KYLA SITS IN THE SNOW in the middle of the forest. She’s clutching her ankle.

She’s crying.

“I freaking hate nature,” she says.

She tries to stand, and she can’t. Not even with Warden’s help.

(“Stepped on a root or something,” Warden explains to Dawn. “She twisted her ankle. I don’t think it’s broken.”)

Broken or not, Kyla isn’t walking any farther tonight.

The Pack will have to make camp.

They find a bit of a clearing to set up their tents. It’s not big enough for everyone; Lucas takes one look at where Warden’s setting up, and he disappears through some trees to another patch of flat ground.

Brielle sets up her tent somewhere out of sight, too.

It’s nearly dark by the time they get everything unpacked and the water boiling for dinner. Dawn’s tired and cold and hungry, and she knows Warden’s waiting for her to move her stuff into his tent and it will be warm in there and she can rest for a while, but something’s holding her back.

“What’s up?” Warden asks as he watches Dawn unroll her tarp and look around for a couple of suitable trees. “You know you can crash with me again. I promise I won’t try anything.”

Dawn can’t meet his eyes. “It’s not that,” she says.

“Then what?”

Dawn doesn’t answer. Wonders if she should tell Warden about what she saw, what she’s afraid of. Wonders what he would do if he knew Brandon or Evan was a killer.

“Dawn,” Warden says. He takes hold of her shoulders and turns those green eyes on her. “You know you can talk to me, right?”

Dawn’s certain that line works on most girls.

(With those eyes? Dynamite.)

It might work on her, too, in a different situation.

But Dawn has trust issues at this point in time. She’s not sure who she trusts or what she believes. So Warden’s magnet eyes don’t quite captivate her; she gazes down at her feet first, and then at Warden’s tent, and he’s left the flap open in his haste to reassure her, and Dawn can see inside, see his pile of Polar Bear clothes and his nice camping backpack, and the nice headlamp and camp stove he must have earned while he was in the program.

And there’s something else in there, too. Something bright and shiny, and it catches the light from Dawn’s headlamp and gleams back at her. And Dawn can’t figure out what it is at first, and then she does and it all comes together, and suddenly she’s more scared than she’s ever been before in her life.