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Kayde is momentarily distracted too. Which I realize when Grey scoffs and a flurry of movement catches my eye. By the time I’ve reached out like an idiot to stop him, however, Grey is already back over the log, and glances at me with a Cheshire grin on his lips before disappearing into the woods.
And quickly becomes invisible in the darkness around us.
“Down,” Kayde hisses, jerking me to the ground and shutting off the light. He pulls me against Grey’s log, hiding us in the shadow of it, as the steps come closer, following the same path we’d come out here on, it sounds like.
Though there’s no real reason for anyone else to be out here except us.
Especially not Shawn.
Suspicion stirs in my gut as I watch him walk by, and I hold onto Kayde with narrowed eyes as Shawn ambles down the trail without a flashlight in his hand and whistling softly under his breath.
“He shouldn’t be out here,” I murmur, confused as hell, once I’m sure that he’s too far to hear us.
“It’s his night to walk the camp,” Kayde reminds me, though there’s confusion in his voice as well.
“Yeah, okay,” I agree, but shake my head. “But why is he out here? Do you think Liza and Kins told him about the stranger? Maybe he had the same idea as us?”
Kayde doesn’t reply. But I don’t need him to. I can feel the disbelief radiating off of him as Shawn disappears along the trail, and I wonder what Shawn has done to lose Kayde’s underwhelming trust.
Something tells me, it has a lot to do with Darcy.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
It’s hard not to wince when my teeth close on the skin of my cuticle and pull. Blood beads around my thumb, and I finally realize what I’m doing enough to stop. At least for now, as long as I’m actively aware of what I’m doing. Though I’m sure in five minutes or so, another nail and the skin around it will fall victim to my anxiety over everything.
Especially everything to do with Grey.
I wince again as I bite at my nail again, just as a hand grabs my wrist and yanks it away from my mouth. “Oh my god, please, Summer.” Kinsley’s moan is one of pure horror and begging. “Stop doing that. You’re going to get blood on your shirt, on me, and, I don’t know, all over the camp.”
“That’s dramatic,” I tell her from my spot on the stump I’ve occupied. It’s still a bit wetter than I’d prefer for an obstacle course day, but nothing bad has happened, at least.
Well, nothing except the usual splinters, whining, and near-fights. My girls stand near me in their harnesses, ready to take on the tree course that the kids either love or hate. This round of campers is the bravest I’ve had, and I give about fifty percent credit for that to Melody, who really is the queen of encouragement and enthusiasm for our cabin.
But when I glance her way, I notice Melody is uncharacteristically quiet. That in itself is strange for her, and when I see her glance my way with a furrowed brow and a worried look on her face, my senses of unease tingle.
Melody never looks unsure or uncomfortable. The other girls? Sure, I’d believe it. But something about the look on her face and the way she keeps glancing around makes me think that something is wrong. And if she’s too nervous or unsure to approach me about it, then I will absolutely make the first move to figure out what’s going on.
Please, God, don’t let her have killed someone. I send up a quick, silent prayer and push myself to my feet, my stinging fingers forgotten as Kinsley looks my way in confusion.
But I’ll tell her after I figure out what’s wrong. If there’s anything wrong. It could just be Melody. She could just be having a day.
And yet…I really don’t think that’s the case. Something in me knows that isn’t the case, and that Melody wouldn’t be looking so unsure if everything was fine in the world of Camp Crestview.
Sure enough, when I come to stand beside her, Melody looks up at me with that same unsure, worried expression that brought me over in the first place. She shifts, messing with her harness that will make sure she only dangles from the course instead of falling, should things go poorly. But then again, I’ve never seen Melody fall.
“Are you okay?” I ask, keeping my voice quiet so no one else hears us. Melody nods, then shakes her head, and finally lets out a sharp breath.
“Can we talk?” The words are a quick, low mutter that send a shiver through me, because it’s not a tone I’ve ever heard from Melody before.
Something is definitely off.
“Yeah, of course.” We walk away from the group, into an empty part of the clearing that’s close to the big, anchoring trees of the woods. These aren’t technically part of the obstacle course, but multiple ropes are wrapped around them to keep other parts of the course anchored and steady. I sit down on one of the high, exposed roots, arms on my knees as I try to ignore the blood on my fingers and the way the skin around my nails stings like a real bitch. Flexing my fingers helps a little, and if Melody notices, she doesn’t say anything.
Frankly, I don’t think she notices.
“Something’s weird today,” she tells me in a rush. “I don’t know what happened, or anything. Not really.” She throws a glance my way as if to see if I believe her, and I just meet her eyes levelly. I doubt it’s true that she doesn’t know what’s going on, or why things are weird. She just doesn’t want to get in trouble for doing something slightly problematic on the level of starting the nuclear apocalypse.
“You’re not in trouble,” I promise her. “I know you, Mel. I know you probably didn’t do anything that bad. At least without cause.” God, I hope it’s with reasonable cause in case it’s illegal.
