Page 114 of Close Your Eyes and Count to 10

Adele put a hand on her shoulder. “I have a feeling you’ll figure out a way to save it.”

“Maybe,” she said, sounding unconvinced.

“You’re a survivor,” said Adele, looking back at Cody who was a few paces behind them. “We all are.”

They kept walking, each silent for a few paces.

“I don’t know why I’m telling you this. Maybe because you saved my life. When I was dangling there, and you were holding on, I wished you weren’t risking everything for me. I wanted you to know.”

Malinka blinked back tears.

“Here’s the thing,” said Adele. “We’re worthy of life and love because of whowe are, not because ofwhat we do. You’re enough, Malinka. I wish someone had told me that when I was younger.”

Malinka reached for Adele’s hand and gave it a squeeze. Adele wasn’t sure if Malinka truly heard her, though. It was a lesson you needed to learn for yourself.

“And for the record,” said Cody from behind them, “while we’re playing true confessions, Idid notkill that lion.”

Adele believed him. The man she used to watch on-screen with her son, and the one who helped her save Malinka, didn’t jibe with the images of him she’d seen in the media in the last couple of years.

“That photo was total CGI,” he explained.

Malinka looked at him, eyes soft. “I never believed it. You were my hero, growing up.”

He nodded sadly. “But the whole scandal, the loss of my show, all of it—I’m ashamed to say that I spiraled. My demons caught up with me,and rock bottom was waking up in an alley in New York City, high, broke, and no idea how to get well.”

Adele remembered the mug shot that had made its way around the internet, thinking what a shame that a person so beloved by children could fall so far. “The person I was on the way down, even before that—the things I did, and the people I hurt—I’m not proud of who I was.”

For a moment, there was only the sound their footfalls. Ahead, the turn to camp.

“You risked everything to save me. You both did,” said Malinka finally. “Maybe who we were, the things we did before we came here, maybe nothing matters as much as what we do now.”

Cody offered an assenting grunt. Above, the sky rumbled, the wind picked up.

“What about you, Adele? Anything you want to leave here on Falcão Island?” asked Malinka as Enchantments rose into view, the sliver of moon glowing behind it.

So many things. But nothing she could share right now because her secrets weren’t hers alone.

The three of them stood at the edge of the campsite.

The men on the ATVs were gone. Was the storm too much for them? The trailer was dark and deserted. The two Range Rovers were parked, unattended, presumably with the keys in the car, if Cody was to be believed.

The wind picked up again, rain growing heavier.

A left turn offered a clear run for home.

A right turn brought them back to the darkness and danger of Enchantments.

There was no discussion, just exchanged looks between them. Adele felt the rush of adrenaline, and then they were jogging to the right.

As the storm began to rage again, the gaping mouth of Enchantments swallowed them whole.

45

BLAKE

The Haunted Amusement Park was quiet as Blake dropped intoRed World. He’d used the app to ping King Killer, asking him if he could play. But he’d received no answer.

Now he moved through the game, avoiding rather than killing a skeleton gang in a Hummer to conserve his energy. The sky was dark here, purple lightning streaking the sky every so often. If you happened to get struck, you got X-ray vision for a while. But it was totally random, a gift from whoever was running the game. Blake had never been struck; it was on his wish list.