6:24 P.M.
A FLAT POP SPLIT the hot summer air. It sounded far away but also out of place.
Natalia heard it even over the rush of the waterfall. She lifted her head from the beach towel they had spread on a wide flat boulder. “What was that?”
Next to her, Wyatt, who had been half-asleep, pushed himself up on his elbows. His eyebrows pulled together. “It almost sounded like a rifle shot.”
“But it’s not hunting season, right?” Natalia was pretty sure hunting season was in the fall. Not in the middle of a scorching August.
“No. It’s not.” Wyatt was still listening, head tilted, hazel eyes narrowed. But the sound wasn’t repeated.
Had anyone else heard it? A couple of hikers still at Basin Falls were also staring toward the trail that led back to the parking lot, less than two miles away. But most seemed to have noticed nothing. A pitted-out plump guy in his late twenties was drinking a Gatorade on the sun-warmed rocks. A college-age girl was taking a selfie with the falls in the background, while her boyfriend threw a stick for his medium-sized brown dog. Thirty feet from them, a mom and dad were putting their toddler into a backpack-like contraption.
Wyatt finally relaxed. “Sounds can carry weird out here.” He shrugged. “What time is it, anyway?”
Natalia checked her phone. “Six twenty-five.” Even though the corner of the display had shown the same thing since they left the parking lot to start the hike here, it was still disconcerting to see zero bars and the words “No Service.”
“Oops. I must have drifted off.” Wyatt picked up his socks. “We should get going. Even though it’s an easy trail, we don’t want to be on it after dark.”
Natalia didn’t think it had been all that easy, what with the roots and rocks and being uphill. Sunset was still nearly two hours away, but it had taken them almost an hour to hike here.
Wyatt reached for his hiking boots, scuffed with use. She did the same, wishing she didn’t have to put hers back on. They were so hot and heavy, and because they were brand-new, they had already left a red spot on one toe.
And had she really needed them? Some people had made it here in Tevas. The girl taking a selfie was actually wearing flip-flops. Natalia had considered this a trip to the wilderness and prepared accordingly. Maybe it had been overkill to buy the hiking boots and the emergency supplies. It had certainly been expensive, way more than she’d expected.
After Natalia finished tying her boots, Wyatt pulled her to her feet. Although they had spent hours next to each other this summer, it was the first time they had deliberately touched. She was aware of his slightly calloused palm, his strong fingers, but he released her hand as soon as she was up.
Natalia couldn’t quite figure Wyatt out. She thought he liked her, but today he’d treated her just like a friend. Which was what they had become at the Dairy Barn this summer. Coworkers and friends. Handing out samples on tiny blue plastic spoons. Joking as they packed ice cream into cones. Bumping hips in the small space behind the counter.
And then last week Wyatt had found out that Natalia had never been hiking.
“What? Never? This is Portland!” He widened his eyes dramatically. “The place where babies are born wearing Gore-Tex and hiking boots. People come from all over the world to hike the Columbia Gorge. You live less than an hour away, and you’ve managed to go seventeen years without even taking a day hike?”
“Sorry.” With a half smile, she hung her head, savoring his attention.
“What about Outdoor School?” In Portland, most fifth graders attended Outdoor School, where they stayed in cabins, tramped around in the woods, and learned about nature.
“I was sick that week.” That was one way of putting it. Natalia had been in a hospital, sedated. “And my parents aren’t really the outdoor-adventure type.”
“We’re going to have to fix that,” Wyatt had said.
Which was why they were now scrambling up the hill and back to the trail. Natalia took one last look at the falls. She had to admit they were beautiful. White water poured over the lip of the basin to splash thirty feet into what nature and time had turned into a natural swimming hole. The rush of water was nearly hypnotic.
They reached the trail. It had been carved into the side of a valley that sloped down to a creek. Above them, evergreens stretched to the sky. The slanted hillside was carpeted with ferns and other small green plants. The space felt immense, big and open, capped only by the bright blue sky.
The way back was mostly downhill. Natalia had been looking forward to it, thinking it would be easier, but momentum actually seemed to be working against her. She felt off-balance. With each step, her ankles wobbled and her knees protested.
And then she stepped on a loose rock. Her right foot started to slip. As her arms pinwheeled, her stomach crammed into the back of her throat.
Natalia lurched to the right. Toward the creek. For a split second, she saw how it would all end, with her body tumbling down the steep slope to rest broken and bloody by the water far below.
Then Wyatt caught her wrist and pulled her back. “Whoa there!”
“I thought going downhill would be easier!” She was gasping.
“It seems like it should be, doesn’t it?” He gave her a sympathetic grin. “The trick is to keep your knees bent and take short steps. Try to keep your weight centered—don’t lean forward or back.”
They started off again. Natalia’s steps were now so short they were more of a shuffle. Whenever Wyatt realized she had fallen behind, he stopped and waited patiently. His gray T-shirt didn’t even look wet under the arms.
All of Natalia’s skin was slick. Sweat was actually dripping off the ends of her hair. She couldn’t wait to get home and jump into the shower. Maybe her parents were right. They thought being trapped in the middle of the woods without electricity, running water, or a car was reserved for survivors of the apocalypse or at least a plane crash. Certainly not something anyone with sense would choose.
Coming up the trail toward them was a dark-haired white guy in his thirties. He wore a black ball cap, dark cargo pants, and a black T-shirt that showed off his muscles and a long fresh scratch on one arm. He glanced back over his shoulder a couple of times, but the path behind him was empty.
Earlier, Wyatt had told Natalia that trail etiquette dictated whoever was going uphill had the right of way, so she stepped aside.
The other guy was moving fast, nearly jogging. Even though he was getting a late start, at his pace he would still have time to make it to the falls, admire them, and then turn around and beat Wyatt and Natalia back. As he passed, he gave them a nod, his eyes hidden by sunglasses. In one hand was what looked like the top to a bottle, but his other hand was empty.
When Natalia caught up with Wyatt for what seemed like the thousandth time, a scent tickled her nose. She stopped in her tracks. Smoke, but not from a cigarette. It smelled like a campfire. “Do you smell that?”
Wyatt sniffed the air. “The Cougar Creek fire’s still burning.”
At the word fire, a sour taste spread across Natalia’s tongue. Memories crowded into her thoughts, but she pushed them away. “There’s a fire?”
“It’s been burning for a couple of weeks. It’s about seventy percent contained. Didn’t you see the helicopters carrying those gigantic buckets of flame retardant when we were driving here?”
“I saw them but I guess I didn’t think about what they were for.”
“We’re in the middle of a drought.” Wyatt’s mouth twisted. “That’s why I was worried that sound might have been a rifle shot. A lot of people go shooting in the Gorge, and some of them aren’t that careful. But these woods are tinder-dry. If they use exploding targets or a bullet sparked against a rock, it could cause a fire.”
Despite the heat, Natalia shivered. Her hand went to the back of one pant leg. Through the cloth, her fingers traced the ribbon of scar on her left thigh. Trying to reassure herself, she said. “But it’s so green.” She waved a hand to indicate the dark evergreens, the brighter green ferns and plants.
“All this green can turn into fuel if the conditions are right.” He saw her expression. “Don’t worry. We’re almost back to the car. And that fire is several miles away.”
They kept walking down the trail, their boots thudding softly. Her stomach growled, despite the sandwiches they had eaten only an hour ago. Maybe they could stop at a drive-through on their way back to Portland.
Focused on her feet, she almost ran into Wyatt’s back. He had stopped short. His head was up, and when she stepped to the side to look at his face, his eyes were wide.
“What’s the matter?” Everything looked just the way it had before. Then Natalia realized it wasn’t what Wyatt was seeing. It was what he was hearing.
A rumbling.
“What is that?”
Instead of answering, he broke into a jog, disappearing around a turn in the path. More slowly, Natalia followed. The air was starting to look cloudy. Misty.
When she rounded the corner, she felt the heat on her skin. Now smoke was everywhere.
Natalia blinked, as if it were a mirage, but what she saw didn’t go away.
Several hundred yards ahead, the woods were on fire. The woods they needed to go through.