Claire, with Mariana, darted out to the engine. Together, they tugged the motor over, flopping it like an extremely heavy fish. “How do we get it to the cave?” Mariana asked. “Can’t carry it. Not easily.”
“Let me figure that out,” Claire said. “You sabotage it so we’ll be able to blow it.” She had an idea—when she’d first searched the sheds, she’d found various maintenance equipment.
One item she’d found was a wheelbarrow.
“I’ll be back,” she said.
“Hey, first Reyva, now you?” Mariana said.
On an impulse, Claire hugged her. “We’re only splitting upso that we can be together away from here.”It’s worth the risk, she told herself. Now that she’d seen the dead man again... This was their best chance, and she was going to take it. Just because she knew the odds were bad didn’t mean it wasn’t worth rolling the dice.
Especially when the alternative was worse. So much worse.
Hugging her back, Mariana said, “Well, so long as it’s not because you’re sick of me....”
“I’ll hurry back,” Claire promised.
Moving as fast as she could, she followed the shoreline back toward the dock. She spared a thought for Jack, hoping he stayed hidden, hoping he was still alive. If there had been time, she would have checked on him, but time was something they didn’t have to spare. The longer this took, the more risk that the dead man would spot Reyva following him, or that he’d turn back to where Mariana was with the engine and Reyva would have to lead him away. Once she had to begin running, she wouldn’t be able to do it indefinitely.
They had to move fast. For Reyva. For all of them.
As Claire hurried over the shore, she realized this was the first time she’d been alone since she’d arrived at the Lake House. Usually she spent a lot of time by herself—in her room, doing homework or practicing at the barre. She tucked herself away from her family and her classmates. At school, she didn’t seek out other people. Not since everything fell apart with Priya. Sure, she had a friend group—others from her classes and the dance studio—but she still often ate lunch by herself, telling herself she didn’t have time to join the others in the cafeteria. She hadhomework and tests and ballet class and practice... Well, a dozen excuses for why she didn’t risk opening up to other people, but it all boiled down to being afraid they wouldn’t like what they saw. She didn’t want them discovering the real Claire, only to have to see them pull back from her. She didn’t want the pity or the advice or the judgment.
But Reyva and Mariana had never pulled back. They wanted to hear her thoughts. They trusted her plan. Everything was different with them.Shewas different with them. And she didn’t want that feeling to end.
I hope this works, she thought.
She reached the Lake House and jogged to the wheelbarrow. It was where she’d left it, full of random debris from the sheds, as well as several inches of rainwater. She paused to drink a handful of the water before she dumped everything out on the lawn.
She hoped that the dead man hadn’t paid attention to what was here and what wasn’t. With luck, he wouldn’t return to the Lake House at all. Certainly he wouldn’t expect them to come back here. It made more sense for him to search the forest, where there were far more places to hide.
They were taking an awful lot of risks.
Don’t let him catch you, she thought at Reyva.Please, stay safe.
She thought of everything Reyva had already been through and how much she contended with daily, hiding her pain. She had to trust that Reyva could take care of herself. Hard not to worry, though, and imagine all the various ways this could all go terribly wrong.
Grabbing the handles, Claire guided the wheelbarrow acrossthe charred lawn. It wobbled on its one tire until she got the hang of it. She pushed it back down the trail and along the shore, without incident, until she saw the wrecked boat in the distance, with Mariana and the engine beneath it.
“Ready?” Claire said, when she reached her.
Mariana grinned, her relief written on her face. “You are resourceful.”
“How’s the engine? Will it explode?”
“I blocked the fuel lines with as much muck as I could. Vapor will build up. But I don’t know how long that will take. It could go instantly once we start it, or it could be five, ten minutes. Could be it won’t work at all, and the engine will burn out before it blows.”
“Let’s get it to the cave,” Claire said. “Any sign of Reyva?”
Mariana glanced toward where they’d last seen her, before she’d disappeared from view into the woods. “No.” There were a dozen emotions packed into that one word, everything from pride to fear.
“She’s smart, she’s fast, and she’s strong,” Claire said. “She’ll be fine.” But she too gazed down the beach and worried. Only for a second, though. There wasn’t time for more.
Together, they hefted the engine into the wheelbarrow, and they began pushing it down the shore. Claire tried not to look behind them every few steps, but she couldn’t help it. She glanced back over and over as she listened to the birds.
Keep going, she told herself.Don’t overthink this. Just keep going.
Twenty-Five
