“We told her over the walkie that we were coming here with Eric,” recalled Pete. “Maybe she went out to investigate on her own.”
It was a sensible enough argument, but Owen was shaking his head. “She didn’t like investigating! She liked being at basecamp!”
“She’ll be fine,” Pete assured him, but he glanced nervously at Mrs. Fulrick, who only examined her drink.
Eric knew what they were all thinking. Mandy could’ve wandered away from camp for any number of reasons. To investigate a strange noise. To find better reception for her phone. Or just to pee. And people disappearing without a trace was one of the things the Hedge Lake Triangle was known for.
For all any of them knew, she might never have even left the back of the utility van. Hadn’t Pete told him that the last known disappearance on the lake was a woman who seemed to vanish from the very safety of her car?
Owen was shaking his head. “No… Something’s wrong. I can feel it.”
“Just relax,” urged Eric.
“Don’t tell me to relax!”
“Dude…” said Pete.
“Don’t!” He thrust his hand out at his partner, warning him back. “Just don’t.” He turned around and pressed the palms of his hands against his eyes. “I never should’ve brought her here!” he growled. “Why did I bring her here?”
It was a very good question, Eric thought, but he decided not to say so.
“She disappeared. I know she did. She’s gone and we’ll never find her. The triangle took her!”
“You know no such thing,” Eric assured him.
But Owen dropped his hands and whirled on him. “You!” he growled. “It’s your fault.”
Eric stiffened. “Me? Why the hell is it my fault?”
“Everything was fine until you showed up!”
“I’ve been with him since we found him,” said Pete, “which was right after I last saw Mandy.”
“Just shut up!” snapped Owen.
“Don’t tell me to shut up!”
“You can all shut the fuck up,” snapped Mrs. Fulrick as she topped off her glass again.
Owen ignored her and returned his attention to Eric. “You’re the reason she’s gone, aren’t you? You distracted us so we wouldn’t be there to save her! Admit it!”
This was ridiculous. How the hell did he become the bad guy?
Owen let out a strangled yell and gave his fists a strange, furious shake. To Eric, he looked like a freakishly tall child throwing a bizarre temper tantrum. “You know what I’m talking about!” he screamed.
“You need to calm down,” said Pete calmly. “You’re acting crazy.”
“You stay out of it!”
“Don’t yell at me.”
“I’ll yell at you all I want, you stupid fuck!”
Pete’s face darkened again. “I told you not to call me stupid.”
“Oh this is starting to get good,” observed Mrs. Fulrick.
Owen turned to Eric again. “Tell me what happened to her or I swear to God I’ll make you regret it!”
Eric was growing bored with this kid’s fit. “Calm down,” he said.
“Tell me!” he shrieked. “Right now! You fucking monkey’s ass!”
Eric had to pause for a moment to register that this kid had actually called him a monkey’s ass. It was such an odd thing to be called that he was too distracted to duck when Owen punched him.
The room fell silent.
Eric could feel the heat on his jaw where the punch connected. Only slowly did it sink in what had just happened. Owen stood before him, clutching his right hand in his left, his mouth open in a frozen gape. Clearly, that had not gone as he’d planned.
Eric’s punch was much more impressive. In an instant, Owen was on the floor, clutching his nose and squealing in pain.
“Ha!” laughed Mrs. Fulrick, gesturing at Owen with her glass. “You had that coming!”
“By doze!” cried Owen through his bloody hands. “He broke by doze!”
Eric leaned over him, furious. “Try something like that again, shithead, and I’ll kick your ass so bad you’ll wish you’d disappeared. You got that?”
Owen pushed himself across the floor with his feet, away from Eric, nodding urgently.
Eric looked up at Pete, then, who promptly put both hands up in surrender and took a step backward.
“I don’t think you’re a monkey’s ass,” he said.
Eric glared at him for a moment, then turned back to Mrs. Fulrick. “I’m going to see Fettarsetter now.”
“You go ahead,” she said. “I’ll see to the halfwit.” She glanced down at Owen and added, “When I feel like it.”
“Thanks. And…sorry about that…”
“Sorry?” She laughed. “That was the most entertaining thing I’ve seen in years!” Then her expression turned grim. “Listen, though. Be careful with Jonah Fettarsetter. The guy’s trouble.”
“I will,” he promised.
Eric stepped out onto the porch and closed the door behind him. It was fully dark now. Above him, a full moon was just rising over the trees to the east. To the west, clouds were crowding in. How much time did he have before the rain came? And how much time after the rain started did the lake begin to boil?
The spooky cat had not moved since the first time he saw it napping on the chair, but now it stood up and stretched, hopped down and ran over to him.
Eric knelt and gave it a pat on the head, then he stood up and walked down the steps, into the front yard.
His cell phone alerted him to a new message.
THAT WAS PRETTY AWESOME, said Isabelle.
“Don’t tell anyone I did that, please.”
BUT IT WAS FUNNY
Eric shook his head. He could barely believe that he’d actually punched him.
HE TOTALLY HAD IT COMING
“He did. So can we talk about what happened in there?”
He stopped at the PT Cruiser and retrieved a flashlight from the glove compartment. Then he made his way across the lawn in the direction of the lake. The cat ran ahead of him, as if leading the way. He wondered how long it would be before it vanished again.
MRS. FULRICK WAS RIGHT. THAT SPIRIT TOOK OVER YOUR BODY. I COULD FEEL HER INSIDE YOU. IT WAS REALLY CREEPY
“Do you think she could feel you?”
I DON’T THINK SO. IF SHE KNEW I WAS THERE, SHE DIDN’T ACKNOWLEDGE ME
“That’s good. Probably.”
He really regretted the time he lost inside Mrs. Fulrick’s house. Wandering these woods at night was going to be a lot more intense than during the day. And it wasn’t any picnic when the sun was shining. He really wasn’t looking forward to this.
IT WAS REALLY WEIRD, Isabelle went on. I MEAN I’M IN YOUR HEAD ALL THE TIME, BUT THAT WAS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. IT WAS LIKE SHE WAS PHYSICALLY INSIDE YOU, MANIPULATING THINGS
He nodded. He’d felt that, too.
YOUR MINDS KEPT CROSSING. IT WAS LIKE TWO LIVE WIRES. EVERY TIME THEY’D TOUCH, THERE’D BE A SPARK AND YOU’D GET LITTLE FLASHES OF HER MIND. SHE WAS DEFINITELY THE WOMAN FROM YOUR DREAM
“Definitely.”
BUT I DIDN’T SEE ANYTHING ABOUT HER LIFE MORE THAN AN HOUR BEFORE HER DEATH. IT WAS A LITTLE DISCONCERTING
Again, he nodded. “I noticed that. It was like her entire existence was defined by her death.” The most distant memories he’d glimpsed were of the bloody cabin, which was the last thing she saw before she began her terrified flight through the frozen woods toward her death on the ice. “Is that all she knows now?”
I HOPE NOT. GOD, THAT’S AN AWFUL THOUGHT
It was. But he supposed it might explain why she always appeared covered in blood. And it might explain why the spirits here were so…well…messed up. (The weeping woman immediately came to mind.)
As the glow of Mrs. Fulrick’s porch light was lost behind the growing number of trees between it and him, Eric swept the area in front of him with his flashlight and tried to keep his obnoxious imagination in check. This was the part in the movies where the flashlight beam always revealed something terrifying standing in the path.
“How are you feeling, by the way?”
STILL NOT WELL, BUT A LITTLE BETTER. IT WASN’T AS BAD INSIDE MRS. FULRICK’S HOUSE
“Really?”
I THINK THAT’S A GOOD PLACE. LIKE AN OASIS. IT’S STILL REALLY UNCOMFORTABLE, BUT IT WASN’T AS BAD AS THE REST OF THE PLACES YOU’VE BEEN TODAY
“Do you think it has something to do with those little balls she makes?”
MAYBE. OR JUST THE FACT THAT SHE CAN MAKE THEM
Eric considered this. “She did seem…special…I guess.”
SHE DID
He’d met a few people in his travels who, like him, seemed to have been given a greater purpose in life, whether they wanted it or not. More than once, he’d wondered if there wasn’t some master plan in motion, an unseen destiny guided by powers beyond his comprehension, orchestrating events around the world toward some unforeseeable conclusion.
He’d seen stranger things, after all.
The cell phone rang in his hand. It was Karen. He wanted to ignore it again, but he knew that would be a very bad idea. Resigning himself to what he knew was coming, he opened the line and lifted it to his ear.
As usual, she didn’t bother with a “hello.” “Isabelle said you got yourself possessed?”
“Only a little.”
“What were you thinking?”
“Um…I don’t know. That I like to try new things? I didn’t exactly ask for it to happen!”
It was almost worse being out here among these big trees. There was so much empty space around him, so much room for something to stalk him.
“I couldn’t get ahold of you. I was worried sick.”
“Sorry. I was busy having my mind invaded by a mentally disturbed dead woman.”
“Too busy to answer your phone?”
“Yes, actually! I was stung by some kind of mutant, steroidal jellyfish. I was in a lot of pain. And I was reliving the terrifying last moments of this woman’s life in my head over and over again! So yes, I was too busy to answer the stupid phone!”
Karen was silent for a moment. When she finally spoke, all she said was, “God, Eric…”
“I’m sorry.”
“No. It’s fine. I didn’t mean to upset you. I was just worried.”
“It’s just…it…” He sighed. “It was awful. It was her. It was the woman from my dream. She’s the bloody woman. She…” He trailed off.
“Holly’s spell told her something would happen. She said you’d…how’d she put it? ‘He’s going to suffer a terrible ordeal when he reaches the lake.’ She said your fear would betray you, or something.”
“Sounds pretty accurate.” It was as soon as he reached the lake that the dead appeared to him, startling him. That was how it began. If he’d only composed himself a little better, he might not have tripped and he wouldn’t have been stung. Then he wouldn’t have needed the bloody woman to enter his body and slow the toxins. It had also happened right after he last spoke to Karen. They didn’t have time to warn him.
“So I was already scared.”
“I’m sorry. I know you worry when I don’t answer.”
“It’s okay. I’m sorry I gave you a hard time.”
“Hey, it’s what you do.”
“You usually have it coming.”
“I usually do,” he admitted.
The trees grew smaller and thicker. Weeds and brush began sprouting up around him. His visibility diminished. Everywhere he shined his light there seemed to be shadows that didn’t belong, shapes that moved on their own. He kept telling himself that at least out here he should be able to hear someone coming.
But then his betraying imagination reminded him that the dead didn’t make noise.
“Did you finish the cupcakes?” he asked, trying to distract himself from his own, obnoxious brain.
“We did. They’re all ready for tomorrow morning.”
“Good. What’re you doing now?”
“Just waiting by the phone and watching Friends on DVD.”
“Holly still with you?”
“Yeah. She insisted on staying the night. It’s a slumber party.”
“Awesome.”
“And no, we won’t be having any pillow fights in our underwear.”
“You can’t even let me keep those little fantasies, can you?”
He stopped and searched the base of a nearby cedar with his light. For just a second, he was sure he’d seen a face looking back at him.
Your imagination, he assured himself. Stay focused. But his heart was already pounding again.
“You don’t get to have those little fantasies anymore.”
“You’ve really got to learn to let things go.”
“I’m not the one who got friendly with the strippers.”
“This is why Ross should’ve just dumped Rachel and moved on.”
“He just needed to admit that he screwed up.”
“They were on a break!”
“Typical.”
“Whatever. I wonder how many margaritas it would take to get Diane to tell me what really happened at your bachelorette party.”
“Don’t change the subject.”
“You’re changing the subject.”
“You’d better answer the next time I call you.”
Just like that, she was gone. Eric lowered the phone and looked at the screen. “I think I scored a hit.”
JUST KEEP TELLING YOURSELF THAT, said Isabelle.
Eric grumbled. The phone alerted him to a new text message from Karen. (Unlike Isabelle’s, he actually had to tap the “view” button.) It read, “b careful!”
He lowered the phone again and focused on where he was going. The cat was gone again, vanished into the darkness just as it’d done every other time. It didn’t matter. The lake should be right around here somewhere. Unless he’d gotten himself turned around in the dark… That would be just his luck.
But within a few minutes, the woods ended and he found himself looking out over the lake.
He couldn’t see Fettarsetter’s dock in the dark, but he knew approximately where it was. All he had to do was make his way around the lake shore. Unfortunately, that meant the risk of running into more jellyfish monsters or any other gruesome creatures that might be lurking in the water. But it still seemed safer than roaming blindly through these woods. At least he knew that as long as the water remained on his right, he wasn’t going in the wrong direction.
ENERGY’S STRONGER BY THE LAKE
Eric frowned at the phone. “You okay?”
I’M FINE. JUST GET MOVING
He glanced up at the sky. The stars were shining bright, but more and more of them were being blotted out by clouds. “Hang in there,” he told her. “Probably won’t be long now.”
He turned left as he scanned the water with his light. Then he cast it onto the path ahead of him. Immediately, he jumped at the appearance of a small figure standing in his path.
It was Jordan.
HOLY SHIT PLEASE TELL ME I WASN’T THAT CREEPY THE FIRST TIME YOU SAW ME
“Not quite,” gasped Eric as he tried to catch his breath.
“You’re talking to yourself every time I see you alone,” Jordan told him.
“What are you doing out here at this time of night?” he asked, slipping his phone back into his pocket.
“I like being out late. Especially on full moon nights. It’s so pretty out.”
Eric glanced up at the sky. The moon was just visible above the trees. It really did cast a pretty light over the lake.
“It’s going to rain, though,” added Jordan, glancing at the clouds that were rolling in from the west.
“I heard,” said Eric. “Does your mom know where you are?”
“She’s resting now,” replied Jordan, managing to look cross. “I told you already she wasn’t well.”
“Wouldn’t she be worried about you wandering around so close to the lake at night?”
“I’m old enough to look after myself,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at him.
“Are you, really?”
“Yes. Really.” She furrowed her brow at him and said, “What about you? Where’re you going so late?”
Eric considered telling her it was none of her business what he was doing, but he didn’t really want to be mean. She wasn’t really doing anything wrong if her own mother hadn’t forbade her from wandering around the woods at night. Instead, he simply replied, “I have to talk to Jonah Fettarsetter.”
She made a face. “I don’t like him.”
That seemed to be the prevailing opinion. “Why not?”
“He’s not nice.”
“No?”
She shook her head. “He’s always looking for things.”
“What kinds of things?”
“I’m not sure. He spends hours walking in the woods and out on his boat, taking measurements of stuff.”
Mrs. Fulrick said something similar about him spending a lot of time in the woods and on the lake. “What does he measure?”
She cocked her head to one side, almost theatrically. “I’m not sure. I don’t get too close. Mostly I watch him from the woods while he’s in his boat. Where he can’t see me.”
Suspicious behavior. If this were an episode of Scooby Doo, Eric would promptly dismiss him as the far-too-obvious suspect, the one you’re supposed to think did it so you don’t notice what the other characters on the show are doing. In the end, he’d turn out to just have a secret passion for nature photography or some other obscure hobby. But this was the real world, where he’d found that a creep was almost always a creep.
Something splashed in the water. Eric turned his flashlight onto the lake, but was too slow to see anything more than distant ripples.
“Fish,” said Jordan. “They jump. They do that. You’re really edgy. You know that, right?”
“I have my reasons,” he said, his eyes lingering on the lake for a moment.
“I’ve heard people say there are really big fish in there.”
“I’ve heard that, too.” He recalled Owen telling him that there was some sort of enormous creature lurking in the water that was big enough to overturn a boat. He pushed the thought away and turned his attention back to Jordan. “It’s really not safe out here. You shouldn’t be wandering around alone.”
“I’m not alone. I’m with you.”
“You were alone before I got here.”
“So were you, but you were still talking like you were with somebody.”
She didn’t appear to be willing to give up on that subject. “I do that sometimes,” he replied. “But I’m serious.” He lifted his hand and showed her his bandages. “Something hurt me out here earlier.”
She frowned at his hand. “The dog?”
“No, not the dog.”
“Because he’s never hurt anyone before.”
“So you said. But I still think he would’ve hurt me.”
“I still think you probably smelled like something bad.”
“Right.” He rubbed at the back of his neck. If this were one of his students, he’d advise her to join the debate club. She was a natural.
“But he didn’t do that to you?”
“No. This was something else. Something in the lake.” Again, his gaze drifted out over the water.
Jordan nodded. “Oh. Yeah. That can happen.”
He snapped his attention back to her. “What?”
“Sometimes things come out of the water. But they don’t get far. Most of them are already dead when they wash up.”
Eric recalled the news clippings Pete showed him. The strange animals that were found on the shore of the lake. It didn’t take much imagination to realize that those things had probably come from the same place as the jellyfish monster. He looked at Jordan again. “How do you know all these things?”
“I live here,” she replied, as if she’d never heard a sillier question in her life.
“But it’s dangerous.”
“Not for me,” she insisted. “I’ve never seen anything that could hurt me.”
“But people have—” He stopped himself, but Jordan finished his sentence anyway.
“Died here? Yeah. Hundreds of them. And they don’t leave, either. It’s different when you die here. There’s something in the lake that won’t let you go where you’re supposed to.”
He stared at her. “How do you know these things?”
“I live here,” she said again.
Eric was completely bemused. It didn’t make sense. People had vanished without a trace in these woods. It’d been happening for decades. Centuries, even, according to Mrs. Fulrick. He recalled the terrible things the bloody woman revealed to him. A blood-spattered cabin. An enormous predator in the forest.
Jordan smiled. “It’s okay,” she told him. “It can be a lot to take in.”
“It’s not a lot to take in,” returned Eric. “It just doesn’t make sense. It’s dangerous out here.”
“People come here all the time and nothing happens. Like those UFO guys.”
Specter Ten? That was a valid point. They’d wandered all over these woods for days without a single supernatural encounter. (Unless they counted him, he supposed.)
“There’re people like them here all the time, hoping to take a picture of a ghost or a flying saucer. Nothing ever happens to them. Not to mention all the hunters and fishermen.”
“Really?”
“There’s a fishing boat out there now,” she said, pointing out over the water.
He looked. She was right. A set of lights floated on the water way out by the far shore.
“And there’re hundreds of people who live on the lake. There’s a little town over on the far side.”
“Huh…”
“If you lived here, you’d understand it.”
Would he?
Now she giggled. “What, did you think everyone who came around here fell off the face of the earth?”
Eric stared at her. Now he was thoroughly confused. “But…then what happens to the people who do disappear? How does it happen?”
Jordan’s smile faded. “I don’t know,” she said. “They just…get lost.”
Eric cast his gaze out over the lake. He scanned the forest. They were still alone.
“Come on,” she said. “I’ll walk with you to Mr. F.’s house. But I’m not going in. The guy’s a butt.”