Chapter Thirty-Seven
Memorial Day Weekend, 2005
“Courtney. Are you okay?”
She spun. Rather than relief when she saw me, her expression dampened. “Oh. Did you guysfinallydecide to come looking for me?”
“We’ve been looking for you this whole time.”
Courtney tilted her head back as she let out a short egotistical laugh. “Oh yeah? Then where is everyone?”
I stared at her mascara-streaked face in disbelief. Could she be more ungrateful? “We thought you were dead. Emma busted her knee, and Beth and I have been scouring this entire forest for you. We even split up—even though it’s dangerous—so we could find you sooner.”
Courtney pursed her lips, and I saw tears in her eyes. “I can’t believe all the things I do for you guys, and none of you jumped in after me when I fell. I would’ve jumped in after you.”
Was she serious? “Courtney, I don’t think you understand how dangerous these currents are. You’re the best swimmer of all of us. We wouldn’t have been able to save you if we’d tried. Plus, we were all carried downstream too fast after you fell to be able to get to you. It doesn’t mean that we didn’tcare. We got out of our rafts and came back as soon as we could.”
She rolled her eyes, and I started to regret coming after her at all. “Whatever. By the time I got out of the river, which wasn’t easy, by the way, you were all long gone, rafting without me like nothing had happened.” She pointed in the direction of the Sol Duc. “I’m not even convinced it was an accident that I fell in. When our raft tipped, Gigi acted like she was handing me her paddle to grab onto, but the way she shifted her weight made our raft tip more. The next thing I knew I was in that freezing water.” She flipped her long wet hair over her shoulder. “And you know what? I’m starting to feel like you guys planned to ditch me all along.” Her full lips formed a pout, reminding me of the look she used to make when we were kids and she didn’t get her way.
“Courtney, come on. Just stop. I don’t know what planet you’re on sometimes, but you’re the most ungrateful person I’ve ever met.” I was losing the energy to fight with her, although I wasn’t sure whether it was due to exhaustion or annoyance. “Beth is on her own looking for you. We need to find her so she doesn’t get lost too. Then we need to meet up with the others. We’ll be safer in a group.” I paused before adding, “Plus, they’re worried about you.” I turned back for the river.
“You’re the ones who are ungrateful!” Courtney shouted. “After all the things I’ve done for you guys! This is the thanks I get? I buy you guys clothes and let you live in my house, and you can’t even jump in after me? Just kept floating along in your rafts, hoping I’d die? I see who you really are.”
I whipped around to find her pointing a finger at me.
“Your mask is off, Palmer.”
If I wasn’t so irritated, I might’ve laughed. “You know what? Screwyou. I came all this way to find you—worriedabout you—and all you can do is insult me. Go ahead, find your way back to those damn raftsyou so generously boughton your own.” I turned around and marched toward the river the way I had come, aware of the knife she’d given me inside my shorts pocket. “Good luck with that.Andyou’re welcome for coming to find you,” I called over my shoulder as the top of Courtney’shead disappeared down a steep, densely forested slope. I turned back around, shaking my head, and stopped dead in my tracks.
Ten feet in front of me, maybe less, was the biggest wild animal I’d ever seen. It was huge. I held perfectly still as its wide-set eyes bore into mine. I realized then that when Beth had been talking about cougars, I had been envisioning a bobcat. This beast in front of me, however, was what she’d been referring to. Now I could see why they were also called mountain lions.
It was close enough for me to clearly see the defined brown stripe of fur that ran down the top of its head to the middle of its yellow irises, its long whiskers, and the patch of clean white fur that surrounded its mouth and nose, along with a white patch on its chest. I might’ve been in awe of its beauty if I weren’t so sure it was about to kill me.
It snarled, dipping its head while a vicious sound emitted from its mouth. I staggered backward, stumbling on a rock, but managed to keep my footing as the massive beast took two steps toward me, then crouched low, ready to attack.
I thought of the pocketknife in my shorts and wondered if I should grab it. The blades were only two inches. For it to do any good, I’d have to stab it in the neck, and if it wasn’t a fatal blow, I’d only manage to anger the hungry predator. But if I were to get close enough to the cougar to be able to use it, it would bite my hand off before I could plunge it into its neck.
Flooded with adrenaline, I screamed, recalling Beth’s advice. I plucked a long stick from the ground beside me and waved it over my head.
Courtney’s voice carried from beyond the slope. “Get a grip, Palmer. You’re way worse than Emma. You’re the one with the real anger problem.”
The cougar’s head swiveled in Courtney’s direction.
“And you’re judgingme?” Courtney continued, sounding as if she’d started back up the hill to make sure I could hear her. “Listen to yourself. You’re a total psycho.”
The cougar growled, baring its sharp teeth. I froze, keeping hold of the stick with my trembling arm as the cougar stalked toward Courtney’s voice with its teeth bared, head bowed, and body crouched.
I knew I should call out to her. Warn her. Jump on top of the stump beside me and try to scare the cougar away from both of us. Dosomething. But as Courtney continued to rattle off insulting jabs about my behavior, oblivious to the target she was making of herself, I stood still, too afraid to do anything but stand frozen in silence.
The cougar moved purposefully through the trees, its body hunched low to the ground. Even as the distance between the mountain lion and me grew, I still couldn’t bring myself to breathe a word of warning.
Your mask is off, Palmer.
I could no longer see Courtney, but her voice sounded as though she was close to the top of the slope where I last saw the back of her head. The cougar started down the hill.
“Courtney!” I screamed. “Watch out, there’s a cougar.”
The animal stopped, cocked its head toward me, and growled. I stumbled backward and fell to the ground.
