Chapter 39
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.
Please, God, don’t let her have killed someone and convinced Kayde to help her hide the body.He hadn’t been in my cabin last night, so he really could’ve been anywhere.
Like hiding a body with Melody.
“It’s not me. Not…all me,” she admits hesitantly. “Some boys were acting weird this morning. They were acting all nasty and trying to start fights. When it started to affect Redtail, I asked one of them what his problem was. He wouldn’t tell me. But he kept mentioning…I don’t know. Something about a knife.”
A knife?
My heart hammers in my throat, and I stare at her, partly horrified. “Who? And where’s the knife, Mel?” I ask softly, hoping that she’s wrong or that there’s at least nothing to worry about.
“I don’t know if there is a knife. I don’t know—I didn’t want Redtail around that. Even if they were just being full of shit.” God, I really can’t blame her for that. “And it wasn’t too long ago. Just before we got our harnesses.”
“Who was it?” I force myself to ask the question calmly, even as my eyes rove around the clearing as if I can pinpoint who’s missing.
“Two of Shawn’s boys. I don’t know their names, I’m sorry. They didn’t want anyone to tell. They?—”
“Thank you.” I lunge to my feet, one hand on her shoulder. “I’m going to go find them, okay? Thank you for telling me. You’re not in trouble.” I toss the words over my shoulder as I bolt back into the clearing, eyes on Kinsley and Liza.
It only takes a few seconds and words to convey my worries to them, and the two of them bolt off in opposite directions just as fingers close around my wrist. “What’s wrong?” Kayde’s voice is sharp, and I only falter for a moment at how quickly he’d realized something was off.
But then again, by his own admission, Kayde is always watching me. So why the hell should I be shocked? “We think one of Shawn’s boys got a hold of a knife,” I tell him quickly. “Melody told me. I have no idea which kid, but Shawn’s cabin is definitely missing a few boys.” I point over in their general direction, where five boys mill around, looking bored.
“Yeah,” Kayde agrees. “Okay.” Without another word, he takes off as well, heading into the woods in a direction that neither Kins nor Liza had gone.
Before I can follow them, however, my wrist is grabbed again, and Melody glares up at me with determination. “Come on,” she tells me, like she’s the one in charge of making sure this doesn’t end badly.
“Melody, I have to look for?—”
“Come on!” she demands, and proceeds to drag me over to the place where Shawn’s cabin, Bobcat, is still hanging out after their run on the obstacle course. “Hey!” Her voice is loud enough that they hear her, and two of the boys look absolutely petrified of my little monster. “Where’s your friend?” she demands, finally dropping my wrist. “The one talking about the knife?”
Two of the boys trade looks, and as one opens his mouth with an unfriendly smirk on his face, I step between him and Melody. “Tell me or you’re all going home today with letters to your parents that you aren’t allowed back,” I inform all of them quietly. “Tell me now if this was a prank, or a lie, or what?—”
“Shawn doesn’t know.” The small, dark-haired boy stares up at me with wide eyes and two of his peers turn to scoff at him. “I can’t get sent home,” he snaps at them, shaking his head. “They were snooping around in Shawn’s room before breakfast. They found a knife. It-it’s one of those Swiss Army Knives, you know? With all the tools?”
Why in the world was Shawn leaving shit like that around for kids to find?
“Where and who?” I ask, eyes still on them. “Now.” I don’t have time to be nice right now. Not with my body vibrating with nerves.
“Alec. Umm, he has brown hair and glasses,” the boy tells me, glancing around at his friends. “We don’t know where he is, though.”
“Wouldn’t tell you if we did,” a blond boy sneers, and that prompts Melody into lunging forward, her hand going out to grip his shirt.
“Listen, fuck-face—” she hisses, right before I cut her off.
“Whoa, whoa Mel. Language.” Though, the words only get me three withering looks and Melody dragging the boy forward.
“Where is he?” she demands, eyes boring into his.
I’m about to tell her to stop. I’m about to say that he clearly doesn’t know when all of a sudden, under the weight of her gaze that holds the same kind of threat as Kayde’s, the boy visibly wilts. “He went back to the cabin with Nolan,” he whispers at last. “They were going to see what else they could find in?—”
I don’t let him finish. I set off at a run, meeting Daniel’s eyes and signaling for him to take charge of the kids. Between him and Darcy, I’m sure they can handle everyone for a bit. His surprise is clear, but he nods when he sees the urgency in my face.
I’m halfway to Bobcat before I realize Melody is still with me, the clips on her harness jingling with every step. “Go back!” I pant to her, tearing down the path. “Melody?—”
“I’ll go back once you find them,” she interrupts, meeting my eyes with her own stubborn gaze. God, I hate this kid sometimes. But I can recognize a fight I’ll struggle to win, so I shake my head and stop protesting.
I don’t have the mental bandwidth to worry about something else, anyway. Bobcat looms in front of me, and just as my feet hit the boards of the deck, I hear a yelp from inside, followed by a shriek.
Oh fuck.
The door slams against its hinges as I shove it open, and the first thing I see are two shocked faces as the boys of Bobcat stare up at me, shocked. One of them, who isn’t holding the knife, sways a little, his face pale.
“What are you—” My throat closes when I see the blood on his hands, pooling along the side of his thumb. “Fuck. Melody!” I whirl around, blocking her from coming in.
Not that she hasn’t seen it before,as Kayde would probably say.
But Kayde isn’t here right now.
Her gaze snaps up to mine and I see her hands clenching and unclenching, as if she’s dying to do something instead of just stand here. “Go get Liza. Now. Tell her to meet me at her cabin. Then, umm.” I blink hard, thinking.
“Then tell Kayde and Kinsley?” Melody asks, a little unsure.
God, she really is the best twelve-year-old to have in a crisis. I nod jerkily, my stomach twisting. I need to figure out how badly this kid is hurt, but I’m half-terrified to turn around.
This is definitely something I’ve never dealt with before. “Yeah. Yes. Do all of that, please.” She takes off without another word, and that has me spinning back around, my long strides taking me into the cabin as the not-bleeding boy jumps to his feet, the knife clattering to the floor.
“I didn’t mean to,” he stammers, backing away with his eyes on his still-silent friend. “It was an accident. We were trying to cut a belt and?—”
“Towels. Get me towels.” I don’t need his explanation. Not with the blood roaring in my ears. I kneel and pocket the bloody knife, making sure the blade is tucked away before I do. Then, I have no other choice. My eyes find the short, sluggishly bleeding wound on his hand, and I can’t help the tremors in my fingers as I pull his hand to me to figure out how bad it is.
Well, at least he isn’t bleeding to death.
His friend returns seconds later with hand towels and beach towels, so I choose one of the former and wrap it around the wound, tightly enough that he yelps. “What’s your name?” I ask quietly, hating that I’m hurting him to staunch the flow of blood. “Are you feeling dizzy?”
“Nolan,” the boy whimpers, eyes on the white towel that’s slowly turning red. “N-no I’m not—I’m just nauseous. I’m sorry. We didn’t mean?—”
“I know. It’s okay. You’re okay.” It’s not really okay, but I need them not to freak out. For a moment I consider asking him if he can walk, but between the way he sways, and the blood draining from his face even as I watch, makes me reconsider that real fast. “You’re okay,” I tell him again, getting to my feet just to bend back down and pull him into my arms.
I haven’t had first aid or camp counselor classes in a bit, but I at least remember to lift with my legs instead of my back. And it helps that Nolan is a pretty scrawny twelve-year-old.
“What do I do?” the other boy, who must be Alec, whispers. “Am I?—”
“We’re going to Liza’s cabin. All of us.” My voice is firm, and it’s hard not to sprint across the grass toward my destination. But I certainly don’t want to trip and have Nolan get hurt further, even though my heart is pounding in fear against my ribs.
“He’s okay, right?” Alec’s voice is so small, and I can hear the tremble in it, so I flash him a smile that I hope seems believable.
“He’s totally okay. You’re okay,” I promise Nolan, Liza’s cabin coming into sight just as footsteps herald the arrival of Kayde at my side.
“Let me take him,” he murmurs, reaching out to me. I don’t even hesitate. Kayde is bigger than me, and obviously more used to carrying people, because he slings Nolan into his arms quickly and easily before taking off with long, quick strides toward Liza’s end of the camp.
“I’m so sorry,” Alec whispers, and when I glance down at him, I see his eyes are clenched shut hard. “I really, really didn’t mean to, Summer.”
“It’s—” I swallow, and force myself to smile as we follow Kayde to the infirmary. “It’s okay.” Even though it’s not. It’s really not, and this could have been so much worse. “But hey, can you tell me something? Where’s Shawn?”
When Alec just stares blankly up at me and shrugs, I have my answer. But it’s a shitty one. “You don’t know?”
“He was feeling pretty off today,” Alec explains. “He told us Daniel would take us over the obstacle course, but he needed to go see Liza and, uh, puke. Food poisoning, he said.”
My brows knit in confusion, and maybe the barest hint of concern for Shawn, but the moment we hit the steps, I shake that off and shove it to the back of my mind for another time.
I don’t have time to worry about Shawn’s delicate tummy when Nolan is bleeding through a towel after being cut with a knife neither of them should have been able to find.
“But I thought you guys found this in Shawn’s room,” I have the forethought to say, turning once more to look at Alec as he climbs the three stairs to the cabin. “Didn’t you?”
Alec nods, looking nervous. “We were looking for Shawn,” he admits carefully. “And Nolan found it in his nightstand. In a big bag full of weird stuff.”
I open my mouth, then close it, as Alec bolts across the room to where his friend sits on the edge of a bed, swaying, while Liza examines his hand. There’s nothing else for me to say, or ask. At least not right now.
Not when everyone except these two boys knows that there’s going to be a trip to the hospital and calls to parents that definitely won’t end well.
And I’m sure I’ll be the one explaining how in the world someone’s kid got a hold of a knife.
What a shitty way to spend the rest of my day.