If this wasa piece of cake, it was a cake made out of rocks and thorn bushes with broken glass frosting, Arden decided.
She had tried to sneak back the way she’d come, only to be headed off by the realization that the two people she had left to avoid were still in the meadow, talking about water infrastructure from what little she had overheard of their conversation. (Which was another mark in the plus column for these people being associated with the town’s owners, because it was hard to imagine random hikers having opinions on water pumps. Though who could say, maybe they were vacationing engineers.)
In any case, this had sent Arden and her towel sneaking back through the middle of town, limping with both feet. She had bruised her foot on a rock and then nicked her other heel on a bit of glass where a window had been broken out. It didn’t seem serious and it had stopped bleeding almost immediately, but it was definitely slowing her down.
Arden slipped from building to building, keeping behind the row of buildings along Main Street. She was just congratulating herself on a job well done when she nearly ran right into two more people talking near the windmill.
“Look out for that loose cable there.”
Arden stifled a squeak of dismay and skedaddled behind the schoolhouse next to the windmill. The speaker had been a woman, not the same one from earlier; her voice was soft andshy-sounding. It took Arden a panicked instant to realize the woman was talking to someone else, not her.
“I got it. Hey, did you hear something?” Male voice this time. Unlike the deep, warm voice of the sandy-haired man, this voice was brusque, with an edge to it.
“What sort of something?” the woman asked. Arden held very still.
“I dunno. Lots of odd noises around here. It might have been the windmill.”
“Maybe a bunny.” The woman sounded happy. “There must be bunnies here. We might see one.”
Arden hoped they weren’t planning to come looking for it. She edged along the back of the schoolhouse and around to its other side. She was now securely hidden from the couple, even if they decided to come looking for the “bunny,” but she was in full view of Main Street if anyone happened to come by.
Maybe she could get inside the schoolhouse and leave when they left? She took a quick look up and down Main Street. There was a truck and a pile of stuff next to it, but no people in sight for the moment. Arden hurried up onto the schoolhouse porch. The sun-warmed boards felt nice under her bare feet. The door was slightly ajar, hanging askew on crooked hinges, and Arden turned sideways so she could tiptoe inside without having to move it.
She paused to get her bearings. It was dim in here, but not dark. There were a few wooden desks, some benches, and a stove in the corner. Arden curled her bare toes, wondering if there were spiders. A previously boarded-up window—now with the plywood sitting beside it on the floor—let in a flyspecked shaft of sunlight.
Arden tiptoed over and peeked out. She immediately got a good view of the two people she had just heard talking. One was a rather short woman with long red hair and a flowing skirt.The other was a dark-haired man in a leather jacket. Both were looking up at the windmill.
“—don’t know how to tell,” the dark man was saying. “It would be great if we could get it working again. I guess the place must be wired for power.”
“We can ask Baz.”
“That’s your answer for everything?” His voice was sharp.
Arden wished they’d go somewhere else. She could see her street right past them. She was almost there. If she went now, she might be able to duck into her cabin before the other two came back. Hopefully there weren’t more than four of them.
But these two seemed to be staying put. “Can’t you go easier on him?” the redhead asked.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Please, Declan. I know you and Baz don’t get along, but we have to work together now. It’s more important than ever.”
They finally started walking away, toward the front of the schoolhouse. Arden wondered if there was a back door. If either of them came in, they couldn’t fail to see her.
“Important how?” Declan was saying.
“The two of you being at each other’s throats could bring danger down on us.”
Arden was just ducking away from the window when she saw Declan stop in his tracks.
“What do you mean, danger?” His voice was sharp. “Fern, did you see something?”
Fern waved her hands as if to physically brush off his questions. “No, no, no. It’s nothing. I mean, I don’t know anything. I don’t know what I know. It’s just that we’re in the wilderness, and there are a lot of things that could go wrong.” Fern turned away from him. “Never mind that. The main thing is that we have to work together, or it’s all going to fall apart.”
Declan snorted and started walking again. “It’s not me you have to talk to. It’s Baz stomping all over us, acting like he’s the boss of us.”
“Well, he kind of is,” the woman argued.
They were out of sight of the window now, but it definitely sounded like they were headed for the front door. Arden hurried to the only other exit, and found herself in a small, empty room that might be meant as a storeroom or an office for the teacher. It was nearly dark in here. Now shereallyhoped there weren’t spiders. Faintly, she could still hear Fern and Declan talking. Boots clomped on the floorboards of the porch.
