“Ew, look,” Alana says, pointing to a collection of cigarette butts on the ground.
I bend down and count five of them. “No one here smokes, right?”
Cora folds her arms. “They’re not supposed to.”
Alarm bells chime a very loud song in my head: It’s the creepy cameraperson!
This was the direction that we came last night. Did they stick around and watch us? But who hangs around long enough to smoke five cigarettes when everyone has already gone inside?
Unless this isn’t the first time they’ve watched.
“That’s not safe,” Isabel says.
“You’re right,” I tell her, collecting the butts and trying not to gag. Someone’s mouth has touched them. “I’m going to throw them in the trash and disinfect my hands.”
“Will you let Andy know too, please?” Cora asks.
“Sure thing.”
The second I turn around, the girls have forgotten. Cora gets them on task and they fuss over which sticks to use first.
At least our phantom smoker had the good sense to properly extinguish the cigarettes. They’re almost flat they’ve been stomped into the ground so hard.
I walk back toward the cabins in the thick heat.
“Found these by our den,” I tell Andy, opening my hand so he can see what I’m holding. Then I dump them in a trash can near the multiuse cabin where he’s scribbling something on his clipboard.
His frown makes his whole forehead crumble. “Who’s been smoking?”
I shrug. “I’m not sure. Us CITs walked around last night, but no one smoked, and we didn’t see any counselors doing it either.”
Sighing, Andy nods. “Okay, I’ll have to make sure I speak with each staff member today and remind them that it’s forbidden to smoke on campgrounds. And in the forest too,” he grumbles, tutting. “Thanks for cleaning them up, Esme.”
“No problem.”
“There’s someone there! There’s someone there!” Isabel screams.
My head whips in her direction. She’s pointing into the forest.
Cora steps in front of the girls, her head bent forward as she tries to get a better look.
Jake and Olly are running toward them. Andy and I take off too, with him shouting at everyone else to stay where they are.
“Mary, watch the campers,” he says as we pass her.
“Where?” I ask when we reach Cora. I’ve got a stitch in my side and ice in my heart.
There has to be someone out there watching us. Ava’s sighting in the woods, the creepy message, the pictures that were taken.
Kayla can’t explain it away with coincidences. Lillian is trying to mess with us.
Olly and Jake are in the forest, and spread a little too far apart for my liking. Does safety in numbers mean nothing to them?
Andy follows them as Mary looks at us from the other side of the lake.
I put my arm around Isabel. Her slender frame is shaking. “Hey, it’s okay,” I tell her. “Remember, we don’t own all of this forest.”
She looks up at me with fear in her eyes. “He was walking.”
“Toward us?”
“Um, kind of, I think. I saw the side of his face.”
Cora turns. “It was definitely a man?”
Isabel nods. “I think so. I couldn’t see his face very well.”
Translation: It could have been a woman or a man.
“Okay.” I look at the twelve girls huddled together. “Look, there is no reason to be alarmed. I’m sure people go on hikes all the time out here and not everyone pays as much attention as they should. Sometimes they miss the sign saying this is private property. I’m sure Jake and Olly will find him and remind him that he shouldn’t be here.”
Biting my lip, I watch the spot in the forest where the boys disappeared.
Five tense minutes later and my arm is still around Isabel. No one is building anything, and I can’t take my eyes off the last place I saw Olly.
“All right,” Cora says. “I think we should all get back to camp and wait.”
She takes out her walkie-talkie and speaks to the other counselors, who are dotted around the forest.
“We all agree,” she says, finally putting the device away. “We’re going to go into the food hall and grab a snack until the guys get back.”
“Good idea,” I say. “Come on, girls, who needs some sugar?”
They cheer, but their hearts aren’t quite in it.
Cora and I walk behind them, slowly joining the other groups as we all trudge back.
My heart flutters wildly and my stomach sinks. Am I going to have to tell everyone what happened? Maybe Kayla and I should leave.
I should have thrown that damn pamphlet in the trash.
“It’s okay, Esme,” Cora says. “This happens sometimes. I swear some people think they’re above the rules. If a sign says private property, keep off, you damn well keep off!” She shakes her head. “Now our activity has been interrupted, and I don’t think the girls are going to want to go back out there today.”
I can’t blame them. I don’t want to go back out there either.
We enter the food hall and gossip flies as quickly as the candy wrappers. At least the campers are all happy with a midmorning treat.
I wash my hands and then sit at a table with Kayla, Rebekah and Tia.
“This is crazy!” Tia says. “So much drama over a dude getting lost on a trail.”
Rebekah’s mouth pops open. “After last night you’re seriously trying to make this sound random?”
“Oh, come on, you’re not telling me you think that guy was here to pick us off one by one?”
“Okay, I wasn’t thinking we’re in danger like that,” Rebekah says.
“What are you thinking?” I ask, desperate for other options that don’t involve Kayla and me.
“He’s a weird dude who gets his kicks from people watching,” she says.
“He’s watching a camp full of children!” Kayla squeals.
“No, he was watching us. Same as last night, and he wrote on the staff cabin. The dude is here to freak us out, not them. What’s scarier than having to deal with something like that all while making sure the children don’t worry?” I say.