The Lake Page 7

  “We’re going to get you back, Andy!” Zak from Olly’s group shouts.

  Andy smirks. “I invite you to try.”

  The mood lifts. A tinge of excitement makes my heart leap. I loved getting involved in silly pranks. Some of my favorites were putting food coloring in the milk dispensers, icing cleaning sponges to look like cake and stuffing counselors’ shoes with tissue.

  Now it’s on.

  Kayla rubs her hands together. “We need to think of something to do to them.”

  “There is plenty,” Cora replies.

  We sit and plot pranks by the fire, eating s’mores and chatting about how much fun the next few weeks are going to be.

  I only forget Lillian for a second.

  We don’t know that she was really hurt that night. She probably ran away too. There is nothing to suggest that she didn’t get home safely.

  I am letting this thought reassure me when I look up and find Rebekah staring me down from across the campfire.

  13

  Three guesses for who didn’t sleep well last night.

  I hug my mug of coffee in my hands and wish I could have it in an IV.

  The girls are learning how to make safe campfires on the edge of the forest. The counselors have got this one since they’re trained. That means the CITs are free for the morning and we’re in the hall having a late breakfast.

  I’m sitting at a table with Kayla, Tia, Olly, Jake and Rebekah. After I caught her staring at me across the fire last night, Rebekah quickly looked away and it hasn’t come up since. I was probably overreacting anyway, considering the state I was in last night. A leaf falling on my shoulder would’ve made me jump ten feet.

  “I’ve missed sleeping in,” I say, yawning behind my mug.

  Olly laughs. “It feels like it’s been weeks. Hey, do you want to take a walk before we have to build dens with the campers?”

  I nod as the back of my neck heats. A walk in the woods is about as close as you can get to a date here. Not that he’s asking me out.

  Is he?

  Don’t act weird.

  “Sounds good,” I say.

  The very last thing I’m about to do is make eye contact with Kayla. She will absolutely be giving me the look. That goofy expression your friends give you when your crush talks to you. It’s a dead giveaway.

  “You ready now?” Olly asks.

  He keeps eye contact so casually, like this is no big deal.

  Because it isn’t a big deal. Chill out!

  “Uh-huh,” I mutter as words fail me.

  I sip the last of my coffee and Olly takes my bowl, stacking it on top of his.

  My stomach flutters.

  “Have fun,” Kayla sings. Tia and Rebekah giggle behind their spoons, dropping cereal onto the table.

  I ignore them and get up. Olly dumps the bowls and we leave the food hall. The heat hits my face. I’m glad I tied my hair up this morning and applied the standard thick layer of sunscreen.

  “They’ve gone east, so let’s go west,” he says.

  I turn and smile. “Okay.”

  “You cool, Esme? You haven’t been yourself the last couple of days,” Olly says after a minute. We walk into the forest, where the air is slightly cooler, more bearable.

  Not been myself? He’s only known me for a week. “I’m good. A little tired.”

  “Did sleeping late this morning help?”

  Nodding, I say, “Yeah, it was awesome.” It wasn’t. I stayed in bed but didn’t sleep in. “Hey, what’s your favorite movie?”

  “Are you going Ghostface on me, Esme?”

  A twig snaps under my sneaker. “I didn’t ask your favorite scary movie.”

  “Horror isn’t my thing. My favorite is The Godfather Part II. What’s yours?”

  “You’re going to think I’m superlame.”

  He chuckles. “It’s a chick flick, isn’t it?”

  “I’m a total sucker for them. Pretty Woman is genius. And 27 Dresses.”

  “You’re a romantic.”

  We head deeper into the forest, keeping camp just in view. “Guilty. My parents have always been supersweet to each other.”

  “You’re lucky. Mine divorced when I was a kid.”

  “I’m sorry,” I tell him.

  Olly shrugs like it’s no big deal. “What pranks do you think the campers are going to pull?” he asks, changing the subject.

  “I don’t know, but always check the toilet thoroughly before you pee.”

  “Saran Wrap?”

  I nod. “Would make a hell of a nasty mess.”

  “I’ll be checking.”

  I grab his wrist when something crunches deeper in the forest. My gaze flies in the direction the sound came from. “What was that?”

  “What?” Olly looks around. “Esme, what did you hear?”

  “Twigs breaking.”

  Olly’s shoulders relax. “It’s probably an animal.”

  I slide my eyes to him. “Animals usually don’t come too close with all the noise at camp.”

  It’s bright this morning, but the trees block the sun. The forest is swallowed by darkness.

  “Whatever it is, it’s probably gone. Why are you freaking out? Seriously, I didn’t hear anything, Esme,” he says.

  You won’t if you keep talking!

  I drop his wrist. “You’re right. It was probably an animal. Sorry, it just spooked me.”

  “I’ve never minded hot girls grabbing hold of me.”

  His words light up in my mind like the Las Vegas Strip.

  He called you hot. Don’t cackle like some nervous witch. Play. It. Cool.

  “How often does that happen? Or is that your tactic?”

  Laughing, he starts walking again. “You mean do I take girls into the woods so they’ll get scared and jump me?”

  “Seems to be working for you.”

  “I live in a city, but I’m considering moving.”

  I shake my head. “Cities are way worse, just take them to a bad part at night.”

  “You can’t get lost in a city,” he says. “I mean, you can lose someone, but you’ll always be seen. Deep in the forest, you could live the rest of your life with only the birds and squirrels.”

  “Can someone survive on their own like that? I’d starve in a week.”

  Olly laughs again. “I’m sure you’d make it. Just don’t eat any berries you’re not sure of.”

  “It’s kind of scary to think that there could be a whole bunch of people living out here.”

  “You think people aren’t? There are whole tribes who live in the Amazon.”

  “Yeah, but that’s not on my doorstep.”

  “You want to go and see if we can find them? I’ll get a map.”

  “Nope,” I say, playfully slapping his arm. “When are we going to town? It’s been a week.”

  Olly arches an eyebrow. “You itching to play arcade games?”

  “I have a lot of pennies I want to exchange for a crappy plastic Slinky.”

  “Tomorrow?”

  Okay, that’s soon. But it gives me a thought. When we go into town, maybe I can find Lillian. She’s the one who can put my mind to rest. If she’s okay, then I can forget all about the fire.

  Olly and I get back to camp just as we have to join the campers in the food hall. They’re baking cookies.

  Each group is at a table, with all the necessary ingredients and equipment in the middle of it. The room is a cloud of flour.

  “Esme, Kayla is in the kitchen getting extra bags of chocolate chips. Can you join her and get another bag of flour? Catalina’s group is missing one,” Andy says.

  “Yeah, sure.”

  I skip into the kitchen, still high from my walk with Olly. Pushing the door open, I stop dea
d in my tracks as Kayla almost slams into me. The door clicks shut. “Whoa, Esme!”

  “We need more flour,” I tell her.

  “How was your date?”

  “It wasn’t a date, but it was nice.”

  Kayla hands me the chocolate chips and pulls at her sweater. “I’m too hot in this now.”

  “Why are you wearing a hoodie?”

  “I was helping Andy print the recipes for the cookies in the staff cabin and he has the AC on ice-cold.” She whips the hoodie over her head and a piece of paper falls to the floor.

  I bend down and pick it up. Thick black writing catches my eye.

  “Kayla,” I breathe.

  YOU’VE BEEN VERY BAD GIRLS

  “What the hell!” Her eyes widen and she snatches the paper from me.

  “Who put that there?” I ask.

  “I don’t know.” She throws the hoodie on the floor. “Someone put that in my pocket!”

  “While you were wearing it?”

  “I’ve only had it on for, like, ten minutes. I was alone with Andy in the staff cabin, but he didn’t come that close to me.”

  I close my eyes and take a breath. Stay. Calm. “Someone put it there when the hoodie was hanging up in our room.”

  “Ew. No way. That’s not possible.”

  “Should we be freaking out?” I ask. “Because I’m thinking this is all about Lillian.”

  And I am so freaking out.

  Kayla’s wild eyes meet mine. “No…it can’t be. This is just someone pranking me,” she says.

  “Then why does it say girls? Plural, Kayla. If it was just for you the note would say ‘You’ve been a very bad girl.’ Read it again. Read it!”

  She shoves the piece of paper in her shorts pocket. “I don’t need to read it again and we don’t need to obsess over some stupid prank.”

  “Prank? You think this is one of the kids’ pranks? Kayla, this is—”

  “Over,” she snaps, cutting me off midsentence. “Grab what you need and forget this. Please.” She snatches the chocolate chips from my hands.

  I watch her with my mouth wide open as she storms out of the kitchen. What did I do?

  I gasp for a deep-enough breath and brace my hands on the wall.

  Someone out there knows what we’ve done.

  14

  Kayla isn’t my biggest fan right now.

  Yesterday she thought I was being crazy and obsessive. It’s clear from the silent treatment I got this morning before she left for breakfast that she still does. She stomped around our tiny room getting ready, making as much noise as possible, letting me know that she’s not happy with my Lillian theories.

  Kayla doesn’t want there to be anything wrong, so she pretends everything is fine.

  I don’t want there to be anything wrong either, but we can’t ignore a creepy note.

  “Esme!” Cora whispers as I leave the cabin. She runs toward me from the staff cabin. Her eyebrows are pulled together like she’s stressed.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Come here!” She beckons me, waving one hand in circles like she’s about to take off.

  I jog toward her. She instantly spins and runs toward…whatever she wants to show me.

  “Cora, what are we—” The words die on my tongue. Painted on the back of the staff cabin is THE LAKE NEVER FORGETS.

  My mouth parts and my fingers curl into my palms.

  An ice-cold chill ripples down my spine. First the note, now this.

  I shake my head, willing the message to change, but I haven’t read it wrong. “Who could have done this?” I ask.

  “I know we’re all pranking each other, but if one of the campers managed to get out of their cabin and do this, we have a big problem,” Cora says.

  “Yeah,” I agree.

  This wasn’t one of the kids.

  “Should I get Andy?” I ask.

  Cora’s shoulders sink. “We have to tell him. He’s going to be angry and he’s going to want to keep this under wraps.”

  I clear my throat. “Right. The campers don’t come around the back of the staff cabin, it’s too out the way, so if we don’t make it public knowledge, we either catch the culprit when he or she mentions it, or the rest of the campers go home unaware of what happened.”

  Cora smiles. “You’re good at this, Esme.”

  “Thanks.”

  “You go get Andy, I’ll get some cleaning supplies and paint so we can try to remove this crap. Whoever it is, they get points for creepiness.”

  The lake never forgets.

  How much trouble could Kayla and I even get into over something that happened ten years ago? I don’t want anything to go wrong for us…but maybe it should. Karma could finally be coming for us.

  “Esme?”

  I jolt. “Sorry. I’ll go get Andy.”

  What if Lillian was hurt worse than we thought?

  What if she didn’t get up in time and was burned?

  Or worse.

  Shut up, Esme!

  I run around the cabin and jog into the food hall. Rebekah almost bumps into me. “Sorry,” she says, laughing and stepping back.

  “Me too.” I scan the hall. “Have you seen Andy?”

  “He left a minute ago. Is everythin’ okay? You look…pale.”

  I’m so not okay.

  I pull on her hand. “Come with me, we need to find Andy.”

  “Huh?” Rebekah dashes after me. “This sounds a little ominous.”

  “It’s more than a little.”

  “Officially intrigued.”

  “Andy!” I call. He’s standing by one of the boys’ cabins, digging his foot into a floorboard. A creaky one, maybe. He’s very big on keeping the camp in top condition despite its age.

  He looks up. “Everything okay?”

  “Could you come with us for a minute, please?”

  “Of course.”

  “Where are we goin’?” Rebekah asks.

  They follow me around the food hall to the back of the staff cabin. “Cora found something.”

  Andy’s eyes tighten in alarm.

  “What the…?” he says, and his jaw hits the ground.

  “I saw this about five minutes ago,” Cora says. She already has a bucket of soapy water and three sponges. Will that even work? There’s a tin of brown wood paint and a brush, so I guess we’ll be painting over the graffiti if it doesn’t wash off.

  “Who would do this?”

  “One of the kids thinks they’re funny,” Rebekah says, shaking her head.

  Yeah, only problem with that theory is the writing is at my height. A kid could have reached up to do it, but the natural way to graffiti is at your own height.

  Could this have been done by one of the counselors or CITs? But who, and why?

  The person in the forest watching us hike and removing flags?

  Or maybe…Nope, not going there.

  Andy takes his phone out. “I’ll get a photo and then we’ll clean it off.”

  He snaps a picture and slides his phone back into his pocket.

  “The campers will be outside soon; I need to get the canoes ready. Esme and Rebekah, do you think you could take care of this? Cora and I will need to be on the lake with the campers.”

  I nod and Rebekah says, “Sure.”

  As soon as Andy and Cora leave, muttering about what’s happened and who could have done it, I dunk a sponge into the water.

  “This is insane,” I say, dragging the soggy sponge across the first letter. The metallic taste in my mouth makes me gag. I drop my head so Rebekah can’t see my reaction. I’ll look like a crazy person if I panic over a little graffiti. Or a guilty one.

  “Yeah. I know we’re all in for the pranks now, but I don’t know, maybe this
is too far. Do ya think?” she says.

  “I really do. Why do you think that it would be written here?” I ask. “It’s not like it’s out in the open for all to see.” I want someone else’s thoughts on this, someone who will give me all the reasonable explanations for why a camper had done this.

  Rebekah shrugs, scrubbing with all her force at the letter R at the other end. It doesn’t come off. “Maybe they don’t need it on display. They’re pranking us and we’re pranking them. No reason for them to need all the other campers to see.”

  “Yeah, that makes sense.” It actually does. Campers are pranking us, not each other. “Why say ‘the lake never forgets’? What does that even mean?”

  Her pale eyes cut sideways at me. “Why do you think it means somethin’, Esme?”

  Um…

  I scrub harder, the sponge almost shredding against some of the rougher parts of wood. “I don’t know, it just seems like an odd thing to say.”

  “We’re at a lake.”

  “Right,” I reply. I haven’t forgotten about the massive oval of water I walk around every day.

  Rebekah glances at me and then back at the writing. Then back at me again.

  “What?” I ask, my stomach lurching.

  “Huh?”

  “I can tell you want to say something.”

  She sighs. “Are you okay? Your reaction…Esme, are you worried about this? Do ya think it’s more than a prank?”

  “I don’t know,” I whisper.

  There are a lot of dots here and I’m not sure whether I’m trying to force them to connect.

  I dunk the useless sponge. “What do you think about this?”

  “I think one of the campers likes horror.”

  “What about the fact that this is written at adult height?” I ask.

  Rebekah stills. “What?”

  “The writing is at our height. The campers are shorter, so wouldn’t this be a little lower down if it was one of them?”

  “Hey, maybe that’s how we find out who did it. Maybe it’s one of the taller ones?”

  I shrug one shoulder. “Could be.”

  “What’s your theory?”

  “I don’t have one,” I lie.

  “I know we’re not really close yet, but I would like to change that. You can talk to me, Esme.”