Prologue #2
I laughed as I pulled out my phone. No one wanted Nova hangry. It was not a pretty sight.
The roar of the water intensified as I moved farther down the embankment. The sound was deafening but in a beautiful way. It was one of the things I loved most about nature—the power of losing yourself in the sights and sounds, forgetting everything that weighed so heavily on you.
As I moved farther and farther away from the path, I saw an even more elaborate display of flowers closer to the riverbank. I stepped over fallen logs and around scrub brush, and then I was surrounded by blooms.
Crouching down low, I took shots of the little peach buds my city-girl self had no idea the name for.
Then I took a more artistic shot where the river was in focus and the blooms were blurry in the foreground.
That would be a framer for sure. Maybe I could get it printed on canvas and hang it in my bedroom—the bedroom that barely had space for my twin bed, a dresser, and a nightstand.
I straightened, but as I did, my foot hit a root. I stumbled back a step, then two, my arms windmilling. I barely managed to heave myself forward so I wouldn’t fall straight into the river.
My heart hammered against my rib cage as my hands and knees hit the ground. Blood roared in my ears louder than the rushing of the river, and I pressed a palm to my chest. “Note to self, don’t go down to the riverbank.”
I swallowed, my hand shaking as I pulled it away from my chest. Far too close a call.
I picked up my phone from where it had fallen.
It was covered in dirt, but the screen was still intact.
Relief swept through me as I started to make the climb back up to the path.
I’d gone farther than I realized and winced, knowing Nova would be annoyed.
“You’ll be glad to know that’s my last picture for real,” I yelled up toward the path.
There was no answer.
Ruh-roh. That meant the hangry had taken hold. When Nova was truly annoyed, she went silent, those gray eyes sparking silver. She told me that my amber ones flashed gold in a similar fashion. Silver and gold, a bonded pair, just like we were meant to be.
I scrambled up the side of the embankment. “I’m sorry. I’m hurrying. I nearly lost my life in the pursuit of wildflowers. I wonder if Bigfoot would’ve saved me. Right out of one of your monster romance novels—”
My words cut off as I reached the trail and found it empty. “Nova?” The only things that answered me were the wind swaying the branches and the river roaring behind me. I moved a few steps one way, peeking around a bend, and then went in the opposite direction. Nothing.
A scowl pulled at my mouth as realization dawned. “This isn’t funny.”
Still nothing.
I turned in a circle, looking for any sign of my friend. I was sure she was behind some tree or boulder, planning some elaborate scare as revenge for me keeping her from the snacks we had in the car.
Starting down the path, I took a handful of steps and braced for Nova to leap from either side of the path. One time, she and Owen had scared me so badly by jumping out in monster masks at Halloween, I’d peed my pants. She was vicious.
“If you don’t come out, I’m going to eat the wild berry Skittles I brought just for you.” That should’ve done it. If Nova had a weakness, it was those damn Skittles.
When I hit step thirty, unease slid through me. “Nova,” I yelled louder.
The only response was the water and the soft call of some bird.
My stomach twisted. Would she have gone back to the car because she was annoyed? I had the keys, so it wasn’t like she could get in.
I turned around one more time, but there was no sign of her.
Not the khaki shorts with their elaborate stitching, the purple tank with the flowers dotting the hem, not the matching purple bandana she’d tied in her hair as a headband.
No gleam of the gold heart locket she always wore around her neck, the one I’d scrimped and saved to give her.
A tingle lit in my limbs, the kind that told me I wasn’t breathing.
I sucked in air, trying not to inhale or exhale too quickly.
And then I picked up to a jog. My backpack bounced against my tailbone and shoulder blades as I ran along the trail.
Not full-out. I could still scan the trees on both sides and the packed earth below my feet.
But there was nothing.
The twenty minutes I’d estimated it would take us to make it back to the trailhead only took me twelve. The six-or-so-vehicle parking area was empty except for the tiny sedan Nova and I shared. But I didn’t see her anywhere.
Real panic set in. Like when Owen ran from me in the Super Target back in the Bay Area, thinking we were playing the best game known to man. I’d lost half my life in the handful of moments he was out of my sight.
When I found him, I’d burst into tears as I held him to me. A nice older lady had come over, rubbing my back, her dark skin crinkling as she gave me a kind smile. “They’ll give you five hundred heart attacks before they graduate, but you got this, Mama.”
There was no kind lady here now. And there was no sign of my missing friend.
“Nova!” I yelled it as loud as I could this time, spinning in a circle and praying she would miraculously pop out from somewhere. “You’re scaring me!”
And Nova wouldn’t do that. Not for real. Not for more than a brief boo! or a jokey jump scare. Because she cared about me too much.
My circles slowed as hot tears pricked the corners of my eyes. I didn’t know what to do. Go back and look on the trail? Stay here?
I pulled out my phone, wiping dirt from the screen. The second I took in the upper right corner, I cursed. Still no bars.
I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood.
Swallowing, I ordered myself to think, to make a plan. I’d take one more trip out on the trail. If I didn’t see her, I’d drive back into town. I knew we weren’t on federal land, so I guessed there wouldn’t be a ranger station, but maybe there was something similar.
I was starting back toward the trail when a flicker of color caught my eye—the pink and teal hues of a familiar water bottle. It was speckled with dirt, as if it had rolled or been thrown. A glimmer of the holographic butterfly sticker shone through the dirt, sparkling in the sun.
Nova’s water bottle.
A lump caught in my throat, making it hard to breathe. I still managed to scream. I screamed Nova’s name until I was hoarse, but she never answered.