We step out onto the porch.
“They’re gone,” I breathe, doing a three-sixty to try to see where they went.
Olly creeps forward on the porch to peer around the side of the cabin. I do the same on the other end.
My footsteps are too loud, though I’m practically on my tiptoes and walking like a sneaky cartoon character. I place one hand on the corner of the cabin, my fingers digging into the rough wood. I peer around the corner and see nothing but darkness.
I turn to Olly.
Only, he’s not there.
“Olly!” I whisper. Where the hell did he go?
I pad lightly along the porch, my side practically scraping along the cabin wall. “Olly?”
What is going on?
I strain my ears, trying to hear his footsteps, but I can only hear my ragged breathing. No matter how much I try to control it, I can’t.
My stomach clenches.
I’m leaving tomorrow.
“Olly, where are you?” I whisper.
Please say she hasn’t hurt him.
It’s still dark out. I don’t even know where the circuit box is to turn the electricity back on. That’s what they’ve done, tripped the circuit…I think. It must be in the staff cabin. If I can find it, I can turn on the outside lights and find Olly.
“Esme?”
I startle, my body almost leaving the damn porch floor.
Pressing one hand over my pounding heart, I snap, “Jesus, Olly!”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Where did you go?”
“Around the back of the cabin. They disappeared so quickly, I thought they went that way instead of around the lake. I couldn’t see anyone, though.”
I shudder. “It’s so creepy knowing they’re out here.”
Not that I’ll be doing much sleeping from this point on.
“The cabins are locked,” Olly says.
“They have a key,” I remind him.
“Which they wouldn’t use with the campers inside. They seem to have a conscience when it comes to that, at least.”
“What do we do now?”
“Andy.”
We traipse back to the staff cabin again. I don’t know what time it is, but I don’t think we’ll be seeing the sun anytime soon. It’s not quite light enough.
Something catches my eye as we walk past the lake. “Olly, there’s something in the lake.”
I can just make out lumps of…something floating in the moon’s reflection.
“Andy will have a flashlight,” Olly says. “Stay where I can see you.”
I wait while Olly runs to get Andy. When I say wait, I mean that my legs won’t move anyway. My eyes strain as I try to see what’s floating out there. It looks like a few small objects.
Andy comes rushing up with Olly a heartbeat later.
They take the steps quickly. Andy trains his flashlight on the lake.
“They were outside?” he asks.
A shiver rips through my body. “Yes.”
“What were you doing in the multiuse cabin?”
“I needed to talk to Esme,” Olly replied.
“I was freaking out a little,” I add to give our story more weight.
The flashlight catches something that makes me lose my footing. “What the hell is that?”
Andy gasps.
“Oh my God, it’s a doll,” Olly says.
A doll.
No. It’s not just one doll. There are five.
“Why?” Andy whispers.
“This is hideous.” Five naked plastic dolls float on the lake. “There’s something on two of them. Can you see?” I ask.
“Yeah,” Andy replies. “I can’t make out what.”
“We need to go and get them,” Olly says.
I knew that was coming. Of course we need them to be gone by the time the campers wake up. Can’t say I’m particularly looking forward to fishing these out of the water.
“Esme, you hold the flashlight,” Andy says. “Olly and I will retrieve them.”
They wade into the lake and I shine the flashlight on the five dolls.
As I raise the light, it bounces off them and I can see clearly what’s on the ones that are marked. Eight big black crosses over their eyes.
43
Creepy. Disturbing. Sick.
Five naked baby dolls, four with their eyes crossed out.
Who do they represent?
Me? Kayla?
Lillian?
Jake and Olly too?
Lillian was the one who was harmed that night.
“Are they American Girl dolls?” I ask.
Olly and Andy look up at me with identical frowns. Yeah, they wouldn’t know.
“It’s a brand. I had a couple of them when I was little. There are much cheaper dolls they could have used. Either they belonged to one of them or they spent a fortune to chuck these in the lake.”
“What are we going to do with them?” Olly asks.
Andy huffs. “I’ll bag them up and put them in my office. Once summer is over, we can go to the cops.”
“Shh,” I scold. “If they’re watching, and I have a feeling they are, they’ll hear you. No cops, remember?”
“God,” Andy breathes. “This is out of hand.”
“The next time we see them, we go for it,” Olly says.
“Go for what?”
“Grab them, tie them up, hold them somewhere.”
That sounds fun.
Olly’s eyes meet mine. “We can take them.”
“I think a woman is doing this. Or at least one of them is,” Andy says.
Wow, he is several chapters behind.
“Why do you think that?” I ask, playing along with his great discovery.
“The dolls. Would a man think to use dolls?”
I shrug. “Maybe. Dolls aren’t just for girls.”
“Perhaps not. But it’s most likely a female.”
“Yes,” I say. He’s not wrong.