The Lake Read online

  ALSO BY NATASHA PRESTON

  The Cellar

  Awake

  The Cabin

  You Will Be Mine

  The Lost

  The Twin

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Text copyright © 2021 by Natasha Preston

  Cover art copyright © 2021 by Kristy Campbell/Arcangel Images

  The Twin text excerpt copyright © 2020 by Natasha Preston. Cover art copyright © 2020 by Marie Carr/Arcangel.

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

  Delacorte Press is a registered trademark and the colophon is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.

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  Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at RHTeachersLibrarians.com

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Preston, Natasha, author.

  Title: The lake / Natasha Preston.

  Description: First edition. | New York : Delacorte Press, [2021] |

  Audience: Ages 12 and up. | Summary: Seventeen-year-old best friends Esme and Kayla return to Camp Pine Lake as counselors in training, but the dark secret they have been hiding for nine years is back to haunt them.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2020028605 (print) | LCCN 2020028606 (ebook) | ISBN 978-0-593-12497-0 (trade paperback) | ISBN 978-0-593-12499-4 (ebook)

  Subjects: CYAC: Camps—Fiction. | Secrets—Fiction. | Best friends—Fiction. | Friendship—Fiction. | Camp counselors—Fiction. | Mystery and detective stories.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.P9234 Lak 2021 (print) | LCC PZ7.P9234 (ebook) | DDC [Fic]—dc23

  Ebook ISBN 9780593124994

  Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

  Penguin Random House LLC supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin Random House to publish books for every reader.

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  Contents

  Cover

  Also by Natasha Preston

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Acknowledgments

  Excerpt from The Twin

  Steve, Kyra, and Abbi. Thank you for visiting my books in Barnes & Noble while you were on holiday in NYC! You guys are the best. Steve, you’ll be missed always and remembered forever.

  1

  We’re returning to camp, to new friendships, to songs and s’mores around the campfire…and to the scene of our crime.

  I lean between the front seats to get a better look out the windshield. “There it is,” I say as we drive under the large camp pine lake sign. It’s exactly as I remember it, the name carved into the wood.

  Glancing down, I trace one finger across identical bold lettering on the pamphlet I received earlier this year. Kayla and I both got letters asking us to consider becoming counselors-in-training.

  We’re back.

  My best friend of fifteen years glances at me as the cab crawls to a stop. She pouts her glossy lips, which makes her eyebrows pull together. “Does it seem, I don’t know, smaller to you?”

  “Everything seems bigger when you’re a kid, Kayla,” I remind her. The last time we were here was nine years ago.

  Compared to the other camps nearby, which really aren’t that near, we’re the smallest. But the best. Camp Pine Lake takes girls and boys ages seven to ten. Kayla and I spent two epic summers here when we were seven and eight.

  We didn’t come back when we were nine or ten.

  We didn’t dare.

  But we’re seventeen now. It’s time.

  Kayla squeals as she opens the cab door. “Yes! This summer is going to be amazing.” She winks at me. “We can even stay up late this time.”

  “We stayed up late when we were campers.”

  The very second I open the other passenger door and we lose the AC, I feel like I’m going to melt. At least our uniforms are shorts and T-shirts. Texas summers can be brutal. I forgot how insane the heat is.

  “Yeah, but this time we’re actually allowed to.”

  Kind of. “We have to stay in the same cabin as the kids,” I remind Kayla. It feels like more of a lateral move.

  Kayla grins. “Esme, we’ll be in our own teeny room, though. A bedroom in a bedroom. We’ll have some privacy.” Her eyes flit over the grounds. “I hope they have some cute counselors here.”

  There’s my bestie. Kayla is boy crazy, loves pink and heels, and falls in love about every three minutes.

  We thank the cabdriver, then pay and tip him as he removes our bags for us.

  I lick my lips, swallowing as I take a look around. I’m really back. I feel a little ping in my stomach. I reach for Kayla’s arm as she goes to pick up her pink camo suitcase. “Kay…are we doing the right thing coming back?”

  She groans. “Don’t overthink it. We’re going to be fine. Everything is going to be fine.”

  Nodding, I pretend to agree. “We’re not kids anymore.”

  “Exactly. No one here knew us back then, so no one knows what happened. Chillax.”

  “Do people still say ‘chillax’?” I let go of her and smile as s
he glares. “All right. I’ll chillax. We’ll be fine. The last of my nerves have officially gone, I promise.”

  What a stupid promise.

  “I did not miss the Texas heat,” she says, her shoulders slumping.

  I wave my hand in front of my face like a lunatic. “Can air be on fire? Because I think it is. Why has no one put more research into outdoor AC?…Look, there they all are. The counselors and the other CITs.”

  Kayla squeals and we drag our suitcases across the grass to the group gathered outside a cabin. How can they stand to be exposed in this heat?

  “We need to find Andy,” Kayla tells me.

  Andy Marson is our boss. His name is on all the starter paperwork we were sent. He’s the one in charge. Kayla and I have been paired together and assigned a counselor we’ll do most of our activities with, along with our small group of campers.

  “Which one do you think is Andy?” she asks.

  I scan the group. “My money is on the redheaded guy with the clipboard.”

  He lifts his chin as we approach, and his pale eyes light up. “Ah, our final CITs are here. Kayla Price and Esme Randal?”

  “Kayla,” she says, lifting her hand.

  “I’m Esme,” I say.

  Andy scribbles something on his clipboard. “Glad everyone is here. We’re going to have a blast this summer, but first we need to get to know each other. Then I want to run through some rules and safety information.”

  He motions to two girls behind him. “This is Rebekah and Tia. And over there are Olly and Jake. They’re all CITs too. You’ll have your free evenings with them.” Andy then rattles off some rules, but I know Kayla isn’t listening. Her eyes are firmly on the two very cute guys standing behind Andy. Olly and Jake.

  Camp just got a lot more interesting.

  Rebekah and Tia step up to us with identical toothy smiles. That’s the only thing similar about them. Rebekah is tall, with pale skin and shoulder-length ash-brown hair. She looks kind and a little bit lost, with her gentle, nervous blue eyes. Tia is petite, with black skin and large brown eyes. Her silky dark hair is so long it almost touches her butt.

  “Hi,” Rebekah says with a Southern twang.

  “We’re going to have the best summer,” Tia says.

  “Absolutely. Do you know which cabin is yours yet?” I ask.

  “Rebekah and I are in Verbena. You’re in Bluebonnet, the one right next to the food hall.” Tia leans in, and I realize we’re about the same height. “They’re kind of small, but the beds look comfortable enough. Me and Rebekah are sharing a cabin with those two, and they’re a little scary.”

  Tia points at two older girls who are full counselors. They both have dark heavy bangs and short bobs. One is pale like me, and the other has a gorgeous olive tan, the kind that Kayla pays for every six weeks.

  “Mary and Catalina,” Tia tells me. “Otherwise known as the Buttercups. Like the Powerpuff Girls.”

  I laugh. That’s exactly who they look like. “Why are they scary?” I ask.

  “Kind of intense when they’re talking to you. You’ll see what I mean.”

  “I wonder who we’ll report to,” I ask, looking around.

  “Oh, I heard Andy talking. You guys report to Cora. She seems supernice. I think she just went into the food hall. It’s kind of a mess in there, with a lot of equipment that needs sorting before the campers arrive. Final checks apparently.”

  “You get the impression that this is, like, the tenth final check?” I ask, watching Andy rushing from cabin to cabin with his clipboard.

  Tia laughs. “Oh, for sure.”

  Rebekah and Kayla are chatting, having a similar conversation to ours, but Kayla is doing all the talking. My bestie can talk. Rebekah seems kind of overwhelmed, with her arms curled around her body and her eyes darting everywhere like she’s trying to figure out all the escape routes.

  Tia laughs and pulls me to the side. “Rebekah’s from Kansas and applied to be a CIT because she wants to gain confidence before college. She’s so sweet I feel like I’m getting a cavity just talking to her.”

  “Well, we can definitely help her out,” I say. “We get our evenings off together. I wonder if we’ll be allowed to leave camp.”

  Tia groans. “Apparently not. But I did a little research before I arrived, and there’s a shortcut through the forest, right by the bramblebush at the side of the lake. It takes you to the edge of town, and there are no lights up that way.”

  I remember the shortcut….But I don’t want Tia to know I was a camper here. My eyes widen. “I have heart palpitations already.”

  “You don’t want to come?” she asks.

  “Oh no, I’ll come.”

  She smirks. “Do you scare easily?”

  “No, but it’s not often that I walk through an unfamiliar forest at night. Kayla is going to freak out.”

  “We’ll be fine. Why is Kayla going to freak out?”

  “Shh,” I hush Tia, and tug her closer. “I’ll tell you another time.”

  Kayla is so scared of any kind of danger. It’s a fear that not even extensive therapy has managed to calm. She doesn’t need to be worrying about sneaking through a dark forest yet.

  Rebekah glances at us both like she knows exactly what we’re talking about. Tia has already had this conversation with her.

  “CITs, if you can finish unpacking and then head back out to the fire for lunch, we’ll eat and then go to the multiuse cabin so I can assign you a job!” Andy shouts, looking at something on his clipboard.

  Tia cuts me a look. “He’s going to be a nightmare.”

  Yeah.

  Kayla and I head to our cabin to unpack. Kayla stands in front of the full-length mirror in our little room. The separate room gives us a little privacy while also making it easy to keep an eye on the campers.

  We’ll be sharing a bunk bed and a minuscule dresser since the cabin is so small. Cora, full-fledged camp counselor, has the other tiny room in the cabin.

  Kayla and I will be rotating nights off with Cora so there is always a counselor in the cabin with the campers. I remember being so jealous of the counselors and CITs whenever it was their turn to sit by the campfire after hours. Now I get to do it.

  I take the top bunk because Kayla doesn’t like heights.

  The cabin smells like wood and pine trees. Big surprise, right? The bunks look new, not like the old ones with names and private jokes scribbled in Sharpie on the sides.

  “Which one do you like?” Kayla asks, and because I know her, I know she’s referring to Jake and Olly.

  “That didn’t take you long.”

  She arches one perfectly shaped eyebrow in the mirror and fluffs her blond hair. Kayla is gorgeous, with fake tanned skin, huge blue eyes, thick lips and a killer figure with curves in all the best places. I’m pretty sure I’m going to look like a middle schooler—petite, skinny and pale—in the camp uniform, especially next to her. Texas might give me a nice tan, though.

  “Which one, babe?” she asks.

  “Hos before bros,” I tell her, shoving my few belongings in the closet. I place my parents’ picture on top.

  “Fine. I like Jake.”

  Like I didn’t know that. Tall, sandy blond hair, blue eyes and built like a football player, Jake is definitely Kayla’s type.

  “Shocker,” I say sarcastically. “Go for it.”

  Kayla has unpacked all her clothes and hung them neatly.

  “Summer’s going to fly by, Esme. We have to move fast.”

  “So does that mean you’ll sneak out with me into town one night?”

  Her eyes narrow. “Seriously? Nothing good ever happens when you sneak into a forest at night.”

  I give her a nudge. “Things are going to be different this summer. Please, you baby, there’s nothing scary in the woods.
”

  2

  Another minute slowly ticks by on my watch. Lunch is dragging.

  I’m sitting under a pine tree with Kayla, Tia and Rebekah.

  Olly and Jake are close by, a couple of trees over with the other male CITs, Marcus and Lorenzo. They seem more interested in spending time with each other than getting to know us. They might be a little older.

  We’ve been here for about an hour and the counselor cliques are complete.

  On my little paper plate there is a hot dog smothered in ketchup and charred corn. The second I take a bite out of the hot dog, I’m eight years old again. The taste brings me back to long summers swimming in the lake, and Kayla and me as skinny kids with dirty knees and wild hair. We’d eat hot dogs almost every day at camp, along with mac and cheese.

  I loved it so much, and I can’t wait to give the campers the same experience.

  “He keeps looking at you,” Tia sings.

  “What?”

  “Olly. He’s talking to the guys, but about every three seconds his eyes wander your way.”

  I’m not even going to pretend I’m not interested in tall, dark and handsome. I would have to tilt my head up to talk to him, but I have to do that with almost everyone.

  “What about you, Tia?”

  She shrugs. “I’m not really into guys.”

  “There are girls here.”

  Her cheeks turn pink. “Well…Cora.”

  “How old is she?”