“I thought we should have made a left there,” Amiya said.
“You’ve never visited before.” He increased their speed back up to thirty. “How’s he doing?”
“His pulse is slow but steady. He’s hanging on.”
“We’ll be out of here in a few minutes.”
They approached another juncture of diverging paths. Nick hesitated only a second and made a left.
“I don’t remember coming this way,” Amiya said.
“How would you? Everything looks the same—foliage and trees. Let me drive, okay?”
Amiya quieted. But apprehension had begun to spread like heartburn through his gut.It’s only nine hundred acres, he reminded himself.We’ll get out of here soon enough.He shifted into a higher gear, pouring on the speed. The speedometer tipped toward forty miles an hour.
“You’re going too fast, Nick.”
“Damn, girl, will you knock it off?—”
Something big and fast raced across the path ahead of them, dangerously close. Amiya screamed. Nick cursed and twisted the wheel to avoid hitting the animal. The truck swerved to the left and bounced off the dirt path. Frantic, Nick pumped the brakes, but it was too late: they slammed head-on into a massive tree.
The impact flung him forward, and all he knew was darkness.
12
Someone was shaking Nick’s shoulder, and a voice spoke to him, so muted it was as if he were hearing it while floating deep in a cold, black sea.
“Nick . . . grandfather . . . gone . . .”
Nick opened his eyes. The warm, salty taste of blood filled his mouth. Pain sizzled across his head.
Hit something, he thought.Wasn’t wearing a seat belt.
He blinked, winced from the throbbing headache. The world spun with shadows and smoke, and slowly his vision cleared. He was in the pickup truck on the side of the road, the front end jammed against a pine tree. Gray tendrils of smoke twisted from underneath the hood. The engine knocked and sputtered.
“Nick.” Amiya clutched his shoulder. “Grandpa Lee. He’s gone.”
Nick turned. Amiya’s curly bangs hung in her face, and he saw a comma of blood on the side of her mouth. An ugly bruise was forming above her right eye.
She wasn’t wearing a seat belt, either, he thought.
But the meaning of her words finally sank in.
“Gone?” he asked. The taste of blood filled his mouth, and he spat. “He’s . . . he’s dead?”
She sniffled, shook her head. “I don’t know . . . he’s not here. I blacked out like you did and when I woke up, I saw my door open. He’s gone.”
“He got out of the truck on his own? How? He was . . . he was unconscious.”
“I don’t know.” Tears streamed from her eyes.
“We’ve gotta find him.” Nick switched off the ignition, concerned by the sputters and the smoke. He went to open his door. Dizziness sloshed through him. He sucked in a couple of deep, stabilizing breaths.
He tried to get out again, but discovered his side of the truck was sunken against a thick growth of shrubs that obstructed the door. Amiya scrambled out on the passenger side. He followed her.
Dropping to the thick, tall grass outside the pickup, he had to seize the door handle to keep from losing his balance. He pulled in a jagged breath. It felt as if someone had slugged him in the chest, and he figured the steering wheel had smashed against his sternum when he had crashed.
Amiya had wandered onto the dirt lane. Using her hand as a visor against the sun’s glare, she looked around.
