by Wendi Wilson
“Where is he taking us?” I whispered to True.
She lifted her shoulders. “I’ve never been back here before. It’s off the map.”
Great. He was leading us away from everyone to a part of the camp that was isolated from the world. This had to be one of the worst ideas I’d ever agreed to, and yet, my legs kept on marching after Levi. My sick need to unravel every puzzle was going to get me killed. Literally.
Did I really have an obsession with Levi? It was true that I couldn’t stop thinking about him and that my eyes scanned every room trying to pinpoint his presence, but that didn’t mean I was obsessed. I was just trying to solve a mystery. One he’d started when he began spying on me.
Or was that just another thing I was imagining?
My head snapped up as I realized Levi had come to the end of the path. Here, the mowed lawns turned into wild grassy fields. The trees loomed close, a dark line in the distance that marked the area we were not supposed to enter according to the rule book. Levi didn’t seem to care. He left the path and began hiking toward the trees.
I skidded to a stop and looked to True. “Do we keep going?”
She bit her lip. “I mean, we did say we wanted to break the rules, right?”
“Not these rules,” I said, feeling my hands begin to tremble. What was I afraid of? A teenage boy? A black bear? How likely was it that either of those would kill me?
“Just a little farther,” I murmured, taking careful steps into the long grass.
Levi had stopped and was turned in our direction, watching us as we made our way through the field. Once he was certain we hadn’t chickened out, he spun around and slipped into the trees.
“You got that cell phone?” True asked as we neared the tree line.
I shook my head. “You told me to put it away.”
“‘Kay, well, I have this.” She pulled a slim black can out of her pocket. “Bear spray,” she whispered. “Works on boys, too.”
“Where’d you get that?”
Checking it, she slipped it back in her pocket. “My uncle. At least he’s good for something. Gave it to me to make sure no one messed with his niece.” Her expression had grown fierce, and I envied her in that moment. I wanted to be fierce, but my heart was skittering around my chest like a terrified chipmunk.
“This better be good,” she murmured. “Unlimited ice cream bar or free designer handbags or something.”
Holding hands, we stepped between the trees and into the shadows.
My senses were flooded with forest sights, sounds, and smells. Birds chirped. Critters rustled in the undergrowth. Branches swayed in the breeze. The scent of pine permeated it all. This place would be lovely if I wasn’t terrified.
“It’s over here,” Levi called.
We followed his voice down an incline littered with pine needles, logs, and leaves. Here, two hills met and formed a small valley. At its center, a man-made entryway led to a very dark interior.
“What the hell is this?” True asked. “Your woodland bunker, Ted Kaczynski?”
Levi walked to the entrance and put his hand on one of the cement supports. “I wanted to show you this in case you need it. It was built during the Cold War as a nuclear bomb shelter. Once the door is shut and the bolt put in place, nothing can get to you. Nothing.”
“Why in the hell would we need this? You think a nuclear war is going to happen during summer camp?” True’s voice had risen with incredulity.
Levi turned around, his eyes finally meeting ours.
Mine.
“It’s in case of...bears.”
It felt like an electric shock. My heart skipped a beat, then began thudding an erratic rhythm as my palms began to sweat and my vision tunneled.
Was he saying...? Did he know?
My father. The cabin. The sounds of a struggle. The boots on the floor.
The blood.
Was he saying that whatever killed my father was here? That I needed this bunker just as I needed that crawl space?
No.
I reached up with trembling fingers as I felt the blood trickle down my cheek.
“Piper?” True’s voice found me, but it came from far away.
The world was spinning, everything narrowing to a single pinpoint as I felt my legs giveaway. The ground rushed up to meet me.
Then it all went dark.
My body swayed back and forth, my head lolling against something hard and muscly. A chest. Arms cradled me. I was being carried. My father was carrying me from the couch to my bed.
My father.
My father was dead.
Startled, I woke up, lids flying open. Even the dim light burned my eyes, causing them to snap shut again, but the fear wouldn’t let them stay that way. Squinting, I was able to make out the grassy field that led to the path back into camp.
Camp. I was at camp. We were in the forest. I saw the bunker and passed out.
Levi.
I craned my neck and saw him carrying me as if I weighed nothing. Two strong arms held me aloft as he walked steadily back toward civilization. His body was pressed to mine, and I was keenly aware of the solid muscles of his chest and his hand resting against my thigh.
“You’re awake,” he said, his voice rumbling beneath me.
“What happened?”
“You fainted. True ran to get help. I’m taking you to the nurse’s station.”
“Oh.”
He swallowed hard. “It was too much. I shouldn’t have… I should have been more careful.”
Was he apologizing for showing me the bunker?
“It’s okay,” I managed. “I’m just oversensitive.”
God, how embarrassing to faint in front of him. Yet, he seemed to be the one who was embarrassed.
“I’m not good with considering how my actions and words might make people feel. It’s something I’m working on with the Dean.”
“Oh. I didn’t know the dean was a therapist, too.”
Levi tensed but finally nodded. “He’s good at a lot of things.”
“Sounds like a nice guy.”
Levi nodded, but his jaw was tight. I got the sense that he was mentally berating himself for his slip up, and I knew what it felt like to be one’s own worst critic.
“Hey, look. It really isn’t your fault what happened back there. If you’re worried that I’m going to say something to the dean, I’m not. Also, you can put me down. I can walk now.”
It wasn’t that I didn’t like my body pressed up against his. I might have liked it too much, but the other counselors seeing me being carried into camp would be an embarrassment I might not ever get over.
Levi’s hands tightened as if he were resisting the idea of releasing me, but finally, he lowered my legs until my feet were safely on the ground. Only when he was certain I was steady on my feet did his hand leave my back.
I straightened my outfit and pushed hair out of my eyes. “Thanks.” I offered my hand for him to shake.
His serious expression didn’t change, and he made no move to accept my handshake.
“You shouldn’t thank me. You should watch out for yourself from everyone, especially me.”
Then he turned and walked back the way he came, disappearing into the shadows.
Chapter Nine
“I can’t believe I fainted.”
The words tumbled from my lips in a self-loathing whisper the moment I woke up the next morning. I pushed the nest of my dark hair from my face as I rolled onto my back. The bottom of the upper bunk loomed close above me, making me feel claustrophobic. I pulled myself up and threw my legs over the edge of the bed.
“Ow,” I groaned as my forehead banged against the bed frame.
“Hey. Good morning.”
True’s voice startled me, and my sharp inhale sucked saliva into my windpipe. Hacking coughs wracked my body, prompting True to sit down beside me and slap her palm against my back.
“Sorry,” she mumbled once my airway cleared.
“No
t your fault,” I offered, clearing my throat. “I guess I’m just a little jumpy this morning.”
“Speaking of being jumpy,” True drawled, cocking her head. “Do you want to talk about what happened last night?”
“Not really,” I said, covering my face with my hands. “So embarrassing.”
“It wasn’t that bad,” she offered. “Plus, you got up close and personal with Mr. Sexy Pants.”
She waggled her brows suggestively, but I didn’t take the bait. Instead of laughing like she’d hoped, I let out another tortured groan. I felt like such an idiot, fainting like that. And not just fainting, but fainting in front of Levi Kass. I wanted to crawl into a deep hole and hide there forever.
“Hey,” True said softly, her hand rubbing light circles on my back. “Seriously, it’s not a big deal.”
“Says the girl who walked into a bunker with a hot guy and didn’t pass out,” I replied, my voice low.
“Why did you pass out?” she asked. “The nurse couldn’t find anything wrong with you and said it must’ve been low blood sugar. But, Piper, we’d just come from dinner. It couldn’t have been that.”
I knew exactly what had caused my blackout, but I pressed my lips together. I couldn’t tell her. If I told her, she’d think I was crazy—just like everyone else did right after the accident. When I was raving like a lunatic about boots and monsters.
“You can trust me,” True said, pulling me from my thoughts. “I promise you, whatever it is, I won’t tell anyone. And I won’t laugh.”
She pointed to her chest, made a big X, and then kissed her fingertips. Cross my heart and hope to die.
I stared into her deep brown eyes for an eternity, searching out any possible deception. There was nothing but raw honesty in her gaze, just as I suspected there would be. I didn’t doubt that I could trust her with my secrets. I’d only known her for a couple of days, but there was something about True that screamed honor and reliability.
Not trusting her wasn’t the problem, anyway. What worried me above all else was that she’d look at me differently. That she’d think I was crazy, imagining things… or lying to myself to make sense of an untenable situation. She’d pity me, changing our whole dynamic and ruining the friendship we’d been building.
Coco was the only person in my life who believed me, who accepted my story as solid truth. My mom sent me to therapy to fix me and make me face reality, my friends all deserted me once my depression and delusions became too much for them to handle, and my teachers looked at me with sympathy in their sad eyes.
Lightning doesn’t strike twice…does it? Could I really tell her and have nothing change between us?
“It’s okay,” True muttered, distracting me from my inner ramblings. “I can wait. You’ll tell me when you’re ready. Just know, I’m here if you need to talk.”
She started to get up, but I slapped a hand on her thigh, holding her in place. Her kind acceptance of my silence made me realize I wanted to tell her. No, I needed to tell her. I needed to know if she would really accept me, crazy ravings and all.
“I’ll tell you,” I said, taking a few seconds to arrange my thoughts. “I fainted because of what Levi said…about the bears.”
“Piper, I know the thought of bears freaks you out, and rightly so, but passing out cold seems like an extreme reaction. Even for you.”
She said that last part with a smirk as she bumped her shoulder against mine. It didn’t get the reaction she’d been hoping for, and her face fell as she mumbled an apology. I shook my head.
“It wasn’t what he said. It was how he said it.”
It’s in case of... bears.
Levi had stared into my eyes as he said that, his gray-green orbs shining with meaning as he put an intentional breath of space between the word bears and the rest of the sentence. Like he knew.
“My father was not killed by a bear,” I blurted before I lost my nerve.
“What?” True asked, her head rearing back. “But you said—”
“I know what I said,” I cut in. “And a bear attack was listed as the official cause of death. But True, it wasn’t a bear.”
My eyes burned with tears that quickly pooled and ran down my cheeks. True resumed rubbing comforting circles on my back, waiting for me to wipe my eyes and get my ragged breathing under control.
“Tell me what happened,” she said, not a trace of disbelief in her voice.
With broken words and tearful sobs, I let it all out. I told her how my father shoved me under the hidden trapdoor before I even knew what was happening. How he warned me not to come out until he told me it was safe. I described the sound of the door crashing in, my father’s terrified voice as he ordered something to go away. The growls, the screams, the blood dripping on my face.
I told True about the footsteps—heavy, clomping steps that could only be made by booted feet.
When I finished, I flinched a little, waiting for True to react the way everyone except Coco did. There would be denials and assurances, soft-spoken declarations that I must’ve been mistaken, that only a wild animal could have wreaked so much damage on a grown man.
“And they didn’t believe you?” she asked, her voice whisper-soft.
My eyes flicked up to meet hers, seeing nothing but compassion reflected back at me. I shook my head.
“No. Not the police, not my mother, not the therapist she’s forced me to visit every week for the last year. My best friend Coco is the only one who took my words at face value and never told me I was imagining things.”
“She sounds like a good friend,” True replied, her expression and tone soft.
“The best,” I agreed, then added with a watery smile, “like you.”
She smiled back and threw an arm around me. Her hand pushed my head against her shoulder before she pressed her cheek to the top of my head.
“I believe you, Piper.”
“Thank you,” I murmured. “When Levi was showing us the bunker, and told us why he led us there, he said it was to keep us safe from bears. But there was something about the way he said it and the glint in his eyes as he watched me. It felt like… he knew.”
“Knew what? About your dad’s death?”
“And my claim that it wasn’t an animal,” I replied, nodding.
“But… how could he possibly know that?”
I shrugged, lifting my head from her shoulder so I could look at her. “I don’t know. He’s close with Dean Purty. Maybe he saw my file?”
True cocked her head. “Why would Dean Purty have a file about your father’s death? That seems too personal for a job application, doesn’t it?”
“I never filled out an application. My mom and Dr. Whitley got me the position here.”
“Your therapist?”
“Yeah,” I answered with a short nod. “She and my mom thought it would be good for me. I’ve been a little… closed off since that night.”
“Understandably,” she huffed.
“Thanks, True,” I said softly. “You’re the best.”
“Of course, I am,” she shot back with a smirk. Then her smirk fell, and her expression turned serious. “If it wasn’t an animal, who killed your father?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know if I’ll ever know.”
True nodded, her eyes glinting with emotion. She lost both of her parents at once in a fatal car accident, so she knew better than most what I was going through. I, at least, still had my mom. True lived with some weird, alcoholic uncle that shipped her off to summer camp just to get rid of her for a couple of months.
We were both searching for that elusive answer to the ultimate question—why? Why did we have to lose the ones we loved so suddenly and in such a dramatic fashion? Why did our lives take such drastic turns for the worse? Why?
“We’re soul sisters, you and me,” she said, a soft smile lighting up her face.
“Soul sisters,” I repeated in a barely-there whisper.
She reached over and hooked her pinky around
mine, giving it a jiggle. It made me smile, despite my emotions having just gone through the ringer. I wasn’t sure what, exactly, we were promising, but the vow felt solemn, nonetheless.
“Okay,” True said, releasing me and jumping to her feet, “let’s go eat breakfast. I’m starved, and neither one of us wants me to turn hangry.”
A laugh erupted from me, the tension draining from my body as I wiped the last of my tears from my eyes and stood next to her. She told me she’d meet me on the porch before walking out, giving me privacy to finish pulling myself together, get dressed, and wrestle my messy hair up into a ponytail. I needed to shower, but it could wait until after breakfast. I was starving, too.
We were quiet as we walked to the mess hall, but it was a comfortable silence that only two people who truly understood each other could share. As we climbed the weathered wooden steps, True bumped her shoulder against mine with a grin. I bumped her back, and we both chuckled. For that brief moment, I felt like everything really was going to be okay.
Then we stepped inside.
My eyes immediately zoned in on the table where the other counselors already sat, plates of eggs, sausage, and toast spread out before them. My gaze landed on Sarah, her resting bitch face firmly in place as she glared at me through lashes coated with thick black mascara.
My good mood diminished a little as I realized True and I would not be welcome at the table this morning. We were back to being the odd girls out. I followed True to the cafeteria line, the pep in her step not wavering as she filled her plate with food. I grabbed some sausage and eggs, along with a few strawberries and a carton of chocolate milk.
When I turned, True was already sitting at an empty table, humming happily as she squirted ketchup all over her scrambled eggs and sausage links. I slid onto the bench beside her and picked up my fork, but a prickly feeling on my scalp froze me mid-motion.
My eyes darted around, searching for any reason I might feel such unease. Spotting nothing at the windows or in dark corners, my gaze slid back to the other occupied table. Gray-green eyes narrowed beneath heavy dark brows. They bore through me, making my heart jump in my chest.
