Page 187 of Silent Shadows

Something soft flickers across her face so fast I almost miss it. Taylor glances once toward the trees. Toward the place Miles definitely is. Then back at me.

“You here to talk?”

I inhale slowly. “No.”

Her brows lift. “Interesting.”

“I’m here to fix it.”

Jax straightens, and Taylor goes still.

Maya comes out behind them. “Daisy, you were here? Okay, you are kind of insane.”

“Wait, you guys have been talking?” Taylor looks left out.

Jax chimes in, “Yeah, what the hell, Maya? We want in on any crazy plans!”

Because I enjoy emotional self-sabotage, I pull out my phone.

“Well, I saw on the way here that Ridgefield started running a deeply embarrassing campaign trying to make us all look stupid online.”

There’s total silence, just the breeze rustling the pines.

“What the fuck?” Jax curses, taking a look.

“Yeah, what the fuck?” Owen echoes, stepping out of the RV and looking right at me, not even paying attention to the phone.

“I can explain,” I mutter. “Maybe inside?”

Ten minutes later, the crew—except for Miles, who is out on a hike—is crowded around the couch.

The couch. Stupid couch. My chest squeezes traitorously.

Taylor sits perched on one armrest.

Jax has somehow acquired popcorn as if my emotional chaos is his entertainment for the day.

Owen leans against the workspace counter, watching me with suspicious older brother energy.

My laptop glows between us.

Grant Ridgefield appears onscreen, radiating the energy of a man who would leave a one-star review because the waitress wouldn’t give him a smile.

The words flash on the screen: “Looks like Strange Terrain finally lost podcast girl.” Then a freeze-frame of me mid-sneeze.

Rude. Owen and Jax snicker.

Taylor throws her hands up. “Okay, come on! That’s the screenshot they chose?”

Owen mutters, “Brutal.”

I scoff. “Obviously I didn’t come all the way here to tell you they posted a hideous picture of me, guys. Hold on.”

I click forward. The laughter dies. Grant is standing in front of a map. It’s obvious it’s one of Miles’s.

Pins mark almost every location we've visited over the past month, built entirely from podcast episodes, drone footage, and social posts.

I click again. A side-by-side comparison. Jax's drone footage on the left. Ridgefield's team hiking the exact same route less than forty-eight hours later on the right.