Eight

That night as the others gathered around the campfire, Carly held back. She couldn’t explain why on other occasions she hadn’t minded joining the group devotions so much, even if she did feel as if she was on the outside looking in, but tonight she not only felt like an outsider but also a hypocrite.

Her mind still whirled with her earlier conversation with Nate, not to mention his kiss, which she’d been shocked to find herself not only accepting but returning, and she didn’t feel as if she could paste a smile on her face one more night and pretend something she didn’t feel.

She tended to her needs, hoping Kim might still be up and would want to talk. The teenager had left the group earlier, complaining her eyes hurt.

Carly poked her head in the shelter, where Kim and her father had opted to stay because of all the rain, but even in the dark, she could see that Kim’s sleeping bag lay flat. Confused, Carly looked back toward the latrine. She had just come from there and would have passed Kim on her return, but she checked again anyway. It, too, was empty.

Before she created a panic, Carly walked around the shelter on the outskirts of the trees, searching for Kim. The increasing darkness made it difficult to see, even with the light from the fire ring that three other campers huddled around.

She glanced toward the small group in front of Ted’s tent. Jill sat by his side, and Carly was relieved to see her friend must be feeling better. The moon washed the circle of hikers in its glow, and someone had placed a camp lantern in the middle, providing more light. A sweeping glance in their direction was enough to tell her that Kim hadn’t rejoined the group.

She hurried toward them, and they all turned to look.

“Kim’s missing.”

“What?” Her father, Frank, tensed, then shot to his feet. “What do you mean ‘missing’?”

“She’s not in her bedroll or anywhere else. I checked.”

“That’s not possible—she knows better than to go off by herself.” Even as he said the words, Frank grabbed the lantern from the middle of the ring.

“Maybe she’s just hanging around at the back of the shelter,” Sierra suggested.

“Why would she do that?” Frank insisted.

Sierra shrugged. “Just an idea.”

“She’s not there; I looked already,” Carly inserted.

They all gaped at one another, then moved into action. A quick search of the immediate grounds and a short interrogation of the other campers brought no success. Clouds now covered the moon, dimming what little light it gave. Frank looked about ready to come apart, and Jill took his hand. “First, we pray. Then, we search.”

A little disconcerted, Carly didn’t pull away when Sierra took one of her hands and Nate the other as they formed a circle. She looked around at everyone’s bowed heads, then dropped her head as well, though she kept her eyes open, peering at their faces in the faint firelight.

“Lord, we ask You to keep Kim safe and help us find her. We trust You to watch over our young friend and give us wisdom in this situation. In Jesus’s name, amen.”

“Amen,” the group echoed, and Carly whispered her own amen, feeling she should say something, too. She wasn’t sure what to believe anymore. But that these people, all of them intelligent and normal, did rely on a higher power and first turned to God in their time of crisis shook her, made her think. She may not understand the source that propelled their actions, but she respected the sincerity she witnessed in their expressions. They believed what they preached; not only that, they lived it.

“We split up with our buddies, each of us taking a different route,” Ted said. “No one goes alone. Frank, you come with me.” He clapped a hand to his shoulder in silent support.

The three hikers not of their group came up to them. “We overheard you talking, and we’d like to help.”

“Thanks,” Ted said. “We can use every pair of eyes we can get. If you’ll backtrack up the main path and search there?”

“Sure.”

The three men left, armed with their backpacks and flash-lights. Ted assigned the rest of the group areas in which to search.

“Be sure and take your backpacks. You never know when you’ll need them.”

Frank’s expression grew grim. “Kim doesn’t have hers.” He shone his light on the dark blue canvas painted with pink neon hearts.

A pall of silence descended before Jill spoke. “We’ll find her, Frank.”

“Are you sure you shouldn’t stay behind, love?” Ted said. “With the camp emptying out, if Kim does return, someone should stay here to tell her what’s up.”

“What happened to ‘every pair of eyes we can get’?” Jill’s words were light and serious at the same time. “I’m better, not so crook. Kim’s gone walkabout, and I want to search, too.”

Jill might not feel so sick, but her face was still too pale, and she’d hardly touched her dinner. Jill was stubborn when it came to certain ideas like wanting to fix things for others, so Carly treaded with caution, deciding it best not to focus on her friend’s sickness, but only on Kim. “Ted has a point, Ju-Ju. Kim might get scared if she comes back and no one’s here. She might try and look for us. If someone stays behind, that won’t happen.”

Carly looked up to see Nate watch her with approval. That shocked her; she’d never had approval from any man. But it lifted her spirits, though she wasn’t sure why she should care whether he approved of her or not.

Jill finally agreed, her reluctance obvious.

Ted eyed the group. “Whoever finds Kim, blow the whistle we gave you the first day. One, if all is okay. Two, if you need help.” He said the last with a dismal sideways glance at Frank. “Don’t worry about waking anyone since the other campers joined in the search, too.”

“But they don’t know about the whistle signals,” Sierra said.

“I’ll tell them; they’re still within sight.” Bart ran to catch up to the three.

Carly shrugged into her backpack and buckled it. Nate came up beside her. “You ready?”

She nodded, and together they walked to their assigned section in the east, combing the trees.

❧

Carly and Nate used their slim flashlights in a wide sweep and stayed no more than a few feet apart as they moved through undergrowth, pushing branches and bushes aside as they called Kim’s name. In the distance, they heard the rustle and calls of the others and saw pinpoints of light to each side of them. Minutes ticked by, and Nate sensed Carly’s fear heighten by her jerky movements. Despite his own worry for the teenager, he tried to reassure.

“Kim knows better than to go too far.”

“She also knows better than to go anywhere alone without her trail mate,” Carly shot back, concern lacing her voice.

“She’s a bright kid. There must be a logical explanation for this.”

Carly didn’t respond.

“Any minute now, we’ll hear a whistle blow or stumble across her ourselves.” As dark as it was in these woods, the flashlights didn’t help much.

“That’s what I’m afraid of.” Her words wavered.

“What?” He looked her way.

“I keep remembering that sign we ran across, about the two murdered hikers. What if someone’s out there, and he’s gotten hold of Kim?”

Nate took a moment to respond, since the same thought had flashed through his mind. “Hey.” He reached out, slipping his arm around her shoulder, then pulled her into a one-armed hug. “None of that.” Staring out at the black woods, he dropped a light kiss in her hair when she let her head drop to his shoulder. “I can’t have my trail mate falling apart on me.”

“You’re right.” She lifted her head, swiping at her eyes with her fingers. “This is getting us nowhere. It just hit me how very alone we are out here in this wilderness with no police to turn to, no emergency aid, no one really. Anything could happen.”

“Carly, there’s no use borrowing trouble. More than half of a person’s worries never happen. We just have to trust God that this is all going to turn out for the best.” The words seemed trite, but it was the best comfort he could offer.

He felt her stiffen against him. “I just don’t get how you guys can believe that God is always there to make everything better.”

You guys? Nate felt as if someone had punched him in the gut. “Carly, don’t you believe in God?”

She pulled away. “We need to find Kim. We can talk about this later.”

She was right, of course, and though Nate felt frustrated at their curtailed discussion, he moved along with Carly, putting all his efforts into finding the teenager.

They’d gone a short distance when suddenly Carly grabbed Nate’s arm, stopping him. “Wait. Do you hear that?”

Nate held very still to listen. Amid the usual buzz and chirrup of insects, a faint warbling sounded in the distance.

“I think it’s a bird or some kind of animal.”

“Not that,” Carly whispered. “That!” she exclaimed when the faint but distinct sound of someone crying came to them.

“It’s coming from that direction.” Nate pointed his flashlight. “Kim!”

Relief and anxiety mixed into one powerful surge. He hoped it was Kim and that she cried only because she was lost. They hurried as fast as they were able through the undergrowth.

“Kim!” Carly shouted, and Nate echoed her call.

“Over here!”

Grateful to hear the thin thread of Kim’s voice, Nate changed direction toward a ten o’clock angle, increasing his pace and pushing away the shrubbery with a vengeance. Carly hurried behind him. Their flashlights picked up the teen at the same time. She sat cross-legged on the ground, her face stained with tears and clouded with relief, her glasses missing.

Carly rushed to her, hunkering down. “Kim, are you all right? What happened? Oh, my—look at your hands.” In concern, she lifted the girl’s palms from where they sat face up in her lap. Small red cuts crisscrossed the skin.

“I was trying to find my glasses,” Kim said, her voice wobbly and hoarse. “I’m legally blind without them.”

“Did you drop them here?” Carly searched the ground near her feet.

“I was running and fell. I swung my head around, and they flew off. My face was sweating—it’s happened before when I swing around too fast.”

With care, Carly looked through the brambles beside Kim while Nate pulled out his whistle and gave one extended blow.

The shrill noise shocked Kim into jerking her attention his way. “My dad’s mad, isn’t he?”

“Not so much mad as very worried,” Nate assured. “What possessed you to take off like that, alone and off the path? You know the rule about trail mates, Kim.”

Carly drew her hand back suddenly with a hiss, lifting her finger to her mouth to suck it.

“Be careful,” Kim said. “There are thorns. That’s partly how my hands got all scratched up.”

“Let me help.” Nate moved, careful to shine the flashlight on the ground to catch any possible reflection of the lenses. “Here, you hold the light,” he said, handing Carly the flashlight, “and I’ll look.”

“I was doing okay,” Carly muttered.

“Yeah, but my hands are tougher.” He dug around through an area she hadn’t yet explored. A thorn pierced the pad of his index finger. “Ow!” He pulled his hand away and shook it.

“Tougher, huh?”

He didn’t miss her grin. “Just hold the light.”

After pulling back a few brambles, he saw a blue earpiece sticking up at an angle. He plucked the glasses out, glad to see them in one piece.

“Here you go. They don’t look damaged.”

“Thanks.” Kim took them from him, cleaning the lenses on her sweatshirt before slipping them over her ears. “It’s good to be able to see again.” Her words came dull.

“How did you get out here?” Carly asked.

Kim looked sheepish. “I took my gold watch off before I went to get water—I didn’t want it getting wet and ruined, even though it is waterproof. It was my mom’s,” she finished sadly. “I don’t wear it much, but today I did, and I had laid it on my backpack. But it must have fallen or something, because when I came back, some animal—I think it was a raccoon—found it and ran with it into the woods. So I chased it.” She shrugged.

“In the dark?”

“It was still light then. I didn’t know I’d get lost. When I realized the watch was really gone and the raccoon had gotten away, I didn’t know where I was. I kept trying to find the path back, but instead I kept digging myself farther into the trees. I heard what sounded like a moose or maybe even a bear. It made an awful grunting noise. I got scared and ran, but I tripped over a tree root or something on the ground here, and my glasses flew off. By then it was dark.”

Nate watched as Carly pulled a first-aid kit out of her backpack. “Hold the light while I take care of her hands,” she addressed Nate.

This time, he obeyed as Carly washed the dirt and dried blood off Kim’s palms with the water from her bottle, then swabbed them with antiseptic-soaked gauze from a foil packet.

“Feel like you can walk?” Nate asked.

“I think so.” They helped her to her feet, giving her leverage underneath her arms. Kim hissed as she straightened her leg.

“You think it’s sprained?” Carly asked.

“No, I’ve had those from playing softball. I think it’s just scraped.”

Still, Kim limped, and Nate slipped his arm around her waist to support her while she gripped his shoulder. It made for a slow trek back to camp, but the teen was already shaking so much, he didn’t want to push their pace.

“My dad’s going to be so mad,” Kim said again, and Carly shared a look over Kim’s head with Nate. He sensed her alarm and also wondered why Kim should be so worried about her father’s reaction.

“I’m sure it’ll all work out fine, Kimmers,” Carly assured.

When they reached camp, Frank was already there, along with the others. As Kim nervously limped into the clearing, his face grew stern, his jaw clenched and unclenched, but tortured relief filled his eyes.

Nate let go of her, and Kim nervously adjusted her glasses and moved a few steps toward her father, awkward. “I’m sorry, Daddy.”

Tension crackled through the air. “Kim,” he said, emotion choking his words. “That was really stupid.”

“I know.”

He held out his arms to her, and she hurried into them. A flash of pain burned through Carly’s heart, and she turned away, toward her tent. At times, she wished she had tried to find her own father. If she’d been sure of his identity, she might have attempted it. When she was little, she used to wonder if he even knew of her existence. According to her aunt, her mother had been wild, and she’d told Carly no one knew her father, least of all her mother. Not that her mother had been around much to ask. Still, Carly wondered. . .

“Carly?”

Nate’s voice stopped her. She looked over her shoulder to where he still stood at the fringe of trees.

“If you’re not sleepy, I’d like to talk.”

Mentally, she felt wide-awake, though physically her muscles begged for rest. The search for Kim had given her a second wind, yet she didn’t feel as if she could drag herself another step.

Against her better judgment, she nodded and followed him to the fire ring several feet away, watching as he relit the wood and wondering why he looked so serious. So this would not be another of their light, friendly conversations. She had a feeling she knew what topic he wanted to introduce, and instantly went on her guard.