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“You’re being kicked out of the country, actually. But things could have been much worse, and still could be if you don’t leave immediately.”
“How immediate?” Alex asked.
“You grab whatever you need from your apartment, and then we leave.”
“Today?”
“Today.”
“And then what?”
“Then,” Garrett said, “I make you an offer.”
“What kind of offer?”
“A job offer.”
That day, when Alex walked out of Leo the Brit’s South London flat, marked the second time in her short life that Garrett Lancaster had saved her.
PART III
The Return
“Where is Alexandra Quinlan?”
—Tracy Carr
Camp Montague Appalachian Mountains
Eight weeks each summer. It was how her older brother had always spent the hot months of June and July. Ever since he was thirteen, she’d seen the school year end one day and her brother pack for camp the next. It was how summers had always worked. This year, however, was different. This year, she was thirteen and finally old enough to join him. Her brother would be eighteen in July, and this marked his fifth summer at Camp Montague—his last, and her first. The excitement started back in May as soon as the weather turned warm. She daydreamed about a summer filled with canoeing down the river, late-night campfires, movies on the big screen under the starry night, and a thousand other highlights she’d heard her brother speak of over the years.
She rode in the backseat and zoned out her parents’ grown-up talk as they headed into the mountains. It was all she could do to contain her excitement. Her older brother sat next to her and worked hard at nonchalance—he was a fifth-year Montague veteran, after all—but she still sensed his excitement. It was surreal to imagine that she would finally get to experience the glorious eight weeks at Camp Montague.
She had no idea about the terrors that waited for her there. No idea about the predator hiding in the shadows and salivating over the influx of new arrivals. But she soon would.
The campfire began to dwindle. She had learned over the last couple of weeks that when the camp counselors stopped adding logs to the fire it meant the night was coming to an end. And when the fire died, it was time to head to her cabin and go to sleep. The older kids—the fifth-years—didn’t always follow that rule. They stayed up playing cards and sometimes sneaked beer from the main cabin’s refrigerator. Her brother had told her stories. Some nights the fifth-years even snuck out of their cabins to go on late-night adventures. But those things were reserved for the seasoned kids who’d spent most of their childhood summers at Camp Montague. For her, the slow dwindling of the campfire meant just the end of another great day at camp. At least, it had for the first two weeks.
Those early days had been glorious and exciting. They were everything she had dreamed Montague would be. And when the fire died each night she was happy to climb under the covers and read while her roommate slept. During that first week, she had to work through growing pains and homesickness. Her new book, Double Crossing, the first Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys Super Mystery, helped, as did the fact that her brother was a constant presence around camp. As a fifth-year, her brother was in charge of organizing activities for the first-years, and though he’d never admit to it, she knew he was keeping an eye out for her. They didn’t talk much, but a subtle nod here and a smile there was all it took to ease the ache of being away from home.
But just as the homesickness began to ease, it happened. It was the night her life forever changed. The campfire had lost its luster thirty minutes earlier and the kids had begun the slow shuffle toward their cabins. Once she was back in her cabin and had brushed her teeth and changed into pajamas, she climbed into bed and pulled the covers over her head, then clicked on her flashlight to read. She heard her roommate finish in the bathroom and settle into bed. Ten minutes after the lights went out she heard the deep breathing of her sleeping roommate. She spent thirty minutes reading and was deep into the book’s adventure when her cabin door opened.
She froze under the covers and listened for a moment. Then she heard heavy footsteps walking into the cabin. She slowly pulled the covers down to see Mr. Lolland, one of the camp counselors, standing over her bed. There were several camp leaders who oversaw everything that went on at Camp Montague. Mr. Lolland was in charge of the first-year squad. And now, tonight, an hour after the campfire had died to mark the end of a Montague day, he was standing next to her bed.
“I was just reading my book,” she said, worried that she had broken the lights-out rule.
“Come on,” he said in a whisper. “You have to come with me.”
She swallowed hard. “Where?”
“Shh.” He held his finger to his lips, nodding at her sleeping roommate. “You have to come now.”
Still shaking off the last remnants of homesickness, she found something comforting about a grown-up interacting with her. But in the strange setting, when the rest of camp was asleep, it was terrifying, too. She wanted to pull the covers over her head and get lost again in the adventure she was reading, but Jerry Lolland would not budge. He continued to stare at her with bloodshot eyes, breathing loudly through his mouth. The standoff lasted just a few seconds before she pushed the covers to the side and stood from bed.
“Good girl,” Mr. Lolland said, putting his hand on the back of her neck and leading her out of the cabin.
He quietly closed the door behind them and led her through camp. The campground, populated with over a hundred kids just an hour ago, was now desolate. Porch lights shined from each cabin. She glanced at the cabins’ windows as she and Mr. Lolland walked past, but they were all dark. Far off in the distance the main lodge still had activity going on inside. She thought, for just a fleeting moment, to run there. Surely the other counselors were still awake at this time of night and planning the following day’s activities. There would be grown-ups there. There would be help. Inside the main lodge would be someone other than Jerry Lolland.
As if he read her mind, Mr. Lolland twisted his hand on the back of her neck to steer her body away from the main lodge. After a few more strides, they arrived at his cabin.
