The damn ringwas burning a hole in my pocket.
I had planned on picking it up, making sure I had it, being ready when the mood struck…but it turned out the mood struck a long time ago and every moment seemed like the right one to ask this woman to marry me. Hell, I hadn’t even told her I loved her, but I was ready to dive headfirst into this thing.
I’d never been the type to rush. Not with cars, not with women, not with my damn feelings. I’d been satisfied my whole life staying right where I was.
But with Noelle?
I was already gone.
The campground was unusually quiet for weather this nice—the cool breeze of early fall, the bright sun of late summer. I’d expected a few others, maybe some locals, maybe some tourists…but the parking area was empty except for a single dusty SUV with fogged-over windows that made it seem like it had been there for a long, long time. Shane stepped out ofthe truck first, stretching his arms over his head as Milo followed.
“Spooky out here,” he said. “I love it.”
Noelle stayed seated for a second longer, just looking around with that narrowed, skeptical look she got when something didn’t line up with her expectations—a look I’d gotten an awful lot in those first few days of knowing her.
“Weird how empty it is, huh?” she finally said.
“Off-season?” I offered, grabbing my bag from the back.
Delilah pulled up beside us and rolled her window down. “Where the hell is everyone?”
“Dead,” Whit said, opening his door. “Definitely all dead.”
“You’re ridiculous,” Holden said, climbing out on the other side. “Y’all…it’s fine. Calm the fuck down. In Guatemala?—”
“Enough,” Delilah and Whit said at the same time.
Holden shut up.
Noelle finally climbed out and shouldered her backpack, but she didn’t look away from the tree line. Her brows were drawn tight, and there was a crease between them that hadn’t been there earlier.
“You feel that?” she asked quietly.
“Feel what?” I moved closer, instinctively—like I might be able to shield her from whatever it was.
She hesitated. “I don’t know. Like…the air’s different. Stretched thin.”
Shane had his mic clipped already, flipping open the recorder and gesturing for us to start grabbing gear. “Alright, gang. Let’s get this base camp up and then go find something terrifying.”
We followed the trailhead no more than half a mile into the woods, where a fire pit marked a nice camping spot next to Foggy Creek. The clearing was small andflat, hemmed in by tall trees with bark gone silver from age, their branches high and tangled enough to keep out most of the light. The creek babbled steadily a few feet away, shallow but fast, and cold enough that you could feel it in your teeth if you got too close. The air had that strange stillness to it—not quiet, exactly, butemptied. Like the usual sounds of birds and bugs had all decided to take a collective break.
Everyone stood around for a beat too long, like we’d all arrived at the same unspoken thought.
“This’ll do,” I said, mostly to break the silence. I swung my pack off my shoulder and crouched down to start unpacking the tent. “Should be room for both here and another by that big log.”
Whit nodded and moved to help, tugging the tent poles from his own bag. “Gonna be a cozy night for Holden and me. Hope you don’t snore, baby brother.”
“I do,” Holden said without looking up. “You’ll survive.”
Delilah wandered toward the water’s edge, crouching down to skim her fingers through the current. “It’s colder than I expected.”
Noelle had her phone out again, scowling at the screen. “Still no signal. Not even one bar.”
“Could be the hills,” Shane offered. “Or the Gloamstrider’s ancient curse.”
She shot him a look.
“Or, you know, basic geography,” he amended.
