“All bets are off now that she’s gone.” Caro keeps her tone gentle. “They have to be, Ash. We’ve waited long enough. I know you want to stick to the plan because we promised we would. But the plan doesn’t work anymore.”
Ash puts her face in her hands. She says something that Caro can’t entirely make out. Then she lifts her head. “You’re right. If shedoeshave the phones, there’s no way to track her in the canyon, right? That was kind of the whole point. So whywouldshe take them?”
Caro hesitates. She’s had a thought. “Well…” she begins. Thereareother ways to get into the Underground. Tiny slot canyons. But you’d have to be an expert canyoneer to do any of them, and they’re illegal, most of them protected now.
Right then her phone begins to vibrate.
Caro jumps so hard she drops her phone on the ground and has to crouch down to get it. When she reads the message on the screen, her head snaps up. Her eyes lock with Ash. She holds up her phone. Wordlessly, Ash does, too.
They both have the same message.
It’s me.
31
PAGE
THE POLICE ARE GONE.
I tip my head back in the shower. I feel like I’m suffocating. I want it alloff—my clothes, the feel of the day, everything that’s happened.
The handle to the shower door rattles right as I reach for the soap, and I jump. Before I can say anything, someone calls out, “Sorry! Didn’t know this one was taken!” The noise stops, and I put my hand over my heart, reminding myself to calm down. Then I tilt my head back into the shower stream again.
The water swirls pinkish orange from the sand that, no matter what I do, always ends up in my clothes and hair. I rinse my hair under the shower again until the water runs clean.
I don’t bother with drying my hair. It’s warm enough out. I stop by the food truck and get a burger and shake. My brain is exhausted and I need calories. I drink cup after cup of water at the hydration station near the food truck while I wait for my order to be ready. When it is, the chef, Ty, opens the back door of the truck and delivers the meal to me himself instead of calling out my number. “You okay?” he asks. His Sonnet cap is on backward, and his hair is bleached from the sun.
“Yeah.”
But I can tell he’s not convinced. “What happened?”
I aim for the perfect amount of concerned but competent. “Nothing,” Isay, picking up the tray. I’m not going to eat at one of the picnic tables—too public. I need a break. “Except for, you know, the flash flood and the missing guests, and the ones who are still here panicking or needing to be entertained.” The music from the movie’s credits sings through the trees and along the paths to where we are. The score is supposed to evoke being in space, but the loneliness of it feels right for the desert, too.
“That’s a lot to deal with,” Ty says. “And Colby’s gone. I hear he left you in charge.”
Who told him that? As if he can guess my question, Ty says, “It’s pretty much common knowledge.”
“Oh,” I say. “Yeah, he did.”
“Not really fair to do that to someone so young,” Ty says, and I instantly bristle. I hate it when people say I’m young. They might know my age in years, but they have no idea how old I am on the inside.
“Thanks for this,” I say, and I start down the path, the gravel pebbly and distinct under my flip-flops.
“You know when he’ll be back?” Ty asks.
I pretend I don’t hear him and keep going. I notice that he’s added a fruit salad to my order, a rainbow of watermelon and grapes and pineapple and raspberries dusted with tajin, a lime wedge neatly placed on top.
When I come to the opened-up clearing of the theater, I pause. The smells of popcorn and rain-drenched sage hang in the air, and the rows of classic cars spread out in front of me, emptying now that the film is over. I need to think of more things for the guests to do. Maybe we should show movies all day long. People need distractions. Otherwise they panic, or they try and help. I’m never certain which one is more dangerous.
Which car would Hope Hanover pick if she were here? That one, I’m pretty sure, the candy-apple-red Thunderbird near the far end of the first row.
I open the door and climb inside, setting my tray of food down on the seat next to me while I figure out what to do next.Breathe.I can’t leave Sonnet, I have to see this through, but I like the feeling of being in a car, of at least thepossibilityof motion…
After I finish eating, I lean my head back against the seat and close my eyes. I am exhausted. I welcome it, though, because I don’t want to feel everything that is underneath.
A knock on my window. A face looms in front of me. Another. Adrenaline spikes through me until I realize it’s two of the guests. Ash and Caro.
Perfect, actually.Exactly who I needed to see.
