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“Don’t be ridiculous, Evan. Those roots have always been there. They’re as thick as Keiffer’s bicep.” Tayla cups her hands around her mouth and shouts, “Kiara?”

“No, they definitely weren’t here a minute ago,” I say, crouching to get a better look at them. “The ground is disturbed. Here, look. See how the dirt is crumbling in my fingers? All loose?”

“That…that doesn’t mean anything,” says Tayla, but she sounds less convinced. “Evan’s just being dramatic and cryptic as usual.”

“Why are you so unwilling to believe me?” they ask. “You know I’m not a liar.”

“Because…because…look at where we are!” Tayla throws her hands in the air. “I’ve been seeing some weird things, too, and every time I think it’s real, it turns out to be something totally ordinary.”

“Like what?” I ask.

“Footsteps,” she says flatly. “Shapes moving in the trees. Something rustling behind a bush. It was a deer once and Keiffer twice. Most of the time, just birds. Wild turkeys look ugly as fuck, but other than a couple of jump scares, they’re harmless.”

I can’t tell whether she actually believes it or she’s just trying to keep the Fellowship calm.

“Um. Now that we’re having this conversation, has anyone heard, like, static? Radio static, maybe?” asks Keiffer. The question is for everyone, but he’s looking at me.

“No, I keep my radio off to conserve power,” I say. “Austin leaves his on all the time in case we need to radio in, but he’s too far away for us to pick up any feedback or however that works.”

“It’s probably tinnitus,” Radhika mumbles. “Keiffer gets it sometimes.”

I’m not sure we should dismiss it so easily, but Keiffer doesn’t seem inclined to pursue it.

Anyway, now that I know I’m not the only one seeing discomfiting strangeness, I’m about to mention the eyes watching us from the darkness, but then my gaze snags on something familiar, small and polished smooth.

“Hey, I found something!”

The acorn is nestled in the ground between two crumbly rust-colored leaves, surrounded by the stamp of a hiking boot. Did Kiara drop it when she got snatched, or was she snatched because she dropped it?

“So much for luck,” Tayla mutters, toeing aside the dead leaves.

“Not helpful.” A muscle twitches in Keiffer’s jaw, like he’s straining to hold back his fear.

Radhika looks like she might hyperventilate if Evan lets go of her. She leans into their side and does some complicated breathing exercise that involves counting and holding her breath.

“Did anyone other than Evan see what actually happened?” I ask, picking up the acorn. It’s pitifully small in my palm.

Everyone shakes their head. The roots, if they’d played any part, are now dormant and lifeless.

Specks of dirt cling to the nut. Worrying it between thumb and forefinger, I hesitantly take a step to the left. When nothing happens, I take another. This time, the ground feels different. Less solid. I test it with another step, not trusting to give it my full weight.

When my stomach pitches into my rib cage, that’s the first sign I’ve made a mistake.

The front half of my boot meets air, and I flounder, the backpack tipping me forward just enough to make me realize I’m on the precipice of what’s clearly a hidden ledge. Frantic, I try to stumble back, my fist squeezing the acorn tight.

Then the ground gives way.

“Nova!” A hand wraps around my upper arm and yanks me back.

I crash into Tayla’s body. It’s a reflex to hug me, her front flush against my back. One of her hands digs into my bicep while the other is snug around my abdomen. She releases me just as quickly.

It takes what feels like minutes to recalibrate, but it must only be seconds.

“Thanks. I could have—” I can’t make my tongue form the word.

Don’t even want to think it. The depth of the trees was duplicitous, made us think we were shrouded on all sides when there was a stealthy drop-off here all this time.

The terrain in this part of the forest does have some ups and downs, but this is way more down than I expected.

“But you didn’t die. You were lucky.” Tayla shoves her hands in her pockets.

I stare at the acorn then shove it into the front pocket of my jeans.

“And now,” she says grimly, “we know what must have happened to Kiara.”

“It must be erosion,” I say, heart still beating erratically.

My voice sounds simultaneously booming and distant, like it doesn’t belong to me at all.

“Explains why we’re seeing more exposed roots.

Plus, we’re all loosening the soil as we walk.

Who knows when this was last maintained by the forest services? ”

Tayla and Evan are the slightest, so it makes most sense for them to look over the edge with the rest of us ready to grab them just in case. We divest ourselves of our packs, leaving them scattered on the ground behind us.

“Kiara!” Evan shouts.

Tayla repeats the call, hers more of a scream.

We all wait, hearts in our throats.

Nothing.

Evan tries again, hands cupped around their mouth to amplify calling Kiara’s name a dozen more times before giving up. “I can’t see anything down there,” they admit. They pick at their chapped bottom lip until Radhika swats their hand away and offers up a tube of lip balm.

“I can’t, either,” says Tayla. She rubs her face, but it’s not to mask her tears.

Her cornflower-blue eyes zigzag with angry red lines.

She blinks in quick succession. Frustration roughens her voice as she grits out, “If I even try to focus on one place for too long, the trees drown my vision. My eyeballs burn.”

Everyone has their own ideas on what we should do next.

Keiffer thinks he should climb down. Radhika disagrees.

It’s too dangerous, you don’t know how far down it is, you’ve never free-climbed before, we don’t have any rope.

She’s right. It’s not a good idea. None of us have the upper-body strength to haul him back up, and we’d probably pull our shoulders out of our sockets if we tried.

Evan’s willing to keep moving, see if there’s a better place to descend, but Tayla nips that in the bud. What if you get lost and then we have to rescue both of you, what if something happens to you and we don’t know where you ended up, what if what if what if—

I squeeze the acorn so hard I’d be surprised if there isn’t a small crater in my palm. “What if Kiara got hurt in the fall? The longer we stand here arguing, the longer she’s all alone, scared and maybe injured.”

The question crashes over the overlapping voices, smothering the squabbling.

The question has stunned them. Or maybe it’s the fact that it’s me doing the practical asking.

While the others gnaw their lips and look shamefaced, Tayla eyes with me with new respect.

“I’m going to go after her,” I announce. “Who’s coming with me? We’re sticking to the buddy system. No one should go anywhere by themselves.”

“Then I’ll go,” says Tayla before anyone else can volunteer. “It should be me.” She nods decisively. “Keiffer, you’re in charge while I’m gone.”

Radhika’s jaw drops. “Um, excuse me? Who elected you head bitch?”

“It’s self-appointed,” Evan says blithely.

Keiffer pinches the bridge of his nose between two fingers and releases a long breath. “No one is ‘in charge’ of the others.” He gestures to Radhika and Evan. “We make decisions as a group.”

If it wasn’t for time being of the essence, I get the impression Tayla would have loved to argue against it, but she presses her lips together and gives a stiff shrug.

We quickly redistribute the food and medical supplies, mostly some gauze to wrap a sprain, antibiotic ointment, and over-the-counter painkillers. Even though I already have a flashlight, Keiffer gives me his along with a ripped-open pack of batteries.

“What about you?” I ask, hesitating to accept them.

“The others have a few batteries. And the flashlight, well, it never hurts to carry a spare. The next time you or Tayla think you see something moving in the trees, shine a light on it. Get confirmation.”

“Keif, if I think I see something, I’m going to pretend it doesn’t exist so hopefully it doesn’t realize I exist.” As an afterthought, I add, “And hopefully it’s a vegetarian.”

While he snorts with nervous laughter, Radhika gives Tayla one of the two flares she slipped into her backpack “just in case.” Honestly, Radhika Rose never ceases to surprise me. All of Kiara’s exes have way more substance than I ever knew.

“Hmm, that’s strange. I could have sworn I packed my poncho,” Evan says distractedly as they zip up their pack. They rock back on their heels, puzzled. “I wanted you to have it.”

I glance at what little we can see of the sky. “Doesn’t look like it’s going to rain.”

“The weather forecast said there was a chance of drizzles all week.”

Despite the crappy situation, their blasé comment startles a laugh out of me. “And you believed it?”

Evan shakes their head like they’re sweeping away cobwebs. “I’m glad you’re here,” they murmur as they stuff trail mix in my pack. “You cut through the noise and told us what we needed to hear. The four of us don’t always…let’s just say we don’t have cooperative personalities.”

I remember what Kiara told me about their friction. “Someone would have eventually.”

“That someone was you.” They give me a serene smile. “There, all done.”

“Both aspirin and ibuprofen are pain relivers, fever reducers, and anti-inflammatories,” Radhika says, launching into a crash course on dosage. For once, Tayla doesn’t think she’s the smartest person in the group and listens intently instead of insisting she can just read the labels on the bottles.

“Between you and Keiffer, you’ve got the whole STEM power couple thing down pat,” I say, impressed despite our urgency. “I’m not even going to ask why you have enough to clean out a Walgreens.”

She manages a weak smile. “I get terrible periods and headaches.”

“Me, too,” Evan grumbles, making a face.

I make a sympathetic sound. I’m lucky my cycle finished the week before the Fall Festival.

I would be miserable being this physically active while cramping and worrying about leaks, let alone the question of how we’d even dispose of the soiled sanitary products.

Burying them with the trowel doesn’t feel very much like leaving no trace.

Radhika pats her bulging backpack, which now holds most of my clothes, a mini candy bar stash, and a couple of squashed clementines. “I’ve got all the period-havers covered. Tampons, pads, a couple heat packs. Even some condoms if, you know, anyone needs them.”

Admiringly, I say, “You really did clean out a Walgreens.”

Evan laughs and fishes a Twix from the bag, ripping into it. “She’s practicing for the apocalypse.”

Belatedly, Radhika’s words register, and I gawk. “Wait, condoms? Uh, you do realize that you and Keiffer are the only couple here! Did you think we were going to pick up random camper dudes in the woods? One, unsafe. Two… Ew, Radhika! ”

She exaggerates a haughty sniff. “I may not have been in the scouts, but I believe in being prepared.”

Swallowing a mouthful of candy bar, Evan says, “I’m with Nova. Zero percent likelihood of any of us hooking up with a sketchy someone we come across. I don’t want twigs and bugs in weird places, thank you very much.”

I shoot them a smile of solidarity as they wander over to join Keiffer.

“Good job on the flares, though,” I tell Radhika. “Thanks for even thinking to bring them, by the way. I don’t know if any rangers will see it, but hopefully if we run into any trouble, someone will.”

“Nova, I…” She seems to struggle. “You know I’d come looking, right?”

“It’s okay. Tayla and I already decided we’d go.”

“No, I mean, if you set off the flare. I know our branches of the family tree never really got along, and I know your dad’s aunt opposed my dad’s parents publishing The Way of the Wish .

And I also know we don’t share any DNA, considering that my dad’s father was adopted, and my mom’s family emigrated from India when she was a teenager, but… ”

“Radhika, you’re rambling.”

She huffs. “Nova, I’m trying to say we’re family. Kind of. In spirit. So I’d come help you.”

My heart crunches at the unexpectedly sweet sentiment.

Other than Dad’s aunt, who left him Chalice, I’ve never had extended family.

Mom and Dad were only children who had only one child, me.

Radhika, on the other hand, is the youngest of the Rose brood and has family on this continent and several others.

She doesn’t share any blood with me, but she still claims me as family. Even if it’s only kind of, in spirit.

It’s more than I’ve ever had before.

“And also because you know if you abandoned us, Tayla’s ghost would totally be up for some vengeful haunting,” I say.

Radhika grins. “Also that.”

The goodbyes are quick, and when Keiffer releases me from his one-armed hug, he turns away to swipe at his eyes. “Be safe,” he says for the tenth time.

“Don’t kill each other,” Evan adds for the eighth.

“Give that book another once-over,” I say to Radhika. “Maybe you’ll have it all figured out by the time we’re back with Kiara.” It’s supposed to encourage her, but instead, a shadow crosses over her face. “Hey,” I say, squeezing her shoulder. “You’ve got this.”

“Nova, about the book…” She sucks her teeth. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.”

Finally. I’ve been waiting for her to admit that the book is basically useless and she’s been bullshitting all her authority about it.

But before Radhika can say anything else, Tayla surprises us both by elbowing me aside in order to throw her arms around both Radhika and Evan.

“Take care of each other,” she says in as stern a voice as I’ve ever heard, but she holds on to them like she doesn’t want to let go, even when they drop their arms first. “Come on, Nova.”