Chapter 12 - Nikki
“You go through books faster than I do,” Nikki remarked as Vincent deposited a fresh stack of books onto the circulation desk.
Vincent shrugged, eyes shining. “What can I say? I love reading. I do it whenever I’ve got spare time.”
“You’ve got more dedication than I do, then. I have to at least take a few breaks to rot my brain online. But how did you like the books?” She gestured at the stack he had placed on the table. “You must have torn through them if you’re already back.”
“They were great! Have you read any of them?” he asked. When she shook her head, he continued, “You’ve got to when you get the chance.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” She pulled the old stack to her and began to scan them back into the system, followed by the new books he wanted to check out.
“Honestly, I don’t know how you manage to get any work done here,” he said. “If I were in your shoes, I would be sitting in a corner, reading all day, every day.”
She laughed. “I probably would, if I thought that I could get away with it. But I’m not about to do that with my boss breathing down my neck.”
“Ah, that’s bad luck,” Vincent drawled when she handed back the books. “Hey, so, when do you get off work?”
She glanced at the clock. “About an hour, I think.”
“How about that hike?” Vincent asked, raising his eyebrows. “It’s going to start getting cold soon. I thought you might have some time today.”
“Oh, I don’t know…” Going out didn’t seem like the best option, considering everything. But that didn’t stop her from wanting to get out, to stretch her legs and get lost in nature for an hour or two.
Vincent must have read it in her expression, because he grinned and leaned over the counter. “C’mon,” he said, eyes sparkling. “Otherwise, you’re gonna have to wait until spring to do anything remotely outdoors. It’ll be fun!”
She hesitated for a moment, debating. But it was so beautiful outside, and it wouldn’t be long before it was too cold to really get out and hike. She bit her lip, eyes straying to the large window, at the inviting blue sky.
Jasper was working late today at a meeting.
Her shift ended mid-afternoon, long before it got dark.
Jasper had no problem with her walking home on her own, as long as she told him when she got back.
And after their last fight, Jasper had eased up on hovering over her shoulder, as long as she was with someone, and let him know her whereabouts.
That urge to get out and stretch her legs sang to her like a siren song.
She used to go hiking all the time, sometimes with Vincent, other times with Amber, sometimes with a large group.
It was one of her favorite things about the Silverrose pack, the fact that it was surrounded by trees on all sides.
The rolling mountains meant there was no end to exploration.
Still, a small tremor of doubt settled in her chest as her mind brought up Lucas sneaking up on them from behind, killing Vincent, and taking her. She swallowed.
“I shouldn’t,” she said.
He shrugged. “Okay. Well, I’m going to camp out in one of the alcoves. If you change your mind, I’ll be here.”
She gave a tight-lipped smile and nodded, already planning on refusing him whenever he prodded her again. He waved at her and wandered out of view, leaving her to handle the gaggle of patrons looming just beyond him.
The last hour dragged on interminably. Rowdy children returning books that had fallen on the ground and stepped on, complete with shoe print; complaining patrons demanding she hurry up while hunting for the single copy of the obscure book they wanted; her boss dropping a load of work in front of her at the circulation desk twenty minutes before she was scheduled to leave.
It was fifteen minutes after her shift had ended, and she was finally finishing up the final pieces of the stack of pages when Vincent walked by, book under his arm. He glanced at the circulation desk, then did a double-take. Chuckling, he walked over.
“Get swamped at the last minute?” he asked.
“You have no idea,” she groused. She ran her fingers through her hair as she finished the final segment and dropped the pen. She flexed her cramping hand, grimacing. “I cannot wait to get out of here.”
“Well, the offer to go hiking still stands, if you’re interested,” he said. “Sounds like you could use the stress relief.”
She peered outside, taking in that bright blue sky and the swishing trees. Birds flew overhead. She could practically feel the wind in her hair.
“Yeah, that sounds great,” she said. “Let me grab my jacket.”
She ran into the backroom and began to grab her belongings.
The phone in her jacket pocket tapped against her hip when she shrugged on the coat.
She pulled it out and considered it. Jasper would be annoyed that she had gone out at all.
She knew that. But he would be even angrier if she didn’t tell him at all.
After a quick moment of deliberation, she sent a brief text.
On a hike with Vincent. Will be back before too long.
She shoved her phone back into her pocket and hurried out of the staff room to meet the waiting Vincent.
***
The sun shone overhead, warming the air despite the autumn chill.
Nikki relished the feel of it on her back as she followed Vincent up a steep slope.
That was the only genuinely pleasant thing about their hike, however.
Brush loomed on either side, and bramble lay under their feet.
Loose rocks slipped out from underneath her feet and dug into the soles of her shoes.
An outstretched branch reached out and snagged her jacket.
Extracting the branch from the denim of her jacket, she frowned, peering around.
“You all right?” Vincent asked a few feet ahead of her.
“Um … yeah.” Something nagged at the back of her head. Part of her wanted to turn back. But she didn’t want to be a bother, so she smiled and kept following.
Calling the trail poorly groomed would be disingenuous to say the least. Overgrown, in shambles, forgotten—those were all better descriptors. She continued trying to clamber along, picking her footing carefully. Vincent shoved through some brush, and Nikki wedged around it.
Her lips twitched downward, and she slowed, something prickling at the back of her skull. “You said this is a trail?” she asked, eyes skimming over the rough terrain, the lack of any well-trod path, the overgrown brush, and the obstructing branches.
“Yeah,” Vincent replied. “It’s relatively obscure, though. Not many in town know about it. It’s great, though. It means it’s peaceful.”
Or too isolated, she thought. That prickling at the back of her head began to mutate into full-on unease. She slowed, turning to look over her shoulder, and realized she could barely find the trail they’d supposedly been following.
“Everything all right?” Vincent trotted back to stand next to her.
“Everything’s fine,” she said, brows knitting together, twisting back around. “But maybe we should head back. It feels like we might have gotten turned around at some point.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Vincent said. “I know exactly where we are.”
“Sure, but I think we should head back.”
“We’re so close, though,” Vincent said. He moved until he was behind her, blocking the way back. “Come on. The view is worth it, I promise.”
Before she could say anything else, his hand went to the small of her back, and he nudged her forward. She glanced behind him, down the trail, and back the way they had come. But she didn’t want to protest or make a scene, so she let him guide her further along the ungroomed trail.
It kept getting worse, though. The brush grew more overgrown, and the trail grew harder and harder to follow.
She slowed twice, and both times Vincent nudged her forward again, murmuring that it was fine and she needed to relax a bit.
The only time his hand moved from the small of her back was when she had to practically scale a boulder in order to keep going.
Eventually, though, when they came to another part of the trail that was little more than a foot wide with overgrown bramble on either side, thorns waiting to snag fabric the second she walked past, she decided she’d had enough.
She came to a halt and stepped away from Vincent, out of his grasp. His hand fell to his side.
“Okay, Vincent, this is far enough,” she said. “I want to go back.”
“Aw, come on,” he said. “Seriously, it’s right over the ridge.”
“I don’t care,” Nikki said. “I want to go back. Now.”
She normally didn’t assert herself like this, and it honestly surprised her. She might not have if it weren’t for all the alarm bells screaming at her. This was wrong. All of this was very wrong. And she wasn’t going to let Vincent make her do something she didn’t want to.
Vincent looked genuinely confused and hurt. “Why?”
Her lips tightened. For a brief moment, she considered letting it drop.
Then her eyes strayed down, following the path they had come from, the overgrown bramble.
She listened to the nearly oppressive silence that weighed down on them from all sides.
Her resolve stiffened, and her shoulders straightened.
“Something isn’t right.”
He barked out a laugh, looking genuinely confused. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
She didn’t smile. “Exactly that,” she said. “Something isn’t right. I don’t know what it is, but I don’t want to be up here a moment longer.”
Huffing, Vincent rolled his eyes. “Nikki, relax. You’re being paranoid.”
She twisted to glance over the ridge. “You said the waterfall is right over the ridge, right?”
“Yeah. We’re almost there.”
Her jaw tightened, and she looked back at Vincent. There must have been something in her eyes, because for the briefest of seconds, she caught a glimpse of surprise flicker across his features.
“Then why don’t I hear any water?” she asked.
Vincent frowned. “What?”
“I should be able to hear the waterfall by now, if there’s really one here,” she said. “So why can’t I hear it?”