Page 51

I push past Naomi, partly because my guilt is eating me up, and she sees right through me. I barely make it ten feet when she says, “My mom tried to kill herself after your dad left her to rot. I spent four years watching her in a deep depression.”

I still at those words, cutting the inside of my soul. As I face her, she accuses, “Your father’s choices had far-reaching consequences that affected my family deeply.” Her voice shakes with emotion. My father caused me heartache as well. I see the girl I left at twelve, with pigtails and braces, and pain in her eyes from deep wounds.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper, and I mean it, before I rush back to camp and the safety net of Jade.

Naomi, Jade, and I are sitting sullen around the fire as the sun settles in its usual pink tones that form and dance among the clouds. Jade talks awkwardly to Naomi and me, oblivious to the tension between us. I push the surrounding dirt with a spear, not a hockey blade spear, the old-fashion kind.

No fish were caught today, and we don’t dare eat those berries, despite how appealing they look. The can of beans beckons me in our storage pile. It sits right on top—Heinz beans. That red and brown label will haunt my dreams tonight, thinking about how delicious they must taste.

Then the yelling happens.

The cries from the forest almost cripple me as they flow through the air and bounce off the water and rocky shore by our camp. Horrifying, given I’ve grown accustomed to the deadly quiet of the northern Alaska wilderness.

The boys are back early, as we weren’t expecting them tonight. They didn’t even make it a full night, and it’s only dusk. They were supposed to stay at the other camp overnight. My heart jumps to my throat when they come into view, and all three of us shoot to our feet. They’re all supporting someone, helping him walk. Despite the darkness, I can still discern it’s either Maison or Micah, just by the frame of their body as they slumped forward, weakened by whatever happened to them.

I step back while the boys bring him in and lay him on the ground near us. I still don’t know who is injured or the extent of it. They all surround him, and as I step toward them, the uninjured twin makes eye contact with me. “Get back, London.”

It’s Maison who’s hurt, and that knowledge makes my stomach twist.

I slam my palm to my mouth as I notice the blood stain around his shoulder, his arm, somewhere in his upper body. “What happened?” I ask no one in particular as Jade rushes up and grabs my arm, pulling me away. I slap her hand away.

“London, get back. Unless you know how to help him, let Micah take care of it.”

How does Micah know how to care for him? How does Micah know everything?

Watching from afar and feeling utterly helpless, I watch Micah work as he runs to the storage shelter and grabs the first aid kit. “Ezra, Thomas, help me get him into my shelter,” Micah barks orders at them as he digs through items. Clothes, blankets, anything to help him. “Jade, get me some water.” Thomas and Ezra both grab Maison and help him walk over to the shelter. He’s limping and completely helpless, though he makes eye contact with me. Jade rushes to grab a bottle of water and runs to the shore.

Micah walks by me, looking right through me. “Naomi, I need you,” he says instead. Naomi, who is positioned a few feet behind me, runs up to help them, leaving Nigel and me alone by the fire. I don’t dare to go close; I just stand frozen, shaking.

Micah doesn’t ask me to do anything. It’s like I don’t exist to him.

Nigel slides in beside me. “What happened?” I ask him.

A vile laugh escapes him, and he simply sneers. “He got hurt, obviously. These jocks are cocky, despite their incompetence.”

“How did he get hurt, Nigel?”

“He fought a deer… and the deer won.”

My nails bite into my palms and I turn to him. “I’m fucking serious, Nigel. Don’t be cute.”

No deer is in sight—no deer, just blood. Maison’s blood and Nigel looking pleased about the whole situation.

“What is so fucking funny?” I ask him as my eyes drift to Ezra and Thomas coming out of the shadowed wood from the direction of our shelters. Ezra doesn’t look pleased, and he stomps directly toward me.

He snickers and whispers in my ear, “Your boyfriend got too close to the beast, London. And he couldn’t quite get the job done. We’re all going to starve since the deer got away, and your other boyfriend had to save him.” His acidic body odor is ten times worse than his vile words.

I shoot him a sharp glare, ready to correct him about the plural boyfriend comment, but Ezra gets right in my face. “This is your fucking fault.” He stands at least half a foot taller and his face a mere inch from my nose as hunger ripples from his eyes.

Somehow, I’m responsible for the deer getting away. “What the hell did I do?” I dare to push his chest as rage coils in my stomach. He doesn’t budge—not a single inch. He simply casts me a look of pure venom, like he’s the runt of the litter who didn’t get a scrap of dinner, and I’m a little nearby mouse. He stands hulking over me, baring his teeth.

Thomas is there in an instant, pulling him away from me. “Get away from her, man. It wasn’t her fault. She had nothing to do with it.”

“Get the fuck off me.” Ezra snaps his arm away from Thomas but stands back a few feet, keeping his attention directed at me, like I’m suddenly the enemy. Micah appears out of the shelter with Naomi close behind. Naomi runs to Ezra’s side and slides her arm around him, which instantly softens him, but he’s still vibrating like a lunatic. Micah’s jaw tightens as he takes in the scene—takes in me but says nothing. He doesn’t get involved, happy to let Thomas handle it.

Ezra cocks his head at me. “Maison got hurt because he was careless. And do you know why he was careless, London?”

I don’t dignify him with a response.