Page 45

Dirt smudges my cheeks, the sleeves of my fleece-lined thermals.

With nothing to do on the walk back, I pick at my nails, flicking away what I can, but in the dark, it’s impossible to tell how successful this task is.

We don’t want to risk a fall, so I flick on Keiffer’s flashlight.

The glow is anemic, but it’s enough to see by. At least at first.

“That’s the second time you’ve smashed the butt,” Tayla comments.

My palm still stings from the first time. “Mm-hmm.”

“Are you worried?”

Kiara’s scream echoes in my mind. “More than I’ve ever been about anyone.”

She sniffs the air like a bloodhound. “We’ll see them soon. I can already smell something cooking.”

I’m glad it’s dark enough that Tayla can’t see my flush. I am worried about our friends, too, but when I’d answered her, I was actually thinking of Kiara.

“Good,” I say, forcing a smile. “That date bar was so dry, and I hardly had any M if our friends had tried to go looking for us or Kiara and gotten lost themselves, we would all be in a shittier position.

“Can’t be helped,” I murmur.

Tayla tosses and turns, clearly dissatisfied with my answer. Finally, she ends up on her back. She laces her fingers together then lays both hands flat across her stomach. “Why do you like Kiara so much?”

I laugh. “What?”

“Don’t bullshit, Nova. Not after everything we’ve been through together.”

I scoff, remembering to keep my reaction quiet so the others don’t overhear. “You’re seriously playing the trauma bonding card after you’ve made it abundantly clear you don’t trust me. Yet you expect my absolute trust?”

“It’s just a question,” she argues. “You’re making a mountain out of it.”

“It’s really not, and I’m really not.”

She angrily sets her mouth but is careful not to raise her voice. “I just want to know when you started to have feelings for my girlfriend.”

“She’s not yours” flies out of my mouth before I can snatch it back.

Tayla looks equally horrified. “Slip of the tongue.”

“Yeah, whatever. Let’s just go to sleep. I don’t want to argue with you.” I roll so I face away from her. “And I promise you, I can’t like her. I owe her. That’s why I’m here, and that’s all I’m doing.”

“Owe her what?”

My stomach cramps. I hadn’t meant to say that.

“Human decency? You do remember what happened with the pizza and the squash, right? Kiara was in trouble, and Radhika thought I could help since Kiara wanted to go looking for the wishing well. I owe her the way I’d owe any person if their life was in danger. ”

Quietly, so quietly that I don’t even think she means for me to hear it, Tayla whispers, “I told you not to lie to me.”

I lie there like a lump long after her gentle snores fill the tent. The sleep I was hungering for now evades me, and this tent is suddenly too small, too claustrophobic, too everything.

I’m out of there before I even know what I’m doing.

“Hey,” says Keiffer, sounding entirely unsurprised to see me.

I slump next to him, and without a word, he lifts his arm.

I burrow in, getting a whiff of citronella biodegradable soap and the jammy scent of strawberry fruit leathers.

The former reminds me of Dad and the latter of Kiara.

Together, the mingled scents feel like home.

Keiffer doesn’t tell me he’s got this, I should go to sleep, yada yada.

Instead, he lets me have silence until I’m ready to break it.

“Do you think we can do this?” I whisper. It’s not a question I can bear to ask at my normal volume.

“We’re six totally ill-equipped kids wandering around in the woods hoping to find a magical solution to a magical problem.” He gives me a gentle squeeze. “What do you think?”

Glumly, I say, “That I can see why your math grades are so mid. There’s only five of us.”

What a sobering thought. Only five.

I can imagine the headlines now: Only Five Survive

“Do you regret it?” he asks.

For a moment, I want to tell him the truth. That yes, I regret hexing her, however inadvertently. I regret thinking a few charms could make a difference. I regret—

So much.

“Do you wish you hadn’t come?” he asks, reframing the question when I’m silent a beat too long.

“No. Do you?”

“Hell no.” He rests his head against mine. I can feel his cheek move; instinctively, I know he’s smiling. “So there’s your answer. Do you think you can fall asleep now?”

I consider. “Honestly? No.”

“Well, as long as you’re up, mind answering a question that’s been nagging at me for days?”

Wariness makes even the slightest desire for sleep flee like a bandit. “Go for it,” I tell him.

“Why did you come? I don’t claim to know you that well, but somehow I don’t think it was Radhika visiting your tree house that clinched it for you.”

I shoot to my feet. “Keiffer, you know what, I’m pretty wiped after all. Night!”

His soft, knowing laughter follows me as I dive back into the tent.