“Welcome to Turner Cove!” I call out loud enough that the six-dozen teenagers spread out across the four rows of bleachers can hear me. I let my gaze travel over the group. Most of them look tired, bored, and there’s a handful of teenage girls grinning and pointing at me while they whisper.
A glance at Kleo tells me she sees them too and finds it rather amusing.
“We’ve got a pretty easy day today, so you’ll have time to acclimate, but over the course of the next few weeks, we have a packed itinerary. You’ll do some volunteer work, help out in the kitchen, and we’ll talk college applications and resumés. Your parents should have gotten the email with your bunk assignments yesterday, but if they didn’t, please come find one of us. I’m Dean. This is Kleo, Keith, Amber, Megan, and Robert. We’re here for you, so let us know if you need anything. Now, I’m going to turn you over to Keith so he can go over the rules.” They groan just like they do every single year. Most of these kids don’t want to be here, but typically, by the end, they’re glad they came.
“I know, I know, rules are no fun, but the world has them, and therefore we do too. Keith?” I gesture to him and offer a wave to the group as I step over to Kleo.
“Great speech. I prefer to call you Camp Counselor Lewis though,” she whispers softly.
“You can call me whatever you want,” I whisper in her ear, and she shivers.
“I plan to,” she says.
Chuckling, I turn my attention to the campers and catch something out of the corner of my eye. “I’ll be right back.”
Kleo gives me a curious look but doesn’t say anything as I walk toward the cabin. Keith’s voice fades away behind me as I zero in on what caught my eye. Something shiny right beside my front driver’s side tire. A tire that is fucking flat.
“What the hell?” Kneeling, I lift the mirror and stare down at my reflection in the broken glass.
“What is that?”
I turn around and face Al. “I didn’t realize you were here.”
“Just got here. What’s in your hand?”
I hold up the broken mirror. “I guess I ran over it. My tire’s flat.”
Al’s face pales moments before it turns beat red, and he reaches out to take the mirror from me. “Your back tire is flat too. I saw it when I pulled up.”
“What the—” I walk around my truck, and sure enough, every single tire on my truck is flat. Upon closer inspection, I see that there’s no damn way I ran anything over. They’ve been sliced clean open.
“I need you out here right away.”
Blood pounding in my ears, I straighten and look at Al, who has set the mirror down beside my truck and is talking into his phone. “What’s going on?”
He ends the call. “Where’s Kleo?”
I look over at where she’d been standing only a few minutes ago. She’s gone, but the other counselors are still there, talking to the campers. “She was right—”
“Fuck. Find her. I’m calling Judson.”
“What’s going on?”
“Is that the first mirror you’ve found?”
“No, I’ve found two or three others?”
“Find Kleo. Her stalker started sending broken mirror shards before she was attacked.”
My blood ices, stomach twists into knots, and I run toward the bleachers. “Where’s Kleo?” I ask Amber, trying to keep my voice as low as possible.
“I don’t know. She was right there.”
“Get the campers into the cafeteria,” I tell her. “Finish the briefing there.”
She looks confused but nods as she walks to Keith and whispers in his ear. I don’t wait but take off toward the nearest cabin. It’s the one she was assigned. Throwing open the door, I search for her, but she’s not there.
I slam it shut and run outside as Al comes out of the main cabin. He shakes his head as the sheriff’s SUV pulls into the drive. I don’t bother running over there though, instead, I race toward the beach. It’s the only other place she could have snuck off to and no one would have seen her.
When I see her, blonde hair swaying in the breeze, the relief hits me like a punch to the gut, and I realize that without a fucking doubt, I love her.
I am in love with Kleo.
I run to her and wrap both arms around her as she laughs. “What’s wrong?”
Leaning away to look at her, I kiss her quickly before pulling her back against me.
“Dean, what is it?” There’s no humor in her voice now, and I look into her eyes.
“We need to talk.”
Cheeks pale, she nods, and I grip her hand, pulling her back toward the house.
Kleo
My reflection stares up at me from the broken shard of glass on the counter. I should have known better. Should have realized that I was in the beginning of my very own mantra. My world was calm, my life happy.
And now he’s back. Though, not really him since the sheriff swears he’s dead.
“Who would be doing this?” Judson asks. “If he’s dead, who the fuck would send her a broken mirror?”
“I’ve been finding them all over the place, but I never thought—” Dean trails off, his hand tightening on my shoulder. I reach up to touch it. He’s my grounding wire, the only thing holding me here. Because honestly, if it weren’t for him, I would have run the second they told me there was a piece of broken mirror.
“You couldn’t have known,” I assure him. My voice is raspy from the huge lump of tears in my throat.
“There’s no one else that would want to hurt you?” Sheriff Fawns asks. Her dark hair is pulled back away from her face, her soft brown eyes soothing to me even now.
“What about Laura?” Judson asks, and I shake my head.
“She has kids, Judson. Why would she want to do this?”
“So did he, Kleo,” my dad reminds me.
“That would be one cruel prank,” Dean says.
“We’ll look into her,” the sheriff promises. “Until then, you need to keep an eye out and report anything suspicious.”
“I have a private security team I’m bringing out,” my dad says. So many voices fill my mind, and I cover my ears as they talk it over. It’s building, building.
Broken mirrors.
Shattered glass.
Sharp blades.
“Stop!” I yell, shooting out of my chair. Everyone stops talking at once, turning toward me. “This is my life.” Tears stream down my cheeks, but they’re not out of fear. I’m pissed the hell off because once again, that asshole has managed to rip my control away. “This is my life. No security teams. No units patrolling. We will loop the other counselors in, and if we see or hear anything, we’ll let you know. But I’m so tired of my life being in upheaval over this. For all we know, this is a total coincidence.”
“Kleo—” Judson starts, and I shake my head, sticking a hand up to stop him.
“No. I don’t want to do anything that will scare the teenagers here.”
“Then let me bring in security,” my dad insists. “Please, Kleo.”
“And, at least, let me stay here,” Judson asks. “I’ll be another counselor. It’s summer so I’m off anyway.”