She does as I say and takes a seat with the others. All of them look suspicious as hell.
“How do we know you three haven’t taken us out here to do something?” Sophia asks.
Cora tilts her head. “Seriously, Sophia? I know you might be worried right now, but we’re here to take care of you. Everything is fine and soon we’ll be back at camp.”
She huffs and sits down next to Ava.
I sip my water as I walk back to Cora and Kayla.
“Doesn’t that thing have Google Maps?” I ask Kayla.
She smirks. “I asked the same thing. We won’t get service, but Cora’s going to ask Andy to message our location and the direction we’re supposed to head.”
“How’s he going to do that?”
Kayla shrugs. “Do I look like a tech geek?”
With her glossy hair, manicured nails and hot pink sunglasses, no, she does not.
Cora is still talking on the phone. Her voice is as calm as always, as if she’s letting Andy know we’re almost there, not that we got lost in the forest with twelve young girls.
This isn’t going to look good on my CIT record.
“Yes, that’s correct…Looks like it was,” Cora says into the cell.
I’m guessing Andy is asking about the ripped flags.
“All right, Andy has tracked the phone number and is sending us the directions back to camp.”
“He tracked us?” I ask.
“Camp cell phone,” she replies, holding it up.
Okay, that’s less creepy.
“Good,” I say, sliding my water bottle back into my bag.
“Looks like we need to go southeast and we’ll be back shortly,” Cora says after the phone beeps. “We’re minutes away!”
She puts the phone away, opens her compass and starts to walk slowly.
“All right, we know where we are, and we’re off. Up we get, girls,” Cora says, waving her arms as she passes them.
“Are we close?” Ava asks.
“Ridiculously close,” I reply. “Despite the lack of flags, we almost got back.”
Sophia’s shoulders drop. “But we didn’t.”
“But we will. Come on, do you want a big bowl of mac and cheese or not?”
Her eyes widen. “I do.”
“Then let’s go!”
Four minutes. That’s how far away we were. If everyone was out on the lake or outside, we probably would have heard them.
“Mac and cheese,” Ava cheers, followed by whoops and squeals from the other girls.
It’s funny the psychology of being lost to post-lost.
The girls had been hunched, looking around, whispering, worrying. I was convinced we were goners and now I can see us splashing around in the lake this afternoon without a care in the world.
Now it’s no big deal. The knowledge that we’re almost back and there’s mac and cheese waiting has them forgetting one very important thing.
The fact that someone wanted us to lose our way hasn’t changed.
Whatever they think they believe because Cora told her white lie with conviction, they’d realize the truth if they thought about it for a second.
Red material dropped by someone else at the same time our red flags go missing? Unlikely.
Kayla falls in line with me. This time Cora trusts both of us to be at the back and make sure none of the girls decide to run away. As if at this point they would be so stupid.
What with a flag-stealing stalker maniac out there and all.
“Something is off, right?” I whisper.
Kayla shrugs. “Think about it logically.”
“I have.”
“Who could it be?” she asks.
“I don’t know who!” Not exactly. “People do all kinds of crazy stuff for all sorts of reasons. Some just because they’re bored. Maybe someone from town is trying to make it an eventful summer.”
“Then don’t worry about it, Esme. They’ve had their fun.”
“Yeah, but what if they’re just getting started?”
“Babe, stop. You’re going to fry that big brain of yours if you don’t stop thinking.”
I’m not usually this bad. It’s being back here.
“Okay, I’m done,” I tell Kayla, mostly to stop her from thinking too much about who could be out here. And I’ll do my best to ignore what my mind is trying to convince me of. It’s like my mind and I are separate entities sometimes. The battle of staying sane versus letting hysteria take over.
I don’t want to think the worst. This summer is supposed to be fun and I’m letting what is probably some innocent prank get to me.
Kayla and I pulled pranks when we were here. Everyone does. It usually starts with the counselors once the campers have settled in. Then it goes back and forth.
The most likely culprits are teens from town who have wandered onto camp property and stolen some flags from the trees.
A cheer from the girls jolts me from my incessant thoughts.
My muscles unlock.
We’re back.
The trees give way to open land and a glorious body of water. I am so freaking happy to see the lake!
The girls run for the food hall chanting about mac and cheese. Andy laughs and steps out of their way before they trample him.
He waits for us to catch up.
“Thank God we’re back,” Cora says. “Thanks, Andy.”
“What happened?”
She takes the scrap of red material out of her pocket. “Looks like someone has been having fun on camp grounds.”
Andy takes it from her hand. “Someone has taken the flags off?”
“Yeah.”
Muttering something under his breath, he straightens his shoulders. “I’ll deal with this. We’ll have Garret and Ward come in and set the flags up again. Go eat. And well done on staying calm and getting help when you needed it.”
I smile at Andy, feeling like a bit of a fraud for accepting his praise along with Cora and Kayla. I didn’t show the girls that I was worried, I suppose. That’s what counts.
“You good?” Kayla asks me.
“Yep. You?”
“I’m fine,” she replies, and trips over the threshold of the food hall.