely see the Bible words with all of Mamaw’s underlinin’ and notes.” Kendall used her pointer finger and scanned page after page looking for Andy’s name.
“Found another one!” Ruby ripped open the plastic, pulled out another picture, and set it by the others. “Some other boy has him in a headlock.”
We all gathered around the picture.
“Is that Uncle Adam?” I picked up the photo and held it close to a candle. Uncle Adam is the oldest of the Carroway brothers. My dad is next, then Kendall’s dad, Wayne, then Ruby and Lola’s dad, Josiah. If there really was an Andy—he must have fallen somewhere in the middle.
“Mamaw could have made this much easier by labeling these pictures.” Lola squinted as she studied the pages of another album.
“I’m pretty sure she saved all her pen ink for this Bible,” Kendall said. “My eyes are startin’ to hurt.”
Just then, the phone on the wall rang, and we all jumped.
“Don’t answer it,” Lola said. “We’re in the middle of a big discovery here.”
“But it could be Mamaw. What if she’s hurt or stuck somewhere?” I went for the phone.
“Hello?” I prayed it wouldn’t be my mom or dad asking how my inhaler and I were getting along.
“Allie-girl! It’s so good to hear your voice. How’re y’all doin’ down there?”
Mamaw.
Whew.
“Mamaw? Are you alright? How’s Aunt Janelle?”
I watched as my cousins relaxed and went right back to scanning albums and Bibles.
“Oh, she’s a little shook up, and she has a migraine headache, but I gave her some medicine and put her to bed. I tried to come on back to the house, but the water is right up to the door. Is Papaw back with those sandbags yet?”
“He never came back, Mamaw.”
“Oh, you poor dears! I bet they closed the road to town and he can’t get back. Did you try callin’ him?” Mamaw laughed. “Never mind what I just said. He never has his phone on. Oh, my, are you kids okay? The lights are off here.”
“Yeah, they’re off here too. But we have the candles.”
“I’m so sorry you’re alone.”
“We’re not alone. We’ve got each other, and we have plenty of food and plenty of fun things to do. So don’t worry.”
“Well, if you’re sure you’re alright.”
“I am.”
“Well, I’ll be up here prayin’, and as soon as the water goes down I’ll be home. Call me if you want to talk about anything, okay?”
I really wanted to ask her who this mystery kid was in all the pictures. But that would have to wait for another day.
“Okay. Love you, Mamaw.”
“Love you too, my dear girl. Go eat some cookies and I’ll see you soon.”
I hung up the phone and grabbed a snickerdoodle. I looked over at my cousins, hunched over the photo albums, and felt a wave of gratefulness for each one—unique and annoying as they can all be at times.
Hunter’s gonna love being a Carroway.
Before I could even finish thinking that thought, panic gripped me, and I almost choked on my cookie.
“What time is it?” I grabbed my phone, only to find out it had died, probably drained from searching for service. I ran to look at the battery-powered clock on the family room wall.
“What time did we leave Hunter in the shed? Has it been an hour yet?”
The girls’ heads popped up from their books. Lola’s eyes bugged out and she grabbed her throat.
“I set a timer on my phone when we left him.” She ran over to check it. “It’s been eighty minutes!”
“Oh, no!” Ruby ran toward the mudroom. “How could we forget about Hunter? I hope he’s okay!”
We dropped everything we were doing and followed Ruby to the mudroom. In seconds, we were in our raincoats and boots again, and it didn’t even matter that it was pouring extra hard—we ran like cheetahs up toward the shed.
CHAPTER 25
The Big Reveal
Hunter!” Kendall used her concert voice when we got to the opened door of the shed. “Hunter! You passed the challenge! You can come on out now!”
We stood and waited. But there was no answer.
“HUNTER!”
Nothing.
I pushed Kendall out of the way and shined my headlamp into the shed. I moved the beam left and right, up and down, but all I saw were stuffed heads, rusty tools, and boxes of junk.
No Hunter.
Ruby pushed me aside.
“I’m goin’ in.”
Ruby disappeared inside. And when she didn’t come back right away, I went in too.
“Hunter? Are you in here?”
My voice echoed, startling me, and I backed up, right into Kendall.
“Ouch,” Kendall said. “Your head hit me in the chin.”
“Sorry.”
“Is h-he in there?” Lola spoke from the entrance. She was either freezing or scared. Probably both.
“I don’t see him anywhere. Hunter!” Ruby continued to shine her light in all the corners, and she even began opening boxes. “Maybe he’s hiding to give us a scare.”
“Well, it’s working,” Lola said.
“Hunter Carroway, you come out here right now!” Even Kendall began opening boxes now.
I shined my headlamp in all directions. “People, let’s face it. He’s not in here.”
Lola started crying. “I knew we shouldn’t have sent him in here with that gator! How could we be so mean! He never stood a chance! Now he’s not going to be our cous—”
I ran over toward Lola and grabbed her shoulders.
“Stop, Lola. Just stop.” Then I turned back around. “Hunter is okay, I know it. We’ll find him. It won’t do us any good to panic right now!”
“We gotta get outta here before the gator comes back.” Lola turned and ran toward the barn.
“We need a plan,” Ruby said to me. “Where should we look? Just about every place is under water right now.”
“Let’s get the kaya
k,” I said. “It’s only been a few minutes over an hour. He couldn’t have gone very far.”
I suddenly remembered something and went back into the shed.
I shined my light all around. The slingshot was missing.
“Girls, I think I know what’s going on here. Hunter is out working on challenge two. If we can find some squirrels, I bet we’ll find him.”
“I hope you’re right,” Kendall said.
“I know I’m right.”
We ran down the hill to catch up with Lola, and then we slowed a little, all the while calling Hunter’s name. But the only answer that came was a crackle of thunder.
“I don’t think we should be out here,” Lola said.
I know I’m not supposed to be out here.
“He’s not on this hill anywhere,” Ruby said. “Are you sure the kayak is going to float with all four of us in it?”
“I was out on it last week with my dad and a bunch of gear,” I said. “That thing’s solid.”
When we got to the house, we climbed up the stairs to the porch and muscled the kayak down. We carried it to the prayer bench, hooked up the seats, and Ruby and Lola jumped in.
Kendall walked up and linked her arm with mine.
“Are we really doin’ this?” she said.
“Yes, we are. We’re Carroways, and we can handle anything with God’s help. Right?”
Kendall smiled. “Right.”
Kendall helped me shove the kayak into the water. We waded in and, despite an uncoordinated couple of seconds where I tripped over my feet and landed on my knees in the water, we managed to hoist ourselves in and join Lola and Ruby.
Ruby and Kendall grabbed the two paddles and sat at opposite ends of the kayak, with Kendall in the front.
I pointed north. “Let’s go toward Aunt Janelle’s. Every time I’ve been out hiking with Hunter, we’ve gone that way. Stay near the shore.”
“The shore? This isn’t normally the shore. It’s Mamaw and Papaw’s front yard.” Ruby stood and pushed her paddle down into the water. “It’s about three feet deep right here. Wow!”
“Okay, then just go that way, toward the slough.” I squinted into the dark night, in the direction of the swampy arm of the river that we normally avoid because of the possibility of running into disgusting critters. “He might have gone there to look for that frog or something to hunt.”
Allie's Bayou Rescue Page 11
