“Fine.” Logan’s tone was a mixture of frustration and resentment. “I guess you plan on walking back to town?”
“Guess so.” Opal walked past him, the long grass brushing her legs. A rush ofI’m doing the right thingwashed over her. It lasted as the ATVs grumbled away. It lasted until she crested the final hill, and spotted Emma shouting while Tyler ripped at his hair.
Something was wrong.
Opal sprinted the last hundred yards, stopping just short of the cliff. “What happened?”
“Nico fell!” Tyler yelled, peering over the edge. He didn’t even question what she was doing there.
A cold pit opened in Opal’s stomach. “Into the cove?!”
Tyler nodded. His mouth worked, but nothing more came out.
“Did you call 911?” Opal yanked out her battered phone. “Or anyone?!”
“No coverage,” Emma moaned, eyes shell-shocked. “Not until Razor Point!”
Emma was right—no bars. Panic washed over Opal. No one had ever fallen into Still Cove before. Not that she’d heard of, and she’d lived in Timbers her whole life. “We have to get down there,” she said. “Now.”
“There’sno waydown!” Tyler moaned, wiping red-rimmedeyes as he stared into the mist. “That’s how Nico fell in the first place. He was trying to get to his drone.”
“Then we’llmakea way down,” Opal fired back. “Unless you’re not willing to try?”
Tyler flinched, but Opal’s anger seemed to snap Emma out of her paralysis. “A rescue mission,” she whispered. “Right. Let’s hurry.”
Trying not to freak out, Opal led Emma along the cliff’s edge. Tyler trailed them.
“Be careful. It’s slick up here,” Opal warned, scanning the sheer-sided drop. “But there’s got to be a way to the bottom. Like a game trail? Maybe animals go down to drink.”
“Drink what?” Tyler countered, head down as he followed. “The salt water?”
“Just look for a path!” Opal snapped.
They scoured the hillside, pulling back shrubs and stringy branches, cursing when the ground slumped beneath their feet. It was eerie being this close to Still Cove. Like a cold breath on the back of your neck.
She tried not to think about what each second meant for Nico.
He can swim, can’t he? Of course he can.
But Still Cove had no beach. No way out. And what lurked at the bottom?
What if he didn’t hit the water? What if it wasn’t deep enough?
“Look!” Emma pointed behind a lone pine sentinel. A barely-there dirt track cut along the inside of the bluff. Opal spotted the upside-down heart shapes of deer tracks.
Hallelujah.
“I’ll go first,” said Opal. “Are either of you coming?”
She didn’t wait for an answer, slinking out onto the slender path before she lost her nerve. A beat later Opal heard two sets of footsteps following. She didn’t look behind her. She couldn’t. The trail descended steeply for a dozen yards before the fog covered everything.
“Nico?” Opal called. The mist seemed to swallow her voice whole. Something swished the branches of a tree clinging to the cliff wall. Opal’s blood pressure spiked. What if it was Nico?
The movement came again, barely visible in the fog. Leaves parted and an owl scowled down at her, perturbed to find humans in its domain. “You started this,” Opal hissed. “You and your endangeredness.” The owl turned its head away.
“Opal?” Emma shouted from above. “You okay?”
“Yes.” She could hear Emma, but the mist was relentless. Scree dribbled past her ankles as someone shifted higher up the trail. “Getting down is the hard part,” Opal assured them, trying to sound confident. “Climbing back up will be easier.” Then her own foot slid out from under her, carving a line through mud and soggy pine needles.
