Tyler threw his hands skyward. “Nico,stop. You can’t even see where that goes!”
“He’s right,” Emma said in a shaky voice. “That’s not safe, Nico. Don’t do it.”
But Nico was already inching onto the ledge. “It’s fine, guys. Really. I’ll go extra slow. I’m not crazy.”
“Then stopactingcrazy!” Tyler actually stomped his foot. “You don’t know how far that ledge goes, and you can’t pilot the quad through that fog anyway. Get back here before you kill yourself!”
Ignoring Tyler, Nico shoved the remote into his hoodie pocket. He’d invested everything in that quadcopter. He wasn’t going to let Logan Nantes take it from him.No way.
“Tyler, it’s fine. The footing is good. If I take it one st—”
Pebbles crunched, followed by the shriek of rubber sliding on stone.
Nico’s feet shot out from under him. He staggered sideways, arms pinwheeling. With a wide-eyed gasp, he looked back at his friends. Then Nico fell, disappearing into the mist.
He didn’t even have time to scream.
2
OPAL
This isn’t right.
As they rode away, Opal couldn’t stop picturing Nico’s face when his drone vanished into the mists. They’d been friends as little kids. He’d always liked building stuff. How long had he spent putting that machine together? How much had it cost?
“Stop,” Opal said.
Logan glanced back over his shoulder. “What?” he yelled.
“I said, stop!”
Logan’s eyes narrowed, but he hit the brakes and the ATV rolled to a halt. Opal pulled off the helmet he’d lent her. Logan removed his too, wiping muddy fingers through his hair. “What’s wrong?”
Opal climbed from the ATV. The other machine idled behind them. “What’s going on?” Parker shouted.
“I’m going back.” Opal was already striding away.
“Back where?” When Opal didn’t answer, Logan gunned the four-wheeler and swung around, coming to a stop directly in her path.
“You know where.” Opal set her hands on her hips. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
She saw something harden in Logan’s eyes, as often happened when people talked about Nico. At times, Logan could be fun. There were moments when Opal even thought he was cute. Not right now.
“I’m going to help them look,” Opal said.
Carson snorted from atop the other four-wheeler. “That thing’sgone, man.They’ll never find it.”
“It was probably expensive.” Opal focused on Logan. Would he come along? She thought he liked her. He’d wanted to hang out all the time lately, ever since she’d moved from her old house to a few doors down from his home on Overlook Row.
But Logan shook his head, annoyed. “He cost my dad like a million times the price of that drone.”
“Hisfatherdid,” Opal said, though she knew it was pointless. “Nico didn’t do anything.”
“Close enough.” Logan put his helmet back on. “Come on, this is stupid.”
Opal threw her helmet at Logan, forcing him to catch it awkwardly, and glanced at the other ATV. Carson smirked as he slapped down his visor. Parker shrugged.
She wasn’t surprised. Opal was new to the group. After this, she might not be a part of it at all.
