Chapter 4
It happens sometimes, though I hadn’t expected this problem to hit tonight. Not when things have been exhausting since the new kids arrived, not even forty-eight hours ago. Normally, when I’m here at Camp Crestview, I sleep better than I do at home. Even though my tiny room is much smaller than the one in my mom’s house. Even though I’m constantly listening, making sure the kids aren’t actually performing a seance or planning a murder.
So I hadn’t expected to not be able to sleep tonight. Especially to the extent where the room in my cabin feels claustrophobic; the air seems stale even though I have every window open as far as they’ll go. The room is tiny, with just a bed, nightstand, trunk, and small table by the door. But over the past three years, I’ve gained an appreciation for having a private, mostly quiet place to sleep.
Yet tonight I can’t even stay in bed, let alone fall asleep.
I pick at my nails, wincing every time the skin of my cuticles pulls in a sharp, twisting way under my motions. My knees are pulled almost up to my chest as I sit on the stairs outside of the door to my room, and I stare out at the trees and the mostly dark camp. The only people up this late are the counselors and any kid that’s planning a coup.
I hope when someone does, it’s the kids from Coyote cabin. Just so they can make Kayde’s first time here memorable.
Wincing particularly hard, I set my teeth against the pain in my thumb; staring down at my hand in the dark, even though I know I won’t really be able to see the blood that wells on my skin. Tomorrow my fingers are going to look like I stuck them in the trash disposal. But there’s nothing I can do about the way I absently pick at them whenever I can’t even close my eyes to stare at the backs of my eyelids while I wait for sleep.
Footsteps crunch on the gravel that runs from one cabin to the other, and I glance up from my thumb with a frown on my face at the bobbing flashlight coming my way. It’s not one of the kids. The flashlight is too high for that, and any child sneaking out wouldn’t just be walking up to me like this.
But my brows lift by increments when I see Darcy’s face, illuminated by the faint light from my cabin as she approaches. “Tell me you aren’t just getting started with your walk,” I say plaintively, not quite asking. Walk arounds, which are done nightly by one of us, start way earlier than now, when I know it’s at least eleven, if not midnight.
Darcy stares back balefully at me, none of the friendliness from earlier at the lifeguard throne on her face. We’ve never been the greatest of friends, and I doubt her love for Kayde Lane is going to change that this session.
“So what?” Darcy mutters, one hand folding under her chest as she shines the flashlight a few inches under my eyes. It’s a little aggressive, and I feel like she’s trying to make a point that she could blind me, if she wanted to be less kind.
But Darcy really isn’t that kind, so when the light jerks upward to burn my retinas, I’m smart enough to see it coming and shut them fast.
“You know you were supposed to start hours ago.” My words remain quiet. I don’t want to wake up the kids in theRedtail Cabin, and if Darcy does, I’m going to dunk her in the pool and hold her there until the chlorine burns her extensions. “Fink lets us get away with a lot, but?—”
“Fine.” By her clipped, irritated tone, Darcy isn’t in the mood for my shit tonight. I fidget, reminding myself that there are kids only maybe sleeping nearby, and I don’t want to expand their vocabulary while they’re here by telling Darcy exactly what words are itching at my tongue. “You can do it then, if you want to be so anal about it, Summer.” She doesn’t even give me the flashlight. She drops it to the ground, causing it to flicker.
“You’re ridiculous,” I hiss, already on my feet. “If you wanted to swap for a different night, why not just ask at dinner?” I swipe up the flashlight from the gravel, brushing it off and returning her earlier favor by shining it straight in her eyes from two feet away.
She squints, chin jerking to the side as she holds a hand up between us to block the light. “Because earlier it was fine.”
“Yeah?” I can’t help how grumpy I sound, but I turn off the light. With the few lights sprinkled around the camp and my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I don’t need it all the time. Mostly just when I’m in the woods. “What changed?”
“I saw Kayde hanging around my cabin with Daniel,” Darcy sighs, rubbing her arms. “Come on. You’ve seen him. Why do I want to do the stupid night walk when he’s still up and apparently looking for something?” She fixes me with a look that I turn away from. Whatever she wants to do with Kayde is her own business. And if he wants to follow her back to her cabin like a lovestruck deer, then good for him.
Shifting my weight from foot to foot, I pretend she isn’t looking at me with a mixture of irritation and pleading. I could tell her no. She’ll do the walk around herself, even if it is rushed and half-assed.
“Fine,” I mutter, shaking my head. “You’re lucky I can’t sleep. Go get your man, or whatever.” If she thinks Kayde is into her, then he probably is, I assume. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be so eager to hunt him down again.
Even if I had been interested in him, I’d forgotten about the primal force that is Darcy. No crush of mine could ever stand a chance against her being here to swoop in and get whoever she wants.
But I’m not interested in summer love, anyway. The day I meet my forever-person at a kid’s summer camp is the day I check myself into the psych ward, or figure out how I ended up in a shitty Hallmark rom-com.
Darcy’s grin turns wolfish, and even as she speaks, she’s already walking away from me. “I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow,” she assures me, but I shake my head.
“Do me a favor and don’t.” I take a moment to dip back into my room for my phone, and by the time I’m down the stairs with it in my back pocket, there’s no sign of Darcy. She’s probably running back to her cabin by now, and instead of bothering to look, I set off on the normal route to check the camp for anything out of place, or any kids that should be fast asleep by now.
While this isn’t the most exciting part of my job here, I enjoy walking the campground at night. It’s peaceful, for one, and this is the only time I ever get to say that about Camp Crestview. My flashlight flicks over cabin doors and the doors of the larger buildings in movements that are muscle memory by now. As per usual, there’s no one sneaking around or even out of bed that I can see. Wherever Daniel and the other counselors are, it’s nowhere I need to go, it seems.
Most likely, they’re getting high at the staff house. Those that aren’t asleep, at least. I know for a fact Kinsley is dead to the world, and knowing Liza, she probably is, too. Though she doesn’t have a cabin full of kids to watch out for.
Once I’ve done my circuit of the main camp and ended up back at my cabin, I change direction. Checking on the camp facilities is only half of the job. The second part of this task is walking around the perimeter of the property, close to the woods and the lake. I don’t know what anyone would be doing that far out, and certainly any animals that I come across will run away long before I can see them.
But I’m not Darcy. I don’t cut my walk short, or forget the second half of it altogether as I traipse down the trail just behind the cabins.
Once I’m in the trees, I do actually need the flashlight. The light from the buildings is faint—when I can see it at all—but most of the time I’m walking through almost total darkness.
It’s so quiet out here. Quieter than my brain is at any given time. And quieter than both the main camp and my mom’s house are. I wish I could keep this calm, and the darkness is definitely an added bonus as a breeze ruffles the leaves of the surrounding trees.
I’ve always liked the dark.
The flashlight is cursory as I follow the dirt trail, and I use my ears more than my eyes to make sure I’m not creeping up on a bear or a rabid coyote. Not that I’ve ever seen either. Frankly, I doubt tonight is the time to change that.
Belatedly, it hits me that as my flashlight bounces, it’s hitting something that shouldn’t be there. Something bobs in the trees ahead of me, not quite sticking to the trail. By my mental map, I know we’re close to the lake on the side of the camp with the drop-off zone, but this deep in the woods all I should be able to see is a sliver of reflective water through a gap in the trees. Really, it’s mostly just trees and grass and dirt.
“Hello?” I swear the movement looks like walking, though instead of my flashlight catching the familiar design of the garish shirts we wear as counselors, I see a person dressed in a bulky, long-sleeve jacket.
In July? My brain protests in horror. I can barely be pressed to put a jacket on when my teeth are chattering, let alone when I’m close to sweating. “Darcy?” I know it isn’t Darcy. Even if her plans with Kayde didn’t work out, she wouldn’t do something to be helpful or responsible.
As my steps pick up and I’m jogging down the path, it hits me that the person in front of me can’t be Darcy. They’re too tall, for one, and even without the bulk of the jacket, this figure isn’t as slim as the ex-volleyball player. “Hello?” It doesn’t even hit me to be freaked out until I’m within ten or so feet of the still moving person. “If this is a joke—” My throat closes around a breath I take, and it finally dawns on me that I might be doing something stupid by running up to a stranger in the dark who really shouldn’t be in these woods.
But I’m too close to stop now. My hand goes up and out, fingers reaching as they close finally on the slick material of the black jacket that originally caught the light from my flashlight. As I close my grip on the person, I swear I can both feel and hear them sigh in front of me, as if they’re resigned to some inevitable fact now.
“Who are—” My words break off just as the hooded figure turns a little, enough for me to see the glimmer of light brown, gorgeous eyes set over high cheekbones and a wide, full mouth made for smiling. “Kayde?” My tone lifts, too high and too loud, but Kayde doesn’t respond. He doesn’t even fully turn around.
The resignation reaches his eyes, and he glances around us, like he’s waiting for someone else. “What are you doing here, Summer?” he asks at last, still twisting away from me. “I thought you said tonight was Darcy’s night to walk the camp at night.”
“It is—well, it was,” I find myself explaining, though my words are as unsure as the churning in my stomach. “Wait, no. Hold on a second. You don’t get to ask me what I’m doing out here. What the hell are you doing here?! Darcy said you were with Daniel. That’s why she pawned this off on me. Did something…happen?”
His low laugh makes my skin crawl, and I can’t help but snatch my hand back from his jacket. Why is he wearing a jacket with the hood up, anyway?
“Stupid fucking Darcy,” Kayde murmurs at last, lifting one hand to rake it through his curly hair and forcing it back. “Can’t even trust her to stick to the fucking schedule, huh? And what do you think you’re doing anyway, Summer?” His eyes pin me suddenly from over his shoulder, and I find myself shifting uncomfortably on my feet, like I’ve been caught doing something against the rules.
“Doing Darcy’s walk,” I snapped at last, feeling only the tiniest bit defensive. “What the hell are you doing? I thought you were a—fuck, I don’t know, like?—”
“A serial killer?” The way he says the words is…strange. They roll off of his tongue like he’s purring, and he still watches me from narrowed, glittering eyes as he tracks my every movement. “You thought you were reaching out and grabbing the jacket of a murderer, Summer?”
This time, when he says my name, there’s nothing flat or dismissive about it. Though when that sends a shiver down my spine, I can’t decide if it’s a good or bad thing. I laugh awkwardly, tasting the discomfort in the back of my throat when I swallow. “Yeah. Something…something like that. Lucky for me it’s just you, though, right?”
The words don’t feel right on my tongue.
His smile turns…strange. Pitying, in a way, and he seems to argue internally with himself before letting out a rough, quick sigh. “Well, I don’t know, sweetheart.” He turns fully, and the light I’m holding falls on the bright, reflective thing he holds in his other hand.
“Feels like tonight might be your unlucky night, actually. Really wish you were asleep right now.” His grip shifts as he turns, and when he stands to face me fully, I find I can’t move a damn muscle.
Not with my eyes fixed on Kayde Lane, and the ax he’s holding in the hand that was hidden from me until now.
“Oh, my god.” The words come out as a whisper as all the warmth drains out of me, into the ground below.
“Not quite,” Kayde responds, still with that half-apologetic smile. “And if you’re really good for me, sweetheart, I won’t make you meet him tonight.”